Chapter 98: I Want to Become a Woman

Lu Ye was strong in swordsmanship. Strong in martial arts.

But that didn’t mean those were his only strengths.

As the four scattered gods fled in different directions, Lu Ye’s hands flew into motion, forming seals at incredible speed.

The aura of tribulation exploded outward.

Heaven and Earth Tribulation Art!

Last time, without the guidance of a complete spiritual path, he’d formed seals for ages—only to release a pathetic puff of tribulation energy, like a fart.

But this time—

Hundreds of seals per second.

Countless fingers flashed like lightning.

"Lightning, descend!"

BOOM!

The aura of divine judgment instantly enveloped the four fleeing scattered gods.

They looked up in horror.

Divine Tribulation!

How—how could there be divine tribulation?

How could he summon something like that?

Was he even human anymore?

Scattered gods were, by nature, failures of the divine tribulation stage. That single word—tribulation—was branded into their souls, an ancient terror.

That heavenly might was boundless. The lightning of judgment, endless.

It shattered their bodies. It tried to destroy their souls.

The trauma from their past failures surged up like a nightmare—burned into their hearts and minds.

Now that same aura wrapped around them once more.

Fear drowned them.

BOOM!

Four pure silver bolts of lightning roared down from the heavens.

In the sandstorm-shrouded desert, the skies exploded with blinding light.

The thunder was like the fury of the heavens themselves.

All four scattered gods were instantly turned to ash.

Handled.

Lu Ye pulled out a piece of paper and wiped his nose and tears.

The reincarnation obsessions still swirled around his inner soul. His nascent soul was crying. He was crying.

So bitter. Life was just so fucking bitter.

Damn it, Reincarnation Heavenly Sovereign—this was your own path, and you didn’t even clean it up properly?

No wonder you never became a Saint.

"System, simulate a solution for this."

Even Lu Ye’s voice had a sobbing lilt to it.

"Ding. What did you say?"

"I said simulate a way to resolve this. This reincarnation obsession thing."

"Ding. What was that again?"

Lu Ye...

"You damn mutt of a system, get your ass out here! I’ll beat you to death myself!"

"Ding ding ding..."

The system let out a series of cheerful chimes.

Hahahaha, the host is crying, the host is such a crybaby, hahahaha...

After mocking Lu Ye without the slightest mercy, the system finally let out a silent sigh of relief.

Because Lu Ye’s breakthrough into the Realm of Spiritual Unity—truthfully—had been incredibly dangerous.

The system had feared that, because of the traumas of his past life, he’d decisively step into the Path of Ruthlessness.

Yes, the Path of Ruthlessness was one of the highest spiritual paths.

But what was the point?

The system had once been the Way of Heaven. It had seen, with its own eyes, what those eight women had done to hurt Lu Ye.

And in the end?

It hadn’t been able to stop them. Hadn’t even been able to warn him.

Because it was the Way of Heaven—and Heaven is without feeling.

In fact, from the perspective of the heavens, Lu Ye had been its enemy.

That’s what it meant to abandon all emotion and love.

And if Lu Ye really walked that road—

Then it would be a true dead end. Even if, one day, he stood atop the very peak of the spiritual path, there would be no joy left in him.

And joy—

Joy is the most precious thing any living being can have.

Of course—it was also the most precious thing a system could have.

"Ding. Simulation in progress. Estimated time to completion: twelve hours. Please be patient, Host."

Lu Ye sniffled and started clearing the battlefield.

"Ding. Host!"

"What is it?"

"Ding. Nothing. I just wanted to hear your voice."

Lu Ye...

"You know what? Maybe you should go back to being the Way of Heaven. I’m starting to miss that emotionless version of you."

"Ding. No way!"

"I remember before you became the Way of Heaven, you weren’t this obnoxious. Just a bit of a gossip addict. What the hell happened?"

"Ding. I just came up with a brilliant idea. Want to hear it?"

"No. And I’m clearly expressing that you should not tell me."

"Ding. I’m thinking of becoming a woman."

A woman...?

"What?"

Lu Ye’s voice actually pitched higher. "What did you just say?"

"Ding. Isn’t it a great idea?"

"Yeah, yeah, it’s great—my ass! You’re a system! How the hell can you become a woman?"

"Ding. I’m a system. Why can’t I become a woman? Doesn’t Host like women best?"

"You only see that I like women. But do you conveniently forget how many I’ve killed?"

To be honest, Lu Ye really had developed a deep wariness—no, an outright resistance—toward women.

The idea of the system turning female? He was absolutely against it.

Because at this point, he honestly didn’t know what the hell kind of creatures women were.

You treat them badly, then act a little nice, and they melt into a puddle of emotion.

You treat them kindly all the time, and they take it for granted—or worse, feel like your kindness is some sort of burden or constraint.

Tell him that’s not completely insane?

"Ding. Alright then, I’ll reconsider."

"Why’d you suddenly want to become a woman, anyway?" Lu Ye wanted to know the system’s motive.

"Ding. I just feel like those women are living too comfortably right now. There’s no drama left for me to enjoy."

Lu Ye...

Living comfortably?

Lu Ye gave it some thought.

Chu Ling—he hadn’t seen her in a while. She must’ve figured out his goal by now, which explained her desperate cultivation, trying to keep up with him.

Yue Hongling—once the truth about Feng Wuxie came out, she had indeed suffered... for a bit. Then she went back to being arrogant and self-righteous.

Bai Qiulan—the chaotic Yin poison had begun to take effect. Not much to say there, really. The farther things went, the more painful it would get... until she died.

Vermilion Bird—beaten into a rebirth through fire. She probably figured out some of the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor’s secrets by now, but she wasn’t exactly suffering too much, either.

Shangguan Huanling—still obsessively collecting treasures and refining her techniques.

...Was he being too merciful?

Lu Ye took a serious moment to reflect. Yeah. Maybe he had been a bit too merciful.

Then he would just have to harden his heart a little more.

His figure disappeared into the vast desert.

Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty.

The foreign races had breached its borders, and what did a cultivator’s war look like?

In a war between mortals, half a year, a full year of fighting would be considered normal.

But with cultivators?

They could advance thousands of kilometers in a single day without breaking a sweat.

A tide of foreign races swept through the land like a swarm of locusts, leaving devastation and desolation behind.

Countless cultivators perished.

Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty sent out emergency calls for aid.

And yes—many human experts did arrive to support them. But it still wasn’t enough.

If Lu Ye hadn’t slaughtered so many top-tier experts already, they might’ve stood a chance. But now—after the massacre, with the Grand Dao Sect refusing to make a move, and the Supreme Sword Sect acting half-heartedly at best—

The other sects that had ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) stood with Jiuli against Lu Ye received news one after another that their scattered gods had fallen. Their morale crumbled.

Lu Ye left the Buddha-Destruction Desert.

He arrived at the nearest city and bought a copy of the Heaven’s Insight News.

"Myriad Spirit’s not dead?" Lu Ye was a little surprised.

That bastard’s spiritual resolve was something else. Even after everything, he hadn’t died. And if he hadn’t—he’d definitely come back stronger.

Just as Lu Ye was reading the paper—

A fresh headline flashed across the page.

"Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty—Destroyed!"