Zhu Yao did not know how long she had spent talking to Realmspirit. She merely told him all the things that she thought to be unreasonable, which she had seen and heard of. She could not guarantee that whatever she had said were true, but she simply felt that the world shouldn’t just center around strong people, but also benevolent people. There was nothing wrong with the initial Heavenly Dao that guided living beings to the top. After all, without conflict, there wouldn’t be improvements. If people did not have progressive mindsets, then the Three Realms will forever be stuck living in a prehistoric society. But during progression, people should not abandon their beliefs. As they say, ‘when one drinks water, one must not forget its source’. No matter how powerful a Deity one is, he or she was still once a human.
“Realmspirit, there’s still something that I don’t understand.” Zhu Yao looked at Realmspirit and said. “If my guess is correct, that is the final bug, right? I understand why you wish to severe the seven emotions and six desires of those who become Gods.” If Gods truly had the power to fight against the Heavenly Dao, then ‘Gods’ would truly be too dangerous. Furthermore, according to the principle of the strong eating the weak, among these people who had climbed to the very top, which one of them wasn’t someone who would use all possible means to obtain his or her objective? With just the slightest birth of evil intentions, the Three Realms would be faced with countless tribulations beyond redemption.
“But… If you do not wish for them to become Gods right from the start, then why come up with the Lightning Divine Tower? By doing so, you’re giving the Deities the opportunity to become Gods, and you’re guiding them to cultivate into Gods.” Her master’s irregular behaviour earlier was because of the Heavenly Dao’s control, wasn’t it? The seal of ‘infinity’ symbols that she broke was actually a law of the Heavenly Dao. All of the Deities revered the Lightning Divine Tower so much, and even desperately wanted to enter it to become Gods. They would unhesitantly throw away their opportunities to hold onto their eternal life. Other than suggestions made by the Heavenly Dao, she really couldn’t think of any other reason behind such behaviour.
Realmspirit sighed. “Yaoyao, have you ever thought that actually, the Realm of Gods might have never existed in this world in the first place?”
“What? Never existed!?” Zhu Yao was shocked. “Then the place I just saw was…” There was that barren place. She wasn’t blind after all.
“That place is simply a temporary dimension, that was opened to accommodate the people that had been unexpectedly purified of their seven emotions and six desires. Realmspirit seriously said. “Yaoyao, I told you before. I’m the spirit of the Three Realms. Three realms, not four.”
Zhu Yao was stunned. Divine Realm, Human Realm, and Netherworld. From what he said, there was truly only three realms. If the Realm of Gods was included…
“Just what are you trying to say? Speak clearly, hey.” Why was he making her even more confused now?
“Yaoyao, within the Three Realms, what do you think is the main cause that would result in the immediate collapse of the Three Realms?” Realmspirit posed a serious question.
Zhu Yao pondered for a moment, and she then suddenly widened her eyes. “It’s resentment!”
“Mn.” Realmspirit nodded. “Resentment is birthed from living beings, yet they cannot die along with living beings. It is undying, indestructible, and filled with malice. If it enters any one world, it can result in the collapse of that world. Before you helped me with finding a method to eliminate resentment, even the River of Forgetfulness had to suppress it beneath the river. If we wanted to exterminate resentment then, there’s only a single way…”
“Light of Purification!” Zhu Yao continued.
Realmspirit nodded. “The Light of Purification is the first strand of sunlight at the beginning of the world’s creation. It is the purest thing in the world and can purify everything in this world, including the seven emotions and six desires. That’s why I designed the Lightning Divine Tower and led the River of Forgetfulness into it. It’s all in order to purify the ever-expanding resentment kept under the River of Forgetfulness and prevent it from entering the Three Realms. However, I am after all an existence formed by the will of the Three Realms. Since the Lightning Divine Tower is designed by me, the tower naturally contains the aura of the Heavenly Dao. Furthermore, all of the practitioners in the world cultivate in order to reach the Heavenly Dao. That’s why…”
“The people of the world then believed that the Lightning Divine Tower that you designed is actually the passageway to raising their level. That’s why they entered the tower to seek a beating?”
He nodded.
The hell. In the end, it was all because those Deities were courting death on their own.
“Those souls who have their consciousness purified have no other places to return to, and because of the Light of Purification, they are unable to return to Netherworld through the River of Forgetfulness to reincarnate. That was why I opened up an accommodation, which is the Realm of Gods you saw back there. As long as they regain even the slightest bit of sentience, they will be able to follow along the River of Forgetfulness and reincarnate.”
“…” What’s drawing water with a sieve? This is! So there wasn’t a Realm of Gods to begin with. A God’s final resting place was simply reincarnation all over again.
“Then what’s with the previous Realm of Gods?” She suddenly remembered about the God races. Those races which were met with such a tragic end.
Realmspirit was silent for a moment, and then solemnly said. “They are survivors from the former world.”
“Former world?”
“Yaoyao, this plane of ours has once met with destruction, and not just once…”
“What?” What did he mean by ‘not just once’? Wasn’t the great war between Gods and Devils the only one? That was why the Human Realm was split into the Three Thousand Worlds.
“Ever since the world’s creation, this plane had always been in a cycle of rejuvenation and destruction.” Realmspirit frowned, as if he had recalled something saddening. “Every ending was the same. Living beings would fight against each other, and then resentment would be birthed, which finally led to world collapses, and then its rejuvenation. This plane had been restructured in many, many different ways, and many different races had once existed in it. However, all of their endings were met with destruction, again and again, never-ending. Finally, this plane is no longer able to bear many more rejuvenations of such scale, and I appeared.”
He took a deep breath, and then continued. “Because it does not wish such an ending to repeat, the world materialized a spirit and wanted to stop this entirety. However, I realized that even if I gain sentience, I was unable to walk out of this cycle. That world with the God races was the first world I experienced after I awakened. However, it was still destroyed. After the rejuvenation, I had the world split into Three Thousand Worlds, all in order to reduce the casualties to the very minimum. I believed that even if one collapses, I can still save it in time. However, resentment continued to accumulate, and I can already foresee the final ending. That’s why I sought help in another plane.”
“Wait a minute…” Zhu Yao was a little confused. “You mentioned that resentment causes world collapses, but back in the time where God races existed, there wasn’t any resentment though?”
“Resentment is just a term used in this world.” Realmspirit said. “In the previous world, it didn’t use the same terminology.”
Zhu Yao was stunned for a moment, and then her heart sank. “Devillic energy!”
“Mn.”
“The hell!” Zhu Yao’s head ached. In the end, devillic energy and resentment were one and the same? The only difference between them was that one of them was birthed in the former world, while the other was birthed in this world.
“Devillic energy was also the most fundamental reason behind that world’s collapse.”
“That’s not right…” Zhu Yao frowned. “If devillic energy is just a remnant from the former world, then what’s with those people who fall into Devilhood? Putting aside Yue Ying, what about Fa Yu? He clearly was a resident of this world, so was he still able to become a Devil?”
“Yaoyao, resentment is birthed from the feelings of unwillingness and hatred during a person’s death. However, what if someone is able to give birth to this form of hatred before his death?”
“You’re saying resentment comes after death, but one will fall into Devilhood when experiencing it before death?”
Realmspirit nodded. “Though, falling into Devilhood is better than giving birth to resentment. Because at the moment of death, what disperses is just devillic energy, and it will not give birth to resentment.”
“But a Devil might cause even more innocent deaths, so the amount of resentment birthed would be much larger, right?”
“Indeed! Especially after the change in the Heavenly Dao, if future practitioners need to hold onto their beliefs, then there will definitely be people who lose their beliefs as well. I’m afraid that there will simply be even more people who fall into Devilhood, so there’s a need for someone to constrain them.”
Constrain? Zhu Yao was startled. “You’re saying Yue Ying!?”
“Mn.”
“Why him? He’s still a child. Furthermore, he doesn’t have any relations with the other Devils…” Halfway through, she suddenly stopped. With widened eyes, she continued. “He’s of the God race.”
Realmspirit nodded. “His existence is necessary. He’s neither a God nor a Devil. He’s a Devil God.”
“……”
“…”
“Devils are initially people who walk on another extreme path that’s out of the Heavenly Dao’s domain. They are the darkest side of living beings, a race that abandons their humanity.” Realmspirit sighed and said. “Without the restraints of the Heavenly Dao, they might turn into an existence similar to ‘resentment’. That’s why only a Devil can restrain a Devil, and Yue Ying is the only Devil God in the world. He is the only one who can control the Devils.”
“But a Devil God is still a Devil.” Zhu Yao rolled her eyes. “And from what you’re saying, the Devil race is a race that ignores the laws of the Heavenly Dao and walks on an extreme path, then a Devil God would be the same, right? How are you so certain that a Devil God will listen to the words of the Heavenly Dao?”
Realmspirit smiled, and looked at her seriously. “Isn’t he already following the will of the Heavenly Dao?”
Zhu Yao was stunned, and then she immediately had an answer. “Me?”
He revealed an even cheaper smile.
“The hell, why am I being pulled into this again? I just wish to see him become a good child…” Uh, now that she thought about it, she was really the only one who could restrain Yue Ying’s devillic nature. Even in front of her, other than that one time where he attempted to kill little wimp, he did not lose his sanity like other Devils and become slaughter machine.
Zhu Yao swept a glance at Realmspirit, and then stared at him intensely. “This can’t possibly be your plan right from the start when you sent me to the God races, right?”
Realmspirit stiffened, and then let out a silly laugh. “Aiyaya, young maiden, don’t be that way. I just wanted you to show your face around, I never expected that you would really be able to do it. You’re awesome!”
“Scram!” Zhu Yao threw a kick at him. “Hurry and speak. What other things were your schemes?”
“Young maiden…” He showed a crying face. “How can you call them schemes? Aren’t they just friendly support between friends? I simply foretold the endings a little.”
Zhu Yao grabbed onto his cheeks and strongly pulled them to the sides. “Stop changing the topic. Hurry and talk!”
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts… Young maiden, this is your face, you know. How can you do such a thing?”
“Tch, I’m not the one hurting anyway.”
“…” She made so much sense he actually had nothing to refute with.
“Hurry and talk!”
“Alright, only one.” He weakly stretched out a finger. “It’s related to the aftermath.”
“Aftermath?” Zhu Yao released her hands.
“Yaoyao, just as you’ve said. There has already been changes to the Heavenly Dao. Only those who doesn’t lose their beliefs will be able to open the Door of Ascension, but… “ He rubbed his cheeks. “What are we going to do about those people who are still in the Divine Realm?”
“…” Indeed. The Divine Realm now was filled with Deities who slaughtered their way up here.
“Lightning Divine Tower has been destroyed now, and the Light of Purification has been withdrawn. These Deities can no longer cultivate into Gods, so will they truly stay in the Divine Realm peacefully?”
“…” Naturally, they wouldn’t.
“I can’t throw them all into the reincarnation wheel for reconstruction, so I can only provide constraints.”
Constraints again!
Zhu Yao paused for a moment. As though she had thought of something, she immediately exploded. “Greedy beast, what else are you trying to do to my master?”
Zhu Yao did not know how long she had spent talking to Realmspirit. She merely told him all the things that she thought to be unreasonable, which she had seen and heard of. She could not guarantee that whatever she had said were true, but she simply felt that the world shouldn’t just center around strong people, but also benevolent people. There was nothing wrong with the initial Heavenly Dao that guided living beings to the top. After all, without conflict, there wouldn’t be improvements. If people did not have progressive mindsets, then the Three Realms will forever be stuck living in a prehistoric society. But during progression, people should not abandon their beliefs. As they say, ‘when one drinks water, one must not forget its source’. No matter how powerful a Deity one is, he or she was still once a human.
“Realmspirit, there’s still something that I don’t understand.” Zhu Yao looked at Realmspirit and said. “If my guess is correct, that is the final bug, right? I understand why you wish to severe the seven emotions and six desires of those who become Gods.” If Gods truly had the power to fight against the Heavenly Dao, then ‘Gods’ would truly be too dangerous. Furthermore, according to the principle of the strong eating the weak, among these people who had climbed to the very top, which one of them wasn’t someone who would use all possible means to obtain his or her objective? With just the slightest birth of evil intentions, the Three Realms would be faced with countless tribulations beyond redemption.
“But… If you do not wish for them to become Gods right from the start, then why come up with the Lightning Divine Tower? By doing so, you’re giving the Deities the opportunity to become Gods, and you’re guiding them to cultivate into Gods.” Her master’s irregular behaviour earlier was because of the Heavenly Dao’s control, wasn’t it? The seal of ‘infinity’ symbols that she broke was actually a law of the Heavenly Dao. All of the Deities revered the Lightning Divine Tower so much, and even desperately wanted to enter it to become Gods. They would unhesitantly throw away their opportunities to hold onto their eternal life. Other than suggestions made by the Heavenly Dao, she really couldn’t think of any other reason behind such behaviour.
Realmspirit sighed. “Yaoyao, have you ever thought that actually, the Realm of Gods might have never existed in this world in the first place?”
“What? Never existed!?” Zhu Yao was shocked. “Then the place I just saw was…” There was that barren place. She wasn’t blind after all.
“That place is simply a temporary dimension, that was opened to accommodate the people that had been unexpectedly purified of their seven emotions and six desires. Realmspirit seriously said. “Yaoyao, I told you before. I’m the spirit of the Three Realms. Three realms, not four.”
Zhu Yao was stunned. Divine Realm, Human Realm, and Netherworld. From what he said, there was truly only three realms. If the Realm of Gods was included…
“Just what are you trying to say? Speak clearly, hey.” Why was he making her even more confused now?
“Yaoyao, within the Three Realms, what do you think is the main cause that would result in the immediate collapse of the Three Realms?” Realmspirit posed a serious question.
Zhu Yao pondered for a moment, and she then suddenly widened her eyes. “It’s resentment!”
“Mn.” Realmspirit nodded. “Resentment is birthed from living beings, yet they cannot die along with living beings. It is undying, indestructible, and filled with malice. If it enters any one world, it can result in the collapse of that world. Before you helped me with finding a method to eliminate resentment, even the River of Forgetfulness had to suppress it beneath the river. If we wanted to exterminate resentment then, there’s only a single way…”
“Light of Purification!” Zhu Yao continued.
Realmspirit nodded. “The Light of Purification is the first strand of sunlight at the beginning of the world’s creation. It is the purest thing in the world and can purify everything in this world, including the seven emotions and six desires. That’s why I designed the Lightning Divine Tower and led the River of Forgetfulness into it. It’s all in order to purify the ever-expanding resentment kept under the River of Forgetfulness and prevent it from entering the Three Realms. However, I am after all an existence formed by the will of the Three Realms. Since the Lightning Divine Tower is designed by me, the tower naturally contains the aura of the Heavenly Dao. Furthermore, all of the practitioners in the world cultivate in order to reach the Heavenly Dao. That’s why…”
“The people of the world then believed that the Lightning Divine Tower that you designed is actually the passageway to raising their level. That’s why they entered the tower to seek a beating?”
He nodded.
The hell. In the end, it was all because those Deities were courting death on their own.
“Those souls who have their consciousness purified have no other places to return to, and because of the Light of Purification, they are unable to return to Netherworld through the River of Forgetfulness to reincarnate. That was why I opened up an accommodation, which is the Realm of Gods you saw back there. As long as they regain even the slightest bit of sentience, they will be able to follow along the River of Forgetfulness and reincarnate.”
“…” What’s drawing water with a sieve? This is! So there wasn’t a Realm of Gods to begin with. A God’s final resting place was simply reincarnation all over again.
“Then what’s with the previous Realm of Gods?” She suddenly remembered about the God races. Those races which were met with such a tragic end.
Realmspirit was silent for a moment, and then solemnly said. “They are survivors from the former world.”
“Former world?”
“Yaoyao, this plane of ours has once met with destruction, and not just once…”
“What?” What did he mean by ‘not just once’? Wasn’t the great war between Gods and Devils the only one? That was why the Human Realm was split into the Three Thousand Worlds.
“Ever since the world’s creation, this plane had always been in a cycle of rejuvenation and destruction.” Realmspirit frowned, as if he had recalled something saddening. “Every ending was the same. Living beings would fight against each other, and then resentment would be birthed, which finally led to world collapses, and then its rejuvenation. This plane had been restructured in many, many different ways, and many different races had once existed in it. However, all of their endings were met with destruction, again and again, never-ending. Finally, this plane is no longer able to bear many more rejuvenations of such scale, and I appeared.”
He took a deep breath, and then continued. “Because it does not wish such an ending to repeat, the world materialized a spirit and wanted to stop this entirety. However, I realized that even if I gain sentience, I was unable to walk out of this cycle. That world with the God races was the first world I experienced after I awakened. However, it was still destroyed. After the rejuvenation, I had the world split into Three Thousand Worlds, all in order to reduce the casualties to the very minimum. I believed that even if one collapses, I can still save it in time. However, resentment continued to accumulate, and I can already foresee the final ending. That’s why I sought help in another plane.”
“Wait a minute…” Zhu Yao was a little confused. “You mentioned that resentment causes world collapses, but back in the time where God races existed, there wasn’t any resentment though?”
“Resentment is just a term used in this world.” Realmspirit said. “In the previous world, it didn’t use the same terminology.”
Zhu Yao was stunned for a moment, and then her heart sank. “Devillic energy!”
“Mn.”
“The hell!” Zhu Yao’s head ached. In the end, devillic energy and resentment were one and the same? The only difference between them was that one of them was birthed in the former world, while the other was birthed in this world.
“Devillic energy was also the most fundamental reason behind that world’s collapse.”
“That’s not right…” Zhu Yao frowned. “If devillic energy is just a remnant from the former world, then what’s with those people who fall into Devilhood? Putting aside Yue Ying, what about Fa Yu? He clearly was a resident of this world, so was he still able to become a Devil?”
“Yaoyao, resentment is birthed from the feelings of unwillingness and hatred during a person’s death. However, what if someone is able to give birth to this form of hatred before his death?”
“You’re saying resentment comes after death, but one will fall into Devilhood when experiencing it before death?”
Realmspirit nodded. “Though, falling into Devilhood is better than giving birth to resentment. Because at the moment of death, what disperses is just devillic energy, and it will not give birth to resentment.”
“But a Devil might cause even more innocent deaths, so the amount of resentment birthed would be much larger, right?”
“Indeed! Especially after the change in the Heavenly Dao, if future practitioners need to hold onto their beliefs, then there will definitely be people who lose their beliefs as well. I’m afraid that there will simply be even more people who fall into Devilhood, so there’s a need for someone to constrain them.”
Constrain? Zhu Yao was startled. “You’re saying Yue Ying!?”
“Mn.”
“Why him? He’s still a child. Furthermore, he doesn’t have any relations with the other Devils…” Halfway through, she suddenly stopped. With widened eyes, she continued. “He’s of the God race.”
Realmspirit nodded. “His existence is necessary. He’s neither a God nor a Devil. He’s a Devil God.”
“……”
“…”
“Devils are initially people who walk on another extreme path that’s out of the Heavenly Dao’s domain. They are the darkest side of living beings, a race that abandons their humanity.” Realmspirit sighed and said. “Without the restraints of the Heavenly Dao, they might turn into an existence similar to ‘resentment’. That’s why only a Devil can restrain a Devil, and Yue Ying is the only Devil God in the world. He is the only one who can control the Devils.”
“But a Devil God is still a Devil.” Zhu Yao rolled her eyes. “And from what you’re saying, the Devil race is a race that ignores the laws of the Heavenly Dao and walks on an extreme path, then a Devil God would be the same, right? How are you so certain that a Devil God will listen to the words of the Heavenly Dao?”
Realmspirit smiled, and looked at her seriously. “Isn’t he already following the will of the Heavenly Dao?”
Zhu Yao was stunned, and then she immediately had an answer. “Me?”
He revealed an even cheaper smile.
“The hell, why am I being pulled into this again? I just wish to see him become a good child…” Uh, now that she thought about it, she was really the only one who could restrain Yue Ying’s devillic nature. Even in front of her, other than that one time where he attempted to kill little wimp, he did not lose his sanity like other Devils and become slaughter machine.
Zhu Yao swept a glance at Realmspirit, and then stared at him intensely. “This can’t possibly be your plan right from the start when you sent me to the God races, right?”
Realmspirit stiffened, and then let out a silly laugh. “Aiyaya, young maiden, don’t be that way. I just wanted you to show your face around, I never expected that you would really be able to do it. You’re awesome!”
“Scram!” Zhu Yao threw a kick at him. “Hurry and speak. What other things were your schemes?”
“Young maiden…” He showed a crying face. “How can you call them schemes? Aren’t they just friendly support between friends? I simply foretold the endings a little.”
Zhu Yao grabbed onto his cheeks and strongly pulled them to the sides. “Stop changing the topic. Hurry and talk!”
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts… Young maiden, this is your face, you know. How can you do such a thing?”
“Tch, I’m not the one hurting anyway.”
“…” She made so much sense he actually had nothing to refute with.
“Hurry and talk!”
“Alright, only one.” He weakly stretched out a finger. “It’s related to the aftermath.”
“Aftermath?” Zhu Yao released her hands.
“Yaoyao, just as you’ve said. There has already been changes to the Heavenly Dao. Only those who doesn’t lose their beliefs will be able to open the Door of Ascension, but… “ He rubbed his cheeks. “What are we going to do about those people who are still in the Divine Realm?”
“…” Indeed. The Divine Realm now was filled with Deities who slaughtered their way up here.
“Lightning Divine Tower has been destroyed now, and the Light of Purification has been withdrawn. These Deities can no longer cultivate into Gods, so will they truly stay in the Divine Realm peacefully?”
“…” Naturally, they wouldn’t.
“I can’t throw them all into the reincarnation wheel for reconstruction, so I can only provide constraints.”
Constraints again!
Zhu Yao paused for a moment. As though she had thought of something, she immediately exploded. “Greedy beast, what else are you trying to do to my master?”
