Against the Gods

The Southern Divine Region was one of the dwellings of the gods a long time ago. Later on, it became the battlefield where the desperate battles between the gods and devils were fought. That was why the Southern Divine Region possessed the most divine power inheritances, divine artifacts, and forgotten devil artifacts.

The hidden abode of Heretic God Ni Xuan after he gave up his title was also located in the Southern Divine Region.

Just like the Eastern Divine Region, the Southern Divine Region was ruled by four king realms. The Southern Sea Realm was the strongest king realm of them all, followed by the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm. The Purple Micro Realm and Xuanyuan Realm shared more or less the same strength.

Although they were all king realms, the Purple Micro Realm and Xuanyuan Realm were similar to the Star God Realm and Moon God Realm in the sense that they were relatively weaker compared to the Southern Sea Realm and Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm. But unlike them, the Purple Micro Realm and Xuanyuan Realm weren’t enemies since time immemorial. In fact, they had worked with each other for many years and solidified their relationship through political marriage between members of the royal families to solidify their power in the Southern Divine Region. They had never had big conflicts with each other, and to offend either realm was to offend the other as well.

Together, they were still inferior to the Southern Sea Realm, but stronger than the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm. That was why the king realms of the Southern Divine Region were much more stable and well balanced than the Eastern Divine Region.

After the truth of the crimson calamity was revealed, everyone was shocked by how quickly the king realms of the Eastern Divine Region had collapsed, and how brutal Yun Che’s methods were. The unprecedented events had affected even the relatively distant Southern Sea Divine Region and complicated many emotions.

The innumerable Eastern Divine Region profound practitioners who escaped to the Southern Divine Region also unwittingly amplified the latter’s fear and panic as well.

Out of all the realms in the Primal Chaos, the king realms were the most shocked when they heard of the demise of the king realms of the Eastern Divine Region. And of all the king realms of the Southern Divine Region, the Southern Sea Realm was without a doubt the calmest of them all. Their pride and confidence wouldn’t allow them to be intimidated.

Today was an unusual day for the Southern Sea Realm. Their capital city especially was covered in all kinds of shiny profound formations. The lights were almost brighter than the sun itself.

It was because today was the day of the Southern Sea Realm crown prince proclamation ceremony.

The crown prince proclamation ceremony was of course big news to the Southern Sea Realm. It was because it was also a declaration of the future Southern Sea God Emperor. Everyone had known who the crown prince would be since long ago, but the timing of the proclamation ceremony was so odd that no one had seen it coming until it was announced.

Not only was it happening three quarters of a year sooner than the rumored date, the decision looked like it had been made on the spur of the moment. Considering that the Eastern Divine Region had just succumbed to the Northern Divine Region, what they should be doing now was uniting all the forces of their divine region and dealing with this new threat, not holding this proclamation ceremony.

It wasn’t long before the profound practitioners of the Southern Sea Realm caught the scent of a conspiracy... and the scent only thickened when the flagships of two king realms arrived at the same time. Even better, they were carrying the Purple Micro God Emperor and the Xuanyuan God Emperor themselves.

This was just the crown prince proclamation ceremony, not the god emperor ascension ceremony. Therefore, they shouldn’t have sent more than two of their inheritors to congratulate the Southern Sea Realm, much less attend the event themselves.

An hour later, a gigantic shadow approached the Southern Sea God Realm at incredible speed. Everyone’s face changed when they saw what it was.

It was a cyan-and-black shadow that was over fifty kilometers long. Its fins looked like heavenly blades, its eyes were as deep as the bottom of the sea, and the teeth peeking out of its mouth shone with an intimidating light...

The shadow was a giant shark—literally—and there was no one in the Southern Divine Region who didn’t know its name.

“It’s the Blue Sea Fierce Shark!”

The same exclamation burst out of countless Southern Sea profound practitioners’ mouths at the same time. The shark was the guardian beast of the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm and the personal mount of its god emperor. This meant that God Emperor Shitian had come to the Southern Sea Realm himself!

Somehow, every god emperor in the Southern Divine Region had shown up to attend a simple crown prince proclamation ceremony. Even a blind person could see that something wasn’t right about all this.

Cang Shitian dropped from the sky after the giant shark came to a stop above the Southern Sea Capital. He was accompanied by a man and a woman clad in blue attire only; the two Sea Gods of his realm.

The Northern Hell Sea King, Nan Feihong, walked out of the palace and bowed slightly. He greeted, “Welcome, God Emperor Shitian. My king has been waiting for you. This way, please.”

Cang Shitian didn’t give him a reply. He walked straight through the palace entrance expressionlessly.

A grand feast was going on inside the palace right now. The Purple Micro God Emperor and the Xuanyuan God Emperor were already seated inside. When Cang Shitian walked in, Nan Wansheng rose to his feet with a smile on his face. “We’ve been waiting for you, God Emperor Shitian, but... it looks like you’re unhappy about something.”

Cang Shitian shot the Purple Micro God Emperor and the Xuanyuan God Emperor a glance. He normally acted like the most arrogant and wildest man in the world, but today only a thin, dark smile crossed his lips. “Is that a taunt?”

“Of course not.” The Southern Sea God Emperor narrowed his eyes slightly. “The loss of the two Sea Gods is a disaster for the entire Southern Divine Region. If you have any clues at all as to who the culprit might be, just say the word and all three of us will assist you however we can.”

“Hehe, naturally.” The Purple Micro God Emperor chuckled while stroking his long beard.

“Are we sure this isn’t the work of the Northern Divine Region?” The Xuanyuan God Emperor asked seriously.

“Heh! Where is the sense of sending such a terrifying killer to the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm when they were in the middle of a war against the Eastern Divine Region? I don’t think Yun Che and the Devil Queen would be that stupid.” Cang Shitian snorted coldly before shooting Nan Wansheng a sideways glance. “And even if this is the work of the Northern Divine Region, the fault would fall on you first. You’re the one Yun Che has a beef with.”

Inside the main hall, the expressions of the two Sea Kings and the Sea Gods changed at the same time.

Cang Shitian sat down in the foremost seat of honor to the right. As the second strongest god emperor of the Southern Divine Region, he had always sat at the front when he visited the Southern Sea Realm.

“God Emperor Shitian,” the Eastern Hell Sea King said suddenly while raising an arm, “please sit down in the seats we’ve prepared you and the two Sea Gods. If you need anything else, do not hesitate to call upon us.”

The Eastern Hell Sea King was pointing at the third seat to the left.

Cang Shitian side-eyed him, but didn’t get angry. In fact, an eerie smile crossed his lips. “I see.”

His image suddenly faded without warning. It was an afterimage; his real self was already seated in the seat the Eastern Hell Sea King had indicated. Then, he asked again, “Seeing as you’ve gone through the trouble to set up all this, does that mean that someone from Dragon God Realm will be attending as well?”

“Of course,” Nan Wansheng replied. “The Eternal Heaven God Realm was massacred in a single day, the Moon God Realm was destroyed in one bang, and the Brahma Monarch God Realm was forced to capitulate before they could make even a single move. How could the Dragon God Realm sit still after all this? Today’s event is exactly the opportunity they needed to show their faces, so there’s no way they would miss it.”

“What about the Dragon Monarch? Hasn’t he shown up yet?” A strange gleam flashed across Cang Shitian’s eyes.

“No. That’s the one thing I do not get about the Western Divine Region right now,” Nan Wansheng said.

“The fall of the Eastern Divine Region is most terrible, so the Dragon Gods should’ve reported this to the Dragon Monarch a long time ago. But to this day, he is still nowhere to be seen,” said the Purple Micro God Emperor. “This is not to mention that the official excuse they gave made no sense whatsoever.”

The Dragon Monarch had reached his ultimate limit hundreds of thousands of years ago, so it made no sense that he would undergo secluded cultivation. Everyone knew that he would never experience any meaningful breakthroughs again.

“Assuming that the Dragon Monarch was still unaware of the great change of the Eastern Divine Region, the most likely place he had gone to would be the God Realm of Absolute Beginning. That being said, the nine Dragon Gods should still be able to locate him or send him a message... unless he had shut himself away completely so that no one could interrupt him from whatever he was doing.”

“If your assumption is true, what could possibly drive the Dragon Monarch to take such extreme measures?” the Xuanyuan God Emperor asked. “Not to mention that this timing is way too perfect to be a coincidence.”

“Unverifiable assumptions will only disrupt our minds. We will know the truth after the representatives of the Dragon God Realm arrive.” The Southern Sea God Emperor smiled. “Ultimately, that is the Western Divine Region’s business. Our business... lies here today.”

The atmosphere turned heavy for an instant. Narrowing his eyes, the Southern Sea God Emperor asked slowly, “How many people do you think Yun Che will bring with him?”

Forget them, even the Northern Divine Region should be aware of the real objective of this crown prince proclamation ceremony.

The fact that Yun Che agreed to attend was a good start. All that was left to do was deduce his stance from the number of people he brought with him.

“Hmph.” Cang Shitian let out a grunt. “I’m more interested in the Devil Queen than him.”

“Don’t worry, God Emperor Shitian. The Devil Queen will show up for sure.” The Southern Sea God Emperor smiled confidently. “Yun Che may be the Devil Master, but he cannot be the one who set up all the elaborate plans that led to the downfall in the Eastern Divine Region. Therefore, the Devil Queen is the true core of the devil forces, not him. This means two things: one, there’s no way the Devil Queen would allow Yun Che to show up alone. Two, she will not let the chance to set foot in the Southern Divine Region slip through her grasp.”

Cang Shitian also smiled. “It looks like you have full confidence that the ‘ceremony’ that’s about to happen will go well.”

The Southern Sea God Emperor shook his head. “Oh no no no, I don’t mean it like that. There are just some things in the world that don’t require much thought, especially when all the rulers of this land are gathered in one place... hehehe, hahahahaha!”

.............

Outside the capital city, a small, black profound ark slowly descended to the ground.

Yun Che could be seen emerging from the exit. Behind him were Yan One, Yan Two, and Yan Three.

The natural pressure he carried with him kept anyone from approaching him. In fact, as Yun Che slowly walked toward the entrance, the Southern Sea palace guards froze as if someone had frozen their entire bodies. The only things that still moved were their eyes.

Although they had never met Yun Che in person, images of him had spread throughout the world and planted themselves in the hearts of every Southern Sea profound practitioner. It was to the point where they could identify him with a single glance.

He wasn’t the only reason they were terrified. The three black shadows behind him also contributed largely to that fear.

Just like the other divine regions, the Southern Sea Divine Region’s only way of dealing with the profound practitioners of dark profound energy was execution. But they had never felt such a dark, terrifying pressure in their lives, much less three of them.

When the three Yama Ancestors’ black auras descended upon them, the Divine Kings actually felt like their vision was blackening, and their bodies were falling into a bottomless abyss where there was only eternal darkness.

“Please inform the Southern Sea God Emperor that Yun Che, the Northern Region Devil Master has arrived.”

Yun Che stopped in front of the palace guards and produced his invitation letter. He sounded and looked pretty amiable today.

His voice shattered the darkness in an instant. All the palace guards shivered as if they had just experienced a nightmare. The leader of the guards hurriedly lowered his head before stammering out a reply, “Wel... welcome, Northern Region Devil Master... His Majesty has been waiting for you. I will inform him of your arrival right away.”

Inside the palace, the voice of his guard leader entered Nan Wansheng’s ears. “Your Majesty, Yun Che is here. He is... waiting at the main entrance right now.”

“...” Nan Wansheng frowned slightly before asking, “He’s waiting? He didn’t try to barge in by force?”

“Correct, Your Majesty.”

“How many people did he bring with him?” Nan Wansheng asked.

“He brought three... people with him, Your Majesty.”

“...” Nan Wansheng’s eyes gleamed unnaturally. Things were not going as he had predicted, especially the part regarding Yun Che’s entourage.

Did the boy seriously waltz into his capital city with only three people by his side!?

“Lead him to the main hall immediately! And remember to be respectful at all times.”

“Y-yes, Your Majesty.” The guard leader was still stammering. The mere recollection of the three terrifying shadows that stood behind Yun Che was all the motivation he needed never to disrespect the Devil Master for as long as he lived.

So Yun Che officially entered the Southern Sea Capital, the highest symbol of authority and the heart of the Southern Divine Region.

The capital city of the strongest god realm of the Southern Divine Region was completely different from the Brahma Monarch Capital. The first and deepest impression Yun Che got from this place was that it was a place of absolute luxury. Here, every brick, every tile, every leaf, every bit of wood and even the air itself were permeated with a sense of extravagance. The greed and desire behind all this wealth was completely bare for all to see.

The corner of Yun Che’s lips curled almost imperceptibly as he looked around.

He couldn’t wait to destroy this luxurious, splendorous, beautiful, and dazzling place!