After bidding Ye Jingyun farewell, Yuwen Shengxin wandered around for a while and found a fairly satisfactory cave dwelling, intending to use it as her future place of cultivation and residence.
She broke into a smile, then skipped inside, ready to tidy the place up properly.
Just then.
A handsome man with elegant features and an ethereal bearing strolled into the cave dwelling.
Upon seeing the newcomer, Yuwen Shengxin froze slightly, then gave a small bow. "Greetings, Sect Master."
"No need for formalities." Lin Feng nodded and slightly raised a hand. Then, shifting his gaze to Yuwen Shengxin's pretty face, he stared for a full three seconds before speaking. "Yuwen Shengxin, I need you to answer one question truthfully. You must think it over carefully before answering."
Hearing this, Yuwen Shengxin was taken aback again. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly. After pondering for a moment, she looked at Lin Feng and said, "All right!"
Golden light flashed in Lin Feng's eyes as he locked directly onto Yuwen Shengxin. With a serious expression, he said, "As someone reincarnated from a Great Emperor, can you tell me precisely whether you are the Azure Lotus Great Emperor, who once controlled a realm for thousands of years, or the newly born Yuwen Shengxin of today?"
At the little Sect Master's question, Yuwen Shengxin was stunned. She had never expected him to ask such a question.
She had never considered this question before, nor had she felt there was any need to.
Now that it had suddenly been raised, she truly did not know how to answer for a moment.
Am I the Azure Lotus Great Emperor, or Yuwen Shengxin?
Why is this question so strange?
Aren't they the same person? Could there really be a difference?
Am I not the Azure Lotus Great Emperor?
Yuwen Shengxin kept turning it over in her mind. Her delicate brows were knitted together, and confusion surfaced on her lovely face.
She seemed utterly unable to make head or tail of it.
A moment later.
Her heart jolted. Her lively eyes suddenly widened, her delicate body trembled violently, and intense horror appeared on her pretty face. Even her breathing became hurried in an instant.
She stood rooted to the spot.
Without question, she must have thought of something at that moment, and heaven-shaking waves had risen within her heart.
That's right. Am I the Azure Lotus Great Emperor from my previous life, or the living, breathing Yuwen Shengxin of today?
Am I living to become the Azure Lotus Great Emperor of my previous life, or am I living for Yuwen Shengxin of this life?
She kept questioning herself in her mind.
For a time, countless questions came flooding in.
She directly entered a state of enlightenment.
Very quickly, an unfathomable and powerful aura radiated from her body, filling the entire cave dwelling in the blink of an eye.
Within that mysterious aura was unexpectedly wrapped a trace of Great Emperor pressure.
Lin Feng did not dare be careless and immediately pushed the upgraded Chaos Pressure to its maximum.
That trace of Great Emperor pressure was no joke. At his current level of strength, without the support of Chaos Pressure, he would instantly be crushed into nothingness by it.
Lin Feng then looked once more at Yuwen Shengxin, who was in enlightenment. A satisfied curve rose at the corner of his lips as he murmured, "So she awakened just like that. As expected of a Heavenly Darling Daughter who defies the heavens."
"My trip here was not in vain. I personally enlightened you, after all."
Two hours later.
Yuwen Shengxin slowly opened her eyes. From those verdant eyes shot two almost tangible beams of green light that made one's soul tremble.
At the same time, an incomparably tyrannical aura swept outward from her center in a crushing wave.
The entire cave dwelling shook violently, and bottomless black fissures appeared in the surrounding mountain walls.
Now that she had awakened from her state of enlightenment, her entire essence, energy, and spirit had been completely renewed.
Anyone who examined her carefully would discover that her cultivation had risen substantially, soaring from the initial stage of the True Immortal Realm to the advanced stage of the True Immortal Realm. She was only one step away from entering the ultimate path.
As the person concerned, Yuwen Shengxin naturally understood this better than anyone. Joy and excitement filled her expression as she sincerely bowed to Lin Feng. "Thank you, Sect Master, for enlightening me."
"If not for the Sect Master's enlightenment, this disciple would surely have fallen into a state of eternal damnation."
"I am myself. I am not the Azure Lotus Great Emperor. I am the living, breathing Yuwen Shengxin."
To her, the little Sect Master's question had been no different from a thunderclap that jolted her awake.
At this moment, she finally understood the profound mystery contained within the little Sect Master's question.
It could be said that if the little Sect Master had not deliberately enlightened her today, she would only have walked farther and farther down this path until she reached eternal damnation.
Ever since she had awakened the memories of her previous life and learned that she was the reincarnation of the Azure Lotus Great Emperor, she had taken pride in it, gloried in it, and treated it as the lifelong goal she should strive toward. Everything about her had lived beneath the halo of the Azure Lotus Great Emperor.
She had lost herself, unable to distinguish reality from illusion, and had once directly believed that she was the Azure Lotus Great Emperor.
But illusion would always remain illusion. In this life, she was ultimately only Yuwen Shengxin!
That was her true identity in reality!
She did not want to become a soulless puppet. She wanted to live for herself and become a Yuwen Shengxin of flesh and blood, with all seven emotions and six desires!
She knew very well that if she continued living beneath the various halos of the Azure Lotus Great Emperor, she would only become stuck in her ways and even grow self-righteous. In her entire life, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that her martial path achievements would stop at the Great Emperor Realm.
Furthermore, she had taken shortcuts throughout her cultivation, losing the martial artist's heart that forged upstream against the current. Once she grew accustomed to it, she would surely be devoured by her Inner Demon.
When that happened, her identity in reality would clash with her identity in illusion, causing a drastic change in her temperament and leading her directly onto the demonic path. The end result would be her soul scattering and vanishing.
"My only identity is Yuwen Shengxin!"
"In this life, I will live as myself, surpass the Azure Lotus Great Emperor of my previous life, and attain the position of Venerable!!"
At this moment, Yuwen Shengxin's expression was incomparably resolute, and her mind had never been clearer.
At this moment, her sense of belonging to the Divine Sword Sect soared continuously, while her loyalty to Lin Feng directly broke through to one hundred percent.
When Lin Feng saw the one hundred percent loyalty, he was quite satisfied.
Previously, Yuwen Shengxin had kept declaring that she was the reincarnated Azure Lotus Great Emperor, as if she wished the whole world knew how awesome she was and how distinguished her identity was.
The thought made Lin Feng curl his lips. She was far too chuunibyou—poisoned deeply indeed.
Fellow Daoists, what do you think?
Of course, that was precisely why Lin Feng had made a special trip to personally enlighten Yuwen Shengxin.
It would have been far too great a pity for such a Heavenly Darling Daughter to be ruined.
A previous life was merely smoke drifting past the eyes; this life was what should blaze gloriously.
Besides, the system had said that Yuwen Shengxin was a Fated Woman. Although Lin Feng still had not figured out what exactly that meant, he could not simply leave her to die.
"Speaking of which, your previous life was at least a Great Emperor who controlled an entire realm. How did you end up falling?" The little spark of curiosity in Lin Feng's heart began bouncing about again.
Before you continue