“Alright, next topic, one we don’t seem to discuss enough, Jianmen, what are Godhoods? Or what do you think they are?” On the edge of a cliff beside a wide, blue and tranquil lake, Yanyu Shi, the woman whose drawing was still stored in the basement of Xianshi Inn, asked Jianmen while playing with her guqin. As her long and slim fingers stroked the strings, glowing solidified musical notes jumped into the air and became runes that spun around her and rose up to the sky in a helix trajectory. The cloud above absorbed the notes and bounced in the air as if they were dancing with the music; soft and gentle wind blew and birds chirped along with the music. The whole picture, if one was to observe from the side, was like a scene from a beautifully produced musical.

“I don’t know, what do you think?” Jianmen shrugged as he rotated the fish on a crude wood barbeque rack on the side: “You’re the one about to contend for it.”

“Which would make what I can tell you even heavier than it usually would.” Yanyu Shi smiled and said: “Come on, give it a try, you ever want to contend for one?”

“I guess - well, I’m okay.” Jianmen poked the fish with an iron stick to see if the flesh was softened enough: “Master had a chance to contend for it but he chose not to. Grand Master contended and almost died. And looks like you will have some really stiff competition next year, so yeah, can’t say I am interested.”

“What if one day the right godhood for you is revealed, and someone really unfit and corrupt is about to get it?”

“What, there’s gonna be a godhood for barbeque and sweeping ground?”

“Maybe, there are godhoods for even more obscure ideas.” Yanyu Shi shrugged as she continued to play her guqin, the cloud above was now shining in warm golden light, and it seemed to have grown two tiny hands that were waving in the air: “There is a god of sleeping in, at least according to the secret histories recorded by our clan. But no one has heard about this god for millenia.”

“One shall not be surprised.” Jianmen laughed as he picked up the fish from the rack and served it on a plate: “Let me tell you this, if I ever get the godhood of barbeque or sweeping the floor, I’ll make sure all the junior clan members in the world will gain knowledge and experience when sweeping the ground, especially the bathroom, so that they’ll not slack on the job.”

“You still haven’t answered the question, Jianmen. Do you want another forced dancing session? You know as a contender for the godhood of music, I can make you do that.”

“Alright alright! Fine! You win!” Jianmen sprinkled salt and extra chili powder on the fish and shoved it in front of Yanyu Shi: “Let’s hope that I won’t get smited when I answer this honestly: godhoods are a construct of the weakness of the Will and the conceited usurpation of power by human reason.”

“Crack!” An orange and golden bolt of lightning shot through the sky, and the bright and blue sky was painted with its color. The air grew thick, and the energy fields around the lake became active and vibrant. There was a grand and distant humming sound coming from the depths of the universe - a sign of miracle, one that usually signals revelations of truth.

Jianmen looked up at the sky, and he immediately tried to stop talking - he tried, but somehow, a powerful and learned cultivator as he was, he seemed to have lost control over his lungs, his throat, his tongue, his lips and even his thoughts. The ideas stuck in his mind from his past studies into karma and the nature of Xuanli and power turned into concrete thoughts in his mind, then were spoken out through his voice. Yanyu Shi stared at Jianmen, her trembling eyes and lips indicating that she was trying to say something or ask Jianmen a question, but she was not able to move or do anything else as well.

“The existence of godhood is the result of the evolution of sentient and rational entities, the fruit of existence and being in itself and the act of learning and knowing; the collapse of the veil and fog of ignorance; the touch of fingertips, the handshake, the toast of the world unknown and the known, understood and seeked. Godhoods, like True Words and covenants sworn with them, are evidence of the Will of the Universe relinquishing control to the sentient and rational, and most important of all, named beings born within; They are the burdens of knowledge, power and order placed upon holders of knowledge. They are, in their very nature, nodes, threads, levers, switches, sockets, handles and thrones of power. The holdings of them signal the integration of minds into the Will, and the responsibilities of maintaining order and balance. But the abuse of which, will inevitably bring about the collapse of order and the loss of sentience and reason.”

When Jianmen finished this long monologue, sweat had already drenched his clothes, and he almost completely lost control of his body. Yanyu Shi caught him before he fell off the edge of the cliff.

“Fucking hell.” Jianmen wheezed: “Bitch!”

“Hehe, looks like your only choice is which godhood would be yours, not whether you would have one.” Yanyu Shi wiped off the sweat from Jianmen’s forehead with a tired but relieved smile.

At present, inside the room made of bricks with shining white crystals in the corner, Jianmen was thrown to a wall and slid down to the corner. He just left another slash wound on the Grand Defiler’s abdomen, spilling some more Defiler blood, but at the cost of a dislocated shoulder and a puncture wound on his left lower waist.

Shaking off the flashbacks of his past memory, Jianmen stood up again with the support of his guandao shaft, then he wiped off his own sweat and blood from his forehead.

“Come on, this is getting boring, why not at least loosen the restriction a little bit, huh?” The Grand Defiler spat on the edge of his sword and wiped it clean with his sleeve: “At least you’ll die a more glorious and shiny death.”

“No one’s here to witness the fight. I don’t even need brown pants.” Jianmen laughed, panting.