Absolute Choice 10

by Pear Lands In The Autumn Spring

  A wry smile suffused across Kali's lips. She had truly been tricked and had completely fallen for her scheme. Who said that no scheme was useless in front of absolute power?

  It was only because your scheme was not sinister enough.

  The moment the self-destruction sequence began, it only took an instant for the entire land of the trials to be destroyed. Shi Xiaobai and Speechless’ group were separately located in the array world and the world of the seventh level. They were different worlds that existed in different spaces. Even she needed to take time to travel through space.

  If the 'Infernal Queen' was really sick of living and wished to be destroyed as soon as possible, Kali could really only save one side.

  And she definitely would choose to save Shi Xiaobai, but the other seven rookies were Shi Xiaobai's friends. Furthermore, they were in a dire state because of their attempt to save Shi Xiaobai, so how could she turn a blind eye to their plight?

  The 'Infernal Queen' was too nefarious, causing Kali to feel inordinately furious, but she could not do a thing, because the moment she attacked, she would similarly activate the 'self-destruct sequence', causing her to fail to save both sides.

  Kali found her head aching. She had lost count of the years that has passed since she felt so helpless after gaining absolute strength.

  This time, the only person that could save the seven children was not her, but…

  "Xiaobai, quickly wake up."

  …

  …

  The boy's eyes were filled with tears. In his blurry vision, he slowly lost his focus.

  "Badump! Badump! Badump!"

  A weak heartbeat began to turn stronger constantly in his unconscious mind…Stronger and stronger…

  Suddenly, a fiery beam of light shot out from every corner in his mind and stabbed his eyes, evaporating all his tears. It was as if even his eyes were consumed by the flames. In his pained vision, the world in front of him suddenly opened up into an expanse of light.

  In the light, a shadow gradually floated over, like a large rug that paved a path in front of him.

  Screech, screech. The sound of mice screeching began resounding in his ears.

  Suddenly!

  Countless eyeballs appeared in the shadow. The pupils in the eyeballs turned in different directions as they simultaneously looked at the light beyond the shadow!

  At the same time, the light filled the firmament, as a massive mouth that occupied half the sky slowly opened. Accompanying it was the sound of maggots squirming.

  Slowly, a gigantic bloody tongue reached out from the massive mouth.

  On careful look, the tongue was filled with sharp barbed spikes. Every spike had a thin red lip, as though the most striking lipstick had been applied on them. Countless red lips slowly opened.

  The countless eyeballs in the shadows that were looking at the light suddenly turned and looked towards him. Their overwhelming evil intentions seemed to stab into the boy's every pore like needles. In the light, the countless lips on the spiked tongue unleashed a demonic voice. The voice sounded like the wails of ghosts and the roars of gods!

  "Giving up?"

  "Have you given up?"

  "Repressed or indignant?"

  "You must be indignant?"

  "Are you indignant!?"

  "Then struggle!"

  "Struggle!"

  "You have to struggle!"

  Suddenly, a gigantic mouth that filled half the sky reached out a hand. It was a black-skinned devil's hand covered in blood.

  That hand looked like it was far in the sky.

  But in fact, it was just in front of him.

  "Grab it!"

  "Grab it!!!"

  "Grab it!!!!"

  "Take the power you need!"

  "Go struggle!"

  "Go and struggle!"

  The boy used his final bit of strength to raise his hand with great difficulty.

  Gently, he grabbed the devil's bloody hand.

  …

  ……

  The three-headed hellhound, Herat, was a bachelor dog. It was not because it wasn't handsome or because it did not 'dare' to risk things, but because this screwed up world only had a single three-headed hellhound.

  It was not like it could not accept the act of mating with other species, but that was only to release its pent-up sexual frustrations. It was a physical process and there was no spiritual connection and exchange. It was not the pure 'love' it yearned for.

  As it could not obtain it, it no longer believed in 'love'.

  Only till today!

  Two humans that suddenly appeared in this world were actually exchanging sweet nothings in front of it!

  It was incensed but it did not act rashly and chose to quietly observe!

  Oh? Wanting to kiss?

  Interrupt them!

  Hmph! Want to confess?

  Another interruption!

  Let the two darn humans experience the anger of a bachelor dog!

  After a long while, the two humans finally could not hide in the turtle shell any longer. They began their journey of escapades, but what made it even more incensed was that the two humans would not forget to exchange sweet nothings to each other while running.

  Herat used all its strength to chase after them, but it had no idea how long it chased after them. The two humans seemed extremely tenacious and managed to last a long while without collapsing.

  However, there was ultimately a limit no matter how tenacious they were.

  After the girl fainted, the boy had lasted for a rather long period of time. He fell down six times before he finally could not get up.

  Herat gave a victory roar and was preparing to have a taste of the two humans' flesh with its partners. It was definitely going to be filled with the putrid taste of love.

  However, just as Herat took a few steps forward, it immediately caught a whiff of intense danger. Don't ask it why it was able to catch a whiff of danger, it was only because three-headed hellhounds have such sharp noses.

  In short, as a meticulous and intelligent three-headed hellhound, Herat believed in its intuition and retreated far away at the fastest speed possible.

  Just as it forebode, the boy that had just fallen down stood up once again.

  Furthermore, when he stood up, his black hair had all turned silvery-white. His pair of black eyes had a golden vortex in them, as though there were two golden devils living in them.

  Immediately following that, the banquet of a cruel massacre happened in front of Herat's eyes.

  In less than a minute, hundreds of monsters were torn into pieces by that human. No, that was no longer a human but a silver-haired demon.

  It used its bare hands to rip apart hundreds of monsters.

  The silver-haired demon was bathing in blood and the girl that was tied to it was also covered in blood.

  The silver-haired demon raised its head to roar, as though it did not notice that there was a girl tied to its body.

  The monsters that came late trembled in fear from the hellish scene before them. None of them dared to approach the region that was like an Ashura’s playground.

  Herat felt thankful for its intelligence. It had hidden in the safest zone and continued monitoring the situation secretly.

  Suddenly, its eyes lit up.

  That was because the true show it had been waiting for is finally about to begin.

  The unconscious girl finally opened her eyes!

  "Shi…Xiao…bai?"

  The girl slowly lifted her hand and tugged gently at the silver-haired demon's sleeve. Her weak voice sounded especially clear in the dead and silent hell.

  The silver-haired demon seemed to finally realize that a strange object was tied to its waist.

  It lowered its head and growled.

  Then it stretched its blood-stained hands slowly towards the girl in front of it.

  Herat was immediately ecstatic as it began to tremble in excitement.

  That was because the silver-haire
d demon's hand pose was one it was very familiar with. That was the same hand pose that it used repeatedly when it ripped apart the hundreds of monsters!

  …

  -------

  Please visit www.webnovel.com to read advanced chapters!

  Chapter456 Virtues and Sins

  The human world once had three holy trees—"Fate Tree", "Time Tree" and "World Tree".

  The pixie race was a special lifeform born from the "World Tree". The maturation of every fruit of the World Tree meant the birth of a pixie.

  Pixies were known to be beauty incarnate since ancient times. Not only was it because pixies were mostly beautiful, but because every pixie was given the blessing of the "Seven Contrary Virtues" by the World Tree at their birth.

  It was a debatable question whether humans were innately good or evil. To probe the inner workings of human nature at its most nascent stage, the actions of infants were used. It was debated if humans were corrupted by society as they grew up or not, but there was no conclusion to this debate even after thousands of years. Due to different angles and points of views, the explanations given by both sides were reasonable. No one was able to conclusively retort the other, so no one could prove that they were absolutely correct.

  However, there was no such awkward debates for pixies. That was because pixies were given the grace of the World Tree to be 'born perfect'.

  Pixies were born with the seven precious 'Virtues' — Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility.

  Although pixies were born with these virtues, they had to undergo the baptism of worldly affairs. In their growth, changes would slowly develop. For example, a particular pixie might not need to work because she was born with a silver spoon. The virtue of 'Diligence' would slowly be ground away by neglect on a daily basis.

  Pixies that could maintain the seven virtues all their lives were extremely rare. They almost never existed. Only in the legends were there 'Holy Pixies' who truly maintained all seven virtues. However, 'Holy Pixies' were a legend after all. It was impossible to discern if they were fiction or a true existence.

  Typically, a well-educated pixie would only be able to maintain two or three virtues. The other virtues would gradually disappear as they grew up, making them not much different from ordinary humans.

  However, to pixies who were born with the virtues, there was one thing that was forbidden. It was even abhorred—Virtues could disappear, but it absolutely could not become a Sin.

  For example, 'Diligence' could disappear, but it absolutely could not become 'Sloth'.

  'Chastity' could be lost, but one could not indulge in 'Lust'...

  Pixies could connive the virtues given to them by the World Tree disappear, which they would view it as their incompetence, but they would never taint themselves with the corresponding seven deadly sins of the seven virtues. That was because it was the most serious of betrayals to the World Tree that gave birth to them.

  However, if pixies tainted themselves with an 'evil' from any one of the seven deadly sins, be it a pixie commoner or pixie aristocrat, or even the pixie queen, they would become 'fallen pixies' upon being tainted by 'evil'. They would be exiled at the very least, or even vanquished.

  'Fallen pixies' were the most forsaken species to the pixies, but unfortunately, the World Tree had buried in them the seeds of 'corruption' at the same time it gave them the seven virtues.

  That was because as long as they destroyed a particular 'virtue' of theirs and take the initiative to 'corrupt' themselves with 'evil', they would be able to trigger the seed hidden within them. It would give pixies a temporary burst of strength.

  The ability to exchange power for 'corruption' was the gifts with the best of intentions while simultaneously being the cruelest of tests when the World Tree birthed the pixies.

  That was because there were times when even pixies who yearned for peace would have no choice but to bow down before power. At that moment in time, they would have to make a choice of acquiring the necessary strength at the cost of tainting themselves with 'evil'. This was pertinent when it came to facing the hunting of greedy humans. Their lives, chastity, and dignity were threatened, so these things would become a very difficult choice for them when compared to the 'virtues'.

  Most pixies would choose to 'corrupt' themselves in their greatest time of need to resolve the danger. Although it meant betraying the World Tree, it was much better than betraying themselves.

  These were the origins behind fallen pixies and corruption. They were pixies born with the seven virtues from their very beginnings.

  ...

  Ten thousand years ago, the first apocalypse befell the human world.

  The strongest destroyer of the apocalypse—the Original Sin of Calamity—prioritized destroying the three holy trees that acted as pillars for the human world. The World Tree naturally failed to escape the calamity.

  Following that, as the 'clean-up crew', the Seven Deadly Sins began slaughtering the remaining living beings left in the human world. As a result, the pixies faced the threat of genocide.

  During that calamity of genocide, there was only one pixie that luckily survived.

  The only pixie that survived was Kali, an adolescent who still maintained the seven virtues. She was chosen by the World Tree to become its successor.

  Without the World Tree's procreation, Kali became the last pixie in the human world.

  From that moment on, Kali realized her fate and her mission. She once secretly swore to maintain the final bloodline of the pixies and to absolutely not trigger the strength in the 'corruption seed', never to become a 'fallen pixie'.

  Thankfully, inheriting the powers that the World Tree had bestowed upon her made her nearly invincible in strength. Furthermore, in her travels through different planes of existence, she always took the form of an 'ugly old woman'. Therefore, she never fell into a dire state where she needed to activate the 'corruption seed' during the past ten thousand years.

  Although in the ten thousand years of travel, she had lost her 'Kindness' because she ruthlessly killed her enemies, lost her 'Humility' because of her overwhelming strength and lost her 'Diligence' because she no longer needed to walk to traverse large distances, but there was no inclination towards corruption. She did not encounter a dire state that needed her to trigger the corruption. It was already considered quite a fascinating miracle.

  But not long ago, due to the self-sealing required to enter the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower and how she was trapped by the four Level Lords in the God Slaughtering Formation, she fell into a desperate situation of having to trigger the 'corruption seed' in order to save Shi Xiaobai, who was on the brink of death.

  When 'sacrificing Shi Xiaobai' and 'sacrificing herself' was placed on the same balance, Kali would not hesitate to choose the latter.

  She destroyed the virtue known as 'Patience', and took the initiative to take in the evil known as 'Wrath'. In order to save Shi Xiaobai, she had violated her sworn oath and betrayed the World Tree by turning herself into a 'fallen pixie'.

  She did not regret her actions. Even if she had to do it again, she would make the same choice.

  Although compared to the ten thousand years of her life, the amount of time she knew Shi Xiaobai was so short that it was like a grain of sand in a desert, to her, that short period of time was even more precious that the long span of ten thousand years.

  In the ten thousand years, not only was her life seemingly long and endless, she was also accompanied by loneliness.

  And in the recent short span of time, she had secretly observed Shi Xiaobai's interesting escapades. While watching him, she would at times burst out laughing, at times be infuriated, at times tear up with sadness, at times having boiling blood flow through her veins, and at times disregard everything...

  Although he never noticed her ever-watching eyes, nor did he know about her knowing smiles and slight frowns, she did not feel a tinge of loneliness at all by being a lone obs
erver.

  What she could get from Shi Xiaobai was far greater than what one could imagine.

  As such, how could she watch by the sidelines the person who filled her 'emptiness' be destroyed?

  How could she let the youth that possessed the loftiest of ideals die at the beginning of his journey?

  Even if she needed to use a lie of 'how it was a trivial matter as she was only betraying herself if she became a fallen pixie even though she was no ordinary pixie and that she was equivalent to the successor of the World Tree', she would absolutely not allow that youth to fall into an eternal slumber.

  Therefore, she chose 'corruption' in order to complete 'rescuing' him.

  She did not regret her decision at all.

  But the developments that followed made her filled with regret up till the present moment.

  Shi Xiaobai did not let down the sacrifices she made. He even returned the favor in a way she did not dare imagine.

  He 'snatched' her 'corruption'.

  She was somewhat uncertain of the process of how the 'snatching' worked. All she remembered was that she was suddenly 'pushed down' by him. She fell into panic and was worrying how she could reject him when he gently reciprocated her sacrifice.

  However, this 'reciprocation' was like a heavy sense of 'retribution' to her.

  Shi Xiaobai had snatched away the evil of 'Wrath' from her, making her return to becoming a pure pixie that was untainted by evil. For that, he had to correspondingly pay the great price of the possibility of being controlled by 'Wrath' or lured by 'corruption'.

  Kali felt a great deal of blame for her carelessness, but she felt mostly touched.

  True love was just like how she 'selflessly' sacrificed herself.

  And true love was repaid by him in his 'selfless' manner.

  The first thing Kali did when she left the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower was to search through all the information regarding 'corruption'.

  The Seven Deadly Sins reviled in the extermination of life, but they did not have the practice of burning books. Therefore, she had managed to luckily retain a portion of the pixie's canonical collection.