Against the Gods

Chapter 2163 - Cloud and Moon in the Mist (2)

“Are you satisfied with my answer, Divine Son Yuan?”

It was as if every word she spoke was laden with ice. They were so cold that they threatened to pierce the flesh and soul. She was using the harshest words she could think of to crush his facade and shatter his mental defenses.

And yet... she still couldn’t capture any stirring of emotions in the man’s eyes. Her words were so cold, so estranged, so merciless... even now, her sword was still pressed against his fragile throat. So why did his eyes still radiate such warmth, a warmth that seemed to seep directly into the depths of her soul?

She felt as if something were silently melting inside her heart. Time and again, she grew wary and suppressed the feeling, only for the unprecedented stirring of her heart and soul to return immediately after the fact. It was like his gaze had awoken an instinct hidden within the depths of her soul, one that was both incomprehensible and impossible to resist.

She had awakened in the Eternal Night Kingdom of God. Her first memory in this world was Shenwu Yanye. She had long grown accustomed to the cold solitude and oppression, but warmth was not absent from her life. Shenwu Youluan and Shenwu Mingque, her two aunts, had always treated her with tenderness. It was not merely affection; it was simply their true nature.

As her time in this world grew, she gradually discovered that she was different from others. Her five senses seemed to be supernaturally sharp. Her eyes appeared capable of piercing directly into the human heart and “seeing” emotions that others could not perceive.

However... she had never encountered eyes like Yun Che’s. She had never known that a pair of eyes could intertwine with such complex and profound emotions... Like the reunion after a life-and-death separation, like a lone star on a cold night finally crashing into a warm galaxy, like an ancient mirror that was covered in dust for millennia suddenly reflecting a familiar face... The emotions churning in those depths were so thick they felt like both the insoluble, bone-gnawing longing for loss and the uncontainable trembling ecstasy of reunion.

From the moment they met in this gloomy forbidden zone, he had been looking at her with such rapt attention. His dark eyes were as deep as ink-black abysses, yet shone so brightly they seemed to conceal two clusters of unquenchable starlight. Within those sparks lay cautious probing, as if fearing everything before him might prove to be a mirage; a dazed, disoriented haze as if he had yet to awaken from a long slumber of soul-wrenching sorrow and delusion.

And above all, an unyielding clinging and determination to never let go again, even if it meant draining mountains and seas...

He... Who is he... And me... Who am I...

“You needn’t test me any longer, Qingyue. I am the one person in the world you need least to test or guard against, for I... could never hurt you again.”

His voice remained as gentle as the wind, yet his gaze held her captive as if seeking to bind her very essence to his soul with his eyes alone.

As the words fell, Yun Che suddenly clutched his chest and began coughing violently. Each cough expelled a thick spray of blood mist. The sword tip pressed against his throat instantly withdrew a couple of inches... Her hand had actually moved before her mind could command it, as if driven by instinct.

Several streams of profound energy circulated slowly inside Yun Che’s body until his injuries finally stabilized a little.

Shenwu Yi stared at him intently, her words still cold and mocking, “So, you’re afraid of death after all.”

“Of course I’m afraid of dying.” Yun Che worked hard to steady his breathing. Because his injuries were so severe, his voice was raspy and weak, and each word sounded like it was squeezed out of his teeth. However, they were also clear and resolute.

“I am probably the most death-fearing person in this world, for if I were to die... should you ever regain your memories, your heart would be torn apart. My homeland... our homeland... would forever plunge into an unpredictable, irresistible abyss of calamity as well.”

His eyes reflected a hazy, soft light, but also an unyielding resolve born from the deepest recesses of his soul.

Shenwu Yi’s lips moved... but she ultimately could not bring herself to utter another soul-piercing word.

“Qingyue, I know that Shenwu Yanye is the one who wants you to kill me. Her reason for wanting me dead is because I unintentionally ripped open her scar of betrayal at Eden’s Crown, and there is no better place to kill me than here... you do not need to acknowledge or deny it. Right now, I am of no threat to you whatsoever. I lack even the ability to escape. All I ask is that you give me some time and listen to all that I have to say.”

Shenwu Yi neither moved nor spoke. She only looked at him coldly... However, she at least did not reject him or take her leave of him.

After Yun Che’s breathing had gotten a little steadier, he drew in a shallow breath and spoke slowly, “I am not Meng Jianyuan. Yun Che is my true name. Your name is Xia Qingyue. We were married at sixteen in a city called Floating Cloud City... There is not a Floating Cloud City in this world, for it only exists in our homeland.”

Shenwu Yi: “......”

“You called yourself an utterly selfish and cold-hearted person, but I think that your self-proclaimed coldness stems from your body and soul naturally rejecting this world.”

Like a pebble dropped into a pond, his words seemed to send a ripple through Shenwu Yi’s gaze for a moment.

“I share the same sentiment as you. We feel this rejection precisely because we don’t belong to this world. Our homeland is none other than the fabled ‘Eternal Pure Land’ that the people of this world will soon enter.”

It went without saying that every word Yun Che was speaking right now could have shaken a denizen of the Abyss to the core. Shenwu Yi neither changed her expression nor interrupted him. She just kept watching and listening to him coldly.

“There is no abyssal dust in our homeland, but it is teeming with verdant trees and blossoms and home to countless races and worlds both great and small. The number of colors and living beings that exist in our world surpasses that of the Abyss countless times over. However, the loss of natural energies stopped our profound practitioners from being able to surpass the Divine Master Realm.”

“If the denizens of the Abyss set foot into our homeland, everyone shall turn into helpless lambs awaiting slaughter. The fragile heavenly law of our world, unable to withstand the power of the Half Gods and True Gods, shall give rise to countless calamities as well.”

“This is why I came to this world.”

Every sentence, every word he spoke was done while meeting Shenwu Yi’s gaze directly. Every emotion was reflected in the depths of his eyes without reservation.

Shenwu Yi asked indifferently, “You’re saying that you intend to prevent the Pure Land and the Kingdoms of God from entering the Eternal Pure Land?”

“Yes.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes, by myself.”

His answer came back without hesitation or fear. “There is no need for me to tell you what kind of existence the Abyssal Monarch and his four High Priests are. Even ignoring the Pure Land, countless experts in the Six Kingdoms of God can turn me to dust with the flick of a finger. But I, a mere Divine Master, must prevent the next activation of the Void Breaching Great Formation in less than fifty years regardless.”

“It’s quite absurd and laughable, isn’t it?” Any profound practitioner of the Abyss would agree with him. However, Shenwu Yi, despite earlier insulting and taunting him, refrained from delivering a cutting remark.

“This is why I had no choice but to resort to any means necessary... I donned layer upon layer of disguise, step by step, to blend in with this world. I used dirty tricks to get close to Hua Caili, employed despicable methods to become Meng Jianyuan... all to tear apart the alliance between the three kingdoms—Boundless, Heaven Breaker, and Dreamweaver—and sow the seeds of distrust and enmity.”

Just like that, he laid bare his most crucial scheme in this world to Shenwu Yi with unflinching candor.

The cold moon in Shenwu Yi’s pupils grew even stiller. No one could tell what she was thinking right now.

“Qingyue...”

The cry was faint, so faint it sounded as if it drifted from a distant dream.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, a smile playing on his lips. “You lost your past, so you can’t understand how overjoyed I am to see you again, or how deeply grateful I am to the heavens.”

“I have imagined countless times in the dreams I wove for myself: if you could reappear in my life, I would spare no effort to make amends to you. By hook or by crook, I will weave your life completely into mine... Alas, to think that our reunion would take place in another world, and under such a heavy fate no less.”

He opened his eyes once more, and all the tenderness and affection he displayed was submerged beneath the gaze that was both endlessly clear and infinitely dark. “No matter how heavy my personal attachments are, they cannot compare to the slightest fraction of my homeland’s ruin... Qingyue, though I owe you immeasurably, what I need most at this moment is your aid.”

“Our homeland is not their ‘Eternal Pure Land’. It is our Eternal Pure Land.”

“I am the emperor of the ‘Eternal Pure Land, and you are its empress.”

After speaking so much in such a short time, Yun Che’s breathing grew erratic once more. He silently suppressed his injuries. Although his face looked as pale as a sheet, he showed none of the frailty one might expect from such severe wounds. This wasn’t a world that would permit him even a moment of weakness after all.

“Are you done?”

Her voice remained as bone-chilling as ever. “I’ll grant you that it’s a fantastic story. It is so absurd that even those so-called literati of the mundane world couldn’t have concocted it in their wildest delirium. Yet... I find myself believing it precisely because it’s so absurd.”

Her eyes narrowed, their gaze as pure and pristine as the snow of eternal snowfields, yet also utterly devoid of warmth. “If what you said is true—that you are a ruler from another world, an imposter posing as the Divine Son of a Kingdom of God, and a shadow that brings chaos to three Kingdoms of God—would such a being reveal all their secrets without reservation to a Divine Daughter of a Kingdom of God?”

“Even if I really was the ‘Xia Qingyue’ you spoke of, I am now Shenwu Yi and only Shenwu Yi. I am the current Divine Daughter of the Eternal Night Kingdom of God. The Xia Qingyue you spoke of has not left behind the slightest trace of her existence in my life or my knowledge.”

“One word is all I need to expose your ambition and scheme to the world. One word is all I need to turn you to dust. All things considered... Don’t you think that this so-called emperor from another world is a little too naive and foolish?”

“How can someone so naive and foolish deserve to bear the fate of an entire world?”

Gurgle! A metallic sweet taste surged in Yun Che’s throat, though he forced it down and allowed only a few long strands of blood to spill from the corners of his lips. Yet, his eyes remained as clear as ever, like unyielding stars that shone persistently in the dark night.

“I have already given you my answer... It’s because you are Xia Qingyue, the Xia Qingyue who, though gravely wounded by fate, chose to leave behind all the tenderness and kindness to the world, and take on all the pain and death by herself.”

Shenwu Yi: “......”

“Just as your disguise can no longer fool me, I will never harbor any suspicion or hesitation toward you any longer.”

Yun Che slowly lifted his hand. Wherever his palm touched, abyssal dust responded to his call and gathered slowly into a small, grayish vortex.

Shenwu Yi’s beautiful eyes narrowed, and a somewhat intense expression finally appeared on her jade-like face for the first time.

“You can interfere with abyssal dust, can’t you?”

He said lightly, “This is the proof that our fates are connected.”

Shenwu Yi stared fixedly at the abyssal dust in Yun Che’s palm, seemingly lost in thought for a moment.

However, her gaze turned cold, and she abruptly demanded, “Answer me one question.”

“Alright.” Yun Che’s voice softened, mirrored by the gentleness in his eyes.

She asked coldly, “You claimed that I am your wife, married to you since the age of sixteen. If that is true, then why...”

“... am I still a virgin[1]?”

“......”

This question, this “flaw” was so unexpected that Yun Che was unable to come up with an answer immediately.

“Hmph!”

Yun Che’s brief silence drew a cold snort from Shenwu Yi. She was just about to speak again when Yun Che lowered his gaze a little and murmured softly:

“With heaven and earth in harmony, all things transform into purity; men and women unite in proper union, establishing the order of the universe. Here stands Che, the sole heir of the Xiao clan from Floating Cloud City, Blue Wind Empire. At sixteen years of age, he possesses upright bearing and gentle disposition, inheriting his family's reputation for integrity while embodying the grace of unpolished jade. Here stands Qingyue, the beloved daughter of the Xia clan, also sixteen. Her beauty rivals moonlit glass, her elegance transcending the mundane. She has mastered the virtues of a virtuous maiden, possessing the refined grace of orchids.”

Shen Wuyi: “...?”

His low murmur continued, each word piercing Shen Wuyi's soul: “Recall when Qingyue was young and frail, facing imminent peril. When Lord Xiao risked his life to save her, Lord Xia swore an oath with blood-stained tears, thus sealing this sacred union. Now, with ancestral tablets as witnesses and a profound crystal contract as proof, this marriage certificate is written to bind Xiao Che and Xia Qingyue as one.”

“May they henceforth walk hand in hand, sharing the path of cultivation: in prosperity, they shall share abundance; in poverty, they shall remain steadfast; in peril, they shall face life and death together; in peace, they shall harmonize like qin and se. May they uphold this vow throughout their lives, witnessing the boundless Great Way; may they never part, forever bathed in the spiritual blessings of heaven and earth.”

“This document is solemnly established to manifest their pledge.”

Yun Che touched the corner of his lips and wet his finger in blood. Then, he pressed it firmly against his unstained cuff. When he released his grip, a deep and perfect fingerprint was left behind.

Shred!

Yun Che ripped off the sleeve with the fingerprint and pushed it toward the dazed Shenwu Yi. She subconsciously caught it between her fingers, feeling the lingering warmth of the fabric in her palm.

“What... are you doing?”

He smiled in satisfaction when it looked like she had no intentions of discarding the torn sleeve. “I once witnessed your memories after losing you. The ending you chose for yourself was a crimson wedding gown, and...”

“... the marriage certificate that you carefully concealed within your sash.”

It was at this moment that a cry filled with panic and fury erupted, “Big Brother Yun! Shenwu Yi... Stop!!”

The girl’s shout had just reached him when a blinding sword beam cleaved through the darkness and severed the space. It shot straight toward Shenwu Yi’s back with boundless rage.

1. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA TL and ED laughing our butts off. ☜