Against the Gods

Chapter 1882 - Heart Set on Speeding Home

The entire world knew that Mu Xuanyin was Yun Che’s master.

Several years ago, Mu Xuanyin had literally defended Yun Che to the death outside Blue Pole Star. It had been a choice and action that risked the very existence of Snow Song Realm itself.

It was such a sacrifice that anyone who had witnessed it with their own eyes couldn’t help but wonder whether they were more than just master and student.

There was only shocked silence beneath Emperor Yun City. If anyone had an objection to offer, they didn’t voice it. After all, Yun Che currently stood above every living being in the God Realm, and the rules were his to rewrite as he pleased. Forget romancing his master, he could do far worse than that, and no one would dare to say a word about it.

Of course, the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect had the biggest reaction out of everyone present.

After all, they were there in person when the discipleship ceremony took place.

“I knew it,” Mu Tanzhi muttered with a sigh. Mu Xuanyin’s unnatural actions and decisions back then all made sense now.

Mu Huanzhi was gnashing his teeth. “Yun Che, you anim—mmmm!”

Mu Tanzhi sealed his friend’s mouth with ice right before he committed heresy. “Are you trying to die? That’s Emperor Yun to you!”

Mu Huanzhi slapped Mu Tanzhi’s arm away, but the indignation on his face hadn’t disappeared. “I thought that the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon freezes one’s emotions completely at peak cultivation, so why did the sect master…”

“Ceh!” Mu Tanzhi clicked his tongue disdainfully. “Your own Feixue is head over heels over Emperor Yun. Hypocritical much?”

“…” That shut up Mu Huanzhi completely.

Back in Emperor Yun City, Mu Bingyun snuck a curious peek at her sister and noticed that she was completely unperturbed by the visible shock coming from the realm kings. Not even the diamond dust circulating around her was disturbed in the slightest.

It made sense though. She had literally died and come back to life. There was nothing left in this world that could sever the bond between her and Yun Che anymore, much less something as trivial as the judgment of the people.

Meanwhile, Qi Tianli was still continuing his announcement:

“… an ‘Enforcement Bureau’ will be established in each and every upper star realm, middle star realm, and lower star realm of the four Divine Regions. It will be responsible for maintaining the law and order of all realms.”

“Cang Sh*tian shall be made the Chief Enforcer, the head of all enforcers… Furthermore, a deputy chief enforcer shall be appointed to each divine region. The Great Glazed Light Realm King Shui Qianheng will oversee the Eastern Divine Region; the Blue Dragon Divine Attendant Qing Ruo will oversee the Western Divine Region; Chief Enforcer Cang Sh*tian will oversee the Southern Divine Region; and the imperial concubine Yuwu will oversee the Northern Divine Region…”

“The enforcers will answer to Emperor Yun and the Great Empress only. Furthermore, the king realm realm kings and the enforcers will be supervising each other. If an enforcer is discovered to have committed a crime themselves, they will be considered to be doubly guilty!”

Absolute silence dominated the entire God Realm. There wasn’t a single person—especially the rulers—who didn’t understand what the creation of the “Enforcer Bureaus” and the “Enforcers” meant. It meant that the Chief Enforcer all the way down to the lowest Enforcer of a lower star realm would be clutching every inch of the God Realm in a death grip in the name of Emperor Yun very soon. That the announcement was so brief and to the point almost felt like an understatement of the scale of the matter.

After that bombshell announcement was the announcement of various rules:

“… dark profound energy is but an offshoot of all the profound energies that exist in this universe. Neither are better or more righteous than the other. Therefore, all profound practitioners are forbidden from discriminating, hurting or exiling a dark profound practitioner from now on… all dark profound practitioners are required to set down their resentment and live in harmony with their new neighbors as well. Anyone who does harm to another profound practitioner without good cause or reason shall be punished equally.”

It was as if the universe itself had let out a collective sigh of relief.

Since Yun Che had been betrayed by the three divine regions, and had returned with the Northern Divine Region behind him, everyone was afraid to even imagine the vengeance he would bring.

This was especially true for the Northern Divine Region. It was an entire divine region worth of resentment that had been accumulating over a million years. As the victor, Yun Che could’ve elevated the Northern Divine Region above all other divine regions with just his words. He could’ve given them the absolute freedom to trample over all the other divine regions just like they had suffered for a million years.

However, not only had the Devil Master granted them equal status to the northern region’s profound practitioners, but he had even stopped them from venting their righteous hatred.

There should’ve been nothing in the world that could absolve the northern region’s profound practitioners from their million-year old resentment. The Devil Master who led them out of their cage and reversed their very fate… was the only exception.

They couldn’t help but feel grateful toward him despite themselves. Even the establishment of the Enforcers suddenly felt much more tolerable than before.

“… profound practitioners of the three divine regions are encouraged to marry the profound practitioners of the Northern Divine Regions, but only if the persons involved are truly content with one another. Forced marriage is considered a serious crime!”

……

“The Wood Spirits are the universe’s purest beings, and a gift from the ancient Creation Gods. Therefore, the act of hunting Wood Spirits is considered an unforgivable sin! Anyone who breaks this rule shall be sentenced to death alongside their sects and clans, not even a God Emperor is exempt from this rule. Hunt a Wood Spirit, and you will die!”

“If a Wood Spirit is discovered to have been killed in a domain, everyone from the lord of the domain to the realm king themselves will be punished severely!”

The new ban on the hunting of the Wood Spirits could only be described as horrifying.

Not only were God Emperors NOT exempted from the crime of hunting a Wood Spirit, but everyone ranging from the domain lord all the way to the realm king would be punished severely for it. Harsh didn’t even begin to describe the new rule. It was biased to the absolute extreme in favor of the Wood Spirits.

The God Realm had always had a ban on the hunting of Wood Spirits, but Yun Che had witnessed its effectiveness with his own two eyes.

An entire Wood Spirit Royal Family had been slaughtered for poor reasons. The first of its two remaining survivors, He Lin had saved his life. The second, He Ling had left her tears in his heart and willingly bound herself to him as a poison spirit for eternity. She was also the only person to have witnessed his fall from grace and return to it in its entirety.

After everything the Wood Spirit Race had done for him, no amount of bias or repayment was considered too much.

……

“… profound practitioners of the God Realm are forbidden from harassing the lower realms. Further more, no sect or profound practitioner is allowed to travel to a lower realm planet without having reported to an Enforcement Bureau first!”

……

“Fen Daoqi is appointed the new emperor of the Burning Moon Realm… Yan Wu is appointed the new emperor of the Yama Devil Realm. She will command the Yama Devil Realm and its subordinate realms… Yan Tianxiao is bestowed the title “Ardent Devil Yama Emperor”. His memorial tablet will be placed in the Ardent Devil Hall of Emperor Yun City, and his descendants shall receive the direct protection of Emperor Yun for all generations to come. All descendants of the Ardent Devil Yama Emperor will be exempted from death, even if they commit a crime that is deserving of it.”

……

While the Qilin Emperor was announcing the rules to every living being in the four Divine Regions…

At a small country called Eastern Frost in the Northern Divine Region.

Eastern Frost was a small and insignificant country located in the Eastern Ruins Realm. Its nation’s power hadn’t changed much throughout the years either. However, its status had been elevated to an unprecedented height because of one tiny fact: it was rumored that the Devil Master had stayed in Eastern Frost for a brief period when he first arrived in the Northern Divine Region.

It was even rumored that he had once bedded its princess, Dongfang Hanwei.

As a result, there were almost no middle or upper star realms within the Five Nether Ruins who hadn’t heard of Eastern Frost today.

For the past couple months, countless experts, hegemons, and even realm kings had visited their tiny country with great gifts in tow. They were especially humble when they were in the presence of Dongfang Hanwei.

It was a kind of honor their humble country had never even imagined since its foundation, much less received.

Right now, everyone was watching the projection of Yun Che and listening to the Qilin Emperor declaring the new rules. As the sky darkened, the unprecedented grand coronation ceremony that shattered every custom and tradition finally seemed to be approaching its end.

On the ground, Dongfang Hanwei, the princess of Eastern Frost was staring at the projection high up in the sky and clasping her hands before her chest. Her eyes looked misty, and her mind seemed to be anywhere but there.

The Eastern Frost Monarch quietly made his way to her side before saying, “If you ask me, you should go. Go to the Southern Divine Region and show that you have the courage to take that first step, no matter how impossibly far he is. If nothing else, I don’t wish for my daughter to fall into a different cage after the Northern Divine Region has just escaped theirs.”

“…”

There was a long, long silence.

The Devil Queen, the God Emperors, the Lady Goddesses… even the exalted Witches were only worthy of becoming his imperial concubines.

In the end, Dongfang Hanwei closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. She still didn’t say a word, but her fingers unconsciously tightened around a pure white jade that was hanging in front of her chest.

She ultimately didn’t take that first step.

Yun Che had never returned to the East Ruins Realm or Eastern Frost after he left the Five Nether Ruins, and he never would.

Many years later, after Dongfang Hanwei would inherit the throne from her father and become the new Eastern Frost Monarch, she would become a great ruler who was known to have governed fairly, united her people, and helped her country prosper. She would borrow the lingering presence of Yun Che and transform Eastern Frost from a small country into a true nation that occupied one corner of the realm.

She would never marry, and she would remain single even until the end of her life.

Not only that, but every citizen of Eastern Frost knew that their monarch wore a pure white jade around her neck. It was perfectly normal, and it was completely unworthy of her status, but she was never seen without it…

Many, many years later, when she breathed her last and finally departed this mortal world, the jade would break to reveal a single strand of hair…

……

A new era, a new set of rules, and the first true great emperor in the history of God Realm.

When the image of Yun Che’s cold, unrelenting gaze had imprinted itself permanently into every God Realm profound practitioner’s soul, when the grand coronation ceremony had finally reached its end, and when the projection had finally vanished from the sky, the people abruptly realized that multiple Enforcement Bureaus had already been set up in their star realms.

They might even have stood right next to an Enforcer and never known about it.

No one knew how deep Emperor Yun’s influence ran. No one dared to even venture a guess. What they did know was that the rules that were just announced would be their new life’s commandments. It was either obey, or die.

In reality, Yun Che himself had no idea how deep his influence ran. After all, he had left everything on that side of things in Chi Wuyao’s care. However, he was certain that Chi Wuyao hadn’t completed the web that would exercise absolute control over all the star realms of the three divine regions. It was physically impossible to achieve in half a year even if she was an omnipotent god.

However, the “careless” reveal of Enforcement Bureaus had still achieved its intended purpose. It painted yet another heavy coat of darkness upon the already suffocating three divine regions.

It was only a matter of time now. When the Enforcers grew in strength, and the great web was fully formed, Yun Che and Chi Wuyao would finally have complete control over the entire God Realm.

Yun Che wouldn’t allow any harm to befall Blue Pole Star ever again.

Just the same, Chi Wuyao wouldn’t allow any harm to befall Yun Che, not even if the possibility was miniscule.

What this meant was that starting now, she would keep an eye on all the geniuses who were born among the four divine regions.

It was a bit ironic, but some star realms held huge celebrations after their realm kings returned home when Yun Che himself hadn’t done anything of the sort after his own grand coronation ceremony. Whatever the reason for the celebration might be—relief for having escaped a gruesome fate, or joy at the emergence of a new era—the Northern Divine Region was definitely not the only divine region which was welcoming a new lease on life.

Not only that, their actions misled some star realms into thinking that they would be punished if they didn’t celebrate after the grand coronation ceremony, so one celebration grew to ten, ten grew to a hundred, and a hundred grew to every realm in the three divine regions. The scale of the celebrations were no joke either. It was as if they were afraid that the world wouldn’t hear about them.

Yun Che was eulogized across every star realm, the kings realms he annihilated were lambasted as sinner realms, and the once highly-esteemed Eternal Heaven God Emperor was crucified as the absolute worst sinner of the current God Realm. Even the once almighty Dragon Monarch was described as an evil dragon who was rightfully punished by Emperor Yun.

It was incredible how certain things like rumors could spiral completely out of control in just a short time. When countless years have passed, and the people of the future look back on this part of history, it is impossible to say what the written records, the official history, will look like.

None of this mattered to Yun Che though.

From the moment he appeared in Emperor Yun City and cast his shadow down upon the entire God Realm, his cold, dark eyes… had never strayed from the direction of Blue Pole Star.

This is taking too long, but… at least it’s finally over.

The Heretic God’s last wish, my duty, the root of all calamities, the calamities themselves and everything else… it’s finally all over.

There were only three days left before Yun Wuxin’s twentieth birthday.

He couldn’t wait to return home.