Blue Pole Star, Azure Cloud Continent, Cloud’s End Cliff, world of darkness...
You’er!
She shared the exact same body shape and appearance as Hong’er, and she lived and relied on darkness to survive. She was also a soul… an incomplete soul.
She didn’t recognize Hong’er because they’d never met or known each other. However, there was undoubtedly a profound connection between them both.
To this day, Yun Che could still remember the eternally happy Hong’er suddenly tearing up and crying uncontrollably after meeting You’er...
Back when Jasmine was remaking her body, she had told him that the soul was the foundation of one’s body. This meant that the appearance and the body shape of a person were determined by their soul.
Everything was matching up perfectly…
“That’s correct.” The Ice Phoenix girl gave him an affirmative reply before continuing, “The other half of the Evil God’s daughter’s soul is the incomplete girl you met in the abyss of darkness on the Azure Cloud Continent.”
“...” Yun Che inhaled deeply and held his breath for a long time before finally exhaling.
Hong’er and You’er… who could imagine that they were part of the same person? Who could imagine that they were the daughter of the Evil God and the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor!?
Hong’er had clung to him like gum beneath his shoe when she first saw him. You’er had displayed great dependence and friendliness towards him since the beginning… looking back, it was probably an instinctive reaction engraved in their very souls. They had reacted to him because of the divine power he bore.
The power… their father used to bear.
“Hong’er… You’er…” muttered Yun Che to himself. He couldn’t describe what he was feeling right now.
“You’er (Silent One)?” The Ice Phoenix girl exclaimed in surprise. Yun Che hadn’t yet given You’er her name when she had read his memories. “Is that the new name you gave her? It is a very suitable name. She is the daughter of the Evil God and the Devil Emperor. She is of the noblest birth, and yet she can only ever live in darkness like a silent ghost, never to see the light of day. Sigh…”
It was impossible to tell if the Ice Phoenix girl was sighing for the Evil God, or for Hong’er and You’er.
Perhaps it was difficult for a mortal to imagine that someone as powerful as a Creation God would carry such terrible sorrow and helplessness.
Hong’er at least had a complete body and soul, a pair of parents who doted on her, and a clan who loved her from the bottom of their hearts. Even now, she had Yun Che to keep her from feeling lonely, hungry, sleepless, and uneasy.
But You’er...
“You’er is probably another hope the Evil God left behind for the world,” said Yun Che emotionally. “You’er was the one who gave me the Darkness Seed. If I’m not mistaken, the Evil God had probably gone to the world of darkness to visit his daughter, You’er, just before he created the Indestructible Blood at the cost of his life. He purposely left the darkness seed behind with her so that the successor of the Evil God’s divine power could find her, receive her guidance… and make the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor aware of her existence.”
When the devils and gods were still alive, the Evil God didn’t dare to head to Cloud’s End Cliff to visit his daughter. When all the devils and gods were dead, he was finally able to take one final look at her… but even that fulfilled wish was burdened by a great sorrow.
At the time, the Evil God couldn’t have known that his “other” daughter was still alive. He must’ve passed away in pain and guilt believing that his “other” daughter was dead.
“I see,” the Ice Phoenix girl said with a sigh. “The Evil God truly was… the greatest divine being of them all. Even when he was disappointed so thoroughly by fate, he never stopped concerning himself with the future and the world.”
Despite having discarded the title of the Creation God, he was unable to abandon his own roots to the end. He really did deserve the word “great”.
“Ice Phoenix Spirit,” Yun Che asked suddenly, “you are a divine being of the god race, aren’t you? Why don’t you hate or reject devils yourself? For example, you know that I possess darkness profound energy, but why…”
In the ancient times, the god race and the devil race were on opposite sides. There was no such thing as a middle ground, and both races held an unquenchable animosity towards each other. The fact that the monarch of the god race, Mo E had acted as cruelly as he did was proof of that. And yet, Yun Che had never sensed any animosity or rejection towards darkness profound energy from the Ice Phoenix girl.
The Ice Phoenix girl said quietly, “Back then, my understanding of ‘devils’ was the same as all divine beings. I believed them to be the face of negativity, filth and sin, and that they were an existence that was rejected by the heavenly law itself because they possessed darkness profound energy. I even believed that it was the righteous path and the unsaid responsibility of the god race to destroy them all.”
“But after surviving all the battles, the destruction, the aimless drifting through life… I was actually able to wake up from the fever and recall everything that had happened in this prison of eternal silence. Naturally, this calm and tranquility had made me understand many things that I wasn’t able to see clearly in the past.”
“The Ancestral God was the one who had created the god race and the devil race, with one side representing ‘yang’ and the other ‘yin’. If they are both creations of the Ancestral God, then are they really all that different from one another besides the power they possess? If the devil race truly didn’t belong in this world like everyone had believed, then why did the Ancestral God even bother creating the devil race in the first place? Wouldn’t the god race alone have sufficed?”
Yun Che, “...”
“Plus, it is a fact... an unbelievably sorrowful, but truthful fact that we must admit that... the cause of everything… the true culprit behind the destruction of the god race and the devil race is…”
The Ice Phoenix girl’s voice became slow, quiet and sorrowful. In the end, she wasn’t able to say the words that would point towards the true culprit because of the sheer irony they contained, and because she was a member of the god race.
Yes… Yun Che knew very little about the ancient times, but even he could deduce from the rumors alone that the god race were the ones who had brought forth the end of the Era of Gods.
It really was incredibly ironic.
“The good and evil of living being has nothing to do with the power they bear. It has nothing to do with the devils, the gods, or the race they were born into either. But in that era, the word ‘devil’ had been twisted into the face of pure evil… and that belief still exists to this day.”
Yun Che had heard of the fate of the Northern Divine Region.
It was why he had never dared to reveal his darkness profound energy… not even a little.
A few years ago, Wei Hen had traded his life for Li Jianming’s at the Profound God Convention… On the one hand, the former had gone to the Northern Divine Region to exchange his life for darkness profound energy. It was so that he could obtain the power necessary to carry out his revenge. On the other hand, Li Jianming had slaughtered Wei Hen’s entire family and sect, and violated his wife and daughter for his selfish desires…
Who here was the real devil who deserved to die!?
“When a belief has become so deeply rooted that it has become common sense, there is almost no power in the world that can change it,” said the Ice Phoenix girl. “The people’s belief that all ‘devils’ are evil is as rooted and common as the incompatibility between fire and water. You definitely cannot reveal your secret for all of eternity.”
“Since you possess the Evil God’s darkness seed, it is possible for you to control your darkness profound energy. What this means is that ‘your secret’ will never be revealed unless you wish it so... or even better, you should try to forget that you even possess darkness profound energy in the first place. It is a choice you must make considering the current world’s perception of darkness profound energy.”
Yun Che nodded. “I know.”
Both Jasmine and Mu Xuanyin had told him something similar.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he would never be able to stand tall in this world again if his secret was revealed even once.
“The Evil God’s power and will, the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor’s daughter, love, kindness, and familial bond may just be enough to overcome several million years of hatred. It may just be enough to stop her from harming the world the Evil God wishes to protect, and a world where her daughter still lives peacefully to this day.”
This was the Evil God’s final wish, and the best case scenario the Ice Pheonix girl had envisioned in her head.
The Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor would without a doubt become the absolute ruler of the Primal Chaos once she had returned. There was no power in the entire world that could resist or defy her. The difference between a ruler full of hatred and violence, and a ruler who was willing to fulfill her lover’s dying will and her surviving family member was worlds apart to say the least.
“You are the key to this hope, Yun Che.”
“I beg you, you must meet with the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor the day the crimson light falls apart completely. The meeting will undoubtedly be accompanied with immeasurable risk, but you are our only hope. This fragile world simply doesn’t have what it takes to withstand the hatred and fury of a devil emperor anymore.”
“Successor of the Evil God’s power and will, please… go and become the savior we need!”
At this point, Yun Che was made aware of the truth behind the “crimson crack”, the “duty” and “hope” he bore on his back, and the tribulations he was about to face in the future.
He had even learned of Hong’er and You’er’s extraordinary past and background.
Yun Che actually calmed down during the last moments of the revelation.
After all, the true face of fear was often the unknown, not the truth.
“I understand now.” Yun Che nodded with calm eyes and even breathing. He didn’t even hesitate for too long or feel afraid like the Ice Phoenix had expected him to be. “I will go.”
“If I succeed, I suppose it’s inevitable that I’ll become a savior in everyone’s eyes… Well, it’s not a bad title. At least I’ll be winning the people’s gratitude and respect instead of the… nothing I’m receiving right now.”
“Even if I fail, I should still be able to protect myself and the people around me due to the Evil God’s inheritance and Hong’er.”
“If I hadn’t obtained the Evil God’s legacy back then, I wouldn’t have had everything I have today. I may still be crippled or worse, dead at this time. It is only natural that such great kindness came with equally great responsibility.”
“There is no reason for me not to go, be it from the perspective of humanity, myself, or the favor I owe.”
Yun Che exhaled slightly after he was finished speaking… He literally couldn’t imagine facing a devil emperor who had returned to the Primal Chaos while full of hatred. It was impossible to predict what might happen next.
It was entirely possible for him to be wiped out before he even had the time to open his mouth.
“I’m very glad for your words,” said the Ice Phoenix girl. “Whatever the end result might be, I am incredibly grateful and glad that someone like you, a shining hope could exist in the world.”
“I hope myself that I won’t betray your expectations,” replied Yun Che sincerely.
The Evil God had left behind the Indestructible Blood to protect the generations to come. The Ice Phoenix girl before him… was also doing her best to protect the world during the final moments of her life, even though she no longer had a place in the current world.
“You don’t need to put too much pressure on yourself, she is the devil emperor after all. There is absolutely no one who can control or decide how the situation will turn out, so you are already saving the world just by daring to stand between the world and the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor. You don’t have the power to control the result, and no one has the right to ask that from you.”
Yun Che exhaled slightly after hearing the Ice Phoenix girl’s consoling words.
“I once said that I would grant the last vestiges of my existence and my divine powers to you after your resolve is sufficient. You now have the right to claim my power, but the time is not yet right.”
“My biggest concern during my remaining lifespan has always been how the world will turn out after the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had returned from the world beyond, so please, I ask you to allow me to exist until the day the results became clear. After that, whatever the world may become, I promise to grant you everything I have left…Please don’t turn down my offer or try to keep me around. It is because I will no longer have any reason or purpose to live in this world after I have my answer.”
“...” Yun Che nodded. “I understand.”
It seriously did not matter if he got the Ice Phoenix’s power or not when he had the return of a devil emperor to deal with.
Right now, the only thing he could think of was to how to face a true devil emperor of the ancient times!
“Oh right,” Yun Che suddenly recalled something and asked, “Last time, you said you wish to tell me one of my master’s secrets… what is it exactly?”
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