Douluo Continent: My Martial Soul is the Black Dragon, I am the Lord of the Gods

……

"Why?" Xuanming asked.

"Because he's too inexperienced."

Bibi Dong bluntly commented, "Although Huo Yuhao is known as a demigod and can even kill gods with external forces, his power system is too mixed and too weak."

"Most of his skills were taught by the necromancer Elex from another dimension, and the rest were artificially added by the group of souls that Tianmeng Ice Silkworm found for him."

"His own understanding of the laws of heaven and earth is still at a very rudimentary stage."

"To become a god, especially a deity capable of guarding a region and possessing independent authority, power alone is not enough; one must have a profound understanding of the laws."

"If he wants to take the path of creating his own godhood..."

Bibi Dong shook her head. "With his current foundation, even with the blessing of Douluo Star, he would need to go into seclusion for at least several hundred years before he could truly reach the threshold of godhood and condense his own divine spark."

"Several hundred years?" Xuanming frowned. "That long?"

"That's already fast." Bibi Dong rolled her eyes at him. "Do you think everyone's a freak like you? You think you can achieve a supreme godhood just by sleeping?"

"Then... what about inheriting the divine position?"

Xuanming asked, "With so many gods in the God Realm now, isn't there anyone who wants to retire? Why not just hand over the position of a first-level main god to him to inherit?"

"That's the most awkward part."

Bibi Dong shrugged and smiled helplessly, "In the past, everyone in the God Realm found it boring and their lives were as bland as plain water, so whenever they had the chance, they wanted to pass on their divine positions and go wander in the universe."

"But things are different now."

"Since the launch of the Great God Circle Project, the God Realm is booming. New planes are joining every day, bringing new challenges and fun. Everyone is busy and full of energy."

"Who wants to retire now?"

"Passing down the divine position means losing our place in the divine realm and our qualification to participate in this great cosmic expansion. Only a fool would do that."

Xuanming chuckled in disbelief upon hearing this.

indeed.

The current divine realm is like a super startup company in a period of rapid growth, where everyone holds initial shares and is waiting for the IPO and dividends.

Asking someone to resign at this point? No way.

"so……"

Xuanming stroked his chin. "So, that means Huo Yuhao will have to stay in the mortal realm forever?"

"Yes."

Bibi Dong nodded. "Just endure it. For him, this is also a process of settling down."

"His power came too quickly and too easily. If it doesn't stand the test of time, even if he truly becomes a god, he will only be a false god with an empty shell."

"Let him stay on Douluo Star for several hundred more years as a mortal, to witness more of the joys and sorrows of human life, and to deal with more complex political affairs and human nature."

"When he truly understands the rules and comprehends the laws, then becoming a god will be a natural progression."

Upon hearing this, Xuanming nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright."

"Time is not an issue for us."

"Perfect, let me see just how far he can go as a human being."

"Back then, Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin guarded Douluo Star for thousands of years, but as soon as they left, the order collapsed."

"Huo Yuhao has now re-established the rules and rebuilt the Tang Sect and the Spirit Pagoda."

"I want to see how long he can maintain this clarity of mind without divine protection, in this mortal body that ages and tires."

"Is it to become a high and mighty arbiter, just like I was back then?"

"Or is it really possible to forge a path... one that even I couldn't navigate?"

"Didn't work out?"

Bibi Dong chuckled, put down her teacup, and her eyes were filled with contempt for the man in front of her.

"You call that not working out? You're just plain lazy and uninterested."

"When you were undergoing the divine trial, you were constantly in contact with the power of the laws of the five nascent god-kings: goodness, evil, asura, destruction, and life. At that time, you were already standing on the shoulders of giants." "Later, in the Dragon Tomb, you even drifted outside the river of time, condensing your own godhood in that void that even god-kings could not touch."

"You can see the past, you can see the future, and you can even see things that exist outside of time and in higher dimensions."

"If you want, you can easily untie all the knots in this world. You can build a truly perfect utopia without any loopholes. You can make all living beings operate under your will, following the most perfect trajectory."

"You have the ability, and more importantly, the wisdom."

"You just... don't want to do it."

“You have never been interested in mundane matters. The world in your eyes is too big, too big to accommodate a small Douluo Star, or even the trivial management of a God Realm.”

Faced with Bibi Dong's teasing and "exposing his shortcomings," Xuanming did not refute, but simply shook his head, his expression calm, even with a touch of nonchalant laziness.

"No interest means the process didn't work out."

Xuanming said calmly, "In this dimension, results-oriented thinking is the only truth. No matter how much ability I have, if I don't do it, or if I do half of it and then give up, then it's a dead end."

He raised his hand, looking at the primordial divine power slowly flowing in his palm, his eyes becoming somewhat profound.

"Being interested in something for a short period of time is an impulse, a passion. Even an ordinary person, as long as they have that three minutes of enthusiasm, can unleash amazing power to create miracles."

"But the hardest thing is to consistently do one thing throughout a long, almost eternal period of time."

"As the administrator of the divine realm, dealing with those tedious official documents day after day and balancing the interests of all parties, you should know this better than I do."

Xuanming sighed, leaned back on the throne, and his gaze seemed to travel through time and space back to the era when he was just a weak Soul Master.

"Throughout my journey, my motivation has never been to benefit all under heaven, nor to establish an everlasting legacy, nor to become a savior."

"What I have been fighting for, what I have been hoping for, has always been just one thing: I don't want to live in fear anymore."

"I'm just... afraid of dying."

"I want to live, to live with dignity, and I want you all to live well too. For this goal, I can kill any god or Buddha who stands in my way, I can scheme against everything, and I can unleash all my potential."

Xuanming shrugged. "But now, I've already done it."

“I have reached the pinnacle of the universe. No one can threaten us anymore, and no one can make me fear anymore.”

"The drive that kept me running all the way has naturally dissipated."

"You want me to go and waste my energy on those mundane matters of ordinary people, on those so-called righteous causes, and to watch over them like a nanny every day..."

"I'm sorry, I really can't do it."

As Bibi Dong listened to Xuan Ming's almost self-analytical words, the teasing in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deep tenderness.

Of course she knows.

This man may seem powerful and invincible, and cold and arrogant, but deep down, there is actually a cautious young boy living inside him.

His strength was born out of necessity.

His aloofness is his protective shield.

Once all the threats were gone, all he wanted was to be a carefree person, spending time with his wife and children in a warm bed – that was the real him.

"so……"

Xuanming sat up straight and turned his gaze back to Douluo Star in the lower realm, to Huo Yuhao, who was rebuilding order from the ruins.

"This is what I want to see."

"Huo Yuhao is full of passion right now because he is still fighting, because he still has enemies, and because he still faces injustice."

"But when he also stood in that position, when he was invincible in the world, when he also faced the monotony of day after day and the insatiable greed of human nature..."

"Without the eternal state of mind that comes with a divine position, one must use a mortal body to fight against the erosion of the long years."

Can he still hold onto his principles?

"Can he maintain that passion for helping all people for a thousand years? Ten thousand years?"

"If he can do that, then he is truly qualified to be the guardian of that land."

"If he can't do it..."

"That's just... another cycle." (End of Chapter)