Chapter 233 Immortal Witch's Choice! (1)
"So, have you made your decision on which two daughters you wish to save?" Xia Tian inquired, his eyes slightly parting to observe Immortal Witch's reaction.
Immortal Witch shook her head gently, her voice tinged with uncertainty, "I-I can't possibly decide something so weighty in just a few fleeting moments. Please, grant me some time."
With a knowing hum, Xia Tian closed his eyes once more, a mysterious smile playing on his lips. The maids attending to him continued their diligent service, each vying for his attention in various ways.
He couldn't help but feel a sense of amusement, as he was almost certain of her choice. Xia Tian had granted her the same enigmatic technique he had used to create his daughters—a method that defied the very laws of life's inception.
Ordinarily, new life required a harmonious dance between yin and yang, a delicate union of feminine and masculine forces to bestow a soul upon the burgeoning existence. However, Xia Tian had unlocked a profound secret within the cosmos, allowing him to sever a part of his own soul and mold it into a new life essence, devoid of any need for a complementary female counterpart.
His reputation as the master of souls was well-earned, as he had mastered every facet of soul manipulation.
In the intricate dance of creation, the body merely served as a vessel, while the soul bestowed it with consciousness and essence.
By employing this unique technique, Xia Tian had brought into existence a hundred daughters, although not without encountering numerous trials and errors along the way. The initial ninety-two attempts were met with disappointment, but he persevered, and fortune finally smiled upon his audacious experiment.
Evelynn and her sisters were the successful fruits of this remarkable endeavor—an astonishing feat that seemed to render the notion of maternal origins obsolete.
Xia Tian's own soul, a potent force in the universe, had braved the tribulations of the void realm three times, a consequence of an enigmatic curse that had befallen him.
Even the fragments of his soul held tremendous power, existing within the confines of the void realm from their inception.
Intriguingly, his technique defied the very laws of creation, allowing him to produce offspring that possessed void-level realm souls without enduring the customary trials and tribulations.
However, the cost of such mastery had left him scarred. His own soul, once pristine and whole, now bore cracks and damage, significantly diminishing his power from its peak.
The universe's laws had been seemingly subverted, or perhaps Xia Tian had uncovered a loophole within its grand design. While mere mortals lacked the power of creation, he had discovered the means to manipulate the essence of existence itself—morphing and altering the shape and size of already-existing matter, including the essence of souls.
This complex and audacious endeavor was driven by Xia Tian's unabashed narcissism. He ardently believed that his soul would be tainted by mingling with mundane or lesser female souls during the process of child creation.
Hence, he ingeniously devised a way to bypass this conundrum, forging new life with only his dominant genes, independent of any female counterpart. It was yet another testament to his unwavering narcissm and unwarranted confidence in his own prowess.
The creation of his daughters and the purification of their souls served a greater purpose—a purpose he had foreseen long before he ascended to godhood, an ascent that had come with a profound consequence.
After reaching the pinnacle of power, he had felt his will to live slowly fade away, leaving him like a mere specter, a pure form of energy adrift in the vast expanse of the universe, devoid of any preferences or desires.
[A/N: Refer to chapter number nineteen]
But Xia Tian had anticipated this eventuality and devised a way to retain his original will and identity.
He knew that surpassing everything would require a safeguard to preserve his sense of self, to avoid becoming an empty husk without purpose.
In his mind, other beings, especially females, were deemed unworthy of his attraction or emotional attachment.
The only entity he cared for was himself.
Thus, he embarked on creating daughters who were nothing but an extension of himself, enabling him to form a unique dependency upon them.
This carefully crafted bond became his lifeline even after ascending to godhood, pulling him back from the depths of his own mind.
As long as his daughters lived, he would continue to exist as a separate identity, distinct from the persona of a mere god within the vast universe.
And being a god, he possessed the means to ensure his daughters' eternal existence.
Their fates were intrinsically intertwined with his own, granting him a semblance of immortality that extended far beyond the bounds of existence and godhood.
This paradox of existence had forged a remarkable and unprecedented bond, bestowing upon him a form of immortality that transcended the limitations of mere mortals and deities alike.
As long as his daughters thrived, so too would his essence persist, beyond the reaches of time and the constraints of the universe.
Naturally, Xia Tian was well aware that his audacious actions would come with consequences—after all, at that time, he was not yet a god with the power to reshape the very fabric of the universe itself. Even though he had stumbled upon a remarkable loophole, he knew that there would be a price to pay.
He vividly recalled a past encounter, a fierce battle against enigmatic beasts in the void. They seemed to be remnants of past void realm cultivators who had experimented on themselves, leaving them in that altered state. Seizing the opportunity, Xia Tian allowed his daughters—Nyx and the twins—to face these creatures.
Unperturbed by the potential outcome, Xia Tian saw it as a valuable lesson for them, reminding them that their void realm status did not make them invincible. To him, even if they were to perish, they would merely reincarnate—a learning experience in itself.
However, fate had different plans. When the twins suffered a devastating blow, their souls shattered. Instead of undergoing the usual process of reincarnation, a mysterious white ethereal vortex emerged, pulling their soul fragments away. It was then that Xia Tian realized the cost of his actions. Although they resided in the void realm, their souls did not truly belong there. Thus, upon shattering, they returned to the time when they were still part of the divine essence—a process of cleansing.
This was similar to the method Xia Tian had instructed Shui Ningxue on how to erase someone completely from the existence, purging their souls and allowing them to be reborn anew, devoid of their former properties.
Now, as the god, he understood that trying to revive the other two twins was futile. The puzzle had changed, and even if the pieces were arranged in the same manner as before, the outcome would not be the same. His remaining daughters were now carefully guarded, ensuring their souls remained intact, unlike the twins'.
The past had shaped him, guiding his actions in the present. Now, as the god, he made the rules. His power over creation and existence allowed him to shape souls as he pleased. If their souls were different, well, they were still his. How could the narcissist allow something similar to happen again?
As for Immortal Witch, she had been part of his experimentation before he journeyed to the center of the void to confront the 'God' of that time.
He had granted her the same technique he had used for his daughters.
Now, there were two possibilities: either he returned as the new god, or he did not return at all.
In either scenario, the 'God' prevailing over this universe would have the authority to decide the fate of her children.
Unlike his own powerful daughters, Immortal Witch's offspring possessed weaker souls, making them vulnerable to harm.
Any immortal could easily destroy and shatter their souls, leaving no possibility for revival.
As the current god, Xia Tian gave Immortal Witch a choice—to choose which two daughters she wanted to save.
Even as the god, he remained a firm believer in balance—the very principle that kept the universe in harmony. And he knew that any disruptive variable could not be allowed to exist.
Depending upon her choice, he would take the soul of one daughter in exchange, while granting her remaining two daughters a chance to lead normal lives with unburdened souls.
Of course, his plans had been meticulously crafted one billion years ago, and he knew what choice she would make today.
The Immortal Witch finally lifted her face, the weight of that ancient knowledge bore down on her like an immeasurable burden.
Her eyelashes quivered with uncertainty as she stood at the crossroads of an impossible decision.
"I want to save them all!" she spoke, her voice trembling but determined.
Xia Tian, the Immortal Witch's captor, slowly opened his eyes and stared at her, a sly smile playing on his lips as he pretended to be surprised. "Oh, but that wasn't the option," he taunted.
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