Absolute Choice
Absolute Choice - Chapter 523: A Series of Operations 0-8

"World, Time, and Fate. These three holy trees are divine items and have the powers of the heavens. They are existences on the same level as the Transcendence Holy Tree. The Transcendence Holy Tree's heritage power was split into hundreds of thousands of portions and then bestowed upon the D'ya clan."

"And just this amount of heritage power was sufficient to create the Transcendents, Infernals, and Celestials. Furthermore, it gave the Transcendents the 'Transcendental Nine Transformations', the Infernal King the 'Devil Transformation', and the Celestial King the 'Divine God Descent'."

"Just one in a several hundred thousands of the holy tree's heritage power already contained such divine might. As for the World, Time and Fate holy trees, they had only chosen one inheritor after they were destroyed. Their entire heritage power was bestowed onto one person. The amount of heaven-defying power that the inheritor would receive is something I cannot fathom."

The Infernal Queen said softly, "But just now, you mentioned Dawn Li and said a particular sentence—'it was not simple for the Time Tree to expend its energy to make two different times on the same world line cross'. Furthermore, you said that I had forcefully expelled Dawn Li before the world line changed, but I have no memory of that."

"Legends say that the Time Tree is the physical manifestation of the laws of time. Clearly, that is the power of the Time Tree. By crossing time from three thousand years ago to present day, causing two different times to change at the same time, resulting in the world line to change. Such a fascinating matter can only be accomplished by the similarly fascinating laws of time."

"And upon careful consideration, Dawn Li from three thousand years ago is the strongest person in human history and she was the only person in history to have severely injured the Original Sin of Calamity. She was the king of heroes that had set up a faction which nearly finished the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Although she was regretfully defeated and killed by the Original Sin of Calamity, her strength far exceeded that of humans. Therefore, I guessed that the Hero King, Dawn Li, is the inheritor of the Time Tree!"

The Infernal Queen elaborated her analysis and finally came to the conclusion that 'Dawn Li was the inheritor of Time'. She had no evidence to her guess but her logic was sound and reasonable.

Kali remained silent. She never expected the Infernal Queen to be so clever that just an accidental reveal of information was sufficient for her to gather all the scattered pieces of information to infer beyond what was available. Furthermore, it did not seem like she had reached her limit.

The Infernal Queen's eyes were bright as she looked radiant and gorgeous. She seemed to feel joy from her 'inference' as she continued analyzing, "Since the world lines have changed, my memories were changed. However, yours were not affected, and did that allow you to easily determine the powers of the 'Time Tree'?"

"Furthermore, I was previously extremely suspicious over how you were able to easily repress the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower's nomological power. Why were you able to move through the spatial barriers so easily and why the light and darkness you emit prevent me from having any hopes of resistance. An answer could explain all these questions—it's because you are the inheritor of the World Tree."

"The World Tree and the Time Tree's inheritors are at the same level or the same type of existence. Hence, they are not affected by the laws of the world that are above the laws of time."

"Hence, you are not restricted by space and you can ignore spatial laws. As for the light and darkness, the reason why you are able to make me fear it so much is because they are part of the four main branches of the laws of the world—Creation and Annihilation laws. As the assessment program was created using simple and unskillful Creation laws, you who possess Annihilation laws can easily annihilate me, resulting in my innate fear."

The Infernal Queen inferred to the next stage and her inference was shockingly accurate. It left Kali momentarily unable to respond.

She was indeed the inheritor of the World Tree and she was in control of the four laws of the world—Creation, Annihilation, Restoration, and Destruction. With a simple thought, she could create all sorts of things and summon meteors to crash from the sky. Annihilating a created object like the Infernal Queen was extremely simple.

Kali fell into a prolonged silence before saying, "Your guesses are just hypotheses that aren't convincing at all."

The Infernal Queen's guesses were after all without evidence. It was just a shot in the dark. If any part of it was wrong, everything else would crumble.

"Darling once said that once an assumption is used, one has to be firm about one's assumption or every step along the way would be difficult. I believe my assumption and inference even if there is a lack of evidence and how unconvincing it is."

The Infernal Queen declared 'Shi Xiaobai's wise words'. She was still rather impressed by the human boy for he was able to tie so many games of chess with her. Furthermore, he had even won a round of 'Aeroplane Chess' that was the greatest test of intelligence. His intelligence was redoubtable and his logic was usually very reasonable.

Kali did not rebut her and instead nodded in approval. She obviously kept every 'wise word' of Shi Xiaobai to heart. Although it was said by the Infernal Queen, the logic was Shi Xiaobai's, so it was definitely very reasonable.

The Infernal Queen's eyes were squinted as she continued the topic by saying, "Dawn Li possessed the power of the Time Tree so she was able to let time cross and result in the change of world lines."

"Due to the 'laws of balance', the changed world line would result in altering the relevant memories of others regarding the Time Tree inheritor; hence, I have already forgotten the matter. And you, being the World Tree's inheritor, you are an existence on the same level as Dawn Li, so it can be explained if you are unaffected by it."

"However...why is Darling not affected as well? I remember that back when Darling woke up at the Infernal King chambers, he had inquired about Dawn Li. He had also asked about there being four trial-takers that had reached the eighth level in the past and about the Hero King."

"They were strange questions that left me baffled but I didn't put too much thought on them. Now, on careful thought, it's because Darling had maintained his memories before the change in the world line!"

"You mentioned that Dawn Li was forcefully expelled by me and because of the crossing in time, what I did at this node in time had interfered with the time node of three thousand years ago. Dawn Li, who should have reached the eighth level, did not go past the seventh level because of me."

"The laws of balance had changed the relevant memories in order to maintain the balance of the world line. However, Darling was unaffected. He still remembered the history of the Hero King reaching the eighth level before the change in world lines! Why is Darling not affected? Clearly, he is the same as you. He shares the same level of existence as the inheritor of Time!"

"My first guess is that the Original Sin of Calamity reincarnator is likely on the same level as the inheritor of Time, or it could even be a higher level of existence. However, there are too many contradictions in such a guess."

"The Original Sin of Calamity is the murderer of the World Tree and since you are the inheritor of the World Tree, you should have an irreconcilable vendetta with the Original Sin of Calamity reincarnator, so how can you become lovers?"

"I find it unbelievable if it's said that you couldn't tell his identity. Hence, I had a second guess—an existence on the same level as the Time Tree other than you, can only be the Fate Tree's inheritor, isn't it?"

"And this guess perfectly answers a question in my heart—why have you been watching by the side and not taking any action until the final moment. At least, when Darling was inflicted with the Holy Tree Sin Poison, I believed that you would have directly saved him.

After all, there was nothing holding you back in any way. However, you remained watching by the side till the end, even though he was experiencing pain, regret, guilt and to the point of tearing. You never did anything."

"You once said that you and Darling are two trajectories that should never have crossed. If you were to be too tied to him, at the time when you are separated, Darling's fate would be distorted because of you.

Therefore, you were satisfied by just watching him from afar. Back then, I believed that your love was great and submissive. But on careful thought, those words you said seem to have a deeper meaning to them."

"At least, when Darling was inflicted with the Holy Tree Sin Poison, the aforementioned reasons were not sufficient for you to watch by the side. There had to be a deeper reason that forced you to ignore it until you had a reason compelling you to take action."

"From this reason, along with what you have said, I came to a conclusion—You cannot interfere with Darling's fate because his fate is not an ordinary fate. It's a Fate that even the World can only watch from the side!"

"And an existence on the same level as the Time Tree, and to have a fate that you can only watch from the side, the only thing that fulfills both points is the inheritor of the Fate Tree!"

The Infernal Queen looked gorgeous at that moment as her beaming smile resembled beautiful flowers. The reason why she had constantly embroiled herself with Shi Xiaobai was that she had questions buried deep in her heart. Now, she felt relieved having said out everything.

The Infernal Queen chuckled and said, "If the inheritor of the Fate Tree is the only guess, then I wouldn't need to suffer such a headache. However, there is no way to explain Gluttony's characteristic. Darling also does not seem to have powers that the Fate Tree should have so I am unable to discern which of the two guesses is the correct one."

"I'm extremely curious about the answer to the question of Shi Xiaobai being the Original Sin of Calamity reincarnator or the inheritor of the Fate Tree. I believe you should know the answer. Can you tell me?"

Kali remained silent for a long while as she hesitated before she said slowly, "I can tell you the answer but the conversation will come to an end as I will annihilate you directly."

Freedom or annihilation was the theme of the conversation, to begin with.

The Infernal Queen had paid the price of betraying the Transcendents and had 'given' the Transcendental heritage to Shi Xiaobai in order to gain the chance for this conversation.

However, she knew too much and she was too curious. There was no reason for Kali to give her the possibility of freedom anymore.

Curiosity killed the cat!

However, the Infernal Queen was bent on seeking death as she chuckled. "If a man in the morning hears the correct truth, he may die in the evening without regret! I'm willing to exchange my life for the answer!"

Kali was slightly surprised for she did not expect the Infernal Queen's choice. Her expression changed several times before she finally sighed and said, "Alright, I'll tell you the answer."

The Infernal Queen's eyes lit up like a blazing inferno as she impatiently asked, "Is Shi Xiaobai the Original Sin of Calamity reincarnator or the inheritor of the Fate Tree?"

Kali shook her head and said, "Neither of them."

The Infernal Queen widened her eyes in disbelief.

Neither of them?

Could there be a third possibility?

Were all her guesses wrong?

No, it's impossible.

But there was no reason for Kali to lie to a person that was about to die.

What is the truth...?

The Infernal Queen asked through gritted teeth, "What is his actual identity?"

Kali slowly opened her mouth.

"Xiaobai's true identity is..." IChooseDogLeading (我选择狗带) when read in Chinese sounds like I Choose Go Die. It was a meme that resulted from a former member of famous Korean boygroup, EXO, TAO (Huang Zitao). At a concert, there was a part in a rap that where he said "", but due to a mispronunciation, it sounded like he will not easily choose to be led by dogs. This phrase now means 'I'd rather die/I choose death'.