When Immortals Fall in Love, the Three Realms Know No Peace

Tang Fan really had to give Bibi Dong's question some thought.

"That's not an easy question to answer. Let me wash up and order breakfast first. I'll tell you in a bit."

"Mm, all right. I need to take a shower and change, too."

After washing up, Tang Fan sat on the sofa and leafed through the Tao Te Ching.

He had read through the Tao Te Ching many times. He could be said to find something new with every reading, but he was still far from understanding it.

All he could say was that everyone might have a different understanding of each passage in the Tao Te Ching.

The scene of Tang Fan leafing through the Tao Te Ching was also transmitted to the Douluo Continent.

Tang Fan also had a habit of reading classical Chinese aloud. He had picked it up at school, where they said it helped with comprehension and memorization.

"The Tao that can be spoken is not the constant Tao..."

But this was far from comfortable for the Soul Masters of the Douluo Continent.

As they listened to Tang Fan recite the Tao Te Ching, they had to suppress their soul power to keep themselves from instinctively circulating it and suffering its backlash.

During this process, some people actually gained insights that would smooth their future path of cultivation.

Only when the doorbell rang and his breakfast arrived did Tang Fan put down the book to collect it.

Only then did the Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent breathe a sigh of relief. Some even had their clothes soaked through with cold sweat.

"Father, are you all right?"

Qian Daoliu shook his head. "I'm fine. I just feel it's a pity."

"A pity?"

"Yes. I can sense that if I could understand even a short passage of that Tao Te Ching, I could break through my current shackles and reach level one hundred.

"But I simply can't understand it. Every passage in that book contains truths as vast as a sea of mist, while I'm merely a lone boat upon it, incomparably insignificant."

Qian Xunji did not know how to console Qian Daoliu. He did not even share that feeling.

Perhaps Bo Saixi was the only one who shared Qian Daoliu's feelings. She even spat out another mouthful of blood, having instinctively circulated her soul power merely to try to understand a short passage of the Tao Te Ching.

"Heh... I really don't have what it takes to become a god. Bo Saixi, you knew the outcome long ago. Why keep indulging in wishful thinking?"

Bo Saixi's smile was so bleak at that moment.

As for Tang Chen, he was lying on a reef, his face pale.

Like Qian Daoliu and Bo Saixi, he had seen hope of breaking through his shackles in the Tao Te Ching.

But unlike Qian Daoliu and Bo Saixi, who had stopped short, he had chosen to force his way through.

Listening to Tang Fan recite the Tao Te Ching, he had deliberately circulated his soul power to attack the level-one-hundred bottleneck. Naturally, he had suffered backlash again and again.

Fortunately, Tang Fan's breakfast had arrived. Otherwise, Tang Chen, carried away as he was, might have killed himself.

Tang Fan laid breakfast on the table: baked flatbread, fried dough sticks, soy milk, and a side dish. Simple and plain.

Just then, Bibi Dong came out of the bathroom, wearing the new clothes she had bought yesterday, her pink hair not yet fully dry.

A flash of admiration crossed Tang Fan's eyes, and he offered a compliment.

"Beautiful!"

"Really? Am I beautiful, or are the clothes beautiful?"

"Both, of course. Hehe, come and eat."

Bibi Dong happily ate the simple breakfast Tang Fan had bought.

"Can you answer my question from earlier now?"

"Mm. First of all, our understanding of gods might be very different.

"Here, once gods accept incense and offerings, they have to do their jobs.

"A god isn't merely a powerful being. Being one also means bearing a responsibility."

Bibi Dong shook her head, not quite able to understand. In the eyes of the gods' believers on the Douluo Continent, people were supposed to worship gods. How could they demand that the gods take responsibility?

"Didn't you ask why gods can't fall in love? Maybe you'll understand if I give you an example.

"Say there's a rain god in charge of rainfall. His responsibility is to summon clouds and bring rain wherever it's needed.

"But he suddenly falls in love with someone. To spend all his time with that person, he neglects his responsibilities, causing severe droughts everywhere and countless deaths and injuries among mortals.

"Tell me, should that rain god be punished?"

Bibi Dong nodded. "He should be punished. But if he just falls in love, wouldn't it be fine as long as he doesn't neglect his responsibilities?"

"No, it's not that simple. Since you watched that TV series, you should remember what the Queen Mother said to Yang Jian."

"When immortals fall in love, the Three Realms know no peace?"

"Exactly. That's the line. Don't you think the Queen Mother sounded very heartless?"

"Yes."

"I thought so too when the show first aired. Only later did I realize the Queen Mother was right."

"Why?"

"Because you can't open that door. Once you leave an opening, it'll grow wider and wider until everything collapses.

"Take that example again. If the rain god can escape punishment as long as he doesn't abandon his responsibilities, couldn't the other gods follow suit?

"Who can guarantee they'll remain one hundred percent responsible? Should a little negligence be punished? How much negligence warrants punishment? It would become a hopeless tangle of accounts that could never be settled.

"So banning it outright, without leaving an opening, is the best approach."

"I understand. But I still feel so sorry for Yao Ji. What's wrong with children wanting to save their mother? Her brother, the Jade Emperor, was far too ruthless."

"You still don't understand. The Jade Emperor represents the rules of heaven and earth, and rules cannot allow personal feelings.

"Then there's the matter of children. Let me ask you: if gods have children, will they favor their own children?"

"Of course they will!"

"That's the crux of the problem. If gods have children, those children will reproduce too, forming clans.

"Will they fight for power and profit? Who will keep shouldering the responsibilities the gods are supposed to bear?

"If gods stop doing their jobs and start playing at clan infighting in the Heavenly Court, won't the Three Realms fall into utter chaos?

"Some immortals might even pull crazy stunts that destroy the Three Realms for the sake of their romances."

"So that's what 'when immortals fall in love, the Three Realms know no peace' means."

"Speaking of which, that reminds me of the Douluo God Realm on your side."

"What about the Douluo God Realm?"

On the Douluo Continent, most people did not know what Tang Fan and Bibi Dong were discussing because they had been asleep.

But when they heard that Tang Fan was about to discuss the Douluo God Realm, Qian Daoliu, Bo Saixi, and the others all perked up, wanting to hear what secrets about the Divine Realm Tang Fan could reveal.

Tang Fan finished his last mouthful of soy milk.

"The Divine Realm has a rule that gods must not interfere with the lower realms, but it leaves an opening: the gods' successors.

"Precisely because of that opening, after the protagonist Tang San became a god, he repeatedly interfered with the Douluo Continent from the Divine Realm.

"In the end, he even turned the Douluo Continent-or rather, Douluo Star-into his own backyard.

"That's the disastrous consequence of leaving an opening. Leaving an opening in a rule might seem to accommodate certain special circumstances, but in reality, it will cause that rule to collapse."

However, Bibi Dong and those on the Douluo Continent all focused on the fact that the Douluo Continent had become Tang San's backyard.

"Tang Fan, how did the Douluo Continent become Tang San's backyard?"