Chapter 40

Ding! Detected a gift from an important figure of the primordial wilderness—bind it?

Just bound the Sun's True Fire, and another one comes?

Zhao Si willingly accepted it:

"Bind!"

Already bound the gift from an important figure of the primordial wilderness: "Guang Chengzi's Dharma Eye!"

"Guang Chengzi's Dharma Eye": Heaven and earth have their own Dao; where there is merit, there is karma. Anyone who kills living beings will have karma laid down by the Heavenly Dao as a mark; the heavier the karma, the more due they are to suffer a killing calamity. Given by Guang Chengzi, a disciple of the Sect of the Unfolding, on a certain day of the first year, first meeting, first movement of the human calendar, to an unknown Heavenly Emperor of the Dragon Race.

After binding, one can observe the karma of all beings under the Heavenly Dao (note: unlike the merit eye, merit is a privileged product of the Heaven-ordained protagonist; violating the Heavenly Dao's taboo, it cannot be observed by outsiders, whereas karma is otherwise—anyone can receive a sage's Dharma Eye to observe it.) Already bound.

"Another pair of Dharma Eyes?"

Later, Grand Purity formally took him as a disciple; the chief at that time, who was only a few hundred years old, you had met him, and in the chief's name sent him some human specialty products, encouraging him to cultivate well.

When humans and demons slaughter each other, the Heavenly Dao cannot directly intervene, but the karma accumulated from both sides' killing is certainly not a small account; once enough karma accumulates, sages will step in to settle all sins.

Xuan Du fervently offers the highest rites and blessings to the Heavenly Emperor who has made infinite contributions to humanity!

You turn your head in a daze, only to see a young Daoist gazing at you with great excitement, as if seeing a little fan of his dream idol, and his appearance…

The Golden Heavenly Emperor manifests an endless azure dragon's body, surrounded by the Golden Crow's Sun True Fire, wielding the Immortal-Slaying Sword; attacking guarantees victory, he always leads the charge, and the heavenly troops' morale is greatly boosted!

In the human calendar's fifth yuan, eighth meeting, seventh movement, the Heavenly Emperor campaigns across the southern wilderness provinces…

It's merely becoming so weak as to turn into a merit-refreshing tool; it's merely being slaughtered once with no power to resist—yet in the future, aren't we still alive? Aren't we still occupying the Heavenly Court?

"Guang Chengzi gave me this Dharma Eye—could he be saying that humanity kills too much and will suffer heavenly punishment?"

You exclaimed his name in surprise—this is none other than the first disciple of the Grand Purity's Ren Sect in your past life, who consecutively wiped out the Golden Flood Dragon clan twice, Xuan Du!

And karma is a "punishment mechanism" directed at all beings; as soon as you do wrong, the Heavenly Dao tags you with this mark, just like a "red-named player".

You looked him up and know he is one of the first clay figures molded by Nüwa; even as soon as Nüwa just became a sage, he was taken away by the Grand Purity, who came specially to establish teachings and become a sage, for research, and he left before you arrived in the human realm.

Therefore, in a sense, the entire humanity that slaughters extremely should long ago have been red-named and subjected to the sages' righteous execution!

Suddenly, a voice of surprise transmitted: "Is it the chief……no……is it the Heavenly Emperor?!"

And karma is a product of public authority, needs no taboo; as long as you find a sage and open the Dharma Eye, you can see it, and karma arises not linked to the Heaven-Chosen Protagonist—any killing of living beings will produce it.

This means merit cannot be seen because it is a private-privilege product bestowed by the Heavenly Dao upon humanity; looking at it would provoke the Heavenly Dao.

"I'm truly a self-important clown……" you lament, as if you've lost all vitality……

Guang Chengzi shook his head, saying the so-called "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs"; aside from the clear privilege it grants humanity, the Heavenly Dao treats all other beings equally and naturally.

Guang Chengzi then said: Do you know what is meant by "sages observe the Heavenly Dao and follow its conduct"?

But Guang Chengzi saw through your thought, bluntly shattering your hope: "All sages will not descend, but if your Heavenly Court has a quasi-sage take action, Di Jun will surely indirectly descend and drag away your quasi-sage!"

"What if defeat is inevitable? What if the path is wrong? What if we win after all?"

You suddenly felt a glimmer of hope, eagerly awaiting Guang Chengzi to say "yes".

"Since I've already come this far, I shall bear the future of all humanity and press onward!"

After hearing Guang Chengzi's words, you finally understood why this lifetime's human-slaughter plan was not stopped by any sage, nor did any sage intervene to protect, and even the sage disciples most eager for merit all went along.

You despondently bade farewell to Guang Chengzi; the idea of this trip seeking sage protection has gone up in smoke, and perhaps on the day you wish to lead humanity to grow strong, this doomed slide into the abyss is already sealed.

Strictly speaking, the primordial wilderness beings have no significance to the Heavenly Dao; it fundamentally will not strike you down for excessive killing, and karma truly has no effect—it is really just a red-name mark.

"The Heavenly Emperor will surely exterminate all traitors and rebel factions!!!"

In the human calendar's first yuan, first meeting, second movement, the Golden Heavenly Emperor personally leads the campaign, attacking the demon rebels of Central Province!

You're even more confused—what use is karma? Even a wandering mark can't kill a person, huh?

Your fighting spirit rose again, determined to go down this path to the bitter end……

In the human calendar's first yuan, first meeting, sixteenth movement, Central Province was pacified; the Heavenly Emperor beheaded the Great Luo chief of the Ox clan, demoted the Ox rebels' entire clan to eternal slavery!

"It's me, I've doomed humanity……"

You walked dazedly outside Kunlun Mountain; if you hadn't led humanity to cultivate and grow strong, but instead let Guang Chengzi and others de-cultivate humanity, keeping it perpetually weak, perhaps when facing the demon race's slaughter, the sages would still protect humanity……

"If I lose, I am a war criminal; if I win, I am the sole legitimate Heavenly Emperor, and no one can judge me!"

And in the situation where a quasi-sage cannot act, only the lower-to-mid strength human Heavenly Court would surely be unable to withstand the demon race as a whole; Di Jun simply wants to watch humanity be exterminated by the demon race……

"The Heavenly Emperor is great, no need for many words!"

In this lifetime, Xuan Du is very enthusiastic toward you; after a casual chat, the topic turned to your infinite merit to humanity; Xuan Du admires you without end, and furthermore resentfully declares that if not for his master restraining him, he would certainly return to humanity to repay the Heavenly Emperor's grace with his life and knowledge!

Zhao Si, with a blank expression, continued to look at the screen:

Guang Chengzi sighed: but humanity has a buff, they are the Heaven-ordained protagonist; anyone who tries to exterminate them will be struck down by the Heavenly Dao, so the sages neither dare to execute righteous judgment nor dare to protect so many red-named players, thus a bug arises……

"Loyalty! Sincerity!"

The blessings and fervor from Xuan Du are like a shot of stimulant, causing your collapsed will to re-coalesce.

In the human calendar's second yuan, third meeting, fifth movement, the Heavenly Emperor campaigns across the western wilderness provinces, beheading the Great Luo chief of the Tiger clan, exterminating all tiger kinds in the western wilderness!

That means, although the Heavenly Dao does not handle these karma-related matters, sages need to, so observing the Heavenly Dao and following its conduct—sages acting on behalf of Heaven—are the enforcers!

Zhao Si carefully savored the text description:

You anxiously asked Guang Chengzi, what does this karma represent? Could it be that the Heavenly Dao is about to intervene against humanity?

In the human calendar's first yuan, second meeting, third movement, the Heavenly Emperor campaigns across the northern wilderness provinces, beheading the Great Luo chief of the Peng clan, burning to death a million Peng clansmen!

I never expected to see Xuan Du a second time in this lifetime, and yet it's happening at this juncture……

"Xuan Du?"

"So, the sages won't descend at all?"

I understand—it means merit and karma are two separate systems; merit is a "reward mechanism" produced exclusively for humanity, and whenever you help humanity, the Heavenly Dao grants merit as a reward, hence it is a privilege.

"Nothing else, just afraid of dying……"

You stake everything you have, striving for an illusory future!

……

(End of Chapter)