Chapter 216: Chapter 216

Time flew by like a shuttle, and it was already several hundred years later when An Ning returned to the system space.

During the century, An Ning and Xiao Tan had traveled through many places: the deep sea hundreds of feet below, fiery magma, and boundless vast glaciers...

Logically speaking, Nascent Soul cultivators could live up to eight hundred years, especially since the two had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. Unfortunately, after the original body departed, the Profound True Realm no longer had the soil for cultivators to ascend.

However, neither she nor Xiao Tan dwelled on this regret. Such was the heavenly dao, beyond human control, and neither of them were people who obsessed over it. Moreover...

She glanced at her small treasury.

At least in recent years, the inventory in her space had multiplied several times over. Even the swordsmanship that used to be at the lowest rank could now hold a fair fight with a certain someone.

If it weren’t for the world’s mediocre formation path, she might even be able to unlock another skill point.

As for the broken heavenly dao? Whoever cared, whoever didn’t!

At worst, after a hundred or a thousand years, it would just regress into a low-level martial world!

Perhaps already prepared, even as one tragic scene after another unfolded before her eyes, An Ning no longer felt the anger she once had.

Just as she had thought before.

What the original body considered her first life was actually far from the true beginning of the story.

In fact, the original body’s real first life was, as Jiang Ling’s memories showed, the true growth history of a top-tier overpowered character.

From a peasant girl everyone avoided, to an outer disciple with Triple Spirit Roots, at nineteen she reached Foundation Establishment. That same year, she already showed her talent in the outer disciple competition and caught the eye of Elder Ye, a Golden Core master, leaping to become the most trusted closing disciple.

Water, Fire, and Wood Triple Spirit Roots were the most suitable spirit roots for an alchemist.

Water nourished all things, Fire tempered the alchemist’s heart, Wood represented vitality, and they could resonate with spiritual medicines. Especially since the original body was a pure yin constitution, her cultivation speed was not hindered by the complexity of mixed spirit roots.

Who wouldn’t love such a gifted disciple?

In that life, for a long time, the original body was her master’s most proud disciple and the fastest among all Xuqing Sect disciples to reach the rank of Fourth Level Alchemist.

Even in that year’s Alchemy Conference, the winner was the original body herself, standing out among many prodigies from various sects, proving her talent.

Because of this alchemy talent, even though her cultivation speed was far faster than others at the same stage with Triple Spirit Roots, the sect harbored some doubts, and only a few suspected her constitution.

Later, after breaking through to Golden Core and meeting Sikong Jing, they cultivated together, mixing their auras, making it even harder for others to notice.

In short, in that life, whether due to a sudden downfall, having tasted the coldness of human relationships, the shared hardships with the original body, or the original body’s constitution and alchemy talent, this young master Sikong was extremely considerate to her.

Even later, when the original body’s constitution was exposed, as Jiang Ling said, he repeatedly risked his life for her. The two were regarded as a rare perfect couple in the cultivation world of that time.

Finally, Sikong Jing succeeded in breaking into Nascent Soul, becoming the second Nascent Soul cultivator on the Profound True Continent in a hundred years.

Jiang Ling’s memories ended there.

Perhaps because of the deep impression, she never forgot this until her "book crossing," neglecting many details.

For example, on the day Sikong Jing broke into Nascent Soul, the original body’s cultivation dropped sharply from mid-stage Golden Core by one minor level.

Another example was the sacrificial method briefly mentioned in the book, where a soul-special person would sacrifice themselves through ancient rites to break the barrier of this world’s time and space...

In Jiang Ling’s eyes, the so-called sacrifice was naturally the fate of the villainess Shangguan Ling, and could never be granted to the “noble and precious” female lead, the heavenly dao’s favored daughter.

But what was the reality?

The so-called “Heaven’s Mandate” also required a price.

Closing the plot book in her hands and combining it with later events, An Ning quickly figured it all out.

Her previous guess was correct: the original body was indeed the key to this world, but not by breaking the barrier and ascending as a high-level cultivator, but by sacrificing herself to perfect the heavenly dao’s laws, thereby assisting the one who truly broke the shackles to ascend smoothly.

From then on, the world’s dimension would be elevated.

The heavenly dao was merciless; the so-called daughter of destiny was actually already doomed the moment she was created for the other’s end.

But fate could be rewritten; human hearts were unpredictable.

Even a destined person created with great effort by the heavenly dao would, once possessing independent consciousness, no longer fully follow the ending scripted by the heavenly dao.

There were fifty paths in the great dao; the heavenly dao followed forty-nine, and humans escaped one. The original body’s humanity was that one overlooked by the heavenly dao’s intricate layouts.

In other words, the original body refused.

She refused to sacrifice herself as a stepping stone for others, even for her cherished partner.

She refused to do so for the sake of the world’s soul destruction.

Even knowing destiny, what good was that?

But if the heavenly dao were so easily defied, it wouldn’t be the heavenly dao... Thinking of the tragic fates in the later lives, even An Ning couldn’t help but sigh.

Actually, the original body herself did not know, and even the memories of the three subsequent reincarnations were incomplete. Before these endless cycles of three lives, the heavenly dao had already tried many times.

But no matter if it was complicated and ambiguous love, silently born family bonds, or even master-disciple feelings, none could make the original young girl give up herself to fulfill others.

“Why must I be the one to sacrifice?”

“If Senior Brother Jing truly loved me, he wouldn’t want me to go this far. He would be in unbearable pain after I’m gone. Why should I do this?”

“If he doesn’t love me enough, why should I give everything for him?”

“My master cared for me so much; he definitely wouldn’t want this...”

Reading this, An Ning couldn’t help but smile.

No matter how the world changed, the young girl always had her own logic. Though born in a rural village, feared by people from a young age, indifferent to family ties, she had her own understanding of emotions.

In short, after several cycles of reincarnation, the heavenly dao completely gave up on the plan for the destined person to sacrifice herself voluntarily.

Instead, it became wear down...

How to thoroughly wear down a person’s soul power, make her live in pain for multiple lives, tell her that no matter how she chooses or walks, she will always face an abyss impossible to escape, and turn all her struggles into a joke.

In the extreme pain and despair, the cycle repeated endlessly until the last shred of will was worn away, until the soul power dissolved into the world...

And the heavenly dao could reclaim the power, spending hundreds or even thousands of years again to nurture the next “destined person!”...

The system, Tongzi, was utterly stunned. Was the heavenly dao really that terrifying? Wasn’t the daughter of fortune supposed to be its own precious child?

Even as a stepmother, this was too much!

Opening the system panel as usual, An Ning was not surprised:

“What, did you expect a cold machine to have any mercy?”

If the heavenly dao were to function and maintain absolute justice, it could have no extra preferences or compassion. All sacrifices were perfectly reasonable in its eyes...

All for a better outcome...

The so-called ultimate truth of the great dao was just another form of extreme cruelty.

Perhaps having guessed the reason early on, An Ning’s emotions were relatively calm now. It was a pity for the original body.

If not for these twists and turns, with the original body’s tenacity, she wouldn’t have ended in a more normal world...

After a moment, An Ning lowered her eyes to the panel in her hand.

Because she had escaped fate, and this time the enemies were thoroughly eliminated, whether it was the so-called “master” who accidentally saw through the constitution in the first life, the chance reincarnated lone cultivator in the second life, or the two Shangguan people in the third life...

Without exception, the original body this time was given a generous reward. Looking at the newly acquired 100 points, An Ning breathed a little easier.

Next life, she would have to spend less!