Chapter 1932: Destined Vessel

“‘Never… existed…’ What does that mean?” Yun Che's spiritual voice was filled with immense difficulty.

The Ancestral Will slowly recounted: "On the day of your marriage to Situ Xuan, someone secretly put a potent poison in the morning porridge she prepared for you. Although it was just a low-grade mortal poison, it proved fatal for you, given your damaged profound veins and weakened body at the time."

"Before the wedding ceremony even began, you succumbed to the poison and died instantly."

"For her, this was an unbearable blow. Especially since she believed she was responsible for your death, she was overwhelmed by grief, self-blame, pain, and despair..."

"Her soul fractured into countless fissures due to the overwhelming sorrow."

"And the fractured soul forcefully awakened—or rather, compelled the dormant Ancestral Will to emerge."

"Another 'her,' who is now speaking with you, thus awoke."

Yun Che was speechless.

The voice of the Ancestral Will gradually faded again. In Yun Che's soul sea, a scene he was once intimately familiar with appeared.

Red drapes, still burning red candles, a familiar setup... This was his room in the Xiao Sect back then. That day was his wedding to Xia Qingyue (Situ Xuan), and also a major turning point in his destiny.

A turning point...

He was poisoned to death on his wedding day, then inexplicably reborn on the Azure Cloud Continent. When he fell off the Cloud's End Cliff on the Azure Cloud Continent, he reawakened in his original, poisoned body, merging the memories of both lives...

This had always been the biggest and most inexplicable mystery about him.

Even now, standing at the peak of the current era, he still couldn't comprehend what had truly happened to him back then.

When he returned to the Azure Cloud Continent, it was an Azure Cloud Continent from many years ago. Su Ling'er, whom he had lost in his memories, was now an undeveloped young girl.

Furthermore, Su Ling'er later awakened to her memories of him from that year, proving that his life on the Azure Cloud Continent was not an illusion.

Could it be that the true reason for all these incomprehensible events was...

It was...

In the vision, he lay stiffly in front of the bed, clad in red, his eyes still open but devoid of any light.

Beside him, Xiao Lie pressed his hands against Yun Che's chest, desperately trying to expel the virulent poison with profound energy. Xiao Lie's lips were blue, his face deathly pale. He struggled to maintain a calm expression, but the profound pain in his eyes was unbearable to witness.

Nearby, Xia Yuanba screamed and ran out, shouting the name of a Profound Palace instructor. Xiao Lingxi knelt on the ground, gripping his hand, which was growing cold, sobbing heartbreakingly.

At that moment, the light suddenly dimmed.

All sights grew faint, all sounds receded... Gradually, the world transformed into complete darkness, leaving only the desperate silhouette of a weeping girl.

"So, sorrow can truly shatter a soul... Is this what human emotions are like?"

The girl, amidst the haze, lifted her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her eyes sparkled like shattered stars. "Who... are you?"

"I am another you, and you are another me... You sensed my emergence, didn't you?"

"...Save Little Che." She murmured softly. Then, like someone drowning desperately clinging to a lifeline, her fractured, star-like eyes gathered a deep glimmer, and her voice became urgent: "Save Little Che! Quick, save Little Che!!"

"The demise of a mortal life is but a speck of dust scattered between heaven and earth; it is not worth your emotion, much less your sorrow," an ethereal voice resonated in the colorless world. "The soul fractured, the Ancestor awakened, and this cycle of reincarnation has failed, preventing the completion of the Immaculate Divine Body."

"However, it matters not. Though unsuccessful, no harm was done. In this life, I shall again observe the world of this ordinary plane with a conscious will, existing as a mortal. Complete rebirth shall be left for the next reincarnation cycle."

"Thus, let our wills merge. Amidst countless years of profound change, his death will be buried like a speck of dust, and you will no longer feel a trace of sorrow."

"No... No!!"

The approaching Ancestral Will was met with an exceptionally resolute rejection from the girl's will.

Her body instinctively recoiled, and the emotion she radiated was a resolute determination mixed with fear.

After all, that was her former will. She could vaguely sense the nature of that existence, which was why she felt fear... fear that her true self would disregard the will of "Xiao Lingxi," would diminish, and even completely disregard the name Xiao Che.

"Save him... Save him... Save him..."

She whispered and pleaded again and again... pleading with her other self.

A long sigh echoed in the colorless world.

"Though merely my newly emerged will, why is it so intensely strong...?"

"My former self looked down upon all in the world, only faintly marveling at the wondrous emotions of mortals. Only by experiencing them personally do I now realize... they can be so fervent..."

"Save him... quick, save him!" She repeated the same plea over and over: "You can save him... You must have a way to save him!"

"Life and death are difficult to reverse. This is a fundamental law I established during creation, but there are exceptions outside of the law."

"My current self has not yet completed rebirth and cannot directly reverse his life and death. However, with the power of nothingness I have now recovered, it is enough to reverse the flow of time in this world to a certain extent, causing time to rewind to the moment before his death."

"Thus, by indirect means, his life and death can be reversed, allowing him to return to life."

"However, given my current state, you should be well aware of the cost of doing so."

"It doesn't matter anymore, nothing matters anymore..." Her heart and soul still fractured, the girl shook her head vigorously. Apart from tears and sorrow, apart from the desperate desire and obsession to save him, there was nothing else in her shattered soul. "I just want him to live... I want my Little Che to live again."

"Your will is my will. And the obsession now dominating your will is the strongest it has ever had since its existence. I am destined not to refuse."

"You might be willing to disregard the consequences for this, but have you considered that he is not just a mortal, but a rather insignificant one among mortals? A body incapable of cultivation leaves him with almost no ability to withstand risks."

"Without sufficiently powerful protection, anyone can easily put him in a fatal situation, just as it is now."

Xiao Lingxi was silent.

"If you save him today, will you save him every time thereafter...? Each time you save him in the same manner, the incomplete Void Divine Body will diminish further, and each subsequent depletion will be more severe."

"Even so, given the state of his body, his lifespan would at most be a century. What will you do then?"

The girl's eyes gradually lost focus, but after a brief moment, they quickly re-focused, gleaming with an unusual divine light.

"Then give him... a portion of my Void Divine Body... let him possess... power that no one can harm him with."

"Alas—" another long sigh, and the ethereal voice slowly stated: "The Divine Body is derived from the void of primordial chaos; it is my unique ancestral body. To permanently diminish oneself and bestow it upon a mortal, how absurd."

"But since it is your obsession, I can only grant your wish."

"However... I can indeed allow him to possess a human-level Divine Body, but you must understand that in my current state, before rebirth is complete, I cannot even manifest power myself, much less directly bestow power upon him."

"Furthermore, even if I could... he would only possess a Divine Body without profound veins, fundamentally unable to bear power, and his life would still be easily taken. Therefore, the Divine Body on him would merely extend his lifespan."

Xiao Lingxi looked forward, softly murmuring: "Countless beings in the world, myriad destinies... Why is it so unfair only to him?"

"Born with deficiencies, subjected to scorn and cold stares, barely a youth, yet again struck by such a cruel hand... Why must my Little Che endure such a fate!"

After a long silence, the ethereal voice asked: "Do you wish... to change his destiny?"

"Bestow upon him a Divine Body, and change his destiny!"

Her voice was exceptionally soft and slow. With the awakening of the ancestral memories, she displayed a gaze Yun Che had never seen in Xiao Lingxi before.

These eight short words were sacred decrees that only an Ancestral God was qualified to utter.

"The Divine Body will allow his physique to receive and contain any form of power without restriction, to be inherently close to the laws of nothingness that mortals can never touch, enabling him in this godless world to possess power beyond limits in a very short time."

"Changing his destiny will allow him to safely overcome any tribulation, to gather the world's fortune, and to obtain the greatest opportunities and blessings in this world..."

"You can do it, I know... you can do it."

The ethereal voice responded to her: "Destiny is the most inviolable and unalterable thing in this world. This is one of the most fundamental and important laws I established at the dawn of creation."

"Because even the slightest interference with the destiny of the most ordinary being can lead to immense causal shifts."

"Fortune, as a part of destiny, is maintained in balance by the strictest laws. Even I cannot generate it out of thin air."

"If you insist on changing his destiny, the only method I can conceive of with my current power is... the Lock of Destiny."

"The Lock... of Destiny..." Xiao Lingxi murmured, trying to grasp its concept amidst her vague understanding.

"All existing beings have predetermined destinies. To forge a Lock of Destiny, one of the entities must be a newly created being... Therefore, to change his destiny, creation must first occur. The created individual will serve as the vessel for his changed destiny, also known as a 'Device of Destiny.'"

"However, a newly created being is also a complete individual. Under the unbreakable law of destiny's balance, this would be immensely unfair and cruel to that being. Even so, do you still wish to proceed?"

Without any hesitation, the girl closed her eyes and softly said: "I told you, I only want him to live. I only want him to have a peaceful life, no longer enduring such a pathetic fate... Nothing else... matters... nothing else matters..."

"Very well. Although the cost is immense, it shall be... as you wish."

"To achieve the Void Divine Body, one must undergo a cycle of reincarnation. The power of the Samsara Mirror has not yet recovered, so it must be forcefully activated."

"His reincarnation in this life will still be on this planet... He will go to the continent named 'Azure Cloud'."

"During this reincarnation cycle on the Azure Cloud Continent, which is meant to complete the merging of the Divine Body, I will pause the flow of time for the entire world, except for the Azure Cloud Continent. During this period, I will create the 'Device of Destiny' for him, rationalize its existence, and alter and correct all related karmic consequences."

"Fortunately, Flowing Cloud City is a small town with sparse inhabitants and limited external connections. Correcting the cognitive causality is relatively simple. With my current weak and incomplete power, it might even be completed within five years."

"Once his reincarnation is complete and he returns to the body of 'Xiao Che,' the time on the Azure Cloud Continent will revert, and the world's time flow will resume."

Tear streaks slowly slid down the girl's face. The fractures in her starry eyes seemed to diminish slightly as she murmured, "This way, my Little Che can come back... and he won't be so lowly or easily harmed anymore."

"Then, what kind of 'Device of Destiny' do you wish to be linked to his fate?"

Xiao Lingxi gazed forward, speaking with a dazed expression: "I am his aunt, destined not to be his wife. Situ Xuan is unworthy of being his wife... I hope that person can take Situ Xuan's place and become his wife... She must possess sufficiently powerful talent and will, have a seemingly cold exterior but a genuinely soft heart, and be able to protect him before he grows strong, shielding him from all calamities."

After a long silence, the ethereal voice spoke: "Within this small Flowing Cloud City, there is a wisp of exceptionally pure Grandmist aura. Perhaps... it is even the purest Grandmist aura in the current era."

"It resides within the young man named Xia Yuanba. Once this Grandmist aura fully merges with his body, he will possess the 'Great Desolate Divine Body,' a physique never before seen in this godless world."

"Currently, one-tenth of the Grandmist aura has merged with him. The remaining nine-tenths will be forcibly taken and bestowed upon the 'Device of Destiny'."

"Xia Yuanba's talent is inherited from his mother—a woman from the 'God Realm' named Yue Wugou, whom Xia Hongyi called 'Dongxue.' Her 'Immaculate Divine Body' is a miracle in the current age, yet due to the whims of fate, she fell to this lower-realm small city and bore this child with the ordinary mortal Xia Hongyi."

"With my current power, I cannot create something from nothing. To allow the 'Device of Destiny' to perfectly integrate the Grandmist power forcibly taken from Xia Yuanba, her maternal bloodline must be taken from Yue Wugou. As for her paternal bloodline..."

After a brief pause, she continued: "Xia Hongyi is ultimately a mortal. His bloodline is too weak and impure; creating from his bloodline would instead taint the Grandmist aura."

"Had she not suffered a tragic fate, the one Yue Wugou truly loved was Yue Wuya, the Moon God Emperor of the Moon God Realm. He possesses the revered Moon God bloodline of this era, undoubtedly making him an excellent choice."

"So, her paternal bloodline shall be taken from Yue Wuya. In this way, it could be seen as fulfilling their lost wishes, albeit through an unconventional method."

"Born in Flowing Cloud City, her perceived identity will be the daughter of Xia Hongyi and Yue Wugou. However... this kind of bloodline creation will generate a bloodline resonance far beyond the ordinary if she encounters someone with a closely related bloodline."

"Should she ever come near Yue Wuya, an overly strong bloodline resonance might expose this anomaly. One can only hope that such an incident won't occur too soon between two such distant worlds."

"The Ice Cloud Immortal Palace in the north was left behind by someone from the God Realm. It shall be chosen as her sect, which might, in the future, become an opportunity for them to reach higher planes."

As these words were spoken, the form of the "Device of Destiny" began to materialize.

With Yue Wugou as her mother, Yue Wuya as her biological father, Xia Hongyi as her recognized father, the Ice Cloud Immortal Palace as her sect, possessing Xia Yuanba's Grandmist aura, and married to Yun Che...

"Since Xia Hongyi is her recognized father, her surname will naturally be Xia."

"Xia Hongyi is also a devoted man, his affection dedicated solely to Yue Wugou throughout his life, unwavering even after her departure many years ago. Thus, she shall be named..."

"Xia Qingyue."

"Xia Qingyue..." The girl softly repeated the name. "She will protect Little Che well... won't she?"

"Even a Device of Destiny is not absolute. Although she is created by me, I cannot control the final formation of her will. Their ultimate future cannot be predicted."

"However..."

"If the Lock of Destiny remains unbroken, he will be imbued with great fortune, helping him continuously acquire blessings difficult for others to attain. Coupled with the Void Divine Body, he will grow rapidly as you wished, eventually surpassing all beings in this world, and no one will be able to harm or bully him again."

"As for her..."

"Under the balance of destiny, she, at the other end of the Lock of Destiny, will bring cruel calamities upon those she cares about."

"If she is a sister, her siblings will frequently face deadly perils;"

"If she is a disciple, her sect will suffer destruction;"

"If she is a daughter, her parents will not meet a good end;"

"If she is a mother, all her children will die young;"

"If she is an empress, the land under her rule will be reduced to ashes."

"Her misfortunes exchanged for Xiao Che's fortune. This is the cruel Lock of Destiny. And since she was created from nothingness, one day, she will gradually see everything clearly... the truth of her existence as a 'Device of Destiny'."

"By that time, perhaps he will have grown to no longer need the 'Device of Destiny.' But she will be unable to forgive herself. Perhaps she will choose to end her own life to stop the calamities she brings upon those she cares about."

"An enormous cost, a tremendously cruel Lock of Destiny... Do you still wish for this?"

This was her final inquiry.

Xiao Lingxi's gaze remained unwavering, and her voice was slow and resolute: "The memories of the Ancestral God seem close, yet out of reach. I cannot fully comprehend my will as the Ancestral God. But, at this moment at least... even if it means burying this world, I must... save him."

"This is the final will, and a will that has never changed." The voice gradually receded, and cracks appeared in the pitch-black world. "Then, I shall sacrifice the power of six hundred reincarnations to grant your wish."