I looked down upon the mortal world and only then discovered that a new belief had suddenly taken root in these worlds.
They gave this belief a name—“Nüde.”
Women began to be bound by it, and so was I.
I watched one chastity memorial after another go up across the world, crushing countless people who had resigned themselves to their fate.
I watched spit fly, each voice that rang out accompanied by the refrain, “That’s how women should be,” drowning out those who dared to fight back.
I saw contemptuous eyes everywhere, and a deep-seated disdain that killed those who refused to accept their lot.
No.
Not just them.
Those crushed, drowned, and murdered—all of them were me!
I am the Mother God, and I am every woman in this world.
Our fates are inextricably bound together. I can feel each person’s pain, and each person’s joy.
This is my innate gift, the gift I’m proudest of.
Because I am a woman.
So when I see my sisters suffer, I weep. I don’t rejoice because I’ve won a wager.
From the moment I was born, nobility and compassion were written into my fate.
Phục Khải created a false faith for all the people under heaven, stole my divine power, and divided it among every man who ascended.
From then on, no woman could ascend.
It wasn’t that they lacked talent. It was that everything in the world was pressing down on them.
I heard a father tell his daughter, “What’s the point of studying? You’ll have a good life if you serve your husband well.”
I heard a neighbor tell a child, “What woman doesn’t get married? If you don’t, you’re not a complete woman.”
I heard a teacher tell a student, “All you need to know is the ‘Lessons for Women.’ Women simply aren’t as good at studying as men.”
I screamed in silence, wanting to tell them, “That’s not true.”
But I couldn’t make a sound anymore.
Fortunately, there was still time.
12
For the final life, I chose a special world for the Heavenly Emperor.
It was the only place among the three thousand worlds untouched by the ideology of “Nüde.”
Some called this place the Kingdom of Women.
I no longer needed to wager against those Immortal Lords.
The divine power that had been stolen from me returned, and I could feel many of my other powers slowly awakening as well.
Now I needed Phục Khải to return, so I could reclaim the last power still scattered within him: faith.
The Kingdom of Women was a beautiful place.
Unspoiled by the stench of men, it had an extraordinary charm.
There was no oppression here, no indoctrination—only equality among all living things.
I didn’t grant Phù Tang any special favor at all.
She was born into an ordinary family, with no exceptional talent and not a trace of divine power.
I watched her pass a peaceful childhood.
In her life as a sheltered young lady, she had loved embroidery and admiring flowers most.
But in this life, no one taught her what a girl was supposed to like. So she simply followed her heart, swinging a kitchen knife so fast it whistled through the air.
She was just an ordinary woman who earned a job through hard work and sweat, and lived independently.
There were no twists and turns.
Just before Phù Tang died, I lightly touched her forehead.
I saw her open her eyes hazily, looking somewhat confused.
She murmured, “Who am I, really?”
I whispered in her ear, “You are yourself. Whoever you want to become, become that person.”
She seemed to understand something, and peacefully closed her eyes.
And with that, every trial had come to an end.
The Lord God had reclaimed his throne.
The Immortal Lords crowded excitedly around the Water Mirror, wanting the Lord God to come forward and give them justice.
I tapped the Water Mirror’s rim and waited patiently.
In an instant, a human figure appeared in the Water Mirror.
The Immortal Lords lunged toward the Water Mirror and began clamoring before they could even see who had arrived.
“Lord God, while you were away, Túc Thương held all the power herself. She nearly drove us gods to the point where we had nowhere left to turn.”
“Mão Nhật Star Lord, the Flower God, and the God of War were all framed by her!”
“Please take her power back at once and give us justice!”
The Water Mirror’s light went out, and Phù Tang stepped out of it.
That’s right—not the Lord God Phục Khải, but Phù Tang, the woman who had endured three trials.
She opened her eyes without so much as glancing at those Immortal Lords.
Phù Tang and I looked at each other. She met my gaze and asked, “From the moment Phục Khải descended to the mortal realm, you knew he’d never be able to return, didn’t you?”
I smiled and nodded.
No new Goddess had been born in thousands of years, so I could only risk placing a wager.
I hadn’t expected the Lord God’s divine power to be able to create a new Goddess after all.
I said to her, “I know that though you were born from Phục Khải’s body, you are not him.”
“You are an entirely new God, born by inheriting all of his divine power.”
Phù Tang stepped confidently behind me, making her position clear.
She brought out the power of faith and placed it in my hands.
But I would not make the same mistake again.
I shattered the power of faith, scattering glittering points of light across the mortal world, where they fell upon every woman.
A newborn girl stopped crying, a schoolgirl’s reading grew louder, and a sheltered young lady suddenly tore apart the embroidery in her hands.
The gray darkness that had covered the mortal world broke apart, and sunlight shone down for the first time in thousands of years.
It was a new faith.
It was the faith of the women in this world, for themselves.
13
As the false faith in the mortal world shattered, the Immortal Lords gradually revealed their true forms.
Some were old men, some were captive wolves, and some were dogs with their tongues hanging out, begging for handouts.
They had received far too much that did not belong to them, usurping other people’s good fortune.
I reclaimed their divine powers and kindly sent them back to the mortal world.
But I was always fair and impartial, so after sending them back to the mortal world, I also sent a letter to the women around them.
The letter was filled with words telling them how these Immortal Lords had stolen their lives from them.
As for what became of them, I no longer cared.
With every new life and each cycle of reincarnation, I would send another letter.
Another three hundred years passed.
At last, someone from the mortal world ascended and became a God.
I stood at the boundary between the Heavenly Realm and the mortal world to welcome her.
The new Goddess had clear, bright eyes. She looked at me curiously and asked, “Where is this? Who are you?”
I took her hand and stepped through the gates of the Heavenly Realm.
“This is where we protect the mortal world together.
As for who I am…”
I turned and smiled at her.
“I am the embodiment of every strong, unyielding woman in this world.”
(The End)