Chapter 2096: The World-Hating Divine Venerable
“Absolute control over life and death can indeed buy a certain kind of ‘absolute’ loyalty,” Yun Che commented. “But a successful ruler never does this. Because such an act only secures forced loyalty, while forever losing true devotion.”
“So,” Yun Che said with visible curiosity, “what exactly happened to Shen Wuyan to make her, as a Divine Venerable of an entire divine kingdom, so extreme?”
Meng Jianxi was momentarily stunned, surprised that Yun Che didn’t already know. She then explained in detail: “The Wuming Divine Venerable, originally named Shen Wuxihua, was born into a collateral branch of the Shenwu lineage, yet she possessed the highest talent in the profound way of her generation. It is said that in that era, she was second only to the Sword Immortal Hua Qingying.”
“Father God once said that if not for her seven-tenths Divine Rank—unable to compare with the Sword Immortal, who held the status of Divine Maiden at the time—she would have been hailed as the Twin Peerless Women of that era.”
That evaluation was, naturally, astonishingly high for that time. After all, the various Divine Venerables of the present day were all once defeated by Hua Qingying’s sword.
“It was precisely because of Shen Wuxihua’s extremely high profound way talent that she was naturally chosen as the Divine Son’s Consort.”
Meng Jianxi paused, then thought for a moment before continuing: “The Eternal Night Divine Son of that time was apparently named Shen Wuxueyan… I never lived through that era and don’t know the details; Father God also never liked to talk much about matters of the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom.”
“All I know is… Shen Wuxihua loved Shen Wuxueyan deeply. She gave him almost all the resources she received. And back then, Shen Wuxueyan had been stuck at the bottleneck of breaking through the Divine Annihilation Realm for five jiazi [one jiazi = sixty years]. That mere five jiazi, the Wuming Divine Venerable—ah, I should say Shen Wuxihua—entered the Mist Sea over seventy times alone to find the Abyss Crystal he needed to break through his Divine Annihilation bottleneck. Every time she returned, she was covered in wounds, but she never complained or regretted it.”
“Finally, on her seventy-seventh trip, after killing a Divine Annihilation-level Abyss Beast of the same cultivation level as her own, she found the Abyss Crystal that Shen Wuxueyan most needed from its corpse… The year after that, Shen Wuxueyan successfully broke through to the Divine Annihilation Realm, sparking a grand celebration throughout the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom.”
“When Father God mentioned this matter back then, he let out a very long sigh.” Meng Jianxi mimicked Meng Kongchan’s manner from that time, sighing faintly, then repeated his words in a similar tone: “Her infatuation back then moved all who knew of it… all except Shen Wuxueyan.”
“So, the Divine Son Shen Wuxueyan changed his heart?” Yun Che had already guessed the gist.
“It’s not so much changing his heart as that Shen Wuxueyan never liked Shen Wuxihua to begin with,” Meng Jianxi said. “That was Father God’s exact words when he mentioned it back then.”
“It is said that less than ten years after Shen Wuxueyan successfully broke through the Divine Annihilation Realm, he announced his marriage to a Divine Son’s Consort… and that Divine Son’s Consort was not Shen Wuxihua.”
Yun Che interjected: “This newly announced Divine Son’s Consort, I imagine, had not reached the Divine Annihilation Realm, had a gentle, water-like temperament, might be a bit timid, and used to relying on others.”
Meng Jianxi immediately nodded: “That’s exactly right. So, Brother Yuan, did you hear about what happened back then?”
“No,” Yun Che said. “From what you just described, Shen Wuxueyan hadn’t even completed his breakthrough to the Divine Annihilation Realm, yet Shen Wuxihua could slay a Divine Annihilation-level Abyss Beast of the same cultivation level; for the one she loved, she could give everything, fear neither the Mist Sea nor life and death—her temperament could be called resolute, decisive… even ruthless.”
“In other words, Shen Wuxihua far surpassed Shen Wuxueyan in talent, cultivation, temperament, will, and action. The only advantages Shen Wuxueyan had were his birth and his Divine Rank. Some men would be extremely grateful for such a situation and enjoy it, but there are also men who would feel suffocated and humiliated… especially men in high positions.”
“And when she entered the Mist Sea seventy-seven times for him, eventually helping him become a Half-God, that story spread far and wide. To others, it was a beautiful tale. But to Shen Wuxueyan, a Divine Son, it would either inspire deep gratitude and a vow never to betray her, or it would be seen as a disgrace to be spat upon like poison… Clearly, he was the latter.”
“So, the new Divine Son’s Consort he chose must have been the opposite of Shen Wuxihua in every way: someone who would depend on him in all things, making her appear to him at first glance as someone who needed protection. Yes, probably the type I just described.”
“I see.” Meng Jianxi nodded in understanding. “The facts are indeed as Brother Yuan says. The new Divine Son’s Consort Shen Wuxueyan chose came from an even more remote collateral branch. In terms of birth alone, becoming the Divine Son’s Consort was only barely acceptable.”
“So…” Yun Che said, “how did Shen Wuxihua react?”
Meng Jianxi narrated: “It is said… she broke down, wailed… but Shen Wuxueyan was unmoved. The then Divine Venerable, afraid she might do something to lose face, had her thrown out. After that, Shen Wuxihua accepted the matter. She remained as infatuated with Shen Wuxueyan as before, still willing to give everything for him, and even treated the new Divine Son’s Consort extremely well. She said she didn’t need to be his wife or his concubine—she only begged Shen Wuxueyan not to push her away.”
*A terrifying woman…* Yun Che muttered inwardly.
But immediately, Li Suo’s voice, unable to hold back, whispered into his Sea of Souls: “For a woman, you are the truly terrifying one.”
“…” Yun Che had no words to refute.
“Shen Wuxueyan also felt guilty. Though he didn’t want Shen Wuxihua as his Divine Son’s Consort, he treated her much better after that. Coupled with the fact that Shen Wuxihua never changed, her infatuation seemingly without any blemish, she became, in a sense, the person Shen Wuxueyan and the Divine Venerable trusted the most.”
There was no need for Yun Che to hear the rest; he cut straight to the point: “So in the end, when Shen Wuxueyan was undergoing the Inheritance of a True God, Shen Wuxihua seized the Divine Source?”
“Correct.” Meng Jianxi sighed deeply. “At that time, Shen Wuxihua was Shen Wuxueyan’s strongest and most trusted guardian. When he received the True God Inheritance, Shen Wuxihua was chosen as the core protector. In their eyes, surely, Shen Wuxihua had loved Shen Wuxueyan since childhood, had risked her life for him countless times without caring for her own standing—she was the last person in the world who would harm or betray him.”
Yun Che sneered inwardly… *When you have deeply hurt someone before, you can only accept their hatred. Never accept their overtures of goodwill—whether they are genuine or false.*
“What exactly happened during that inheritance ceremony, probably no one outside the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom knows. Only the final outcome is known… Shen Wuxihua seized the Divine Source and the Inheritance Vessel, then forcibly drove the Divine Source into her own body.”
“Father God speculated that her original intention was to ruin Shen Wuxueyan’s inheritance ceremony, to make her blood his eternal shadow. But… the Divine Source did not take her life; instead, it achieved an unexpected compatibility with her, who had only a seven-tenths Divine Rank. However, it also drastically shortened her lifespan and permanently robbed her of her sight.”
“Soon after that, Shen Wuxihua became the Divine Venerable, changed the kingdom’s name to the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom, and changed her own name to Shen Wuyan.”
Even at the early stage when the Divine Source had just been received and was far from fully merged, no one in the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom could suppress Shen Wuxihua at that time… after all, that was the power of a True God.
“I imagine Shen Wuxueyan’s fate was quite miserable?” Yun Che said with some sympathy.
“Very miserable,” Meng Jianxi said. “It is said that all of Shen Wuxueyan’s direct relatives were either dead or crippled. In terms of outcome, being crippled would have been worse than death… because during Shen Wuyan’s reign as Venerable, she proclaimed that throughout the kingdom, all men were lowly slaves. No matter how high a position they had once held, they would have no dignity thereafter.”
“And even escape was impossible. Anyone with the cultivation of the Divine Annihilation Realm would be implanted with the Eternal Night Death-Seeking Seal. If they dared to resist or flee, they would suffer a fate worse than death.”
*She was wounded to the core of her heart by a man, so she came to hate all men in the world.*
*She had gnashed her teeth and hidden her heart, only to deliver a fatal blow to the one who trusted her most. Thus, she never believed in loyalty.*
*Her temperament had long been twisted by extreme hatred. And forcibly bearing the power of a true god likely exacerbated that twistedness, making the Wuming Divine Venerable of the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom a terrifying existence with an extremely violent nature.*
From this perspective, unlike other divine kingdoms, becoming the Divine Maiden of the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom was by no means a blessing.
Yun Che thought for a moment, then suddenly asked: “You say, is it possible that this Shen Wuxueyan is still alive?”
Meng Jianxi pondered briefly and replied: “It has been said for thousands of years that he is dead, that his bones were ground to dust, leaving no corpse. But… I believe he is still alive.”
“The deeper the love, the deeper the hate. If Shen Wuxueyan were truly dead, Shen Wuyan would have no anchor for either her extreme love or extreme hatred. So I lean toward the view that Shen Wuyan did not kill him; instead, she cut off any possibility of him committing suicide, did her utmost to keep him alive, letting him live on while tormenting him constantly.”
“Mm.” Yun Che nodded. “I think the same. So you see, sometimes when a woman turns ruthless, she can be far more terrifying than a man.”
For an instant, he couldn’t help but think of Hua Caili.
His expression froze briefly, then he continued: “Since Shen Wuyan detests men so much, she probably never took many male consorts. Then how does the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom handle inheritance?”
Hua Caili had said that receiving the True God Inheritance required not only a sufficient Divine Rank and at least the Divine Annihilation Realm cultivation, but also a corresponding bloodline.
Unless one had the Nine-Xuan Exquisite Body.
Meng Jianxi replied: “The Wuming Divine Venerable has indeed never taken a male consort, and never even allows any man to approach her. As for the Divine Successor of this generation, the search was conducted widely within the Shenwu lineage. The previous Divine Maiden, Shen Wuqing, was found from the orthodox Shenwu lineage—she was born with an eight-tenths Divine Rank, and shortly after birth, she was taken directly to Shen Wuyan’s side.”
“Shen Wuqing had always been well-behaved, silent, and rarely appeared in public. But later, she violated a great taboo of the Wuming Divine Venerable… she entered into a secret relationship with Pan Buwang, the former Divine Son of the Xiaodie Divine Kingdom. After that, Shen Wuqing was placed under house arrest.”
“And while Shen Wuqing was confined, the Wuming Divine Venerable found a second Divine Maiden, the current Eternal Night Divine Maiden, Shen Wuyi.”
“It is said that Shen Wuyi came from a very remote branch of the Shenwu lineage, but there is still no precise information on which branch. After Shen Wuyi appeared, the Wuming Divine Venerable immediately announced the deposition of Shen Wuqing as Divine Maiden.”
Yun Che said: “To depose Shen Wuqing so decisively, this Shen Wuyi must have at least a nine-tenths Divine Rank.”
“I think so too. Then… as recently as last year, the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom announced that Shen Wuqing had been executed for violating taboos, and the executioner was the new Divine Maiden, Shen Wuyi.”
Saying this, Meng Jianxi could not help but sigh: “Shen Wuqing and Pan Buwang—one Divine Maiden deposed, one Divine Son deposed; one brutally executed, the other’s heart fallen into the abyss of death, sinking to the point of abandoning dreams, only to be driven away by Brother Yuan… truly a pair of tragic lovers.”
“Are there really no other pieces of information about Shen Wuyi?” Yun Che asked.
Meng Jianxi thought for a moment. “There is a rather absurd rumor, but it is ten times false.”
“Tell me.”
Meng Jianxi said: “That rumor claims that when Shen Wuyi first came under the Wuming Divine Venerable, she was only at the peak of the Divine Lord Realm. And now… in just a short twenty years, her cultivation has reached the fifth level of the Divine Annihilation Realm.”
Yun Che: “…”
Meng Jianxi shook his head with a smile: “That’s impossible, of course. Dian Jiuzhi, the Divine Son of the Senluo Divine Kingdom, took two thousand four hundred years to cross seven realms of the Divine Annihilation stage—he is already the undisputed number one Divine Son of this era.”
“In the previous era, the Sword Immortal Hua Qingying took a mere thousand years to go from the Divine Annihilation Realm straight to the Divine Extreme Realm; even the Pure Land was shaken, giving the supreme praise: ‘If anyone in this age can become a True God with a mortal body, it can only be Hua Qingying.’”
“Twenty years from the peak of the Divine Lord Realm to the middle stage of the Divine Annihilation Realm…” Even Meng Jianxi could feel how absurd each word she uttered was. “How could such a freak exist in the world? I don’t know where this falsehood came from, but surprisingly, it was recorded by the Xuanji Hall.”
Yun Che pondered for a long time, then suddenly changed the subject: “On the Dragon God side, does the Xuanji Hall have any involvement?”
Meng Jianxi was puzzled but did not ask further, directly answering: “Yuan Chen’s erosion of the beast clans is far greater than that of the human race. The Dragon God clan has held on till now without being exterminated only by exhausting all their strength; they certainly have no time to attend to other matters, so we pay little attention to information from that side.”
Yun Che said: “Among the Dragon God clan, there is a person called ‘Long Jiang’. Do you have any impression of him?”
“Long Jiang?” Meng Jianxi frowned, thinking, then suddenly understood: “Brother Yuan, could you be referring to the ‘Scar-Faced Dragon Girl’, Long Xi? I happened to learn that once, when this dragon girl revealed her whereabouts, she used the name ‘Long Jiang’.”
“Scar-Faced Dragon Girl…” Yun Che lowered his gaze and took a slow breath.