Chapter 52: Contending with Heaven

The Primordial Wilderness, First Yang Mountain.

The newly appointed Human Race Chieftain Jin Bing, his face rather hesitant, gazed at his several thousand "primary school student" populace.

"What... does this mean?"

Silently comprehending the wondrous countermeasure surfacing in his mind, even though Jin Bing had undergone three lifetimes of reincarnation and countless restarts, he still found it hard to believe:

Would directly telling them the fact that they are demons among demons really not cause a backlash of extremist thinking?!

As the protagonist race stamped by the Heavenly Dao, once the Human Race learns this basic fact, tendencies toward independence and supremacism will almost certainly arise spontaneously.

【Upon seeing this, a familiar memory inevitably surfaced: recalling my past life, I too had experienced this event, except back then I was just a nobody, only fit to stand at the rear as part of the honor guard……】

【"Look, I have pills refined by the Chieftain—healing, soul‑returning, invigorating, qi‑refining… a whole set I've got, saved up for a long time!"】

【"You of course see that they are merely blindly following you unconditionally, actually not understanding your thoughts at all, leaving you utterly helpless."】

【"This is none other than Di Jun, Taiyi and other mighty divine‑ability bearers bringing the Heavenly Court's officials to First Yang Mountain to congratulate their fellow disciple Sister Nüwa on attaining sainthood!"】

【"Wow! Your magic sword looks great—want to swap?"】

【"Then one day, you unexpectedly saw a group of students showing off and comparing with each other:"】

【"We must plant this belief in every person's heart, constantly keep it in mind, constantly remind ourselves—no matter how long the ages grind on, we must not forget this."】

【"As the original preacher, you left a seed in the Human Race's blank‑slate heart‑field, and imprinted an indelible mark!"】

【"But you also have to admit that sometimes unconscious blind obedience is actually the simplest way to solve a complicated problem……"】

【"Loyalty! Sincerity!"】

Oneself, worthy of trust!

The Three Primordial Hegemon Races tower above all yet fear Heaven like a tiger, thus they have two faces.

【"Wisdom? Indeed, most demon species, before formal cultivation, have low ordinary wisdom, while the Human Race, even without cultivation, is born with complete spiritual intelligence. Yet compared to cultivated demon species, there is no obvious wisdom advantage."】

In this situation, Jin Bing completely fails to understand how that "self" ever came up with such a terrible idea……

【"Memories of past lives surge in my heart; I am overwhelmed with emotion. In this life I have completely diverged from my past life's developmental path—not only did I assume the post of Human Race Chieftain ahead of time, I also took the Grand Clarity Sage as my teacher."】

【"Hmph, stingy……"】

【"Accompanied by pleasant celestial music, a group of tall and mighty shaman soldiers cleared the way; thereafter came golden carriages and jade steeds, divine light splashing forth, like the sun and moon, after the sun and moon came the civil and military officials, and the Zhou Tian Star Sovereign."】

【"Whoever masters the theory best, I will randomly reward them with a pill I personally refined; whoever puts it into practice well in life, I will reward them with a treasure I personally refined."】

【"This is the carefree life on First Yang Mountain."】

【"The Human Race cheered in this way."】

【"Anyway, no matter how you say it, from now on the Human Race's history has finally turned onto a road never before imagined!"】

【"Recall that in my past life, I had only just taken the Solar Star Lord as my teacher; under his auspices I entered the honor guard, planning to show my face early before the Heavenly Emperor, in hopes of later advancement."】

【"Until this day……"】

"……Enough."

【"As long as it's what the Chieftain says, it's definitely right! Just listen and it's done!"】

They are truly noble! Even the Heavenly Dao acknowledges it—what else do you have to say?

【"I find this both laughable and lamentable—clearly these were treasures I crafted to boost their strength, yet they turned into collectibles for showing off……"】

【"So, what exactly about the Human Race makes it more worthy of being called noble than the Demon Race as a whole?"】

【"Civilization? The Demon Race alone, just from the time the Heavenly Court's unified regime was established, has nearly four hundred eras; going further back, the Three Primordial Clans also created splendid civilization, and even in even older eras there already was the spark of civilization, whereas the Human Race now? Nothing at all."】

【"Auspicious signs descend from heaven, rosy clouds fill the sky!"】

【"The Human Race, lacking understanding of all things, may not grasp your ideas, yet they are willing to blindly follow, for in their eyes you are like the sole truth, so naturally whatever you say is right."】

【"In the Demon Calendar, 365 yuan, 7 hui, 3 yun, you clung to your conviction and simply announced in class the 'Heaven‑ordained Protagonist'; the Human Race instantly boiled with blood, shouting and yelling to show their excitement!"】

【"Aside from an empty reputation, how else does the Human Race differ from other races?"】

This is both confidence in restarting the "divine ability" and faith in the "self", after all any strategy devised by the "self" has never missed the mark.

【"No swap."】

【"In the days to come, aside from continuing to educate them in civilization, in order to better achieve that goal you deliberately linked cultivation to it."】

【"Human lives and demon lives are equally noble; there's no saying one is worth more than the other. Even if the Heavenly Dao issues a chaotic command, we ourselves cannot truly stand above all."】

【"But no one expected that, in the future, you would therefore embark on the road of opposing Di Jun, ultimately leading the Human Race and Demon Race to slaughter each other……"】

Given that one knows they are a noble race, can pure ideological education really be effective?

Jin Bing is doubtful about this:

For example, taking the negative exemplar Di Jun, Di Jun is an absolutely sagacious and heroic lord who wishes to forge the egalitarian super‑racial concept of the "Demon Race", an ideal infinitely great—whoever sees it wouldn't help but shout "Loyalty! Sincerity!"?

But the reality is, Di Jun led the promotion of ideological education for over three hundred eras, yet still could not achieve this:

Innately divine and self‑proclaimed noble, they openly mock Di Jun.

【"But just as everyone was cheering and leaping for joy, you solemnly declared: Heaven and Earth are not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs; it ought not to be partial to any race, yet now it has violated this point—this is clearly wrong."】

When have these guys ever truly taken Di Jun's "Demon Race" seriously?

The key is, the aforementioned races merely claim nobility for themselves, whereas the Human Race……

……

With a turn of thought, Jin Bing simply gritted his teeth and steeled his heart:

"Never mind whether it will work—let's do it first and talk later!"

Divine Beast Variants, under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Court, dare only to mock Di Jun in secret.

【"Under such positive encouragement, the Human Race's study and practice became diligent!"】

【"Tch, what's that? This odd‑shaped magic sword of mine is a limited‑edition piece refined by the Chieftain!"】

【"The bewildered Human Race folks were toppled by your few questions……"】

【"Aptitude? Indeed, the Human Race is innately suited to cultivation, progressing faster than ordinary demon species, yet compared to innate spirits and primordial bloodlines, it falls far short."】

After this, I too was appointed by Di Jun as Grand Chieftain of the Human Race, intending to use my connection to contact the Heavenly Court and the relationship with Saint Nüwa; Di Jun also rewarded you with a drop of Azure Dragon blood at that time.

You: ……

"Heaven's will makes me noble, for my life is commanded by me, not by heaven; what I choose is truly myself. Heaven's will? Merely a meaningless label."

You: ……

Regarding this, you have always thought they were striving hard out of a desire to become stronger, and you felt quite comforted in your heart.

Back then, the honor guard's little lackeys have now become disciples of a saint who swore to defy heavenly fate; one must say that destiny lies in one's own hands, and different choices determine the differences in fate… yet I do not know how Di Jun's attitude toward me might change…

……

(End of Chapter)