Absolute Choice

Translator: CKtalon  Editor: CKtalon

"Despicability is the pa.s.sport for the despicable, while dignity is the epitaph for the dignified. I do not mix with the despicable but have never wanted to suffer alongside the dignified. Therefore, I want to be a vagrant that isn"t despicable but neither dignified, someone that doesn"t treat others sincerely but not deal with matters hypocritically while living in his own world. It"s a little lonely but not solitary. That would be fine."

Speechless said in a deep voice, "To not doubt anyone but also not trust anyone. That is the meaning to my survival. There is no fault to it but it"s also a mental demon. I have to defeat it. Since the boy"s world was a stage that revolved around him and unveiled itself, the other actors would naturally disperse once the boy who is the main character dies. The ones left behind are the honest ones. Basically, with such a thought, I chose to fake my death. I wanted to see the actors looking exasperated and also to know if I"m Tyger Li"s son or if I"m just the main character of a script he penned. I wanted to know the truth."

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai stared at Speechless intently and asked, "What"s the outcome? Do you know the truth? Have you defeated your mental demon?"

Speechless gave a faint smile and said, "The mental demon has naturally been defeated. At least my mother, younger sister, and you… s.h.i.+ Xiaobai, are all real. I can trust all of you without reservation. I am already content with this and have no other wishes."

"However, the truth is still unknown. I still lack the strength needed to overturn Tyger Li"s game of chess, much less have the confidence to see through his ploy. Tyger Li"s machinations are a lot deeper than you can imagine. He has seven Psionic Imperial Realm bodyguards that he brings around him all the time but he deliberately endured three of your slaps. He clearly could use Reverend Misery Sea to kill you but he tolerated it. It might even be possible that your arrival at the most critical moment was within his calculations. The more you understand his character, the harder it is to see through his actions. Tyger Li is truly an old wily fox.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai was slightly alarmed. Indeed, he never expected Tyger Li"s machinations to run so deep. All his actions were appalling. He never expected that the fellow that only appeared to be sinister but wielded power was such a fierce and ambitious person.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai said softly, "This King nearly made a wrong read of character."

"Anybody would."

Speechless sighed. He suddenly looked straight into s.h.i.+ Xiaobai"s eyes and said seriously, "Alright, what I should say has been said. This is the real Speechless Li. On the surface, he may be warm and sincere but in fact, he has never truly been sincere to anyone. The reason for faking my death does not have any grand elements to it. s.h.i.+ Xiaobai, are you still willing to treat such a person like me as a friend? Is such a reason enough for you to let you remain tolerant of me?"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai looked Speechless in the eye and said seriously, "This King does not think that you have done anything wrong. In the same situation as yours, This King might not be able to do things better than you. Moreover, you mentioned that you have never truly been sincere to others, but This King does not agree. Think carefully, isn"t the reason why you were determined to defeat your mental demons because of your companions? In the Silent Desolate Lands, against the three Level Lords’ a.s.sault, you came forward. You led your companions out of danger. At that time, what was the driving force that made you do it? It"s definitely not because of your life. At that moment, you were thinking… to let everyone live together. You shouldered the responsibilities of their lives! Why did you want to shoulder such an important mission? It"s because you deem them as your companions. You value their lives so importantly, so how can you say that you have never truly been sincere? If saving the lives of others isn"t giving one"s heart, then what heroes are there in this world? Speechless Li, you saved us. That is the most valuable sincerity!"

Speechless was taken aback as he gradually widened his eyes…

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai patted Speechless"s shoulder and said gently, "Despite being harmed countless times, you have managed to maintain your conscious and kindness. Speechless Li, you are already very impressive! As for you faking your death, although it may render others speechless and needs further discussion, This King will not blame you…"

You might not believe it if This King said it. If not for you faking your death, This King would not have completed the Absolute Choice"s mission simply by lying down.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai thought to himself.

Speechless was left in a dazed silence when he suddenly turned, leaving his back facing s.h.i.+ Xiaobai. The wind that night had been quite clamorous. It had blown sand into his eyes. His eyes felt sore and reddened as though something was about to flow out.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai sensed that the mood wasn"t right and immediately coughed. He said, "Although This King doesn"t blame you, it might not be the same for the others! Yuesheng and Lengxi believed that you were truly dead and cried for several days. Feng Yuanlin and Pulp Farmer were not any better. Liu Yu"s cooperation with you in the act was definitely difficult for him. Sunless… Ahem. Anyway, This King cannot guarantee it, so think of a way to explain and apologize to them!"

"Uh…"

Speechless repressed his voice and nodded firmly.

After a long while, Speechless turned back, his expression having returned to normal. He said, "It"s already late. Stay here tonight. I have nothing in this manor of mine except empty rooms."

"Alright."

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai nodded. It was almost midnight and he had no intention of sleeping in the open.

…

…

In the west wing, in a very clean and tidy room.

Speechless closed the door and left. s.h.i.+ Xiaobai lay straight down in bed and sprawled his limbs while closing his eyes.

The experiences he had experienced made a youth like him that did not know exhaustion feel somewhat tired. The exhaustion was not physical but mental.

The experience in every level of the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower was still fresh on his mind.

On the first level, he had cleared at the fastest speed possible, shocking all the rookies.

On the second level, he destroyed the cities alone, led everyone to attack the Demon City, and traversed through the demonic beasts that were everywhere alone. He felled the Demonic Tree in one strike and he could still feel the ardor coursing through his veins.

On the third level, he taught Kevin and Mozzie and watched his own companions grow stronger. He felt a sense of satisfaction but was suddenly attacked by the Thousand Eye Demon Sovereign. He came up with a plan to lead it away and began escaping. The perilous scenes flashed across his mind.

On the fourth level, he fought Heartless Ye, and gained insight into Excalibur. The final clash of the swords seemed like exchanging toasts between swordsmen. The battle had no losers; only him and his own victories.

On the fifth level, in order to protect Sunless, he fought and sent Sen Senyuan retreating. He enervated himself and fell unconscious, facing the greatest danger of being eliminated. At that moment, the rookies he helped at the second level protected him. Liu Yu, Pulp Farmer, Kevin, Mozzie, and Mu Yuesheng had done their best to protect him!

On the sixth level, he still wasn"t sure what had happened but it was something he would never forget. The pixie girl that disguised herself as Ka Xiaozi degenerated into a fallen pixie in order to save him. The purple-haired girl who for some baffling reason became his girlfriend made him understand what was selfless love that could ignore everything else.

On the seventh level, he defeated King Leonis and won the Braveheart Martial Arts Tournament"s champions.h.i.+p. He was designated as Infernal King by the a.s.sessment program and during the battle of the three kings, he met Dawn Li. He was trapped with that cherishable blond in the G.o.d Slaughtering Formation and was saved by her, eventually falling for her. He began liking a girl that came from another world line that he might never get to meet again…

The eighth and ninth level…

Too many scenes flashed across his mind. Too many emotions in him left him finding it impossible to forget…

"Xiaobai…"

Suddenly, a gentle and alluring voice sounded in his ear. A pair of snow-white arms wrapped around s.h.i.+ Xiaobai"s waist, hugging him gently from behind.

That was the world"s most tender hug.

"Uh…"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai lightly answered. He did not need to turn back for simply listening to her voice and catching a whiff of her fragrance was enough for him to know that the person that suddenly appeared in his bedroom and hugged him was the girl with the most beautiful purple hair.

She stepped out of the darkness but she filled the room with light.

She gently hugged him and did not say another word. He too remained silent.

At that moment, silence was better than any sound.

In the quiet night, moonlight shone in through the windows. It was bright and clear with a hint of bashfulness.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai slowly turned around.

Kali gently raised her head and bit her lower lip. She muttered, "You said before that I can come to you even when sleeping…"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai acknowledged it as he looked at the face that was inches from him.

That was definitely the most perfect work the creator made. Phrases like a ‘woman"s beauty that puts the flower to shame and outs.h.i.+nes the moon’, or’ dazzling beauty that makes fish sink and geese fall from flight’, were not sufficient to describe a thousandth of the face"s beauty.

Looking at her at such a close distance was damaging. Just like light and darkness were ant.i.thesis to each other, this absolutely beautiful face was extremely innocent but also very coquettish.

Seeing how her teeth was biting down on her lower lip, the most flawless whiteness and the most alluring pinkness were intermixed together, creating the world"s most stirring scene.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai stared at it in a daze and suddenly felt a baffling urge.

Some bad news… I believe the author has dropped AC, but he insists he hasn"t. If there are any new chapters, I"ll release them.

Translator: CKtalon  Editor: CKtalon

This sudden but baffling urge was not a result of the stifling beauty just inches away from him. Neither was it because of the alluring fragrance that exuded from the ivory teeth that bit down on those pink lips. And it was definitely not because the growing boy with eighth-grader syndrome had finally matured to satisfy his hormones.

It was because s.h.i.+ Xiaobai realized the girl"s gentleness.

She would always appear when he was most exhausted. She would silently and noiselessly accompany him.

She had never partic.i.p.ated in the most exciting escapades he encountered but every time the story came to an end, or when the figurative partic.i.p.ants of a banquet scattered, she would be there for him when he felt empty, enervated, lost or at a nonplus.

When he turned his head, she would always be where the lights waned.

Thank you for being this gentle.

She lit a silent candle with a warmth that would not disturb his hibernation.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai did not know what the urge meant but he knew that such an urge was beautiful and pure. It delighted him.

He did not stop his urge.

The youth"s ice-cold but somewhat parched lips suddenly imprinted themselves on the girl"s warm but soft cherry lips.

"Uh…"

Kali moaned. With her strength, she naturally could react in time to such a sudden "attack." She could easily dodge but she did not do so. She even consciously pursed her lips, making preparations to "welcome" him.

Hey, hey! You are being too shameless!

The girl"s blue eye resembled a lake that had a rock dropped into it. Ripples stirred that phased the lake"s reflection, producing s.h.i.+mmering flashes.

The tender snow-white face seemed to be masked by the most mesmerizing rouge, suffusing the most delicate and charming pink embarra.s.sment.

Kali did not reject the sudden kiss from the youth. Instead, she was delighted with it.

Normal girls would enjoy an atmosphere under the moon and in front of flowers. A suggestive mood had to be built up and only with enough romantic development would they want to partake in the perfect mutual kiss at the most opportune moment.

However, she was no ordinary girl. Compared to the sweet talk of comparing her to the beautiful moon, she placed greater importance on the spotless true feelings of her beau.

A kiss was a way to express an indescribable outpouring of emotions between lovers.

He liked her.

That was enough.

It was truly good.

The girl"s lips curled into a happy curve like a smiling crescent in the night sky.

"Uh!"

The girl suddenly widened her eyes.

T… Tongue?

No, don"t come in!

Uh! s.h.i.+ Xiaobai, when did you learn to be this naughty!?

Kali felt overwhelmed by embarra.s.sment. Simultaneously, she felt that the World Tree powers in her body were beginning to decline.

"Purity" was the source of the World Tree"s power. Kissing was an act that besmirched that purity. It would have caused her to lose her strength but she could not reject the happiness in her heart. Therefore, she steeled her heart to ignore the tiny amounts of power she was losing.

But with the youth"s additional act of intimacy, the speed at which her powers were decreasing became faster. It was no longer at a speed she could ignore.

No!

Stop—

With a thought, Kali instantly appeared in another corner of the room. Her face was flushed red as she panted heavily. She could still feel that there was a strand of crystalline liquid hanging by the corner of her mouth. She was so embarra.s.sed that she nearly fled to the other end of the world.

"Xiaobai, I…"

Kali opened her mouth and wanted to say something when she suddenly fell into a daze.

The youth had turned green.

His hair, eyebrows and all the hair on his body had turned green.

His skin, blood vessels, bones, organs, and everything in his body had also turned green.

That was a lush and luxuriant, tender and fleshy green!

But!

It was only for an instant!

The greenness vanished!

The green youth resembled a withered green leaf. He went from greenness to a withered yellow. The declining process of withering only happened for a short instant!

This instant was something that even Kali"s perception failed to grasp.

"Xiaobai!"

Kali screamed. With a thought, she teleported in front of s.h.i.+ Xiaobai. However, before she could probe the youth"s situation or even extend her hand to take his pulse, the youth crumbled.

He crumbled like a withered leaf reducing to pieces in the cold wind!

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai"s body crumbled into countless withered fragments!

Kali stood there in a daze. Her heart tightened as it felt a pain so immense that she could not breathe.

In the next instant, when the withered fragments were reduced to dust, dissipating into the air, Kali saw that there was a seed floating in mid-air.

A dried and dark yellow seed that was void of all vibrancy.

The blue eye that nearly froze finally lit up once again.

"I see, you are…"

The girl"s face was suddenly covered in tears.

She plopped down, kneeling on the bed. She trembled as she extended her hand to hold the seed. She embraced it gently in her bosom, clutching it close to her heart.

When her tears rolled down her face, the girl vanished.

Replacing her was a warm blob of light and a ma.s.s of pure darkness.

They existed side by side, wrapping the seed within as though they formed a world.

They were waiting for the seed"s fate.

…

…

The next morning.

Speechless opened the door and subconsciously looked at s.h.i.+ Xiaobai"s room. Instantly, he stood rooted.

A green and towering tree had broken through the room"s ceiling. It spread out across half the yard and the tree was growing towards the sky.

In the middle of dawn, the green tree"s branches were blooming with purple flowers.

…

…

Where… is this?

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the clear blue sky and a towering thousand-year-old ancient tree that pierced through the clouds.

He remembered that he was clearly in a room at Crown Prince Manor. Due to an urge, he kissed the soft lips when he suddenly felt a fragrant air coming from it as though it was ambrosia.

He suddenly had an irresistible "hunger" that made him stretch his tongue in, "greedily" extracting it. Following that, he lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes again, he realized he was in this unfamiliar place.

What place was this?

Where was Kali?

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai surveyed his surroundings in a daze.

He discovered that he was situated in a primordial jungle.

The trees were intertwined with each other. They extended their branches with lush leaves that formed a cloud of emerald green. A towering camphor tree was in front of him. Its bark was dark green in color and its thick and odd branches seemed like dragons coiled around the tree.

A gentle breeze blew over, producing a rustle through the leaves that resembled a dragon"s sigh.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai headed into the jungle when he suddenly saw a black gigantic centipede that was as large as a majestic hill. It was slowly crawling over. Wherever it pa.s.sed, the trees would topple. It seemed to leave behind a wake of destruction as though a gigantic worm was crawling across gra.s.s.

Mud and gravel had been splayed in its path. Its thousands of feet smashed at the ground, causing twisted cracks to emanate through the ground as though a spreading crack in ice.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai looked in surprise at the animals he could see in the jungle. He knew most of the birds and worms he saw but all of them had an odd characteristic. They were many times bigger than what he knew them to be.

That were centipedes the size of anacondas, magpies the size of a hawk, squirrels the size of a lion… However, compared to the trees that reached hundreds of meters into the sky, they appeared very tiny.

There was green everywhere and the air was especially fresh. Suddenly, he saw a lake in the distance. It was emerald green and clear. It reflected the ancient trees like a mirror.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai walked towards the lake.

Whoos.h.!.+

A wooden arrow suddenly tore through the air at him!

Although the wooden arrow shot at him from an odd angle, its speed was not fast. It was also rather weak.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai gently lifted his hand and precisely clasped the arrow with two fingers.

"Huh!"

A girl"s voice clearly sounded in the distant shrubs. It had a surprised tone.

"Who"s there?"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai asked as he turned to head towards the shrubs.

"You, you are not permitted to come over!"

The eyes hidden in the shrubs blinked in panic. They s.h.i.+mmered like stars in the sky. She had delivered a rapid warning that lacked any form of threat.

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai stopped and asked, "This King isn"t a bad person. This King won"t harm you. The only question This King would like to ask is where this place is."

"Liar! Granny said that humans are all baddies!"

The girl had her bow and arrow ready as the tip of the arrow carefully peeked out of the shrubs. She had the arrow trained at s.h.i.+ Xiaobai as she said nervously, "Also, this is a forbidden ground. How… How did you enter?"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai was slightly taken aback. By saying "humans are all baddies," didn"t the girl mean that she was not human?

Where was this place?

What sort of biological creature that had a childish girl"s voice hid in the shrubs?

"Baddie! Go, go! If you don"t go, I"ll shoot you!"

The "girl" seemed afraid of humans. Her voice sounded extremely nervous and her wooden arrow was quivering.

It would only be a waste of time if this carried on. It was likely that the "girl" would not take the initiative to come out of the shrubs.

With this thought in mind, s.h.i.+ Xiaobai suddenly used Crab Steps without any warning. He charged forward with a whoosh and in a blink of an eye, appeared behind the shrubs. He reached out and grabbed the "girl."

"Ah!"

The "girl" immediately screamed. "Baddie! Let me go! Let me go!"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai focused and could not help but be surprised. She was really a girl.

She had two purple pigtails that struck his arms as she shook her tiny head in panic. Her fair and supple legs kicked out from her snow-white dress, kicking his s.h.i.+n.

She was clearly a six or seven-year-old girl.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

The girl struggled with all her strength as she screamed at the top of her lungs while crying.

"Don"t be afraid. This King will not harm you!"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai helplessly released the girl"s collar and took a few steps back with his hands raised.

The girl immediately ran to the back of an ancient tree like she was a frightened rabbit. After some time, she carefully peeked out her tiny head and stared warily at s.h.i.+ Xiaobai.

Only then did s.h.i.+ Xiaobai manage to make out what the girl looked like. His eyes instantly widened.

The weeping beauty had an exquisite face. Her crystal-like and bright blue eyes were staring intently at him. It was filled with nervousness and fear.

"Kali!?"

s.h.i.+ Xiaobai was stunned. Although the girl was only around seven years old, her facial features were identical to Kali"s!

"Ah!"

The girl immediately said in a fl.u.s.ter, "Baddie! How do you know my name!?"