Without dwelling on it further, Di Tian raised a hand, ready to eliminate Bai Sha immediately. Seeing that he had no intention of answering her question and was simply going to strike, Bai Sha sighed inwardly. She knew this lifetime was over.
But at that very moment, she felt her body being pulled swiftly away from Di Tian. She looked up. A stark white skeleton had appeared beside her without a sound, pulling her by her dorsal fin in a frantic escape.
“Shizun…” Bai Sha found herself speaking. The bones were, without a doubt, the remains of Gong Yuxiang. At the very end of her last life, these bones had appeared, trying to save her. And now, in this life, Gong Yuxiang had come again. Bai Sha felt a stirring of emotion in her heart, even knowing Gong Yuxiang couldn’t truly save her. But who could ignore such an act?
“Hm?” Di Tian was also slightly taken aback by Gong Yuxiang’s sudden appearance. His form flickered, turning into a plume of black smoke that swept past, instantly blocking Gong Yuxiang’s path. He looked at her deeply. “A person already dead? How can a dead person still move? Are you also connected to the Eerie?”
Gong Yuxiang gave no answer. She just clutched Bai Sha and darted in another direction. Di Tian’s form blurred, once again blocking their escape route. “Are you a Ghost Cultivator? But you don’t seem like one. You lack that repulsive aura. Did you use some kind of heavenly treasure so that even with your physical body utterly destroyed, you can persist in this form?”
Gong Yuxiang changed direction again. But no matter which way she went, Di Tian instantly reappeared before her. After this repeated several times, Gong Yuxiang finally stopped moving.
Bai Sha looked at her Shizun. She felt the wave of helplessness emanating from those bones and offered words of comfort. “It’s all right, Shizun. Even dying isn’t necessarily the end.”
Gong Yuxiang could say nothing in return. Di Tian walked toward them unhurriedly. “Quite interesting. At your full power, you might have been able to exchange a few blows with me. But alas, you are far too broken now. So, bid this world farewell.” His eyes held a dangerous light. He wasted no more time. A terrifying aura erupted from Di Tian’s body. Dense black mist coalesced in his hand into a long blade. As he swung it forward, it felt as though the entire world between heaven and earth was plunged into darkness.
Bai Sha saw Gong Yuxiang being sent flying by the strike. Her bones were incredibly tough and couldn’t be severed, but she still couldn’t resist the force. As Gong Yuxiang was blasted away, the next blade came down toward Bai Sha’s head. She was completely powerless to resist. A tearing sensation washed over her. It was as if her world split in two: one half moving up, the other moving down, a violent sense of dislocation.
Her life was over.
…
…
[This experience has been successfully converted into a Simulated Experience.]
[You may choose one reward from this experience.]
[1. Retain your cultivation level from this experience.]
[2. Retain one item you possessed during this experience.]
In the boundless darkness, Bai Sha floated alone. The scenes of her sixth life replayed in her mind, filling her heart with a myriad of feelings. It was a life dominated by the Eerie. The Eerie was unsolvable, something she couldn’t survive. At least, right up until her death, Bai Sha had seen no method to counter it. This taught her that no matter the circumstances, she must never come into contact with the Eerie.
After her bout of reflection, Bai Sha considered what to retain. Currently, she had two Save Files. One was a save from the very beginning of her transmigration. The other was a save from two months after that point. However, the First Save had already been used five times and was now in a cooldown period, slowly recharging. Until its uses recovered, her actual choice was limited to the Second Save.
In that Second Save timeline, she began at the Foundation Establishment (Mid) stage, which was exactly her current cultivation level. So there was no need to retain her cultivation.
Then, what item should she keep? She could only keep an item she possessed herself. Her possessions weren’t particularly numerous or scarce, but when it came to items of true value, the list was short. For instance, the several Nascent Soul Stage artifacts from Yu Zi’an were valuable. But artifacts were useless to her without sufficient cultivation. What about the token controlling the Heavenly Devil Ship? If she chose that, wouldn’t cultivators from the Heavenly Devil Palace come hunting her directly? Not a good choice.
Bai Sha thought and thought over the available options. Finally, one object surfaced in her mind.
The Eerie Orb! This was the trace of Eerie that Yu Zi’an had fortuitously extracted and condensed into a small sphere. Under normal conditions, it posed no danger. But if shattered, the Eerie inside would immediately diffuse, turning a localized area into an Eerie Zone. Though it was but a tiny amount of Eerie, her last life had shown her that Eerie had no inherent difference in strength. The longer it existed and the further it spread, the more terrifying it became. So this one little Eerie Orb could potentially trigger a catastrophe even worse than the one she’d just experienced.
“The other choices aren’t that great anyway… so why not choose the Eerie Orb?” Bai Sha murmured to herself.
Items preserved through the Simulator would follow her like a shadow, present in every lifetime. Just like the Gray Stone Tablet inscribed with the Raging Waves Art, which still sat inside the Simulator’s internal space. Wouldn’t an Eerie Orb be far more useful than a Nascent Soul Stage artifact?
With that thought, Bai Sha didn’t hesitate any longer and chose to retain the Eerie Orb.
Before selecting the Second Save, Bai Sha first recalled the state of that timeline. In the Second Save, she started at the Foundation Establishment (Mid) stage and possessed the Storage Artifact, the Moon Spirit Pearl; the Demon Core Level Ancient Forbidden Artifact, the Shattering Mirror; a large amount of Formation Material; and a few insignificant odds and ends.
Yin Sha would start at Foundation Establishment (Early). Within the following month, she would acquire the Heavenly Cycle Array Canon in the Dream of the Heavenly Cycle Array Sect and reach Foundation Establishment (Mid).
Having confirmed these facts, Bai Sha no longer hesitated and selected the Second Save. In the next instant, the darkness before her eyes completely faded away, and she entered the present world.
