Hope triumphs again

Ren Zu vows to eat the Predicament’s most vital part, and strong Gu calls the choice foolish. The Predicament shrinks and floods him with countless Tribulations, striking like fire, hammers, wind and lightning without pause. Fear Gu panics that he will die, courage Gu urges him on, and self Gu and attitude Gu boast that the Tribulations are nothing. Weak Gu, betrayal Gu, and fear Gu first urge him to run with them, then abandon him and escape, and self Gu bites all three as they go. Rules and regulation Gu stops the chase, since the three cannot help him now. ^{ch. 2052}

Hope Gu’s light still reaches him, promising that hope survives inside any Tribulation. Strong Gu mocks hope as only lengthening his pain, but Ren Zu endures in silence, held upright by a small pair of wings grown on his feet. His once smooth bones begin to crack under the assault. Hope Gu’s light reaches into the cracks, and the bones start to devour the Tribulations through them, growing firmer with every one they take in. ^{ch. 2052}

His bones blaze into gold as the myriad tribulation golden skeleton, and a heaven connecting bone crown grows naturally from his skull. Ren Zu declares that any tribulation which seems unendurable is endurable to him, and self Gu realizes his endurance traces back to walking out of Ordinary Abyss. Unable to break him, strong Gu warns that the Tribulations will not stop while he still holds hope Gu, then calls their bet settled anyway. It demands every one of his hearts, and he surrenders the heart of sympathy and then the heart of nobleness, which the Predicament struggles to digest. Ren Zu next gives up his original heart, home to hope Gu, which refuses to fly free and asks to be swallowed along with it, and losing it ends the Tribulations but leaves him in deep melancholy. ^{ch. 2053}

At strong Gu’s final demand he gives up the heart of loneliness too, his last heart and self Gu’s own home, though self Gu, already fooled by strong Gu, tells him to let it go. Ren Zu dies, having lost every heart he has. Rules and regulation Gu flies off calling itself free again, courage Gu and edge Gu follow and call this the greatest predicament of his life, and only self Gu stays with the corpse, holding attitude Gu back as well. Loneliness proves too heavy for the Predicament to digest, and its belly bursts open. Ren Zu’s heart of loneliness fuses with his own skin and flesh into a boy, who names himself Ren Zu’s son, Great Strength True Martial. The boy seizes strong Gu, weakened by a bite from self Gu, and locks it inside his own new heart of ambition, then restores Ren Zu’s other hearts and revives him. ^{ch. 2053}