Chapter 598: Walking Through the Long River of Memory (13)

"Who am I? Where am I? What should I eat tonight?"

"..."

In the pure white space, the youth clad in Daoist robes stroked his chin and whispered: "I am Ren Yidao, the World Walker of the Divine Path Sect..."

"I was... playing thief simulator at Spirit Mountain in the Western Desert Divine Continent, successfully copied ten thousand Buddhist Dharmas, and then triggered that half of the Future Method, almost exposing myself."

Ren Yidao pondered for a moment, then shook his head and muttered to himself: "Consciousness is clear, memories are normal, and my thinking has not been affected."

"Although the situation at the time was very dangerous, I still successfully returned to the Divine Path Bell in the end, and this place is clearly not that."

The surrounding space was vast and white, with no clues to be found, and the figures of his master and Junior Sisters were nowhere to be seen.

"I cannot feel the existence of my Consciousness Sea, my connection with Ren Huan, Xinying, and the others is severed, and I have no Dharma Power... Therefore, I have not accidentally entered some strange place, I have not been locked up by anyone, and this is not even the real world."

Ren Yidao raised his hands to look at them carefully; the fingerprints were exactly the same as in the outside world, but there was a faint sense of unreality.

Is this a world of consciousness?

He pondered for a moment, then formed a seal with both hands and quickly gestured a Thunder Method.

Although there was not a shred of Dharma Power in his body at this moment, a thunderclap still exploded in his palm, blasting forward.

"Is the power exactly the same as in the outside world? No, I fear it is consistent with the power in my memory."

Precisely because it was too identical to his memory, he dared to be certain that this came from his memory.

He had only learned this Thunder Method twice when he had just entered the sect, and he had never used it when facing an enemy.

He had never even thought about what kind of scene it would be if he used this Thunder Method with his current strength.

At his realm, even the simplest spell could unleash astonishing power.

"So, this place is likely truly my consciousness world, and everything that constitutes this place is my memory."

Recalling the coma before his consciousness awakened, Ren Yidao was thoughtful: "In other words, to a certain extent, am I dreaming right now?"

After figuring this out, the trace of wariness in Ren Yidao's heart finally dissipated, and his whole body relaxed.

He closed his eyes and thought slowly for a moment, recalling the space he was most familiar with. When he opened his eyes again, the space in front of him had completely changed its appearance, from a pure white space to a familiar bedroom—the boudoir of the Peak Master of Luoyue Peak.

Do not ask him why the space he is most familiar with is here; the water here runs deep.

And there is a lot of it.

If you must insist on asking, it is because he spent the longest time here when he was still a little fox demon pet.

Ren Yidao knew every corner of this room like the back of his hand, and he even knew exactly how many dents were on the couch.

"Hmm, it seems the scene can change, but it cannot conjure a second person."

He had originally wanted to construct a Jing Yueqin from his memory, but judging by the result, it seems he can only construct himself.

Ren Yidao walked out of the bedroom, tapped his foot lightly, and flew to the highest point of Luoyue Peak. He looked around and discovered that every corner within his line of sight had been constructed.

The space that could be constructed was large, the details were outlined well, and the precision was quite high.

"This modeling ability is quite good, but..." Ren Yidao stood at the highest point of Luoyue Peak in the Divine Path Sect and issued a soul-searching question: "What use could this possibly have?"

I can't exactly rely on this craft to make three thousand a month, can I?

Or should I go develop an open-world game where you can sit on chairs... *cough*.

"However, speaking of this, does that mean even this can be conjured?"

After recalling for a moment, a thin tablet appeared in Ren Yidao's palm. He skillfully turned it on, unlocked it, opened the browser, entered a string of mysterious URLs, and then...

"As expected, it won't open."

"Damn it, I clearly loved this website the most back then, how can I not remember it at all now?"

Is it because I saw too much of it in reality?

Looking at the no-network symbol, Ren Yidao curled his lips, fiddled with it a couple more times, then tossed the phone aside in a lackadaisical mood, and it vanished into thin air as it fell.

He had memories of his past life, but after a hundred years, only memories remained in his heart; he did not have such great obsession.

Especially as his past-life body was severed, this attachment became even fainter and could no longer form a Heart Demon.

Ren Yidao took a step forward, and the Divine Path Sect before his eyes instantly dissipated, turning back into the pure white space.

But Ren Yidao's footsteps did not stop; he continued to walk forward.

This was a space where one could not distinguish direction, and he did not know where he should go.

But just like the oldest joke in this world: no matter which way you walk, you are walking forward.

Ren Yidao just walked slowly through his own consciousness space, neither hurried nor slow, neither arrogant nor impatient.

While walking, Ren Yidao was also pondering why he had appeared here.

Did I have a lucid dream?

Probably not; it is similar to a dream, but there is still a significant gap.

"It can only be that."

Recalling the gaze cast from the future by that figure, he was thoughtful.

The moment he saw 'him', he felt as if his entire consciousness was about to collapse.

Thinking about it carefully, this was actually an exaggerated manifestation.

Ren Yidao had seen the great powers at the Ask Dao Peak of the current era, and he had also seen true Immortal Gods in the ancient times, but no matter who it was, none had given him such a feeling.

He even felt as if he had stared at some existence that could not be looked upon directly.

But Ren Yidao knew better than anyone that it was not some tentacle monster, but himself.

So... the Ancient God is actually me?

My future self, what on earth did you do to end up looking like that?

"Does this mean that I actually have a very bright and brilliant future?" Ren Yidao's mouth twitched as he said: "Can I just do nothing and lie flat, and as long as I live steadily, I can become that kind of monster?"

He wanted to laugh, but he shook his head and tossed that unreliable thought aside.

That is indeed his future, but it is one that remains after excluding tens of thousands of different possible destinies.

It is merely one kind of future, not a future that is already destined to happen.

If Ren Yidao were to insist on seeking death, then no one could stop him, and such a future would naturally be unable to come to pass.

Simply put, the future he saw determines his upper limit, but it cannot guarantee his lower limit.

While the upper limit is infinitely high, the lower limit also holds infinite possibilities.

"Let me think about this carefully. Given my own personality, although I like to toy with the emotions of others, in ninety-nine percent of cases I would not toy with myself, so my appearance in this space at this moment is not a coincidence."

Ren Yidao withdrew his consciousness and analyzed his own personality from the perspective of a bystander, finally arriving at a conclusion:

He is a prankster, but he would not use himself as the butt of a joke.

"And since I know that doing this might have an impact on myself, yet I still did it... that means there is a reason why I had to do it."

"What is the hidden reason?"

"Was the 'me' at that time trying to convey something to the me of this moment?"

Ren Yidao narrowed his eyes, pondering the possibilities of existence.

Is there some regret that his future self wants to avoid?

Is he trying to remind himself of something?

Is it a warning?

Or...

"Tsk, there are too many possibilities, it's impossible to be certain!" After thinking for a long time, Ren Yidao helplessly chose to give up.

There are too few clues and too many possibilities; it is simply impossible to be certain.

"My future self, why the hell... don't you just speak?"

Speak!

Turn on the mic! Say something!

If that doesn't work, sign language is fine, even just mouthing the words will do!

Of course, this was just a complaint born of helplessness; Ren Yidao naturally understood the reason why his future self remained silent, as there must be taboos involved that he is not yet aware of.

"For example, is it impossible to give clear hints to the past? Would it change the known future?"

Did that one glance back have a price? There probably was one.

He does not feel it at this moment, likely because his future self bore it alone.

"... Oh?"

As Ren Yidao walked silently, the surrounding space constantly shifted, flashing with scenes: Luoyue Peak, Divine Path Sect, Wentian City, the Eastern Wasteland, Demon Emperor City, the Western Desert... every place he had been, every landscape he had seen.

And within those scenes, there was Jing Yueqin, Jian Xinxin, Yu Yu, Li Lingling... everyone he had ever met in his life flashed by one after another.

After an unknown amount of time spent in constant thought, Ren Yidao finally stopped his steps.

In this space, he saw a second person.

A second self.

However, it was not the figure at the end of the River of Time; on the contrary, this figure came from the source at the other end.

The Past Life Self.

Before seeing the Past Life Self, Ren Yidao had been completely unaware of his existence, but the moment he saw him, he had already taken control of him.

It seemed as if this body of his had been standing here for a very, very long time, or perhaps it had just appeared out of thin air.

While thinking this, Ren Yidao's brows furrowed slightly as he stared at his Past Life Self, examining him, and then controlled the Past Life Self to jump twice.

"... That's not right."

Ren Yidao's brows were tightly locked, but they soon relaxed; he had suddenly figured one thing out.

"This is not a Past Life Self; this is the me of my past life."

"And this is not some space of consciousness, but... my memories."

The moment he saw the Past Life Self, the instant he saw himself through another pair of eyes, Ren Yidao had a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

He had finally found where the greatest sense of dissonance he felt here lay.

Ren Yidao had always had a faint feeling in his heart—that he was being watched, and that everything he did here was being spied upon by some existence in the shadows.

It was not the Past Life Self, not the Present Self...

Then only one possibility remained.

"..."

Passing the Past Life Self and continuing forward, Ren Yidao soon stopped; there was no more road ahead to walk.

This was the beginning of his memories, the source of everything.

Ren Yidao stood at the end of his memories and suddenly said calmly: "Have you seen enough?"

No one answered in the pure white space.

But Ren Yidao was not surprised and continued to talk to himself.

"After going to such great lengths and paying such a high price to look back from the distant future, is this all you wanted to see?"

Ren Yidao turned his head and looked upward, and sure enough, he saw the scene he had guessed.

He saw a pair of eyes.

In the pale space, a pair of huge, pitch-black eyes existed high in the air.

Those eyes were cold and dead, filled with form, yet they contained none of the emotions that a mortal should have.

Like a god looking down upon the Earthly Realm, without sorrow or joy.

And without a self.