Chapter 744
Ren Xue
"Dad," Tang Nianxue suddenly looked up, blinking her big eyes as she asked, "Will that bad thing come back?"
Tang Wulin gently stroked his daughter's hair, thought for a moment, and answered seriously, "Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But whether it comes or not, we will be together, eating Grandma's porridge together, watching the stars in the divine realm together, and spending every tomorrow together."
"If it comes, will Daddy chase it away?" Tang Yilin asked, leaning over with a childlike trust in his eyes.
"Dad might not be able to beat it," Tang Wulin said honestly, then added with a smile before the children's disappointed expressions appeared, "But Dad will reason with it and tell it that there are many beautiful things in this world that deserve to exist. For example, Grandma's porridge, Mom's smile, and the laughter of each and every one of you."
Tang Nianxue nodded as if she understood, then broke into a big smile: "Then I'll reason with it too! I'll tell it that I love Daddy the most, so Daddy has to be okay!"
The child's innocent words made everyone laugh.
Qian Renxue leaned on Tang Wulin's shoulder, watching this heartwarming scene, her heart filled with peace. She suddenly remembered a long time ago, in Douluo Continent, in the Spirit Hall, when she was still that lonely and proud Pope, she never imagined that she would have such ordinary happiness.
"What are you thinking about?" Tang Wulin asked in a low voice.
"Think about the past, think about the present, think about the future," Qian Renxue answered softly, then looked up into her husband's eyes. "Wulin, promise me, no matter what happens, we will stay together like we are now."
"I promise you," Tang Wulin said solemnly, then gently kissed his wife's forehead. "I swear by my very existence that no matter how the world changes or how the universe turns, I will find you, hold your hand, and tell you that I am here."
The vow was cliché, yet it brought tears to Qian Renxue's eyes. She nodded vigorously, buried her face in her husband's arms, and sobbed uncontrollably.
Xiao Wu wiped her eyes and whispered to Tang San, "Look at them, aren't they wonderful?"
Tang San held his wife's hand and nodded with a smile: "Yes, how wonderful."
Seeing this, the God of Destruction suddenly said to the Goddess of Life, "Perhaps the strength we have always pursued is not just the strength of power."
The goddess of life nestled in her husband's arms, smiling gently: "There is also the courage to exist, the power of love, and the determination to protect. These, perhaps, are the true weapons against nihilism."
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Seven days after the silent confrontation before the Gates of the Abyss, the realm of gods returned to a state of apparent calm.
But all the gods knew that beneath this calm lay a greater undercurrent. Though the Eye of Annihilation had temporarily receded, the rift it left behind—the mark of "assimilation" rather than "destruction"—still stubbornly remained on the Tree of Life's barrier. It no longer oozed black matter, yet it had not fully healed, like a tiny scar reminding everyone of the reality of that crisis.
The God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life set up seven layers of seals around the rift, employing almost every known sealing technique in the divine realm, from the laws of destruction to the laws of life, from temporal confinement to spatial isolation. Tang San's Sea God power nourished the Tree of Life day and night, while Xiao Wu used the natural power inherited from the Soft Bone Rabbit clan to help repair the damage to the barrier. Yet, the hair-thin crack stubbornly persisted.
"It is 'learning'." The God of Destruction stood before the rift, his purple eyes flashing with complex light. "The Eye of Annihilation is using this rift to understand the structure of our laws. Every time we place a seal, it analyzes it; every time we try to repair it, it observes it."
The Goddess of Life gently stroked the trunk of the Tree of Life. She could feel a faint sense of "discomfort" emanating from this ancient tree that sustained the foundation of the divine realm—not pain, but a deeper, almost "logically contradictory" confusion. The Tree of Life represented existence, growth, and continuation, while what emanated from the other side of the crack was the nothingness of existence itself being questioned.
"Where is Wu Lin?" the God of Destruction suddenly asked.
“He is recuperating in the Tranquil Garden,” the Goddess of Life replied. “His physical condition is still very poor, but on a spiritual level… I can sense some kind of change taking place. It’s very subtle, like a seed sprouting and breaking through the soil.”
The God of Destruction nodded thoughtfully: "Has he decided to take that path?"
“He didn’t say it, but I could tell he was already on his way.” The Goddess of Life turned and looked toward the direction of Tranquil Garden, her eyes filled with expectation and a hint of barely perceptible worry. “But how far this unprecedented path can go, and where it will lead, no one knows.”
Inside the Tranquil Garden, Tang Wulin did not rest in bed as the gods had imagined.
He sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, a blank book open in front of him, a pen in his hand, yet he didn't write a single word for a long time. Qian Renxue quietly stayed by his side, draping a coat over him, not disturbing his thoughts.
“I’m thinking,” Tang Wulin suddenly spoke, his voice very soft, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were talking to his wife, “the traditional cultivation system, whether it is the soul power, soul rings, and soul skills of a soul master, or the divine power, divine position, and laws of a deity, is essentially a kind of ‘accumulation’ and ‘control’.”
He raised his hand, palm facing upward, and a faint wisp of soul power appeared—that was his only remaining cultivation level, roughly equivalent to a level 20 Great Soul Master. The pale golden energy swirled in his palm, weak yet pure.
"Accumulating the energy of heaven and earth, transforming it for one's own use; mastering the power of the laws, unleashing their might. This is not wrong; for billions of years, countless powerful beings have followed this path. But that day, facing the Eye of Annihilation, I suddenly realized a problem—"
He clenched his fist, his soul power dissipating: "When I lose all my power, when my divine position is shattered, when everything I have 'accumulated' and 'controlled' is stripped away, what will 'I' have left?"
Qian Renxue's heart tightened, and she grasped her husband's hand.
Tang Wulin squeezed her hand back and continued speaking, his gaze drifting into the distance: "The answer is: memories, emotions, choices, bonds—those things that constitute 'who I am,' those 'existences' that cannot be measured by power or taken away. The Eye of Annihilation can erase my power, can destroy my divine position, but it cannot make the fact that 'Tang Wulin loves Qian Renxue' never happened, nor can it make the fact that 'Tang Wulin is Tang Xuanyu's father' false."
“So what Senior Destruction said was right,” he said slowly, a clear light gradually appearing in his eyes. “I shouldn’t be so obsessed with regaining my former power, and I shouldn’t try to walk the old path back to my peak. That path might allow me to become Golden Dragon Moon Whisper again, and regain the combat power of a God-King, but that is still ‘accumulation’ and ‘control’. I will still face the same problem the next time I face Annihilation: what if these are taken away again?”
Qian Renxue understood, and she asked softly, "So you want to walk a path... one that can't be taken away?" (End of Chapter)