Against the Gods

Chapter 2032: To Steal The Soul

“Killing you directly would be a slight pain in the butt.” Yun Che pretended to look conflicted. “After all, your father left a soul imprint on you. If I kill you, an entire Kingdom of God will be breathing down my back. Ah, it’s so troublesome.”

It was like Yun Che had tossed him a straw. Meng Jianzhou immediately clutched it like a drowning man and yelled hoarsely, “Yes… Yes! You can’t kill me! My father left a soul imprint on me… so you can’t kill me!”

“Let… Let me go! I’ll do anything you ask for, give you anything you want… I have soul crystals, Soul Smoothing Pills…”

It was almost amusing just how much the guy wanted to live. “Oh right, there’s also my Soul Winding Divine Robe… I can give you everything!”

“Hah!” Yun Che sneered disdainfully. “Everything that is yours will belong to me if I kill you, won’t it?”

“N-No… You can’t kill me…” Meng Jianzhou shook his head in panic. “My father… he’ll never let you go…”

Yun Che suddenly chuckled and stepped closer to Meng Jianzhou. His mock worry disappeared into nothing, leaving behind only a scornful sneer. He looked down on the prince like he was looking at a clown and said, “Meng Jianzhou, you truly are hopelessly stupid.”

“If you told me that the Dreamless Divine Regent left a soul imprint in you and nothing else, then maybe I really would’ve spared your life. But you were so stupid that you told me exactly how this soul imprint functions.”

Yun Che continued slowly as he stared into Meng Jianzhou’s bloodshot eyes, “The soul imprint will only transmit the sound and image of the last ten breaths of your life. It doesn’t even transmit your thoughts. It’s clear that your father doesn’t care much about you at all.”

“Then again, the Dreamless Divine Regent has many descendants. Of course he wouldn’t care about one piece of trash. If it was your younger brother, it would be logical for the Dreamless Divine Regent to impart a hundredth of his soul to insure him. But you? Even one ten thousandth is too much in my opinion.”

His words drilled into Meng Jianzhou’s heart like the worst torture in the world. Every muscle on his face was twitching violently from shame, anger, and humiliation.

“Do you know how easy it is to erase such a low level soul imprint?” Yun Che’s smile grew increasingly chilling. “You are quite possibly the stupidest Divine Son in this entire Abyss.”

Meng Jianzhou couldn’t care less about Yun Che’s verbal abuse right now. He could only beg Yun Che like a parrot. “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! You… I… I can do anything, give you anything…”

Yun Che narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? Are you so far gone that you can’t even switch up how you beg for your life? Didn’t your father teach you how to survive when you’re faced with certain death?”

Certain death? He was the son of a Divine Regent. When had he ever encountered a situation that came even remotely close to threatening his life? Even here in the Endless Fog, Meng Jingzhe was always there to protect him from the worst.

“If your dad hasn’t taught you anything…” Yun Che crossed his arms as if to signal that he wouldn’t kill Meng Jianzhou for now and taunted, “Beg me to teach you how to live. If you’re sufficiently sincere, I can teach you a trick or two. It might be useful when you go to the afterlife and encounter another enemy you can’t possibly defeat.”

It was like a cat toying with a mouse.

Meng Jianzhou looked up. This should be a most humiliating moment for him, but instead his eyes lit up with hope. “Please… Please… Please teach me your ways, master.”

“...” The corner of Yun Che’s eyes twitched once. Suddenly, he pitied Meng Jingzhe a little.

How on earth did the Dreamless Divine Regent ever raise such a son? If Meng Jianzhou wasn’t the son of his first wife, forget implanting a soul imprint in him, not strangling him to death would be proof of how much he loved his son.

“Hmph!” Yun Che snorted through his nose. “You wouldn’t be in this situation if you were like this sooner, would you? Fine. since you, the son of a Divine Regent, would lower yourself so to beg me for help, how can I not teach you what I know?”

As the ultimate villain who had infiltrated the Abyss alone to destroy it all, Yun Che was certain that his expression was no less evil than any villain he had ever fought in his life. “There is only one way a man might come out of a fatal scenario alive, and that is to prove that you are more useful alive than dead, and to give up enough weaknesses that they’ll be convinced that you won’t come back to bite them in the future. Understand?”

“I understand!” Yun Che had broken it down like he was teaching a three-year-old, so of course Meng Jianzhou got his meaning.

Again, there was no shame or reluctance on the prince’s face, only greater hope. “I can be useful! I… I’m the son of a Divine Regent. If you kill me, you’ll only be earning some satisfaction with strings attached. But if you let me go… I can get you anything the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God has! I… I’m also my mother’s son [1] I can absolutely get you anything!”

The situation and the hope Yun Che gave Meng Jianzhou seemed to have cleared up his mind considerably. Even his stuttering had lessened considerably compared to before.

Yun Che sneered. “That sounds pretty attractive, but where is the most important part, your weakness? If you don’t tell me your weakness, then how can I be sure that you won’t come back to bite me in the future?”

Like a good dog, Meng Jianyuan was just about to respond to Yun Che’s demand when suddenly, the young man grabbed his skull and threatened in a cold, dark voice, “But remember, you only have one chance. If whatever you’re about to say isn’t enough to convince me of your sincerity, then I’ll be testing my grip strength with your head!”

Yun Che’s aura was only that of a second level Divine Master, but Meng Jianzhou did not doubt the young man’s ability to crush his head as he had already experienced his power first hand. Even if that wasn’t the case, the abyssal beast that had literally flattened Meng Jingzhe into a meat pancake was still behind them.

He gulped audibly and swallowed the “weakness” he was going to present to Yun Che. Finally, he forced himself to divulge his deepest secret, “Meng Jianyuan… was killed by me!”

“...” Yun Che’s gaze turned cold, disappointed, and murderous. “Meng Jianyuan? And who the fuck is that? You thought that this is enough to satisfy me? It looks like you really want to test your head against my grip!”

“Wait wait wait wait! Let me explain!” Meng Jianzhou was so scared that he collapsed on the ground and shook his head wildly. He wasn’t expecting Yun Che to not know about Meng Jianyuan.

“M-Meng Jianyuan was a Divine Son… he was the previous Dreamweaver Divine Son before Meng Jianxi… everyone thought that he was assassinated by another Kingdom of God when in reality… I’m the one who killed him!”

“This really is my biggest weakness. If my father learns about this… no, not just father. The entire Dreamweaver Kingdom of God would see me dead.”

Meng Jianzhou spoke as quickly as he could for fear that Yun Che would kill him before he could finish.

“...” It doesn’t look like he’s lying. So, he once had the balls to kill not just his own brother, but his kingdom’s Divine Son to gain his position?

It would seem that Meng Jianzhou wasn’t completely useless back then.

What the hell happened to him to turn him into this?

Yun Che immediately thought of the current Dreamweaver Divine Son, Meng Jianxi. The most likely answer was that Meng Jianxi was an incredibly shrewd and ruthless person, and he had spared no effort to crush the once ruthless and ambitious Meng Jianxi. Now he wasn’t even a shadow of his former self.

Of course, this was perfectly normal considering the setting. Forget a Kingdom of God, such infighting was commonplace even in a country in the mortal realms.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t what Yun Che wanted to hear from Meng Jianzhou at all. He wanted to know more about the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God, not this nonsense.

Still, he put on an interested expression and asked, “You killed the former Dreaweaver Divine Son? A coward like you? Next time, please take a piss on the ground and look at your reflection before you commit to such a bald-faced lie!”

Shred!

Destructive, murderous lightning immediately burst out from his hand.

Meng Jianzhou let out a strange cry and backed away from Yun Che. He begged panickedly and incoherently, “I’m not lying… I’m telling the truth… you can check my memory if you don’t believe me…”

The moment he said this, his eyes abruptly widened with hope once more. “T-That’s right! You can check my memories yourself! T-The heavens can smite me if any part of what I said was a lie!”

Yun Che raised an eyebrow even as he hid his disappointment. He hadn’t even used the Devil Queen’s teachings in full yet, and the guy literally brought up the suggestion himself.

Then again, the Devil Queen often used this tactic to pressure her enemies, and it was proving itself to be workable even in a completely different universe.

No, that wasn’t completely correct. He was just lucky that Meng Jianzhou was far more spineless than even his lowest expectations.

The lightning lessened slightly in intensity as Yun Che scrutinized Meng Jianzhou for a moment. Then, he said, “Very well. If what you were saying is the truth, if you can prove to me your usefulness and give me a surefire weakness, then I can consider letting you go.”

“After all, who doesn’t like a Kingdom of God friend who definitely won’t betray you?”

Overjoyed, Meng Jianzhou nodded repeatedly. “Please… Please do as you please! I wouldn’t lie when my life is in your hands, would I?”

Meng Jianzhou approached Yun Che before the young man could make a move. When Yun Che grasped his skull once more, he opened his soul sea and smiled obsequiously at him. “Here… Here you go. With this weakness, I can only obey your every whim in the future… hehehe.”

The prince didn’t feel ashamed in the slightest. In fact, he was sure that this was the most correct decision he had ever made in his life.

Pride? Honor? Shame? Weakness? What did any of that matter compared to his life?

Plus, it wasn’t like he was submitting to an enemy. No, he was submitting to a bonafide monster, one who could make even an abyssal beast obey him like a dog!

In Meng Jianzhou’s opinion, Yun Che could’ve killed Meng Jingzhe with his bare hands, and it still wouldn’t be as scary as the abyssal Qilin God obeying Yun Che’s orders!

Meng Jingzhe was a Half-God, and even he couldn’t survive Yun Che and the abyssal Qillin God. If he survived… didn’t that mean that he was, in a sense, superior to Meng Jingzhe?

“Cut the crap,” Yun Che grunted and poured his soul energy somewhat brutishly into Meng Jianzhou’s soul sea.

His soul energy didn’t encounter any resistance or obstacle whatsoever, much less a counterattack. If anything, Meng Jianzhou had willingly presented the memory of him assassinating Meng Jianyuan to Yun Che.

It was at this moment a strange glint flickered in Yun Che’s eyes. His profound handle shot out and pierced Meng Jianzhou’s soul sea in an instant.

It was the Profound Handle Soul Search, of course.

The best and fastest way to obtain in-depth information about a Kingdom of God was, of course, to plunder the memory of an important figure. The idea had entrenched itself in his head since his profound handle underwent a mutation.

Yun Che knew just how idealistic the idea was. Forget that it was hard enough to find a person who fit that criteria, even if he did run into one, he was hardly powerful enough to overpower them. And even if he was powerful enough to overpower them, a person like this must be incredibly tough in both their willpower and soul. It was unthinkable that he would be able to use the Profound Handle Soul Search on them.

He had long abandoned the idea until he encountered Meng Jianzhou at the periphery of the Endless Fog.

Meng Jianzhou felt as delighted as a boy who found a toy when he saw Yun Che, but he had no idea that Yun Che was a million times more excited when he saw Meng Jianzhou. It was like he had run into the Abyss version of Wu Guike.

In the lower realms, there were “soul searching” arts that could forcefully drag out one’s memories because everyone’s soul was weak. Although those arts were strictly forbidden by law just like the slave imprint, their usage never stopped where the light couldn’t reach. The Profound Handle Soul Search fell under this category as well.

Technically, this technique didn’t damage the soul and so didn’t fall under the forbidden art category. But when someone had reached the Divine Soul Realm and undergone a qualitative transformation, they became near impossible to be soul-searched by force.

It was also why “soul searching” was a term that almost didn’t exist in the God Realm. It was near impossible to use the Profound Handle Soul Search against a divine way profound practitioner.

So far, the only one who could steal an expert’s consciousness by force was Chi Wuyao’s Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul. But against peak experts like Long Bai and Mo Beichen, even she could only work her magic when their souls were close to fading entirely.

It was because anything related to the soul had a high chance of failing. And once the technique failed, the rebound was deadly to say the least.

Meng Jianzhou was a Half-Step Divine Extinction Realm profound practitioner and the Divine Son of the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God, a kingdom famed for their mastery over soul energy. Logically, the Profound Handle Soul Search had the lowest chance of succeeding when used against him.

However…

It was one thing to try and invade a soul sea by force, and something else entirely to enter one that welcomed his soul energy.

When Meng Jianzhou invited Yun Che’s soul energy into his soul sea in hopes of surviving this tribulation… his memories were no longer in his hands. The profound handle was like a storm scouring the insides of Meng Jianzhou’s soul at high speed.

“What—What are you doing!?”

No matter how pathetic and cowardly Meng Jianzhou was, there was no way he wouldn’t react to this situation. His soul sea abruptly bunched up together, and tens of thousands of soul tendrils took form in the blink of an eye. However, Yun Che’s profound handle abruptly pulled out of his soul sea before he could form an attack.

Yun Che was at a stage where every step must be treaded with the utmost caution. He was especially careful not to let his greed overtake him. That was why he plundered only Meng Jianzhou’s surface memories, his most important memories, and his latest memories instead of taking it all.

With that done, he removed his palm from Meng Jianzhou’s memories and fell into thought for a moment.

Meng Jianzhou couldn’t feel anything wrong with his soul, but he was absolutely certain that Yun che had done something to him. While trembling like a leaf and crawling away from Yun Che, he asked, “What… What did you do to me?”

“Oh, nothing.” Yun Che shot him a gentle smile. “I just added some value to your death is all.”

His gaze looked harmless, and his tone was warm. His words, however, were beyond cruel. “Now, you can truly rest in peace.”

“You—”

Meng Jianzhou only managed one word before Yun Che’s hand was locked around his neck. An outpouring of dark profound energy annihilated his throat and prevented him from making any human noise ever again in his life. The prince could only let out an unholy scream of pain and despair.

Yun Che tossed him right under the abyssal Qilin God’s raised claw with perfect accuracy, and—

Boom!!

The claw landed on Meng Jianzhou without any mercy whatsoever.

Most of his bones were shattered instantly, much less his internal organs. He was still alive, but forget escaping or putting up one last struggle, he couldn’t even dream of moving a finger.

The one thing that proved he was still alive was his meek, sandpaper-ish groans.

Abyssal dust covered up Yun Che’s silhouette. He slowly disappeared from view.

Ten…

Nine…

Eight…

……

One!

Yun Che curled his little finger slightly.

Rumble!!

An apocalyptic explosion later, Meng Jianzhou’s blood and gore was kicked up together with the dust and soil.

The son of the Dreamweaver Divine Regent, Meng Jianzhou died just like that.

All his father—Meng Kongchan—would see was the scene of the abyssal Qilin God trampling him repeatedly before crushing him like an ant. All ten breaths of it.

According to the Qilin God in the Qilin God Realm, his ancestor was well-known in the Abyss. So, Meng Kongchan would probably recognize him.

Meng Jingzhe might be looking after Meng Jianzhou, but it made perfect sense that the abyssal Qilin God would be able to annihilate them both.

As for why they would venture so deep into the Endless Fog… that was for Meng Kongchan to think about.

And since the abyssal Qilin God was the one who killed Meng Jianzhou, why would he ever think that a certain Yun Che might be related to his death?

But considering how useless Meng Jianzhou was, Yun Che was fairly certain that his father wouldn’t even send someone to investigate his death. At most, he would act sorrowful in front of his court, and that was it.

Meng Jianzhou just wasn’t worth… anything.

After the destructive tremors had subsided, Yun Che stepped back out into the open and leisurely made his way back to the teleportation formation. Then, he returned to the periphery of the Endless Fog.

Shing!

He removed the teleportation formation and checked how much power the World Divine Stone had used up. Then, he put it away.

He was extremely satisfied with the intel he obtained from Meng Jianzhou’s soul. In fact, he was pleasantly surprised that things were going so well. Thanks to it, he knew exactly what he was going to do next.

1. Meaning that he’s the son of the regent’s first wife. ☜