The Past Self Returns

After a long while, the Past Self finally spoke. "That's right. I was the last of the three of us to descend, but the Future Self seemed to have been prepared long in advance. Not long after I arrived, he came looking for me.

"At the time, he used some honeyed words to persuade me, and I agreed to work with him. Although the Future Self inherited the Main Self's power and could be called invincible, he was also subject to severe restrictions, forced to remain in the Origin Land of this world.

"After I agreed to work with him, he lent me some of the Main Self's power over time. In return, I used the Main Self's body as a template to make the Seven Beast God Puppets. With me, that made eight of us. We planned to resonate with the world's Origin Land through a formation. Once the outside world resonated with the Origin Land strongly enough, he would be able to leave it."

"...So the Main Self's original form was called the Beast God?"

After hearing the Past Self's explanation, Yan understood. He gave him a meaningful look. No wonder the other had possessed the full power over time back then. It turned out that it wasn't a power he'd wielded himself at all, but power the Future Self had lent him.

As for the Past Self's claims about the other matters, Yan reserved judgment.

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

The Past Self had inherited the Main Self's memories. Even if he hadn't inherited his intelligence and was surely far inferior to the Main Self, he still knew more than either the Future Self or Yan. How could he not have set a trap for the Future Self?

If Yan hadn't interfered back then, the Past Self would probably still have had something up his sleeve, waiting for the Future Self at the crucial moment.

"Is that everything?" A moment later, Yan continued.

"That's everything. Although the Future Self didn't inherit the Main Self's memories or intelligence, he descended earlier and hid himself well. Even I don't know what he was planning in many matters." The Past Self leisurely ladled the food from the pot into a lunch box.

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

"Real, or a dream?"

A fleeting look of sorrow crossed the Past Self's face. Then he asked softly, "Do you think it's real or unreal?"

Yan fell silent.

The Past Self's expression had already told him the answer.

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

As he spoke, Yan's feelings grew tangled.

Whatever the truth, since arriving in this world, he'd met so many people. In his heart, Sister Yun was family, some of the elders in Bauhinia Village were like his elders, and the old Celestial Masters at the Celestial Master Palace who were close to him were his friends.

But now he knew that all of it was false...

"So what if it's false? Who says something false can't become real?" The Past Self's voice rang out beside him.

Yan couldn't help but freeze. He turned around and saw the man who looked exactly like him striding over and gripping his shoulders.

They looked into each other's eyes. The Past Self said fiercely, "Remember this! Even if it's false, you have to make it real! In the real world where we originally lived, cultivation can bring boundless power. As long as you want to do it, you can!"

As he spoke, white light suddenly spread across the Past Self's face. Soon, his entire body had turned into a white ball of light. Then specks of starlight drifted away from him and floated into Yan's body—the Past Self was fading away.

"You!"

Yan's eyes widened in shock.

But the Past Self only smiled. "Damn, you really got the better deal. Still, I was happy to have these five years. Main Self, remember this: if you want to, even the unreal can become real. She... I'm leaving her in your hands."

As his voice faded, the Past Self dissolved completely into countless white points of light, which surged into Yan's body like a tide.

Deep in his consciousness, the horn on the head of the White-Gold Horned Lizard—or rather, the Beast God's body—also began to glow. Pattern after pattern extended across it, and the incomplete Secret Pattern began to fill in again.

A moment later, the pattern stopped extending. It still wasn't complete, but only a small part was missing now. He could even faintly glimpse what it would look like when whole.

"..."

With the Past Self's complete return came an enormous flood of memories. Yan remembered his name now: Shi Yan. As the different strands of memory merged, he was both Yan and Shi Yan.

If anyone could see Shi Yan's True God Heart, they would have noticed that the dense gray radiance covering it had grown much thinner, leaving only a final, faint layer.

Because his memories as the Time Beast God were so vast, they remained the dominant part of Shi Yan's recollections. But his experiences as the Past Self and as "Yan" were also influencing him.

This was different from the Past Self. Although he was also Shi Yan, his own experiences had been the dominant force. To him, the Main Self's immense memories had seemed more like an extraordinarily long movie.

Did the Past Self give up because of Sister Yun?

Through the other's memories, Shi Yan fully understood the Past Self's thoughts over the past five years.

From his initial false compliance to the genuine feelings he'd later come to show, the Past Self hadn't been willing to give up the struggle for control from the start.

Even without a body, he still had his memories, making him the one with the most information. And with him hidden in the shadows, he might still have had a chance to turn things around.

Unfortunately, the Past Self and Future Self could never be like the Present Self. If either of them took control, then for someone who wielded the power of time, it would be tantamount to getting lost in the timelines. He would become utterly deranged, and turning the unreal into the real would be nothing but a fantasy.

The struggle for control had really been nothing more than an act of revenge by the Past Self and Future Self. It was an Inner Demon, and also a tribulation that anyone powerful in the way of time would sooner or later have to face.

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

As he thought, Shi Yan waved a hand, and an identical figure appeared beside him—the Past Self.

But the Past Self no longer possessed the semi-independent will he'd had before. He was more like one of Shi Yan's clones. Shi Yan could clearly sense that only one will existed in both the Past Self and the Main Self: his own.

Of course, unlike a true clone, the Past Self couldn't serve as an extra life. But the way of time had other methods of keeping one alive, and in battle, the Past Self could wield the same strength as the Main Self.

"Is this a step that must be completed to reach the depths of the way of time? Past and future, endless time—only the Main Self exists forever." Feeling the changes within himself, Shi Yan murmured.

With this step, the Past Self's semi-independent consciousness had completely become part of the Main Self. It also meant that the original Past Self had vanished entirely.

Don't worry. I'll fulfill your wish. Shi Yan made the promise silently.

For a moment, he seemed to see his Past Self giving him a thumbs-up.

"Now all that's left is to reclaim the Future Self. But my power is all with him right now. With only the authority this world's Rhino Emperor Game grants me, I'm afraid I can't suppress him."

Shi Yan furrowed his brow.

He knew of the Rhino Emperor Game. It was an incomparably intricate "game" created by a supreme being from the Ancient Civilization, designed to test one's comprehension.

It was extraordinary that this world could link the Rhino Emperor Game with the world's Origin Land. But in return, the power he could wield through the game was also restricted by this world.

"According to the Past Self's memories, the Future Self was suppressed in the world's Origin Land. That means the power of the Origin Land must exceed my own. But to mobilize all of the Origin Land's power, I'd have to solve the entire Rhino Emperor Game..."

Shi Yan couldn't help but smile bitterly.

What did it mean to solve the entire Rhino Emperor Game?

In the Jin World, he would be granted a title outright and become the successor to the Jin God King.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that whoever solved all 10,081 puzzles in the Rhino Emperor Game would represent the pinnacle of comprehension in this Source World.

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

Even if he could, his lifespan in this world was limited. With only a few decades, even if his thoughts sped up by ten thousand times while studying the Rhino Emperor Game, that would amount to no more than a few hundred million years, or tens of thousands of eras.

In the original story, the Original Ancestor had studied the Rhino Emperor Game at True God Level. Even with his thoughts accelerated to nearly ten thousand times their normal speed, he'd spent more than twenty thousand eras and had only just solved 6,002 puzzles.

Shi Yan's Future Self had yet to return, so the Main Self was incomplete. He wasn't confident he could surpass the Original Ancestor. Trying to solve the entire Rhino Emperor Game was undoubtedly a dead end.

As he thought, Shi Yan suddenly noticed the lunch box the Past Self had prepared on the stove.

He glanced at the sky outside, walked over, and picked it up, ready to bring food to Xi Yun.

Whoosh.

He teleported straight to the Old Temple in Bauhinia Village. Inside, Xi Yun was concentrating on solving the Rhino Emperor Game.

Watching her from behind, Shi Yan's expression grew complicated.

He was a Special Lifeform, born a Universe Master, and had long been used to living alone.

Romance and other mortal feelings were completely unfamiliar territory to Shi Yan.

Even the memories he'd received while being conceived held no experience of love.

Now that his memories had returned and several sets of memories had intertwined, he had the innocent ignorance of the Light Beast God, the vague stirrings of Yan, and the Past Self's frank, sincere, and passionate feelings.

Although the memories of the Light Beast God were the most extensive, all three were him, and Shi Yan had been deeply affected by them.

For a time, his feelings grew complicated.