Another "Him"

The mysterious grand formation was still operating normally, and the camouflage he had left at the cave entrance when he departed years ago remained unchanged—if anything, the boulder he had once lifted was now covered in moss with the passage of time.

After a few more glances, Yan had no intention of disturbing the boulder. Instead, he teleported directly into the cave, then pushed his speed to the limit, swiftly passing the temple within and entering Bauhinia Village.

He unfolded his World Authority, taking in the entire village at a glance.

"Grandpa Fang... Hm? Did he get another grandson?"

"And Uncle Du—his daughter got married, huh. To that brat Xiao Liu."

"And Sister Yun... Eh? Sister Yun is at the Old Temple? Huh, studying the Rhino Emperor Game?"

Yan was surprised. He had always thought Sister Yun had no interest in the Rhino Emperor Game, yet here she was, diving into it after he left?

"Perfect, the Celestial Master Palace has plenty of texts that can help Sister Yun." A flicker of amusement crossed Yan's mind, and he prepared to teleport straight to the Old Temple.

But just then, Yan suddenly stopped in his tracks. The smile on his face faded, replaced by alarm.

"What... what is this? Who is he?"

Returning this time, Yan had noticed many unfamiliar auras in Bauhinia Village—which was normal. The villagers had to reproduce, and five years away meant new children would naturally be born.

Yan hadn't paid it much mind at first, but just now, he suddenly sensed an unfamiliar aura coming from his own home.

Or, to be precise, it was a familiar yet unfamiliar aura—ninety percent similar to his own, with only subtle differences.

Yan was certain he had no siblings, let alone children. So who was this person whose aura was ninety percent identical to his?

Yan quickly examined the aura more closely, then grew even more shocked: "This is..."

Through the perspective of his "Observation" authority, Yan saw someone who looked exactly like him—short gray hair, even the same age. If they stood side by side, ignoring their clothes, it would be impossible to tell them apart.

Yan's expression darkened.

Someone had impersonated him in Bauhinia Village after he left?

"Let's see just who the hell you are!"

Yan teleported straight back to his house.

"Whoosh!"

Yan appeared inside his home. The person who looked exactly like him was cooking at the stove. Watching this, Yan felt a strange sense of disorientation.

Back in the day, Yan had always studied the Rhino Emperor Game at the Old Temple while Sister Yun took care of his daily needs. He never expected this impostor to have flipped the script after taking his place.

The busy impostor seemed to sense someone had appeared in the room.

His body stiffened for a moment, then he turned around. For an instant, the two identical faces stared at each other, the atmosphere in the room seeming to freeze.

"Who the hell are you? What's your purpose in impersonating me here?" Yan's face darkened as he spoke first, his tone accusatory.

At the same time, he had already sealed the space around the impostor. If his answer was off in any way, Yan swore countless spatial tears would tear him to shreds in an instant.

Looking at the murderous Yan, the impostor suddenly smiled: "Do you really not know 'my' name?"

The impostor deliberately stressed the word "my." Yan noticed, but didn't understand. The other's attitude only made his killing intent stronger: "Stop dodging the question. If you don't tell the truth... you won't need to speak at all!"

The impostor still showed no sign of tension at this. Instead, he chuckled softly. After a moment, seeing that Yan seemed about to act, he finally said: "After all these years, I didn't expect you'd still be so impatient, with none of your memories back... truly, an awe-inspiring power."

The last half of the impostor's sentence seemed to be some kind of sigh, but his earlier words had already given Yan enough hints.

The identical face, the nearly identical aura, and that tone...

"You're that White-Gold Horned Lizard?"

"White-Gold Horned Lizard?!"

The impostor raised his voice, eyes wide, looking utterly shocked: "Can you come up with any weirder names? Last time it was 'Zhou,' and now it's White-Gold Horned Lizard... Hey, is it really okay to call yourself that?"

"Myself?" Yan ignored the impostor's strange complaints, instead latching onto the key point in his words.

"Ah, that's right, yourself." The impostor sat back down leisurely, glancing at the spatial seal around him, then said: "Let me out first before we talk details. The food I'm making for Sister Yun is about to burn... Don't worry, I don't have a shred of authority on me right now. You can see that, can't you?"

Yan looked at his calm expression, hesitated for a moment, then said slowly: "If you try anything, I'll kill you on the spot."

With that, he waved his hand and dispelled the spatial seal around the impostor.

Picking up the spatula and flipping the vegetables in the pan a couple of times, the impostor said without turning around: "I'm sure you still have a lot of questions. Don't worry, I can tell you everything I know. Then you'll understand the relationship between us, and... the truth of this world."

"What exactly is going on?" Seeing that the impostor genuinely seemed to have no ill intent, Yan relaxed a little and pulled up a chair to sit down.

"First, I need to tell you that you and I are indeed one and the same. To be precise, I am the 'past' you."

"The past me?" Yan listened, confused.

The impostor reached out and sprinkled some salt into the pan, then continued: "That's right. You haven't mastered the authority of time, so you don't understand. In time, the three most important concepts are the past, the present, and the future. Combined, they represent a complete timeline. But since the present is the true temporal node, both the past and the future depend on the present to exist."

At this point, the impostor—or rather, the Past Self—paused before adding: "...That's how it normally is. But experts skilled in time often travel between timelines, even borrowing their Past and Future Selves to fight. Though the past and future depend on the present, when they intertwine too much, problems arise, and the boundaries between the three become blurred."

Listening to the Past Self's lengthy explanation, Yan gradually began to understand. Frowning, he asked: "You mean I was once an expert skilled in time, often manipulating time in battle, which caused my own temporal concept to go haywire?"

"Not entirely." The Past Self shook his head. "Though we were skilled in time, at our level, we were far from reaching that point. The reason this happened was actually due to a certain encounter, which caused our Past Self, Present Self, and Future Self to separate prematurely."

"An encounter?" Yan listened, half-understanding, but then he noticed another issue: "You said... Future Self? So there's another me in this world?"

"You noticed, huh?" The Past Self, who had been focused on cooking, finally turned to glance at him with a teasing look. "That's right. There's another Future Self of yours in this world. He was the first of us three to descend into this world, the one who inherited the most power from the original body, and also... your greatest threat."

"Greatest threat? What do you mean?" Yan's expression grew serious.

"That's exactly what it means." The Past Self let out a scornful laugh, his expression mocking. "What did you think separating the Past Self and Future Self was for? To have a friendly chat with you? Don't be ridiculous! We split off to fight you for dominance... We're all the same person, so why should you always be the one ruling over us?"

The Past Self's face darkened for a moment, and Yan could tell this was his true feeling—likely the same for the Future Self he had yet to meet.

"Since you want to fight me for dominance, why are you helping me now?" Yan asked calmly, watching the Past Self.

"Naturally, because I was defeated by you before. Though I managed to escape that time, the body I inherited from the original was destroyed in my hands, and now you've taken it back. So I've basically lost any chance at dominance anymore." The Past Self shrugged helplessly.

"Just that? Then why don't you go help the Future Self?" Yan stared at him sidelong, not buying his nonsense.

Hearing this, the Past Self fell silent for a moment, then said nothing more.

Seeing this, Yan had a vague guess in his mind, so he stopped pressing and instead asked another question: "According to you, the Future Self inherited the original's power. As for you... you inherited the body, and maybe the memories too? Then what about me? What did I inherit?"

"I did inherit the original's memories and body. As for you, you inherited the original's insight and wisdom. That's why you can crack the Rhino Emperor Game, while I and the Future Self can't—we have to rely on other means." The Past Self glanced at him and added, "And actually, as the Present Self, you are the true dominant one after all. If certain conditions are met, then memories, power—everything except the body, which is only one—you can awaken in some form."

"Certain conditions? What conditions?" Yan asked, curious.

"I don't know either. The original's memory only tells me that when entering this world, I once received a piece of information like that." The Past Self shook his head, indicating he didn't know more details.

"Alright." Yan felt a bit disappointed, but then he pressed on: "Then tell me about the Future Self. You said he was the first to descend here. As the Past Self, you were probably the last to descend, right? Back when we fought, your strength was so great—I suspect he helped you, didn't he?"

Hearing Yan's question, the Past Self's expression stiffened instantly.