Chapter 2170 – A Fantastical Dream Upon Eternal Night
At the entrance of the Pure Land, the Kingdom of God entourages were leaving one after another. Everyone was harboring differing thoughts and feelings in their heads, but one thing was certain: they were all excited and eagerly looking forward to the day they entered the Eternal Pure Land. Assuming everything went well, they, the key players of their respective Kingdoms of God, would not only be reborn but also become the architects and witnesses of a new chapter in history.
Dugu Zhuyuan, accompanied by a contingent of abyssal knights, personally saw them off at the entrance.
“Dreamless Divine Regent, please do not forget that the Pure Land expects you to show up ten years later. This is the shared fate of the Pure Land and all Kingdoms of God we’re talking about. We ask that you do not hold back when consolidating the kingdom’s resources.”
“During these ten years, the Abyssal Monarch, the High Priests, and everyone in the Pure Land will be investing all their time and effort into preparing the opening of the Eternal Pure Land. For this reason, the Abyssal Monarch specifically warned that He is not to be disturbed even for the gravest of matters. If necessary, simply contact this one, and the Pure Land will step in.”
Meng Kongchan nodded thoughtfully and replied affirmatively. Then, he set foot on his profound ship.
The profound ship flew out of the Pure Land’s gates, but it did not speed up and leave immediately. In fact, it was leisurely hovering in the sky. Standing on the stern, he stared at the gates that were slowly but surely growing farther and farther away from his vision.
The lifeless shadows of the Eternal Night Kingdom of God showed up after the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God was gone.
Dugu Zhuyuan bowed a little before beginning, “Lightless Divine Regent, please do not forget that the Pure Land expects you to show up ten years…”
He was repeating the message when suddenly, he cut himself off and slowly furrowed his brow. It was because extremely unnatural shockwaves were suddenly washing out of the pitch-black palanquin before him. Not only were the shockwaves worsening at a rapid pace, but they were also accompanied by the heavy and chaotic-sounding breathing of the Lightless Divine Regent as well.
“Supreme one? Did something happen?” Shenwu Mingque took a few steps closer and asked worriedly.
Shenwu Mingque’s voice did not stop the shockwaves. On the contrary, it kept growing worse until the palanquin nearly came apart. Behind the violently shaking curtains, Shenwu Yanye’s unbearable voice came, “Xueyan… Xueyan… is that you… have you… finally forgiven me…”
Her voice was just as hoarse as ever, but it completely lacked the usual coldness and unkindness. In fact, the overly shaky voice was carrying a faint trace of… self-abasement that should never appear in any Divine Regent, much less the Lightless Divine Regent.
“……”
Dugu Zhuyuan looked up with a look of puzzlement.
“Hmm?”
Yun Che stood beside Meng Kongchan and looked at the gates of the Pure Land with him. He said thoughtfully, “Is this… the ‘big gift’ you mentioned earlier?”
Meng Jianxi narrowed his eyes slightly. “She may be the Lightless Divine Regent, but the consequence of angering Father is severe… let her drown in the dream Father had woven for her and trample over the dignity she just won in the Pure Land a thousand times over!”
Yun Che gave Meng Kongchan a sidelong glance. The man looked just as amiable and refined as usual, but the eyes watching Shenwu Yanye were as deep and dark as a bottomless abyss of silver.
“Supreme one, are… are you okay?” Shenwu Mingque was frightened by this unusual display as a matter of course. Even her voice was trembling visibly. This was only made worse by the fact that Shenwu Yanye had called out the name, “Xueyan”… this was a taboo no one in the entire Eternal Night Kingdom of God dared to so much as breathe.
Shenwu Yanye paid no attention to her surroundings. Her confused voice continued to drift from the palanquin. “I killed your parents and so many of your clansmen… I tortured you for so many years… I thought there was no way you would ever forgive me… Xueyan… you really forgive me…”
“Xueyan… I ‘see’ you! I ‘see’ you… Xueyan!”
Every daughter of Eternal Night was unconsciously stepping away from the palanquin. Everyone was wearing varying degrees of shock and terror on their faces. They had seen the Lightless Divine Regent succumbing to rage and insanity too many times already, but never had they seen her acting like this.
Bang!
There was a loud crack, and the pitch-black palanquin actually exploded into pieces. At the same time, Shenwu Yanye stumbled out into the open. She was clad entirely in black from head to toe. Even her head was covered in a thick, heavy veil.
The next moment, she staggered forward and made straight for Dugu Zhuyuan.
“……”
Dugu Zhuyuan frowned deeply. “Lightless Divine Regent, you—”
He just finished when his pupils contracted to pins, and his words died inside his mouth. The surrounding abyssal knights were gasping in shock, their faces disbelieving.
When Shenwu Yanye pounced forward, the black veil she wore suddenly split into countless pieces. As a result, the face she had hidden for heaven-knows-how-long was fully exposed by the light.
In the past, Shenwu Xihua wasn’t so beautiful that she could topple cities with her looks alone, but she was still definitely a beauty. However, the woman before them… it was difficult to believe that she was even human.
Shenwu Yanye’s skull was completely twisted and covered in at least a dozen protrusions and depressions. Some were shallow, some were deep, all of them terrible. Half of her skin was smooth and glossy, but the other half was covered in brown wrinkles.
Most horrifying were her facial features… her left eye tilted upward, and the brow bone pressed downward. The eyeball itself was nowhere to be found. Her right eye had also shrunk to a half-closed slit. Between the two eyes sat a nose so sunken the nostrils were barely discernible.
Her jawbone was severely misaligned and forcefully pulled the upper and lower lip apart. Less than one-third of them were overlapping, and the rest were revealing jagged, uneven teeth. It was an unspeakably hideous and terrifying sight to put it mildly.
Everyone in the Abyss knew that Shenwu Yanye had miraculously inherited her divine origin despite bearing only seventy percent divine essence. However, she suffered huge bodily destruction as a result. Since then, she never showed her true appearance in public, going so far as to cover herself in black even when she was visiting the Pure Land.
Everyone thought that the woman was unwilling to show her true face because she could no longer maintain a youthful appearance after losing much of her lifespan… However, the truth was much, much worse.
As it turned out, it wasn’t her vision, her voice, and her lifespan that were ruined. Her skull and her facial features were utterly warped by the power of a True God as well. In terms of orderliness of facial features alone, she was uglier than even an abyssal ghost of the Endless Fog.
Meng Kongchan was watching from the Dreamweaver profound ship, and even he had subconsciously leaned back a little when he saw her face.
Dugu Zhuyuan was a pure, unadulterated battle maniac and a killer of countless abyssal beasts and abyssal ghosts. He, of all people, did not know the meaning of fear. However, the sudden visual impact snapped his soul strings, and he panicked for just an instant. That instant was enough for Shenwu Yanye to grab his arms.
Further back, the Star and Moon Divine Regents were walking and conversing with each other. Not far behind them was the Pray Eternal Divine Regent. They all came to a stop and looked shocked to their core.
“Xueyan… look! I already used the ‘Secret Tome’ to restore my appearance, voice, and vision. Look at me now! Listen to my voice… You forgave me, so nothing happened, and everything can begin anew, Xueyan. Xueyan!”
The Lightless Divine Regent’s uncontrollable power was terrible to say the least, and Dugu Zhuyuan’s arms threatened to break at the seams. However, the man could not feel even the slightest bit of pain right now. At the same time, the panic and fear he had forgotten for heavens-know-how-long had reentered his pupils.
He erupted his profound energy and tried to break free, but Shenwu Yanye’s hands did not budge even a little. Against the power of a True God, his mightiest strength might as well be an ant’s struggle.
“Is that…” Wushen Xing muttered in suspicion. The next moment, he glimpsed a silver glow emanating from Shenwu Yanye’s twisted, terrible eyesockets.
He exchanged a glance with Wushen Yue. There was no doubt about it. It was… the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God’s Fantasy Queen of the Night!
“Mon… Mon… Monster!” Pan Buzhuo backed several steps and exclaimed in shock and terror[1].
Pan Yusheng cast a sidelong glance at the yet undeparted Dreamweaver profound ship and remarked indifferently, “Did Shenwu Yanye piss off Meng Kongchan somehow? Hmph. Of all the people she could’ve provoked, she chose that smiling god of plagues?”
“She was screaming so arrogantly and disparaging every Kingdom of God at Eden’s Crown earlier. Now, she’s going to lose all of her dignity and more.”
A soul cultivator’s biggest taboo was extreme mood swings. As the man with the mightiest soul of the Six Kingdoms of God, Meng Kongchan often wore a faint smile that was neither imposing nor arrogant and seemed utterly harmless. However, those familiar with the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God knew too well that anyone who crossed the line with the Dreamweaver Divine Regent would suddenly find themselves begging for the sweet mercy of death despite not suffering a single scratch on their person. His methods could be completely untraceable if he so wished, and his smile would not waver even a little as he watched them die.
“I am not Shenwu Xueyan, Lightless Divine Regent! Unhand me!”
Dug Zhuyuan struggled again and again. By now, various cracks were appearing across both his arms. “This is the Pure Land! Even if you are a Divine Regent, this is no place for you to act out!”
He did not know that the harsh rebuke he channeled the full force of an abyssal knight to unleash entered Shenwu Yanye’s ears as the soft, loving words of Shenwu Xueyan.
“Okay… to think I could hear such words from you in this life. From now on, I will never go against your will, doubt your words, or act out anymore. I will give you everything you want.”
She let go of one of Dugu Zhuyuan’s arms and slowly reached out toward his face, causing his pupils to widen to the point where they threatened to rip apart at the seams. “Xueyan… so many years have passed, and yet your looks haven’t changed a little… Do you know how many times I’ve dreamed… regretted… and hated… Three parts of my hatred go to you, but the rest goes to myself… When I woke up, I had to force myself to channel all of my hatred toward you…”
Goosebumps were breaking all over Dugu Zhuyuan’s body. He sucked in a deep breath and let out a huge roar… but all he managed to do was to kick up a few strands of Shenwu Yanye’s hair. Not only did it fail to break the mystified, dazed expression on her dreadful face even a little, but it actually knocked back the abyssal knights who tried to help him far, far away.
The Lightless Divine Regent’s fingers ultimately landed on his face, and Dugu Zhuyuan’s whole body instantly became as taut as a bowstring that could snap at any moment. He did not dare to take a single loud breath, and his face was losing color at an unbelievable rate[2]—he had encountered several near-death experiences throughout his life, but not even those had made him turn as pale as he was now.
On the Dreamweaver profound ship, Meng Jianxi was frowning with deep confusion. “What’s going on? Didn’t Shenwu Yanye loathe Shenwu Xueyan to the bone, so much so that her hatred radiates to every man in the world? So why… is she acting like this toward Shenwu Xueyan in her dreams?”
“……” Meng Kongchan frowned a little but did not answer.
Yun Che mulled over this for a moment before answering, “This means that the grudge between the Lightless Divine Regent and Shenwu Xueyan is not as clear-cut as it was rumored. If I have to guess… back then, Shenwu Xueyan did, in fact, harbor feelings toward Shenwu Yanye. However, by the time Shenwu Yanye realized this, she had already committed an irreversible mistake. Unable to bear the consequences of her own actions and suffering from the mental distortion caused by inheriting a level of divine power too great for her vessel to endure… she became what she is now.”
“But,”
Meng Jianxi looked at Meng Kongchan. “When I first became a Divine Son and learned about the past of the kingdoms from Father, he declared that Xuewu Xueyan had never truly loved Shenwu Xihua, that he was simply using her from the start until the end.”
Yun Che shook his head. “The statement itself is deeply flawed.”
“Huh??” Meng Jianxi turned to look at him.
Yun Che said slowly, “Love is an endlessly complicated subject. Sometimes, those involved could barely understand what was going on, much less outsiders. Senior is the Dreamless Divine Regent, and yet he had made such a conclusive assertion regarding someone’s love affair. This could only mean… that senior and Shenwu Xueyan were acquaintances back in the day.”
Meng Kongchan did not respond to that.
Meng Jianxi spent some time thinking about this when understanding hit him, “The reason Father said this… is to protect his old friend’s last bit of pride??”
Meng Kongchan withdrew his gaze and turned his back on Shenwu Yanye. “All that is in the past now. I wouldn’t say that we were old friends, but we were acquainted to an extent. I can only say that the outcome of Shenwu Xueyan’s story ultimately boils down to his own doing. As outsiders, the full details will forever remain beyond our grasp, nor is there a need to delve deeper. Simply take it as a lesson.”
“The Chief Priest will soon arrive. We should leave.”
It was at this moment that a gaze that touched the heart and soul landed on Yun Che. He subtly shifted his gaze and looked at Shenwu Yi, but found that she had already withdrawn hers. Right now, she was looking at Shenwu Yanye with surprise and worry. Her palm was held up naturally, and her fingertip was slightly pointed toward her left ear.
“……” Yun Che’s vision slowly sharpened at the same time her lips quivered a bit. The movement was infinitesimal, yet Yun Che saw it as clear as day.
Seven… orifices…
The next moment, the Dreamweaver profound ship sped up and took off in a blast that sounded like a profound thunderclap from the nine heavens. It vanished into the horizon in just the blink of an eye.
The wind strengthened into the force of a gale, and his robes and hair fluttered wildly in the air. Yun Che closed his eyes and wore a small smile on his face. He was unconsciously touching his solar plexus with his palm as well.
Seven orifices… I’m not sure what she’s talking about yet, but at least she took the initiative to communicate with me.
Even if she had lost all of her past, even if she was completely severed from her world…
She… is still her.
Boom—
At the Pure Land, a soul-shaking boom exploded like a giant hammer striking a heavenly bell. The silver light in Shenwu Yanye’s pupils instantly crumbled, and the silver queen of the night suspended above her head shattered without a sound.
The Chief Priest slowly lowered his arm and glared at Shenwu Yanye. “You are a Divine Regent, and you do not even realize that you are under the spell of the Fantasy Queen of the Night! What an embarrassment you are!”
Shenwu Yanye abruptly tossed Dugu Zhuyuan away. As if she still hadn’t fully awakened from the dream, she stiffly touched her own face… and let out a ghoulish howl.
“MENG—KONG—CHAN! I WILL KILL YOU!!”
“Shenwu Yanye!”
The Chief Priest addressed the woman by her name. Such was the weight and force of his voice that it suppressed even her terrifying temper. “The Eternal Pure Land is nigh, and the fate of the entire Abyss is at stake! At Eden’s Crown, the Abyssal Monarch had given the order that all Divine Regents must do their utmost to preserve their divine origins before the passage to the Eternal Pure Land is open!”
“If anyone dares to start a war of Divine Regents and deplete their divine origins during this time… they shall receive the Pure Land’s most severe punishment!”
“Whatever grievances and grudges you harbor, they can wait until after you have set foot on the Eternal Pure Land!”
A new black veil appeared in Shenwu Yanye’s hand, and she slammed it on top of her skull. “We leave!”
Two short words, and yet the fury, bloodthirst, and sheer violence contained within those words sent terrible chills across every daughter of Eternal Night’s body.
At the back, Shenwu Yi was standing with the support of Shenwu Youluan. This was the case since the beginning.
Shenwu Yi snuck a glance at Shenwu Yanye’s back for just an instant. No one noticed a thing.
I see now.
For the longest time, Shenwu Yi had been puzzled by something. However, what just happened had cleaved those doubts in two.
1. Jesus, Mars you’re kinda rubbing it in this guy’s worthlessness at this point. ☜
2. No seriously, dude, why are you overreacting this much? Just how much of a virgin are you? ☜