This Damned Thirst for Survival

The god Luo Zhu is lurking around the Jokhang Temple with other gods who are close enough to get there as fast as they can once the hosts call.

Luo Zhu is the only female god of the three gods around the Fatekeeper, a calm but daring woman who is assigned to be the first to protect the Fatekeeper.

It is silent in front of the Jokhang Temple and the forest is also very quiet, with only the sound of birds flying out of the trees.

Luo Zhu ambled up a tree and gazed at Jokhang Temple. After a breeze blows across her nose, she suddenly smells a hint of burnt smoke.

Luo Zhu followed the smell and got up, looking back behind him.

Light grey smoke is rising from the jungle in the distance and is gathering in the air.

On fire?

Luo Zhu sent one of her gods to take a look. One team went with her to Jokhang Temple to inform the owner that there had been a change in the mountain, while the other team went to the location of the incident.

After assigning the men, Luo Zhu wasted no time in taking the gods to Jokhang Temple.

But when he was about to reach Jokhang Temple, Luo Zhu stopped in his tracks and reached out to signal the people behind him to stop.

In front of them, Master Cheng De and his three disciples blocked the path.

Master Cheng De smiled benevolently, "This monk, Jokhang Temple is not entertaining incense-bearers today."

Luo Zhu knew that her master was reluctant to offend Jokhang Temple, so she was polite, " Master Cheng De, I have something I need to see the Master of the Host."

Master Cheng De said disapprovingly, "The Fatalist is at a critical moment right now, you cannot disturb him, and if you do, you will ruin his great event."

At these words, most of the gods who were following Luo Zhu hesitated. But Luo Zhu didn't waver in the slightest, knowing that it was useless to talk to Master Cheng De any further, she simply intended to pass on her own, "Master, I'm sorry."

The gods subconsciously followed Luo Zhu to circumvent Master Cheng De and the others, but a Buddhist pearl struck Luo Zhu as quickly as it could. Luo Zhu dodged it and looked at Master Cheng De in disbelief.

Three of Master Cheng De's disciples put their palms up in front of them and silently chanted the scriptures in unison. As their lips opened and closed, Luo Zhu felt as if his brain was being dazzled by the beating of bells and drums.

The visitor is not good!

Luo Zhu gave himself a strong slash to stay awake and made a split-second decision: "Change paths!"

It was surprising that Master Cheng De should treat them in this way, seeing that the true God of Jokhang Temple was a trap. They must pass on this news to His Lordship.

Master Cheng De shouted sternly, "Don't try to escape!"

He also chanted the scriptures along with the disciples.

One by one, the gods fell to the ground in agony, but Luo Zhu was the only one to grit his teeth and stumble away, disappearing into the jungle.

The disciples gradually stopped chanting and the eldest disciple asked worriedly, "Master, aren't we going after them?"

Master Cheng De said calmly, "Let's just guard this road. Wherever she goes, if she tries to get to Jokhang Temple, she will be stopped by others."

As he spoke, he suddenly sighed a little: "Half a year ago, the predestined man was so powerful ...... but look, half a year later, those who followed him before are either gone or have fallen to Jiang Luo Chi You, and in such a short time, the situation has completely changed. If this was half a year ago, who would have believed it?"

The disciple could not help but nod, and said apprehensively, "Master, do you think the predestined person will be killed in the end?"

Master Cheng De's face turned cold as he sneered, "He must die today or not!"

As he finished, Master Cheng De looked out into the forest, the smoke was growing, birds and animals were scurrying about, and trees were falling to the ground with a loud, uninterrupted thud.

A dark cloud rose at some point on an otherwise sunny day, moving ever closer to Jokhang Temple.

From a distance, it looks rather like a large and oppressive army.

Master Cheng De suddenly laughed out loud, "Fatalist, with this gesture today, you will not be shabby even if you die."

The State's forces surrounded the entire Jokhang Temple at the bottom to prevent the enemy from escaping if they were defeated. Chi You's men and their notoriously old men, all of them ghosts and all of them, were here to protect Jokhang Temple, with Jiang Luo and the others inside.

It really wasn't an unjust death for the Fatalist this wave.

*

The Jokhang Temple is a peaceful place.

The predestined man entered the temple of the true God and paid his respectful obeisance, "The late one has admitted his fault."

He offered three incense sticks, and after a few moments, the True God spoke and asked, "Are you sincere in knowing your mistake?"

The Fated One laughed, "Of course I am sincerely aware of my mistake. After being taught by senior, my junior has seen through the four words 'all dharmas are empty'."

"Not bad," said the true God with relief after a long time, "it is extremely rare to know one's mistakes and change them. That's all, come in."

The predestined man straightened up and looked at the door of the room, which was close to late.

The true God was inside the door of the room, and once the predestined man stepped inside, what awaited him was either a crisis or the heavenly path to godhood. The Fatalist had been waiting for two hundred years, and he had finally waited for this day.

After closing his eyes and calming down his overly agitated emotions, the Fatalist stepped forward and pushed open the door to the room.

Beyond the door of the room is the large, wide to somewhat austere hall.

The statue of our master Siddhartha Mani was enshrined in the hall, and the host was a little surprised when he said tentatively, "Elder?"

"I am," a distant voice came from within the room, making it impossible to distinguish which direction the voice was coming from, "You amaze me, Predestined One. I did not think you could make it this far."

The predecessor said modestly, "I dare not, but please continue to instruct my senior."

The True God was also dry and straightforward, saying, "You are only one step away from becoming a god at this moment."

Even though he was a light-hearted man, his heart jumped two beats faster when he heard these words, and his breathing quickened slightly. He took a few seconds of silence, "Go ahead."

The True God said, "This last step is the most difficult and painful. If you fail to do it, all the efforts you have made before will have to be undone. I wonder if you can make up your mind to bear this pain?"

The fatalist smiled faintly, "The late one is ready for this."

"Well," asked the True God, turning his words around, "do you remember what I said to you earlier?"

The predecessor nodded respectfully, "Senior's words, junior would not dare to forget a single word."

The True God said, "Then you should remember those people I told you about who changed from human beings to gods, whether it was Zhang Tian Shi or Guan Gong, whether it was the Three Emperors and Five Emperors or Ding Xin Wu, they all became gods only after they died."

The predestined man froze.

The true god said, "Only if you die can you be edified as a god after death."

Silence.

There was silence in the entire Buddhist temple.

The smile on the predestined man's face slowly disappeared.

What does the true God mean, teasing him?

But on closer examination, his words do seem to have some truth to them. Since ancient times, those who have become gods have really become gods after their merits and virtues have been perfected after death.

But how is it possible that the final step to godhood is death?

What if the predestined man dies and he does not become a god?

This is a complete dead-end cycle. If what the true God says is true, then the predestined person cannot become a god without dying. But after death, who can guarantee that the predestined person will become a god?

The True God acted as if he had expected this, "You see, you can't even make this step, you'll just be wasting away in place."

There was obscurity in the eyes of the fatalist as he gently closed his eyes, his snow-coloured eyelashes dropping a shadow, "Could there be a second way, seniors?"

"It's just that," said the true God, "let me give you a hand."

When the predestined opened his eyes, he heard the voice of the true God coming closer and closer.

No, not closer, but less of the staged ethereal languor of the voice.

The fatalist subconsciously looked in the direction of the voice and saw a figure walk out from behind the Buddha statue. The face was familiar, and this person smiled at him, a smile laced with the mockery of watching a good show, "Let me, senior, help you to die."

It's Jiang Luo.

How could it be Jiang Luo?

The predestined man's expression cracked for a moment. He stared at Jiang Luo in disbelief, unable to believe that the true god he had always believed in was him.

How could it be Jiang Luo!

Shock, anger and disillusioned disappointment welled up one by one on the face of the predestined man. The Predestined Man's face turned green and white as he thought back over the past month and thought of the images of his deference to the true God and his voluntary admission of the secret of prophecy.

He clenched his teeth, "You played the true god to deceive me?"

Jiang Luo, "How can you say it's a fake?"

He laughed softly, "Aren't I helping you become a god?"

Jiang Luo shook his arm, and the huge golden dragon hissed and flew out of the Yin Yang Ring. Jiang Luo glanced at the predestined man with a smirk, "Chen Long in the Yin Yang Ring, you don't even know him?"

Without waiting for the fatalist to speak, he picked up on his own, "Oh, I forgot. This Yin-Yang ring has been forged twice by someone else, and you have long since lost track of what the Yin-Yang ring will do."

Every word was like cold water poured over the head, shattering all the hopes and ease of the predestined people and crushing them underfoot. Half a month's wait for the predestined people had all turned into a joke.

All his hopes of becoming a god were completely in pieces.

The Fatalist's face turned pale and as he was in a state of distraction, Jiang Luo rushed in front of him unawares and slammed his fist into the Fatalist's body with the force of a mountain.

Chen Long and the fist together, slamming viciously into the predestined man.

"There was a loud bang as the fatalist crashed through the door of the room and fell straight into the middle of the large courtyard.

Jiang Luo briefly fixes the lodger with the word spirit, he draws his dagger and, with little hesitation, immediately slashes at the lodger's throat.

But just as it cut through his skin, Jiang Luo was knocked out of the way by a powerful force. He looked up as he stood firm and saw that two gods were already standing behind the Fated One.

This guy really does have a means of saving his life.

Jiang Luo wasn't sure if he had scratched his vocal cords, but he knew that he must not give the Fatalist time to speak.

Jiang Luo quickly wrote the word "water", which flickered and turned into a huge ball of water that attacked the three Fates. The two gods intervened in front of the Fatekeepers, sending the water mass splashing in all directions.

Jiang Luo smiles and writes the word 'thunder' on his hand again without mercy, throwing it into the sky and then clenching his five fingers as if pulling something down. Overcast clouds spread above the temple as silver thunder and lightning fell with great ferocity, revealing its power as thunder and lightning through the wet stream.

The Fated One avoided it in time, but his two gods turned into two tiny charred paper figures under the lightning, which fell to the ground and turned to dust.

The predestined man looks at Jiang Luo anew, as if he is a stranger to Jiang Luo for the first time.

In the time it took him to fight back, Jiang Luo had already taken the advantage and was unstoppable in extending it, and by now the predestined man had lost the lead completely.

The shock and anger of being deceived still churning in his heart, the Cebuano touched the wound on his neck, his eyes darkening.

With all the commotion at Jokhang Temple, it would have been logical for his gods to have arrived, but the reality was that none of them did.

The Predestined was no fool, and after snapping out of his obsession with becoming a god, he understood that he had been caught in a month-long ploy.

For a month, they had laid trap after trap to trap him in Jokhang Temple today.

Jiang Luo wanted him dead.

The Fatalist knows that at this moment, the most sensible thing to do is to run away.

This is a trap, so Jiang Luo is not the only one coming against him. The odds are that all his gods have been wiped out, and the only best decision is to flee, and the quicker and sooner he does so, the better his chances are of rising again.

The predestined man took a deep breath and suppressed the various emotions that were bothering him. Immediately, he turned around and darted out the door.