"Xiaohe, what's wrong? You don't seem to be in a good mood."
Amo keenly noticed Xiaohe's reaction and asked out of concern. Xiaohe came back to her senses and shook her head. She couldn't let Amo worry, so she had to come up with an excuse to brush it off.
"Ah, it's just that the goddess was with us for so long, and we never even noticed! If I'd known it was her, I would have asked for lots and lots of autographs and taken lots and lots of photos!"
Xiaohe's eyes shone as she spoke. Amo nodded, while Xiahou Chan and the other two exchanged glances. Then they sent Amo out, saying they had something to ask Xiaohe.
Before leaving, Amo glanced at Xiaohe and encouraged her to do her best and not be afraid.
Xiaohe didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What did she have to be afraid of? In terms of energy reserves, only Xiahou Chan could compare to her. Xiahou Chan must have noticed that too, which was why he wanted her to stay. He probably wanted to ask her a few things about herself.
Sure enough, after Amo left the tent, a faint golden-green halo enveloped the four of them.
"I've thought something was strange for a while now. Even if you have the ability to turn into a concealment item, how could an ordinary concealment item possibly escape my senses? Not to mention, you followed Tianque all the way into my tent. Tianque's perception may not be as sharp as mine or Qingzhu's, but he's still the third strongest person in Daiyu. So... you're not an ordinary ability user, are you?"
Xiaohe nodded calmly. She hadn't intended to hide it from the three of them in the first place. As Emanators under the goddess and the companion they trusted most, all three of them were off the charts in Xiaohe's book when it came to trustworthiness.
So Xiaohe hid nothing. With a calm expression, she said something that shocked all three of them.
"That's right, I'm not an ordinary ability user. To be more precise, I'm not even human. I don't know if you've heard of the Land of Nihility."
"The Land of Nihility? You mean the Garden's sacred trial ground, the Land of Nihility where you can obtain the opportunity within if you pass the trial?"
As the brains of the team, Wanmeng naturally knew about the Land of Nihility.
"I heard the Land of Nihility was a Land of Trials personally established by Lady Arbiter of Life. The opportunity inside was supposedly brought out of an extremely dangerous place by Lady Arbiter of Life herself, and it's said to be a great opportunity containing immense power."
Listening to Wanmeng, Xiaohe nodded and said, "That's right. Actually, the Land of Nihility wasn't originally in the Ayinai System. It was first located inside the divine body of IX, the Aeon of Nihility. The goddess went inside and brought out the Heart of Nihility, the core of the Land of Nihility. Then, after the Garden decided on a location for its headquarters, she placed the Heart of Nihility atop one of the Abundance miracles there.
"The Land of Nihility exists because of the Heart of Nihility, so the Land of Nihility that was originally inside IX was moved to the Ayinai System. The Heart of Nihility is the ultimate opportunity in the Land of Trials. It contains immense power of Nihility, enough to artificially create someone with Emanator-level combat strength.
"That's the ultimate reward of the Land of Nihility. And I am the Heart of Nihility in another form."
After hearing her out, Xiahou Chan and the other two looked at one another. In the end, Wanmeng spoke up. "So you took form from the Heart of Nihility. You are the Heart of Nihility."
"Yes. What you see before you now is just a body formed from power. My true body..."
"Your true body is on Amo, right?"
Qi Tianque suddenly cut in. Ever since they had revealed themselves, he'd had a feeling that Amo carried a world-destroying power, but it wasn't emanating from within Amo's body. That power had been surging around Amo all along, like a protective film.
But because of that protective film, he couldn't sense the source of the power at all. He only knew it was on Amo.
"Yes, my true body is on Amo. Please keep it a secret. I haven't told him about my identity yet."
The three nodded. Since Lady Arbiter of Life had personally brought it back, they naturally bore no hostility toward it.
"So, Amo is the one you've chosen to inherit your power?"
Qi Tianque raised a sensitive question. The power was far too great, and he had to find out where it would ultimately end up.
Xiaohe didn't deny it. She simply scratched her head and grinned sheepishly.
"All right, I understand. Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, we're family. By the way, which Path has Amo set foot on? Preservation?"
Xiahou Chan asked. Since they were family, it was only reasonable to find out which Path their family member was following and devise a more suitable training plan.
Xiahou Chan had already gone over training plans for every Path one could walk, but after a long while, Xiaohe still hadn't answered.
Xiahou Chan came back to his senses and looked at Xiaohe. She was awkwardly scratching her cheek, her eyes darting away.
A bad feeling immediately rose in Xiahou Chan's heart. "What does that mean? Don't tell me Amo follows Abundance? It's all right, Abundance is pretty good too."
Xiaohe shook her head.
"Could it be Nihility? Uh... that's a tough one, but I can find someone to help. It's all right."
Xiaohe shook her head again.
Finally, the possibility Xiahou Chan least wanted to consider surfaced in his mind. "Don't tell me Amo hasn't set foot on a Path?"
How Xiahou Chan wished Xiaohe would shake her head again and prove him wrong, but her next movement shattered that hope.
Xiaohe slowly nodded, her cheeks turning bright red.
Ahhhhhh! This is so embarrassing!
A piercing scream rang out in Xiaohe's heart. While she screamed inwardly, Xiahou Chan and the other two were thrown into turmoil.
What does that mean? You're telling us that you, the ultimate opportunity of the Land of Trials, have taken a fancy to a kid who hasn't set foot on a Path, and you want to stay with him as he grows?
Isn't that just like the young lady of a family falling for a poor boy with nothing to his name, falling hopelessly in love, and then giving up everything to help him grow?
Come on, you've got to be kidding.
The three immediately looked at Xiaohe as though she were a child in their family who knew little of the world.
In a sense, that did seem to be the case. After all, Ayinai had brought Xiaohe out with her own hands. It could be said that Ayinai had given her a new life, so calling Ayinai her "mother" was no exaggeration.
At that thought, the three looked at Amo outside the tent with resentment written across their faces. Was this the kid who had led their family's "young lady" astray?
Outside the tent, Amo suddenly felt waves of cold creep up his neck and couldn't help shivering.
Inside the tent, Xiaohe also noticed that something was off about the three's expressions. She asked timidly, "Um, are you all right?"
The three looked away and shook their heads. Since Amo and Xiaohe had already met Lady Arbiter of Life, and Lady Arbiter of Life hadn't objected, that meant the kid had something about him that even Lady Arbiter of Life valued.
At that thought, hope finally rose in their eyes. Looked at that way, Amo still had plenty of room to improve.