AITAMITB Chapter 103

Zhao Xiaokui’s assurance to solve the situation was not an empty promise.

As a Star Seer, the scenes Shen Zhifei dreamed of, even if not a hundred percent certain to happen in the future, undoubtedly indicated that something had occurred, leading to the divergence in her fate. There must be a cause for every effect. When Shen Zhifei fell asleep, Zhao Xiaokui closed her eyes and entered her consciousness.

The ocean was vast, the sky expansive, and stars twinkled.

Upon entering this realm, she naturally felt a sense of tranquility and quietude.

She extended her hand, and a star from the sky descended, drawing a beautiful arc on the black backdrop. It landed in the palm of her hand, and with a gentle squeeze, the golden star dispersed, forming an image. A patient tormented by insomnia, listening to “Deep Sea,” curled up on a single bed, sleeping soundly.

This was the source of Zhao Xiaokui’s power of faith.

Every person who benefited from her singing, expressing gratitude to her, provided a portion of power. These stars illuminated her small world, lighting up the sky. If one day, the stars in the sky were numerous enough, a true sun might appear, transforming her consciousness into her divine realm, and creating a genuine world.

However, at this point, Zhao Xiaokui hadn’t thought that far.

Though she could now convert the power of faith into her own power, it was like converting hydraulic power into electricity—limited in use, inefficient, and a rudimentary process.

True demigods or deities could directly harness the power of faith, conducting strikes in the dimensions of the world. In contrast, she had to convert it first before use, and she couldn’t respond to the prayers of believers. In fact, those providing the power of faith couldn’t be considered her followers; they merely enjoyed her songs, benefiting from her singing with a bit of gratitude. Their admiration and wishes for her were minimal.

Though the faith obtained in this manner was sparse, Zhao Xiaokui found it satisfactory. Perhaps the faith of a thousand shallow believers didn’t match the power provided by a single fanatic believer. However, why would she need so many followers? She had no intention of starting a sect, self-proclaiming as a deity, or absorbing these faiths for the sake of becoming some revered figure with unparalleled power. The purpose was to protect the people she cared about, not to become a so-called deity, revel in others’ admiration, and possess unmatched strength.

the power of faith wasn’t particularly appealing to Zhao Xiaokui, so she plunged headfirst into the ocean.

In her consciousness, despite having both ocean and sky imagery, ultimately, the ocean was her foundation, the core of all her powers, the place where she could truly sleep peacefully.

Upon entering the ocean, unlike the real-world ocean, there was no transitional zone from brightness to darkness. Zhao Xiaokui almost instantly plunged into darkness, as if entering the real depths of the sea. However, unlike a typical ocean, the ocean in her consciousness was even quieter and darker.

Apart from herself, anyone who arrived here would likely get lost.

Zhao Xiaokui stretched her body freely, her long fishtail swaying as she patrolled this ocean.

In theory, as the master of this ocean, she should be familiar with every inch of it. However, Zhao Xiaokui wasn’t an inexperienced fool. Blindly trusting her control over her consciousness would be too easy to manipulate in the superhuman world. If she couldn’t continually scrutinize herself and reflect on her actions, she might one day be replaced and perform actions entirely contrary to her original consciousness, mistakenly believing it to be her own will.

Others might not care much about such matters, as encountering this situation was a rare occurrence even in the superhuman world. Yet, Zhao Xiaokui had lived among the merfolk for many years. In a race that enhanced its strength by devouring souls, having one’s consciousness distorted, infected, and influenced was an everyday occurrence.

Since her time in the deep-sea world, she had developed the habit of regularly inspecting her consciousness.

Upon careful reflection, she realized that after waking up from her coma, she surprisingly didn’t engage in immediate introspection. This might be a manifestation of her consciousness being distorted. Some force manipulated her to forget about inspecting her consciousness. If not for Shen Zhifei’s reminder, she might not have recalled this task on her own.

Thinking about it, since she had grown up with the constant reminder of facing dangers and the possibility of having nowhere to go in the superhuman world, Zhao Xiaokui had enjoyed some ease living in human society. As the saying goes, “Born in suffering, die in ease.” Thanks to Shen Zhifei’s reminder, otherwise, Zhao Xiaokui wouldn’t have known when she might have completely disappeared.

Patrolling was a lonely job in the deep sea, devoid of any living beings. The only things present were fragments of her memories. Occasionally, Zhao Xiaokui would see familiar scenes: the image of her at the age of three, taken to an amusement park by her grandmother, refusing to get off the trampoline; or her at the age of twelve, running away from a goose in the countryside with her friends. As Zhao Xiaokui looked at these memories, a smile naturally appeared on her face.

However, as she swam along, the smile on her face gradually faded.

The scenes of memories remained clear, but Zhao Xiaokui suddenly noticed that she no longer felt the same empathy. Although these were experiences she had lived through, revisiting them now felt like observing a stranger’s life.

Though she hadn’t experienced similar events, she had read about such things in books.

With an expressionless face, Zhao Xiaokui swam forward, and the images she read became colder. Towards the end, she couldn’t even immerse herself in the scenes of her own memories. It was as if she were watching a movie from the sidelines, lacking even basic empathy.

Frowning slightly, Zhao Xiaokui was relieved that she hadn’t swum for too long when a massive crystal appeared in front of her.

The crystal, radiating a light blue glow, illuminated the surrounding sea. Inside the crystal, there was a mermaid exactly resembling her. Zhao Xiaokui stopped in front of it.

“Reincarnation,” she murmured the word with an unpleasant expression.

Upon seeing this statue, the term naturally appeared in Zhao Xiaokui’s mind.

Reincarnation, as the name suggested, was the process of giving birth to a new consciousness within one’s own consciousness. Simultaneously, it was also the necessary path for ordinary beings who wished to become deities.

Before this moment, Zhao Xiaokui, like most people, knew that after reaching the Ninth Tier, the Tenth Tier would follow, and once someone broke through the Ninth Tier, they could be called a deity with powers transcending heaven and earth. However, the specifics of how to break through and transform from a demigod to a deity were not clear.

In fact, not only was she unclear about it, but even those transcendent beings in the extraordinary world at the Seventh and Eighth Tiers might not know either.

Zhao Xiaokui had come across multiple instances in books stating that to become a deity, one must join a faction. The likelihood of becoming a deity as a lone cultivator was low because only those within the influence of divine transcendent powers knew how to ascend to godhood. Trying to explore the path to godhood on one’s own, without guidance, was akin to deducing infinite prime numbers—it would likely lead nowhere even after exhausting one’s entire lifespan.

Zhao Xiaokui could understand the significance of reincarnation.

Many transcendent beings, in the process of continuous advancement, inevitably faced interference from various directions, resulting in the contamination of their consciousness. Especially when transcendent beings ascended to a certain level, where they could absorb and apply the power of faith, each bit of consciousness carried by the myriad of followers, though individually small, cumulatively exerted an impact comparable to that of evil deities.

Therefore, for transcendent beings aspiring to become deities, it was necessary to give birth to a new consciousness within their own consciousness. This newly formed consciousness retained all the memories of the original self but remained impervious to emotional influence, possessing a determination far surpassing the past.

If this were the deep-sea world, Zhao Xiaokui would be delighted to encounter the tangible embodiment of reincarnation within her consciousness.

This would indicate that she possessed the key to the path of godhood, needing only to reach that destination and open the gate.

However…

Zhao Xiaokui raised her hand, clenched it into a fist, and fiercely struck downward.

A massive, muffled impact echoed in the sea, sending ripples cascading and eventually forming towering waves on the surface.

“Stop, stop!”

A piercing female voice resounded in Zhao Xiaokui’s ears, and she recognized it as her own voice.

Undeterred, Zhao Xiaokui struck down with another punch.

A faint crack appeared on the ice-blue crystal.

“What are you doing? Don’t you want to become a deity? Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“Of course, I know exactly what I’m doing.” Zhao Xiaokui flexed her fingers, glanced at the spot she had struck as if feeling it might have been too forceful, circled around the ice-blue crystal, found a new spot, and delivered another punch. “I’m breaking you.”

Becoming a deity is an unattainable goal.

“I don’t need reincarnation. I know what I’m doing. Every emotion, every joy and pain, is my own experience. I absolutely won’t allow a duplicate to negate my past!”

The voice shouted, “You will regret this!”

“Regret, maybe…” Zhao Xiaokui disregarded a fleeting moment of hesitation in her heart, firmly holding onto one thought, and punched again. “Doesn’t matter, regret if I must. Who hasn’t done something regrettable? But I’m crystal clear now—I won’t allow a reincarnated consciousness in my sea of consciousness!”

“Don’t you want to escape the mating season? Do you truly want to let yourself be controlled like an animal during the mating season?”

“Rest assured, I have strong self-control. I haven’t let the mating season take over my brain. No need to worry.”

“You are me, and I am you. Why must you do this?”

“Tsk, don’t talk in such absolutes. Who knows what you really are? Although reincarnations usually consist of one’s own consciousness, who knows if there might be some foreign elements mixed in your consciousness.”

Crack, crack—

Fine cracks appeared on the ice-blue crystal, then, like snowflakes, they continued to expand until they spread across the entire body of the crystal.

Zhao Xiaokui withdrew her hand and accompanied by the increasingly distant and increasingly vain “You will regret this,” she quickly stepped back. Then, she watched with wide eyes as the ice-blue crystal cracked open, revealing a golden mermaid inside with tightly closed eyes. The mermaid opened its deep blue eyes, revealing a resentful expression.

Expressionless, Zhao Xiaokui waved her hand and revealed a business-like smile.

“Goodbye.”

She knew it well—what is obtained without cost is rarely anything good.

As a third-tier superordinary being, it was far from simple to have the consciousness of rebirth appearing in her own consciousness sea.

Most likely, the mermaid statue she had touched earlier had left some means inside.

Want to use her body for resurrection? Dream on!

As the colossal statue turned into fine powder and scattered into the boundless ocean, with the first light of day breaking, Zhao Xiaokui opened her eyes. Her dark golden eyes gradually faded, ultimately becoming as light as an amber-colored lake.

She looked at Shen Zhifei peacefully sleeping beside her and kissed her lips.

Thanks to her understanding Shen Zhifei, she could timely discover this hidden danger.

Becoming a god…

Zhao Xiaokui thought of this phrase and let out a cold laugh.

If given the chance, she would undoubtedly hope to attain the immense power mentioned in mythological legends.

However, if the cost was to erase her past emotions and turn into an emotionless deity, what good was becoming a god?

She would rather be like this, waking up every morning and seeing the face of her beloved.

Her gaze was too intense. Shen Zhifei, feeling extremely sore, drowsily opened her eyes and met Zhao Xiaokui’s eyes filled with a smiling expression.

She extended her arm, hooked it around Zhao Xiaokui’s neck, and affectionately playfully nuzzled against her. “What time is it?”

“It’s still early. Go back to sleep. You don’t have to worry about work at the company. I’ll wake you up when it’s time.”

Shen Zhifei trusted her words deeply, closed her eyes again, and drifted back into a deep sleep.

Zhao Xiaokui lowered her head, kissed her forehead, and also closed her eyes.

In the river of fate, a recently forked tiny stream suddenly dried up, revealing a cracked riverbed.

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