Chapter 338

The returning monkey, carrying the strength and weapons it obtained from Lingtai Fangcun Shan, strides forward unstoppably: it will fight for you!

Lingtai Fangcun Shan

Blood God Son

Wind Spirit Moon Shadow

Pútí Lǎozǔ

Ding Banner Chief

As the protagonist, your perfect victory was originally built on constant death; whether you die from disappointment with the present state or from hope for the future, you must die anyway.

The monkey naively believes it can use force to compel the gods to restore your throne, but actually your abdication is self‑inflicted, because given the current completeness of information, if you continued to stay here, it would also be meaningless.

Rather than being trapped here, it would be better to reincarnate early; you understood this principle when you destroyed the Heavenly Court, and the only reason you're still alive now is that you want to gather a bit more information—otherwise you would have killed yourself long ago.

Great Shun Founding Emperor

This isn't that you don't believe in the strength of its newly opened Wind Spirit Moon Shadow... Certainly, Patriarch Bodhi, the most mysterious cheat‑seller in the world, is definitely awesome; with his cheat, even if the monkey claims it can now take on nearly three thousand true gods single‑handedly, you would believe it!

Five Kings Rebel Army

Northeast Army

Shun Dynasty

If you only wanted them to be beasts of burden, you could have succeeded long ago; you wouldn't even need all this trouble—just give each person a Blood God Son and that would do!

The reason you don't do that is because you want to obtain a world where no one suffers; the psychological trauma from that massacre back then is still too great—so great that you still can't forget it even now.

New Dynasty Shogunate

And to achieve that, merely killing a little rebel West King who caused chaos in a massacre is obviously not enough; you need to change the dynasty, replacing the half‑buried Great Shun with a new dynasty full of vigorous life and thriving myriad things.

This is your original grand ambition, and from the time this dream took shape you gradually acquired the mindset and ideals that a founding emperor should have; your idol and role model is none other than the Great Shun's founding ancestor Li Ziliang, who created an unprecedented 120‑year prosperous age.

Wild Gods

Rebel Army

Take Great Shun as an example: no dynasty begins without flourishing; each has a period of glorious prosperity, but as time passes, the glory of that prosperity will inevitably fade and they will enter a lethargic old age, after which another dynastic change occurs...

Great Shun, the dynasty before Great Shun, the dynasty before that—all are like this, without exception, as if a clockwork machine set in motion, endlessly repeating this cycle.

War God

Thus from this moment, your ideal leapt from Li Ziliang to a higher level: you want to break this endless cycle!

Wùkōng

And given human wisdom and ability, you feel the possibility is slim, so you turned your gaze to divine power: omnipotent divine power can certainly accomplish everything you want to accomplish!

Therefore you spread your teachings far and wide, gathered incense offerings, and did not hesitate to use the Blood God Son you didn't want to use; then you expanded your strength, killed the West King, launched punitive expeditions against the Five Kings' rebel armies, thereby entering the grand stage of the late Shun.

New Dynasty

By today, you have also destroyed the decadent Heavenly Court, founded a new dynasty, genuinely inaugurated a prosperity surpassing all past ages, worshipped by billions of people, without precedent in antiquity and without equal in the future.

But the closer you get to the prosperous age of your dreams, the more you find yourself drifting farther from that dream.

Under divine power, mortals indeed escaped past suffering, but suffering did not disappear; it merely shifted onto another group……

Suffering cannot be resolved, profit cannot be made, you've tried every method, yet disappointment grows heavier!

Under such hardship, you can't help but start reflecting on yourself: Have I set the wrong strategy?

Looking back now, you actually shouldn't have placed your hope in divine power; this power that does not belong to mortals ought to be kept separate from mortals.

Mortals seeking a peaceful prosperous age cannot rely on any savior, nor depend on divine emperors; to create a mortals' prosperous age, they must rely solely on themselves!

But saying that is easy; putting it into practice is not so simple, for relying solely on mortals, throughout history so many dynasties have risen—hundreds, even thousands—and yet none have achieved peace.

Even now, with divine power aiding technological research, mortals have not gained the independent productive capacity to sustain a prosperous age; clearly knowing they should not overly rely on divine power, yet in daily life they cannot be separated from it!

What does this indicate?

It indicates that in this dream world, mortal power has a limit; to exceed that limit, one must use divine power, whether willing or not.

"Dreams are not reality; only mortals in reality can have no limit, while dreams are inherently incomplete, so mortals have a limit, and the world itself also has a limit……"

You silently recite this conclusion long proven by trial, ultimately helpless.

The problem returns to that point: dreams are always false; to fulfill your ideal, you must be in a real world, a real, limitless world, which is necessary!

And such a world does exist—it is the eternal primordial wilderness—but you cannot profit……

Whether you wish to lead everyone using superhuman power to achieve a truly oppression-free prosperous age, or to achieve a true prosperous age through pure mortal power, neither can be accomplished in this false dream, for a true prosperous age will not appear in a false world……

After reciting it over and over, you gradually heard the shouts and fighting outside; the voice was loud, the emotions chaotic, filled with anger, panic, and so on.

If expectations hold, the monkey has already clashed with the gods!

Today, with the Heavenly Court already fallen, the new dynasty's shogunate equals the new Heavenly Court and Heavenly Palace, so a classic scene of uproar in the Heavenly Palace is being staged here……

……

The great battle lasted several days, its might shaking heaven and earth!

And when everything finally settled, the outside world once again fell into tranquility……

"Master!"

A figure, disheveled yet with an aura like a rainbow, a golden silhouette like the war god of myth who has fought a hundred battles, strides joyfully through the door!

The monkey, leaning on an iron staff, upon entering the door, proudly declares: "I've already helped you quell the rebels! Quickly regain supreme authority and rule the world!"

Seeing it return victorious, though you had anticipated it, you still feel a jolt of surprise: What sort of trick has Patriarch Bodhi sold? Just a monkey and a staff, beating down three thousand true gods to their knees?!

"Wukong……"

You were about to anxiously ask if it was injured, but see the monkey wave a hand: "Come in!"

Thus a crowd of people surged in, packing the shogunate to the brim……

Before you could even speak, the gods trembled as they knelt, bowing their heads without cease; the leaders among them, shaking, cried out: "Please, General, resume supreme authority! Govern heaven and earth again!"

"We all wish to serve mortals forever, seeking no reward, only desiring peace under heaven!"

Yes, yes! General, don't bear a grudge; it's all because that Ding forced us—otherwise how could we betray our lord for glory?

The general's kindness is not yet repaid!

Loyalty! Sincerity!

……

These veteran subordinates adapted quickly; the slogans abandoned for years were shouted again, loyalty and kindness ringing in your ears—just a wave and a response, and the bygone "Era of General Lin" could return, letting you live a second life!

As for the era when Ding and the others held power…… what era! That was called dark turmoil!

Now the great emperor has lived a second life, ending the dark turmoil!

But faced with this scene of utter loyalty, your heart remained unmoved; you only asked them one question: "Where is Chief Ding? And the other five chiefs?"

Under the threat of the monkey's iron staff, the gods hastily replied: "The traitor Ding has already been knocked unconscious by a blow from the ape chief, and the remaining five traitors have been locked in the heavenly prison, awaiting only your order to be sent one by one to the Execution Platform—sending them up to heaven one by one!"

Listening, you took a deep breath and solemnly said: "Release them, and then……"

Let Chief Ding officially succeed as shogun of the bakufu, ruling over all directions!

Huh?

The gods, who were preparing to welcome the former lord's restoration under violence, were stunned; they were completely bewildered, not understanding what was happening……

The monkey simply exploded!

Master! You……

Without waiting for it to become angry and flustered, you, who had already arranged your abdication, turned your head and sighed at it.

Wukong, take me to see Patriarch Bodhi.

Your voice brooked no refusal!

The monkey stared blankly, then finally drooped its head in resignation.

Yes, Master……

A self-initiated heavenly uproar, and a restoration farce, suddenly began and then suddenly ended……

Until the lone human and monkey vanished into the bakufu, the gods had not yet fully recovered from this upheaval.

The gods remained dazed for a long time before finally regaining their senses from that dreamlike feeling, but even after regaining themselves, they took no action.

Everyone gazed at the worn, empty old futon; an inexplicable sorrow and emptiness welled up from deep within, gradually spreading throughout the bakufu, which had a history of several hundred years.

The originally planned enthronement ceremony suddenly turned into a kind of memorial service.

Everyone knew only one thing.

The general had already departed from the people forever……

In June of the 197th year of the new calendar, the era of General Lin ended.

……

(End of chapter)