Against the Gods

Chapter 781 – Fierce Battle within the Devil Nest

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boooom…

The Moon Slaughter Devil Nest was enduring the most terrifying calamity it had ever experienced in its existence as raging flames and sinister darkness filled every nook and cranny. The space within was crazily collapsing in on itself and the thunderous explosions sounded like they were being produced by a heavenly bell that was being repeatedly smashed by an enormous mountain… At this moment, if there were other profound practitioners on the scene, even if they were strong individuals who were at the Emperor Profound Realm, just these earth-shaking explosions would be enough to instantly cause their energy and blood to flow in reverse, rendering them unconscious.

And if they were slightly weaker than that, they might simply be killed on the spot, completely shattered in body and soul.

One man and one devil had already exchanged hundreds of blows in this sealed world of darkness. It was as though the both of them had come to an agreement of sorts, as their strength continued to rise with no end in sight… both man and devil kept pushing each other and testing the limits of each other’s power.

The catastrophe that had engulfed the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest grew more and more intense and it was as if the small world had been thrown into the mouth of an erupting volcano… Only the half-bloomed Netherworld Udumbara Flower remained undisturbed, even though it was right in the eye of the storm. It gently and leisurely swayed as it continued to let out those ghastly wails every now and then.

Bang!!!

Yun Che’s sword exploded forward but the body of the blade was smashed aside by the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign. Flames which contained the strength of the heavy sword exploded against a stone wall that was more than one hundred fifty meters away. Immediately, an extremely shrill and piercing cracking sound muffled the explosions of the flames as a long crack which stretched all the way to the floor appeared on the stone wall.

To make a crack in the walls of this place was even harder than smashing apart an enormous mountain with the stroke of a sword!

Yun Che’s blade sliced through the air as he lost his balance, but he swiftly gathered himself. Grasping the five hundred thousand kilogram Heaven Smiting Sword easily in his hand, he immediately counterattacked, fiercely smashing the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s devilish claws aside.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Booooom…

The Moon Slaughter Devil Nest continued to shake as stone fragments began to fall from the crack in the stone wall that Yun Che had smashed. Before those fragments even hit the ground, they were swallowed up by an immeasurably frenzied vortex of energy.

After more than ten thousand exchanges, it was remarkable that the man and the devil were still evenly matched. From the start to now, neither party was able to gain even the slightest advantage over the other.

Yun Che’s expression was extremely gloomy, because this was no simple exchange of skills, this was a fight to the death. Between him and the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, one of them had to die… Yet his eyes were shining with an excitement which only seemed to grow fiercer still with each passing moment.

On the other hand, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was growing more and more alarmed.

He was a devil, a true devil from the ancient times and he was a ruler among the devils at that! Moreover, it was tacitly understood by all devils that humans were merely an inferior lifeform that was not much different from a scurrying ant. In the past, a casual wave of his hand would have been enough to destroy a planet that contained billions of humans.

So even though his life and soul origin ad sustained incredible damage and his current strength was not even a fraction of what it used to be, the contempt that he had for humans still remained carved into his very bones. Even though he was in his current weakened state, the aura that Yun Che exuded was still many times weaker than his own… and even though Yun Che held a bizarre blade that caused his power to recoil and his soul to tremble uncontrollably in tear, in the eyes of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, he was still an insect.

However, from the moment he had first exchanged blows with Yun Che, shock began to resonate within his soul. Not only did this shock not grow weaker with each exchange, it was instead growing more and more intense with each passing moment… Initially, he had not used all of his strength, because when he was facing a lowly creature such as this, using all of his might would be a huge stain on his name. After realizing that Yun Che’s strength was far greater than he had initially anticipated, he also began to increase the power that he used. But no matter how much his power rose, the other party was able to match it. And right now, it had reached the point where he was using ninety percent of his strength, yet he was still unable to suppress Yun Che.

The power that radiated from that vermillion greatsword alarmed him greatly. Given such power, every swing of that sword should expend a great amount of Yun Che’s energy, as he merely had the body of a mortal. Shockingly, even after a thousand sword strokes, not only had his blows not become softer, they were actually growing stronger and stronger with each swing…

This was a lowly creature with an inferior body and aura. Yet he seemed to hold a power that was not inferior to the power his devil god body bestowed him!

This damnable human being, he was definitely desperately holding on just by the skin of his teeth! Given his pathetic aura and his pathetic body, how can he continue to release such a level of power!?

The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s expression warped fiercely as black light suddenly exploded out of his fiendish pupils. The highest level of the Illusory Devil Tome of Eternal Night was instantly channeled and dark devil energy surged up from within his entire body without reservation.

Yun Che’s brows knit together as he let out a great roar. All of the muscles in his arms swelled, veins twisting and joints popping explosively as he shot forward using both feet as a spring. Berserk profound energy flowed from his entire body into his arms before surging into the Heaven Smiting Sword. Without holding back, he fiercely swept the sword forward.

Boooooom!!!

The dark earth beneath Yun Che’s feet had completely fractured and stone fragments were billowing in the air like leaves in his wake. He heavily smashed into the wall behind him with a loud crash… the overly strong stone wall caused the enormous power that he had endured to completely rebound back into him, rendering his entire body numb. His consciousness instantly blanked as he nearly spat a large amount of blood out of his mouth.

The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was not in a much better state than he was. He had been sent flying overhead by Yun Che’s sword smash. His huge devil body had smashed into the stone ceiling above before violently rebounding off of it. After that, he had rolled for tens of meters before he finally smashed into a stone wall.

When the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign finally stood up, his eyes and expression had completely changed. Even his breathing had grown incredibly rough and heavy.

He… a mighty devil lord, to think that he had actually been sent flying by a human being!!

Sent flying by a human being!!

Sent flying!!

It was like a devilish curse that resonated in his ears and his soul again and again. When he had been wounded by Yun Che’s sword at first, it was because he had been in a total state of shock and so he did not react fast enough to defend. But this time around, he had clearly used all of his powers in an all-out clash, and there were no cheap tricks involved either, yet he was still sent flying in the end!!

Sent flying by a human being!

What kind of a humiliation was that!?

It also clearly proved that… the human who stood in front of him, the one that he had thought to be no more significant than an ant, actually had power that rivalled his own!

Yun Che had gotten to his feet before the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign and even though he had endured an attack from his opponent at full strength, the five hundred thousand kilogram Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword had not budged from his grip. Though some of his bones had sustained hairline fractures and more than ten of his veins had snapped, to him, these were merely superficial injuries. He stabilized his energy and blood before slowly sauntering towards the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, “Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, you kept calling me a pathetic and lowly human being, so here I was, thinking that you were hot stuff… But it turns out that you only amount to this much after all!!”

“You… dare… to…”

Regardless of Yun Che’s reckless mockery, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had already become so incensed and ashamed because of this humiliation that all his rationality had practically flown out the window. During the Primordial Era, even in the world of devils, he was still one of the devils that stood above the rest! Mere human beings were not even qualified to kneel in his presence!

Yet right now, he had been sent flying by a human, had been wounded by a human, was being looked upon contemptuously by a human and had even received mockery from a human.

This was like no humiliation he had ever experienced before in his lifetime!!

“Light… less… Eternal… Night!!”

As he chanted those words in a voice filled with enough hate to encompass the universe. Boundless darkness descended from above like a pitch-black curtain. It instantly plunged Yun Che into a quagmire of darkness as that terrifying devouring power immediately assaulted both his body and soul. Every cell in his body seemed to be swarmed by countless dark and sinister hands which tried to drag him towards the abyss of death.

Yun Che instantly recognized it. This was actually the move that Fen Juechen had used during their duel several months ago. The Dark Domain that he had released when he was on the brink of defeat, regardless of the cost.

During that moment, all the light had been swallowed up and it was as if he had been pulled into an endless dark quagmire… It was only the Heaven Smiting Sword that was still able to emit that unrelenting vermillion light within the boundless darkness. When he brandished the sword, that streak of vermillion light had easily torn through the unending night.

The Lightless Eternal Night that was used by the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was many times stronger than the one that Fen Juechen had used. But the vermillion light of the Heaven Smiting Sword continued to flash in the midst of that dark abyss! In this dense and inky darkness, the light emitted by the sword was even more eye-catching.

“Break!!”

“Yellow Springs Ashes!!”

The Heaven Smiting Sword smashed forward heavily, instantly slashing apart this world of darkness as its sweeping blade formed a true vacuum which extended out more than ten meters in diameter. The frenzied Golden Crow flames ignited and spread like wildfire as they fiercely penetrated every nook and cranny of this dark world. In the blink of an eye, the world within the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest seemed to be engulfed in crimson black lava that looked tyrannical enough to annihilate everything.

Darkness and fire tore at one another and in the midst of this catastrophic collision, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign and Yun Che resumed their battle once more. This time, the man and the devil no longer bothered testing each other’s strength. Every claw and sword stroke was sent out with full force. The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s expression was so warped that it barely resembled anything normal anymore. The roars coming from his mouth no longer held his previous devilish majesty, instead, they sounded malevolent and terrifying. All of the veins in Yun Che’s body were burning and every stroke of his sword was accompanied by a hoarse cry of fury.

Lightless Eternal Night, Yellow Springs Ashes… Both of them had activated startlingly powerful domains, yet both attacks were confined within the tiny interior of the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest. The current Moon Slaughter Devil Nest could not merely be called a world that had been stricken by calamity, it had practically become a hell of destruction! It would not matter if the living or the dead entered this place, because within a few short seconds, they would all be reduced to nothingness.

Even though it had become such a realm of destruction, both opponents still continued to crazily claw at each other within.

Yun Che’s clothes had long since been blown to shreds. His skin was a startling crimson-black color and his entire body was covered with hundreds of big and small holes, some of which were so deep that they nearly exposed bone. Many clusters of flame burned on the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s body as well but the two seemed to be completely indifferent to their own injuries and their opponent’s injuries. They did not care about what damage their respective domains wrought on each other and every single attack that was being made was extremely fierce and deadly… They were doing their utmost to consign their opponent to the grave!

One devil and one man had fought to the point where both parties seemed insane. Within the Sky Poison Pearl, Jasmine had been quietly observing this vicious fight. Just like the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, she had never thought that Yun Che could go toe to toe with the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign without exhausting all of his trump cards.

The most important reason for this was Hong’er… in other words, the existence of the Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword!

Hong’er’s presence allowed Yun Che to completely escape the spiritual suppression that the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had inflicted on him purely based on the fact that the level of his power far exceeded that of Yun Che. At the same time, this same suppression was instead visited upon the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign himself!

During this fierce and vicious duel, Yun Che had managed to maintain his eager and composed state of my mind. Yet the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, who had ten thousand times the amount of experience in cultivating his mental state, had been in a state of constant frenzied rage… and within this rage, Jasmine could still detect the uncontrollable trembling of his soul.

Furthermore, when the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s power approached Yun Che… or more accurately, approached the Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword, it would instantly weaken by a full thirty percent! Such a great decline in power was not accompanied by any grand show or series of events, it simply seemed as if that power had suddenly vanished into thin air!

In other words, even though the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was using all of his strength, Yun Che only endured what amounted to seventy percent of his full power.

This point was something that Yun Che had not noticed but the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was well aware of it. Jasmine had also clearly detected this as well.

With all these factors added together, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, who was clearly far superior to Yun Che in every aspect, was drawn into a deadly struggle with Yun Che, something that he had not even dreamed possible.

And the source behind all of these factors was the Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword!

A devil slayer sword was the bane of all devils.

But the constraints that the Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword had placed on the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s far exceeded the effects of any other devil slayer sword that were recorded in the memories that Jasmine had inherited.

The name “Heaven Smiting Devil God Sword” that the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had at first shouted out and then denied had caused an enormous ripple to resonate in Jasmine’s heart and up till now, she still could not calm her heart and mind.

——————————

The world inside the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest was being turned upside down. But the outside world which was separated from it by that shimmering blue barrier was calm and peaceful.

The sky had gradually darkened but Feng Xue’er remained rooted to her original position. No matter how hard the ocean winds blew, she had not moved even half a step. Those pretty eyes which contained the most beautiful and brilliant light in the world remain focused solely on the shimmering blue barrier in front of them. Her gaze did not waver for even a second, as if she was afraid that she would miss something in that instant.

Xia Yuanba flew over from far away before finally arriving at Feng Xue’er’s side. It had been more than eight hours since Yun Che had been sealed within the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest. In these eight hours, he had paced around the barrier that surrounded it countless times. He had tried his hardest to find anything abnormal about the barrier but he was unable to detect even the slightest ripple of profound energy.

Feng Xue’er stood there in a complete daze, her eyes vacant. Xia Yuanba’s heart was pained at that sight and once more, he tried to comfort her in a soft voice, “Little Sister Xue’er, you should go back to the Ocean Palace to rest first. Your father and family are definitely extremely worried about you. I will keep watch over this place and the moment Brother-in-law comes out, I will inform you immediately… you know, your father came here about an hour ago. He surveyed us from a distance before leaving again.”

“…I want to wait here for Big Brother Yun.” Feng Xue’er murmured in a soft and gentle voice, “If I am not here when he comes out of that place, he will definitely be worried.”

“…” Xia Yuanba gave a quiet sigh and did not attempt to advise her any further. He flew to the spot that was directly above the middle of the barrier as he tried to detect any changes that occurred in this silent world. Before today, he had never thought that this girl, who was more gently beautiful than the purest snow, would have such a stubborn and obstinate side to her.

“Ah but women… they really are troublesome.” Xia Yuanba quietly muttered to himself with emotion, “I think it would be better if I don’t find a wife for my entire life.”