Chapter 279 Heaven's Will?

The path to immortality was within reach, yet success eluded him. Now, the victor needed no words, and the vanquished could only await the executioner's blade.

The Heavenly Heart Realm could no longer intervene.

Prince Lu knew that Yuan Huang could offer no further assistance. As a proxy for a Heavenly Heart realm expert, to be slain by two Immortals was not entirely a disgrace. The Immortals of the Outer River were far more substantial than those of the Inner River.

Prince Lu suddenly spoke, addressing both Ji Xiang and Qin Nu Xiu behind him.

"I believe I have never offended either of you. Why do you pursue me so relentlessly?"

Prince Lu sat down, signaling his surrender. He voiced his confusion. In truth, he no longer possessed any means to resist Immortals. The gap between the Ascension Realm and the Pure Yang Realm was a vast chasm, and his current Pure Yang strength was less than a tenth of its former self. In this state, he was inferior to those two Spirit Refining Realm cultivators.

The other cultivators nearby, facing the combined assault of two Immortals, were filled with dread. Jiang Qu Zi and Bai Wu Zi also knew they were outmatched and offered no further resistance, standing with their hands clasped behind their backs.

Ji Xiang spoke first, "If I say it is Heaven's will, will Your Highness believe me?"

Prince Lu gazed at the star-studded, cloud-kissed night sky. "You speak of the Heavenly Dao? I do not believe it. The Dao has no will. Its favor or its hatred arises from violations of the world's laws. Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs. The Heavenly Dao views all things equally."

"Therefore, all the gods of the Thirty-Six Heavens are merely the collective accumulation of human desires. Powerful desires, through centuries of worship and chanting, coalesce into Divine Positions within the Heavenly Dao, residing in the Great Fu Li Realm, amidst the Azure Sky. This is a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao's impartiality."

"The good and the evil alike are under the Heavenly Dao, within its operations. I am merely a mere vassal king. Even if I consume the hearts of young children, manipulate the desires of millions, or harbor ambitions of rebellion, all of this is within the Heavenly Dao's allowance."

"These are things that occur in the world of sentient beings. Have Yin and Yang ever been separate? Evil paths are also a form of Dao. Where there is good, there is evil; where there is light, there is shadow; where there is the sun, there is the moon. Some people are inherently good, while others are born wicked."

"Even birth itself is the same. There is no such thing as an unfair Heavenly Dao; it is merely random change. Your birth into a royal family is your fortune, not the Heavenly Dao's selection. Your birth as a beggar is not the Heavenly Dao's aversion, but merely your luck."

"It is you who conform to the Heavenly Dao, not the Heavenly Dao that conforms to you."

Qin Nu Xiu stood behind Prince Lu, listening to his words, and couldn't help but smile. "If not for your wicked deeds, you would indeed have quite insightful views on cultivation."

Prince Lu also chuckled. "I am, after all, a Pure Yang cultivator, and on the verge of ascending to immortality. Compared to you, I can boldly claim to be a fellow Daoist, can I not?"

"Therefore, those who commit great evils can don the guise of goodness to deceive themselves, and those who do great good can be slandered as great evils or demons, yet they will not receive the Heavenly Dao's aid, for all of this is within the bounds of what is permitted."

"Only those in the Heavenly Heart Realm, who consider themselves extensions of the Heavenly Dao, who believe they have comprehended the Tai Yi techniques and the Great Luo Dao Fruit, can glimpse the mysteries of Heaven's secrets. They believe they have grasped certain characteristics of the Great Dao and can thus ascertain the laws governing the Heavenly Dao's operations."

"The Great Dao of the Dynasty is a state presented when the Heavenly Dao descends. It changes and evolves with the rise and fall of dynasties, received by its successive holders. If one were to ask when 'he' appeared, one would have to trace it back to eighteen hundred years ago, to those eight characters: 'Mandated by Heaven, Eternal Prosperity'."

"Having said all this, I merely wish to prove two points to you."

"First, the Heavenly Dao will not interfere with me, nor does true Heaven's will exist. Even those tribulations are not formed by Heaven's will, but are punishments received for violating certain established laws. Once you endure them, nothing happens; this too is a form of law."

"Second, I am innocent!"

Prince Lu took a deep breath, then coughed out vital blood. His Dao heart was shattering, and it was becoming impossible to recover. His aura weakened drastically, and his manifested form almost collapsed. His appearance became slightly blurred.

Ji Xiang breathed gently, standing firm in front, hands clasped behind his back, his black robes trailing on the ground.

After listening to Prince Lu's discourse, he could not help but agree to some extent:

"The Dao does not care about what people do. The so-called conformity or rebellion is how people interact with its laws. Countless sages since antiquity have affirmed this point. However, to say that because the Heavenly Dao does not care about good and evil in the human world, therefore good and evil do not exist in the human world, is utter nonsense."

"If you truly believed yourself innocent, why would you allow demons to commit thirteen hundred wicked deeds and then commit thirteen hundred good deeds yourself? Such actions inherently distinguish between good and evil."

Prince Lu was speechless.

Ji Xiang smiled dismissively:

"However, I have no intention of debating Dao with you here."

Prince Lu weakly asked, "Then why do you wish to kill me? Is it because of the Fire Lord?"

He pointed at the Fire Lord, whose expression immediately tensed, his breathing deepening, ready to unleash the Immortal form of his spirit and soul.

She had her trump cards.

"Or is it simply for Emperor Wanli, to act as the court's pawns, preventing me from rebelling here? If so, you are truly a good dog."

Ji Xiang smiled. "That statement is incorrect. If I am a pawn of the court, then are not all those around you also your pawns? When you insult others as dogs, you should also look to see if there are more dogs around you. And you are merely a dog that has leaped up to bite its master. If we follow this logic, then everyone can sit down and cease arguing, for we are all dogs."

"I heard you have dealings with the Underworld. Coincidentally, the Underworld is my great enemy, and I have many grievances with them. Furthermore, your Golden Mountain Water Mansion, the Maze Dragon Casino, and the Eastern Great Vehicle Temple were all destroyed by me."

Prince Lu paused for a moment, then said, "No wonder I couldn't find Zen Master Tiger Eye."

"That explains it now."

"But I have severed some ties with the Underworld. Even if I become the Moon King of this Great Ming, I will not allow those fellows to restore their dynasty on my territory."

Ji Xiang replied, "As for other reasons, it is simply because you have been doing evil, and so I have come."

"Allow me to add one more thing."

"Heaven's will..."

Prince Lu's pupils violently shook.

"Perhaps it does exist."

Ji Xiang exuded the aura of a Demon King. Prince Lu's expression became incredibly complex, and Prince Lie Jie and the Fire Lord were greatly shocked!

I descend from the Azure Sky, coming from the Great Fu Li Realm.

"Heavenly Demon...!"

Prince Lu was so astonished he couldn't close his mouth. "Northern Pole True Master... I recall... according to the news, you should be an ancient Immortal from the Han Dynasty!"

"What unspeakable things have happened to you!"

Ji Xiang replied, "Who knows."

"Perhaps there are too many people in this world like you, who possess the idea of innocence, and cannot distinguish between good and evil."

"Therefore..."

"Heaven's will has sent me to the mortal realm!"

Prince Lu fell silent for three to five breaths before resignedly saying:

"So that's how it is. Whether it was the Five-Day Great Demon, or the Northern Emperor Demon-Dispelling King, neither was a true demonic tribulation."

"So that's how it is. Perhaps Heaven's will... truly exists now!"

"A Demon King possessing an ancient Immortal, descending to the mortal realm! Hah, such a thing... since the opening of cultivation techniques, in the two thousand years of the Outer River, and over ten thousand years of the Inner River, it has never happened!"

"Though I die today, my body and soul will not perish. We shall meet again in the future!"

..........

The Underworld, Myriad Longevity Immortal Palace.

Yuan Huang, whose form was covered in nine-colored divine light, making his face indistinguishable, sensed Prince Lu's death. He remained silent for a moment, then looked towards the depths of the Myriad Longevity Immortal Palace, where three divine tablets were gradually emitting brilliant light.

Having seized many Netherworld Dharma Realms, these three divine tablets, which had separated the Jade Emperor's authority, could now be utilized to their fullest extent.

"Heaven's will...?"

"Since obtaining the Supreme Dao."

"I no longer know what Heaven's will is."

"If the Heavenly Dao acts independently, its myriad methods converge, none surpassing the Three Teachings. If the Upper Dao is masterless, then all phenomena arise from the two principles."