Chapter 466

Chapter 466: Aligning with the Path? Why Should I Align With the Path Instead of the Path Aligning With Me!

Shedding the Incarnation of Heaven state, Mu Lin’s first sensation wasn’t discomfort but… emptiness.

At that moment, his emotions became detached, as if the world was vast yet nothing mattered to him.

Love? Just biological instincts for reproduction, hormonal tricks manipulating the body.

Family bonds? Another illusion born from survival instincts.

Arrogance, invincibility, joy, sorrow… all these emotions felt useless, mere distractions from clear judgment.

Mu Lin now wanted to discard all feelings and desires, letting pure logic rule everything.

This mirrored the heavens’ nature – neither good nor evil, devoid of thought, guided only by instinct and reason.

Influenced by this perspective, Mu Lin came to believe the heavenly path represented true eternity.

This was the cultivation path of the emotionless heavenly way.

Beyond emptiness, overwhelming weakness tormented Mu Lin’s body and mind.

When embodying the Lord of Mount Tai with heavenly support, he’d felt omnipotent.

Back then, he’d genuinely achieved miraculous feats:

Controlling nuclear fusion through Strong Magnetic Fields, reshaping landscapes with a thought, making oceans blanket the skies.

But without the Incarnation of Heaven state, that godlike power vanished.

Now his body felt fragile and flawed, this frailty frustrating him deeply.

He desperately craved to regain that elevated rank.

And he could.

"Aligning with the path would grant me everything!"

"Eternal life. Infinite knowledge. All within my grasp…"

The world’s ultimate secrets lay before him – eternity just an arm’s reach away. The temptation burned fierce.

This same lure drove countless powerful beings to merge with the path each era.

Yet Mu Lin refused.

His rejection stemmed from pure arrogance.

"Why should I align with the path? The path should align with me!"

"Your ‘ultimate secrets’ and ‘eternal life’? Pathetic. You’re just a speck – like Earth in my past life."

"You can’t rival a single star, let alone the cosmos. Even universes die. What eternity can you offer?"

"The heavenly path isn’t supreme – I am. I’ll surpass worlds, outlast universes, and claim true eternity!"

This deliberate arrogance became his weapon against the path’s allure. It worked.

Most powerful beings align because they worship the heavenly way as ultimate perfection. They sacrifice emotions to become one with it.

But Mu Lin differed. His past-life scientific knowledge expanded his vision beyond petty worlds.

Because Mu Lin saw aligning with the path as confinement and restriction, its appeal naturally vanished for him.

“Hah… finally out of that state…”

Free from the urge to align with the path, Mu Lin breathed easier.

With enemies defeated and no path-alignment temptations, he could finally check his own condition.

He discovered that after reaching Earth Immortal status, his normal state could now rival Heavenly Teachers.

Even without alignment, he could freely merge with worldly calamities like storms, lightning, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions – all granting him Heavenly Teacher-level destructive power.

Beyond his Calamity King status, abilities like Predetermined Death, purification, and Yin Soil made Earth Immortals and Heavenly Teachers avoid confronting him.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t match his normal state, but his dangerous skills risked realm degradation or complete destruction in battle.

After years of cultivation, the foreign demons and monsters had established comfortable lives ashore – they had no desire for life-or-death struggles.

“Why fight when we could develop peacefully?”

Hence crowds of foreign races and evil spirits lined up at Tian Shi City, claiming peaceful intentions.

Mu Lin didn’t outright reject them. Blocking all escape routes would force desperate resistance, risking heavy human losses even with victory.

If enemies summoned evil gods recklessly, even Mu Lin might fall – he couldn’t withstand True Gods yet.

So he used the ancient siege tactic: surround three sides, leave one open.

He demanded foreign races become vassals, submit to judgment for past killings, and worship him. He sent armies after those who massacred cities or tortured humans.

The “open” side was letting compliant races live in North Wilderness. Despite harsh terms, many agreed – his radiant strike had hurt them deeply.

Mu Lin knew powerful tribes only pretended submission to buy time. Without doubt, they studied ways to counter his techniques, even secretly contacting evil gods for assassination attempts.

Yet Mu Lin stayed calm – he needed time too.

“I fear no one in growth.”

“Study my techniques all you want. By your success, I’ll have stronger spells.”

He practiced diligently himself. After resolving most North Wilderness conflicts, one clone immediately headed to Great Snow Mountain to learn the promised Heavenly Techniques of Darkness.