5 Chapter 4: Floating Cloud City

On a mountain peak.

Chadero surveyed his surroundings. He was able to see hundreds of miles away even without Gyo, but even that was only enough to scratch the surface. The world of Against The Gods was massive, comparable to the land on Earth times a hundred.

"Hey who is that?" he heard.

Chadero disappeared.

"Hmm?" Chadero was now up in the skies looking below. "Floating Cloud City...it's hard to find such a pitifully small city in this giant area without using Gyo." he sighed. A golden aura surrounded his eyes as he looked for the city. "There!" he exclaimed. Using his aura as a platform, Chadero dived towards the city from the skies. "I'll need to figure out the progress of the novel so far."

Chadero didn't realize it but he exuded a frightening pressure when he used nen. The plants and animals around where he was before were trembling, whereas the humans didn't feel anything.

While looking at the city, he saw preparations for a wedding. "Oh? So the novel is just beginning it seems." he smiled. Slowing his dive down with nen, he soon came to a complete stop. "Jasmine should be around here." he thought.

"System, would the Evil God's Seeds do anything for me?" he questioned.

[Replying to Host. The Evil God's Seeds belong to a completely different system. To utilize them properly, you will need to cultivate profound energy.]

"Well then. Is that possible?"

[Replying to Host. Yes, it is possible, however, you will need to start from scratch. Your aura and your profound energy will be separate. Also, when your profound energy reaches a certain level it will conflict with your aura.]

"Well that's boring, I thought about combining the two. Is there any way for me to neutralize the poison that Jasmine has in her?" he chuckled.

[Replying to Host. Aura is a higher form of energy than profound energy. Combining the two would merely degrade your aura. (Nen and aura can be used interchangeably.) As for neutralizing the poison known as Absolute God Slaying Poison; as long as the girl named Jasmine accepts your aura to flow in her and you desire it, it is possible over some time.]

"How long?" Chadero questioned.

[At most 2 years, depending on how much stronger Host gets.]

"Interesting." he nodded. Jasmine should be extremely weak at the moment. Although the Evil God's Veins and Seeds were practically useless to him, Jasmine still had the Great Way of the Buddha, which didn't need profound energy. Chadero went down and saw a little girl with red hair struggling to move around.

"Dammit, this cursed poison!" she cursed. All of a sudden, she could feel a presence above her coming down. "I'm too weak. Hopefully they're not too strong." she muttered.

Chadero landed on the ground in front of Jasmine. "Do you want to live?" he asked in a mellow voice. Jasmine looked up and saw a tall man with strikingly-peerless features. "Hmph. What do you know?" she sneered after being in a daze.

A golden steam started to rise up from Chadero's body. "Though I may not know much about what's going on with you. I do know that I can get rid of the poison within your body." he smiled. "Only a frog in a well would beli-" she responded before getting cut off. "Let me try." said Chadero as he surrounded Jasmine with his golden aura.

Surprisingly, Jasmine couldn't muster any resistance as the aura enveloped her. It seemed to be whittling away the Absolute God Slaying Poison; she unconsciously relished in the comfortable feeling. Jasmine's eyes suddenly widened as she realized what was going on. "Who are you? Only the Sky Poison Pearl should be able to help me!" she stammered in shock.

"Nen is very effective." he thought happily.

"If you give me the Forbidden Heavenly Tome, I can help you fully recover." he responded, ignoring her question. "Tch!" she frowned. "So, he was going for this. But what choice do I have..." she thought silently. "Very well." she said sadly. With a flick of her hand, a luminescent orb went towards Chadero's forehead. Sensing that she had no malicious intents, Chadero allowed it to pass through his Ten.

"There is nothing you can gain from this." resounded the voice of an old man in Chadero's head.

"Eh?" he responded in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I can feel your mentality already. It's dominating and calculating; you have already gotten rid of the notion that there is a "Great Way". You're perfectly suitable for the Great Way of the Buddha, however, from what I see... your body is already on a different path. All I can say is to refine your entire body so there is not even an inch of weakness to be found." the voice slowly faded away as the orb went back out of Chadero's glabella and back to Jasmine.

"Well it seems that it was useless to me. But I will not go back on what we agreed." sighed Chadero.

He walked towards Jasmine as he put his hand on her forehead. "Relax and allow me." Large amounts of nen flowed towards Jasmine. As the nen surrounded Jasmine, Chadero could feel a large power within her. "This must be her cultivation. From what I feel, my nen and her cultivation are about equal. However, she can't use it unfortunately. We could have had a good spar." he silently thought.

2 hours later.

Anybody approaching would change their direction suddenly without knowing it. Chadero's nen made the unconsciously avoid where he and Jasmine were.

"The poison in your body should be healed by now. However, your soul would need some more work. It may be illogical, but you'll have to trust me if you want to be fully healed." he said.

"System, you said it would take up to 2 years." he said in his head.

[Responding to Host. The poison in the soul is much more complex than the poison in the body. That is where the problem truly lies. Consistency also remains a factor. If Host heals Jasmine constantly for weeks without stopping, the poison will be destroyed. But if Host heals Jasmine for a few hours every day for 2 years, the poison will be destroyed still.]

"Understandable." he responded.

"Come with me. I'll heal you for a few hours every day until you're relieved." he said as he reached out his hand. Ignoring his hand, Jasmine stood up. "Fine." she responded. "Haha so arrogant." he chuckled silently.

The two moved around and found the city's gate. As they entered, all eyes were on them. Chadero drew eyes from all the ladies who blushed at his charm. However, when the guys stared at Jasmine, she let out a cold snort; the guys averted their gazes with a burst of cold sweat.

They made their way to a tavern and ordered some food with money from the spatial rings that he had gotten previously.

"Did you hear? The Xiao Clan's trash, Xiao Che, is getting married to Xia Qingyue." said a man.

"Aiya... marrying a worthless man to Floating Cloud City's treasure. Hahaha what a joke." laughed another.

Chadero sat at his table, listening to the talk around the town. "So I really am at the beginning of the novel." he thought. A while later, a waiter came over with food. Jasmine disdained the quality and didn't bother touching it. Although she couldn't use her cultivation, she could still go for a long time without food.

Chadero on the other hand, began to munch down on the food after seeing Jasmine wasn't interested. The food wasn't anything special, some roasted chicken with mashed potatoes. However, Chadero had just been eating plain food without any seasoning for far too long. It was good enough for him.

Jasmine suddenly asked Chadero something. "Why are you so interested in that Xiao Che and Xia Qingyue? Surely a person of your caliber wouldn't be interested in such things." she asked. "Well, you have to enjoy what life offers, and that includes this drama. Cultivation should not be the only thing on your mind." responded Chadero as he chuckled. "Come, let's go see the wedding." he said as he stood up after finishing his meal.

Jasmine sighed, but what else could she do. Chadero held onto Jasmine and disappeared, reappearing on a tree branch to watch the ceremony.

He saw Yun Che ride a horse on a red carpet towards the Xia Manor. He was being sneered at by the crowd, but he remained apathetic. There he met up with Xia Qingyue and went towards the Xiao Clan, where they finished the marriage ceremony. The two then went to Yun Che's courtyard.

"Interesting seeing it play out with my own eyes." Chadero thought. "Perhaps he'll find some good fortune, but without Jasmine, his future prospects are limited."

Since there was Jasmine now and he was interested to know how strong he is, Chadero felt like gauging himself. "Jasmine I'm gonna need a favor." he said. Bringing Jasmine to a forest, he asked after distancing himself. "Jasmine, tell me. How strong am I?" Suddenly a world-shaking aura rose from Chadero's body. The golden steam came out crazily and warped the air around.

The aura made quite a sight from afar, where it looked as if there was a transparent golden giant standing. Jasmine's pupils constricted. "Although I can't see through this energy, he's definitely well above the mortal realms. I would put him somewhere around Divine Sovereign, though he might be even stronger." she thought.

"I would say you are somewhere around the Divine Sovereign Realm." she said. Even though at her peak she was at the upper levels of the Divine Master Realm, Chadero's energy (nen) was unfathomable.

"Oh? Divine Sovereign Realm? If I remember clearly... that would put me below a demigod but not by too much." Chadero thought. "It would've taken Yun Che about 11 years to even come close to me. Though I'm not sure if he'll even be able to take the stage now."

"System how would you gauge my nen at the moment?" he said silently.

[Responding to Host. You have mastered basic nen, but cannot completely grasp it nor control it. It is recommended to use the Chains of Burden to restrict your physical body and focus completely on nen.]

"Oh... so that's the true function of the Chains of Burden? I'll have to check it out later." he nodded.

"So how long will it take me to fully recover?" asked Jasmine.

"I'd have to say 2 years." he responded.

Jasmine nodded as she was fine with it. 2 years was not much to her. "What will you be doing from now?" she asked.

"Oh. Maybe travel around and visit all of the nations before going up to the divine realms." he responded.

"Interesting. I thought you were one of those cultivation madmen seeing how strong you are." Jasmine smirked.

"Heh heh, like I said before, you have to enjoy life." he responded with a chuckle.

Jasmine didn't know why but the man before her exuded a calming and comfortable aura that made her worries go away. "I'm sure you already know my name, so what's yours?" she asked curiously.

"Chadero."