Chapter 1171: You Are Not Worthy
"Answer my question," compared to Yun Che's emotional excitement upon hearing her voice, Mo Li's voice carried no ripple of emotion at all, as cold and hard as if she were speaking to someone completely irrelevant: "Why did you come to the Divine Realm? And why are you participating in this Xuan God Assembly? Could it be that you've run out of options on Lan Ji Star?"
"To see you!" Yun Che replied without the slightest hesitation. He refused to give up, sweeping his gaze around, foolishly hoping to catch a glimpse of Mo Li's figure, to brush against her aura. Every single cell in his body was trembling as if bathed in blazing fire.
"Just that one reason?"
"Yes! I..."
"How utterly stupid and laughable!" Mo Li let out a low, cold laugh. "Coming here just to see me? Have you had your brains scooped out, or have you simply grown tired of living?!"
Faced with Mo Li's rebuke, Yun Che actually began to smile... Though it had only been four short years, it felt like an eternity had passed. Her voice, scolding him loudly, had once given him calluses on his ears from hearing it so often, but over these past few days, it had only appeared in his dreams.
And today, it was not a dream.
"Stupid or reckless, it doesn't matter. Seeing you makes everything else unimportant." Yun Che said with a gentle smile. "Hurry up and come out, I..."
"Do you truly know what you are doing?" Mo Li seemed unwilling to listen to him, cutting him off coldly again. "Do you have any idea what the Divine Realm is? Do you know that you are already in immense danger right now?"
"When I left back then, your cultivation was merely at the mid-stage King Xuan Realm of the mortal path. And yet, in just four short years, you've already reached the Divine Tribulation Realm! Such a rate of improvement is enough to shake the entire Divine Realm. And I am not the only one who knows that your profound strength was only at the King Xuan Realm four years ago. There is one other person, and she is right here at the venue of the Xuan God Assembly!"
"I know." Yun Che nodded, a faint, deeply concealed gleam of hatred flashing in his eyes. "It's Yu Luo, the one who took you away from me."
"Oh?" Seeming surprised by Yun Che's indifferent reaction, Mo Li's voice turned colder. "She did promise me back then that she would tell no one about your affairs. But you actually appeared here. Do you think that venomous woman will pretend she hasn't seen you?! If she takes a sudden malicious interest and tells others about the years I spent with you, guess what will happen to you!"
"Don't worry, she won't." Yun Che's tone was calm. "Going from King Xuan to Divine Tribulation in four years, and from the lower realm at that—it's almost impossible for her to connect it to the same person. Besides... the Yun Che she saw back then is already 'dead' by her hand."
"... " A brief silence fell, the air seeming to grow several degrees colder. "Dead by her hand? What do you mean?"
He desperately wanted to see Mo Li, to say countless things to her. Perhaps only in front of Mo Li did he never hold anything back. Without hesitation, he said directly: "After you were taken away by Yu Luo, I was severely injured by the power she left behind. Anyone else would have been dead for sure, but in the end, I barely managed to cling to life."
"... Impossible!" Mo Li's voice slowed, the tone shifting noticeably. "If Yu Luo truly intended to kill you, even with your Dragon God's Body and Desolate God's Power... you would have died ten thousand times over!"
"Back then, I was struck by the power she left behind. All five of my internal organs were destroyed, and her power remained inside my body. Even the Great Dao Pagoda Art couldn't heal the injuries. I was as good as dead... In the end, Xue'er used her Phoenix Primordial Yin and her once-in-a-lifetime 'Nirvana' power to completely purify Yu Luo's power, and that's how I survived."
That period was, without a doubt, the closest Yun Che had ever come to death.
That was why, when he discovered Yu Luo's presence at the Feng Shen Platform, he never once let his gaze touch her... He was afraid she would detect the killing intent and hatred in his eyes.
That was also why he was so certain Yu Luo would not 'recognize' him—just as Mo Li herself had just found it impossible to believe he could survive Yu Luo's power.
But that woman was far too terrifying. An existence on the same level as Mo Li... an enemy he could never, ever hope to exact revenge upon in this lifetime.
"... " The world fell silent. Mo Li did not respond for a long time.
"Mo Li, where are you? Hurry up and come out. I have so much more to say to you." Yun Che kept turning around. He couldn't understand—since Mo Li had already found him, why wouldn't she show herself?
"What about the Demon Source Pearl inside you?" Mo Li's voice suddenly came again, still utterly devoid of emotion. "Not only is there no leakage of Dark Profound Force, I can't even sense its existence at all. It seems you've found a way to completely suppress it?"
"Yes!" Yun Che nodded, quickly adding: "Not long after you left, the Demon Source Pearl erupted violently. The Golden Crow Soul Spirit saved me each time. Later... by a stroke of luck, I found the Evil God's darkness seed, and managed to bring it fully under control."
"Evil God... darkness seed? The Evil God only has five seeds—of water, fire, wind, lightning, and earth. How could there possibly be..."
As if suddenly remembering something, Mo Li's voice cut off abruptly.
"Where did you find the darkness seed?" she asked.
"It was... beneath Jueyun Cliff," Yun Che said. Back then, Mo Li had made him swear that no matter what happened, he would never approach Jueyun Cliff, let alone explore its depths. But for Su Linger's sake, he had broken that oath.
"As... I... thought..." Mo Li murmured softly.
"The reason I went to Jueyun Cliff back then was because..."
"Enough!" Mo Li interrupted him heavily just as he was about to explain. "You don't need to explain anything. I don't want to hear it. So Yu Luo didn't kill you, and the Demon Source Pearl is completely under control. That means there are no more hidden dangers left in you now?"
"Yes!" Yun Che nodded firmly. "So..."
"So why did you come to find me!?" Mo Li's voice suddenly turned harsh, a cold laugh escaping her lips. "I was just wondering a moment ago—did you expend so much effort to come to the Divine Realm and find me because you needed me to save your life? Or could it possibly be that you simply came looking for me out of pure sentiment?"
"... " It felt as though something had suddenly lodged itself in Yun Che's chest, suffocating him and leaving him unable to speak.
Mo Li had always spoken to him in a scolding tone. He had never taken it to heart; he was long accustomed to it and would only ever respond with a smile... But now, listening to her voice, he felt as though she were a thousand miles away, standing in a separate world.
"If that's the case, heh... then you'd better scram! Scram back to your own planet!"
Yun Che's chest heaved, and he said softly, "Mo Li... why?"
"Because you are not worthy!" Mo Li's words carried even deeper scorn. "It seems that although your cultivation has improved over these past few years, you are still as naive and ridiculous as ever! Since you've come to the Divine Realm, you should at least know what kind of existence a Star God is! Do you think we are still in that time when we were forced to coexist!?"
"I came to find you this time only as a favor for you saving my life back then, and for the few years of teacher-disciple bond. Otherwise, even if you knelt outside the Star God Realm for ten thousand years, I would not give you a second glance. I am a distinguished Star God. If anyone were to learn that I spent eight years with a lowly mortal from the lower realm, it would become the shame of my entire life! And those things you carry that you shouldn't have could bring me immense trouble!"
"Is this answer satisfactory to you? If it is, then scram immediately! The farther, the better!"
Mo Li's voice was not only heartless, it was laced with deep revulsion. It seemed that Yun Che's arrival did not excite her—it only provoked profound contempt and rejection.
"... " Yun Che's breathing grew erratic, but then slowly steadied. "You're lying to me."
"Lying to you? Heh, fine. Then go ahead and believe that I'm lying to you as much as you like." Mo Li gave a cold laugh, as if she couldn't even be bothered to explain.
"Mo Li... you can't fool me. Do you... truly not want to see me?" Yun Che said softly. "Are you driving me away so insistently because you're afraid I'll be in danger in the Divine Realm? Or... do you have some difficulty you can't speak of?"
"Heh!" Mo Li said coldly. "What makes you so confident that you know me so well? Just because of those eight years? We Star Gods have lifespans of tens of thousands of years. Eight years is nothing more than a fleeting, insignificant moment. Yet the hardest thing in this world is to truly know another person. Even if two people live together day and night for ten thousand years, they could never fully understand everything about each other. And you, with just a short eight years, think you can fathom my thoughts? What an incurable idiot!"
"... Mo Li, answer me one question." Yun Che stopped his blind searching and looked up at the empty space above. "Back then, the Golden Crow Soul Spirit told me something. It said that if I didn't see you within five years, it might become impossible ever to see you again in this lifetime."
Mo Li: "..."
"The Golden Crow Soul Spirit is a remnant soul of the Golden Crow. It can communicate spiritually with the Golden Crow Soul Spirits in the Divine Realm. It surely wouldn't speak idly... I want to know what it meant. Why would it become impossible to see you if I didn't within five years?"
"Heh, hehehe..." Mo Li laughed, a laugh full of contempt. "What a talkative spirit! But what it said is not wrong. To make the Star God inheritance more complete, I do need to go to a certain place to train for a period of time... But what does that have to do with you?"
"No!" Yun Che shook his head. "The Golden Crow Soul Spirit didn't say much, but its tone... it was definitely more than just 'training'!"
"Oh? Is that so? How strange. Why should I have to explain myself to you? What right do you have to demand an explanation from me?!"
Yun Che: "..."
"Since when does the Tiansha Xingshen need to explain her actions to a lowly mortal from the lower realm?! I am a dignified Star God, and I came to you today of my own accord—that alone is more face than you deserve! Instead of being grateful, you dare to get presumptuous!?"
"Back on Lan Ji Star, I was forced to rely on you."
"But now, what are you in my eyes? What right do you have to demand to see me? What right do you have to demand an explanation from me?!"
Yun Che stood frozen, his chest constricted. Slowly, he said, "No... these are not your true feelings..."
"Heh! Then go ahead and cling to your pathetic fantasies. Obediently get out of the Divine Realm! Otherwise, if that idiot Yu Luo still detects you, you'll only cause me enormous trouble!"
"Get... lost... NOW!"
"... Mo Li, do you dare to say these things to my face, looking me in the eyes!" Yun Che lifted his head and said with difficulty.
"Ridiculous." Mo Li snorted in disdain. "I will say this one last time... You are not worthy."