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Title: God? Devil?
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The majestic atmosphere of the Island of Ten Thousand Devils was simply indescribable. Experts were as common as the clouds.
However, Shun didn't have time to appreciate the sights. He and the Devil Kings continued on their way, advancing towards the Celestial Mountain.
They didn't stop until they arrived at the foot of the mountain.
Over there, countless figures could be seen, all of them staring at this legendary mountain.
Among these gathered figures, there were Chakra/Devil sea experts, Devil Kings and even Devil Emperors.
There was a path which led up to a stairway, leading to the top of the mountain.
This stairway was extremely vast and was rumored to have been constructed by the Myriad God Sovereign's will.
For those who desire to ascend the mountain, they first had to pass these boundless stairs. This was also what everyone assumed to be a test of the Myriad God Sovereign.
The misty and illusory-seeming Celestial Mountain quietly stood there, attracting worship from all directions.
Shun discovered that the countless devil experts here all had looks of reverence on their faces, despite the fact that they might have extremely tyrannical and arrogant personalities.
This place, was the sacred grounds of the Myriad Islands, a place of faith for all devils.
"The Myriad God Sovereign must surely be an extraordinary existence." Shun mused. Once one gets strong enough, the weak with little understanding would take them as deities.
Given how vast the islands are, the countless number of experts heading here, all of them had a heart filled with sincerity now despite the fact that they were usually a bunch of murderous and crazy people.
Such faith was simply too terrifying. This wasn't a type of governance by the strong, but was like having complete faith in deities.
The Devil Kings beside Shun all had looks of respect on their faces as well as they bowed in the direction of the Celestial Mountain.
There were even other experts in the surroundings who knelt to the mountain, prostrating themselves in worship.
"Naturally. The Myriad God Sovereign is a supreme existence whose light envelops the entire Myriad Islands, allowing the Myriad Islands to withstand invasion and continue standing alone, independent of the universe in general." A Devil King at the side spoke.
Shun's eyes flickered. The devil path was tyrannical and cold-blooded. Their attacks extremely violent but now, they actually said something like withstanding the invasion of the Otsustsukis? How possible was this?
"Shouldn't it be the other way around? I'm pretty sure the Otsustsukis don't have a deity they worship wholeheartedly enough to unite them." Ria spoke out.
As the sound of her voice faded, countless gazes shot over her direction, exuding coldness. Tyrannical auras also swept past her body, looking at who was it who dared to say such words.
"Shut up." A devil king at the side berated. A look of confusion and anger flashed through Ria's eyes but since this place was at the foot of the sacred Mountain, she wouldn't say anything more.
After all, like Shun would always say, When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
"Devil arts are violent and tyrannical, it's possible for some devil experts to lose their sanity if they took a misstep in their energy circulation. This will cause the devil's personality to turn colder as they grew stronger. However, all these are certain. If you don't have respect in your heart, you best not ascend the Celestial Mountain. There are too many who have already died." The Devil King standing at the side spoke, causing Ria to frown.
"Since this is a place of faith for the Myriad Islands, why would there be so many who died on their way up? Despite so, why is everyone still so devout?" Ria asked.
"This is a path which can change your destiny, how can there be no price paid? If you want some benefits, you naturally have to endure great trials." The Devil King spoke, causing Ria to be speechless.
Shun stared at the path ahead, this place was filled with countless devils. There were groups of people advancing towards the Celestial Mountain at every moment, stepping up the stairway. Most probably, only a minority among them would be able to finish ascending the mountain.
"Let's go." Shun drew in a deep breath and continued forward.
Since they were already at the foot of the Celestial Mountain, how could he miss such an opportunity.
The stairway formed by the Myriad God Sovereign's will, and this place of faith of the entire Myriad Islands… Their hearts were all filled with an intense anticipation, wanting to ascend it and take a look at what sort of place it was exactly.
Ria and Da walked out. The Devil Kings stood there unmoving, they only heard Shun saying, "If I am able to ascend the mountain without dying, I will definitely accomplish the things I promised Sir Emperor."
"Mhm." The Devil Kings behind nodded, sending Shun off with their gazes as he proceeded.
Shun stepped into the mist, coming to the stairway. He then continued forward, wanting to walk up.
The atmosphere around the stairway seemed exceptionally heavy. There seemed to be a formless pressure boring down on him.
However, this wasn't able to obstruct him from proceeding on. He took a step after another step, his heart filled with determination.
Every step he took travelled a great distance, and it seemed that this place was a world of its own. When he inclined his head, the Celestial Mountain before him seemed so holy and sacred.
After he took many steps forward, he could no longer see the scenes below the mountain after he looked back. Similarly, he couldn't see anyone beside him either. Only the vast and majestic mountain remained in his vision.
Shun continued climbing upwards, the Celestial Mountain seemed to always be in his sight, yet feeling like an unreachable point.
He gradually needed to depend on the circulation of his chakra to resist against the pressure and continue onward. This surge of pressure was too terrifying.
Time slowly flowed by, things were extremely dull and uninteresting.
This walk of Shun lasted several months, months because he lost count of time after several attempts at keeping time.
Sometimes, he wanted to stop and even wanted to give up.
Everytime he inclined his head and saw the Celestial Mountain right before him, he would feel a sense of despair.
The Celestial Mountain was still the same amount of distance away, it didn't seem that he has gotten closer to it.
If one wants to climb the Celestial Mountain, that person must definitely have an iron will.
Shun continued climbing. He saw an empty space with a huge stone. On top of the stone, another stairway could actually be seen.
Shun then hurried over and sat down on the huge stone.
He was preparing to continue after resting for a period of time, after his chakra recovered.
However, when his body sat atop the stone, the scene before his eyes changed. The stairway disappeared and two incredibly clear scenes appeared before his eyes, branding into his mind.
One of the scenes showed a majestic holy palace, like the headquarters of an imposing Heaven. The purpose of the Heaven was to teach the massess, nurturing them to be stronger and stronger.
The Godking of the Heaven told them to temper themselves outside, to plunder resources to aid them, to contend against others as a method of training.
These people all roamed the world. There were some who grew stronger, some who died.
The Heaven grew more and more majestic, more and more prosperous and started to nurture the second batch of paople.
The first generation members were still fighting, out there somewhere tempering themselves, sparing no expense to fight for the Heavenly palace until one day, the last member from the first generation eventually died.
The Godking sighed, and continued to nurture the others, generation after generation.
Now, the second generation repeated the footsteps of the first, plundering and fighting against others for the sake of strengthening the Heaven.
More and more people died, but the reputation of the Heaven only grew stronger as it shot to fame, adored by millions.
For the other scene, it was a Demonic Hell. There was a Devil God expert but he didn't recruit members, choosing to take in subordinates instead.
He used his subordinates to war for him, and set a policy where the strong would ascend while the weak would perish, with a fair system of reward and punishment.
Those who made mistakes were all killed by the Devil God, their energies all absorbed for his own.
Gradually, all of his subordinates were filled with incomparable fear towards him and he became the Godking of devils of his generation, succeeding in establishing an extremely fearsome devil army.
Everyone feared his strength, feared his tyranny.
The one before was an Heavenly God while the one who came later was a Devil God. The Heavenly Godking received respect and reverence from everyone, while the Devil Godking received fear and dread.
Every scene was so clear. Shun watched on as a complex feeling rose in his heart.
Who was the True God? Who was the True Devil?
What's the difference between Gods and Devils?
From the base, was there any difference at all? There were all just using a different energy. One chakra, the other devil energy.
{A\N: I think I'm going to be using Miasma for devil energy starting from now. It's getting lackluster whenever I write chakra and devil energy.}
Two paths appeared before Shun. One led to the God's path while the other led to the Devil's path. Shun had to choose for himself.
Shun stood in the void, somewhat in a daze. He was supposed to choose? How should he choose?
Shun didn't wish to choose. He didn't wish to walk either of those paths.
He was walking his own path, if Chakra or Miasma could help him get stronger then what was the point of choosing one over the other?
After a long time, the two paths were still before him. He had to choose one of them, there was no third path.
Shun drew in a deep breath and stepped out. He ultimately selected the Gods path.
Although there was no difference between Gods and Devils, but his origins were the Chakra path, he was more inclined towards the that path. Hence, his choice was ultimately this.
Once he picked the path, everything went back to normal. Shun was still sitting on that huge rock, with the stairway before him.
"What if I chose the Devil path?" Shun mused. The scene he experienced earlier gave him quite a huge rush of impact.
Closing his eyes, Shun quietly meditated and restored his chakra. After some time, he opened his eyes and began to step forward.
This time, Shun discovered that the pressure was even stronger. With every step he took, he needed to expend a huge amount of chakra before he could proceed.
His speed started to slow and when he raised his head, the Celestial Mountain was still right before him, it was so vast that it felt he would never reach the end of it even if he spent all eternity.
As he slowly walked on, a powerful aura gushed over. Shun fell into another illusory scene where he met two young men, one a young God and the other a Devil, heading towards different pathways.
On the left path, was the Heavenly palace while on the right was the path of the Demonic Hell.
The Young God seemed simple and guileless. He inclined his head and stared at the heavenly palace, his heart filled with immense respect. After some time, he decided to join the palace.
As for the young Devil, there was a hint of steel in his eyes. He said that he would definitely become the master of this Hell in the future.
His talent was outstanding and he chose to join the Demonic hell.
The Young God also had outstanding talent and was heavily valued by his master, doted on and protected.
His progression speed was very fast, but the devil young man wasn't any inferior to him.
The Young Devil was placed in many life-and-death situations, warring for the Hell, and acquired many battle merits.
The two young men slowly grew up, coming of age, growing unceasingly stronger.
The Young God garnered even higher recognition from his heaven, and became the leader of the younger generation, exuding an extremely dazzling light.
The Young Devil also became a leading character of the younger generation, he was feared by his troops, until he finally ascended to the peak.
Everything continued until one day. The Young God who was respected by all, always clad in dazzling light, actually sneak attacked and killed his master when his master was meditating in a secret realm.
He took away all his master's treasures, the techniques and arts, returning to the heavenly palace as he used all schemes at his disposal to become the new heavenly God of the heavenly palace.
As for the Young Devil, he also became a titanic force in the Devil Hell.
He challenged the DevilGod-king, their battle shaking the world and eventually defeated his opponent in a fair and just manner, replacing him openly as the new Devil Godking.
The old Godking decided to leave, while the Young Devil took on the DevilGod's position, causing everyone to fear him.
In this case, who was the God? Who was the Devil?