But the question Chen Yan was truly curious about was this:
"If my future self becomes a Heavenly Monarch, does that mean my future self... can also observe everything happening right now?"
The Thirteenth Realm, the Void Creation Realm.
It meant transcending time and space.
In other words, for a Thirteenth Realm cultivator—an observer of the River of Time who had transcended the very concepts of time and space—time itself lost all meaning.
"That's right, but observation is all you can do."
The Purple Mansion Heavenly Monarch answered:
"You know about the existence of 'anchors,' don't you?"
Anchors.
After Chen Yan resolved everything that had happened on Chenping Continent, his Dao Rhyme had been completely worn away.
Everything that had happened in the past had also been fully acknowledged by the Heavenly Dao, becoming anchors fixed within the River of Time.
And Chen Yan had only been able to recover his past self by touching his own anchors from the past.
"I do."
Chen Yan nodded.
"The instant a great cultivator of the Thirteenth Realm erects his Great Dao Boundary Stele and truly becomes a Thirteenth Realm cultivator, everything he has experienced before then becomes anchors within the River of Time. Nothing can change them, no matter what happens. Not even a Fourteenth Realm being who has transcended the River of Time can do that. Perhaps only the devouring of the End Beast can erase a Void Creation Realm Heavenly Monarch's anchors and then change his existence... no, that's not right. There is another possibility."
At this point, the Purple Mansion Heavenly Monarch paused briefly again.
"What possibility?"
Chen Yan asked.
"You know what it is."
There seemed to be a trace of wistfulness in the Purple Mansion Heavenly Monarch's voice:
"The most unreasonable power in this world."
The most