Chapter 10: My Power… Has Been Copied!

The Underworld.

There exists a place here, known as—
the Chaotic Memory Space.

There are no rules here.

Or rather, there were rules once… but they have long since collapsed.

The space twists endlessly like a dream.

Half-formed houses float in the air.
A tree with a human face whispers in the distance.
A broken bridge stretches out of the void—only to shatter and vanish the next second.

Everything is unstable.
Everything is unreal.

—Yet all of it exists.

Zhong Kui and the old woman stand atop a crumbling structure suspended in midair.

Zhong Kui’s expression is grave.

“Here… this is the Chaotic Memory Space?”

The old woman nods.

“That’s right.”

“This is where all ‘memories that cannot be erased’ eventually end up.”

Zhong Kui frowns.

“Memories are supposed to be wiped clean through reincarnation.”

“So why do they still remain?”

The old woman falls silent for a moment before speaking slowly:

“The rules… are not the problem.”

“The real problem is—us.”

Zhong Kui is stunned.

She looks out over the chaotic space, her gaze complicated.

“From the moment ‘pseudo-gods’ came into existence… everything changed.”

“We do not enter reincarnation.”

“We live for far too long.”

“Our memories… accumulate beyond what the soul can bear.”

She raises her hand. A fragment of shattered light appears in her palm.

“The soul does not change.”

“But memory… keeps increasing.”

“When it reaches its limit—”

“The rules will automatically ‘cleanse’ it.”

The light suddenly shatters into countless fragments, drifting into the chaotic space.

“What gets discarded is not just memory.”

“But also—energy.”

Zhong Kui’s pupils contract.

“You mean…”

She replies calmly:

“This place is where all the ‘overflow’ of pseudo-gods gathers.”

“Memory… and energy.”

“A forgotten reservoir.”

The air falls silent.

Zhong Kui speaks in a low voice:

“Then why did you bring me here?”

“What are you trying to say?”

She slowly turns to him.

“Black and White Impermanence said—seven pseudo-gods have appeared in the human world.”

“Humans are awakening memories of their past lives.”

“But reincarnation is functioning normally.”

“My soup… is also functioning normally.”

Her voice grows colder.

“So tell me—where is the problem?”

Zhong Kui’s expression changes.

He looks at the space around him.

For the first time—he truly understands the danger.

She speaks softly:

“What if someone…”

“learned how to use the energy here?”

Zhong Kui instantly realizes something.

“You’re saying—”

She cuts him off, her tone firm and low:

“Not ‘learned’.”

“But—copied.”

For the first time, her eyes show true gravity.

“My power.”

“My rules.”

“Even… my authority.”

“All of it… can be replicated.”

Boom—

It feels as if the very air sinks.

Zhong Kui’s face turns completely serious.

“If that’s true…”

“Then this isn’t chaos anymore.”

“It’s—an invasion.”

She softly replies:

“So.”

She looks deep into the space.

“They must have been here.”

“And…”

Her gaze turns icy.

“They must have left traces behind.”

(Scene Shift)

Xu Huai’an’s home.

Bai Wuchang looks at Zhang Xiaoxiao, his tone unusually serious.

“So you’re saying—”

“You’ve regained memories of your past life.”

“And he… was your lover in that life?”

Silence fills the room.

Xu Huai’an freezes.

Zhang Xiaoxiao blushes, but does not retreat.

“Not a lover.”

She looks at Xu Huai’an, her voice soft yet firm:

“My husband.”

Xu Huai’an: “???”

He looks at Bai Wuchang, then at Zhang Xiaoxiao.

His mind explodes:

“No way!? I was married to her!?”

The next second—

A fragment of memory flashes through his mind.

Just for an instant.

Blurry.

Yet terrifyingly real.

His expression changes instantly.

—That was not a dream.