Past Self Returns

After a long moment, the Past Self spoke slowly: "That's right. I was the last of the three of us to descend, but the Future Self seemed to have been prepared. Not long after I arrived, he sought me out."

"He used sweet words to deceive me, and I agreed to cooperate with him. Although the Future Self inherited the Original Body's power and is practically invincible, he is also heavily restricted, forced to remain in this world's Origin Land."

"After I cooperated with him, he lent me a portion of the Original's time power, and I let him use the Original Body's form as a blueprint to create the Seven Beast God Puppets. Including me, that made eight of us. We planned to resonate with the World Origin through a formation. As long as the outside world resonated with the World Origin to a certain degree, he could leave the World Origin."

"...So the Original Body's form is called a Beast God?"

After hearing the Past Self's explanation, Yan understood, but also gave him a meaningful glance. No wonder the other had once wielded complete time power—it turned out that wasn't an authority at all, but power lent by the Future Self.

As for the Past Self's claims about other matters, Yan refrained from comment.

He believed the part about the Future Self was probably true, but he didn't believe a single word of nonsense like "deceived by sweet words."

This Past Self had inherited the Original Body's memories. Even if he hadn't inherited its wisdom, he was certainly far removed from the Original, but he still possessed more information than both the Future Self and Yan himself. How could he not have set a trap for the Future Self?

Probably, even if Yan hadn't caused trouble back then, at the critical moment, the Past Self would have had some backup plan waiting for the Future Self.

"Is that all?" After a moment, Yan spoke again.

"That's all. Although the Future Self didn't inherit memories or wisdom, he descended early and hid himself deeply. There are many things I don't know about his plans." The Past Self slowly ladled the food from the pot into a lunchbox, speaking calmly.

Yan nodded at first, then his expression grew heavy. "Then one last question... Is this world real, or is it a dream?"

"Real, or a dream?"

A flicker of loneliness passed over the Past Self's face, then he said softly, "What do you think—real or illusory?"

Yan fell silent.

The Past Self's demeanor had already let him guess the answer.

Still, he stood up and looked out the window, saying, "Ever since I woke up after losing to Mountain Ghost that time, I've encountered too many strange things. Now you've told me all these secrets... Though I don't want to admit it, it would be truly strange if this world didn't exist because of us."

As he spoke, Yan's feelings were a tangled mess.

No matter what, since coming to this world, he had met too many people. In his heart, Sister Yun was his family, some of the elders in Bauhinia Village were his seniors, and the close Celestial Masters at the Celestial Master Palace were his friends.

But now, he knew it was all fake...

"So what if it's fake? Who told you that what's fake can't become real?" The Past Self's voice exploded in his ears.

Yan was startled. He turned around and saw the man who looked exactly like him stride over, grabbing his shoulders with both hands.

They stared at each other. The Past Self said fiercely, "You remember this! Even if it's fake, you have to make it real! The real world we originally lived in—cultivation can bring boundless power. As long as you want to achieve it, you can!"

As he spoke, a white light suddenly radiated from the Past Self's face. Soon, not just his face, but his entire body turned into a white ball of light. Then, specks of starlight scattered from the Past Self's body, drifting into Yan's—the Past Self was dissipating.

"You!"

Yan's eyes widened in shock.

But the Past Self just smiled. "Damn, you got lucky. But I'm glad I had these five years. Original Body, you must remember: if you want it, the illusory can become real. She... I leave to you."

With those final words, the Past Self completely dissolved into endless white specks of light, surging like a tide into Yan's body.

Deep in his consciousness, the horn of the White-Gold Horned Lizard body—or rather, the Beast God body—lit up. Lines began to extend, and the incomplete Secret Pattern started to glow again.

After a moment, the pattern stopped extending. Though still not fully complete, only a few gaps remained, and faintly, one could glimpse the splendor of its true completion.

"..."

The Past Self had fully returned, bringing Yan a vast flood of memories. He now recalled his name: "Shi Yan." Several strands of memory merged, and he was now both Yan and Shi Yan.

If anyone could see Shi Yan's True God Heart, they would find that the thick gray light covering it had thinned considerably, leaving only a final thin layer.

Because the memories of the Time Beast God were so immense, Shi Yan's memories were primarily based on them, but the experiences of the Past Self and "Yan" also influenced him.

This was different from the Past Self. Although the Past Self was also Shi Yan, his own experiences dominated. The Original Body's vast memories felt to him like an unbearably long movie.

"Did the Past Self... give up because of Sister Yun?"

In the other's memories, Shi Yan fully understood the Past Self's mental journey over the past five years.

From initial pretense to genuine emotion, the Past Self hadn't been willing to give up the fight for dominance from the start.

Even without a body, with his memories intact, he was still the one with the most information. Hidden in the shadows, he might have had a chance to turn things around.

Unfortunately, the Past Self and Future Self could never be like the Present Self. If they seized dominance, for a time-path powerhouse, it would be equivalent to getting lost in the timeline, going mad, and dreaming of turning illusion into reality would be impossible.

The so-called struggle for dominance was merely a revenge by the Past Self and Future Self—an Inner Demon, a tribulation that time-path powerhouses would inevitably face.

Now, with the Past Self's return, Shi Yan had mostly overcome this tribulation.

Thinking this, Shi Yan waved his hand, and a figure identical to him appeared beside him—his Past Self.

But this Past Self no longer had a semi-independent will like before. Instead, he was more like a clone of Shi Yan. Shi Yan could clearly feel that only one will existed in both the Past Self and the Original Body.

Of course, unlike a true clone, this Past Self couldn't be used as an extra life. But the time path had its own methods for survival, and in battle, the Past Self could fully match the Original Body's combat power.

"So this is the step that must be completed when cultivating the time path to its depths? Past and future, endless time—only the Original Body exists eternally." Feeling the changes within himself, Shi Yan murmured.

With this step, the Past Self's semi-independent consciousness had completely merged into the Original Body, meaning the original Past Self had vanished entirely.

"Don't worry. I will definitely fulfill your wish." Shi Yan silently promised.

Vaguely, he seemed to see his Past Self give him a thumbs up.

"Next, I only need to reclaim the Future Self. But all my power is with him now. Relying only on the authority over this world granted by the Rhino Emperor Game, I'm afraid it won't be enough to suppress him."

Shi Yan furrowed his brow.

He knew of the Rhino Emperor Game—a supremely exquisite "game" created by a super existence from the "Ancient Civilization," designed to test one's comprehension.

For this world to link the Rhino Emperor Game with the world's source was indeed extraordinary, but correspondingly, the power exerted through the Rhino Emperor Game was also limited by this world.

"According to the Past Self's memories, the Future Self is suppressed at the world's source, which means the world source's power definitely exceeds mine. But to mobilize the entire world source would require solving the entire Rhino Emperor Game..."

Shi Yan couldn't help but smile bitterly.

What did solving the entire Rhino Emperor Game even mean?

If it were in the Jin World, one would be directly granted a title and become the heir to the Jin God King.

To put it bluntly, the person who solved all 10,081 Rhino Emperor Games almost represented the ultimate peak of comprehension within this Source World.

Shi Yan had no confidence that he could solve the entire Rhino Emperor Game.

Even if he could, limited by his lifespan in this world, within just a few decades—even if his thinking speed accelerated millions of times while studying the Rhino Emperor Game—it would only amount to a few hundred million years, tens of thousands of epochs.

After all, in the original work, the Original Ancestor, at the True God level, studied the Rhino Emperor Game under nearly ten thousand times time acceleration, spending over twenty thousand epochs, and only barely managed to solve 6,002 games.

Now, with his Future Self not yet reclaimed and his true body incomplete, Shi Yan had no confidence he could surpass the Original Ancestor. Trying to solve the entire Rhino Emperor Game was undoubtedly a dead end.

As he pondered, Shi Yan suddenly noticed the food container neatly arranged by his Past Self on the stove.

Glancing at the sky outside, Shi Yan walked over, picked up the food container, and prepared to deliver a meal to Xi Yun.

"Swoosh."

He teleported directly outside the Old Temple in Bauhinia Village. Inside the temple, Xi Yun was focused on cracking the Rhino Emperor Game.

Watching her back, Shi Yan's expression grew somewhat complicated.

He was a special lifeform, born a Universe Master, long accustomed to living alone.

Matters of love and affection, the mundane thoughts of mortals, were a completely unfamiliar territory for Shi Yan.

Even in the memories he received during his gestation, there was no experience of romantic love.

Now that his memories had returned, several strands intertwined—the ignorant innocence of the Light Beast God, the hazy ambiguity of being Yan, and the straightforward, sincere, and fervent emotions of the Past Self.

Though the memories of the Light Beast God were the most vast, all three were himself, and Shi Yan was equally influenced.

For a moment, his emotions became rather tangled.