In the advanced cultivation chamber in the Underworld.
As Jiang Lin ascended, more memory fragments surged into his mind.
...
Ever since a long time ago, Jiang Lin had a question:
—Are there really gods in the heavens?
Why was it that so many people had ascended, yet none of them had ever appeared?
If gods truly existed, why did they only grant power to humans without governing them?
Why the apathy?
They didn't strike down the demons they should have, and places that needed rain went without it for years...
Therefore, Jiang Lin's goal all along had been to find the root cause.
—To ascend and see the heavens for himself.
If these questions remained unanswered, then what he saw and heard in the mortal realm would continue to repeat.
...
As the song "Treading the Heavens" concluded, the heavenly gate opened.
The moment he stepped through the heavenly gate, Jiang Lin received his first answer.
—There truly were gods and immortals in this world.
They were not dead, nor had they gone to other dimensions.
As he took up his post and observed daily life in the heavens, he gradually found the answer to his second question.
—It turned out that the divine officials in the heavens were not apathetic, but rather lacked the time and energy to deal with most matters in the mortal realm.
As for why the seniors who ascended never reappeared in the mortal realm.
Firstly, it was due to the rules.
Secondly, the divine officials in the heavens changed too rapidly; many were no longer present.
The mortal realm had humans and demons.
The heavens had gods and demons.
The great war between gods and demons occurred almost every two days for a small skirmish, and every three days for a major battle.
Countless divine officials were injured or killed daily.
Certain divine officials in special circumstances were sent to a place called 'Black Abyss'.
In addition to facing the demons who could appear and attack at any moment.
The Heavenly Palace also had to guard against the invasion of other entities.
As for what kind of enemies they were, Jiang Lin had not yet figured it out.
He only knew that many high-ranking divine officials did not participate in the god-demon wars, but instead guarded various directions.
Their divine senses expanded, forming a powerful protective shield.
Behind them was the Heavenly Palace.
Behind the Heavenly Palace was the mortal realm.
Few people ever saw these high-ranking divine officials because they had no holidays.
...
"So, the Heavenly Palace decided to grant humans more power, allowing them to handle their own problems in the mortal realm."
"And to select more capable individuals to come up and fill the vacancies of divine officials."
A man in simple cloth clothing with messy hair sat before the heavenly gate.
He held a gourd-shaped wine flask, drinking and chatting casually with Jiang Lin.
He even let out a burp, "Who knew those fellows would abuse their power, even hoarding the ability to cure diseases with rain.
They only knew how to fight amongst themselves and compete for resources, completely disregarding the lives of ordinary people."
Jiang Lin fell silent for a moment and asked, "Senior Qingyang, do you know what kind of place 'Black Abyss' is?"
That's right, the person before him was the old Qingyang who had once invited the heavenly gate to open with a cup of wine in the Three Noes Land.
Old Qingyang took a sip of wine and was about to say something.
Suddenly, a bell chimed from the direction of the South Heavenly Gate.
His expression tensed, he suddenly stood up, and tossed a waist token.
Riding the wind, he strode towards the South Heavenly Gate.
—That was the signal for the demon race's attack!
Before his figure could disappear, a voice suddenly drifted back with the wind.
It seemed to be answering Jiang Lin's question.
"Black Abyss is a path of no return, you all proceed ahead."
...
Watching the retreating back of Senior Old Qingyang, Jiang Lin fell into deep thought.
He picked up the waist token and examined it closely. It was about the size of his palm, with the character 'Cang' in the center.
On the back, he saw a depiction of an opened book.
This was the pass token to the Heavenly Palace's Library.
"Will I find answers there..."
Jiang Lin stood up, cupped his hands in the direction of the South Heavenly Gate.
He turned and headed towards the Library.
The Library was the tallest building in the Heavenly Palace, said to have ninety-nine floors.
However, ordinary divine officials like Jiang Lin could only access thirty-three floors.
Jiang Lin arrived before the Library. The gatekeeper was an old man in his fifties or sixties.
He was sitting by the entrance, holding a book, as if reading.
But he remained motionless, as if asleep.
Hearing the movement, the old man said without looking up, "Pass token?"
Jiang Lin produced the waist token given by Senior Old Qingyang.
The old man lazily lifted his eyelids, glanced at the token, and then at Jiang Lin.
"Go ahead."
The gate of the Library automatically opened. As Jiang Lin stepped inside, the door closed behind him automatically.
...
As a newly ascended staff member, Jiang Lin's work was arranged in the rear.
He either took shifts guarding the Heavenly Palace or handled some documents.
He squeezed out as much time as possible to browse the books and various records in the Library.
He studied the situation in the Heavenly Palace and the mortal realm.
He even found ways to transmit messages to his second disciple, Que Sixi, to understand the situation of ghosts and spirits in the Underworld.
Time flowed like sand.
As more humans ascended and a new batch of divine officials appeared.
Jiang Lin also left the rear and was dispatched to the front lines.
He held his erhu, looking at the ground littered with corpses and broken weapons.
Suddenly, he understood the words Senior Old Qingyang had spoken when he gave him the waist token.
The god-demon battlefield was fraught with peril.
Besides resisting overt attacks, one had to guard against the invasion of demonic energy into the divine body from hidden sources.
Once demonic energy took root within the body, it would rapidly generate another consciousness, akin to a second personality.
It was very difficult to remove completely.
Therefore, on the battlefield, it was crucial to guard one's Dao heart.
This was because the two most important pathways for demonic energy invasion were wounds and an unstable Dao heart.
The latter's invasion was silent.
Many divine soldiers lost control of their emotions or were deceived by illusions from their opponents...
This led to demonic energy invasion without their knowledge.
Only after returning to their own ranks would it erupt.
"Black Abyss is a path of no return, you all proceed ahead."
Black Abyss was the destination for these divine officials corrupted by demonic energy.
You all proceed ahead...
This signified that every divine official who went to the battlefield would do so with a resolve to die.
—You all go ahead first, leave this to us.
All divine officials would fight to the end, never yielding!
...
According to the records in the Library—
A long, long time ago, a pioneer discovered this:
Everything has two sides:
Good and evil, good and bad, black and white.
When a good soul dies, it dissipates into heaven and earth, returning to the origin of heaven and earth...
Until thousands or tens of thousands of years later, it would condense again into a life form.
However, it was difficult for evil souls to return to the origin of heaven and earth after death.
In fact,
Some extremely evil souls, while wandering between heaven and earth, could rapidly re-condense themselves by absorbing various negative energies, which was the so-called—
"Resurrection!"
The more powerful an evil soul, the harder it was to kill completely, hence, someone invented sealing techniques.
If they were difficult to kill, then they would be sealed.
That person chose a blessed land and managed to absorb and seal all the evil that lingered in the world after being killed.
And this was the origin of 'Black Abyss'.
In Black Abyss,
Those 'evils' could no longer absorb external energy, nor could they leave.
They could only continuously devour and merge with each other.
Attempting to resurrect and break through Black Abyss.
And in this process, every time they were dispersed, it would take decades, or even thousands of years, to re-condense and 'resurrect' again.
Therefore, to prevent those 'evils' from becoming stronger and larger.
Those whose lifespans were nearing their end, and those corrupted by demonic energy, would often volunteer to go and eliminate them.
Until their lives ended, until they were completely corrupted.
They would burn their own lives, making their final contribution to this world!
...