Hell's Handbook

Back inside the temple, Su Jin stared at the 78,000 gods before him. They ranged from the lowest tier to the highest tier, and not all of them were from the same race.

Some of them resembled aliens, some looked like humans and some didn’t quite look like humans. Some of them were long-haired swordsmen, some were buddhas who chanted Amitabh all day, some were grandmasters in white robes, some were angels with a pair of brilliant, white wings, some were giant dragons that breathed black clouds of smoke. This was like a gathering of mythical creatures.

But to Su Jin, the only difference between them was how much they understood and used their powers. They looked different from one another, but that didn’t matter. They all belonged to one race – the god race.

All of them were murmuring among themselves because Su Jin had gathered them without telling them why, so they all felt a little nervous and uneasy.

Once they had all gathered, Su Jin went straight to the point, “All of you were once gods of Hell’s Handbook, so when you had to face the will of the universe, he could kill you with just a thought. And so, I want to help everyone to change your godhood so that you will no longer be under the control of Hell’s Handbook and the will of the universe. That way, you will not end up being the first ones to die when we go to war with them.”

“Change our godhood?”

“Is that even possible? It’s such a complicated thing, how could he do that?”

“But if it’s Mr. Su, I think it might be possible!”

“Even if it’s Mr. Su, it sounds insane!”

An uproar immediately ensued. It wasn’t that they didn’t have faith in Su Jin, but that their godhood had followed some of them for thousands of years or even longer. They knew that thing like the back of their hand. At the same time, they wanted to believe that Su Jin could do it, and that’s why they were merely talking among themselves and not just walking out right away.

Su Jin knew that they would definitely have questions and doubts, so he went on, “Please take a look at the godhood of this temple.”

A badge of godhood floated in the air and shone brilliantly, but it didn’t look any different from the one they got from Hell’s Handbook.

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“You can use your Spirit Power to take a look,” said Su Jin.

Everyone did just that and gasps quickly filled the room. They realized that this one was definitely different from theirs. It looked the same from the outside, but the small difference was enough to save them from being under the Handbook’s control.

“That’s incredible. That tiny difference is enough to cut off our godhood from the Handbook!”

“If our godhood can become like that, we’d truly be free of the Handbook and the will of the universe’s control!”

“But is it possible for us to truly be free?”

Everyone stared at Su Jin and he knew what was going through their minds. “There is no such thing as total freedom in this world. I created this badge of godhood, so I know its secrets, and after changing your godhood, I’ll know how to destroy you in a split second. But I’m not the will of the universe. Just because I know how to doesn’t mean I will do that.”

Everyone fell silent, so Xu Ran couldn’t help but snort, “What a joke. The will of the universe didn’t give you a choice back then, yet you happily signed up to be his underlings. Right now, Su Jin is telling you upfront what to expect, yet you’re having doubts? If you don’t want to stay here, you are free to leave. Did you really think your presence is indispensable to the temple?”

Xu Ran’s tone of voice was sarcastic and it made everyone look more uneasy, but they knew that he was right, and so was Su Jin. Besides, Su Jin had indeed made it very clear to them what the consequences were.

Su Jin then stepped in, “If any of you are not willing to go through this, you may leave the temple. Of course, if you want to stay here, I’m good. But you are not allowed to use any of your godly powers and disrupt the operation of my temple. Is that alright with you?”

Everyone fell silent again. Not being able to use their godly powers was the same as becoming mere mortals again. If they were willing to give up their godly powers, they wouldn’t have fought so hard to become the will of the universe’s underlings back then.

“Since you’ve been very honest with us right from the start, I think you’ve shown us sufficient respect already. I believe that you will not treat us like animals like the will of the universe did, so I’m willing to let my godhood be changed and join your temple!” loudly declared one of the high-tier gods. He was willing to do this.

After he set the ball rolling, the other gods started agreeing to it as well. In reality, they didn’t really have any choice. If they left this place, the new gods would find them within days and either tear them to pieces, or imprison them and turn them into characters in a Challenge.

But if they stayed here, they could not use their godly powers, which sounded worse than dying to them. In that case, they had no other choice. Besides, there was almost no difference between the two. Also, the will of the universe was out to slaughter them while Su Jin was treating them kindly. Changing their godhood would not be of any loss to them.

Their hesitation had stemmed from being greedy. They had hoped for an even better result. But since this was the best they could get, they had no choice but to accept it.

Changing the godhood of 78,000 gods was no small task, but with the help of The Beginning, they managed to do this at a fairly decent pace. Su Jin was hoping to get everything done within three years.

He worked on trying to make this project go faster while the temple continued travelling through worlds and dimensions. But it was getting harder to dodge the will of the universe. A huge number of intelligent beings had joined the search for the temple, so they were pretty much trapped inside the universe.

Xu Ran and the rest had taken the initiative to go out and get rid of any obstacles. They were top tier gods and the first gods of the temple, so they had a tremendous advantage, often getting rid of any obstacles before the temple was discovered.

But as time passed, it became harder and harder to do this because Hell’s Handbook had stopped time. In other words, it had stopped choosing new gods and had focused all its energy on hunting down the temple.

After two years, a large majority of the gods had their godhood changed. They thought that with the increase in the number of gods within Su Jin’s temple, the situation would improve. But because the Handbook had shifted its focus to the temple, things didn’t become any better. Also, more than a hundred of the Handbook’s geniuses had joined the search.

Even though the will of the universe didn’t want to make use of these geniuses, he had sensed the change in the situation and felt that Su Jin was becoming a bigger threat by the day. If he didn’t put a stop to Su Jin quickly, the situation could get worse for him.

“O Great One, I have scattered the geniuses across several dimensions and given them Spirit Power equipment they can use to travel between worlds. But there are too few of them and I’m afraid it’s hard for any of them to run into that temple.” In a silent and barren universe that looked like it had been ravaged before, the will of the universe sat in the middle of this one, lonely planet that remained. The planet was only a few hundred kilometers in diameter. The incarnation of the Handbook was standing next to him and reporting the problem it faced very politely, but it had no emotion in its face or voice.

The will of the universe nodded slightly and said, “They are very few in number, but my plan wasn’t for them to run into Su Jin or his temple in the first place. They’re like a net. As long as they continue moving between the worlds, they act like the corners of a fishing net that we can slowly shrink over time until the temple has nowhere to go.”

The Handbook immediately understood what the will of the universe was driving at. “Are you going to start destroying the universe again?”

“Of course. The worlds shall be destroyed one by one, like pumping water out of a pond. No matter how incredible the fish and shrimp inside are, they cannot live without water. My net shall shrink from above the surface of the pond, until those little fish and shrimp are all caught!” said the will of the universe with a smile.

The Handbook nodded slightly as a glint flickered in its eyes. It said to the will of the universe, “O Great One, destruction of the first batch of worlds has begun. A hundred worlds have begun to shrink and collapse. Besides the new gods of those worlds, the number of lifeforms with any chance of escaping stand at around 3,000,000.”

“Make those geniuses work. Just because they’re immortal doesn’t mean they don’t have to work,” said the will of the universe with a scoff. Those geniuses were indeed impressive, since they managed to rise above the limits of their biological make up on their own. But did they think the will of the universe wouldn’t kill them? The will of the universe was keeping them alive only because he wanted a bunch of more powerful fighters! Who cared if they lived or died?