The first to move was the Tathagata Buddha. Swallowing down his fear, he clenched his teeth, wrapped himself in every scrap of Buddha-power he could summon, and used it to shield his own body. Then he called on an escape technique and fled the scene outright, covering thousands of miles in an instant.
Of everyone present, only Chi Lian saw him go. Even the Jade Emperor never caught how the Tathagata had vanished.
"Oh? How interesting, little bald donkey. Doesn't he understand yet? I come from the God Realm. To me, he's exactly what a mortal is to an immortal. Laughable, really."
Chi Lian's voice was cold as she said it, and the flower-hilted sword in her hand slashed forward. The blade of sword-energy crossed a thousand miles without the slightest deviation, and it landed squarely on the Tathagata's body.
A single scream rang out. When the flower-hilted sword drew back, it carried a human head on its edge — the Tathagata's face frozen in naked terror. His true spirit had already been severed.
Guanyin's face went white; her eyes rolled back and she fainted dead away. The other sages bowed their heads and said nothing, not one of them daring so much as to murmur a scripture.
"Aside from that disrespectful bald donkey, it seems it's the Jade Emperor's turn now..."
Chi Lian's eyes flicked toward him, and the Jade Emperor trembled violently. The Tathagata — someone stronger than he was — had just been killed in a single stroke. What hope did he have?
"Wait — wait! Goddess... no, my lord Goddess, please spare my life! The Tathagata was the real demon here. I was only summoned by him. And it wasn't even me who attacked this sacred altar in the first place — it was all the Tathagata, he was the one who ordered me to strike!"
The Jade Emperor, for all his imposing bulk, kept babbling excuses. Chi Lian didn't believe a word of it, and his groveling only made her want to laugh. A god who bullied the weak and cowered before strength — was this really worthy of the title Jade Emperor? Don't make her laugh.
The flower-hilted sword flicked lightly, and the Jade Emperor died on the spot.
The remaining heavenly soldiers and generals shook even harder with fright, but Chi Lian didn't kill any more of them — she could already feel Heaven's Will pressing back against her, trying to force her out. That resistance wasn't strong, not with the Eternal God's power shielding her, but it meant she couldn't linger.
"The Eternal Faith does not slaughter the innocent. We only kill those who show gods no respect. Grand Sage, you rendered a meritorious service today. God has ordered me to pass on a cultivation method to you — ten thousand years of cultivation base, and the blood of the Scorpion-Spirit Monkey. I hope you continue working hard, and help turn this world into a realm of the sacred faith as soon as possible."
"This one understands. I will not fail the god's trust. Please don't trouble yourself over me any further, Goddess..."
Only through humility does one come to understand the value of strength, and the gods had been extraordinarily kind to him. Without their gift, the Great Sage knew exactly what he would still be — in the eyes of the Tathagata and the Jade Emperor, nothing more than a monkey to be toyed with, made to laugh when they wanted laughter and cry when they wanted tears. The so-called romantic tribulation had been nothing but a thread the Tathagata and Old Man Moon had tugged at their pleasure, one they could sever whenever it suited them, keeping him around only to watch the show unfold when it amused them.
Chi Lian pursed her lips and said to the Great Sage, "You're a sweet talker. My work here is done, I should get back."
"Respectfully seeing off the Goddess Chi Lian!"
"Respectfully seeing off the Goddess Chi Lian!"
Amid the cheers of the believers, Chi Lian turned into a streak of pink light and flew back toward the Eternal God Realm, two true spirits held fast in her grip — the souls of the Jade Emperor and the Tathagata. But just as she moved to leave with them, a force from Heaven surged forward to bar her path, invisible to every one of the believers below.
Chi Lian's voice dripped with contempt. "Get out of my way, little world-god."
Her eyes turned cold, and power burst from her body all at once, shattering Heaven's blockade in an instant. She soared clear and free.
Back in the God Realm, Chi Lian handed the two souls over to Liu Ning.
"These two souls are decent material from the lower realms. God says they're to be given to you for refining — whether you turn them into sacred beasts or into someone else's children, either way they'll serve well."
"Mm, got it." Liu Ning nodded, smiling, and tossed the souls straight into the Hell Furnace.
The azure furnace burned fierce and bright, scouring the filth from the two souls again and again. Liu Ning understood exactly what Liu Che meant by this — a truly clean soul needed more than its memories washed away. The mark stamped into it had to be destroyed as well. Only then could it be put to use again.
Her work finished, Chi Lian turned to go, but Liu Ning stopped her.
"Don't rush off, Little Lian. Let your sister give you some Flower of the Other Shore to brew tea with — it's good for the soul."
"Sister, I really couldn't possibly—"
"What's there to be shy about? Can't a sister give her little sister something? Or do you look down on the gift?"
"No, of course not, how could I look down on it — thank you, sister..."
The Flower of the Other Shore tea was a rare product of the underworld. Drinking it regularly deepened one's grasp of the laws of the underworld. Most goddesses were only ever given three cups a month. Liu Ning had just handed her twenty. No wonder Chi Lian felt so flattered.
Watching that graceful figure walk away, the little box cradled in her hands, Liu Ning found herself smiling. This was the feeling Liu Che had told her about. Being thanked really did feel good.
Her lack of a true spirit had always made her seem strange and distant to the others — even at court gatherings, Liu Ning never smiled, and none of the other goddesses dared approach her. To make up for that gap in her, Liu Che had started teaching her how to connect with people. They were all his women, after all; it never hurt for them to grow closer to one another. In the end it was Chi Lian who worked up the nerve to call her "sister" first and offer her a cup of fragrant tea, and that alone had done more to bridge the distance between them than anything else.
Out among the stars, Chi Lian looked down at the little box in her hands and smiled to herself. Sister Liu Ning wasn't nearly as hard to get close to as everyone thought. She'd have to visit more often from now on.
By the time she returned to the Hall of Eternity, Yue'er, Consort Yan, and the others had already risen and left. Only Duan Murong remained, tending to Liu Che.
"My lord, it's done."
"Mm, I saw. Though... as strong as I am, it's still not wise to go stirring up Heaven's Will like that. I don't think I should do it that way again."
"Oh? Why not?"
"Even though that world of the Great Sage's isn't especially significant, forcing the deaths of figures born from Heaven itself will provoke a backlash from Heaven. If I want that world to hold steady, the best I can do now is let the Alaya manage it in the meantime. All that divine power and energy, wasted for so little gain — hardly worth it."
The killing had felt good in the moment, but the divine power and energy it had cost left Liu Che more troubled than satisfied. He'd assumed that once his strength grew high enough, he could simply disregard the power of Heaven — but once again, he found himself confirming an old lesson: never underestimate any Heaven, no matter which world it belongs to. Push it too hard, and there would be consequences. Killing the Jade Emperor and the Tathagata outright, and carrying off their true spirits besides, had left that Heaven and Earth teetering on the edge of self-destruction. No one could have foreseen that.
If the believers hadn't already eroded Heaven's Will from within, the outcome would never have turned out this well. In the end, monsters — however powerful — still couldn't rival a human being when it came to winning Heaven's favor.
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