Chapter 317

Exactly, it's the new Heavenly Court!

Since the Heavenly Court is unwilling to provide divine protection for all beings, it has no necessity to exist for them.

Indeed, what the Tai Bai Star Lord said back then—that the Heavenly Court has no duty to serve all beings—makes sense; a group of true gods who can live forever without needing offerings from beings naturally has no such duty.

But this does not mean that a Heavenly Court willing to serve all beings cannot exist in the world!

You have already perceived the truth of the world and understood the correct method to pass the trial; thus the supreme ideal of this cycle naturally becomes established.

Your supreme ideal is to save all beings!

To fulfill this supreme ideal, you must first lead people in serving all beings, thereby accumulating incense offerings and cultivating more true‑god‑level combat strength.

Thus you perfectly meet the beings' need for divinities: you wish to serve them, and they wish to find a Heavenly Court that can act for them; the two match perfectly, a true case of mutual pursuit.

Thus, the eight of you formed an actual new Heavenly Court.

However, you still followed your old habit: not taking the title of emperor!

You do not want to be an emperor, nor do you want to be the Heavenly Emperor.

The reason, aside from your habit, is mainly to reduce hostility from the old Heavenly Court: one mountain cannot hold two tigers; you cannot guarantee that Xue Xuan Heavenly Emperor would tolerate another Heavenly Emperor, so for safety's sake, although you established a Heavenly Court, you did not crown yourself as Heavenly Emperor.

Thus you continued to use the title 'General', ruling the three lands in the name of a General!

……

In the first year of the new Heavenly Court, the eight true gods led by you established the new Heavenly Court, governing the mortal realms of the three lands!

You called yourself the Soaring Heaven General; the seven true gods, including the monkey, each also held a General's title, and the eight generals together formed the inaugural ruling core of the new Heavenly Court!

The following year, the Soaring Heaven General personally led the campaign to conquer Xiniu Hezhou, which had not submitted to royal transformation!

This time, you wielded true‑god power in the campaign; the states of Xiniu Hezhou could no longer resist and were forced to surrender one after another.

The eight major states and seventeen minor states were all incorporated into the new Heavenly Court's territory; you filled the last missing corner on the map, and from then on the four great continents were finally unified!

With the four lands unified, you issued an edict: starting today, all peoples of the four lands must practice the Contemplation Method of the Divine Way, and the Contemplation Method shall be included in basic education.

As soon as this edict was issued, the four seas boiled over!

The Contemplation Method—ah, that is the Contemplation Method!

If one succeeds in cultivation, is there not hope of becoming a god?!

In the past, all countries heavily banned the spread of the Contemplation Method, naturally to maintain the rule of a single family and surname; thus the populace basically had no chance to see cultivation methods, resulting in most people living their whole lives without knowing they dwelt in an extraordinary world……

Now, however, the new Heavenly Court not only does not ban the Contemplation Method but wants to spread it everywhere under heaven…… This is practically a scene that would only appear in a dream!

Thus, the people of Xiniu Hezhou who had just been subdued originally still harbored some resistance to the new Heavenly Court, and many civilian groups were still plotting some 'overthrow Heaven, restore the nation' plan…… but now, everyone's attitude suddenly did a 180‑degree turn.

The heads of each organization earnestly advised against it, yet could not be persuaded…… The reason is simple: no one would leak the Contemplation Method, for anyone seeking private gain could not allow others to obtain the power and opportunity to challenge them.

This was originally an unwritten rule, but now a new Heavenly Court that does not seek private profit suddenly appears and shatters that rule, catching everyone off guard; they can only watch helplessly as their own incense‑offering materials are completely soaked……

Even the soaking is a good thing; many who surrendered to show loyalty to the new Heavenly Court directly betrayed their own leaders and gangs, saying, 'General, their true bodies are hiding here!'

The myriad wild gods: ……

The myriad folk wild gods cursed the traitors on one hand and denounced the new Heavenly Court's heaven‑defying policy on the other, but no matter how they cursed, they could not change the fact that the Heavenly Court's iron fist, prompted by the traitors' reports, came crashing down……

Soon, Xiniu Hezhou was completely subdued.

And when Xiniu Hezhou surrendered, this policy was gradually carried out under the eager gaze of all beings.

The Contemplation Method entered thousands of households; the slender chance to become a god was also placed before the eager eyes of all beings!

But beings soon discovered that although this slender chance to become a god truly exists, not everyone can grasp it……

Most people toiled to exhaustion yet still could not cultivate even a trifle; the Contemplation Method amounted to nothing for them.

Only a small minority, endowed with extraordinary talent, need not painstakingly practice; a little training suffices for them to directly condense a dharma form.

One is in heaven, the other on earth; the gap between people is so vast it is heart‑warming……

Thus, amid the regretful, envious, jealous, and hateful gazes of the majority, that small group of fortunate ones joyfully entered the new Heavenly Court's administrative system and received a minor official post.

Afterward, the new Heavenly Court appointed them to various places across the four lands to engage in governing the people's livelihood; the better they performed, the more incense they garnered.

Under such incentive, the heavenly officials all became diligent, using divine power to protect and nurture the beings' growth, thereby making the four lands ever more prosperous……

Seeing such a splendid scene, you cannot help but harbor boundless hope and enthusiasm for the future realization of your great ideal!

As people develop better, the incense they produce increases, and the number of true gods achieved in the future naturally grows; defeating the Heavenly Court may therefore not be a distant matter…… At the same time, you also carefully examined whether some of the words spoken by the Tai Bai Star Lord back then were true.

Back then he had said that true gods do not serve humanity because they need no incense offerings…… This statement has always made you doubtful, for you do not believe true gods can create something from nothing and be self‑sufficient!

Thus you conducted an experiment on this……

The result of the experiment was: yes, and also no.

Saying it is yes is because true gods indeed do not need incense to sustain themselves; from the moment they become gods they are already immortal, incense holds no meaning for them—more does not make them stronger, less does not cause them to age and die; it is optional.

Saying it is no is because although a true god's survival does not require being tied to incense, if the true god expends divine power, the resulting consumption will not spontaneously replenish itself.

To replenish the expended divine power, incense is needed……

Therefore, for a true god, whether incense is important depends solely on whether they frequently use divine power; if they hardly use it, it is not important, but if they do, it becomes very important—the more diligently they use it, the greater the demand!

After verifying this principle, you came to understand the reason for the Heavenly Court's negligence: its biggest cause for not attending to affairs is simply that it is unnecessary……

What is the purpose of becoming a god?

The answer is clear: immortality and carefree ease!

Moreover, the gods lack the grand ideal of saving the world, so after attaining godhood they naturally try to reduce unnecessary troubles as much as possible.

Maintain the netherworld's bureaucracy? Forget it—it brings me no benefit; why should I uphold it?

Manage heavenly disasters and human calamities? You're right, but what does that have to do with me? Since I didn't cause those disasters, why should I intervene?

The more incense is used, the greater the demand, the more trouble, and still no benefit.

If that's the case, I might as well slack off—I painstakingly became a god not to be a beast of burden!

If I do not bring calamity upon humanity, mortals will have to burn high incense……

The Heavenly Court's mindset is roughly like this: from top to bottom they are all muddleheads among muddleheads, lacking ideals and pursuits, each person a salted fish.

But this doesn't mean they're wrong, because the facts are indeed so; if there's no benefit, why would anyone want to be a beast of burden? It's just an innate ox-and-horse holy body—does one have to suffer to feel good?

If a person can endure hardship, they will have endless hardship to endure; the heavenly gods clearly understand this, so they collectively chose to give up—after all, their current life already perfectly matches their dreams, and there's no need to keep striving...

But you're different—you're the protagonist, and your identity and mission dictate that you cannot settle for the status quo; you must raise the banner of the highest ideal, leading the struggling beings of this dream world to seek a future, to seek truth.

Indulging in this false state will only make you forever fail to complete your mission and never achieve your ideal; the dream world cannot bring perfect happiness to all beings—only that so-called 'Eternal Primordial' can.

Every mortal there can hope for immortality, unlike now, when only a few lucky ones get a chance at eternal life.

Seeing this, though you're no sage, you're willing to strive once to make immortality a reality for all beings.

New Heavenly Court, we will never slack off!

The highest ideal must also be realized!

……

In the human world, the commotion caused under your bold sweeps is naturally huge!

And such a tremendous commotion naturally cannot be hidden from the lofty Heavenly Court.

After they had curiously observed it for a long time, their pupils involuntarily shrank, and they were shocked and dismayed……

Report! Presenting to the Heavenly Emperor, the worldly god Lin Liu of the lower realm has established his own Heavenly Court and proclaimed himself the Heaven-charging Great General; rebellion has arisen! Please, Heavenly Emperor, swiftly crush him to secure the Heavenly Court!

Under the anxious report of the reporting god, the gods stared at each other: 'What's going on? We've all become gods, and yet we can still encounter a rebellion?!'

The Heavenly Emperor sat high above, pondering the report for a moment……

He thought for a moment and said: 'Has Lin Liu claimed the title of emperor?'

'Well… actually, no…'

'Then, how many true gods does he have?'

'Including himself, that's… a total of… eight…'

Oh, then it's fine.

The Heavenly Emperor didn't care: 'Keep the music playing, keep the dancing!'

'No need to worry about him!'

……

(End of chapter)