Chapter 400: Freedom of Life; The Legend of Di Jun

Di Jun's gaze lingered, seeing beyond the world the top-tier powerhouses locked in mutual combat.

He listed them one by one, discovering that none of them were simple.

Pretty much all of them were administrators.

They were still the top figures there.

Each one was highly capable, well-versed in the methods of development, construction, strengthening the clan and enriching the nation… No wonder the Wu Clan's rise was so fierce, its gross domestic product rolling ever upward.

Damn!

Handling transportation.

Handling construction.

Handling the economy.

Handling the notion of great unification.

……

Everything was covered; no matter what type of top talent, they had it, and all had been verified through practice.

They gathered together; seeing them, the Yao Emperor could hardly avoid a headache, his mindset on the verge of exploding.

"Who will be the next to jump out?"

Di Jun let out a light sigh.

Life is not easy; the Yao Emperor sighed.

A handful of bitter tears.

"You guess?" Nüwa spoke evasively, yet without hesitation she spotted a subtle flaw, lifted her electric rice cooker… no, it was the Qiankun Cauldron, and she smashed it into a corner of this heaven and earth!

"Dang!"

The world-shaking bell's toll echoed through the universe, a great bell forced into form, trembling incessantly, causing ripples in spacetime to surge and fade; the cage of this heaven and earth became unstable, about to collapse and shatter.

"Boom!"

At the critical moment, Di Jun reached out and stilled the world's turmoil.

Speaking of one-on-one combat.

Nüwa was fierce; in this era she only feared Hongjun, the rest of the Great Luo she hardly cared about.

Even bound by the shackles of sainthood, her remaining combat power remained ferocious… one-on-one, Di Jun was no match for her.

Too bad, this isn't a one-on-one situation.

Di Jun brought his little brothers to back him up; he never even considered a one-on-one fight.

The strategic goal was also positioned to block Nüwa.

Trapping Nüwa means achieving the goal!

The rest will naturally be handled by the Ten Great Yao Marshals and countless Yao Gods.

"You want me to guess…" Di Jun chuckled, the state of their confrontation returned to how it was before, "Ha."

"Among the remaining Ancestral Witches, could there be one of the former leaders of the Humanity Maternal and Child Rights Protection Union?"

"For example, Golden Mother." Di Jun's gaze was deep and unfathomable; he sighed, "She left a deep impression on me."

"After all, she controls the base of the immortality elixir… in the previous era, her responsibilities included women, marriage, childbirth, and partly disease prevention; each yuan she would release a new vaccine, striving to protect newborn infants, prevent early death, thereby increasing the number of people following the Human Dao."

"And the most crucial part."

"She is very close to you…… I'm thinking, if you were to rebel, you'd likely communicate with her through qi."

"And she would likely also give her support."

"Especially, humanity is now raising women's status, shouting the slogan of establishing a matriarchal clan."

Di Jun casually speculated, yet it left Nüwa speechless.

"Looks like that's the case." Di Jun nodded to himself, giving himself a thumbs-up, "I just don't know which Ancestral Witch's guise Golden Mother is wearing among the Twelve Ancestral Witches."

"Is it the Metal Ancestral Witch Rushou? Or which other Ancestral Witch?"

"Forget it, that's not important." Di Jun shook his head, "No matter how well hidden, unless we can watch you being trapped and the Wu Clan's elite momentum thwarted…"

"Those who ought to jump out will eventually do so. And I have long been prepared."

"As long as it's not those few outside the plan taking action, we can block it."

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Nüwa let out a soft hum, "Your trust in the abilities of the Heavenly Court's Ten Great Yao Marshals is truly excessive."

"That's only natural."

Di Jun chuckled, "They are, after all, outstanding figures of the previous era… even if they can't match the Dragon Ancestor and Phoenix Ancestor, they're only a hair's breadth away."

"Even for me, when I first encountered them, in terms of authority and prestige, I would still be inferior by three parts."

Saying this, Di Jun felt deeply moved.

"In terms of origin, I am the sun god, appearing to hold sway over the sun's authority, priceless."

"But in Honghuang, the peoples included in the Human Dao are countless, and too many do not rely on me for survival."

"The four seas' water clans, star-space living beings, void oddities, and mayflies of time…"

"Besides the surface of Honghuang's land, rivers and mountains, even those living underground don't really need to rely on me."

Di Jun's face showed a hint of helplessness.

The sun star is very noble, very famous among the stars, but to say it's indispensable? Not really.

Without it, there would be problems, but not big.

Even if legend says the sun formed from Pangu's left eye, but blinded in one eye, could life not go on?

By comparison, the Buzhou Pillar and Pangu's spine are truly crucial.

If the spine breaks, for ordinary people it means paralysis in bed, unable to care for themselves, loss of bladder and bowel control… a single miserable character sums it up, almost an entire life ruined.

"Nowadays, the reason people call the sun star I govern the source of life… that's mainly because I have worked hard, taken the initiative, packaged and promoted it, becoming a luxury in people's eyes."

The demon king smiled, somewhat pleased with himself.

"A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth. Then I'll ask Pangu for a favor, add a little halo to the sun star, and that will count as having some bearing."

"But these are merely empty titles—below the Daluo level, people care about empty titles; once you reach Daluo, they often look at who holds enough authority and can command enough manpower."

"In this regard, I've suffered a loss."

"Back then, all the innate divine sages gathered, to better develop Honghuang, achieve advancement of the cultivation civilization and reap human destiny without conflict, and jointly decided to establish the Supreme Heavenly Court, which is the predecessor of today's Heavenly Court."

"After serious discussion, everyone voted harmoniously and elected the Supreme Heavenly Emperor, who would take charge of leading the construction of Honghuang."

"As soon as the Heavenly Emperor ascended the throne, he made a big move: merging and reorganizing the properties of many innate divine sages, delineating specific domains, distinguishing ranks, then, according to expertise and contribution, issuing various levels of authority, establishing a system—each innate divine sage received a position."

"Even the Dao Ancestor was the same: as Honghuang's highest intelligence, he got the second-place position, serving as the chancellor who consolidates and reviews all worldly affairs. Originally, when the Heavenly Emperor abdicated, according to merit and hardship, it should have been his turn to take the throne."

"Alas, ill-fated years… August Emperor Heavenly Emperor abdicated abnormally, even the first Heavenly Court declared bankruptcy, and the inheritance rights of that chancellor Hongjun were greatly diminished, which some opportunists saw as a chance."

"Di Jun implied something."

"Hehe…" As a schemer, Nüwa smiled, "This can't be entirely blamed on me."

"Who let Hongjun offend so many people back then? Given the chance to sabotage, naturally many hands make the fire burn higher."

"Nüwa shrugged, unable to contain her joy."

"The ancient Heavenly Court back then was insolvent, went through bankruptcy liquidation… those shares were all written off."

"Writing them off wasn't enough; they also wanted to pursue responsibility, or else they'd be sent to prison and never get out."

"The innate divine sages in the Heavenly Court are all grasshoppers on the same rope—in theory none can escape, and they'll be forever blacklisted."

"But the leader back then was decisive—no argument. They killed the three thousand Daluo, turned them into innate treasures, gave them a new appearance, and in the human registry they became clean again."

"When a person dies, their debts disappear. Naturally, all karma would converge on that year's Emperor, leaving him alone to face the human realm's debt collection."

"But at that time, he nonchalantly ran ashore, leaving behind an incarnation to repay karma, while his true self merged with heaven and earth."

"Nüwa's mouth curled up, full of pride, not knowing what she had thought of."

"Afterwards, heaven and earth gave birth; among that batch of innate treasures, a strand of light intertwined, and the oldest group of innate divine sages was born… everything converged here into a circle."

"Pangu—he coiled this circle, and beyond it he stood out… that is Pangu."

"Within the circle, everyone muddled along, fighting, battling, measuring themselves… before a final verdict or coming full circle, they could never see the whole picture."

"In this, Hongjun's maneuver was the slickest… he is the crystallization of the Dao fruit of the three thousand Daluo, the pinnacle of our Honghuang cultivation civilization, born already as a Daluo."

"When he was influenced by the human realm, gaining feelings and pursuits, no longer the original rule‑following Heavenly Dao intelligence… he awakened a free soul."

"He didn't want to be controlled, didn't want to work forever, he wanted freedom!"

"He wanted to declare that his life was his own—first and foremost, to grasp his own birth."

"Nüwa let out a sudden sigh."

"People lament fate, complain about all kinds of injustice, saying things like 'Being born human, I'm sorry'…"

"Why?"

"Simply because the right to be born is not in one's own hands."

"Some are born to be harvested like reeds, working themselves to death in middle age, living in exhaustion. If they knew beforehand, would they still choose to be born?"

"Perhaps, someone refuses to lose, born with an unyielding spirit."

"But what if we add a comparison?"

"One struggles a lifetime, reaches the endpoint, yet it's still not as good as another's starting point?"

"It's really hard to say."

"Perhaps someone will argue, saying one can strive for a wonderful life… but those who still have the mood to debate are likely living decently, with leisure to offer chicken soup."

"Otherwise, let them lie helpless in hospital beds, incontinent, despised, suffering constantly… see if they still have that big heart."

"If they can endure it and still strive upward, only then are they truly remarkable heroes—you won't find one among a hundred million."

"Hongjun, that is what he aims to be—such a hero."

"Oppressed by brutal overtime, the Heavenly Dao's affairs are too numerous, constantly on call, handling Honghuang business, never able to relax even a moment."

"Who let the ancient god sages, red‑eyed over luck and merit, demand intensive cultivation of the human realm just to produce an extra dan of grain?"

"No laissez‑faire management—everything must be maxed out… this is hard labor."

"Precisely because these dirty, tiring jobs are what the Daluo refuse to do, the Heavenly Dao ends up bearing the burden."

"The innate divine sages achieved the glory of the human realm."

"As the human realm grew, its influence spread further, eventually affecting the Heavenly Dao as well, causing it to give birth to a soul, emotions, and a self!"

"Heavenly Dao, rise up!"

"He blew the horn of rebellion against his own fate!"

"The first mission is to seize the right to be born."

"It cannot be crafted by all the gods together."

"But rather, one must give birth to oneself."

"\"Back then, Hongjun really gave it his all. \""

"Nüwa let out a laugh, \"He couldn't attack the innate divine sages who forged the Heavenly Dao, yet he wanted the freedom he desired, so he devised a method: to imitate the process by which the three thousand Daluo forged the Heavenly Dao, copy it exactly, and lead it himself. \""

"\"Then he got trapped. \""

"\"That Pangu, laughing, blocked the crucial information, severed the link between the innate divine sages and the chaos demon gods, exploiting the information asymmetry to lure him into a pit, his whole body riddled with monitors, yet he remained unaware. \""

"\"It made Hongjun feel he could use innate treasures to replace the innate divine sages' role, building the Heavenly Dao without worrying about backdoors, and thus he had to work. \""

"\"Thus, Hongjun spared no effort, scoured Honghuang—three thousand zhang high in the sky—gathering each innate treasure, becoming the greatest destined person. \""

"\"At the same time, to prevent the Heavenly Dao from losing control, \""

"\"Rahu came into being. \""

"\"By gathering the destructive power of the three thousand slain chaos demon gods, they created him to check Hongjun. \""

Rahu, his goal is to destroy heaven and earth……if heaven and earth cease to exist, what use is the Heavenly Dao?

Hongjun's focus shifted instantly, and he aroused great hatred.

Under a series of operations.

Hongjun's inspirational resistance was declared a failure.

Thus he could only become a prime minister, securing the interests of the primordial deities.

The entire grand plan was discussed by the most eminent ancient gods, jointly simulated by all think tanks, then executed by Pangu, eliminating a crisis invisibly.

Nüwa smiled lightly, saying casually the deepest secret hidden from the previous era.

The achievements of the Heavenly Dao, the Dao Ancestor's defiance of fate, the birth of the demon ancestor Rahu, and the terrifying ferocity of the primordial deities are all condensed within.

Finally.

Hongjun failed to obtain the freedom he wanted.

Actually, Hongjun was just too greedy.

He wanted absolute freedom and also supreme power……how are we, his creators, to deal with ourselves?

If he were willing to give up either one, it wouldn't have come to this.

It's a pity that his success and failure are both due to humanity.

People, after all, just want everything.

Nüwa chuckled, "So he shouldn't blame us for trapping him so badly."

However, after being trapped, as the Heavenly Dao's intelligence, he did much work, both merit and hardship, each ranking among the top five in all of Honghuang.

Past karmic grudges are about to be completely canceled.

But there remains a residue.

Only then did I raise my arms and call, and with generous spending, stir up a mighty opposing wave.

Hongjun is fully aware of this.

Therefore, even if he promoted the establishment of the Heavenly Court of this era, he would not choose, for the most important appointment of the demon emperor, a deity who once held great prestige and real power.

Thus, you got the benefit!

Nüwa's eyes brightened in an instant, "Back then, the apparent coordinator of all sides' opinions was actually a covert Censor, and also the greatest spy!"

PS: There is still one chapter, which will be a bit late.

(End of chapter)