Considerations on Godhood, You Chen's Ambition

Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

After his Martial Soul Evolution and his physical body broke through, his strength leaped directly from the threshold of Titled Douluo to the level of Super Douluo.

Even You Chen took a full six months to sort out his own strength.

As his strength increased, a question naturally surfaced in Chen Xin.

To become a god.

This is a question that almost everyone who travels to the Douluo Continent will consider.

In fact, You Chen had started considering this issue a long time ago.

There are two well-known paths to becoming a god.

Firstly, to inherit the divine position.

Secondly, a new divine position is formed by relying on the power of faith, or rather, the power of the collective will of all beings.

Inheriting a godhood... Currently, the only godhoods that can be found and inherited on the Douluo Continent are the two godhoods of the Asura God and the Sea God.

To inherit another godhood, one basically has to get involved in the divine trials and attract the attention of the gods in the Divine Realm. Just like in the original novel, Tang San's success led to the ascension of his entire family and friends.

However, if he were to truly accomplish a feat that would shake the continent and demonstrate some potential that would attract the gods, You Chen was somewhat unsure whether he would actually attract them.

As for other divine examination locations, such as the place where the Ice God inherited his legacy, You Chen really felt that it would be better to go directly to the second path than to spend so much effort searching for such a lost legacy place that had been missing for who knows how many years.

Therefore, if one truly wishes to become a god by inheriting a divine position, one will likely have to pass the divine tests of these two major divine positions.

After spending this period of seclusion cultivating and researching the power of his Martial Soul Origin, You Chen has basically ruled out the possibility of the Asura God's position.

Basically, there is no conflict between divine positions and Soul Master.

Just like Tang San, who uses grass and a hammer, can inherit the divine positions of the Sea God and the Asura God.

However, this essentially means that there are exceptions.

For example, Qian Renxue's Angel Domain and the Slaughter Domain bestowed by the Asura God are in obvious conflict.

Unless Qian Renxue chooses to abandon her Martial Soul, there is no way she can inherit the Asura God.

Since the domain is primarily based on the ultimate power of purification, and the Sacrifice Sanctuary You Chen, which is extremely similar in nature to the Angel Domain, is clearly not suitable for this divine position.

If his Martial Soul were not Stardust Dragon, but rather the Red Lotus Demon Dragon of Yusei Fudo's best friend Jack, that would be very suitable.

You Chen possesses the conviction of a strong person, and there is absolutely no way he would choose to abandon the Martial Soul power that can be said to be the essence of his life's achievements for the sake of an unsuitable Asura God position!

Next is Sea God.

Without a doubt... You Chen loathed the Sea God.

It's not just because this divine position symbolizes Tang San's "purity and innocence".

And even more so because of the Sea God himself...

To highlight Tang San's immense popularity, the original novel included a scene where the Asura God and the Sea God exploited loopholes in the rules of the Divine Realm to vie for Tang San as their successor.

But even though both involve exploiting loopholes, Sea God is clearly more disgusting.

In particular, this guy deliberately staged a public execution when Qian Renxue inherited the divine position, directly exposing Qian Renxue's privacy to the entire continent...

Even though such a thing hasn't happened in this timeline, You Chen, as Teacher Qian Renxue, still felt extremely disgusted.

This god gives off a very despicable and lewd vibe, and he really does resemble the old pervert of the same name in a certain Greek myth.

You Chen did intend to teach Qian Renxue a lesson, but if others were to bully his bad disciple, that would be a different matter!

Only he himself can discipline his own disciple!

In particular, the Sea God's vile and disgusting Shrimp Head are something You Chen absolutely cannot accept.

So even though he hadn't met the Sea God yet, You Chen had already silently regarded him as a hypothetical enemy.

The thought that if he inherited the Sea God Godhood, it would be entirely in accordance with the Sea God's wishes, fulfilling his desire to be freed from the constraints of the divine position and live a carefree life, made You Chen Xin somewhat uneasy.

He had absolutely no interest in the position of Sea God.

Of course, most importantly— You Chen himself did not want to ascend to the Divine Realm.

The original work makes it very clear that, apart from a very few outliers like Tang San who want to seize all the power in the Divine Realm, most gods want to step down and then travel to different lower realms with their relatives and friends.

Inheriting a divine position and ascending to the Divine Realm is equivalent to becoming a civil servant in the Divine Realm...

In other words, they were nominally deities, but in reality, they still had to work for others.

Even in the lower realms, they are only allowed to perform official duties and are not permitted to roam freely.

Only those few supreme god-kings possess a certain degree of freedom.

However, the God-King also forbids unauthorized interference in the mortal realm; any violation will be punished according to the law.

The God-King is the one who maintains order and rules. If the one who upholds the law violates the law, even if it is to maintain the legitimacy of the God Realm Committee, the other God-Kings must severely punish the God-King who makes a mistake.

Of course, even gods have human feelings. Even if a god-king truly violates the law, ordinary gods would not dare to report it.

This is why the God-King treats a certain number of top-tier First-Level God in a special way, because these top-tier First-Level God are capable of withstanding the God-King's offensive for a period of time.

Therefore, generally speaking, the God Kings maintain a relationship of mutual surveillance. Just like in Douluo II, the Destruction God King was constantly watching Tang San.

Unless one truly becomes like the Dragon God of old, or even surpasses the Dragon God, even if one becomes a god or a god-king, one will still not be free and will be bound by some damned God Realm Committee.

This was something that You Chen, who had been accustomed to being restrained and suppressed, could not accept.

Therefore, his true ambition was not merely to become a strongman or a god, but rather... to become an eternal king in this mortal realm, maintaining eternal freedom and rule.

So, a long, long time ago, he set his sights on the second path.

Becoming a god through faith, or in other words, becoming a god through the power of the thoughts of all beings.

Poseidon, the Sea God of the past, was able to condense a divine position through faith and become First-Level God in one fell swoop. So, if he were to rely on the even greater power of the collective will of all living beings to condense an even more powerful, God King Level divine position, would he be able to obtain the power to defy the God Realm Committee?

It's not about opposing the entire God Realm Committee, it's merely about going against it.

After all, this organization was not monolithic; some people valued the rules, some wanted to cheat and shirk responsibility, and some wanted to exploit loopholes in the rules.

Oh, it's not "there are people", it's "there is a god".

If You Chen could achieve immortality through his own efforts, then there would be no need for him to ascend to some damned Divine Realm.

It's not hard to guess how the God Realm Committee will respond to this.

There is no doubt that they will send people to capture You Chen, who has exceeded his stay in the human realm, and bring him to the Divine Realm.

But here comes the crucial question... who should we send?

This inevitably leads to disagreements.

Moreover, the biggest limitation of the God Realm Committee is that it must act in accordance with its charter.

The God-King can indeed break this limitation on his own, but there are still many points of contention.

You Chen could easily think of several.

The simplest explanation is... a conspiracy theory!

When the God Realm Committee sent someone to inform him of his ascension, he stated frankly that he did not trust the God Realm Committee and believed that this so-called Divine Realm was a scam.

This is a statement that, although no one has made it before, is very plausible.

Because... You Chen has never been to the Divine Realm. This fact cannot be disproven.

You mean the Sea God? The Angel God? Those are ancient legends from so many years ago, and there have only been two of them. They don't seem real at all.

You Chen could even righteously declare that if the Divine Realm is a deception, a conspiracy by people from other worlds to control this land, then his blind ascension would leave no Core Flame for the people of the lower realms, which would be irresponsible to them...

In this way, the two female god-kings, who are more sentimental and Kindness God King, and who value life, are more likely to side with him and choose to persuade him rather than use force, since this could increase You Chen's misunderstanding of the Divine Realm.

Then, since the Destruction God King and the Life God King are husband and wife, he can't disobey his wife.

This means that more than half of the God-Kings might support him.

A day in the Divine Realm is equivalent to a year in the mortal realm. With just a few casual squabbles, You Chen could easily spare a great deal of time.

As long as You Chen doesn't ascend and hasn't entered the Divine Realm's system, the God Kings, constrained by their self-imposed laws and their concepts of justice and morality, will find it difficult to stand on their moral high ground and demand anything of You Chen, who isn't yet a formal employee. Naturally, they will become hesitant and restrained.

For example, some companies can use lofty pretexts like "you have to do this or that for the company" or "young people need to be ambitious" to morally blackmail and manipulate honest employees. But when it comes to non-employee partners... damn it, who are you trying to hook up with? Stop talking nonsense with me.

How can you judge and punish someone who is not Divine Realm and knows nothing about the laws of the Divine Realm, in the name of "violating the law"?

As long as the God Realm Committee claims to be righteous, there will be dissenting voices within them when You Chen only refuses to ascend without doing anything else that clearly crosses the line.

And in this process, conflicts of interest may even arise.

It's very simple—this is a perfectly reasonable opportunity in the lower bounds.

You Chen even had the opportunity to reach an agreement with the gods from the lower realm, achieving a win-win situation.

To achieve this, the most important factor is, of course, strength.

Only with strength can one have confidence.

His God King Level strength is the source of his confidence that others must hear his voice.

Once You Chen possesses the power of God King Level, then his ascension will inevitably be an difficult task.

Otherwise, even if You Chen wanted to argue, the other God-Kings would probably have preferred to bring him up first, use facts to prove it wasn't a conspiracy theory as quickly as possible, and then let time slowly ease the tension.

To achieve this, even the strength of a top-tier First-Level God might be sufficient.

Because what You Chen needed to do was not to defeat the gods of the Divine Realm, but simply to survive and escape.

Given You Chen's consistent strength in speed, he would most likely possess the speed to escape from a God-King at the level of First-Level God.

During this process, You Chen can continue to cultivate and accumulate power until... he becomes truly invincible.

This is a completely feasible method.

The reason is simple: the original work also hints at a third path...

There are three paths to gather divine power: the Immortal Spiritual Energy, the power of the thoughts of all living beings, and finally... the Cosmic Power, or the power of the stars.

Even before obtaining the system and Martial Soul Evolution, You Chen had considered this path.

Or rather, this was the route he envisioned when he didn't have a system at the beginning.

He acquired the most readily available and life-altering Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone, improved his cultivation aptitude, ignored the subsequent war, and retreated into seclusion to cultivate in seclusion.

As I've said more than once, the power of Martial Soul Origin can be cultivated on its own; Soul Ring and Soul Bone are merely gifts and shortcuts bestowed by heaven and earth.

You Chen's original idea was to rely on his theoretical knowledge and improved talent to break through the shackles step by step and become a god by relying on the power of the stars.

This is also a perfectly feasible path.

However, the success rate is probably no more than 10%, and even if one eventually becomes a god, it is unlikely that one can quickly fulfill one's ambitions.

After multiplying the probabilities of each step, the probability of You Chen finally getting what he wants becomes terrifyingly low.

The power of stars has always been one of You Chen's core strengths.

Even after Martial Soul Evolution, this is no exception.

Rather, it would be more accurate to say that the Stardust Power is a power that is superior to the power of stars.

In this world, or rather the universe, there has never been a deity who has become a god by relying on the Cosmic Power.

Whether it's the Moonlight God, the Sun God, or the Starlight God, no similar deity has ever appeared.

This also suggests that this road will inevitably be full of thorns.

Based on the information in the original work, You Chen's limited understanding and analysis suggest that the most likely scenario is that the Cosmic Power to become a god is extremely strong, at least First-Level God, or even God King Level god.

The more powerful a deity is, the harder it is to solidify; this is a natural principle.

This is why a corresponding deity has never appeared.

The Stardust Power, which was only at the lowest level of You Chen's control after the Stardust Dragon Martial Soul had just evolved and had not yet reached its peak, was already enough to rival the Stardust Power Angel Holy Power Qian Renxue had mastered for decades.

If one were to condense a divine position centered on the Stardust Power, it would probably require at least the position of a God-King.

Or perhaps it's another possibility.

The system of Cosmic Power differs from existing pantheons and does not require the formation of any divine positions. All the above speculations are off-track.

However, now, You Chen actually has a fourth, and even a fifth or sixth path.

The fourth path is the path to physical immortality; the fifth path is the path of the unity of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and spirit; and the sixth path is the path of Martial Soul Evolution to break through world boundaries.

However, this also reduces the difficulty and likelihood.

You Chen is currently focusing his attention on the second and third paths.

The Beast Soul Alliance and the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce were among his preparations to unite the collective will of all beings.

As for the Stardust Power, he has been researching and mastering it all this time.

Therefore, although You Chen may not seem to have embarked on the path to godhood, he has actually been on that path for a long time.

However, although none of the cultivation plans have reached the final stage, You Chen has already decided to leave seclusion and temporarily depart from the camp in the Cataclysm Mountain Range.

The path to godhood requires taking one step at a time, and even after acquiring a system, one cannot rush it.

After digesting the improvement in his own strength, there is no doubt what You Chen needs to do.

—Complete the fourth, fifth, and sixth Soul Ring of the Second Incarnation, and the Eighth Soul Ring of the First Incarnation.

To further enhance their strength and make all the necessary preparations for condensing the second physical essence Soul Core when their next First Incarnation breaks through to the ninth Soul Ring.

You Chen's goal is simple: after condensing his Second Soul Ring, he will officially possess the strength of the ultimate level and truly begin to stir up the winds and clouds of this long-silent continent.

"Ni Nuo".

You Chen left his room in the camp and casually called out, and a green-haired girl wearing a fox mask quickly appeared.

"Your subordinate is here."

The white fox mask is now the symbol of the messenger.

As the organization expanded, Ge Ruisi completely relinquished her position as You Chen's personal maid. In her place, she promoted Ni Nuo, whom she had carefully nurtured, to be in charge of all of You Chen's needs, including intelligence gathering.

In fact, thanks to You Chen's deliberate allocation of resources to the maid who had served him the earliest, Ge Ruisi recently obtained her fourth and Fifth Soul Ring and became Soul King. While concurrently serving as the leader of the envoys, she was also promoted to the fifth Beast Head — the Fox Head.

In fact, Ge Ruisi's true talent is quite remarkable, on par with Amona and Kui. In terms of Martial Soul, she definitely has the potential to advance to the top level with a high-grade Martial Soul.

After all, it's impossible for an ordinary Martial Soul to obtain such a top-tier Soul Skill and become a core member of the You Chen intelligence network in the early stages.

However, by the time You Chen resolved the issue of the beast transformation mutation, she had already missed most of her prime cultivation years.

But just like how Dugu Yan's true talent was inferior to the top members of the Imperial Fighting Team, yet she was able to become the vice-captain.

Behind Dugu Yan is an old man who is willing to give everything for her, and the cultivation resources that Dugu Bo provides to Dugu Yan cannot even compare to those of Yu Tianheng, a core member of a large family.

After all, Yu Xiaogang, as the clan leader's son, caused resentment within the clan due to his lack of cultivation talent and excessive resources. Yu Tianheng's grandfather, the clan leader's younger brother, could not compare to the cultivation resources of a Titled Douluo's sole protégé, no matter how talented he was.

With the help of a large amount of rare resources, Dugu Yan's talent was forcibly elevated to the top level.

Before obtaining the Immortal Herb, he was already a top genius whose future Titled Douluo was uncertain, but becoming Soul Sage was a certainty.

If Dugu Bo could open such a back door for Dugu Yan, You Chen could do the same for Ge Ruisi.

You Chen immediately bestowed upon Ge Ruisi the Eight Petal Immortal Orchid, which could accelerate the increase of Soul Power.

This was to make up for the time she lacked for cultivation.

Ge Ruisi is already in her early thirties, but she can still be considered to be in her prime. Although the effects of the Eight Petal Immortal Orchid have been greatly reduced, it is still considered powerful. At least before her blood and energy completely decline at the age of fifty, her cultivation speed will surpass that of her most vigorous self at the age of twenty, and she can catch up with those Soul Masters with Innate Full Soul Power Soul Power aptitude.

Then, You Chen gave Ge Ruisi Intermediate Experience Pill that could instantly elevate her to the Soul King stage.

You Chen only has so many experience pills for each stage, and this time he has basically emptied his reserves of Intermediate Experience Pill.

Although this approach is undoubtedly a huge waste for someone whose potential has been wasted, You Chen is happy with it, and no one can object to it.

Ignis, however, had been jealous about this for a long time and went to his house to "demand an explanation." Naturally, she was given a severe lesson, and with You Chen's terrifying physique, he was unable to get out of bed for three days.

With You Chen's unconditional resource allocation, Ge Ruisi has a good chance of breaking through to Soul Sage in the future.

With her Martial Soul aptitude and the perfect Soul Ring that You Chen provided for her, there is a great chance that her Martial Soul will evolve through gradual accumulation and ultimate sublimation.

With You Chen as his powerful father, it's not impossible for him to even reach the highest rank in the future.

With her current strength and the skills honed over the past decade, Ge Ruisi has become a pillar of the Beast Soul Alliance, the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce, and the Emissary Group, shining brightly in the outside world while simultaneously cultivating in the high-concentration energy environment of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Although Ge Ruisi very much wanted to serve You Chen repay his kindness in giving her a second chance, she also understood that this arrangement was the only way to truly benefit You Chen. Therefore, she left the Cataclysm Mountain Range with great regret. However, before leaving, she introduced the subordinates she had painstakingly trained to You Chen.

After briefly reminiscing, You Chen looked at Ge Ruisi's smug subordinate in front of him and slightly curled the corners of his mouth.

Ge Ruisi was right; Ni Nuo was indeed an extremely easy-going and versatile servant.

Whether it's clothing, food, housing, transportation, intelligence gathering, or even helping him shoo away flies (referring to Dugu Yan), there's nothing wrong with it.

In addition, the face that You Chen had revealed more than once was also very distinctive.

Ni Nuo's aptitude was just average among the previous Soul Arena Beasts. Her Martial Soul, Azure Bird, was an Agility Attack System Martial Soul with virtually no combat power. If she were not a Beast Transformation Mutant, her Martial Soul Origin power would be far beyond that of a normal Soul Master, and its level might not even reach the intermediate level.

With such strength, he naturally could not become Beast Soldier, and ultimately joined the ranks of Beast Envoy.

But as a maid, what need is there for any strength?

With such a beautiful, capable, obedient, and clever maid who also knew how to proactively help her master with things that were difficult to ask (referring to dealing with Dugu Yan), You Chen was naturally extremely satisfied.

You Chen asked, "Ni Nuo, I'm going to take You Xing out for a trip. Please make the necessary arrangements. Then, check on the progress of the information I had the messengers collect about the Soul Beast half a month ago."

Ni Nuo bowed slightly. "Yes, sir."

Then, he quickly possessed his Martial Soul Possession, utilizing the speed advantage of the Azure Bird Martial Soul, and disappeared in an instant.

"You Chen, did you just say you were taking You Xing out with you?"

A somewhat hesitant voice rang out.

Having experienced it so many times and with so much experience, You Chen now knows who the voice belongs to without even looking back.

But since the other party was his "grandniece," You Chen turned around and showed his usual gentle smile, saying, "It's Yan Yan. Just as you heard, You Xing's cultivation has come to a temporary end, and I need to take him out to verify what he has gained during this period of cultivation."

Upon hearing this, Dugu Yan lowered her head, tapped her index fingers lightly, and asked, "Well, in that case—"

"I'm sorry, I can't take you, Yan Yan."