I tried to kill the heroines of destiny, but they ended up chasing after me.

"No, no, it's not strange! It just started acting strangely because it heard that people were acting strangely. Anyway, the Rubik's Cube has started operating now. The first two dreams you had were one of its methods. You can also understand it as your second and third incarnations on the Rubik's Cube having already recognized you, which is why they let you have those two dreams and let you know their memories..."

"But your fourth, fifth, and sixth incarnations are still being tested. There's no use in worrying about that. So just focus on living your life well in this one. Maybe everything will fall into place in the future," said Xiao Gu Qi Ci.

Hearing this, Gu Qici paused for a moment, and after calming down, she asked, "Then what should I do now?"

"There's nothing we can do for now. As I said before, your consciousness is here, but your body is still unconscious. So you can only hope someone will wake you up. And as I said before, you won't die so easily, so you don't need to worry about that. As for the others, it's up to them to decide their fate..."

But at this moment, Gu Qici clenched her fists, her eyes filled with intense resentment.

"Does that mean I really have no way out?" Gu Qici frowned and asked again.

"Given the current situation, there's absolutely nothing you can do unless you can break through your own life limit and wake up on your own, but breaking through life limits isn't that easy..."

“I believe you should know this yourself. Breaking through the limits of life is like committing slow suicide, burning your life. Even if you wake up from your physical body, you won’t live for long. In that case, the Seventh Incarnation’s plan will definitely be in vain. You will not be able to resurrect any of the people who died before. Do you want to see them?” Xiao Gu Qi Ci asked softly.

"This..." Gu Qici looked at Xiao Gu Qici, looking quite troubled: "Isn't there any other way?"

"No, and you don't need to look at me like that. I'm not helping you because I promised my seventh incarnation that I would witness the birth of the strongest. So even if you want to break through the limits of life, I will try my best to stop you..." Xiao Gu Qi Ci said seriously, "Because other people's lives have no meaning to me at all."

Upon hearing this, Gu Qici's heart trembled, and her eyes narrowed slightly. This was the most ruthless sentence Gu Qici had ever uttered during their conversation.

“I think…” Gu Qici’s thoughts stirred slightly, and then she said, “I think there should be an exception to you. Although I don’t know who you are, or whether you have your own purpose in helping my seventh incarnation, it is definitely not just a simple gamble, such as this appearance.”

"It was just an accident..." Xiao Gu Qici said, "I never expected you to be so careless with your own life!"

“If that’s the case, what difference does one more accident make? I believe it’s a piece of cake for you, right?” Gu Qici said, slightly agitated.

However, Xiao Gu Qi Ci firmly stated, "Stop talking nonsense. If I say I won't help, I won't help!"

"You!" Gu Qici was speechless.

But at that very moment, a voice that surprised even Xiao Gu Qi Ci suddenly reached their ears.

"If she won't help, I will!"

Chapter 162 No Choice

With that voice, a gray-robed woman, whom Gu Qici seemed to recognize yet also not, slowly appeared before her and little Gu Qici's eyes. Regardless, Gu Qici was certain of one thing: she knew or had encountered this woman before, because the voice sounded somewhat familiar to her.

"It's you!" With a sudden thought, Gu Qici carefully observed the woman and recalled the past years. She finally remembered who this woman was, and a look of surprise suddenly appeared on her face.

When she first met her senior brother in this life, she seemed to have vaguely heard this voice before.

Gu Qici was so confused that she thought it was just a misperception.

"Hahaha! After all this time, I didn't expect you to still remember me. That's really something!" the gray-robed woman laughed loudly.

Before Gu Qici could reply, the younger Gu Qici frowned and said to the gray-robed woman with obvious dissatisfaction, "Hey! You seem to have arrived a bit early! Didn't you say you'd give me two hours?"

"Hahaha! Yes!" The gray-robed woman nodded and said, "But two hours have already passed! Don't you know that the flow of time here is a little different from the flow of time outside?"

"What?" Xiao Gu Qi Ci was taken aback, as if she realized something. Her dissatisfaction turned into displeasure. She said, "Hey! You didn't say before whether our agreement was based on outside time or this world's time!"

"Yeah! But you didn't ask! So I just had to figure it out myself!" the gray-robed woman said shamelessly.

Listening to their conversation, Gu Qici was also puzzled, but she vaguely gleaned some information from it, such as that the two knew each other, or that they had made some mysterious agreement. And the only thing she was certain of was that this agreement should be related to her.

"Alright, alright! It doesn't really matter whether I show up or not! This little kid will find out about me sooner or later. Besides, you just let something slip, and this little kid is smart enough to guess our past relationship." The gray-robed woman reassured her.

But upon hearing this, Xiao Gu Qi Ci immediately denied it, saying, "Impossible! Where did I let something slip? Don't talk nonsense."

"Alright, alright! Since you're so determined, I'll tell you then. It's about the True Law. You say you don't know the specific function of the True Law, but you've mentioned the number of words in it. Isn't that a contradiction?" the gray-robed woman reminded her.

“What contradiction? The true method has seven characters, but I said nine! This should make this kid think I guessed based on the number of squares in a Rubik's Cube! Where is the contradiction?” Xiao Gu Qi Ci asked again.

"Oh?" the gray-robed woman suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Gu Qici's eyes flickered, a hint of surprise appearing in them. It seemed she had grasped something. At the same time, Gu Qici's eyes also lit up. Although she hadn't noticed the flaw in Xiao Gu Qici's words before, she suddenly understood after the gray-robed woman's explanation.

"Nine words sound too fake, as if she already knew. Although I might think it's just a guess, if I think about it more deeply, I'll find that she said it on purpose. It seems like just a small doubt, but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. After all, when talking about the true method, she seems to deliberately not say anything..." Gu Qici murmured to herself, and couldn't help but glance at Little Gu Qici.

"So that's how it is. I was careless. Sigh!" Xiao Gu Qi Ci sighed and murmured.

"Hahaha! You figured it out, that's good. Anyway, that's pretty much how it is. I still have to come out when it's time! Otherwise, if she starts to suspect you, things will get complicated for us!" the gray-robed woman said.

"Huh?" Now she had doubts again, but this time Gu Qici didn't think too much about it, because she knew that these two guys would definitely tell her everything.

Indeed, that was the case. Soon, the gray-robed woman turned her gaze to Gu Qici and laughed, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! Hahaha! First of all, I want to clarify two things for you. First, this place is actually my world of consciousness. I've only temporarily rented it out to this little guy..."

“My world of consciousness is the red letter in the true Dharma, so its color is red. The reason you can see half of the blue in this world is because my world of consciousness is inside your world of consciousness, and your world of consciousness happens to be blue. Therefore, my world of consciousness is naturally affected to some extent, and this is also proof that the true Dharma is gradually assimilating with you…”

"Once assimilation is successful, your consciousness world will transform into eight colors, seven of which will be caused by the True Law, and the remaining one by your Yin Power. Your strength will increase exponentially, and you can then use this power to challenge the strongest realm on the continent, that is, the pinnacle of supreme power..."

"Of course, that's all in the future. If you want to reach the level of the strongest, you must first reach the Heavenly Emperor level, so let's leave that aside for now. The second point will answer one of your questions: why are there no first and eighth incarnations above the Rubik's Cube? The reason is simple: your first incarnation is me, and your fabricated eighth incarnation is this little guy in front of you!"

Hearing this was like a bolt from the blue; Gu Qici was completely stunned. This was a huge shock of information, and her mind became somewhat blurred.

The gray-robed woman continued calmly, "My name is An Ran, the creator of the spiritual power cultivation system, also known as the legendary supreme expert. And you are my reincarnation. But don't be surprised. Neither I nor this little Gu Qici are anything more than remnants of souls. We don't possess any real abilities at all... At most, we can use some means to bully some low-level cultivators."

"I know the truth about the mainland, and I know that someone is using me and my nine reincarnations to do some illusory things, but I will never let them succeed, so I need your help, otherwise, everyone on the mainland will be buried with you!" The gray-robed woman suddenly revealed another shocking secret, which made Gu Qici's mind go completely crazy.

"Hey! Don't say so much! She can't accept it!" Xiao Gu Qici said when she saw that Gu Qici was still unable to recover.

"Hmph! What can't you accept! My reincarnation, your reincarnation, this guy is quite strong. Even if I tell him now that the one who abandoned her back then... was yourself."

"Enough! This isn't a good time to talk about this!" Xiao Gu Qici quickly interrupted the gray-robed woman, her expression changing slightly.

But it was too late. Gu Qici had heard everything. Her eyes narrowed, her expression changed drastically, and an incredulous feeling filled her entire being from the depths of her heart.

"What...what did you say?" Gu Qici murmured, her eyes wide open.

Xiao Gu Qi Ci remained silent, somewhat helpless, and did not speak for a long time. The gray-robed woman shook her head and said, "Sigh! It's time for her to know the truth back then. As for how to choose, that's up to her."

At this moment, Gu Qici was breathing rapidly, her mind completely blank.

But the woman in the gray robe continued, "You have no biological father, nor a biological mother. Everything you have is something you have given yourself, because this life is your ninth reincarnation..."

"A rebirth...the ninth life?" Gu Qici took a slight step back, her body trembling.

"Yes, you could have become a supreme being in the future, but you took the wrong path, so you couldn't advance to the level of a supreme being. The only feasible way for you was to start over. So you used your own flesh and blood to create another baby that looked exactly like you, and this baby... is you! This is the eighth life, but for you it is the ninth."

"But this is also a good thing, because some people with bad intentions will misjudge the situation because of this."

At this moment, Gu Qici's legs trembled, and he subconsciously took more than three steps back, showing that he was extremely shocked and had no idea what to say.

Gu Qici swallowed hard, a bead of cold sweat trickling down her cheeks, showing that she was truly struggling to cope.

However, the woman in the gray robe shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, although I also think what I said is false, but that's the truth. You have to face it whether you want to or not. This is your reality, and you have to accept it!"

"This... I... could it be that the biological father I've been searching for is myself?! That's too far-fetched!" Gu Qici said, her lips trembling.

Suddenly, the gray-robed woman became serious and continued, "No nonsense, not at all. You should know that one needs to comprehend the power of heaven and earth to understand them. In your future, the power of heaven and earth that you comprehend will be one of the strongest void powers, called the power of time!"

"Years... years?" Gu Qici was dumbfounded again.

"Don't you understand? The meaning is clear! In the future, you will possess the powerful ability to manipulate the past and the future. After transforming a part of your flesh and blood into an infant, you will use the power of time to send yourself and that infant back to the past..."

"However, while the power of time is very strong, it's impossible for the caster to stay in the past indefinitely. After all, the laws of the continent don't allow such a thing to happen. Furthermore, your cultivation level is still within the realm of heaven and earth, and you're using the power of the continent, so you simply cannot contend with the continent..."

"Originally, you could only stay in the past for a few days, but to prevent any accidents, you went to the Emperor Sword Clan and borrowed the Tree of Time, one of the strongest treasures capable of influencing the passage of time. With the power of the Tree of Time, you were able to stay in the past for several years. However, the power of the Tree of Time was eventually exhausted, and it completely collapsed, so it had to return to your point in time..."

"Now you should understand completely, right? You are what you created, to inherit your own wishes, to strive for the strongest, to break the conspiracies of those who exploit you, and to protect this world. After all, by protecting this world, you protect the people who are important to you, and your destiny will be finally changed the moment you become the strongest!" the gray-robed woman said.

Gu Qici's mind was in turmoil. Although he could still discern many problems from the gray-robed woman's words, he had a premonition that what she said was indeed true.

"Could it be... back then..." Gu Qici was shocked again, her mind reeling.

"A white lie is beautiful, but I can't say it, because there's no time left. I can't think about this little guy and give you any more time to adjust. I have to tell you honestly that because you used the Time-Returning Technique too much in the future, your lifespan has been greatly reduced. Right now, you... have at most five years left..."

"What?! Five years?" Before Gu Qici could even process what she had just heard, the gray-robed woman said something else that completely baffled her, making her blood boil and feel like she was about to spit out a mouthful of blood.

"That's right! It's five years. If you can't reach the level of a supreme expert after five years, you will die completely. You should know what that means... Your time is running out..."

"That's why I'm in such a hurry to tell you all this. I hope you can understand. But even if you can't understand, you already know what you need to know..." the gray-robed woman said earnestly.

"But... but even if you tell me all this, what way do I have to advance to the level of a supreme expert within five years? Five years! Only five years! Those supreme experts who have been lost for hundreds or thousands of years without anyone reaching that level, are you sure I can reach that level in five years?" Gu Qici asked, her brows furrowed and her emotions slightly agitated.

"And the Imperial Road won't open for another ten years!"

"Yes, because your life trajectory is now very different from your first future..."

"Hehehe! I don't know either. Maybe you'll find out in the future. After all, I only know part of what you're like..." The gray-robed woman smiled.

"Uh? Whatever, this guy only has five years left to live anyway," the gray-robed woman said dismissively.

But at this moment, Gu Qici became heavy-hearted. The conversation with these two people had completely overwhelmed her mind. She needed to calm down, otherwise she really didn't know if she could handle the situation.

As if they understood Gu Qici's mindset, the gray-robed woman and Gu Qici did not press her too hard. The former simply said, "Don't rush, it's good to take your time, but you also need to understand that these things were originally planned by yourself, so you have no choice but to accept them."

Chapter 163 Overcoming Oneself

Gu Qici was speechless, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper. But she wasn't stupid. Although the two of them had told her the truth, it didn't mean she had no questions. So after thinking carefully, she asked, "You just said that I used my own flesh and blood to create a baby in the future. But if that's the case, I should be a separate individual. How could I be your ninth incarnation?"

"That's true, but in fact, besides the physical body, the future you also injected your soul into that baby. In other words, you are the future you, only the physical body is different. And in order to prevent two of you from appearing in the past, which would cause the timeline to become chaotic, the future you has already killed the past Gu Qici."

"Then... then why would my future person create me instead of directly changing their own past fate?" Gu Qici asked again.

"It's very simple! First, the laws of the continent don't allow it. Second, even if your future self changes your past self, it won't make a difference, because that 'you''s' limit is the Heavenly Emperor Perfection Realm. So no matter what, that 'you' can only cultivate to the Heavenly Emperor Perfection Realm..."

"But the you created by 'you' is different. You have embarked on a different path from the future, so your potential is higher than that of her. Do you understand? Why are you our hope? Why did the future you risk killing yourself once to become Gu Qici? It's all for the sake of protection!" the gray-robed woman said earnestly.

"Guardian... What about her? After killing her past self, what happened to her?" Gu Qici asked in a low voice.

"What else can we do? The past doesn't exist, so the future naturally doesn't exist either. She has naturally disappeared into the passage of time, so you, who possess her soul and body, are the real her!" Xiao Gu Qi Ci replied.

"To be honest, apart from you, every reincarnation is very strong, has its own ideas, has a different view of this continent, and has gone through hardships before embarking on the path of cultivation. The two 'selves' you just saw in your dream are like that..."

“Fate, life, cause and effect, these words are no stranger to us, so what I need to do is to control them. Only in this way can we transcend and protect the people we want to protect. And you... are our hope!” As she said this, Gu Qici’s eyes seemed to have a hint of determination.

"The problem is whether you can accept this part of your life and whether you share the same thoughts as us. Although Anran said that you have no choice but to accept it, I think you still have the right to choose because you are you. We will never force you. It depends on yourself whether you will force yourself."

"Me?" Gu Qici was conflicted, caught in a strange mix of emotions. She wanted to save people, to protect those who were very important to her, but that didn't mean she wanted to follow someone else's fate. But life is a helpless process; she either had to choose or be chosen. There was no other way.

So soon, she sighed. She felt very frustrated, but she could only accept it. This was fate. She wasn't the protagonist in the storyteller's tale, nor did she have any halo to shine upon. She couldn't possibly turn every misfortune into good fortune. She was just herself, just a person, just someone who sometimes had to bow to fate.

However, bowing to fate is not shameful, nor is it as aggrieved as some people say. Sometimes, fate does not always hinder people; sometimes it helps those who deserve it. Those who feel that fate is unfair are simply doing so for their own reasons. Otherwise, why would they feel that fate is unfair?

"Alright!" Gu Qici's eyes flashed with determination as she suddenly said, "Although I don't know what exactly happened, I promise you, I will do my best to break through to the highest level in the next few years, not for your ideals, but for myself!"

"Hahaha! No problem, you don't need to do it for us, you only need to do it for yourself!" the gray-robed woman said with a smile, but in her heart she was relieved. She was really afraid that Gu Qici would not be able to accept these things and would become depressed and even doubt life. If that happened, all their hard work would be in vain. Fortunately, the worst thing did not happen. Otherwise, she and little Gu Qici would have been in despair.

"That was close! That really put my heart in my throat," Xiao Gu Qi Ci telepathically replied.

"Hehe! Fortune favors the bold! Besides, I don't think she's such a fragile person, otherwise 'she' wouldn't have gone to such lengths, risking her life to send her back to the past," the gray-robed woman recalled.