"Codex…when you first awakened... you told me I would be placed beyond the reach of the Grand Dao. Isn't that right?"
[Correct.]
The response rang out clearly in his mind, emotionless like always.
He stared ahead, but his eyes saw nothing. His thoughts had already turned inward.
"Then explain something to me, why am I still being pulled into other people's schemes? "
[This scheme did not originate after the Codex's activation.
It was laid long before that.
A contingency—an embedded trap meant to trigger if you survived death.]
[And you did.]
[Therefore, you were already caught in it before I came into being.]
Xiao Ning didn't speak for a while and his gaze didn't waver, but in his heart, something became clear.
"…So that's how it is."
It wasn't that the Codex had betrayed him. It simply hadn't been there soon enough.
