Against the Gods

Chapter 1798 - Rumours

The air in the Southern Divine Region had grown heavy and restless. The excessively dreadful news had hit them so suddenly that all the god realms were currently fearing for their lives. All the upper star realms were trembling in fear, so there was nothing that was needed to be said about the middle and lower star realms.

The destruction of the Southern Sea God Realm and the submission of the other three king realms had badly shaken them. Furthermore, they had seen the Southern Sea profound practitioners, once the most exalted and worshipped individuals in their divine region, become hunted fugitives who had to keep fleeing for their lives. The fates of the rebels in the Eastern Divine Region unwittingly floated into their minds as they slowly contemplated their own... All of the god realms in the Southern Divine Region had fallen completely silent out of stark fear at this moment.

There were still various hot-blooded warriors, devil-hating clans, and profound practitioners who did not fear death who were trying to link up and form a grand coalition to resist these devils, but very few people dared to heed these calls. They could barely even form any ripples in the current Southern Divine Region.

However, the situation did not get any better for the god realms of the Southern Divine Region; it grew more and more chaotic as time passed.

The three king realms had not been merely paying lip service to Yun Che when they announced the hunt for the fugitives of the Southern Sea God Realm. They moved with frightening speed and force, and it was one of the few times the common profound practitioners of the Southern Divine Region saw their king realms mobilize in such large numbers. Their hunt for the surviving Southern Sea profound practitioners was extremely cruel and relentless, and blood soon dyed every corner of the Southern Divine Region.

The hunt conducted by the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm was the most vicious and cruel of the three, and the tactics they used grew more atrocious with each passing moment. The ones who protected these fugitives were killed, the ones who traveled together with them were killed, the ones who knew where they were hidden but kept silent were killed, even people who seemed suspicious began to get killed... Many Southern Sea profound practitioners who didn’t even have a drop of the Southern Sea’s royal blood were killed by mistake, and the amount of innocent lives that were lost by mere connection had grown beyond count.

While this was happening, Yun Che’s “cause” had also started spreading in the Southern Divine Region.

“Yun Che was the God Child Messiah who saved the entire universe! Without him, the God Realm would have already become a living hell where the Devil Gods ran rampant! But what did he get for saving the world!? He immediately got backstabbed by the realm kings and god emperors who were with him! Furthermore, all of these things have already been broadcast to the entire God Realm. The projections we saw showed the stark and uncomfortable truth to all of us. I mean, even a three year old child can tell who was right and who was wrong!”

“How can Yun Che have been born as a devil!? Would a naturally-born devil be chosen by the Heretic God’s legacy!? Could a natural-born devil truly have gone undetected while being in the presence of that many god emperors over the years? Would a natural-born devil be the first person to step out and confront the Devil Emperor for the sake of saving the world? It was obviously a transformation wrought by the actions of those realm kings and god emperors! If it was any one of you, would you not also become a devil due to the hatred you experienced after that!? I mean he was cruelly and brutally betrayed and hunted down from the very first moment he was vulnerable. They even destroyed his entire family and planet just to conceal the truth! Think about it, would any of us have been any different!?”

“Those realm kings and god emperors were all trembling like rats as they knelt before the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor, which makes the actions they took later, both ungrateful and immoral, even more disgusting! What realm kings!? What god emperors!? Ptooey!”

“Even though the devil race is cruel and terrifying, Yun Che... Man, how can he not take revenge over what had been done to him? If he didn’t, would he still be a man!? Still even be a human being!? Oh, but so many innocent victims were created because of this.”

“Is the true culprit of all these calamities really Yun Che? There’s no way that there are still people who think this way, right? Right?”

“Tsk, the glorious halo that enshrouded the number one god realm in the Southern Divine Region turned out to be a blinding light that hid a boundless amount of sin and infamy... The Ten Direction Deep Sea Realm has already dug up countless pieces of evidence of their crimes from the secret caches that lay hidden under the ruins of the Southern Sea God Realm. These crimes were simply shocking to the ears! They were the sort of wicked deeds which neither the heavens nor the earth could tolerate, and they numbered beyond counting! These crimes were also a hundred thousand times worse than anything the devil race has ever committed!”

“Who would have thought... Who would have thought that the exalted Southern Sea God Realm was actually this filthy and mired in sin!? Just thinking about it causes my blood to run cold. I can’t believe the convictions I held for most of my life turned out to be a colossal joke... What a wretched and sorry state of affairs this is.”

“Now that the ugliness of the Southern Sea God Realm has finally been exposed, I actually feel like telling the devils that they did the world a favor!”

“Wuuuu... Wuuuuuuuuuuu... My wife and daughter were both seized by the Southern Sea God Realm and they even destroyed most of my clan... The heavens do see! They have finally gotten what they richly deserve... Wuuuuuuu...”

“I heard that the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm, the Xuanyuan Realm, and the Purple Micro Realm were all on the side of the devils during the destruction of the Southern Sea God Realm! That is how they managed to destroy Southern Sea God Realm in the span of a single day.”

“The Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm, Xuanyuan Realm, and Purple Micro Realm fell in with the devils without even a fight, and it seems as if they did not fear them either. The Southern Sea God Realm had suppressed them for so many years, so they must have desired to see the collapse of the Southern Sea God Realm as well. They aided the devils to repay Yun Che for saving the world and to apologize to him for being forced into the act of betraying him. At the same time, they also saved the Southern Divine Region from needless war, which in turn saved the lives of the countless people in our region who would have died because of this conflict.”

“News has come out of the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm. The two Sea Gods who were killed were actually assassinated by the Dragon God Realm. The draconic aura left behind at the scene of both crimes was the aura that belonged to the Dragon Gods, an aura that cannot be manufactured or faked in any way! This was also one of the reasons that swayed the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm to throw their lot in with the devils.”

“Are the devils really that scary? Why are our three king realms so willing to aid them?”

.........

News, rumors, gossip and guesses... spread through the Southern Divine Region like a plague and even started to spread beyond the confines of the divine region.

Before the profound practitioners of the Southern Divine Region could even process and understand the first wave of “news”, they were already being battered by the next wave. This unrelenting flood of information made it hard for them to think objectively.

As such, their thoughts were silently being changed by this explosion of information.

Furthermore, many facts that were known to the rest of the world were also mixed in with these rumors. For example, the truth that was broadcast from the Eternal Heaven God Realm was repeated and expanded upon many times. However, there was also some news that seemed to toe the line between truth and falsehood, and there were even some pieces of news which were just patently ridiculous.

The catch was that the objective wasn’t even to get them to believe all of these rumors.

The real objective of these rumors was to appease these “righteous” folk and give them a reason to placate their sense of right and wrong. As long as they could convince themselves that they were still on the “path of righteousness”, that would be enough.

As such, the sins that the Southern Sea God Realm was hiding were slowly dug out and exposed. These sins were slowly being magnified every step of the way, to the point where their destruction was demanded by the public and their continued existence would have been a stain in the eyes of the heavens.

The words “vengeance”, “victim”, “messiah”, and “the universe owes him a debt” were broadcast over and over again. This image slowly and silently grew stronger and stronger as it quietly suppressed the fact that he was the one who had plunged the God Realm into a hell of war and disaster.

Furthermore, the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm, Xuanyuan Realm, and Purple Micro Realm were no longer viewed with contempt and mockery. They slowly started to be viewed as “the enlightened ones who cared about the lives of those living in the Southern Divine Region”.

To any outside observers, this change was simply ludicrous and absurd, but it was truly happening in the Southern Divine Region.

The ultimate effect of this change was that it had silently killed off any thoughts of resistance within the Southern Divine Region, something which had already been very tenuous in the first place.

Southern Divine Region, Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm.

The ones who inherited the divine power of the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm were known as Sea Gods. Even though the energy they released when using their powers was the color of the blue ocean, the characteristic of their profound power was not water. Instead, it was a unique power called the “Deep Sea Divine Power”. When they used it, the power raged about like a stormy sea, shaking the area around them as it flipped everything upside down. It was a power that truly fit its name.

At this time, the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm was preparing for a special occasion... but if one were to be brutally honest, it was also the most humiliating day of their lives.

The barriers of their core Deep Sea Divine Region had all been taken down today. They were, for all effects and purposes, throwing their doors wide open for their incoming guest of honor. Meanwhile, all of the Sea Gods had lined up in two rows, and they immediately imitated Cang Shitian when he prostrated himself on the ground to welcome a figure shrouded in a thick fog of malice.

Half of the Sea Gods, along with the majority of the Deep Sea Divine Guards behind them, gritted their teeth silently as their bodies trembled in outrage and shame.

They were the cornerstones of the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm, yet they were currently paying such gross obeisance to the devil who had thrown the entire Southern Divine Region into chaos! To add insult to injury, they were doing it in the heart of their own home!

What a huge disgrace! What an absurd joke!

However, not a single hint of shame had appeared on the face of their emperor. In order to welcome Yun Che, he had personally planned and organized this grand gesture. In fact, he had simply sunk to his knees the moment Yun Che arrived and they even saw a look of fervor appear on his face for an instant.

“Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm King Cang Shitian respectfully welcomes the Devil Master. May your boundless black light spread through every corner of my realm!”

God Emperor Shitian’s voice boomed across the sky, each word a thunderclap that shook the heavens. However, it didn’t contain a single trace of anger or discontent. He was shouting as if he was afraid that his voice wouldn’t reach every nook and cranny of this divine region.

As he raised his head, he saw Yun Che approaching and a fanatical light started to burn in his eyes.

This was the greatest gamble of his life. Northern Divine Region versus Western Divine Region, and he had thrown all of his money on the Northern Divine Region! Yun Che versus the Dragon Monarch, and he had gone all in on Yun Che!

As for his chances of winning? Even he wasn’t able to calculate them, because no one truly knew just how strong either region truly was.

However, he would still bet on Yun Che a thousand times over. This was because he had already planned a way out if he lost, and victory... the mere thought of victory sent waves of ecstasy coursing through his very soul.

Furthermore, since this was the greatest gamble of his life, he naturally had to put all of his chips on the table.

At the very least, he would be the most loyal of the Southern Divine Region’s three god emperors until the Northern Divine Region showed any signs of clear inferiority to the Western Divine Region.

The ground was made up of sky-blue divine jade, and the air seemed to flow around him like water. This was the first time Yun Che had stepped into the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm, but he no longer felt the nervousness or wonder he used to feel when he visited a king realm for the first time.

A deep and gloomy black light gathered in his eyes. The fervent devotion that Cang Shitian had displayed had caused him to choose this place, but he believed that he wouldn’t be here for very long.

The Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm had submitted willingly, the Xuanyuan Realm had been scared into submission, and the Purple Micro Realm had effectively been enslaved. This coupled with his “cause” had effectively neutered the Southern Divine Region as a threat to himself. As such, he could now proceed to take on his biggest enemy with no worries.

The Western Divine Region!

It was only by breaking the Western Divine Region and its leader, the Dragon God Realm, that he could truly claim supremacy over the entire universe. When that time came, no one in the God Realm could pose a threat to him any longer. The Southern Divine Region, Eastern Divine Region, and Western Divine Region... The fate of all the star realms and the lives of every creature in the universe would lie in his hands.

The swift consolidation and movement of the power of the Northern Divine Region was the next thing on his agenda, but he had full confidence in Chi Wuyao. He was sure that she would deliver a most satisfactory result.

The Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm was finally able to personally come face to face with the darkness spreading out of the north. The Devil Master, who could dye the blue skies of the God Realm black, had arrived with his retinue of devils. The internal struggle going on in their hearts and souls only lasted for a few more moments as it was devoured by an irresistibly dark and heavy coldness.

The Three Yama Ancestors, the Yama Emperor, the two Brahma ancestors, and the devilized Caizhi... The auras which naturally radiated from their bodies made the Sea Gods feel as if they were teetering on the edge of the abyss. Their terror slowly deepened as they finally experienced the power that had destroyed the Southern Sea God Realm.

Discontent, resentment, and agitation... All of these emotions were swiftly smothered by what seemed like countless Devil Gods. They did not even dare to show the smallest hint of them.

The atmosphere soon turned strange due to the tremulous “welcome” on display, but Yun Che simply ignored it as he walked straight into the Deep Sea Divine Region. He allowed Cang Shitian to act as his guide, but the moment he entered the imperial hall, he walked straight toward the seat that belonged only to God Emperor Shitian and plopped himself down on it.

“Your Magnificence, the hunt for the remnants of the Southern Sea is already underway. Due to your strict command, no one in the Southern Region dares to hide or protect these felons. Furthermore, the internal chaos in the Xuanyuan Realm and the Purple Micro Realm was not as serious as we had expected, and we will only need seven more days to extract all the resources from the ruins of the Southern Sea God Realm. Meanwhile, the rumors that have been circulating in the Southern Divine Region are growing more and more effective...”

As he knelt before Yun Che, Cang Shitian faithfully delivered his report in a respectful manner. His meticulous but reserved reporting style made it hard to believe that he was one of the god emperors who bowed before no one.

This god emperor, who had often been viewed as an undisciplined and erratic headcase, was actually dreadfully efficient when it came to executing tasks.

As Yun Che sat down on “his” throne and quietly listened, only two people stood by his side. One was Qianye Ying’er and the other was Caizhi, and they were as silent as he was.