The Path to Godhood

"The Sixth Venerable, Luo Shan?" The Evil Emperor took a step forward, sneering, "They really underestimated me."

"You impudent brat." Luo Shan stomped heavily on the ground. Stones rumbled, and dust billowed up. The entire room seemed to shake violently.

The Evil Emperor, amidst the tempest, remained unfazed.

"Who are you?" Luo Shan's attack had no effect. His eyebrows twitched, and he couldn't help but retreat a couple of steps. That attack was his third Soul Power, meant to intimidate. Yet, the person before him not only effortlessly neutralized his attack but also had the leisure to protect the two behind him. With just this feat, he, Luo Shan, concluded that this person's strength was definitely far beyond his own.

"You are not worthy of knowing my name." The Evil Emperor vanished from his spot instantly. Following that, Luo Shan suddenly began bleeding from all seven orifices.

The Evil Emperor had appeared behind him at some point. A dark purple light continuously poured out from Luo Shan's seven orifices, gathering in the Evil Emperor's palm to form a ball of light.

Luo Shan's once thick hair fell out rapidly. His entire body became emaciated and bony, appearing ancient.

"I know who you are." Luo Shan turned his head, his eyes shriveled and cloudy as he looked at the Evil Emperor. His limbs were like withered wood, looking as if they would crumble at the slightest touch. "Evil Emperor."

"Insignificant wretch, how dare you know this Emperor's title?" The Evil Emperor lightly squeezed, scattering the light in his hand. Luo Shan's pupils dilated sharply, and his body collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Is this the Evil Emperor's power?" Jiang Mian couldn't help but swallow. The Evil Emperor was the strongest in mental power, and the abilities he possessed 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 lady trembling with fear, ignoring her completely, and walked out of the shop with his hands behind his back.

Outside the shop, thousands of elite soldiers from the Sun Moon Empire had gathered, surrounding the shop and standing ready.

"I didn't want to cause unnecessary bloodshed," the Evil Emperor said with a wry smile, covering his eyes. "You really make things difficult for me!"

"Where is Venerable Luo Shan?" The leading Venerable, another expert in mental power, regarded the Evil Emperor as if he were a mayfly gazing at the vast heavens.

Seeing the situation was unfavorable, that Venerable quickly prostrated himself at the Evil Emperor's feet and said respectfully, "Hu Zhenyi, the Eighth Venerable of the Sun Moon Empire, greets you, senior."

"You have some discernment." The Evil Emperor, hands behind his back, looked at Xie Yue and Jiang Mian, who were returning with full bags and couldn't suppress their smiles, and said calmly, "Tell your Sun Moon Empire's Emperor, if he wants to change dynasties, he can come at me."

"Are you His Excellency the Evil Emperor?" Hu Zhenyi, clearly much more knowledgeable than that Venerable Luo Shan, said with a sweating, trembling voice, "Why are you here?"

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

"It feels great to have someone powerful protecting me," Jiang Mian said, slinging an arm around Xie Yue's shoulder with a grin. "Let's cause some trouble here on the Sun Moon Continent."

"You're truly bold," Xie Yue smiled. "But I have the same intention."

The Evil Emperor glanced at Jiang Mian and Xie Yue and said, "If you want to cause trouble, by all means, but show some real skill. Don't rely on my protection."

Jiang Mian immediately fell silent and chuckled, "Senior Evil Emperor, you jest."

"Alright, even trouble needs limits." The Evil Emperor grabbed Xie Yue and Jiang Mian by their collars and directly took them away from the Sun Moon Empire's capital.

"Venerable." The soldiers beside him, seeing the Evil Emperor had already left, rushed to Hu Zhenyi's side, wanting to pull him out of the dirt.

"Don't move." Hu Zhenyi's voice was hoarse, as if he had eaten a lot of dirt that had clogged his throat. He quickly waved his hand and supported himself with his hands, pulling his head out of the ground.

The soldiers asked worriedly, "Venerable, what should we do?"

"What should we do?" Hu Zhenyi punched a soldier's helmet, exasperated. "This is what we do."

"You've caused enough trouble here." Inside the Evil Eye Forest, the Evil Emperor looked at the two troublemakers before him with a headache and said, "How about it, want to go back to your Star Dou Great Forest?"

"Let's play a bit longer," Jiang Mian grinned. "We're not in a hurry, Senior."

"I am quite in a hurry," the Evil Emperor said through gritted teeth, helplessly. "My dear little ancestors, I am the totem of the Sun Moon Empire. Show them some respect."

"Senior, your words are misplaced," Jiang Mian said. "We were just going to visit their Soul Tools. We really didn't intend to cause trouble; they attacked us first."

"Smooth talker." The Evil Emperor flicked Jiang Mian's forehead, amused and annoyed. "No wonder Di Tian agreed so readily. You cause this much ruckus in the Star Dou Great Forest too?"

Jiang Mian shook his head and frankly said, "I haven't been in the Star Dou Great Forest for too long."

"You haven't been there long, but you've already annoyed Di Tian?" The Evil Emperor rested his chin on his hand, looking incredulous. "You're quite something, kid."

"Not bad, not bad." Jiang Mian knew the Evil Emperor was joking and decided to play along.

"Alright, you two little fellows, follow me. I'll show you some rare treasures you've never seen before," the Evil Emperor said. "As I said, my welcome gift will never be less than Di Tian's."

Jiang Mian and Xie Yue exchanged glances, rubbing their hands with ill intentions, ready to extort the Evil Emperor. Since they were here, it would be rude not to take something.

The Evil Emperor led the two around, eventually arriving at a hidden cave. "Inside this cave lies a treasure passed down from ancient times, existing even longer than I have. If you have the ability, you can take all the treasures inside; I will not stop you."

"So you're just painting a pretty picture," Jiang Mian quipped. "In the end, we still need to get the treasures by our own merit?"

"You don't understand." The Evil Emperor shook his head and said, "Spirit Beasts cannot touch this treasure. Even with my current strength, I cannot even brush against this treasure. This is because it is a sacred artifact of our Spirit Beast race. We must maintain a hundred percent sacred heart towards it and dare not desecrate it."

"So you need us humans to act again?" Jiang Mian chuckled. This plot felt familiar; it was similar to how Xie Yue was recognized by a deity.

"That's right." The Evil Emperor nodded. "If you weren't the hope of our Spirit Beast race that we've recognized, I wouldn't have brought you to such a place."

"It seems like there's another divine miracle inside?" Jiang Mian said familiarly, "Is it my turn this time, Xie Yue?"

"It's up to you." Xie Yue patted Jiang Mian's shoulder and laughed heartily. "I already have mine, so I can't possibly snatch this kind of opportunity from you again."

"Hmph, hmph." The Evil Emperor sneered. "What are divine miracles? What's inside is countless levels higher than divine miracles!"

"Interesting." Jiang Mian thought as his body moved involuntarily towards the cave.

If you find this book good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

The Evil Emperor crossed his arms. He wasn't afraid of Jiang Mian dying here for this opportunity. If he couldn't even pass this trial, then Di Tian's trust was misplaced.

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

Jiang Mian watched Xie Di without any reaction. He took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the cave entrance.

The cave entrance was emitting a colorful stream of light, and there was a faint barrier shimmering with patterns of the seven ultimate attributes.

Jiang Mian deduced that it likely required the ultimate attributes to activate. While there were many ultimate attributes, only seven were needed here.

However, this already deterred the vast majority of Spirit Masters, as possessing even one ultimate attribute made a Spirit Master a peerless prodigy, a surefire Titled Douluo.

Who in the world could possess seven ultimate elemental attributes and still be a Spirit Master?

Thus, the cave's seal felt tailor-made for Jiang Mian. He walked up to the barrier and placed his hands upon it.

Jiang Mian's hands first exuded the attribute of Ultimate Light, a capability bestowed upon him by the Auspicious Beast.

With a creak, the seal suddenly began to rotate, and a corresponding pattern instantly vanished like smoke.

Jiang Mian then injected the remaining six ultimate attributes into the barrier one by one.

As the final ultimate spirit attribute was infused, the entire Evil Eye Forest seemed to tremble. Myriad Spirit Beasts bowed their heads, not daring to gaze upon the divine countenance.

Xie Di's eyes emitted a bright red glow. He hadn't actually expected Jiang Mian to succeed, but this young man before him had indeed given him a tremendous surprise.

Xie Di's lips trembled, and he knelt on one knee.

A dragon's roar suddenly echoed through heaven and earth. Seven streams of ultimate light shot up into the sky like flowing clouds and colorful mist. They circled in the air before finally pouring into Jiang Mian's body.

The cave barrier let out a crisp shattering sound, and Jiang Mian was instantly engulfed by darkness. Jiang Mian's figure was no longer visible outside the cave.

"Where is Jiang Mian?" Even with his Mind's Eye, Xie Yue couldn't detect Jiang Mian's presence, as if he had vanished from heaven and earth.

"He has been chosen by the true ancient Divine King," Xie Di roared with laughter. He looked towards the Douluo Continent, tears welling up in his eyes. "Di Tian, you weren't wrong; he truly is the hope of our Spirit Beast race."

"Is it that serious?" Xie Yue muttered softly. Xie Di, however, seemed to have gone mad. He glared fiercely at Xie Yue, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him violently. "What do you know, you wet-behind-the-ears brat? Do you know what this means? It means the era belonging to us Spirit Beasts is about to return."

"We can finally become Divine Beasts again!"

"Little one, why have you come here?"

Jiang Mian felt as if he were walking in the celestial palace. White clouds continuously gathered and dispersed beneath his feet, and the surroundings were filled with divine and solemn radiance.

A voice, seemingly from ten thousand years ago, drifted and echoed throughout the entire celestial palace.

"Who are you?" Jiang Mian was certain that this was no ordinary Deity. He knelt on the ground and bowed from afar. "Junior Jiang Mian pays his respects to senior."

"One of our own, finally with a successor," the ancient voice sounded again. "It's good that you could come here. It couldn't be better."

"You flatter me, senior," Jiang Mian replied, standing up. He cupped his fists and bowed again, saying respectfully, "Without your permission, senior, I wouldn't have been able to reach this place."

"Don't be humble," the ancient voice praised. "To break the barrier with seven ultimate attributes, such a feat is unheard of even if one searched the entire world."

"It was merely a stroke of luck, junior," Jiang Mian replied to the ancient voice with neither humility nor arrogance.

"Don't you want to know who I am?" the ancient voice chuckled. "Why don't you take a guess?"

"You must be the Dragon God, sir," Jiang Mian said. Although he had some preparation in his heart, saying it out loud still made his heart tremble with excitement.

"Little friend, how did you guess?" The Dragon God seemed very surprised. An old man with snow-white hair and beard suddenly appeared before Jiang Mian. He was dressed in white robes, his hair and beard were both snow-white, and he had a pair of dragon horns on his head. This appearance reminded Jiang Mian of the East Sea Dragon King he had seen in his previous life's Journey to the West; the image was very fitting.

Jiang Mian smiled and said, "In the nine heavens and ten lands, the domain of gods, only the Dragon God could simultaneously possess seven or more ultimate attributes."

"Very astute," the Dragon God nodded. His gaze was affectionate, like an elder looking at his outstanding junior. "But I am not the true Dragon God."

"In the past, the Dragon God was split into two by the Asura God, becoming the Silver Dragon King and the Golden Dragon King. However, the Dragon God Spirit Core was immortal and indestructible. It merged with his reverse scale and eventually descended to this continent with the Silver Dragon King."

"The Silver Dragon King went to the Star Dou Great Forest to slumber, while I, the Dragon God Spirit Core, was left behind in the Evil Eye Forest. Fearing disturbances, I set up a small seal."

"Dragon God Spirit Core?" Jiang Mian scratched his head in surprise. He hadn't seen this in the original Douluo story either. What was the use of this thing?

"Since you have come to this place, why not become my Dragon God's inheritor?" the Dragon God Spirit Core said with a smile. "I've been bored to death in this godforsaken place."

"What is your purpose?" Although Jiang Mian knew his question was a bit impolite, he still asked it, as the question was rather crucial.

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

"The Silver Dragon King and the Golden Dragon King were originally two parts of the Dragon God. Fusing their Divinities would initially form the Dragon God Divinity, but at that time, the Dragon God Divinity only had its form. When I merge with the Dragon God Divinity, it will be the true Dragon God Divinity."

"I see," Jiang Mian nodded. "You are the test the Dragon God has given me, much like the trials other Deities give their inheritors."

"You could say that," the Dragon God Spirit Core nodded and chuckled. "But how could the Dragon God Divinity be compared to those minor gods?"

"No wonder Xie Di reacted so strongly." Although Jiang Mian had entered this realm at the time, he could still perceive Xie Di's emotional fluctuations. To make a Spirit Beast that had lived for 780,000 years shed tears was enough to illustrate the preciousness of this treasure.

"Although the Dragon God Divinity can exist, there can only ever be one Dragon God. You cannot become the Dragon God; this path to godhood is fraught with peril. Can you walk it?"

"I definitely can!"