Path to Godhood

"Sixth Consecrator Luo Shan?" The Evil Emperor took a light step forward and sneered. "You really are looking down on me."

"You little thief, how arrogant." Luo Shan stomped hard on the ground. Rubble thundered, dust flew everywhere, and the entire room seemed to shake violently.

Amid the raging turmoil, the Evil Emperor remained utterly calm.

"Who are you?" Luo Shan's attack had not affected him in the slightest. His brow twitched, and he could not help taking two steps back. That strike had been his third Soul Power, Knocking the Mountain to Shake the Tiger.

Not only had the man before him effortlessly neutralized his attack, but he had even spared the attention to protect the two people behind him. From that alone, Luo Shan concluded that this man's strength was far beyond his own.

"You are not worthy of knowing my name." The Evil Emperor vanished from where he stood. The next instant, blood suddenly poured from Luo Shan's seven orifices.

At some unknown moment, the Evil Emperor had appeared behind him. Dark purple light continuously flowed from Luo Shan's seven orifices, gathering in the Evil Emperor's palm and forming a glowing sphere.

Luo Shan's once thick hair fell out in clumps. His entire body suddenly withered away, leaving him gaunt and skeletal, as though he had become a dying old man.

"I know who you are now." Luo Shan turned around, his shriveled, clouded eyes staring at the Evil Emperor. His limbs had already become like dead wood, as if he would fall apart at the slightest touch. "Evil Emperor."

"Are insignificant vermin worthy of knowing this Emperor's title?" The Evil Emperor lightly clenched his hand and crushed the glow in his palm. Luo Shan's pupils abruptly dilated, and he collapsed to the ground with a crash.

"So this is the Evil Emperor's method?" Jiang Mian could not help swallowing. The Evil Emperor was the strongest in spiritual power, yet the methods he wielded were actually related to time. It was truly terrifying.

"Kid, pack up these Soul Tools and take them with you." The Evil Emperor chuckled. He glanced at the young woman who had already been frightened limp, paid her no attention whatsoever, then walked out of the shop with his hands behind his back.

By then, thousands of elite Sun Moon Empire soldiers had gathered outside the shop. They surrounded it completely, standing ready for battle.

"I did not want to create needless slaughter." The Evil Emperor covered his eyes and said bitterly, "You really are putting me in a difficult position!"

"Where is Consecrator Luo Shan?" Another consecrator leading the troops looked as though he faced a great enemy. He was also a powerful spiritual cultivator, yet when he looked at the Evil Emperor, he felt like a mayfly gazing upon the heavens.

Seeing that things had taken a bad turn, that consecrator hurriedly knelt before the Evil Emperor and respectfully said, "Hu Zhenyi, Eighth Consecrator of the Sun Moon Empire, pays respects to Senior."

"You have some sense." With his hands behind his back, the Evil Emperor looked at Xie Yue and Jiang Mian, who were loaded down with loot and unable to suppress their smiles, and calmly said, "Tell your Sun Moon Empire Emperor that if he wants a change of dynasty, he can come find me."

"Your Excellency is the Evil Emperor?" Hu Zhenyi was clearly far more knowledgeable than Luo Shan. Drenched in sweat and trembling, he said, "Why are you here?"

"You seem to be asking too many questions." The Evil Emperor walked over, stepped on Hu Zhenyi's head, and stomped his skull directly into the ground. "Shut up."

"It feels pretty good to have a powerful expert protecting us." Jiang Mian slung an arm over Xie Yue's shoulder and laughed. "Let's cause some real trouble on this Sun Moon Continent."

"You really are bold." Xie Yue smiled. "But I was thinking the same thing."

The Evil Emperor glanced at Jiang Mian and Xie Yue. "You can make trouble if you want, but show some real ability yourselves. Do not hide under someone else's protection."

Jiang Mian immediately fell silent, then laughed awkwardly. "Senior Evil Emperor, you must be joking."

"Enough. Even causing trouble has its limits." The Evil Emperor grabbed Xie Yue and Jiang Mian by their collars and directly took them away from the Sun Moon Empire's imperial capital.

"Lord Consecrator." Seeing that the Evil Emperor had gone far away, the soldiers hurried to Hu Zhenyi's side, intending to dig him out of the ground.

"Don't move." Hu Zhenyi's voice was extremely hoarse, as if he had swallowed so much dirt that it had clogged his throat. He quickly waved them off, braced himself with both hands, and pulled his head out of the ground.

The soldiers asked worriedly, "Lord Consecrator, what should we do?"

"What should we do?" Hu Zhenyi punched the soldier's helmet and said speechlessly, "Do this."

"You two have caused enough trouble." In the Evil Eye Forest, the Evil Emperor looked at the two little troublemakers before him and said with a headache, "How about it? Do you want to return to your Star Dou Great Forest?"

"Let us have a little more fun." Jiang Mian grinned. "We are not in a hurry, Senior."

"I am in a hurry." The Evil Emperor gritted his teeth and said helplessly, "Little ancestors, the Sun Moon Empire's totem is me, after all. For my sake, leave them a little dignity."

"Senior, that is not quite right." Jiang Mian said, "We only went to take a look at their Soul Tools. We really did not intend to cause trouble. They were the ones who attacked first."

"What a slick tongue." The Evil Emperor flicked Jiang Mian's forehead and laughed angrily. "No wonder Di Tian agreed so readily. Were you this troublesome in the Star Dou Great Forest too?"

Jiang Mian shook his head and frankly said, "I have not been in the Star Dou Great Forest for very long."

"You have not been there long, yet you already annoyed Di Tian?" The Evil Emperor held his chin, wearing an incredulous expression. "You really are impressive, kid."

"Not bad, not bad." Jiang Mian knew the Evil Emperor was teasing him, so he simply went along with it.

"Enough. You two little brats, come with me. I will show you a rare treasure you have never seen before." The Evil Emperor said, "I told you, my meeting gift absolutely cannot be inferior to that fellow Di Tian's."

Jiang Mian and Xie Yue exchanged a look, then rubbed their hands together with ill intent. Since they were already here, it would be rude not to take something. They were ready to fleece the Evil Emperor properly.

The Evil Emperor led them through twists and turns until they arrived at a hidden cave. "Inside this cave is a treasure passed down from ancient times. It has existed even longer than I have. If you have the ability, you may take every treasure inside. I will not stop you."

"So you were just making empty promises." Jiang Mian complained. "In the end, we still have to rely on our own abilities to get the treasure?"

"You do not understand." The Evil Emperor shook his head. "Soul Beasts cannot touch this treasure. Even with my current strength, I could not touch it in the slightest. It is a sacred relic of our Soul Beast race. We must maintain absolute reverence toward it and never dare profane it."

"So humans are needed again?" Jiang Mian chuckled. This plot felt rather familiar. Had Xie Yue not received a god's recognition through the same sort of arrangement?

"Correct." The Evil Emperor nodded. "If you were not the hope of the Soul Beast race that we acknowledge, I would never have brought you to such a place."

"So there is another divine miracle inside?" Jiang Mian said with practiced ease. "This time, it should be my turn, right, Xie Yue?"

"Go ahead." Xie Yue patted Jiang Mian's shoulder and laughed. "I already have one. I will not compete with you for this kind of opportunity again."

"Hmph." The Evil Emperor smiled disdainfully. "What is a divine miracle? The thing inside is countless levels above one!"

Interesting. With that thought in mind, Jiang Mian unconsciously walked toward the cave.

The Evil Emperor folded his arms across his chest. He was not worried that Jiang Mian would die here over this opportunity. If Jiang Mian could not even pass this little trial, then Di Tian had entrusted the wrong person.

How could the hope of the Soul Beast race be a flower raised in a greenhouse?

Seeing that the Evil Emperor had no reaction, Jiang Mian took a deep breath and slowly walked toward the cave entrance.

The cave entrance radiated seven-colored streams of light, and a faint barrier stood before it. Seven symbols representing ultimate attributes flickered across the barrier.

Jiang Mian judged that it likely needed ultimate attributes to activate it. There were many ultimate attributes, but only seven were needed here.

Even so, this had already blocked the vast majority of Soul Masters. An ordinary Soul Master with even one ultimate attribute would already be a peerless genius, certain to become a Titled Douluo.

Who in the world could possess seven ultimate elemental attributes while also being a Soul Master?

Thus, the seal on this cave seemed tailor-made for Jiang Mian. He walked before it and pressed both hands against the barrier.

The first attribute to surge from Jiang Mian's hands was Ultimate Light. This was the ability bestowed upon him by the Auspicious Beast.

With a creak, the seal suddenly began to turn. One corresponding symbol instantly transformed into light and vanished.

Jiang Mian then injected the other six ultimate attributes into the barrier one after another.

When the final Ultimate Spiritual attribute entered it, the entire Evil Eye Forest seemed to tremble. Countless Soul Beasts lowered their heads, not daring to look directly upon or offend the divine countenance.

The Evil Emperor's eyes burst with brilliant red light. He had never expected Jiang Mian to succeed, but this youth had truly given him an enormous surprise.

The Evil Emperor's lips trembled as he dropped to one knee.

A dragon's roar suddenly rang through heaven and earth. Seven beams of ultimate light shot into the sky like flowing radiance and colorful clouds. They circled through the air once before all pouring into Jiang Mian's body.

The cave barrier gave a crisp cracking sound. Jiang Mian was instantly swallowed by darkness, and his figure vanished from outside the cave.

"Where did Jiang Mian go?" Even using Mind's Eye to investigate, Xie Yue could not sense Jiang Mian's presence. It was as though Jiang Mian had vanished from heaven and earth.

"He has been chosen by a true ancient God King." The Evil Emperor laughed wildly. Looking in the direction of Douluo Continent, tears welled in his eyes. "Di Tian, you were not wrong about him. He truly is the hope of our Soul Beast race!"

"Is that really necessary?" Xie Yue muttered softly. Yet the Evil Emperor seemed to have gone mad. He glared at Xie Yue viciously, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him hard. "What do you know? What could a wet-behind-the-ears child like you possibly understand? Do you know what this means? It means the era belonging to us Soul Beasts is returning!"

"We can finally become Divine Beasts again!"

"Little one, why have you come here?"

Jiang Mian seemed to be walking through a heavenly palace. Beneath his feet, white clouds continuously gathered and dispersed. Auspicious light filled the skies around him, sacred and solemn.

A voice that seemed to come from tens of thousands of years ago slowly rang out, echoing throughout the entire heavenly palace.

"May I ask who you are?" Jiang Mian was certain this was no ordinary god. He knelt on the ground and bowed from afar. "This junior, Jiang Mian, pays respects to Senior."

"At last, there is a successor among our kind." The ancient voice sounded again. "It is good that you have come here. It could not be better."

"You flatter me, Senior." Jiang Mian rose to his feet, clasped his hands, and bowed again. "Without your permission, this junior could not have come to this place."

"Do not be modest." The ancient voice praised him. "To break the barrier with seven ultimate attributes—such means would be unheard of even if one searched the entire world."

"This junior was merely fortunate." Jiang Mian answered the ancient voice neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Do you not want to know who I am?" The ancient voice laughed. "Why not take a guess?"

"You should be Lord Dragon God." Though Jiang Mian had long been prepared for this, when he spoke the words himself, his heart still trembled with excitement.

"Little friend, how did you guess?" The Dragon God seemed quite surprised. An elderly man with white hair and beard suddenly appeared before Jiang Mian. He wore white robes, and both his hair and beard were snow-white. A pair of dragon horns rose from his head. His appearance reminded Jiang Mian of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea from Journey to the West in his previous life. The resemblance was truly fitting.

Jiang Mian smiled. "Across the nine heavens and ten lands, throughout the domain of gods, only Lord Dragon God could possess seven or even more ultimate attributes at once."

"Very clever." The Dragon God nodded, looking at Jiang Mian with the fondness of an elder viewing an outstanding junior. "But I am not the true Dragon God."

"Back then, the Dragon God was split in two by the Asura God, becoming the Silver Dragon King and the Golden Dragon King. Yet the Dragon God Spirit Core was immortal and indestructible. It fused with his reverse scale and eventually descended onto this continent alongside the Silver Dragon King."

"The Silver Dragon King arrived at the Star Dou Great Forest and entered slumber. As for me, the Dragon God Spirit Core, I was left behind in the Evil Eye Forest. Afraid of being disturbed, I set up a small seal."

"Dragon God Spirit Core?" Jiang Mian scratched his head in surprise. He had never seen this in the original Douluo story either. What exactly was it for?

"Since you have come here, why not become the inheritor of my Dragon God legacy?" The Dragon God Spirit Core smiled. "I have been bored to death in this damned place."

"What is your purpose?" Though Jiang Mian knew the question was somewhat rude, she still asked it. After all, it was rather important.

"My purpose?" The Dragon God Primal Core stroked his beard and looked up in thought. "I suppose I am an indispensable part of the final Dragon God Divine Spark."

"The Silver Dragon King and Golden Dragon King are each one part of the Dragon God. Fusing their Divine Sparks can initially form the Dragon God Divine Spark, but at that time it would only have the appearance. Only when this old man merges with the Dragon God Divine Spark will it become the true Dragon God Divine Spark."

"So that is how it is." Jiang Mian nodded. "You are the test the Dragon God has given me, like the trials other gods give their inheritors."

"You could put it that way." The Dragon God Primal Core nodded and laughed. "But how could the Dragon God Divine Spark be compared with those minor gods?"

"No wonder the Evil Emperor reacted so strongly." Although Jiang Mian had already entered this realm at the time, he could still sense the Evil Emperor's emotional fluctuations. For a Soul Beast who had lived for 780,000 years to shed tears, it was enough to show just how precious this treasure was.

"Although the Dragon God Divine Spark can exist, there will only ever be one Dragon God. You cannot become the Dragon God. This path to godhood is fraught with hardships and dangers. Can you keep walking it?"

"I definitely can!"