Chapter 70
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Title: Ascending the Celestial Mountain
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Shun's heart trembled. This time, the scenes shook his mind again.
The young man from the heavenly palace and that young man from the demonic hell. Who was the Godlike, who was the Devil-like?
He didn't know. Right now, Shun was at a loss. During this time where he was in a daze, another two paths appeared before him, one God, one Devil.
He was struggling in his heart. The struggle this time was even more intense than the previous time.
However at this moment, Shun suddenly thought, 'Hold up. What does this have to do with me? Whatever energy I use doesn't define my path, character, and future. But since I use chakra, then it's chakra all the way. From experience, I know that the energy you use doesn't define your character, you do.'
{A/N: Experience here actually means the various novels and animes.}
This time around, he continued to follow the Gods path.
An incomparably heavy pressure descended suddenly, wanting him to collapse.
He was knocked down to the ground and rolled down from the stairs, but he quickly steadied himself and climbed up with great difficulty.
"The fuck? Even my HTC didn't have this amount of gravity,'
The stairway was still there, so was the Celestial Mountain. It seemed that he had been here forever.
"Am I back here again? If I chose the devil path, would I directly have reached the Celestial Mountain?" Shun had a bitter smile on his face.
Most probably, things wouldn't be so simple. He continued to advance up the stairway.
The Myriad God Sovereign was a totem of faith of the entire Myriad Islands, a supremely high up existence.
It's rumored that this stairway was formed from his will. In that case, those who could climb up and ascend the mountain should be because of their destiny.
There wasn't just him alone on the stairway, there were countless other devil experts attempting the same thing as him as well.
These devil experts clearly would have a different trial for them, catered to each individual.
From the instant he stepped upon the stairway, he would already be scanned by the will of the Myriad God Sovereign. It seemed like he had to choose for himself, to take the path of a God, or that of a Devil.
Shun continued climbing, the flight of stairs seemed without end. He exhausted all his energy but still gritted his teeth and continued on with only his physical strength.
He has already began his attempt to ascend the Celestial Mountain.
Since this is the case, he can only advance, there was no retreat.
He didn't know how long he has walked. Right now, he basically didn't even have any energy at all. He could only depend on his powerful will to continue walking forward.
In fact, even his consciousness started to blur. It didn't feel like he was ascending the Celestial Mountain but rather was in a dream instead.
In that dream, he continued to practice assiduously, becoming extremely powerful.
There were many transformations to the world outside, but things still remained the same with chakra users and Miasma users
Until one day, the Outer realms were invaded by the Myriad Islands.
There was a major power who conducted a cruel massacre. Shun witnessed an entire planet being annihilated, the devil experts were all cruel and tyrannical, slaughtering wildly without a care.
Shun was incomparably enraged. He wanted nothing more than to kill every single one of them, leaving none behind.
This group of devil experts had no fear at all, tyrannically sweeping through everything in their path, killing everyone who blocked them.
Shun was filled with so much hatred that he even wanted to slaughter the entire Myriad Islands with his strength alone.
Finally, the massacres conducted ignited the fire of anger from the Otsustsuki clan.
The two factions all gathered, pooling their strengths and started to attack the Myriad Islands.
They fought all the way in and a great war occured. This was an extremely brutal war.
The Myriad Island's forces were defeated again and again and they had no choice but to retreat to their last stronghold, the Celestial Mountain.
A war of unprecedented intensity between Gods and Devils. The Gods won in the end, destroying each and every island of the Myriad Islands.
Shun's will transformed into the world's will, he was able to see every corner of the Myriad Islands.
He saw Otsustsukis starting to plunder resources, slaughtering everyone or taking slaves on the islands.
They acted the exact same way the devils did, in the name of justice, wanting to eradicate darkness completely.
In that scene, Shun saw many low-level experts being killed off effortlessly.
He saw an ordinary family who were living in peace, yet was suddenly wrapped up in all of this and was subsequently destroyed.
He saw all the cruelty and horrors of war, he even saw his friends, the Blackstone Devil King and his daughter, the third princess, Yuruo.
The Blackstone Devil King gave his all, but was killed in a domineering manner.
Yuruo managed to survive due to her beauty, yet she was taken away under the name of justice.
Shun turned pale, his heart pounded rapidly and he wished that this war would cease.
When he saw the devil experts killing people of the Outer realms, he wanted nothing more than to destroy them all.
That was because he felt anger against a common enemy.
He also understood that the Miasma energy Devil experts use pushes them towards the darker path the more they indulge in it.
However now when he saw the opposite, his heart started to doubt. Unknown to him that he was being led to think as such.
When he saw the Blackstone Devil King and Yuruo, the impact shaking his heart reached the peak because those two were his friends.
Only when the war implicated those around him would he feel the most intense of impacts.
The deaths of those innocent people who followed the devil path, those ordinary families who were caught up in the war, did they deserve death?
What was the difference between the group who invaded the Myriad Islands when compared to the group of devils who invaded the Outside realms back then?
The scene continued, the Myriad Islands were on the brink of destruction, with countless casualties.
The ground was dyed in blood and the Otsustsukis started to occupy the Myriad Islands.
After which, those victors eventually began to fight, starting yet another war for more authority and power.
But this time around, no devils were involved, it was an internal warfare among themselves, the so called Gods.
Destruction was everywhere, new powers rose one after another.
This was like an eternal cycle, with history repeating itself. The only things left behind were the bodies of the dead.
Shun was in a daze as he sighed. Right now, he was doubting everything, even doubting himself. What was the good and what was the wrong path?
However at this moment, a cracking sound was heard and he realized that everything was just a dream.
Time reversed and he returned back to the start, before the invasion of the devil experts began.
Right now, he had unparalleled might and was able to control and direct the situation.
The experts of the outer realms invited him to join them in this war of justice, to eradicate the Myriad Islands.
If it was before, he would join them with no hesitation. But now, he actually hesitated.
Should he participate? Eradicating every spark of life on the Myriad Islands alongside the army?
Eventually, he chose to enter the Myriad Islands alone, killing those devil experts who first invaded. After which, he ignored all the requests made to him.
He fortified the Dimensional wall leading to the Myriad Islands, making the defense even stronger.
After that, he turned and simply departed.
Everything seemed to have returned to the past again.
He, was now the Myriad God Sovereign. He did the same thing and sealed the entire Myriad Islands.
The scene dispersed, just like a dream. Shun stood beneath the sky, as he stared at the clouds.
Right now above him, a faint illusory silhouette could be seen.
That silhouette quietly stared at Shun and asked, "What did you see?"
"I've seen the 'base' of those who cultivates. I've seen that wars are forever unending, and there would always be kindness and evil. As long as one lives in the world, they can never escape that, let alone destroy that." Shun replied.
"Did you see the paths of Gods and Devils?" That silhouette asked.
"In this world, are there even Gods and Devils?" Shun sighed.
The scene vanished completely and Shun's consciousness gradually returned. He was still on the stairway but right now, there was no more pressure and his chakra was slowly returning.
Inclining his head, he could see the light.
This stairway was no longer an unending one…
"This, is this place the Celestial Mountain?" Shun stared at the top of the stairs. He wasn't in a hurry to go there and instead, he chose to sit down to meditate, slowly regaining his strength and reflecting on what he had seen.
Chakra or not. Everyone was capable of great evils and great good. All that is needed is a guide and every other thing would follow.
He discovered that three years have already passed. He used an entire three years to climb to this point and he discovered that his chakra seemed to have deepened and his state of heart was no longer th same, having improved vastly.
His strength gradually returned. Shun finally stood up and walked to the top of the stairs. Very swiftly, he appeared at the peak of the Celestial Mountain.
In an instant, countless gazes turned to Shun. Those people were currently looking at the stairway and were the guards here.
However, with just a single glance at them, Shun could feel a transcendent aura from them all.
In fact, he couldn't see through some of the cultivation bases of these people.
One should know that Shun could sense the chakra of Emperor ranked characters easily, and the only person he couldn't see through was the mysterious young man from before.
Meaning they had surpassed the first three ranks and are in the middle ranks.
Such experts were actually willing to guard this stairway, and there were even a few sweeping the ground near it. It was simply unbelievable but the truth of the matter was right before his eyes.
As these people saw Shun, some of their eyes gleamed with sharpness.
"Who are you, where did you come from?" A Guard coldly asked.
"Shun, from the Otsustsuki clan." Shun slowly spoke, he didn't hide his identity, since everyone would mistake him for one, one he would become.
As the sound of his voice faded, a terrifying aura blasted into him instantly.
"Someone from the Otsustsuki clan actually dares to climb the Celestial Mountain? You must be looking to die." An expert stepped out, exuding a fearsome aura.
Shun's eyes flashed but at this moment, a voice echoed in the air, "How dare you!"
The gazes of everyone froze. After that, they stood where they were and didn't move.
"Don't forget your status. You guys only had the qualifications to ascend the mountain, yet you are not worthy enough to become members of any of the devil halls. All of you naturally don't have the right to act against anyone who could ascend the mountain." That voice spoke in cold tyranny.
"However, he is from the Otsustsuki clan." An expert unwillingly stated.
"Since he could ascend here, it means that he passed the test of the Myriad God Sovereign. It was the sovereign who guided him all the way here, and he naturally has logic of his own. When has it even become your turn to act so impudently?" The cold voice continued speaking. After which, a middle-aged man came out from the void, icily staring at these experts.
"You can come with me." That person spoke to Shun. Shun nodded and followed after him, entering the mountains. He inclined his head and stared further up the mountains. Numerous majestic halls could be seen there.
"There's a hall named the Myriad Hall on the top of the mountain." That middle-aged man pointed upwards as he spoke to Shun.
"You might have passed the test of the Myriad God Sovereign but it doesn't mean that people on the mountain would acknowledge you. You still have to depend on yourself with regards to which Hall you join. Let's hope your luck won't be too bad." That expert continued.
Shun could only bitterly smile and shook his head.
He might have passed the test of the Myriad God Sovereign and successfully ascended the mountain. But this doesn't mean that people on the mountain wouldn't view him with hatred, the same hatred they use to view Otsustsuki clan!
Shun had noticed the increased hostility in many eyes that looked at him ever since he acknowledged being an Otsustsuki.
This level of hostility wasn't even present in the Myraid islands.