[Year 91.
You had traversed every corner of Rahu.
This planet was desolate and barren.
Upon it, there was nothing but mound after mound of graves.]
A faint breeze stirred, the wind whipping grains of sand through the air, making it difficult to keep one’s eyes open.
Bai Qiong gazed at the [Nothingness] coiling around his body, his eyes carrying a measure of vacant bewilderment.
As time wore on, he—still alive despite being shrouded beneath the shadow of IX—had walked some distance down the Path of Nihility.
He felt, at times, that he might already be dead.
Yet his soul, still stirring with activity, insisted otherwise.
He was still alive.
[You looked down at the Activated Planet beneath your feet.
You began to think—to think about how to kill it.]
[This was a plan you had harbored since long, long ago.]
[Year 99.
Drawing upon the intrinsic peculiarities of the Path of Nihility, combining them with the unique properties of the Xianzhou natives’ Dan Fǔ, and using your own meridians as connective neural pathways, you developed an infection equation.]
[There were not many materials on this planet suitable for experimentation.
The planet itself counted as one.
The bodies you had buried were, naturally, out of the question.
The original corpses of the Abominations of Abundance had long since been reduced to ash under the intervention of that white jade pillar.]
[The only viable experimental material left, then, was yourself.
Though, saying it that way might not be entirely rigorous…]
[You pulled a small, human-shaped wooden carving from your pocket.
With the passage of time, much of the carving had been weathered away, but you could still faintly make out that it was a little girl.]
[On the back of the carving was a single character: “Bai.” Presumably, this was the little girl’s name.]
[As for your own name—what was it, again?
To be honest, you couldn’t quite remember anymore…]
[From the beat of your heart, you could sense that this wooden carving was deeply important to you.
Besides, it held no research value in and of itself.]
[You touched your head.
For some reason, you couldn’t shake the feeling that there ought to be another carving, one that belonged together with this one…]
[Shaking your head, you dismissed the thought.
You refocused your mind upon your own body.]
[Your meridians served as connecting pathways.
Your internal organs threaded together, transforming into a series of filtration machines.]
[Your hands and feet became output devices for “Nothingness.”]
[In other words, you were now something akin to a miniature IX.
By drawing upon the energy of the Path of Nihility, you could envelop other things within the shadow of IX.]
[And your method of envelopment was even more unreasonable—you could intensify the concentration of Nihility.]
[As the device of infection, you also possessed the ability to switch it on and off at will.
Which meant that, whenever you wished, you—as a Self-Annihilator—could avoid affecting those around you.]
[Admittedly, a few minor incidents had occurred during the experimental process.]
[Your hand had been blown apart over thirty times.
Your head had been blasted clean off on more than twenty occasions.
There were a dozen or so times your entire body had exploded, leaving nothing but your Dan Fǔ intact. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
But the experimental results were gratifying.]
[Moreover, you discovered that, shrouded by the Path of Nihility, you seemed to have gained a sliver of indestructibility.]
[You took out the little wooden carving and channeled the energy of the Path of Nihility toward it…
No reaction?
But perhaps there was, and it simply couldn’t be seen yet…]
[You stuffed her back into your tattered pocket and turned your gaze toward the planet beneath your feet.]
Devourer of Worlds, Rahu: STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!!
[Year 137.
You had infected the entire surface of the planet with Nihility.
Yet, you could still clearly perceive that the Devourer of Worlds, Rahu, was alive…]
[You arrived before that pillar of white jade.
For a long while, you stood in silence.
Then, you stretched out both hands.]
[You thought of all the graves you had seen along the way.
You looked at these two hands, covered in countless scars.
It seemed you understood something.]
[You remembered the skill you had honed through countless days and nights—digging holes!]
[Year 140.
You successfully dug to the very center of the Devourer of Worlds, Rahu.
The ambient temperature exceeded 12,000 degrees.
But by now, you had become an infection machine.
Every time you activated the infection, the energy of the Path surged through your body, tempering and fortifying it.]
[This level of heat…
just made you feel rather warm?]
[The planet seemed to be wailing.
You had also forgotten why you wanted to kill it.
But when you heard its wails…
you felt so happy!]
[Truly.
It had been 130 years since any such emotion had surfaced within you.
This feeling was so profoundly comfortable.]
[And so, from your position in the planet’s core, you intensified the output of “Nothingness.”]
[Year 142.
You sensed that the Devourer of Worlds, Rahu, was about to die.
You were very sad.
Because if it died, you wouldn’t be able to keep being happy.]
[You reduced the output of “Nothingness.” After that, every time you sensed its consciousness beginning to recover, you would ramp up the “Nothingness” output again.]
[Year 150.
It died.]
[You felt a touch of regret.
You had clearly given it time to recover—so why did it die anyway?] This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
[Your eyes carried a hint of sorrow.
It seemed you wouldn’t be able to stay this happy all the time anymore.]
What a weak little minnow.
I clearly throttled back the output, yet it still got played to death this quickly…
No wonder I hated it so much.
You mentally affirmed this thought.
[You validated the loathing you had once felt for it.]
[You glanced at the tunnel you had dug on the way down.
You felt that climbing back up would be somewhat difficult…]
[So, after deep deliberation (a spur-of-the-moment impulse), you decided to simply keep digging downward.]
Devourer of Worlds, Rahu: And digging down is somehow easier?!
You just want to desecrate my corpse!
[Year 152.
You broke through.]
[You gazed at this stupid, shitty planet that you had dug clean through from end to end.
A trace of pride welled up in your heart.]
[But then you glanced at the white jade pillar beside you.
Despite yourself, a flicker of curiosity stirred toward it.]
[This thing was definitely no simple object.
You had dug clear through the entire planet, and you had done so by following this pillar.
Which meant—this pillar had shot straight through it!]
[You decided to study it.]
[Year 167.
After this period of research, you discovered that the source of this jade pillar and the energy of your own Path of Nihility were of the same fundamental essence.]
[In other words, this pillar was formed from the condensed energy of another Path.]
[You wanted to dig through it.
You began digging in the direction of the heavens beyond.]
[Your hand broke.
But the jade pillar did not yield so much as a sliver.]
[You refused to accept this…]
[Year 173.
You accepted it.]
[Looking at your hand—broken for the umpteenth time—you blinked with a certain aggrieved pout.]
[Then, you became slightly surprised.
This, too, was an emotion you had never experienced before.]
[You used your blood to record this emotion on the jade pillar.
The one small consolation you found was this: the blood, once smeared on, didn’t seem to vanish.
Put another way—the instant you wrote something in your blood, that instant was frozen in place upon it.]
[You felt a little happy.
Because you always had the creeping sensation that with every stretch of time that passed, you would forget a few more things.
Thankfully, at long last, you now had a “notebook” that belonged to you.]