Aftermath [Part One]

Only after being hurled who knew how far by the shockwave did Lin Huang slowly manage to halt its impact.

Lin Huang was on the brink of death. The Desolate God Body he had only just attained had been utterly destroyed, leaving only that section of Golden Spine engraved with Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Yin, and Yang, along with his immortal soul.

"I was this close to really dying, but heh." Lin Huang's soul rippled with joy. "Still, this is truly miserable. But no matter what, I survived in the end. And besides..."

After muttering to himself for a while, Lin Huang stirred the Golden Spine, and the Sumeru Ring that held most of Zhongnan Dojo's treasures appeared. "Luckily, I preserved the Sumeru Ring at the crucial moment. Otherwise, that would have been truly miserable. Miserable, miserable."

Having attained Saint Rank, his soul was immortal. Even if Lin Huang's physical body was destroyed, he could regenerate it, but without the aid of all manner of divine materials, it would have been an exceedingly long process. Had he failed to preserve this Sumeru Ring, Lin Huang would have had no choice but to take the path of body seizure.

However, with his gains from the Twelve Secret Vaults preserved, restoring his body and reforging his Divine Body would be far easier. In particular, with a section of Golden Spine still remaining, he could ensure that his reforged Divine Body would perfectly match his soul.

Finding a barren mountaintop, Lin Huang used divine power to burrow beneath the earth. He opened up a stone chamber, ground up various divine materials, blended them into divine fluid, then immersed himself within it and waited for his body to slowly recover.

In the blink of an eye, twenty days passed.

When Lin Huang opened his eyes again, his body had fully recovered. With a slight inward sense, he immediately realized that this reforged Divine Body was even stronger than before. Having been broken and then rebuilt, aside from his spine, another rib had now transformed into a golden bone engraved with Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Yin, and Yang—or rather, a Desolate God Bone.

"But..." Lin Huang lowered his head to look at his chest. A finger-sized hole there had never healed, blood flowing from it without end.

It was the wound left by Finger of the Deity. Though he had reforged his Divine Body, the immortal intent left behind by the Divine Being still clung to him like maggots to bone. Unless Lin Huang could dispel that immortal intent, this wound would remain an eternal wound.

Lin Huang did not care. He chose a long azure robe and draped it over himself. The reason he had chosen to challenge a Divine Being in the first place was to see the road ahead through a battle with one.

Now that this wound remained and carried the immortal intent of a Divine Being, it was instead a good thing for Lin Huang. As long as he could dispel that immortal intent, he knew he would not be far from becoming a god himself.

As for the ceaseless bleeding, Lin Huang's Desolate God Body was a body without leakage. Blood flowed out from the finger hole, yet it also flowed back in through the same hole. It was merely a cycle.

Standing barefoot on the ground, Lin Huang quietly considered the gains and losses of that battle.

"I was still somewhat reckless. If I hadn't gambled right at the end, I fear I would have found it hard to escape death this time."

Step by step, he had reached this day. Becoming a saint at the age of twenty-five, aside from those Divine Beings born of heaven and earth, Lin Huang could be called the greatest person in all ages. His skill at reviewing gains and losses was undoubtedly one of the great aids that had allowed him to attain Saint Rank.

"Three questions."

Lin Huang carefully relived every detail of that battle.

"Why didn't the Spring-Autumn King die?"

If the Spring-Autumn King had not survived Finger of the Deity, Lin Huang would not have immediately decided to face Finger of the Deity head-on. Even if the Spring-Autumn King's Divine Body had already reached great completion, Lin Huang did not believe that Finger of the Deity, which could kill him, would fail to kill the Spring-Autumn King. Therefore, there was something wrong with the Spring-Autumn King. That was Lin Huang's first question.

"Who was he?"

This was what Lin Huang truly cared about. Who exactly was that imprint that had emerged from the depths of Lin Huang's soul at the very end?

"Although I don't consider myself a genius, although many key parts of this unorthodox method of attaining sainthood were comprehended while cultivating the Great Dream Heart Sutra, although I had long suspected this... I never thought I truly was a chess piece planted by someone else. It really leaves a foul taste in my mouth."

Lin Huang rubbed his knuckles and gave a cold laugh. "Could it be that the Dream God is not dead yet? After all, the Great Dream Heart Sutra was created by them, so they are the most likely possibility. But it does not matter. Whoever wants to use me as a chess piece should not blame this chess piece for biting back."

"Furthermore, twenty days have already passed, yet the Divine Being of Zhongnan Dojo has never struck again. It seems the rule that Divine Beings cannot act freely after the Hundred Sages Reform Heaven is true."

"But Divine Beings are so powerful. What is restraining them? What could restrain them? Hundred Sages Reform Heaven, hmph. These so-called Sages are merely around my current realm. Even if they had reached the peak of Saint Rank, they could not possibly contend with Divine Beings—not even by trading one life for one life."

"Then what gave the Hundred Sages the right to reform heaven? What gave them the right to make the Gods withdraw? What exactly happened a hundred thousand years ago?"

"More and more questions. But that is just right. It seems the secrets of this world are finally about to reveal a corner to me."

Lin Huang murmured softly. The more he learned, the more unknowns there seemed to be, but he did not pay it much mind. He believed that as long as his footsteps never ceased moving forward, he would eventually see through all these hidden secrets.

In the starry sky beyond the domain, in some unknown place.

A thought suddenly stirred. "You cannot escape. I will find you. Find you. Before judgment, I will find you."

That thought quickly sank back into silence. Yet in an even deeper, more secret spacetime, there was no light, no darkness; Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Yin, and Yang did not exist. Everything seemed to be chaos, like before the universe had opened. Another thought stirred. "Blasphemer. Destruction or survival."

A moment later, everything returned to calm.

"Master, your will shall be obeyed."

"Damn it! Are those idiots at the Divination Bureau all brain-dead?! Twenty days! A full twenty days! Has no living person thought to divine this lord's whereabouts?!"

"If I had known it would end like this, I never should have accepted this mission. If I hadn't accepted this mission, I wouldn't have ended up like this." After wallowing in self-pity for a few moments, the Spring-Autumn King angrily wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Though I don't know why I managed to survive, in this state, I might as well have died."

His Divine Body had collapsed, and his soul was grievously wounded. The Spring-Autumn King was now weaker than a newborn infant. Having barely survived in this wilderness for twenty days, he was already on the verge of collapse.

"And what kind of godforsaken place is this? Does the Human Realm still have somewhere this desolate? Twenty days, and not a trace of human habitation. Didn't those damned, good-for-nothing governors claim that ignorance and impoverished regions had already been eliminated throughout the entire Human Realm?"

"And that damned Lin Huang—you had better already be dead without even a burial ground. Otherwise, this lord will grind your bones to ash."

The Spring-Autumn King muttered and complained endlessly. In such circumstances, so weak and helpless, if he did not babble like a madman, he suspected there would be only one road left for him: death.

Complaining all the way, he forced himself onward in search of human habitation. In many places, the Spring-Autumn King practically had to crawl.

"You really didn't die."

At the long-unheard voice, the Spring-Autumn King was first delighted, then suddenly alarmed. He raised his head in disbelief. Barefoot, clad in azure, holding a section of green bamboo, his face was not particularly handsome, yet he possessed an unrestrained charm all his own. It was none other than Lin Huang, whom the Spring-Autumn King had cursed through gritted teeth countless times.

"If you haven't died, how can this lord die?!" After a moment of stunned silence, the Spring-Autumn King quickly came to his senses. He forced himself to stand, gritting his teeth as he spoke.

"It is good that you are not dead. Come. I have something to ask you."

The Spring-Autumn King stared at Lin Huang with burning eyes. Seeing Lin Huang simply walk ahead as though nothing had happened, he finally could not hold back his roar. "Bastard! Can't you at least give this lord some clothes first?! And if this lord does not receive treatment soon, I really will be beyond saving!"