Against the Gods

“Did something happen to the girl?” Qianye Ying’er immediately figured out the reason behind Yun Che’s change in expression and aura.

The darkness imprint Yun Che left inside Yun Shang was clearly imbued with a bit of his soul energy.

However, it had only been less than two hours since they left the Heavenly Handle Yun Clan… and whatever had happened to her during this time was clearly serious.

Yun Che didn’t answer Qianye Ying’er. His expression was dark and frigid… it was because the emotions he felt from the soul energy he left in Yun Shang were pain and despair!

Yun Che’s speed hit an astonishing level as wind propelled the Extreme Mirage Lightning. He was almost fast enough to pierce through space already.

In less than fifteen minutes’ time, he had returned to the Yun Clan’s lightning region.

Still holding onto Qianye Ying’er, Yun Che passed through the lightning region without pause… the clouds in the sky moved slightly, but didn’t fire any lightning at them.

When they entered the Heavenly Handle Yun Clan’s domain, Yun Che slowed down and expanded his spiritual senses in every direction. However, he wasn’t able to sense Yun Shang. Clearly a barrier was blocking him from sensing her the normal way. He closed his eyes temporarily to search for the soul energy he left inside Yun Shang, and soon he set his gaze on the Yun Clan’s ancestral shrine and flew toward it.

Yun Che and Qianye Ying’er were the Heavenly Heaven Yun Clan’s honored guests, and when they left, they hadn’t told anyone about their departure besides Yun Shang. Since the lightning region didn’t react to them, no one knew that the duo had left and returned to the clan.

The Yun clansmen on the ground were surprised to see them zipping across the sky like lightning, but no one thought to warn someone or stop them in their tracks.

They were getting closer to the ancestral shrine, but Yun Shang’s life force was growing weaker and weaker. A short time later, a deep purple colored barrier that encompassed the entire shrine entered their vision.

The barrier wasn’t particularly powerful. It was there mainly to warn people away from the shrine. After all, who would intrude the ancestral shrine with such an obvious barrier in place? Not any Yun clansmen at least.

“Break it,” Yun Che said darkly.

The golden colored soft sword Qianye Ying’er hung at her waist flew out and caused a thousand-meter crack to appear in the air.

The golden crack immediately split open the purple lightning barrier and destroyed it in an instant.

An angry roar broke out of the ancestral shrine when the barrier shattered, “Who dares!?”

Bang!!

The thick and heavy stone door at the entrance was destroyed violently. The group of people who just finished constructing the Blood Transfer Formation and were about to perform the taboo were surprised when they saw who the intruder was.

The twenty two strongest profound practitioners of the Heavenly Handle Yun Clan were currently present in the ancestral shrine. Just the spirit pressure they emitted was enough to make most people unable to breathe.

Yun Shang was at the center of these auras. Deathly pale and barely breathing, she lay on the ground like a lifeless blade of grass. Beneath her, the flickering light of an eerie, red colored profound formation painted her body in red.

Divine Sovereigns naturally had strong minds, but everyone including Yun Ting looked panicked, not angry, when Yun Che suddenly barged into their ancestral shrine.

They couldn’t tell anyone about the fact that Yun Shang was destroyed, much less the forbidden blood ritual. However, both facts had been exposed to the outsider, Yun Che.

The silence lasted for a fraction of a second. Then, Yun Che appeared next to Yun Shang and gently lifted her into the air.

His movement finally finally broke the group out of their shock. Yun Xiang strode toward Yun Che and said, “Let her go!”

However, an ancient hand caught him by the arm and stopped him in his tracks. Yun Ting shook his head at Yun Xiang and said powerlessly, “Leave him. He’s Shang’er’s savior.”

Yun Che was the one who took care of Yun Shang during the half a year she went missing, not to mention that he was the one who saved her in the first place. It was obvious to everyone that Yun Shang held very special feelings toward Yun Che, and relied on him heavily… Yun Shang’s destruction had already caused them great regret, but the sight of Yun Che only deepened that feeling even further.

“What did you people do to her?” Yun Che asked while pressing his hand against Yun Shang’s chest. He didn’t look up, and his voice sounded so calm that not even Qianye Ying’er could detect any emotion from it.

The same couldn’t be said for He Ling, however. The devil in Yun Che’s heart was clearly letting out a low, guttural growl. She hurriedly said, “Please wait, Master… everyone here is good to Yun Shang. There must be some kind of reason.”

Yun Ting let out a sigh and said, “Yun Che, you’re the one who saved Shang’er, and you share a close relationship with each other. I suppose we shouldn’t hide the truth for you since you’ve seen this with your own eyes.”

“We were working together to refine the ‘Sacred Yun Ancient Pellet’ our ancestors left behind. It was to improve Shang’er’s talent and cultivation. However, we never imagined that the pellet spirit would undergo a transformation during the hundreds of thousands of years it was sealed… we had no choice but to drive the rampaging pellet energy into her profound veins to preserve her life.”

Yun Ting closed his eyes painfully and continued, “We destroyed Shang’er and the hope of our clan… this is a grave error we cannot change. You’d be right to scold us for our failure.”

Yun Che was circulating both the Divine Miracle of Life and the Great Way of the Buddha right now. Yun Shang’s face slowly gained a bit of color as light profound energy carried the Rage God’s energy into her tiny body.

He had no doubt that Yun Ting was telling him the truth. The purple pellet that was sealed by Divine Sovereigns and emitting a strange spirit energy at the side, and the remaining pellet energy inside Yun Shang’s body were proof of Yun Ting’s words.

Suddenly, Qianye Ying’er spoke up, “If that’s true, then tell me, what’s with this Blood Transfer Formation?”

The people balked slightly when they heard her question.

“What do you mean?” Yun Che looked up and asked. He had heard her tone, and seen the obvious change in everyone else’s expressions.

Qianye Ying’er once told him that the Brahma God Clan had a unique bloodline power. Naturally, they knew some taboo arts such as the transference of bloodline power.

Yun Che might not recognize the crimson profound formation beneath Yun Shang, but Qianye Ying’er knew what it was the moment she saw it.

“This is a Blood Transfer Formation used to transfer one’s bloodline power from one person to another. It is considered an incredibly cruel sacrificial formation, and it is considered a taboo in any realm.”

“The sacrifice’s blood and vitality are fully drained so that their bloodline power can be transferred or fused into a person of a similar bloodline.”

Yun Che, “...”

Qianye Ying’er knew full well what kind of reaction her explanation would draw out of Yun Che, but she continued to pour oil onto the fire and said, “I guess the girl still has her uses even after she was crippled by them. They were planning to use a taboo art to strip her of her purple heavenly handle. It’s no wonder someone wants to annihilate their clan.”

The Blood Transfer Formation was an absolutely taboo formation that went against the human way and even the natural way. It was even a taboo among taboos to the Heavenly Handle Yun Clan. Literally no one here had ever come into contact with something like this before, and they definitely didn’t think that they would be forced to operate such a cruel taboo one day.

Yun Che didn’t move or react at all. Still circulating the Divine Miracle of Life, the memory of Jasmine and Caizhi being sealed into a sacrificial formation passed through his eyes...

The fact that Qianye Ying’er had revealed the Blood Transfer Formation, exposed their sin and taunted them in the end caused their humiliation to turn into anger immediately.

“Impudent!” The great elder let out an angry growl.

The second elder rose to his feet and sent his aura crashing down on Qianye Ying’er like a tidal wave while saying, “Kneel and apologize, and you’ll get to live!”

“Stop!”

Yun Ting said before canceling out Yun Fu’s aura with his own. He sighed heavily and said, “You saved Shang’er before. You’re our honored guests and our benefactors… Leave in two hours, and we will not ask you to pay for your crimes of intrusion and offense.”

Yun Xiang said urgently, “But if they were to spread word about this…”

“So what if they did?” Yun Ting let out a bitter laugh. “We chose to do this, didn’t we?”

Yun Che lifted Yun Shang and slowly turned around. His gaze slowly swept across the twenty two Divine Sovereigns in front of him before finally stopping at Yun Ting. He asked, “Why did you do this?”

He sounded incredibly calm. It was as if he was a stranger asking about something that didn’t matter to him.

“Put down Shang’er and get out of our shrine!” Yun Xiang said while stepping forward before Yun Ting could give him a reply. The young man stared coldly at Yun Che before continuing, “You’ve barged into our ancestral shrine and offended our clan. Our clan chief has given you much face by treating you as mercifully as he has… get out of this place right now before I change my mind!”

“Answer me. Why did you do this?” Ignoring Yun Xiang’s angry yell completely, Yun Che calmly repeated his question a second time.

But for some reason, a chill suddenly entered Yun Ting’s body out of nowhere.

“This… definitely isn’t what we wanted.” Yun Ting’s reply sounded incredibly weak.

Yun Che continued to speak in a calm tone. “From the looks of this ancient pellet, only a Divine Spirit and above can consume it safely, and that’s assuming the person is supported. Yun Shang has only entered Divine Tribulation Realm, and the chances of something going wrong even if she had the support of a Divine Master are very high… are you seriously telling me that you weren’t aware of this?”

“You are the ones who destroyed her with your own hands, and this Blood Transfer Formation is how you repay her?”

Yun Ting looked away and said sorrowfully, “The deadline is close... Everything—be it the Sacred Yun Ancient Pellet or the Blood Transfer Formation—is for the sake of an uncertain future. We don’t have another choice.” 

“Clan Chief, you don’t have to explain anything to him,” Yun Xiang said and pointed his palm straight at Yun Che. He continued, “I don’t care how close you are to Shang’er, but… she is a member of the Heavenly Handle Yun Clan, this is her sacrifice for the sake of the clan. But you are just an outsider from the beginning to the end. An outsider like you has no right to interfere with our business!”

“Your transgressions today have canceled out your earlier favor.” Yun Xiang’s expression and tone turned darker. “So this is your last warning… get out of here now, or you won’t get another chance!”

Yun Che flipped his palm once, and the power of the Divine Miracle of Life changed with the movement. Right now, Yun Che was focusing all of his mind and power onto Yun Shang, and he did not dare to get distracted for even a second… Otherwise, the shrine might already be littered with bodies.

Shang’er was still deathly pale. He looked up from her face and smiled at the people in front of him. He said, “In your eyes, the clan’s interest is far more important than her life. The reason you treated her well was for the sake of the clan. Even when you crippled her and are ready to sacrifice her in a cruel ritual, you still believe you’re in the right because it’s for the sake of the clan.”

“It all sounds reasonable and fair. I will even admit that I’ve no right to interfere with your clan’s business because I am an outsider.”

His gaze slowly swept across the Divine Sovereigns faces as he continued, “To me, her life is far more important than all of yours combined. Going by that logic, does that mean I’d be perfectly in the right if I killed all of you for what you did to her?”