Overawing the World, Life Is a Dream and Flowers an Illusion

After the Fire God died, only one crystalline, profound godhood remained in midair. Huang Tian raised a hand and beckoned. The Flame Godhood drifted into his hand. At the same time, the world-crossing gate flew out from a three-story building not far away. As it came, it grew ever smaller, and by the time it fell into his hand it was not even the size of a palm. After he had held them for thirty seconds, the two oddities turned into motes of light and drifted into his body. "An oddity—he actually seems to have devoured it?!" Watching Huang Tian absorb the Flame Godhood, Chen Yan, Liu Qingqing, and Zhou Dongqiang alike felt great waves surge through their hearts. Ever since oddities had appeared, there had been one shared understanding: an oddity could not be destroyed. Even if it looked like nothing more than an ordinary sheet of paper, so long as it was an oddity, no means whatsoever could damage it by the slightest fraction. But now— "What is he, exactly? An oddity, or a cultivator?" The three of them contracted their pupils, their expressions shifting without rest. Faced with the shock and doubt of Chen Yan and the others, Huang Tian's expression stayed composed. He did not care in the least that he had revealed he could absorb oddities. Ever since returning to the True Immortal realm, he had had no intention of developing at a crawl, waiting for oddities to appear one by one and then dealing with them one by one. The efficiency was far too low. In particular, after he stepped into the True Immortal realm, he had swept Canxing with his divine sense. Every official and folk oddity organization was laid bare. Unless concealed by a special oddity, no one could evade his probing. Since he knew where all the oddity organizations were, what remained was naturally to go and "acquire" them one by one, and contain every last oddity! As for whether he might come to grief, it did not matter. He could "restart" without limit anyway, entering this world again and again. A fall into a pit would only make him wiser. An oddity that had once killed him could be handled with ease the next time. It was like playing a game. However difficult the stage, give him enough time and endless chances to try and fail, and there was no level he could not clear. Of course, there was another very important point. After returning to True Immortal, his strength was already exceedingly great. On Canxing, oddities that could threaten him were extremely few, and that was why he had decided to act boldly. Snap~ He lightly snapped his fingers. In the next second, all over the world, every phone, computer, large display screen, and the like showed Huang Tian's figure. Countless people could see a being wreathed in a faint halo, like an immortal god, facing them and speaking unhurriedly. His voice was clear as a jade chime. "It is my will to contain every oddity in the world. Those willing to hand them over of their own accord may exchange them with me for cultivation methods, divine abilities and secret arts, gold, pearls and jade, and heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Those unwilling—right now, use every means you have, and stop me!" As his words fell, the whole world erupted. "What is an oddity? And is He a god? Is He God?" "Hahaha, I knew there were immortals, gods, demons, and monsters in the world. I want to seek the Dao. I want to become an immortal!" "Does anyone know what an oddity actually is? Where can a person get hold of one or two?" "Mm. Industry insider, name withheld. An oddity, you can simply take as a special divine artifact, or as a golden finger from a novel, though there are some differences. For instance, their properties are absurd. A golden finger in a novel mainly helps the protagonist grow stronger, but an oddity may instead make you weaker, change your sex, or turn you into an animal. It may also, in an instant, give you the power to create a world. Moreover, every oddity has its cost of use. Some costs are like losing hair, or dropping a jin—those hardly matter. But some may destroy all of human civilization, or even destroy a galaxy, the universe! In short, an oddity is a double-edged sword. Ever since they appeared on Canxing, we have been seeking an ultimate measure of containment, to contain every oddity, lest one day the world be destroyed while we sleep—" "This Huang Tian, the Lord on High, is truly—far too confident. He may be very, very strong, but an oddity's properties do not follow reason. One misstep, and the end is death!" People everywhere talked over one another. Quite a few members of oddity organizations looked even grimmer. For the moment, though, no one moved rashly. All of them wanted to watch how things developed. In the air, Huang Tian smiled faintly, looked toward the southeast, and said, "First target: the Holy Emperor Sect!" The Holy Emperor Sect was the most influential folk oddity organization within the Shenwei Federation, and a heretical organization of resounding infamy across the world. Murder, experimenting on ordinary people, using oddities to seize by cunning and force—they had done far too much of it. The authorities had struck at them harshly, but to little effect. Whoosh~ Huang Tian's figure vanished from midair. In the next second, countless people saw him appear above an utterly ordinary stretch of wilderness. He looked down, and his gaze pierced the ground. Beneath the earth was a research institute of no small scale, with many facilities inside, and over a hundred Holy Emperor Sect believers and researchers. This was not the Holy Emperor Sect's headquarters. But at this very moment, the Holy Emperor Sect Master and the Left and Right Deacons were here "inspecting" a new result of their research. Standing high in the sky, Huang Tian did not hesitate. He released an impact of spiritual pressure and a crushing of the mind, then lifted his right hand slightly— Boom!!! There came a tremendous roar. The earth shook violently, like a giant beast turning over, and as if ten million earth-dragons beneath the ground were struggling to burst free. The people in the institute were jolted until they could not keep their feet, staggering this way and that. Walls collapsed. The earth split into thousands of fissures, dense as a spiderweb, deep beyond sight, and black qi shot straight into the heavens! Besides the quaking of earth and mountains, crimson flame suddenly stretched across the dome of the sky. Countless heavenly fires fell like meteors. The large ones were the size of millstones, the small ones like fists and palms. Trailing long tails of smoke, they smashed down in a clattering rain! Then came the roar of wind. Divine wind blew in from every side, driving sand and stones, uprooting trees and toppling houses. It blew into the institute and left people soft in the bones and numb in the sinews, dissolving into watery pus! In the blink of an eye, nearly everyone in the institute was dead. Only the thumb ring on the Holy Emperor Sect Master's left hand lit up, raising a blue shield that covered him, the two deacons, and the two or three remaining trusted followers. "Damn it! Break out first!" The Sect Master rushed straight upward with several subordinates. Reaching the heaving surface of the ground, he caught sight of Huang Tian at a glance and ground his teeth. He had also seen Huang Tian's "livestream" just now. But before they could even react and settle on a plan, Huang Tian had already found this place and launched his strike without the slightest hesitation— "You're courting death!" The Sect Master cursed, then looked at the Left Deacon beside him. The Left Deacon swiftly took out a small knife, tilted his head up toward Huang Tian, and drew it lightly across his own neck. A line of blood appeared. At the same time, a huge bloody gash appeared on Huang Tian's neck, and his head flew off. "He's dead, just like that?" Watching the scene on their phones, many people were shocked and doubtful. "So this is an oddity? How peculiar—an immortal god this powerful actually had no power to resist at all!" "—" Just as countless people were guessing, the headless Huang Tian reached out and beckoned. The head that had flown into midair flew back into his hand. He grasped it and pressed it back onto his neck. "A method like this cannot kill me." As his voice sounded, wind, fire, thunder, and lightning fell, slamming into the blue shield the Sect Master had raised. Yet no matter how strong the attacks, none could break that shield. "Absolute defense?" Huang Tian's brows lifted slightly, but he did not mind. He had already seen that, as the shield held, the Sect Master's face grew ever paler. Clearly the cost of using this oddity was no small thing. It absolutely could not be sustained for long. "I don't believe it!" Seeing that Huang Tian did not die even when his head flew off, the Left Deacon quickly pulled his clothes open and jabbed once at the heart in his chest. A shallow bloody mark appeared. A hole the size of a fist burst open in Huang Tian's left chest, but his body did not so much as move. Buds of flesh even grew from the hole and closed it of their own accord. "Don't waste your strength. His flesh has no weakness!" Fine beads of sweat seeped from the Sect Master's forehead. He forced the words out. "Banish him!" The Right Deacon nodded. The banishment emblem affixed to his chest aimed at Huang Tian and suddenly burst forth with a ray of light. Huang Tian tried to dodge, but he could not move at all. The light struck him straight on, and then he vanished. "However strong he is, banished to another world, he can never come back!" The Right Deacon gave a cold snort. "No! He's still livestreaming!" At that moment, one trusted follower held up a phone, his face full of panic. The several of them paled in shock and hurriedly looked at the phone. They saw a city of antique elegance, carriages and horses streaming, crowds surging: many commoners in cloth and hemp, wandering gallants riding at a slow pace, scholars in Confucian robes, and graceful maidens and young wives— And Huang Tian stood in midair. The halo radiating from him made him like a bright moon in the night, glittering, drawing every eye. "An immortal?! A flying immortal!" Some commoners saw him. First they started, then they hastily knelt and kowtowed again and again. "How is that possible? Where in the world are there immortals?" Some scholars and great Confucians stood stunned where they were, their faces full of disbelief. Though the sages had never clearly said that immortals, gods, ghosts, and monsters did not exist in the world, they had all spoken of "respecting them and keeping one's distance." That at least showed the ancient sages did not much believe in so-called immortals and gods either. Now, how had a god suddenly appeared?! "I beg the immortal to bless my husband with a healthy body, free of illness and disaster!" Whatever those great Confucians thought, most of the common people hurriedly knelt, kowtowing and praying. "Immortal Lord, my ma fell ill at the end of last year. Over this half year the sickness has only grown worse. I've asked several doctors, and none could cure her. I beg you, save her!" "I hope the Immortal Venerable will bless this imperial examination of mine to go smoothly. I do not seek the top of the list. I only hope to scrape in as the very last place. That would still fulfill forty years of bitter study—" "Child, quick, kowtow to the Immortal Lord. Beg him to bless your studies so they advance, so you remember all you see, and one day place as zhuangyuan, the top graduate of the imperial exams, and become a great official, and bring glory to our house!" "Lord Heavenly Venerable, I beg you for a little wealth. I've rushed about for more than twenty years and walked through all fourteen provinces. I've seen a fair amount, and I've earned some money too, but this fate of mine is poor. I can never hold on to wealth. Either the yamen seizes it by cunning and force, or mountain bandits rob me. I've also fallen badly ill several times. Though I was lucky enough to live, the money was all spent. What bitterness!" "Life is like a dream, and flowers like illusion. A mortal such as I can never see the affairs of the world clearly. I only feel life to be toilsome, every matter tedious, as if a net has wrapped my whole body. I am sunk in the entanglements of the world and cannot break free. I wish only to follow you in pursuit of the Great Dao and seek transcendence. I earnestly beg you to take this disciple. This disciple will surely study with a sincere heart, and never waver in my resolve!" Throughout the whole city, wherever one looked, a great swath of people knelt. Some sought rank, fame, and profit. Some prayed for kin and friends to be safe. Some yearned for the immortal Dao, and for long life and freedom— "Since I have come to this world, there is some karmic affinity." Huang Tian laughed lightly and swept his sleeve. In an instant, though there were no dark clouds in the sky, rain drifted down in a fluttering fall. The rain pattered. When it fell upon people, it did not soak their clothes. Instead it merged directly into their bodies, dispelling illness and making them healthy. "My boy's illness is gone? Truly gone!" A woman looked at the child in her arms, whose lips had been white; the child's face had turned ruddy. She wept for joy and kowtowed with devotion. "Thank you, great Lord Immortal Venerable! Thank you, great Lord Immortal Venerable!" "My injured leg doesn't hurt anymore. An ailment of ten-odd years is actually healed!" "Dad, look quick. Mom's hair has turned a good deal blacker, and her color looks much better." Cries of surprise rose one after another. Countless people wept for joy and danced where they stood. Huang Tian gave a slight nod, then waved a hand and scattered more than a hundred streams of flowing light. The light flew in every direction. "The human Dao stretches vast; the immortal Dao lies faint and far. I have a hundred-odd Dao scriptures to pass to the people of the world. None but those of great perseverance and comprehension beyond the ordinary can cultivate them to completion." As his voice fell, a muffled clap of thunder sounded in the sky at once, as if the will of Heaven in the unseen were answering. "Thank you, Immortal Venerable, for passing on the teachings!" Many people kowtowed in delight, as if they themselves were those of great perseverance, destined to find the Dao scriptures, cultivate immortal methods to completion, and become immortals and patriarchs— After passing down some cultivation methods as the mood took him, Huang Tian lifted his head. His gaze seemed able to cross time and space and see the scene upon Canxing. "It is time to return." Whoosh~ This spiritual-power avatar of his vanished. Countless commoners, officials, and scholars kowtowed once more to see him off. In the next moment, above the institute, Huang Tian stood with his hands behind his back, entirely at ease. The Holy Emperor Sect Master and the others felt a weight upon their hearts beyond measure, their eyes full of disbelief. The people who had been "watching the battle," and the personnel of the various oddity organizations, were likewise struck dumb. "He can even perform world traversal?!" "Truly terrible, truly dreadful. An existence like this—what weakness does He have, in the end?" "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How vast is the spatial distance between the two worlds? Even several tens of billions of light-years would be putting it mildly. How could He return in an instant? I don't believe it! I don't believe it!" "I guess He possesses a special oddity, one that can anchor Him to Canxing. That way, no matter where He is banished or sent, He can return in an instant by means of the oddity's anchor." "I think so too. Otherwise He would be too frightening!" "I feel He's actually pretty decent. Because of some profoundly mysterious 'karmic affinity,' He cast a spell and cured illness. Like a proper god." "True. He seems pretty easy to talk to. Uh, at least not bad." "Huang Tian, the Lord on High, Great Heavenly Venerable—that divine name sounds excellent just to hear it. A proper god of blessing and virtue!" Across the long sky, looking at the blue shield the Holy Emperor Sect Master held up, and at his ever more bloodless face, Huang Tian was unhurried, his tone calm. "You still have a little time. Think of something more. Bring out every means you have, and kill me!"