MTL - Black Iron’s Glory - Chapter 17 Shocked

Zack “Kazz” Foreman once was a human from the earth when humans went through a dramatic change because of an event. This forced them to evolve into energy-based beings but was sucked into another dimension.

Forced to start living out lives on random worlds in a fractured dimension, Humanity is placed on the path of complete extinction.

This is controlled by a demon king at a place called The Center of Everything.

The Demons try to force Humanity's mark from every reality, so there are only demons, but the Demon King feeds from anger and pain. A constant tournament going at the center of everything to feed his hunger.

Kazz made it to that point once, but was tricked, refused entry to the tournament because he had offed a place one of the gods of the worlds.

Refusing to give up, Kazz goes back to the beginning to start again. To do this, Kazz must give up all of his memories to choke the flow of demons born fully grown from a pool of recycled souls.

This journey starts after he lives a solitary life trying to get stronger but not knowing why. The world Kazz is on is like our earth, but it was only a mimic of the earth we know.

Caught using steroids and about to give up and join the army, Kazz stumbles onto a cave in the ground. He is transported to a world filled with demons and monsters, and a human god named Hero is speaking in his head.

Hero, a person Kazz knew but was not friends with, followed him to help but was lost from him. Upon meeting Kazz, Hero offers him the Hero System to help him advance in this new world.

Kazz refuses after trying to get to the top and failing to use the easy route. This starts a series of frustrating events for both Heroes, but they learn to work as a team over time.

Kazz will meet misbegotten monster girls and demons that he agrees to take care of in this world, using the Ranching System. It only gives bonuses to the girls and skills to help raise them, but he will also learn to control the Elements with Shamanic abilities.

The betrothal gift is two million bucks, not a single cent less. Jiang Yu is already eighteen years old and can get married now. Send the money to my card, and this matter is settled!" Jiang Yu looked at her mother, who was talking non-stop on the negotiation table. She watched as her mother named her price as she sold Jiang Yu. Jiang Yu could not believe it. Eighteen years ago, they brought the wrong baby home from the hospital, and Jiang Yu, the real daughter of a wealthy family, ended up in an orphanage until a year ago. Jiang Ran, the fake daughter of the Jiang family, grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. With superior resources since she was young, she was more outstanding than Jiang Yu in every aspect and became the pride of the Jiang family. Jiang Yu, who wandered most of her time in the outside world, was nothing but a country bumpkin who made her mother a laughing stock in the socialite circle. However, Jiang Yu had no idea how great her mother's hatred for her was. On the day she turned eighteen, her mother 'sold' her with a named price. Jiang Yu said, "If you want to marry your daughter to someone else, it should be Jiang Ran. I'm your real daughter. You're the one who mistakenly brought Jiang Ran home!" Her mother replied, "Shut up. I wish I hadn't given birth to you. You've brought nothing but shame to me!" Jiang Ran said, "Big Sis, everything Mom does is for your own good. Don't blame Mom." Her mother said, "I'm convinced she's nothing but a debt collector who's come to me to collect her debts! Either you give me two million bucks, or you get married obediently!" Jiang Yu left home in despair. By a freak combination of factors, she found herself accidentally marrying a Mr. CEO. From then on, the thirty-year-old man pampered his eighteen-year-old wife to the heavens. The little girl said, "Mister, someone bullied your wife!" The man, "Which incompetent fool is so blind that he dares to bully you?"

Jiang Dao died extremely heroically in the apocalyptic world war. He never thought that he would have a chance to open his eyes again.

He traveled through, into a danmei book he had read, and became a vicious villain in the book.

Jiang Dao thought to himself: “After more than ten years of fighting for my life in the last days, I’m tired, so what am I fighting for? It’s better to be a vase. Use my face to finish the brokerage contract, and then find a corner in the world with beautiful scenery and live a peaceful life of growing vegetables, cooking, and raising cats and dogs…”

So, he returned the role that the original owner had snatched from the protagonist shou on the spot.

Unexpectedly, in the variety show that started shooting the next day, Jiang Dao performed a shoulder toss and threw the current number one kung fu actor, Chu Yinlong, to the ground.

Chu Yinlong: Boy, you have successfully caught my attention. My new movie, the villain, can fight, you come.

Jiang Dao: …Sorry, I’m just a vase.

————

In a later interview.

A reporter asked Chu Yinlong: “How would you rate your perfect partner, Mr. Jiang Dao?”

Chu Yinlong replied: “A vase.”

Reporter: “How can a kung fu superstar as famous as him be a vase?”

Chu Yinlong: “Diamond vase. Precious, beautiful, hard enough.”

- Description from Novelupdates

The world is a sea of bitterness.

The mortal swims in the sea.

The body is the vessel.

The soul is the mortal on the vessel.

The vessel carries the mortal as it sails endlessly towards the other side of the sea.

Does cultivating the body strengthen the vessel enough to reach the other side of this sea of misery?

Or does cultivating the soul give the mortal on the vessel the ability to master swimming?

Cultivating according to the martial path allows one to become an Earthly Immortal.

Cultivating according to the immortal path allows one to become a Divine Immortal.

Which path should be chosen?

- Description from Novelupdates