"Nothing under heaven is easy to fathom. The human heart is fickle and deceitful."
"The body is easy to mend, and the six paths are within reach. But these three tribulations are the one thing that cannot be overcome! Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!"
Lin Huang was reading Qiu Yuan Sheng's Nine Questions for the Gods, the original edition from eight thousand years ago. It was a rare book these days.
He read it closely, one word at a time. Every so often, he would stop and mull over a phrase again and again.
He had already read the book 3,781 times, and every time he found something new.
A hundred thousand years ago, the Hundred Saints returned to the ruins and the gods fell. The great tide of history had laid the foundations of humanity's grand civilization. The world was different now.
"Times have changed. The world moves forward by leaps and bounds. Ideas from eight thousand years ago no longer apply. If I want to become a god, I'll naturally have to take a different path." Lin Huang shut the book and left the meditation room.
"Master, you have three new messages." The Celestial Pivot flickered, and its spirit took the form of a cat. It leaped into Lin Huang's arms.
"Read them."
"On the seventh day of the winter month, Chengying High School is holding a reunion at the South Gate Hotel. You are invited to attend."
"The Arbitration Office has issued a ruling regarding your unpaid utility bills and electricity theft. You have been fined five thousand crystal coins, payable within three days."
"The last message: the number of users currently online in the Desolate God Realm has reached your target. There are now 103,000 people online."
At the last message, Lin Huang froze with his cup halfway to his mouth. He rubbed his brow. "Is it time?"
The Desolate God Realm was a dream-net world Lin Huang had made by pirating the Dream God Realm. People could experience life inside a dream there. As the saying went, a dream could span a thousand autumns—what year was it now?
Of course, Lin Huang hadn't obtained official approval for the Desolate God Realm.
But compared with the Illusion God Realm and other officially approved dream-net worlds, the Desolate God Realm offered the highest level of access for just a handful of crystal coins. That made it very appealing to many people.
In this era, the gods still stood high above all, but after the Hundred Saints' Revolution of Heaven, the lives of ordinary people had changed beyond recognition. Knowledge had spread, civilization had flourished, and all kinds of divine arts and sacred artifacts were being produced in abundance.
Once, sacred arts had been made available to the masses and had become part of compulsory education. Then the fallen Dream God's divine body had been turned into the Dream God Realm, a world spanning countless realms. That had propelled mortal society into an age of explosive growth in knowledge.
Almost every day, someone created a new technique or forged a new divine artifact, enriching the bustling lives of ordinary people.
And yet, over the past hundred thousand years, across three thousand worlds and countless races, no one had become a god.
This was both the best of times and the worst of times.
"Disconnect the Desolate God Realm's access points. Activate all energy sources and every defensive divine formation. Celestial Pivot, initiate special command mode. Then begin."
Lin Huang hesitated for barely three seconds before making up his mind.
The age of mythology had lasted millions of years. Especially after the Hundred Saints' Revolution of Heaven ten thousand years ago, the path to godhood had been thoroughly mapped out. The method of one body, three tribulations, and six paths had even won the gods' approval.
The one body was the physical form. It cultivated the body, refining mortal flesh into a divine body.
The three tribulations were Heaven, Earth, and Man. They cultivated the soul. Only by surviving all three could one forge a soul impervious to ten thousand calamities.
As for the six paths, they were Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Yin, and Yang. They cultivated matter and the laws of the world.
Only by preserving the divine body, keeping the soul immortal, and mastering the laws could one become a god.
The method of one body, three tribulations, and six paths encompassed every cultivation art. Each had its merits, but anyone who wished to become a god had to master all of them.
But the body was easy to mend, and the six paths were within reach. Only the three tribulations were hard to overcome. Most people began with the body and the six paths, but Lin Huang had chosen the three tribulations.
The Desolate God Realm, the Land of Returning Ruins.
It was the final checkpoint of the Desolate God Realm, and no one had ever set foot there. Yet Lin Huang appeared within it.
The Desolate God Realm was a dream-net world Lin Huang had created using the Great Dream Scripture as its foundation and combining the brain cores of fifteen Nightmare demons. Within it, Lin Huang was god and sovereign.
"I say, let there be light!" Lin Huang stood barefoot in a blue robe, his long hair falling over his shoulders and tied back simply. With a wave of his hand, a beam of light appeared.
It blazed like the sun and glimmered like a mote of dust, illuminating the entire Desolate God Realm in an instant.
At the same time, everyone in the Desolate God Realm felt a sudden jolt of alarm and received a notification.
"The Land of Returning Ruins is open?!"
"Already? Is the Desolate God Realm closing too?"
"Who cares! Let's go to the Land of Returning Ruins! The Hundred Saints battle the gods. Ha! Desolate God, I'm spending a hundred crystal coins. I want to be a Martial Sage!"
That was the charm of the Desolate God Realm. For a tiny fee, you could become anything you wanted in a dream—even a god.
Of course, given Lin Huang's abilities, becoming a god in the Desolate God Realm was nothing more than a fleeting dream. But if you became a god in the Dream God Realm, you could become one in reality, too.
"103,000. Heh. With 103,000 people sharing the burden, let's see if I can survive the three tribulations!" Lin Huang suddenly laughed and swept his hand through the air, standing proudly beneath the heavens.
Rumble!
The skies darkened. Thunder rolled. In an instant, the entire Desolate God Realm roared with thunder as heaven and earth turned upside down. The world seemed to become a giant millstone, its thunderous colors grinding all living things to dust.
"Whoa! This effect! Desolate God, you've outdone yourself!"
"That's a heavenly tribulation! A real heavenly tribulation! This is awesome! Worth every coin!"
The people in the Desolate God Realm whooped and hollered, thrilled beyond words.
Boom!
Thunder crashed like blinding light and a living hell. It split into a hundred thousand bolts and struck in an instant.
"Ah!"
"No!"
Brief, piercing screams rang out. In the blink of an eye, the entire Desolate God Realm had been emptied. Only Lin Huang remained, standing alone with one hand raised against the heavens.
"Not enough! Not enough! Again!" Lin Huang laughed. His hair streamed in the wind, and he waved his hand. Everyone who had just died in the Desolate God Realm came back to life.
Rumble!
The heavenly tribulation grew fiercer, thunder surging and rending the world. The people who had just come back to life hadn't even figured out what was happening before they were blasted into dust beneath the thunder.
Thunder raged, and Heaven's might was unfathomable. Once, twice, then thrice.
"Nine is the ultimate number. Nine bolts of heavenly tribulation. Now, it's time to end this!"
Another bolt came down. Lin Huang drew a deep breath and exhaled. It became wind, then waterfall, then mountain, before finally taking the shape of three defiant figures. They charged against the heavens, each raising a hand to hold them back.
Lightning flashed, then gradually faded.
Lin Huang felt a weight lift from his heart. He knew he had passed the heavenly tribulation.
"No wonder people fear the heavenly tribulation like a tiger. It really is terrifying." Lin Huang sighed as he looked at his palm. The deep lines etched into it gradually smoothed away, then slowly disappeared, leaving his palm slick as a mirror.
Lin Huang knew this meant he had passed the heavenly tribulation. From then on, his fate belonged to him, not Heaven.
"Only fifty thousand left?" Before he could celebrate his success, Lin Huang flicked a finger and brought the people in the Desolate God Realm back to life. But only half of them remained.
"I want to file a complaint! I want to file a complaint! Damn you, Desolate God! That hurt! That was terrifying!"
"That was a heavenly tribulation. A real heavenly tribulation! Damn it! We've been tricked. He used us as cannon fodder!"
After nine bolts of heavenly tribulation, even the slowest people in the Desolate God Realm knew they had been duped—and in the most terrifying scam in history. Desolate God had deceived not only them, but Heaven and Earth as well.
He wanted to pass off the false as the true, deceive Heaven and Earth, and survive the three tribulations.
Everyone cursed him, but Lin Huang didn't care. He had been planning this for ten years. Since ancient times, everyone who survived the three tribulations had been a peerless genius. They first cultivated the body and six paths to the utmost, then dared to attempt the three tribulations. Lin Huang had done the opposite: he would face the three tribulations first, then forge his divine body and master the six paths.
It was a mad idea. Other people wouldn't even dare think of it, but Lin Huang had not only thought of it—he had done it.
"Times have changed. The old way of thinking is just too foolish. It wastes too much time." Lin Huang sighed. He wasn't a second-generation god. He had no extraordinary talent or born divine body. He was just the most ordinary person among the teeming masses, an ordinary man who could never become a god.
But times had changed. With the Desolate God Realm, Lin Huang believed he might be able to create a miracle. The heavenly tribulation was powerful, but it could still be fooled.
Lin Huang had created the Desolate God Realm, so to Heaven and Earth, the entire realm was an existence that had to be destroyed. That meant the 103,000 people inside it had to be destroyed as well. So Lin Huang had 103,000 human shields. Unlike other formations used to withstand heavenly tribulations, the Desolate God Realm was Lin Huang, and Lin Huang was the Desolate God Realm. So the tribulation never grew stronger against him. Unlike a formation, it wouldn't intensify just because others had joined in.
No sooner had the heavenly tribulation passed than the earthly tribulation began.
Wind started blowing through the Desolate God Realm. It rose from the earth, from the depths of the underworld, entering through the soles of the feet and leaving through the crown of the head. This was earth fiend energy. This was the earthly tribulation.
It was wind, but also fire. It was fire, but also water.
Whoosh! Wind howled, fire burned, and water dissolved.
In a moment, the people in the Desolate God Realm turned to ash. Lin Huang waved his hand and brought the dead back to life, but their number was cut in half again. Those who had died had their souls completely annihilated by the earthly tribulation.
The wind blew through the seasons, fire scorched the wilderness, and water flooded heaven and earth.
The people of the Desolate God Realm were like wild grass in the wind, cut down, burned, and dissolved. In a mere nine breaths, the entire realm stood empty, save for seven lonely figures.
Lin Huang's figure had grown frail. Even with a hundred thousand people sharing the burden, surviving the Tribulations of Heaven and Earth had left him at the end of his strength. The six people remaining were in even worse shape, their souls swaying on the brink of extinction.
Their eyes met. Lin Huang's gaze was calm and peaceful, while the other six gritted their teeth, furious and terrified.
"The Tribulations of Heaven and Earth are over. I'm looking forward to the Tribulation of Man."
"Lin Huang, what's your dream?"
"To become a god."
"Wow, Lin Huang, you're amazing."
Five-year-old Lin Huang and five-year-old Chen Ruo.
"Lin Huang, what's your dream?"
"To become a god."
"Then Lin Huang had better work hard!"
Ten-year-old Lin Huang and ten-year-old Chen Ruo.
"Lin Huang, what's your dream?"
"To become a god."
"Lin Huang, don't say that next time. People will laugh at you."
Fifteen-year-old Lin Huang and fifteen-year-old Chen Ruo.
"Lin Huang, what's your dream?"
"To become a god."
"Heh. I knew it. Forget it. I won't say anything. Let's break up."
Twenty-year-old Lin Huang and twenty-year-old Chen Ruo.
Lin Huang was now twenty-five. He had given up on his dream, working from nine to five. Every morning, he got up at seven thirty, squeezed onto a cloud car, and crossed half the city. At nine, he clocked in and started work. He ate lunch promptly at noon, returned to work at one, took three bathroom breaks, then waited until six to clock out. He squeezed onto a cloud car again, crossed the city's sea of lights, went home, cooked, showered, and slept. Then it all began again.
"Lin Huang, let's get married next year. I've worked it out. Our savings, plus the year-end bonus, should be enough for a down payment." Twenty-five-year-old Chen Ruo was just as sweet as he remembered. She leaned against his shoulder with a smile.
Lin Huang stopped what he was doing, turned off the stove, and turned to stroke Chen Ruo's face.
"What's wrong?" Chen Ruo asked, startled.
"The truth is, I really did love you. I even thought about living an ordinary, unremarkable life with you—getting married, having children, growing old, and dying together. But that isn't what I truly want. I have a dream of my own, and a path I have to follow. How could I stop here? So I'm sorry. I only loved you once."
Lin Huang's eyes darkened, and he sighed wistfully. He watched Chen Ruo's face slowly fade before him. "So this is the Tribulation of Man? Sure enough, the sky isn't the highest thing. The human heart is."
Have you ever hated someone so much it cut to the bone?
Love to the extreme, and you hated to the extreme.
Lin Huang hated Chen Ruo so much that he wanted to kill her.
So Lin Huang secretly broke into Chen Ruo's home and kidnapped her.
"Lin Huang, you've gone mad. I told you we weren't right for each other. Don't do anything crazy." Chen Ruo was frightened. She had never imagined Lin Huang would treat her this way.
"I've gone mad, that's true. The day you left me, I went mad. The more I loved you, the more I hated you. Do you know how much I loved you? I was willing to die for you! So do you know how much I hate you now?" Lin Huang was almost hysterical. He brandished a knife and splashed the fuel he had prepared all over the room.
"Lin Huang, don't get worked up. Calm down. Let's talk this through, all right?"
"There's nothing to talk about! I hate you, so let's die together!" Lin Huang laughed and set the room ablaze. As he watched the flames dance, he suddenly fell silent.
"Does loving someone to the extreme really mean hating them to the extreme?"
Lin Huang suddenly sighed. "But I never hated her. I only felt a little regret, a little melancholy, because I really did love her once."
"Tribulation of Man, you've lost. The human heart may be fickle, but my resolve to become a god is steadfast. The glittering mortal world passes in a single night. Love and hate, resentment and separation—I have no attachments. You thought the mundane world could cloud my resolve, but you were only indulging in wishful thinking."
Lin Huang looked up at the sky. He had lived twenty-five years, rushing through the mortal world, yet he had never wavered in his resolve. Love, affection, and hatred were nothing more than fleeting clouds to him.
The human heart was fickle. Lin Huang opened his eyes and saw his parents, who had died in his memories.
Their stooped figures and prematurely white hair made Lin Huang's heart ache.
"Love and hate, resentment and separation, wanting something you can't have. How can anyone transcend this mortal world while living in it? Enough. Enough."
With a sigh, Lin Huang slowly lost himself.
Thirty years passed in the blink of an eye. The bloom faded, and the seasons slipped away. Lin Huang's parents grew old, and Lin Huang reached middle age, with a wife and child of his own.
"Your parents' funeral is tomorrow. Why aren't you asleep yet?" Smiling, Lin Huang took the coat Chen Ruo handed him. He waved her off and lifted the book in his hand.
"I just read a story about a man who killed his wife to prove his resolve and become a god. Funny, isn't it?"
"You're always reading trash. Be careful, or you'll go mad."
"Heh. I thought I'd already gone mad." Lin Huang laughed. His gaze grew resolute. He set the book down. "Let's sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow."
Another thirty years passed in the blink of an eye. Chen Ruo died of illness, leaving Lin Huang all alone.
"Dad, why don't you move in with us? You're getting old. Huijia and I worry about you living alone."
"It's fine. I'm doing better than ever."
Lin Huang was very old, yet his spirit was excellent. "For the first twenty-five years of my life, I was defiant and lived for myself. For the next thirty, I scurried after petty concerns and lived for my parents. For the last thirty, I walked on eggshells and lived for my wife. Some people kill their fathers, mothers, wives, and children to prove their resolve. I spent thirty years scurrying after petty concerns to repay my parents for raising me. I spent thirty years walking on eggshells to repay my wife for half a lifetime of love. After sixty years as a beast of burden for others, I earned an eternity as a dragon among the gods."
"The mortal world is bitter. Love and hate, resentment and separation. I'm lucky to have known it. Lucky to have known it! Ha-ha!"
Throwing his head back in laughter, Lin Huang passed through the Gate of the Mortal World. With a wave of his hand, only he and one last person remained in the Desolate God Realm.
"What a Tribulation of Man. What a human heart." Lin Huang let out a long breath. Love and hate, resentment and separation—the mortal world was full of entanglements. Even Lin Huang, who had believed his resolve unshakable, had been trapped for sixty years. In the end, he had spent his entire life keeping his promises, repaying the mortal ties that had bound him for twenty-five years.
Even now, standing once more in the Desolate God Realm, Lin Huang wasn't entirely sure whether he had truly passed the Tribulation of Man.
"Love and hate, resentment and separation, wanting something you can't have. The final tribulation must surely hinge on that last one." Lin Huang had a vague sense of where the Tribulation of Man would finally strike, but the human heart was fickle. Even Lin Huang didn't know what it was that he himself wanted but could not have.
"You're finished."
The last person spoke suddenly, his voice venomous.
"You really are a peerless genius. You actually came up with a way to survive the three tribulations like this. But you shouldn't have dragged me into it. I'm a direct descendant of the Hong family. There's a life lamp bearing my name in the ancestral shrine. If it can't sense me for more than three months, it'll go out. You know what happens when the Hong family flies into a rage."
Lin Huang paused, glanced at him, and nodded without replying.
"Let me go, and it's not too late. You've already made a terrible mistake, but with my family's influence, we can still spare your life. You're a genius. You might even have a chance to become a guest elder of the Hong family."
"Can the Hong family help me survive the Tribulation of Man?" Lin Huang drawled. The man was struck dumb.
Rumble!
The Desolate God Realm suddenly shook violently. Heaven and Earth collapsed as though the world were ending.
"Ha-ha! You're finished! I'll make sure you die a horrible death. I swear it!" The man stared, then burst into laughter. He had read about this in a book. It was a sign that powerful interference from outside had disrupted the dream-net world, which was on the verge of collapse.
"Falling short at the last step! Falling short at the last step!" Lin Huang sighed. People could make plans, but Heaven decided the outcome. He had been careless this time. The Tribulation of Man was harder than he had imagined, and he had wasted too much time. Otherwise, no one would have found him.
"Enough. Enough. A blessing in disguise. Perhaps falling short at the last step is my good fortune after all." A sudden inspiration told Lin Huang this might not be a bad thing. He steadied himself and glanced at the Hong family scion, who was still shouting.
"It was incredibly lucky that you survived. But you're too noisy, and I don't like it. So you may as well die." Lin Huang calmly reached out, squeezed, and crushed the Hong family scion to death.
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