My Law Alone: I Became a God Within a Dream

Chapter 13 : Each Has Their Own Choice

Chapter 13: Each Has Their Own Choice

Once the taste of power is experienced…

It becomes impossible to forget.

With strength and youth regained, the ambitions once buried deep within the heart sprouted again like bamboo after rain.

Wa came alone to Apollo’s residence.

“Father.”

He bowed respectfully.

Apollo looked at his second son who had come late at night, and a trace of realization and pain flashed through his heart.

This scene was so similar to when En had come to see him on the eve of rebellion!

Only, Wa’s goal seemed different.

“What is it.”

Apollo’s voice was calm and without ripples.

Wa knelt on the ground, raised his head, and in his eyes was undisguised ambition and desire:

“Father, now that the tribe’s population has grown large, with everyone gathered here, it has become somewhat crowded.”

“I wish to lead a group of those willing to follow me, to go out and establish a ‘city’ of my own!”

“City”—a word Apollo had often spoken of—had long been deeply imprinted in Wa’s heart.

In the past, he had not dared to hope for it, because he was only mortal, with limited lifespan and ability.

But now, he too had become one “chosen by God,” possessing long years and power.

Why could he not, like his father, establish his own foundation?

Apollo gazed deeply at Wa.

In his second son’s eyes, he saw the same burning fervor as when he himself had once sworn an oath before God…

And also saw, identical to En at the time of his rebellion, dissatisfaction with the present and the desire to transcend it.

Suddenly, he came to a realization.

So the source of all this… was himself!

When divine grace belonged solely to him, it had drawn En’s resentment and rebellion.

And now, it was he who had divided the Authority, igniting the flame within Wa’s heart.

This flame was called ambition.

Once he had sown the seeds of power, he would inevitably have to bear the consequences when those seeds broke through the soil—possibly reshaping the existing order.

After a long silence—so long that Wa almost thought his father would refuse—Apollo finally spoke, his voice carrying a trace of barely perceptible fatigue:

“Go.”

He agreed.

The tribe now numbered five thousand people; the chaotic and crowded living conditions had indeed become a problem.

Division, perhaps, was also inevitable.

A look of wild joy instantly bloomed on Wa’s face as he knocked his head heavily against the ground:

“Thank you, Father!”

Very quickly, Wa gathered a group of young people who likewise longed for a broader world and were unwilling to remain in the current state.

They took with them some supplies and livestock, and departed the tribe in high spirits, heading toward the unknown lands of the east.

Not long after, Apollo’s third son Ze also came before him and made the same request.

Apollo did not stop him, and gave the same support and blessing.

Watching the tribe become noticeably emptier after the two consecutive departures…

Hearing the clearly diminished noise—

Apollo stood alone on the altar and let out a long sigh.

He did not know whether his decision to let his children leave was right or wrong.

He had been born in the era of tribes and had grown up in that same era; his thinking and emotions were deeply rooted in the collective concept of the “tribe.”

He had desired to strengthen the tribe, yet had never considered that growth would lead to division.

He vaguely sensed that a brand-new tide of an era—one he could not fully understand—was surging in.

And he, the leader of the old era, seemed already unable to keep up with the cresting waves.

……

Afterward, Apollo’s fourth son Lei also came before him.

“Lei, do you also want to be like your two brothers and establish your own city?”

Apollo looked at this youngest son who had been frail since childhood, his tone gentle.

Lei had been born on a stormy night filled with thunder and lightning.

He had been born weak and should have died young, but Apollo had exhausted divine grace, watching over him day and night, and had pulled him back from the brink of death.

Lei shook his head. His eyes were clear, lacking his brothers’ desire for power and territory. Instead, they revealed a longing for the outside world.

“Father, I don’t want to build a city. I only want… to go out and take a look.”

Since childhood, he had listened to his third sister Ya recount her experiences from the year she had traveled outside with their father.

Those stories of strange mountains and rivers, and peculiar creatures, had long planted the seed of exploration in his heart.

It was only that in the past, his body had been weak—even traveling far had been a distant dream.

Now, he too had obtained divine grace.

With a healthy body and strength, that deeply buried longing could no longer be suppressed.

Apollo fell silent.

Looking at the anticipation in Lei’s eyes, he seemed to see a reflection of Ya in her childhood.

“You don’t want a city of your own?”

Apollo asked again, thinking that every child who obtained power would crave authority.

Lei shook his head firmly once more. “Father, the vast world is what I yearn for.”

“A city is too big, and too heavy.”

Seeing the undeniable expectation in his youngest son’s eyes, Apollo finally nodded.

“Go.”

Before he left, Apollo rarely showed a father’s warmth. He patted Lei’s shoulder and said:

“If…”

“If you grow tired out there, if you’ve seen enough, then come back.”

“This will always be your home. I will always be here waiting for you.”

Lei felt the deep concern in his father’s words. He nodded vigorously and revealed a bright smile:

“I will, Father!”

“I will definitely come back!”

Lei also left.

On a morning of particularly brilliant sunshine, carrying his simple pack,

His steps light as he disappeared at the edge of the forest, heading toward the vast world he had long yearned for.

……

Finally, Apollo sought out the only child who remained in the tribe.

His daughter, Ya.

Looking at this daughter who had once traversed mountains and forests with him in search of methods of cultivation, now restored to youth by divine grace, Apollo felt a surge of complex emotions.

“Ya.”

He spoke softly, his tone carrying a sense of release.

“If you want to leave, then go as well. There is no need to stay because of me.”

Ya raised her head and looked at her beloved father.

His appearance was still young and handsome, his posture still upright like a mountain.

Yet for some reason, Ya could clearly feel that something within her father was growing old.

It was not the body…

But something indescribable.

A kind of exhaustion and weariness that came from experiencing too many farewells and bearing too many burdens.

She looked at him, and suddenly smiled—a warm and peaceful smile, carrying the clarity that comes with the passage of time.

“Father, I do not plan to leave.”

Ya’s answer made Apollo slightly startled.

He remembered clearly how, in her childhood, Ya had longed for the world outside the tribe, her eyes always sparkling with curiosity about the unknown.

It was precisely because of that longing that he had chosen to take her traveling with him back then.

“Why?”

Apollo could not help but ask, “You once…”