Chapter 68: You Are Not Him

To tell the truth.

Gu Jiangming has always felt that the Heavenly Dao's methods are very strange.

At the very beginning, Gu Jiangming quite straightforwardly equated the organization known as the Heavenly Dao with the Azure Dragon Society.

All the information told Gu Jiangming one thing: this group of people was frantically destroying the existing order, and their actions were eccentric, bizarre, and lawless, without the slightest set of principles.

This stance could be called chaotic evil without it being an exaggeration.

For instance, the collapse of the Seven Great Sects was thanks to the Heavenly Dao, as the cultivation sects centered around these seven were what originally maintained order in the cultivation world.

Even if the Seven Great Sects could not be called absolutely righteous, they at least maintained a superficial balance and order.

And now, the Seven Great Sects no longer exist.

The old order was broken, allowing sects that were previously inferior to the Seven Great Sects to rise strongly during this period.

Even now, the disciples of the Seven Great Sects do not know where they were taken by the people of the Heavenly Dao.

However.

Many of the orders issued by the Heavenly Dao, if one looks closely, were also things Gu Jiangming could accept.

It was neither ordering them to wantonly kill the innocent, nor was it like the clichéd tropes in novels where you must sacrifice the lives of all the villagers in a village to obtain some power.

Instead, they repeatedly dispatched cultivators within the Heavenly Dao to subdue demons and eliminate monsters.

This makes it very difficult to fathom what their true intentions are in doing these things.

It is even hard to determine what their stance actually is.

【Zhenyuan Calendar Year 133.】

【Congratulations, you have triggered the main storyline "Origin of the Heavenly Dao."】

【You and Tianxiang have left Qianyuan; you travel in silence, and you can vaguely sense her rejection of you.】

【But you are happy for it to be this way in your heart.】

It is not just the "he" in the Reincarnation who is happy for it; Gu Jiangming is also happy for it.

He just cannot understand it; before he transmigrated, because he was a major in archaeology, let alone having luck with women, he didn't even have luck with female corpses.

After transmigrating, it is as if he is cursed with romantic entanglements.

In previous Reincarnations, Gu Jiangming takes the blame himself, admitting he had a problem, treating 【Mie Changsheng】 like a game, and whenever he ran into a character with a portrait he liked, he would go for it.

But the problem is, the current Gu Jiangming does not dare to mess around at all.

He is terrified that if he just happens to run into someone, they will become his wife.

I really beg you women to stop bothering me.

Buddy feels a headache just thinking about Jiu Jiu now; let alone Jiu Jiu, he also failed Wang Qinghe in one lifetime, carrying a debt of sin on his back.

What is even more of a pitfall is that Wang Qinghe and he have romantic ties spanning two lifetimes.

If it weren't for the fact that Wang Qinghe's reincarnation lacks the memories of these past lives, Gu Jiangming feels he would be sitting in jail.

Other people's simulators are cultivation simulators.

My simulator is purely a "nemesis" simulator.

You treat your brothers as treasures, but you treat your brothers as "trouble."

If a few more women come along, he is afraid he will be arrested on the spot in real life.

After all, even Gu Jiangming's disciple Xu Qingyun is looking for him; if these women can really survive, that will be a world-shattering event.

Thinking of this, Gu Jiangming feels his vision go dark.

Previously, whether it was Ye Liaocang or Yi Lezhi, he had actually avoided triggering the plot very precisely.

He was afraid of exactly this situation happening.

Compared to someone like Tianxiang, who lays her cards on the table from the start and hates him, Gu Jiangming feels his sky has brightened.

Finally, a normal person has arrived.

The previous Gu Jiangming once suspected whether he was the reincarnation of a succubus from next door.

Because he and the Jiu Jiu of his past life had basically had no contact in this current Reincarnation; the Wang Qinghe of this lifetime was an accident, but for Jiu Jiu to take the initiative to seek him out, that is just too strange.

Gu Jiangming still hasn't figured out what the situation is.

Thinking of this, the scene before Gu Jiangming's eyes slowly begins to move.

【Outskirts of Jiangdu.】

【"Take off that Bronze Mask," Tianxiang says coldly, "and change your clothes."】

【"Why? Can't we go in like this?" you ask with some confusion.】

【"The Heavenly Dao's mask is too conspicuous now," Tianxiang says calmly, "Often, people with identities that are too dazzling find it hard to see some existing problems."】

【Although you do not know her intentions, you still change into a set of plain clothes.】

【"Do you usually wear this kind of thing?" Tianxiang says, and then she falls silent.】

【It is true; the Gu Jiangming of this lifetime was born in Jiangyang Fishing Village, a place as small as can be, and is truly a child from a poor background.】

A piece of information that Gu Jiangming cannot see flashes silently, and is quickly crossed out by a black line.

【"Tianhuo is a pure cultivator," Tianxiang says again, "In many cases, he only does things; from now on, I will take you to see the most essential truth of this world."】

【"That is, the meaning of our Heavenly Dao's existence."】

【You and Tianxiang enter Jiangdu together.】

【This is an incomparably dilapidated and filthy city; it seems to have been occupied by monsters before, and now it is in a state of waiting to be rebuilt, with many mortals gathering here one after another to start their lives anew.】

【Throughout the city, there are constantly mounted Colonels shouting at the refugees to speed up their work; if they cannot finish before dark, these refugees will clearly be implicated.】

【"Crack—"】

【"No slacking off."】

【A whip lands, causing the thin, weak man who was lying on the ground wanting to rest for a moment to wail repeatedly.】

【"If you slack off again, there won't be a portion of rice porridge for you when Master Zhang distributes it later."】

A person drifted leisurely through the air.

"Master Li, why have you come?" The martial artist immediately dismounted and knelt on the ground to show respect.

"I recently heard that some monsters seem to be running amok here in Jiangdu, so I have come specifically to subdue them." The cultivator who descended from the sky was only at the Golden Core Stage, yet he caused everyone else to bow their heads.

"That is indeed the case. I invite the Immortal Master to step forward and pay a visit to Lord Zhang with me."

"We would also like to host a welcoming banquet for you, my lord."

You fell into deep thought.

"Among all the starting points of everything, the most pitiful people are often the mortals at the very bottom," Tianxiang said, witnessing everything happening before her eyes. "Above their heads are the officials who act with power and prestige, and above those officials are cultivators at an even higher level."

"From birth to death, these mortals are like the most insignificant existences among all things. They suffer so much throughout their lives, but in the end? They get nothing at all."

As her voice faded, the scene darkened.

The time had reached late at night.

Taking advantage of the night, Tianxiang brought you to the place where the refugees rested and found the refugee who had been whipped by the martial artist during the day.

Tianxiang silently placed a cultivation manual beside him.

The time of one incense stick passed.

The refugee did not know what had awakened him; he saw the extra manual beside him, his expression full of surprise.

He wanted to shout that Heaven has eyes, but fearing that people nearby would hear the commotion, he immediately covered his mouth and stared wide-eyed as he flipped through the contents.

"His aptitude is very poor," Tianxiang glanced at him and said. "That is why the manual I gave him is very unorthodox. Others practice Qi Refining, but I fear he must enter the Dao through Body Refining."

"Body Refining?" you muttered to yourself.

"Don't know about it?" There seemed to be some pride in Tianxiang's tone. "Since ancient times, our cultivators' practice has always been to refine Qi first; only after refining Qi can one have the room to cast spells. But my senior brother is a genius of heavenly talent; he does not enter the Dao through Qi Refining, but focuses primarily on Body Refining."

Speaking of this, Tianxiang's gaze focused once again on that thin, weak refugee.

"The manual I gave him is called the Nine Refinements Golden Body."

"With his aptitude, if he wants to become a cultivator, he must take this path of Body Refining."

You looked at Tianxiang and discovered that she was not interested in anything; only when mentioning that so-called ideal of the Heavenly Dao, or the senior brother she spoke of, would she reveal some changes in her expression.

A faint trace of yearning and longing would appear on that beautiful, exquisite face.

And on the screen.

That refugee, who thought a miraculous encounter had descended from the heavens, could not wait to pick up the manual in front of him.

The refugee before your eyes was illiterate, but he knew deep down that this was his only chance to change his fate, so he began to practice according to the diagrams in the manual.

"Ah—" he let out a painful sound with great effort.

But he was afraid that others would discover his movements, so he gritted his teeth and did not let anyone else notice his strange condition.

Under his tattered clothes, his thin body was exposed, and the ribs on his chest were clearly visible; practice was not easy, especially since his aptitude was not outstanding.

Amidst the intense pain, he lay on the ground, then woke up again, gritted his teeth, and continued to practice, using all the strength in his body, trying the movements on the manual over and over again.

During the day, he had been whipped for a moment of greed and laziness, but at this moment, he showed extraordinary perseverance.

You could hear the crisp sound of bones; every sound represented that he was enduring immense pain, but he endured it. Relying on his will and his desire to change his own fate, he endured it.

Interwoven with blood and sweat, his face was filled with the relief and joy of being reborn from the ashes.

From this moment on, he was no longer a mortal to be trampled underfoot.

"Heaven has eyes, Heaven has eyes..." he could not hide the excitement in his heart.

"Do you know why he is so happy?" Tianxiang's gaze fell on you once again.

"He has obtained a chance to change his fate. From now on, he is no longer an ordinary mortal. He finally has the opportunity to trample others underfoot and enjoy the treatment he imagines a cultivator should have."

"He will feel that it is only natural for him to be above mortals."

"And he will also forget that he was once a mortal struggling in the mud."

"This is the principle my senior brother spoke of: the dragon slayer eventually becomes the evil dragon."

Tianxiang looked at you. "Now... do you know why the Heavenly Dao exists?"

"By comparison, I am more interested in the senior brother you speak of," Gu Jiangming also looked at the woman before him.

"You don't need to know too much about him." In Tianxiang's tone... it was as if only she in this world could talk about her senior brother, and she was unwilling for others to mention him, especially you.

"What I can tell you is... the establishment of the Heavenly Dao was created by his own hands, and we are the ones who carry on his lifelong ideal."

"Our entire lives are spent practicing for this ideal."

"It is a pity that... I am not the person he wanted to find."

"Because from beginning to end, I was never him; I only wanted to see the prosperous age he wanted to see on his behalf."

"Likewise... we can no longer find someone as pure as him."

And you are not him either.

Tianxiang's eyes were fixed on you.

Congratulations on obtaining all the information for the third act of this Reincarnation.

The screen froze.

The Heaven and Earth catastrophe will descend in 10 years.

Please make every one of your choices in the time that follows; when the Heaven and Earth catastrophe ends, regardless of the final result, this Reincarnation will end.

Gu Jiangming was still in the process of collecting and processing information, but who could have expected that the pressure appearing in the blink of an eye would immediately push him to the limit.

Heaven and Earth catastrophe?

And this piece of information was not seen by Gu Jiangming alone.

The same message popped up in the minds of Jiu Jiu and Wang Qinghe.

The last Reincarnation ended, and the events that occurred within the Reincarnation changed reality.

Who knows what kind of situation will emerge in this Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth?

The pressure that suddenly surged in this instant made it impossible for people to catch their breath.

(End of chapter)