In a violent daze, Li Xiao felt only boundless darkness enveloping his consciousness. He kept falling in this darkness, as if plummeting into a bottomless abyss.
He awoke from the darkness to find himself standing on a vast white land stretching beyond sight.
White sand and pebbles covered the land endlessly, seemingly merging with the horizon.
Just as his eyes were filled with confusion, cheers erupted nearby.
Li Xiao turned his head and saw a group of people shouting excitedly: "The Underworld! This is the Underworld! The legendary 18th layer of the Kunxu Underworld! The Sect Leader was right; reincarnation after death is real!"
"We can be reborn… we can be reborn!"
Hearing the excited shouts of these demonic cult followers, Li Xiao gradually realized!
"I died!"
He recalled the scenes from Myriad Law University City: Zhang Yu and others fighting to the death against the demonic cult's Golden Core cultivators, and himself ultimately being crushed by Shi Huaiyu!
But the anger and pain in his heart were fleeting. The next moment, Li Xiao's face was filled with excitement and anticipation!
"What joy is there in life, what bitterness in death? Better to burn away this broken body through a lifetime of arduous cultivation, and be reborn through reincarnation!" He loudly recited the Featherfall Sect's slogan, then, like the other followers beside him, he burst into loud laughter!
"Death is not the end!"
No wonder, no wonder they didn't allow us to truly die so easily. They were afraid we wouldn't continue living like cattle or horses, afraid we would reincarnate!
At this moment, Li Xiao's eyes gleamed with infinite hope; he seemed to see his future self reincarnating into the 5th or 10th layer of Kunxu, or even into an immortal embryo!
Even if one life didn't work out, there was still the next, and the one after that!
"In one life, eventually, I will have a better origin, a more brilliant day, and reach greater heights on the path of immortality!"
Thinking of Zhang Yu, whose talent surpassed his own, and of Ji Huanshu, Gongshu Jin, and Ying Xin, whose origins were superior, Li Xiao's eyes revealed an immense longing for the future!
At the same time, lines of text began to flash before him!
The Reincarnation Immortal Emperor, lamenting the suffering of all beings and the hopelessness of their current lives, specially vowed to recreate the Underworld, solely to secure a sliver of immortal opportunity for all beings in heaven and on earth!
According to the contract, you may begin your 15th reincarnation!
Li Xiao, still excited, looked at the text and was slightly stunned!
Immediately, lines of text and data continuously appeared before him, calculations of his assets. After deducting debts, taxes, reincarnation fees, processing fees for post-mortem disposable assets, and other necessary expenses, the calculated total was 2.566 Spirit Coins!
In addition to the Spirit Coins total, there were various other currencies Li Xiao had heard of or not, as well as things like divine abilities, immortal artifacts, Daoist lineages, merit, and other items that sounded incredibly expensive. However, the totals for all these latter items were clearly zero for Li Xiao!
As for currencies from the 1st layer, they weren't counted at all!
As Li Xiao looked at these numbers, a profoundly ominous feeling welled up in his heart!
At the same time, another option popped up before his eyes!
"Do you have additional post-mortem assets to declare? Hidden wealth, forgotten assets, cultivation techniques and knowledge not registered in the Daoist canon!"
"Anything you deem valuable, you can try to register!"
"Warning: There are many items requiring expenditure during the upcoming reincarnation process. To ensure a good rebirth, we hope you will diligently register your assets before reincarnation!"
Seeing this, Li Xiao's heart already sank halfway!
He then attempted to register his assets. However, none of the cultivation techniques or knowledge he possessed could be converted into any value!
Clearly, Li Xiao had nothing that could be converted. He even tried to reveal all the intelligence he knew about Zhang Yu and the demonic cult, but gained nothing!
"Do they look down on them? Does the Reincarnation Immortal Emperor disdain these secrets, or are the higher-ups also compromising with each other? Secrets held by the dead cannot easily interfere with reality."
Li Xiao had no chance to verify his guesses. After multiple failures, the process of declaring additional post-mortem assets was skipped, and the official reincarnation process began!
Immediately, numerous options appeared before Li Xiao!
Reincarnate into Kunxu Layer 1 or Layer 36?
Li Xiao wanted to choose a higher layer, but found that every layer except Layer 1 required money. With his post-mortem disposable assets in the negative, he could only choose Layer 1!
After selecting Layer 1, the specific reincarnation location appeared: Which city, city center or suburbs? Male or female? Beautiful or ugly? Also, immortal path aptitude, physical endowments... Talented in artifact refining, martial arts, photographic memory, exceptional intelligence? Or born with a divine spirit root, immortal spirit root, or even an innate sacred body, a destined immortal embryo? Each choice could legally and compliantly grant Li Xiao these traits in his next life, but every adjustment to his aptitude required an exorbitant fee!
Then, family background: good or bad? A mortal family or the descendant of a company employee? What industry were the parents in, what was their cultivation realm, and what was their financial standing?
Even one's own personality could be subtly adjusted!
For instance, one of the personality traits for Li Xiao's next life was "aspiring towards the immortal path." Wanting to remove this trait, or add or adjust other traits, still incurred a fee!
Below that, there was "Merit," which Li Xiao didn't understand!
It seemed that because his post-mortem disposable assets were negative, his merit also displayed as 326!
Li Xiao didn't know what it meant to be born with negative merit, but he was sure it wasn't a good thing!
Looking at one reincarnation setting after another, and the fees required for every subtle adjustment, Li Xiao grew increasingly despairing!
He seemed to see himself, life after life, becoming the poorest at the bottom due to poverty. Life after life... he would just keep going on like this!
Li Xiao couldn't help but let his mind wander: "Wouldn't people get poorer and poorer like this? And where do the increasing numbers of demons at Heavenly Demon University come from, if everyone is constantly flowing downwards towards Kunxu Layer 1? Are they all reincarnated from even higher layers?"
"Or is natural reproduction also possible, and not everyone is a reincarnated being?"
"Or besides this cycle of reincarnation, are there other things involved in population adjustments? This current reincarnation process is just one corner of a vast reincarnation system. Perhaps the reincarnation processes for different layers and statuses in Kunxu are also different..."
But the next moment, he shook his head: "What good is thinking about these things now?"
The biggest problem facing Li Xiao at that moment was still reincarnation!
Suddenly, someone nearby roared: "They even control reincarnation?"
Another person, laughing and crying, said: "Heaven and earth, cause and effect, reincarnation—there's nothing in this world the immortals can't control, nothing they can't manage! They are just playing with us! The immortals are playing with us! The Featherfall Sect is also deceiving us! Making us work and earn money for them life after life! And every time we reincarnate, they bleed us dry again!"
He laughed as he sank to the ground, muttering: "I won't reincarnate anymore, I won't be reborn! I don't want to be poor again..."
Soon, because he delayed starting the reincarnation process, everything began to operate automatically. The person transformed into a rainbow light, shooting straight into the sky, and plunged into a new life!
Others wanted to commit suicide, to truly dissipate their souls. But they found that at this moment, they were merely phantoms. In this pure white Underworld, they couldn't even commit suicide. In the end, they could only transform into rainbows with looks of utter despair and depart!
Li Xiao watched this scene, then turned his head to look at the reincarnation options before him. His heart became like stagnant water!
"In the next life, I'll be even poorer, not even a resident of the immortal capital on Layer 1!"
And the life after that, I'll be poorer still, each life poorer than the last!
Thinking of his future lives as a poor person on Layer 1, and of being poor for life after life, an unprecedented fear surged in Li Xiao's heart!
Because he could not see even a sliver of hope for the future. All he saw was utter darkness and endless suffering!
At this moment, completely and utterly, all he wanted was to die, to truly rest in peace!
Amidst cries of pain, anger, and despair, Li Xiao transformed into a rainbow light, shooting skyward, and began his new life!
Kunxu Layer 2!
Myriad Law University, University City Night!
In Ye Xingli's laboratory!
Hearing Zhang Yu's question, Fu Ji also fell into thought for a moment!
Sure enough... Zhang Yu eventually asked!
Although, after temporarily resolving Feng Yuhan's trouble, Zhang Yu had fully dedicated himself to refining the prototype machine, completing the remaining steps.
But Fu Ji knew that Zhang Yu must have kept their conversation in the Dark Spirit Realm with the Evil Gods in mind. However, at that time, Fu Ji no longer wanted to conceal it from Zhang Yu, perhaps because Fu Ji had been influenced by Zhang Yu!
Perhaps it was because Zhang Yu, in Fu Ji's eyes, had grown more mature.
This time, Fu Ji no longer hid information about the Divine Path from Zhang Yu. Instead, she spoke directly: "The so-called Divine Path is a path of cultivation!"
The most basic Divine Path is naturally the path of cultivating step by step to become a righteous god, a formal employee of the Heavenly Court!
"A more advanced Divine Path is to accommodate the will transmitted by righteous gods from the spiritual realm, becoming their vessels in the material world, and their tools for interfering with reality!"
"Pushing it even further, that's likely the path Zhang Pianpian is currently on..."
Hearing Fu Ji's words, Zhang Yu's expression immediately turned solemn. He listened carefully to what Fu Ji said next!
Becoming a god's reincarnation, step by step mastering the authority, resources, and even memories of a righteous god!
"Ordinary righteous gods certainly cannot reach this step. A righteous god capable of such reincarnation must definitely be a high-ranking one in the Heavenly Court!"
Such a righteous god often has many reincarnated bodies. After these reincarnated bodies constantly compete and devour each other, the one remaining will become the new god!
Fu Ji sighed emotionally: "The path Zhang Pianpian is walking... is very likely this one!"
And in this process, the stronger Zhang Pianpian becomes, the more memories belonging to the righteous god she will acquire, until she defeats all competitors, becomes a true righteous god, and completely integrates that vast memory into her body!
"Of course, in this process, Zhang Pianpian is also highly likely to be defeated by other competitors and become nourishment for their reincarnated bodies!"
And even if she ultimately succeeds, compared to Zhang Pianpian's own meager memories, the righteous god's memories are too vast and complex, like an endless ocean!
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