"When you inherited the ancestral human bloodline, you already had no choice... It's hard to say whether the person who gave you that bloodline back then dug a pit for you or handed you an opportunity!"
Seeming to sense Jian Shang's emotions, Ji Geng spoke with a mixture of wistfulness and teasing. After a pause, he continued, "Human will can conquer heaven... So the saying goes, but throughout the ages, how many have truly succeeded in defying heaven?"
"At least I know of one..."
Jian Shang's heart tightened. Gazing toward the distant Divine Land, he said slowly, "Qin Shi Huang... Ying Zheng!"
Earlier, Jian Shang had said he had no choice, and that was the truth.
Leaving aside whether Jian Shang could even survive surrendering his ancestral human bloodline, even if Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng, and the Western Chu Hegemon, Xiang Yu, were kind enough to strip him of his bloodline without killing him, Jian Shang would still have no choice.
The path of an emperor was like rowing upstream: fail to advance, and you fell back.
Even if Jian Shang wanted to abandon his ambitions and spend his remaining years in peace, setting aside foreign nations, other powers in China, and his old enemies, the Great Qin Empire, Western Chu, and Liu Bang's forces would be the first to refuse to leave the Huan Kingdom alone, regardless of whether the Huan King and his ministers truly meant to give up their ambitions.
Even if Jian Shang had the Huan Kingdom's ministers submit to another power, would they not still have to conquer the realm for their new masters? It would probably be far more dangerous than fighting for the Huan Kingdom, with the same thorn-choked road and death waiting at every turn.
In fact, if Jian Shang slackened