[Vol. 6] Chapter 263: Absurd Dawn
[Reincarnation] is a concept that sounds a bit abstract.
Before she truly mastered this power, Violet wasn’t entirely sure what the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden’s abilities really represented. All she could do was make guesses based on the small glimpse of power she had seen through the "Fox Mask", assuming it had something to do with souls.
But that understanding was only partial.
The Fox Mask mainly dealt with souls because it was merely a fragment of the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden’s true Divinity, the [Reincarnation]. In reality, interacting with souls was just one medium for this power. The true extent of Dawn’s abilities had already been revealed long ago, in the sealed tomb of the [Nameless Demon Sovereign] in Xinchuan County, Eastern Kingdom.
Her real power was the ability to freely manipulate the state of things, even energy itself, following her own will.
She could even trace back to a "past life".
In fact, the mysterious Miss Yanzi from the [Shocking God Sect], now remembered by Violet as Xuan Shu, one of the [Seven Hidden Stars], chosen under Dawn’s guidance, wasn’t entirely wrong. From the very beginning, the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden’s divine nature had always been hidden inside Violet. Though incomplete, since fragments of it were safeguarded by Immortal Island and the [Seven Hidden Stars], it had still granted Violet a portion of its power.
For example, [Time Reversal], an advanced Holy Light resurrection spell.
Now that she thought about it… wasn’t that a little strange?
Why would a proper Holy Light spell, connected to the [Radiance] divinity, suddenly include an ability that seemed more like ‘Time Magic’, something completely unrelated to ‘Holy Light’?
The effect of [Time Reversal] was to restore a living being to its ideal best condition. So much so that it had even triggered a bloodline regression in Leila and Rene when she resurrected them. This power clearly went beyond normal healing and involved concepts close to fate and time itself.
Violet had never fully understood why those two sisters had undergone a bloodline regression after being revived, or why they seemed to have formed some kind of invisible contract with her. She had assumed it was because [Time Reversal] had changed slightly after she crossed into this world…
But now, it seemed that this skill had always been connected to the power of [Reincarnation] from the very beginning.
Violet’s Holy Light magic came from the [Radiance] divinity, but somehow, traces of [Reincarnation] had mixed into it. She had simply never realized it because she had taken things for granted for too long.
No power could just appear out of nowhere and be used without a source, because this was a real world.
But if she continued thinking in this direction… then what about Minchen and the others? Characters like Xiao Guang, who had come to life, manifested game items, and even skills that she once taught Lilya, all came from the game Illusory World. How could they exist in reality?
Since Illusory World was originally a virtual world, its creations shouldn’t have been able to appear in reality. The Celestial Guardians could still be understood as beings created by Dawn, but so many other things remained unexplained based on Violet’s current understanding of Illusory World.
It was as if this world, originally created by Dawn, had already slipped beyond her control, undergoing even more unbelievable changes, or perhaps Violet simply hadn’t inherited the memories related to that part.
Setting aside the countless thoughts that surfaced from using this Divinity for the "first time", the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden turned her gaze toward the chaotic, shifting shadows surrounding her.
These were memories and fragments of a life, belonging to that massive [Immortal Withered Tree].
Or rather… the [Apothecary]'s past.
Or perhaps… simply his very existence.
For most beings, there was no such thing as reincarnation. Death was final, once a soul fell into the underworld and faded away, it would gradually dissolve into pure energy and return to the world's cycle. There was no such thing as memories of a past life.
But this wasn't an absolute rule.
In the Ancient Spirit Realm, there existed special secret arts that could preserve a soul after death, allowing it to be reborn through reincarnation, possession, or other even stranger methods. But this wasn’t the same as true reincarnation. It was closer to a form of resurrection, like what had happened to Yanzi.
That was why she referred to it as "relative" reincarnation.
If she had to name something that truly fit the "reincarnation" concept, Violet could only think of one case.
Gods, beings of eternal, indestructible concepts, whose original will, once erased, could be reborn from the same divine law as a new consciousness.
But even then, such reincarnations could only happen once or twice at most. Never in the chaotic, surreal way she was seeing now.
Although much has been distorted due to the fusion with the [Apocalypse]’s dreams, Violet can still see that these memories and karma, representing the 'Existence' of the [Apothecary], actually number over a thousand.
These different lives and causes intertwined, creating an impenetrable web that completely wrapped the world around her. Countless images flickered, seeming real but not, and the main characters in those images were all different.
Violet silently nodded.
As expected, these must be the traces left by those who were assimilated by the [Apothecary]. That guy used medicine to replicate his consciousness, like a virus invading others, and because consciousness cannot coexist within the same body, the stronger one devoured the weaker, inheriting everything and becoming the new [Apothecary].
However, the traces of those who were consumed didn’t completely disappear. In fact, as the [Apothecary]’s consciousness was passed on, more and more of these traces accumulated, eventually forming the twisted form it had now.
Assimilating others wasn’t without cost. Even if the [Apothecary] was powerful, he would surely be influenced by these other consciousnesses, changing him. In other words, he wasn’t truly the [Apothecary] anymore.
Even so, why continue to survive? Was it simply a desperate desire to live?
Remembering her few encounters with him, Violet shook her head.
No, it didn’t seem like that.
But no matter the truth, it no longer mattered.
The indescribable corruption from the [Apocalypse] had twisted everything into a more distorted form. Even though it had gathered thousands of lives, memories, and causes, it was merely a huge offering in front of divine power. The [Immortal Withered Tree] had actually died long ago, leaving only its instinct for chaos and destruction.
However, this massive offering did indeed become the perfect vessel for causality.
Violet raised her hand, and a ball of white light floated out from her sleeve. She drew a thread of it and directed it toward a broken, flickering memory not far away.
"Boom!!!"
It shattered like a mirror under immense force. The already blurred "existence", along with the white thread from the girl's fingertips, fractured into pieces, turning into countless light spots that scattered away.
The Withered Tree could not be killed on a physical level because its concept was already deeply rooted in the Ancient Spirit Realm world. It was like those destruction factors that had merged with the world’s laws. Evil roots that could not be removed through ordinary means.
But what about erasing its existence?
Before leaving the Ancient Spirit Realm to start the [Creation of the world Project], an accidental encounter led Dawn to discover and capture the unnamed individual who had used their extraordinary talent to develop abilities related to existence, and she sealed him away to prevent harm to the world.
However, this encounter gave the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden a sudden, imaginative inspiration with a very high chance of solving the Ancient Spirit Realm's problems in one go.
The curse of the [Apocalypse] shrouded the world under causality, relentlessly tormenting all living things. No matter how many times it was sealed or blocked, it was like trying to quench thirst with poison. It couldn’t stop the final destruction.
So, what if they cut off this causality?
Dawn had witnessed the power of the "existence" concept with her own eyes. If she could find a way to transfer the causality connected to the Ancient Spirit Realm world, even if just temporarily to some capable individual, and then erase its existence...
Would that... remove the causality and cut off the source of disaster?
For this, Dawn had left a contingency plan when she sealed the [Nameless Demon Sovereign]. She had removed part of his power and stored it in a distant location in the Xianxia Mountain Range, far from the sealing point, and had informed Spirit Veil Immortal Island of this.
This was done to weaken him and prevent his potential resurgence. It was also to leave a backup plan for the possibility of achieving the desired solution.
Before unlocking the [Seal of Heaven and Earth], the island had sent someone to retrieve the power, and coincidentally, they captured Cheng Zhenwu, who had traveled from afar to help the [Nameless Demon Sovereign] steal the source of power.
And now, that power, related to the concept of existence, was being used under the hidden schemes of Hen to save an entire world.
Just how power works, it has both good and bad aspects.