Chapter 606: Chapter 547: The Secret of Reincarnation and Divine Dao
In the midst of intense dizziness, Li Xiao felt his consciousness shrouded by boundless darkness, as though he were continually falling into an endless abyss.
Until he awakened from the darkness, he found himself standing on a vast white land.
The white sand and stones stretched endlessly, seemingly merging with the horizon.
As he stood there bewildered, the sound of cheering arose beside him.
Li Xiao turned his head and saw a group of people shouting excitedly, "Netherworld! This is the Netherworld! The legendary Netherworld on the 18th floor beneath Kunxu!"
"The Sect Hierarch was right, reincarnation after death is real!"
"We can be reborn, we can be reborn!"
Listening to the jubilant cries of the Demon Sect followers, Li Xiao gradually came to his senses.
"I’m dead."
He recalled scenes from Wanfa University City, remembered Zhang Yu and others fighting to the death against the Demon Sect’s Golden Core, remembered himself being crushed by Shi Huaiyu in the end.
But the anger and pain in his heart flickered away quickly, and the next moment, Li Xiao’s face was filled with excitement and anticipation.
"What’s joyful in life? What’s bitter in death? A lifetime of arduous cultivation is nothing compared to extinguishing one’s remains and being reborn."
He loudly recited the Yuhua Sect’s motto and, like other followers beside him, began to laugh heartily.
"Death is not the end."
"No wonder, no wonder they didn’t want us to die truly."
"It must be because they feared we wouldn’t continue living as oxen and horses, afraid we’d choose reincarnation!"
At this moment, Li Xiao’s eyes shone with infinite hope, as if he could already see himself being reborn on Kunxu’s 5th floor, 10th floor, or even as an Immortal embryo in the future.
Even if not this life, there would be future lives and the life after that.
"In one life, I will have a better background, superior talents, and reach greater heights on the Immortal Path."
Remembering Zhang Yu, whose talent surpassed his own, and those born into better circumstances such as Ji Yuanshu, Gongshu Jin, Ying Xin... Li Xiao’s eyes showed an insatiable longing for the future.
Meanwhile, lines of text began to flash before him.
"The Reincarnation Immortal Emperor laments that all beings suffer, this life hopeless, thus made a grand vow to recreate the Netherworld, solely to secure a celestial chance for the beings of heaven and earth."
"As per the contract, you may begin your 15th reincarnation."
In his excitement, Li Xiao stared at this line, slightly bewildered.
Then lines of text and data continually emerged before him.
It was a calculation of his assets after deducting debts, taxes, reincarnation fees, and other essential costs regarding his disposable assets after death.
"-2.566 spirit coins."
Aside from the spirit coin accounting, there were various other currencies Li Xiao had heard of or not heard of, and items such as Divine Skills, Immortal Artifacts, Dao Veins, merits, all sounding immensely expensive, yet evidently all these were zero in Li Xiao’s accounting results.
As for the 1st Floor’s currency, it was completely excluded from the calculations.
Seeing these numbers, a dire feeling surged within Li Xiao’s heart.
At the same time, another choice appeared before his eyes.
"Do you have any additional posthumous assets that need to be registered? Any overlooked possessions, hidden wealth, cultivation techniques not registered in Dao repositories... anything you deem valuable can be attempted to register."
"Warning: Numerous consumption items are required in the upcoming reincarnation process. To secure a good reincarnation, please conduct a thorough asset registration before reincarnation."
Witnessing this scene, Li Xiao’s heart grew colder.
Then he attempted asset registration. However, whether it was cultivation techniques or knowledge he possessed, none could be converted into any value.
After multiple consecutive failures, the extra posthumous asset registration process was skipped, proceeding to the formal reincarnation procedure.
A plethora of options immediately appeared before Li Xiao.
Which layer of Kunxu to be reborn in, the 1st floor or the 36th floor?
Li Xiao wanted to select the upper floors, but realized each floor except the 1st required money, and with his posthumous disposable assets being negative, he could only choose the 1st floor.
After selecting the 1st floor, where precisely to be reborn? Which city? Downtown or suburbs?
Gender: male or female?
Appearance: beautiful or ugly?
Then Immortal Path aptitude, physical endowment... Is it gifted in Artifact Refining? Martial Arts talent? A photographic memory? Exceptionally intelligent?
Or born with a Spirit Root? Immortal Spirit Root? Or even an Innate Sacred Body? An appointed Immortal embryo?
Every choice allows Li Xiao to legally possess these in his next life, but every adjustment to qualifications carries a hefty price.
Then the family background, good or bad? Is it a mortal household? Or a corporate employee’s offspring? What industry are the parents in? Their cultivation? Asset amount?
Even personal character could be minutely adjusted.
It seems that one of Li Xiao’s personalities in his next life is a heart inclined towards the Immortal Path. Removing this personality, or adding and adjusting other traits, still requires payment.
Below that, there’s a merit point that Li Xiao doesn’t understand.
It seems because the assets he can allocate after death are negative, so this merit point also shows -326.
Li Xiao doesn’t know what it means to be born with negative merit, but he certainly feels it’s not something good.
Looking at one reincarnation setting after another, and the cost required for each minute adjustment, Li Xiao becomes increasingly despondent.
He seems to have already seen his endless future lives, all becoming the poorest of the poor, living life after life like this...continuing forever.
Li Xiao couldn’t help but indulge in wild thoughts: "If this continues, won’t people become poorer? Forever flowing towards Kunxu 1st Floor? Where do the people above come from? Those increasing numbers of the demon clan at Sky Demon University, are they all reincarnated from above?"
"Or is natural reproduction also possible, not everyone is a reincarnated being?
"Or maybe, apart from this cycle, there are other things that contribute to population adjustment..."
But the next moment, he shook his head: "What’s the use of thinking about this now?"
The biggest problem before Li Xiao right now is still reincarnation.
Suddenly, someone next to him shouted: "They even control reincarnation?"
Then another person laughed and cried, saying: "In heaven and on earth, cause and effect reincarnation, there’s nothing in this world that the Immortals can’t control! There’s nothing they can’t control."
"They’re playing us, the Immortals are playing us, the Yuhua Sect is also deceiving us, making us work for them life after life, earning money for them, and every reincarnation they consume us thoroughly once more..."
He laughed as he sat on the ground, murmuring: "I won’t reincarnate, I don’t want to live again, I don’t want to be poor anymore..."
But soon, because he delayed starting the reincarnation process for too long, everything began to operate on its own, and the man was already transformed into a rainbow light shooting into the sky, heading towards a new life.
Some even wanted to commit suicide, wanted their soul to truly disperse, only to find that in this pure white Netherworld as a mere ghost, they couldn’t even end their own existence, and finally, with a face of despair, transformed into a rainbow and left.
Watching this scene, Li Xiao turned to look at the reincarnation options before him, feeling as though his heart was a pool of stagnant water.
"In my next life, I’ll be even poorer, not even a 1st floor Xiandu person..."
"In the life after, I’ll be even poorer, poorer with each passing life."
Thinking about his next life as a 1st-floor pauper, thinking about being poor generation after generation... an unprecedented fear surged in Li Xiao’s heart.
It was just because he couldn’t see a shred of hope for the future, all he saw was darkness, only endless suffering.
At this moment, all he wanted was to die... truly and completely rest in peace.
Amidst cries of pain, anger, and despair, Li Xiao transformed into a rainbow light, shot into the sky, and started a new life.
...
Kunxu 2nd Layer.
Wanfa University, University City.
Inside Ye Xingli’s laboratory.
Listening to the question posed by Zhang Yu, Fu Ji fell into a deep thought.
"As expected... that kid Zhang Yu finally asked."
Although after resolving the trouble with Feng Yuhai, Zhang Yu wholeheartedly devoted himself back to the artifact refining of the prototype machine, completing the remaining steps.
However, Fu Ji knew the conversation that happened in the Dark Spirit Realm with the Evil Gods must have been carved into Zhang Yu’s mind.
At that time, Fu Ji didn’t want to hide anything from Zhang Yu anymore.
Maybe it was because Fu Ji was influenced by Zhang Yu.
Maybe it was because, in Fu Ji’s eyes, Zhang Yu had become more mature.
This time, Fu Ji didn’t hide anything about the Divine Dao from Zhang Yu but instead said directly: "The so-called Divine Dao is a kind of path of cultivation."
"The most basic Divine Dao naturally is the road to gradually acquire the cultivation of a True God, becoming an official employee of the Heavenly Court."
"A more advanced Divine Dao is to embrace the will transmitted from the Spirit Realm by True Gods, becoming their vessel in the material world, a tool for them to intervene in reality."
"In a more ruthless sense, it’s the path that Zhang Pianpian is most likely walking now..."
Hearing what Fu Ji said, Zhang Yu immediately became solemn and listened carefully to what Fu Ji had to explain next.
"To become the reincarnation of a god, step by step grasping the authority, resources, and even the memories of a True God."
"Ordinary True Gods are certainly incapable of reaching this point; a True God that can reincarnate like this is definitely one of the higher-ranking ones in the Heavenly Court."
"And such a True God often has many reincarnations. These reincarnations, through constant competition and mutual devouring, ultimately leave behind the one who becomes the New God."
Fu Ji sighed: "The path Zhang Pianpian walks... is most likely this one."
"And during this process, the stronger Zhang Pianpian becomes, the more memories belonging to the True God she will acquire until she defeats all competitors, becomes the genuine True God, and completely integrates that vast memory into her body."
"Of course, in the process, Zhang Pianpian is also very likely to be defeated by other competitors and become nourishment for other reincarnations."
"And even if she eventually succeeds, compared to her own few memories, the memory of a True God is too immense, as vast as the sea..."