Against the Gods Chapter 1761 - Dark Mark

While Kui Hongyu was shivering on the floor, Yun Che narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling aggrieved because you are forced to kneel before me?”
“N-no,” Kui Hongyu said while bowing his head. “We, the Kui Heaven Realm, sincerely wish to surrender to you. All our sects and forces have decided to stop fighting the devil peo… excuse me, the profound practitioners of the Northern Divine Region, and we’ve also canceled the prohibition and bounty on everything and everyone related to darkness profound energy.”
“Hmm?” Yun Che let out a quiet sneer. “It almost sounds like the Kui Heaven Realm is forgiving the Northern Divine Region.”
“No,” Kui Hongyu said hurriedly, “I absolutely didn’t mean it that way!”
“There’s one thing I want you all to never forget,” Yun Che’s cool, intimidating voice entered everyone’s souls. “My kindness to you all is a one-time thing. Just the same, you only have one chance to prove your loyalty to me.”
He eyed Kui Hongyu before continuing, “If you wish to submit to me, you should at least display a basic level of sincerity, don’t you think? Don’t worry, I won’t ask for much… starting now, you will slap yourself until your teeth are all gone. I don’t want to see even half a tooth left in your gums, understand?”
Every realm king’s expression changed when they heard this. Kui Hongyu abruptly looked up and stammered, “Your Magnificence, you…”
“Or you can die.” His voice was completely devoid of temperature and humanly emotions. “Of course, your death won’t be a lonely one. I promise to bury you with your clan and your sect.”
“...” Kui Hongyu’s eyes widened.
“You are a man who turned on your savior at a moment’s notice and bent your knees to a devil person in order to survive, aren’t you? Your bite is painful enough even without any teeth, am I right?”
The words weren’t just directed at Kui Hongyu. Every higher realm king present to hear this felt like they were slapped hard with the entire world as witness.
Kui Hongyu’s body and features were shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly, he looked up and uttered through gritted teeth, “I, Kui Hongyu, have been a king for ten thousand years. I am allowed to lose my life, but not my honor!”
Everyone was stunned when they heard this. A blue-robed realm king who was probably good friends with Kui Hongyu exclaimed in shock. “Realm King Hongyu!”
“Hahahaha!” But Yun Che laughed scornfully at his declaration. “You can only lose your life, but not your honor? You really think that you have the right to say that!?”
“At the edge of the Primal Chaos, why didn’t you rub your backbone and recall your honor when Long Bai, Qianye, and the Southern Sea turned on me, the man who saved you and the whole world?”
“Why didn’t you recall your shame and your honor when you did everything in your power to keep the truth hidden from the world?”
“Today, I kindly granted you and your people a chance to atone for your sins, and you’re preaching to me about honor? As if you deserve such a thing! Heh… hehehehe.”
Kui Hongyu shivered as he broke out in cold sweat. The Devil Master’s demand that he break his own teeth before the world had enraged him beyond words, but he knew he had made a mistake the second the words slipped out of his mouth. When he heard the threat behind Yun Che’s ridicule, his teeth started chattering in fear. “Your Magnificence, I… I was foolish. From… from the moment we chose to come here and surrender to you, we have decided to follow you forever. You… didn’t have to push us like this.”
“So, you’re saying that I should let bygones be bygones just because you’ve surrendered to me?” Yun Che let out a low chuckle. “How can I face all these years of blood and hatred if I allow that!?”
“Tianxiao,” said Yun Che while turning to the god emperor, “who is guarding the Kui Heaven Realm right now?”
Yan Tianxiao answered immediately, “Your Magnificence. The star realm in question is guarded by Yan Huo, and the Kui Heaven Realm is guarded by the Purple Devil Realm. The Purple Devil Realm King is standing by for orders right now.”
Yun Che ordered, “Slaughter the realm king sect of Kui Heaven Realm. They will be replaced by the Purple Devil Realm.”
One sentence was all it took to end the era of an upper star realm and create a sea of corpses and blood.
At the Kui Heaven Realm, the Purple Devil Realm King bowed before the projection. “As you wish, Your Magnificence!”
The next moment, he pointed at the Kui Heaven Sect and shouted murderously, “Kill them all!!”
Their realm king—the core and leader of the Kui Heaven Sacred Sect—was currently at the Eternal Heaven Realm, so the profound practitioners crumbled in fear and despair almost immediately.
At the Eternal Heaven Realm, a pale-faced Kui Hongyu shouted urgently, “Your Magnificence… Your Magnificence! Please withdraw your order immediately! I was the foolish one who offended you. I'll break my teeth right now and obey your every whim, please withdraw your order immediately, please!!”
“It’s too late.” Yun Che said while raising his head. He wasn’t looking at Kui Hongyu anymore because the man was a dead man now. “I already told you earlier: you only have one shot to receive my kindness and prove your loyalty. It would be shameful to take back my words, don’t you agree?”
“You are a lucky man, you know that? You were at least granted a choice. No one gave my family or my homeworld that. If you want to blame someone, then blame yourself for having made a foolish mistake.”
His words were light, but everyone felt an indescribable chill in their soul.
Blood vessels popped from Kui Hongyu’s pupils. Fully understanding his ending, and taking a nose dive into fear and despair, he let out a sudden scream and pounced toward Yun Che.
Yun Che didn’t move a muscle. Kui Hongyu’s Divine Master aura only appeared for an instant before vanishing completely. No one saw how they moved, but somehow short, wizened figures had appeared next to Kui Hongyu like true ghosts.
Three pitch black claws grabbed Kui Hongyu at the same time, and the realm king felt his power being forced back into his body. His eyes widened to breaking point as he lost control of his own body, felt his blood turn cold and his vision turning into darkness… he saw hell even before he died.
Bang!
There was the sound of a terrifying explosion, and Kui Hongyu’s body crumbled into black dust in no time.
The three Yama Ancestors vanished and reappeared behind Yun Che after that. They glared at each other because they thought that the other two people shouldn’t have interfered in their business. Also, it was embarrassing that all three of them had acted together to eliminate a mere level two Divine Master!
To them, killing a level two Divine Master was as easy as crushing a fly, but to the realm kings and everyone who was watching this through the projection… it was a feat that nearly scared them out of their wits.
After all… Kui Hongyu was the great realm king of the Kui Heaven Realm and a Divine Master!
Divine Master Realm was the highest realm in the Primal Chaos, so naturally Divine Masters were also the hardest beings to kill.
However, the three Yama Ancestors had extinguished Kui Hongyu’s power in an instant and turned him into a corpse in two breaths’ time. Forget struggling, the poor man didn’t even manage to scream.
A cold current was coursing through everyone’s veins. The profound practitioners of the Eastern Divine Region never knew that the highest profound practitioners they looked up to could be this fragile, and the higher realm kings definitely didn’t know that they could be this humbled until now.
Yun Che was still staring at the sky. It was as if he had just crushed an insignificant ant.
When the black dust scattered into nothing, he finally glanced at the rest of the higher realm kings from the corner of his eyes and said, “It looks like some of you are mistaken about a couple of things, so allow me to clarify them to you: One, I have every right to take your lives where you stand. Two, you were going to die until I decided to spare you all and give you a chance to bend your knees before me. ”
“Of course,” Yun Che raised his hand slowly, “you always have the option to deny this favor; to die. But don’t say I didn’t warn you that your death would be honorless or meaningless… after all, why would a pack of ungrateful, backboneless dogs have any honor to begin with?”
The Yama Ancestors’ eyes were gleaming with black light. Kui Hongyu’s death was terrible enough, but the ongoing massacre at the Kui Heaven Sacred Sect was even worse.
No one dared to make a peep, much less defend themselves before Yun Che.
Honor?
Honor was the option to turn to dust, and to see one’s clan and sect turned into lifeless corpses in the blink of an eye.
Yun Che then turned his head slightly and looked at the blue-robed man who stepped out just now. “By the way, were you going to beg for that fool earlier?”
The blue-robed man stiffened and nearly broke down on the spot. “N-no…”
He barely managed to control himself and drop to his knees. Frightful words tumbled out of his mouth, “I am Thoughtless Thunder Realm King Duan Muyan. I had no choice in the matter back then… but it is also true that I committed an unforgivable sin to the Devil Master and deserve ten thousand deaths as a result.”
“Your Magnificence’s offer is as great as the kindness of my parents, who brought me into this world. From hereon, I am willing to submit to the Devil Master’s rule and spend the rest of his life atoning for his sins. I swear to serve the Devil Master and obey any order unto his death!”
Everyone’s willpower had a limit, and that was the same even for realm kings and Divine Masters.
Duan Muyan had clearly been pushed past his mental limit after everything that had happened earlier. Honor? Status? His shame being witnessed by the entire world? None of that mattered to him at this point.
“Break your teeth,” Yun Che ordered indifferently and stared at him.
Duan Muyan raised his hands and slapped himself without any hesitation.
Bang! Bang!
Duan Muyan’s cheeks turned blood red immediately after the self-inflicted strikes. They swelled like a balloon as his blood, teeth and all of his pride spilled out of his mouth and onto the ground before his knees.
Drip…
Drip…
A couple of translucent liquids were mixed within the blood.
It was obvious why he was ordered to break his own teeth: it was to imply that he was a toothless and shameless bastard. That it was projected to every corner of the Eastern Divine Region through the Eternal Heaven Projection meant that the shame would be imprinted in everyone’s memory for eternity.
The shame was so great that even the dark profound practitioners of the Northern Divine Region were shaken by this. However, the shred of pity they felt quickly vanished when they recalled the tragedy that had befallen Yun Che.
Were they innocent? Maybe they were. After all, they were being pressured by two god emperors and the supreme ruler of the Primal Chaos himself. It was true that they had no choice but to make the despicable choice to protect themselves and their star realms.
Unfortunately, as the saying went, you reap what you sow. They were the ones who made that choice, so they had no right to begrudge what they suffered today.
Yun Che hadn’t ordered the annihilation of the Eastern Divine Region, but there was no way he was going to let them off easy!
Duan Muyi kept his head low and avoided looking at Yun Che or anyone else with all his strength. Staring at the obedient realm king, Yun Che walked up to him and gathered a small ball of darkness at his fingertip. “This here is a mark of darkness. Once I’ve implanted it in you, you will never escape it even if you drain your blood dry, cripple your profound veins, or kill yourself.”
Duan Muyan was shivering. All of the eastern region realm kings were shivering.
Yun Che continued to stare at him and mutter like the devil himself. “You were the one who said you would obey the darkness unto death, so you have no reason to reject this gift… am I right?”
“...” Duan Muyan’s head dropped a centimeter lower before he said, “Thank you for your blessing… Your Magnificence.”
“Very good.”
A devilish light passed through Duan Muyan’s chest and entered his life vein.
Although Yun Che could transform any profound practitioner’s body into a dark body—Zhou Qingchen himself was his first “creation”—it would cost him a lot of energy, and he only succeeded the first time because the prince was unconscious. Any struggle would complicate the procedure even more than it already was.
On the other hand, this dark mark wouldn’t transform the affected person’s body or profound energy, but it would stay in their lifeline and mark them as a tainted one forever. They would never be able escape it for as long as they lived.
“Congratulations, you are now a child of darkness.” Yun Che withdrew his hand and smiled cruelly. “From now on, you may return to your home and your responsibilities… but remember, you only have one shot at loyalty.”
Duan Muyan was silent for several breaths. A long time later, he finally looked up to face Yun Che, but the twisted fear that gripped his swollen features earlier was curiously missing.
“I will obey Your Magnificence’s order.” He kowtowed deeply before rising to his feet. He swiftly left the place without speaking to anyone or even meeting anyone’s eyes.
Not far away, Chi Wuyao shook her head and smiled to herself. “Oh, you don’t need me at all.”