Against the Gods

Chapter 2015 - Exterminate

Partially Edited Chapter - Rubble

Ximen Borong’s chief hallmaster was carrying his alliance master and escaping to the north as quickly as he could. The four Thousand Blade Sect profound practitioners had already dived into the sea of sand and were escaping in different directions as well [1].

They were Half-Step Divine Extinction Realm profound practitioners after all. While Yun Che was slaughtering the three Boulder Profound Sect elders and Zhai Kexie, the rest had already escaped almost fifty kilometers into the distance.

Yun Che turned around. The escaping auras felt so clear in his spiritual perception that he could practically touch them.

He took a moment to look down on Yun Xi, whom he was still hugging tightly against his chest. Her half-lidded eyes lacked the pain she should be feeling from her injuries, shock, excitement, schadenfreude, nothing.

It was like everything that was going on had nothing to do with her. It was like she wasn’t a living being, but a clay doll that was missing an expression.

Yun Che slowly touched her forehead with his sword arm and temporarily sealed off all of her senses. Then, he looked up into the sky and released his profound handle.

The profound handle morphed into a dragon and let loose a roar like nothing the Qilin God Realm had ever heard.

The sand within five thousand, no, fifty thousand kilometers of Yun Che was kicked up into the sky like sea waves.

Countless spatial rifts ripped open in the world where its very laws were crumbling, and it looked like the blue sky itself was shattering like a mirror.

The escaping Ximen Borong and chief hallmaster blacked out instantly and collapsed head first into the raging sea of sand. The four Thousand Blade Sect profound practitioners were flung out of the sand with their eyes rolled to the back of their heads. They were also spasming like four fish who had accidentally gotten themselves stranded on a beach.

Yun Che pointed the Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword downward, and crimson lightning surrounded its blade. It instantly crossed fifty kilometers of space and trapped the six disoriented experts.

Crimson lightning crackled as they were pulled back to Yun Che at incredible speeds. They all thought they might just be able to reach the entrance before it was too late, but now, they were pulled back all the way to Yun Che’s feet several times faster than when they were escaping at full speed.

When they finally recovered their consciousness and looked up, they vaguely saw Yun Che floating above their heads and staring down at them with pitch black eyes. The color reminded them of the legendary Abyss of Death at the heart of the Endless Fog.

Wan Lei forced his mouth open, but he couldn’t make a single sound.

There was neither fear nor hope in his unfocused eyes. There was only a kind of… dumbfoundedness that Ku Xian had worn prior to his death.

He couldn’t understand why a monster like Yun Che had appeared in this lowly Qilin Abyss Realm. He understood even less why he had thought to provoke such a monster.

Shred!

The crimson lightning that had already wrapped itself around the six profound practitioners so tightly that it sank into their bones let out a shrieking noise that sounded like it came from the mouth of an ancient monster. A devastating flash later, all six bodies were ripped to shreds.

Yun Che had destroyed his enemies’ willpower and protective profound energy with his dragon soul before crushing it all in one strike… Although his power rivaled that of a Half-God right now, it was something only he could possibly do.

Wan Lei’s upper body rolled helplessly across the sand. He could feel his life swiftly fading from his body. His vision was growing increasingly blurry, but he couldn’t stop staring in Yun Che’s direction.

“You’re… Owl Butterfly… Kingdom… of…”

He said this because he saw a thick, dark aura leaking out of Yun Che’s devilish flames.

Only profound practitioners from the Owl Butterfly Kingdom of God were capable of producing a dark profound energy.

The sand churned, and whatever he was going to say was buried eternally along with his body.

Ximen Borong’s final thoughts were much simpler than Wan Lei’s.

Why… did I spend all that effort to enter this dog shit Qilin God Realm…

Fucking Burning Sand Sect…

………

Bang!

Lie Qianhong kicked a massive rock to smithereens while swearing hatefully, “That fucking Qilin Worship Alliance!”

“Father!” Lie Zhuoyang hurriedly stepped forward and consoled him. “We’re long past the point of no return. Don’t worry, father. I and my brothers and sisters will do our best to make up for missing the Qilin God Realm.”

“You’ve never entered the place, so you don’t understand,” Lie Qianhong sighed, “There are some things in life that ‘hard work’ cannot make up for.”

His voice quickly turned grudgeful again, “If Ximen Boyun hadn’t miraculously survived the Endless Fog, if the Qilin Worship Alliance hadn’t recruited that Long Jiang, they wouldn’t have amounted to anything!”

As someone who had never entered the Qilin God Realm, Lie Zhuoyang’s ability to swallow the loss was much greater than his father’s. He continued, “Fortune and misfortune are two sides of the same coin. We might have failed to enter the Qilin God Realm this time, but who knows, our loss might spur the entire sect to cultivate twice as hard as before.”

“Also, I’ve always been a believer of hard work. Resources and opportunities are important, but nothing is more important than hard work and discipline.”

Lie Qianhong relaxed and stared at his son, the jewel of his family. Pride and relief washed away his anger and he said, “Well said, son. Well said!”

“Your old man may be a screw up, but at least you are a hundred times better than their son! You won’t be inferior to them even though you didn’t get to enter the Qilin God Realm!”

“So what if we missed out on the Qilin God Realm’s resources? The old fucks could use it when they enter their coffins! Come! Let us return to our sect!”

The Burning Sand Sect was undoubtedly the biggest loser of the Qilin God Conference.

However, they could never imagine that their horrendous defeat would result in them becoming the greatest sect in the Qilin Abyss Realm… the kind that could not be threatened in the short term either.

It would take Lie Qianhong at least three months before he finally recovered from his shock.

Back to the present, at the entrance of the Qilin God Realm.

Ximen Boyun was frowning and staring at the spatial profound formation that made up the entrance.

Just now, he thought he had glimpsed an unnatural ripple and, since he was a Half-God and an Abyssal Knight, he chose to stare at the entrance closely instead of overlooking it. Just a few breaths later, an unusual ripple appeared on the spatial profound formation once more.

At first, it was only one location. Then, more ripples appeared, and the duration of each ripple was longer than the last.

He knew then that he wasn’t seeing things.

As the Abyssal Knight responsible for supervising the Qilin God Realm, of course he knew the truth of this secret realm.

The rapidly increasingly spatial ripples were clearly a sign that the laws of the Qilin God Realm were going out of control! Once it collapsed, the entire Qilin God Realm would collapse as well!

As for why it was collapsing now of all times, it could only be because the Qilin God had died!

Even before he returned from the Pure Land, he already learned that the final Qilin was nearing the end of its lifespan, and that it might pass away at any moment. But to think it would be today of all days!

Ximen Boyun couldn’t remain calm any longer. If this was a normal secret realm, everyone inside would notice the oddity and escape in time. But the Qilin God Realm was a world where sandstorms and rockstorms were a constant. It was entirely possible they wouldn’t be able to tell a normal sandstorm from a sandstorm caused by the collapse of the secret realm.

By the time space itself started crumbling earnestly, it was unlikely the participants would be able to escape at all. And if the entrance were to collapse first, then it was all over for the people inside the secret realm.

After all, the space had been founded using the Qilin God’s life origin and created using the Abyssal Monarch’s own divine power. There was just no way a Half-Step Divine Extinction Realm profound practitioner could break out by force. They could only be sundered apart and vanished into the eternal void.

Ximen Boyun didn’t care if the others died, but the brother he respected the most, the core of the Qilin Worship Alliance and their most talented disciples including his own son and nephew… were all in there.

He became so impatient that he tried to barge his way through the entrance.

Bang!

As expected, all he felt was a terrible rebound that sent him flying a few kilometers and stirred up his energy and blood.

The restriction on the entrance had been created by the Abyssal Monarch himself. Not even an Abyssal Knight could breach it by force.

The Qilin God Realm was already at max capacity, so he couldn’t even grab a Qilin God Realm profound practitioner and toss them through the entrance to warn the others either.

Ximen Boyun sucked in a deep breath and stared at the entrance. He forced himself to calm down.

There was nothing he could do from outside the Qilin God Realm. He could only pray that Ximen Borong or any Qilin Worship Alliance member would notice the situation and escape as soon as possible.

……

The crimson lightning continued to twist and turn across the sand, but the bodies were long gone. The rolling sand had buried them so thoroughly that not even a trace of blood could be seen.

Yun Che didn’t leave, however. Instead, he raised the Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword and brought it down heavily.

BOOM—

Three kilometers of sand were kicked up into the air. It blotted out the light and shrouded the sky.

When it came crashing down, a hunched figure fell down from the sky as well.

His arms were drenched in blood, and he was shivering in fright. Concealing himself “perfectly” underneath the second had exhausted nearly all of his willpower, but he was still unable to escape this unimaginable nightmare.

“D…D… Divine Son Yun, Sovereign Yun…” Helian Jue begged fearfully on his hands and knees. “I-I-I-I know you won’t kill me… because of Lingzhu…”

“You can take Lingzhu if you want… you can take anything you want…”

His body was shaking at least ten times every time he said a word, but he was still doing his best to crack open an obsequious smile.

He could feel cracks spreading across his internal organs… as it turned out, the saying that one’s internal organs would shatter when they were stricken by terror wasn’t just a saying after all.

Yun Che didn’t spare Helian Jue a glance or cancel God Ash. He simply hugged Yun Xi tightly, confirmed that her wounds were under control, and flew toward the west. It was where the exit was.

Helian Jue collapsed like a puddle of flesh. But before he could even breathe out a sigh of relief, Yun Che’s profound handle transformed into a Golden Crow and pierced right through his body. It then chased after Yun Che, who had already disappeared into the horizon.

Boom!!

The golden sun engulfed Helian Jue instantly. The emperor only managed a despairing scream before he was burned down into a pile of bones, and then into a pile of ash.

……

The draconic roar, explosions, raging sandstorms, quaking space, and sundering skies didn’t escape the profound practitioners still waiting near the entrance. They were frightened to put it mildly.

“What’s going on over the east?”

“They’re not… fighting each other over the Qilin Bone Spirit Orchid, are they? Should we head over to help?”

“No! The sect master would send us a sound transmission if he needed us!”

“That terrifying roar… was it Long Jiang’s?”

“Also, the space around us is shaking and cracking here and there. Could it be…” Ximen Hong had heard many stories about the Qilin God Realm from Ximen Boyun before, so he was able to put two and two together. “Could it be that the Qilin God Realm is about to collapse? The qilin light to the east seems to be gone…”

“Heh. You’re overthinking this,” Ximen Qi sneered, “Everyone in the Qilin Abyss Realm, be it those who had entered the Qilin God Realm or not, knows that the place is constantly filled with sandstorms and rocky disasters. Is this all it takes to scare you so, young alliance master?”

He pointed at the exit and said, “If you’re scared, then you may get out immediately. But remember what uncle said! Once you head out, you’ll never be able to enter it again. After all, the Abyssal Monarch’s gift isn’t fit for cowards.”

Ximen Qi was the man both Ximen Borong and Ximen Boyun acknowledged to be the most talented profound practitioner of his generation. Naturally, he disliked Ximen Hong, the heir of the Qilin Worship Alliance greatly and often found excuses to insult him.

Ximen Hong frowned deeply but said nothing. He definitely didn’t take a step toward the exit.

Suddenly, the sky to the east distorted unnaturally. It was swiftly followed by the rumblings of thunder. At first, they thought that it was just a normal rumble, but it kept growing louder until it felt like ten thousand thunders exploding in rapid succession.

“What is… Uwah!”

RUMBLE――――

The crowd instinctively cried out as a cyclone of sand blew over without warning. Over half of them were knocked to the ground in an instant.

When they looked up again, they saw a man standing about three hundred meters in the sky. He was just standing there, but the entire eastern sky turned dark for some reason.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE――――

The late-coming thunder appeared from behind, and it shook everyone’s heart and devoured all sound. When the crowd’s scattered eyes finally managed to focus on the man in the sky, they realized that he wasn’t actually alone. He was holding a woman who was half-drenched in blood, and a massive sword that was so imposing they couldn’t breathe.

“Yun… Che?”

They muttered in shock and confusion. Everyone recognized him, but no one could believe it was him.

I was because his eyes and expression resembled a hateful devil god who had just awakened from his slumber. The pressure he was giving off was so terrifying that it was like the forcefield alone was enough to tear their body and soul to shreds.

Author’s Note:

God Ash—Elemental Lockdown

???—??? ???

1. Tactically speaking, one of the best tactics to escape a pursuer who doesn't have you surrounded. ☜