“Did you guys not have better things to do other than waging war on each other?” the youth felt speechless.

“If we had better things to do, then we wouldn’t have attacked each other now, would we?” Di Yu glared at him. “We were the only three beings at that time. What the fuck do you think we could do?”

“I…” the youth clammed up. Di Yu had a point.

“Anyway, it’s not like we had no reason to attack Jing Diqiu.”

“And that being?”

“Resources.”

“S-Seriously?” the youth asked just to be sure. Why would they need resources when the world just started?

“Of course, I was the consciousness of First Hell. I knew what kind of place it was. Heaven, Hell, and Spiritual Haven were different. Actually, the first two are quite the same while Spiritual Haven was different.”

“How?”

“Spiritual Haven as a singular realm was far larger than each of the nine realms of both Heaven and Hell. It was also the only one with infinite resources.”

“If the three worlds were created at the same time, why would there be such a cruel difference?” the youth couldn’t wrap his head around it. It was as though Spiritual Haven was created solely to draw the envy of the other two worlds.

“I…” for the first time, Di Yu had faltered in his words, “don’t know. Maybe the universe just wanted to be entertained?” He had a resigned smile on his face. It seemed that after his death, Di Yu had come to terms with his situation.

“So, you attacked Spiritual Haven to get its resources,” the youth sighed as well. He couldn’t help but think of this as a cruel twist of fate.

“Well, that’s the gist of it. What we wanted was to merge Spiritual Haven with our realms. That way we would acquire both its size and resources.”

“I see…” the youth’s voice trailed off. Soon, he asked another question, “Then why is this book here? Is the war still not over?”

“The war won’t be over until one of the worlds merges with Spiritual Haven or the nine realms of both Hell and Heaven die out.”

“Wha- die out!?” the youth was startled.

“Yes,” Di Yu nodded, “didn’t I say that Spiritual Haven is the only world with infinite resources? Hell and Heaven both have a finite amount of resources.”

“How long until they die out?”

“576 years, give or take.”

“…” the youth fell silent. He couldn’t fathom how long 576 years would be. It felt quite long to him but from a realm’s perspective, it must be quite short.

After a while, his lips parted as he asked, “Since I’ve found this book, does this mean I’m fated to be a Monarch of Hell?”

“Yes, and the last Monarch of Hell at that,” Di Yu said something very shocking in a very calm tone.

“Right, nine monarchs for nine realms.” He shook his head regrettably. He really wanted to decline such a burden.

“What?” it seemed Di Yu had read his mind, “Don’t want such a burdensome responsibility?” He laughed as though he had seen this coming.

“See?” He looked at the others and laughed. “This is the first time someone had to think over whether he wanted to be a Monarch or not! All of you had jumped on the bandwagon the instant you understood that this was a very powerful cultivation art.”

“Interesting…” the fox-woman looked at him with gleaming eyes. “Child, such a powerful cultivation art does not entice you?”

“I mean, I don’t really need it,” the youth admitted honestly.

“You don’t have someone you want to take revenge on?” the Naga scholar asked.

“No one to protect?” the pale woman chimed in.

“No desire to murder?” the purple-haired man laughed.

“You don’t want to stand on top of the world?” the valiant woman raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t want to survive?” suddenly a feminine voice reached his ears. It felt like the gentle howling of the wind. The youth looked over in shock as he saw a figure shrouded in smoke. She must've been the one giving me the vague feeling!

“Ran Jing,” the fox woman calmly looked at the figure, “why are you messing with him?”

“Haha,” the figure enshrouded in smoke laughed lightly. “just testing him. But you know-” the youth felt that the figure was looking at him even if he couldn’t see her eyes. “-this kid is quite interesting. Even though he couldn’t see me, he still guessed that there were eight people around him.”

“I…” the youth felt flabbergasted. Of course, he had an inkling that eight people were standing there. And when Di Yu told him there were eight Monarchs, he had guessed that there was someone else even if he couldn’t see them.

“I have none of those desires,” the youth composed himself. “I just want to live undisturbed.”

“And wouldn’t becoming stronger help you in living such a life?” Di Yu’s calm voice felt like the devil’s temptations to him.

“Sure it would,” the youth agreed with him, “but since you haven’t told me what becoming the Monarch of Ninth Hell entails, my answer is a no.”

“A slight oversight,” Di Yu smiled. “After becoming a Monarch, all you have to do is to kill this generation’s King of Ninth Heaven and merge the Nine Realms of Hell with Spiritual Haven. And by fate, both the Monarch and the King are chosen at the exact same time.”

“Oh?” the youth raised an eyebrow, feeling annoyed. “And this is supposed to help me live a peaceful life?” He felt a headache coming up whenever he expressed his desire.

“Of course!” Di Yu nodded. “True peace only exists when you’re at the top of the world and others don’t have the balls to disturb you!”

“…fucking hell!” the youth clicked his tongue. “You have yet to answer one of the more important questions.”

“That being?”

“Why are your Spiritual Projections bound to the book?” the youth asked slowly.

“Right, it was because I wanted to impart my knowledge to the next Monarch of Hell. The rule was already established and no one felt the need to change it.”

“Wait, isn’t that like a massive plus side? Why didn’t you mention this earlier?” the youth blinked dumbly.

“That’s because we don’t do that anymore.”

“Why would you let go of such a massive advantage?” the youth asked in disbelief.

Di Yu shook his head, “No one can handle all of our knowledge at once. Feng Hua over there-” he gestured at the fox-woman who smiled, “-she was able to handle the entirety of my knowledge but that was only because there was only me.” He sighed and continued, “When we tried to do the same for Wang Tai-” he gestured to the purple-haired man, “-he barely survived the combined knowledge of us two. Even after he survived the agonizing pain, the stress and load warped his mind for the worse.”

“Haha!” the latter laughed maniacally. “First Brother, that’s not nice, you know! You’re bad-mouthing me while I’m standing right here! Wahahaha!”

Di Yu looked at the youth with a look that said, ‘See, what did I tell you?’

“So, after that, although we imprint our Spiritual Projections into the Cultivation Art, we don’t impart our knowledge anymore.”

The youth fell into deep thought. No one knew what he was thinking. After a while, he looked up at Di Yu. There was a fire in his eyes.

“I’ll become the Monarch of Ninth Hell but on one condition!”

“Oh?” Di Yu was intrigued. “And what is it?”

“I want you eight to impart all of your knowledge to me!” that line of his felt as though someone had dropped a bomb into the room.

“What!?” everyone unanimously exclaimed in shock.

“Child, did you not hear what First Brother said?” Feng Hua blinked her pretty eyes.

“I did. But here’s why you should do it,” the youth got ready to explain to them. “He just said that the resources of Hell and Heaven wouldn’t even last a millennium. Right now, if I choose to become the Monarch of Ninth Hell, I will only have one shot to merge Hell with Spiritual Haven. If I fail, it’s the end for all of us. That’s why you should cash in all your chips now!”

“Yeah but there’s a high chance, you’ll die!” the Naga scholar looked at him with surprise.

“Yes but that doesn’t have any consequences to you, does it?” The youth threw a question back at him. “Even if I die, it shouldn’t matter to you. If by fate, both the Monarch and the King will be chosen at the same time, and then if I die, I won’t get chosen and neither will the King. After I die, someone else who’s fated could come by.”

Di Yu glared at him and asked, “How do you kn-”

The youth cut him off, “The Monarch only gets chosen when he starts cultivating the Monarch of Hell’s Cultivation Art. Isn’t that right?”

“…that’s right,” after a period of silence, Di Yu admitted it.

“So, what’s the hesitation?” the youth asked him. The fire in his eyes had not dimmed one bit. “You have nothing to lose. I’m the only one staking my life here!”

No one said a word after this. All of the Monarchs looked at each other quietly as they deliberated what to do.

“Do you not fear death, child?” Feng Hua gently asked. Her nine tails drooped slightly.

“I do. But as long as there’s a chance, I have to take it!” The only reason the youth wanted to take the gamble was that he already had experience dealing with the intense migraines that assaulted him periodically in the Li Clan. If he hadn’t experienced immense pain before, he would’ve never had agreed to this. And seeing this had something to do with knowledge, the pain will most likely be in the form of a headache.

“But didn’t you just say you wanted to live a quaint and peaceful life?” the smoke figure asked him.

“I did. But Di Yu’s words have some weight. If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. And I need strength if something does go wrong.”

“…If something can go wrong, it will go wrong,” the Monarchs mulled the words over in their minds. They had never heard of such a saying but it somehow aptly described life in this world.

After much deliberation, Di Yu said in a low voice, “Fine, we’ll do it your way. But if you die, don’t come crying to us!”

“Well, if I die, I can’t do that anyway!”

“Since you’ve accepted the Monarch’s position, let us formally introduce ourselves once again,” Di Yu enthusiastically said.

He then put his right hand on his chest and bowed slightly, “I am Di Yu, Monarch of First Hell.”

Feng Hua did the same gesture, “I am Feng Hua, Monarch of Second Hell.”

Wang Tai bowed, “I am Wang Tai, Monarch of Third Hell.”

The valiant woman bowed, “I am Dao Ling, Monarch of Fourth Hell.”

The Naga scholar hissed, “I am Han She, Monarch of Fifth Hell.”

The smoke figure spoke, “I am Ran Jing, Monarch of Sixth Hell.”

The hooded-man spoke in a gravelly voice, “I am De Jing, Monarch of Seventh Hell.”

And lastly, the pale woman bowed as well, “I am Cang Xue, Monarch of Eight Hell.”

In response to them, the youth put his right hand on his chest and bowed as well. All of the straightened up. The Monarchs smiled at each other before transforming into wisps and bolting towards the youth. They phased through his forehead and into his brain.

“AAHHHHHH!!!” immediately, an intense pain assailed his head and the youth let out a blood-curdling scream. As he screamed the veins in his forehead bulged and undulated as though the blood in them were boiling. He started bleeding from all of the orifices on his head. The blood gushed down and dyed his robes red.

His agonizing screams resounded throughout the cave. Their echoes bounced back and ravaged the previously quiet space. He tried to circulate his Qi. The pain didn’t lessen. With no option left, he banged his head repeatedly on the wall like a lunatic.

“AAAHHHHHHHH!!!” his screams did not stop. Even screaming did not lessen the pain. At this point, he knew, that this pain was nothing compared to what he experienced. If the headache before was like a jackhammer pounding at his head, then this one felt like someone was boring into his head with a size 1 step drill bit[1].

After repeatedly banging his head on the wall, blood dripped from his forehead and he could no longer continue. Limping on the ground, he collapsed from the pain as the blood flowed down the side of his head forming a small pool underneath him.

As the cave became silent once again, the youth’s collapsed boy lay there unbeknownst to anyone except the Monarchs.

[Unbearable amounts of Spiritual Energy and Data detected.]

Suddenly, a blue translucent screen appeared over the youth’s body. Text appeared on the screen.

[Scanning…]

[Host is in an unconscious state,]

[Host is unsynchronized.]

[It has been judged that the host cannot bear the pain nor the data rushing to his mind.]

[System can redirect this data and turn itself on.]

[Permission to turn on System: Y/N?]

[Host is unconscious. System has taken the liberty to turn itself on.]

[Now, redirecting…]

[Redirecting…]

[Redirecting…]

[Redirecting…]

[Redirection complete!]

[System has been turned on.]

[Assigning System Type: Status and System Type: Observer to host.]

[Status and Observer have been assigned.]

“What a pitiful sight…”