Hell's Handbook

Chapter 457

“I know, of course I know!” said Su Jin as he used both hands to grab hold of the black and white dragons coming at him and extinguished them. He smiled at the will of the universe and said, “The will of the universe? How could this withered world have any will or a king over it? That just sounds childish.”

The will of the universe was a little surprised when he saw Su Jin’s expression and said, “Looks like… you’ve managed to guess who I really am. You are indeed someone on this path!”

Su Jin took large strides toward the will of the universe and the boning knife suddenly appeared in his hand. He sliced through the air, causing the few hundred planets the will of the universe was standing on to shatter.

The will of the universe leaped away and dodged the slice. He glared straight at Su Jin and said, “Since you’ve managed to guess my real identity, then were you also able to guess… my final motive?”

Su Jin continued slashing away as he nodded. “I’ve made a few guesses but I’m not entirely sure.”

“Tell me what you’ve guessed so far and I’ll tell you what I can.” The will of the universe smiled as he casually fought off each of Su Jin’s attacks, like a friendly senior helping his junior to practice his martial arts moves.

“Firstly, you’re not the will of the universe at all. Like I said earlier, this universe is all withered and it’s gone through the same thing over and over again. How could something like that have any will of its own? You are merely someone like me, an insurgent! Except that you’re the first insurgent, one who’s come before me!” shouted Su Jin.

The will of the universe gave a pleased nod and said merrily, “You’ve guessed it right! I’m so glad! I’m so glad to have met you!”

“Haha… I’m not sure if meeting me is a good thing or not.” Su Jin stabbed the boning knife into the body of the will of the universe like it was a spear, but it didn’t damage his opponent’s body at all.

“Get me a knife!” Su Jin wasn’t surprised by that and yelled for a knife. The quiet and empty universe was suddenly filled with sparkles that came together to form a knife which flew into Su Jin’s hand.

“Taking from the rules of the universe! Good job!” The will of the universe gave him a pleased nod. This was something that only he used to be able to do. Being able to get anything you wanted by just saying the word was a sign that you were able to bend the universe’s rules, to exist outside the rules of the universe. This man was now on the same path as himself, except that Su Jin had just arrived at the starting line, while he had been running down this track several times all by himself.

Su Jin’s knife grew sharper and the universe gave him more and more knives. Everything, visible and invisible, became knives. Every star was a knife. Such an attack would have made it hard for anyone to escape unscathed.

“Aren’t you fighting back? You think you can really defeat me for sure?” shouted Su Jin.

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The will of the universe nodded. He too, stretched an arm out and yelled, “Give me a sword!”

With that command, instead of the stars coming together, black smoke came together and solidified into a long sword. The sword’s temperature was chilling, as though it had gathered the dark side of all creation.

One’s knife was bright white, the other’s sword was black, like the symbol for Daoism. But Su Jin supported life, while the will of the universe supported destruction.

Everything the sword touched turned to nothing, creating a chasm in the universe. There was nothing inside that chasm, and you couldn’t even fill it with space. It was a forbidden zone for all living things.

Su Jin’s knife was at work too. It sparkled brilliantly like fireworks, giving life to everything it touched. It seemed like it was trying to give life energy to this once withered universe again.

“Life and destruction has already been decided! Nothing will live without me! Su Jin, the battle hasn’t even started and you’ve already lost!” The will of the universe laughed merrily with a gleeful look in his eyes.

“How could life and destruction be already decided? As long as I’m around, anything could change! You’ve been way too disdainful of life! You’ve been controlling this universe and calling the shots, you’ve used Hell’s Handbook to create the rules; you’ve decided when universes will be created and when they will be destroyed, you’ve been standing in a high and mighty position while you decide the path that all lifeforms shall take. You really think you’re the universe itself!” said Su Jin.

The will of the universe burst out laughing, “HAHA! Is that true? Is it? From the day I rose above the limits of mortals, I knew that if nobody made plans and gave rules to this universe, it would eventually be utterly destroyed. All of you think I’m the bad guy who kills all life, who destroys worlds as though everything is just a toy to me. But Su Jin, of all people, you would know that if I had not been watching over the world and making necessary adjustments along the way, the world would become like a neglected plant! The entire tree would be uprooted! It would die!”

The will of the universe sounded as though it was justified, as though he had truly been misunderstood, that everything he had done was merely for the betterment of the world. He continued in a loud voice, “At that moment, I realized that all the branch worlds were in chaos and they were sucking energy from the root world. And these branches were not under any control, so they would eventually suck the main world completely dry. Once that happened, the root world would die and the rest would eventually die since their source of energy was no longer able to supply them with anything. When that happens… you tell me if I’m the good guy or the bad guy!”

“If that were really the case, why did you bother killing one insurgent after another? If all of this was for the good of the world, nobody who reached this stage in life would try to go against you! You’re trying to hide something!” said Su Jin.

The will of the universe possessed the same face as Su Jin, but his expression was now one of mocking. He brandished his sword and said, “What do you know? Having ambition is noble, but it is also dangerous! When too many strong and ambitious people are gathered, the chances of chaos or accidents increase! I was trying to play safe!”

“What a wonderful way of putting it! Having ambition is noble but dangerous? You think you’re noble, but it seems you refuse to see how dangerous you are to everything else in the universe!” Su Jin sliced through the air with his sparkling knife to meet with the will of the universe’s sword.

The way they took turns to make a move and counter the other didn’t look like a fight to the very death at all. They looked more like they were having a friendly match and neither was better than the other.

“Humph! Su Jin, you’re too full of yourself! The universe requires someone to plan for it! I don’t think I’ve gone too far in calling myself the will of the universe. Besides, have you ever thought about what happens even if you win today? So what if you’re in charge? What could you do? The branch worlds are sucking all the life out from the main world! Everything is about to dry up and wither! What should you do?” asked the will of the universe.

Su Jin shook his head and said, “I don’t know what to do about that! But I have one question: What’s the meaning of this universe’s existence? What’s the greatest thing in this world? Of course, that’s provided you don’t say that you are the greatest!”

The will of the universe immediately replied, “Life and thought!”

Su Jin nodded. If the will of the universe didn’t even know the answer to this question, then he really wasn’t worthy of being in control of the universe for so long. Su Jin went on, “Since the meaning of the universe is life, then in order to preserve the universe, you end up killing all life? That sounds like the wrong way round!”

“After killing all life, new life is created. The cycle keeps going!” declared the will of the universe proudly.

Su Jin let out a maniacal laugh, “HAHAHA! I’m going to die laughing at this rate! Controlling the rules doesn’t mean you’re its will! The lifeforms you’ve created aren’t life at all! They’re just like chickens and ducks in a cage, cattle and horses in the barn. You’re just repeating what life used to look like and you consider that having a will? Having life?”

The will of the universe glinted nastily at Su Jin, but he brandished his sword more slowly now. He glared at Su Jin sinisterly and said, “You didn’t answer my question. If you were in my position, what would you do?”

“It wouldn’t be up to me,” Su Jin shook his head.

The will of the universe was confused for a moment before he realized what Su Jin was saying. “You mean… you’ll never take my position?”

“Never!” Su Jin nodded without hesitation.

It was the will of the universe’s turn to let out a maniacal laugh, as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. He pointed his sword at Su Jin and said, “That’s bullshit! If that were true… then why are you dueling me today? Wouldn’t it be better if you agreed to what I asked of you before this? Wouldn’t it be better if you just became my right hand man? You have no wish to take my place? What a joke!”

Su Jin shook his head. There was a bright glint in his eyes as he said gravely, “You’re mistaken. All I want to do is… open the doors of the cages. After that, the lifeforms of each world can decide what they want to do!”

“That’s ridiculous! It’s impossible for everyone to be of the same mind! This will only bring about chaos and destruction! Your way of thinking is merely idealistic!” shouted the will of the universe.

Su Jin stared at his opponent with puzzlement and frowned. “Has war and destruction disappeared under your control?”

The will of the universe didn’t expect that question. He paused for a moment before saying, “At least it’s within my control!”

“Your idea of being in control is that… when things go out of hand, you’ll destroy it and start over?” said Su Jin with a snort.