Chapter 103: The Struggle Between Heaven and Man: Who Wins and Who Loses

Necklaces and pendants cascaded down, drifting slowly, with ten thousand rays of colorful light.

They fell to the ground with a crisp *clack*, transforming into blooming jade pistil flowers that filled the air with a cold fragrance.

Fang Longye gazed at the scattering necklaces and said, "I wonder how you intend to forge a bond of good karma with me, Brother?"

Gu Huojin chuckled, "Perhaps the Dragon Lord feels that I am daydreaming to ask for good karma with nothing but empty words. However, I believe the Dragon Lord will certainly be satisfied with this meeting gift of mine."

"Oh?" Fang Longye was actually intrigued upon hearing this.

Gu Huojin smiled faintly, closed his eyes, and formed a seal. Clear Qi swirled around him, and thousands upon thousands of seal characters emerged, dancing and spinning like the stars in the sky.

They collided incessantly, emitting waves of mysterious sounds, before finally gathering together to form a Jade Pendant less than three inches in size, glowing with five-colored glaze.

"Is this the meeting gift you intend to give me?"

Fang Longye reached out to take the delicate and exquisite Jade Pendant; it felt cool and refreshing in his hand.

Gu Huojin wore a smile, merely gesturing for him to examine it.

Fang Longye cast his divine sense into the Jade Pendant, where mysterious sounds murmured and layers upon layers of seal characters permeated the space.

Upon contact with his divine sense, they immediately descended from the void, trailing like threads, and various pieces of information flowed into his sea of consciousness like a trickling stream.

His primordial spirit sat upright, surrounded by a web-like interweaving of starlight, gathering and organizing these incoming pieces of information one by one.

All sorts of profound Heavenly Secrets and secrets he had never encountered before were absorbed into his heart, constructing and perfecting his understanding of this world.

……

A long while later.

He opened his eyes, which shimmered with strange colors as seal characters flickered in and out of existence, overlapping in layers. Finally, the phenomena subsided, leaving only a profound depth in his gaze.

"I didn't expect you to know so many secrets. Are you truly not the incarnation of some great power?" Fang Longye let out a breath and turned to look at Gu Huojin.

Gu Huojin produced his Wine Gourd, took a small sip, and revealed an intoxicated expression, saying, "It is merely because of my sect that I happen to know a few more secrets."

"Most of this information, the Dragon Lord would have known sooner or later. It is just a matter of timing that the Dragon Lord feels surprised at this moment."

Fang Longye nodded; regardless of whether his explanation was true or false, he accepted the favor.

Just as the saying went before, one's horizon and understanding determine one's upper limit.

The information Gu Huojin provided had indeed benefited him greatly; at the very least, he would no longer be blind to the world.

Yes, as his cultivation grew, the structure and secrets of this world would eventually unveil themselves to him.

But knowing a day earlier is always better than a day later. At the very least, it allowed him to make a clear plan for his subsequent cultivation.

Watching the expression at the corners of Fang Longye's mouth, Gu Huojin thought to himself, "I guessed right; this Dragon Lord truly lacks awareness of certain matters. This act of mine will at least earn me the favor of having provided guidance."

One could easily imagine that those high and mighty powers would not care about such things; in their eyes, the Dragon Lord would know these things eventually, and there was no need for them to step in and specifically inform him.

The great powers might look down on this favor, but for him, it was perfectly appropriate. After all, no one likes being treated like a marionette, arranged by others while knowing nothing.

Fang Longye unleashed his Five-Colored Treasure Tree divine ability, diligently absorbing the various profound arrangements within this space and destroying the nodes of the formation.

Then, his eyes flickered, and he asked, "According to the information you provided, the First Emperor and the Human Race cannot be considered to have failed, then?"

Gu Huojin also casually unleashed his divine ability, destroying the scenes within the formation nodes while responding, "But they cannot be considered successful either. Although they sought life within death, they were still abandoned by the Heavenly Dao, and the Human Dao is not necessarily still so favorable toward the Human Race. The First Emperor's personal success cannot mask the Human Race's setback."

Hearing this, Fang Longye sneered inwardly.

Your entire Human Race has already seized enough of the initiative for the upcoming Myriad Heavens Era, yet you are still here playing the victim to me!

Yes, your Human Race was used as a pawn by the Human Dao, becoming the vanguard and shock troops in the struggle against the Heavenly Dao.

But isn't that because your Human Race is the protagonist of the Human Dao? If your Human Race doesn't shoulder the burden, who will? The First Emperor's war against the heavens was not a product of individual will, but an inevitable trend under the development of the entire Human Dao.

The struggle between heaven and man is not a struggle between the Heavenly Court and the Human Race, but a clash between the Heavenly Dao and the Human Dao.

Precisely because of this, under the pressure of the Human Dao, all the myriad races of the Primordial World placed their bets on the Human Race.

Openly or secretly, they had no choice but to support them with a great deal of power.

This is also the reason why the owner of this ruin, being a Honghu, belonged to the Phoenix Clan yet served under the First Emperor.

This was originally a dead end.

Neither the Heavenly Dao, the Human Dao, nor the Earthly Dao, which was born the latest, can represent the entire Primordial World.

In other words, one must never think that the Human Dao is the collective will of all living beings and therefore an existence of justice in the eyes of the Primordial World~

The Human Dao's war against the heavens, in the mysterious judgment of the entire Primordial World, is an act that damages the world.

And the Human Race, who fought for the Human Dao, bore the brunt of it and was inevitably abandoned by the world.

Unlike what Fang Longye knew in his previous life, the Human Dao is not weak. As the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors successively ascended to heaven to become emperors in previous eras, the Human Dao's governance of heaven has become a fact.

In the struggle between the Heavenly Dao and the Human Dao, the Human Dao occupies the absolute upper hand.

It is no wonder; among the three Daos of Heaven, Earth, and Man, the Human Dao is not the youngest, but the eldest.

Wherever there are living beings, the Human Dao manifests. Even while the Heavenly Dao was still brewing, the Human Dao had already instinctively supported the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans to unify the Primordial World.

However, the Human Dao is a collective of the will of all beings, prioritizing the interests of all living things and ignoring the Primordial World itself. The result was the Great Calamity of the world, causing damage to the Primordial World. Consequently, a host of great powers, including the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans, recognized the nature of the Human Dao.

They threw themselves under the banner of the Heavenly Dao, which takes the maintenance of the world as its duty, strengthening the Heavenly Dao in an effort to suppress the Human Dao that would strike out of the blue from time to time.

Even so, it still could not withstand the Human Dao's occasional fits of madness; the First Emperor's war against the heavens was a product of such circumstances.

To war against the heavens is, in all likelihood, death.

Because any great power capable of perceiving the world understands the harm that the dominance of the Human Dao brings to the world, as well as the impact on their own cultivation.

Even the helpers cultivated by the Human Dao with poured-in destiny do not necessarily approve of letting the Human Dao dominate alone.

Furthermore, once a war against the heavens is ignited, the Human Race will inevitably suffer the consequences in the Primordial World.

By then, who knows if every member of the Human Race will become a walking gift bag of merit.

Not warring against the heavens might lead to being abandoned by the Human Dao and losing the position of the protagonist of the Human Dao, which is also a dead end.

Because the Human Dao will mysteriously support a new race to replace the Human Race, and the Human Race, as the former protagonist, will definitely not fare well.

The relationship between this Heavenly Dao and Human Dao is truly something else.

From this, one can also see how extraordinary that Great Heavenly Venerable, who resides high in the Heavenly Court, integrates heaven and man, and harmonizes Yin and Yang, truly is.

Fortunately, he was the First Emperor after all; even in this world, he remained extraordinary. Facing a situation of certain death, he glimpsed a thread of the world's great momentum.

Directly amidst the battle, he rearranged the Small Worlds and Great Worlds that had evolved from the fragments of the world shattered in the past.

He transformed them from a scattered state into clusters of worlds, circling the Primordial World and connecting with it.

He established the grand pattern of the Primordial World evolving toward the Myriad Heavens.

He also made a great vow, willing to wage war outside the realm for the Primordial World, and would not cease fighting as long as the Primordial World's Dharma did not replace the Great Dao.

This could be considered conforming to the development of the Primordial World, for which he directly attained a Great Divine Ability and ascended to the position of the Black Emperor.

The so-called conflict between Heaven and Man naturally fizzled out.

……

Therefore, in the current view of Fang Longye, his previous behavior of sighing for the Human Race was incredibly ridiculous.

Don't look at how miserable the Human Race is in the Earth Immortal Realm; in those worlds outside the Earth Immortal Realm, who knows how comfortably they are living! Gu Huojin did not know of this thought, otherwise, he would have surely spat in his face.

The pot shouldn't call the kettle black; ever since this pattern of the Myriad Heavens was forged, the Dragon Clan has done no shortage of harm to other Great Thousand Worlds outside the Earth Immortal Realm.

Not to mention, the individual Human Race is ultimately inferior to races like the Dragon Clan; the Human Race in other Great Thousand Worlds has been harmed quite a bit by some forces of the Primordial World.

"So, nowadays, the new era of the Primordial World is the Myriad Heavens Era?"

Fang Longye casually destroyed the manifestation of this formation node—an iron tree—and asked with a light laugh to confirm.

"That's right, the pioneer of the new era is none other than His Majesty the First Emperor; the Human Dao striking at Heaven as the First Tribulation can be considered to have passed."

"And according to an elder of mine, the Second Tribulation is about to begin, though it is unknown where it will manifest. However, given the situation of Dragon Lord, I imagine you have already been drawn into it. I am telling Dragon Lord this information to remind you to prepare early."

Fang Longye glanced at the portal that appeared after the formation node was broken, then turned to look at Gu Huojin.

He nodded with a smile and bowed, "Then many thanks to Brother Dao for this warning; I will certainly not forget this favor from you."

Gu Huojin smiled, "I only hope that Dragon Lord will treat my Human Race citizens kindly in the future. I won't say more; I will not be with you for the next formation nodes."

"Then we shall meet later."

"See you later."

Having said that, Gu Huojin shook his body, transformed into a wisp of clear light, and dispersed into the ripples rising ahead.

……

Fang Longye watched his figure gradually disappear, a deep, dark glint flashing in his eyes.

A moment later, he smiled. He thought to himself: "The Second Tribulation, is it the Journey to the West?"

Perhaps it is, but it shouldn't be that simple.

Let us wait and see how it develops in the future! Casting aside this speculation, Fang Longye thought again of Gu Huojin who had just left, this existence whose master he still did not know.

"Is this series of actions stemming from the instructions of the Human Race's upper echelons, or is it his own personal move?"

Regardless, Fang Longye truly had to accept this favor. But there were no further sentiments beyond that.

He understood in his heart that even though Gu Huojin appeared to be considerate and caring in front of him,

that was because winning him over was beneficial to the Human Race. Otherwise, given his own temperament, he would have long since been shouted at as a 'wicked dragon' and attacked! Different Daos do not conspire together.

As a member of the Human Race, one should never expect him to have much goodwill toward himself, an outsider.

The portal was a blur of colors, multicolored and brilliant. Fang Longye chuckled and stepped inside.

……

The first chapter today~ Thank you all for your support! (End of chapter)