Chapter 690: Upstream (Seventh Update)

The moment Ren Yidao finally realized what it was he had been lacking, the final piece of the puzzle in his mind was completed, and everything became different.

The "Ten Thousand Generations Art" was completely perfected!

The flow of time stopped completely, and the Immeasurable Tribulation before him could no longer interfere with his thoughts.

Ren Yidao turned his head, looked at the version of himself looking back from the past, and then they both nodded at the same time.

Before, he could only establish a certain connection with his past self, but now... he could exchange places with his past self at any time.

He stood in the present, but at the same time, he was in the past and the future.

A half-step Supreme?

No.

From this moment on, he was already Supreme.

A true Supreme being.

"..."

Ren Yidao blinked, looked at the Immeasurable Tribulation before his eyes, and tentatively waved his hand.

Ssh—

Then, the shadow that had originally almost swallowed him was as if directly wiped away, instantly dissipating into nothingness.

Solved?

Just that simple?

Just as Ren Yidao was thinking this, the Immeasurable Tribulation that had already dissipated into nothingness actually appeared out of thin air once more, growing bit by bit, as if it would never end.

This era could be cleared temporarily, but it was ultimately treating the symptoms rather than the root cause; the next era would encounter the Immeasurable Tribulation again.

"This is not... the source."

"To understand everything, I must go upstream."

Ren Yidao pondered for a moment, then ignored the Immeasurable Tribulation that was spreading again and turned to leave.

With one step, he returned directly to the world.

And if he wanted to go back again this time, he did not need to be as troubled as before; he could do it whenever he wished.

However, having stayed in that dark place for so long, Ren Yidao felt a bit dazed for a moment, squinting his eyes at the scorching sun overhead.

"I thought I would never see it again."

Furthermore, there was the difference in time.

Tens of thousands of years had passed in the inner world, while in the outside world, less than half a day had passed.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

Ren Yidao collected himself for a while and appeared before the Demon Buddha once again.

He had no intention of concealing his aura, but this time, the Demon Buddha did not notice anything.

He was nearing his end.

Ren Yidao wanted to help him resolve the injuries on his body, but just as he was about to act, the Demon Buddha reacted.

"Is that Benefactor Ren?"

"You noticed?" Ren Yidao was surprised and suspicious, not understanding how he had reacted.

"Just intuition." The Demon Buddha shook his head and said weakly: "I just suddenly felt that I would be able to live for a long time again; thinking it over, only Benefactor Ren would have the possibility of doing such a thing."

He opened his eyes slightly, looked at Ren Yidao, feeling a bit surprised and also somewhat satisfied: "I can no longer see through Benefactor Ren; it seems you have already succeeded."

"Then I can finally depart in peace..."

Having finished speaking, the Demon Buddha slowly closed his eyes, the breath he had been holding on to finally released, with no possibility of tightening again.

"..." Ren Yidao felt some regret, but in the end, he did not intervene.

He had the right to decide his own life and death.

Ren Yidao left.

Although someone had fallen, he still had more people to save.

He could not stop his footsteps here.

So he continued to move upstream along the long river of time... but he hadn't gone far before he stopped because of a familiar fluctuation.

"Hahaha! Even though I, Ao Zhun, am dying, I am still the East Sea Dragon King!!!"

Ren Yidao looked at the old dragon being surrounded and killed by the crowd, raised an eyebrow, and understood in his heart.

The path he was taking was not wrong; he was indeed traveling against the current on the long river of time.

Ren Yidao watched Ao Zhun's fall once more, then turned and left without intervening, continuing forward.

Moving forward.

Moving toward the source, ignoring other distractions.

But after traveling a distance, Ren Yidao had to stop this time, because a certain point in time had a particularly strong call to him, a feeling that missing it would mean missing a great deal.

"... Where is this? What!"

When Ren Yidao arrived at this place in response to the summons, he was stunned for a moment.

Before him was a desolate mountain, but Ren Yidao recognized where this was.

This was his... true hometown in this world.

"So it was here."

Ren Yidao understood, and then his eyes caught a speck of white on the grass.

Just like in his memories, he had been abandoned here by his mother fox.

"... Who is this poor thing?" Ren Yidao shook his head, bent down to pick up the little fox cub that hadn't even opened its eyes, shook it gently, and smiled: "So it was me."

He did not blame that mother fox; it was just a wild beast without awakened intelligence, and it didn't even survive that winter before dying under a tiger's jaws with its remaining cubs; the act of abandonment had, to a certain extent, even saved Ren Yidao's life.

"However, such a little fellow won't be able to survive this winter. How did I manage to endure back then... Hmm?"

Ren Yidao stroked the fox cub, then suddenly froze; he did not feel the Divine Statue in his Consciousness Sea.

"Did I not have that Divine Statue back then? Then when exactly was it?" Ren Yidao swallowed hard, suddenly thought of something, and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Or could it be... right now?"

Gulp.

"There was no mysterious existence that bestowed a system upon me; the person who gave me that system—was myself."

Ren Yidao's expression became quite spectacular at this moment; the mysterious angler he had been guarding against for so long, for whom he had prepared so many contingencies, turned out to be... the person he was guarding against was himself!

No wonder!

No wonder the Divine Statue could turn Huang Huang's feathers into the Nishang Feather Garment as a prize to give to me.

And no wonder it had to be a god-forsaken gacha mechanism!

Ren Yidao, oh Ren Yidao!

You were ruined by gacha games in your past life, and now you have to persecute yourself all over again in this life... You, uh, am I sick?

Ren Yidao cursed and swore while berating his own idiotic actions from back then, then split off a wisp of his soul and tapped it into "his own" Consciousness Sea, where it transformed into a shrine.

One must preserve the authentic gaming experience, right?

After everything was finished, Ren Yidao continued forward.

He saw Jing Yaoyue nearly perish under the Heavenly Tribulation, flicked his finger, and knocked her out of the range of the Thunder Tribulation, preventing her from meeting an untimely end.

He saw the moment the Heavenly Court collapsed, and he also saw the expressionless face of Di Zui as he assassinated his father.

He also saw the Great War between humans and demons in ancient times, and he picked up a beautiful, dying Demon God Remnant Soul, stuffing it into a small Mirror.

He also saw a group of youths drinking freely under a peach forest, discussing cultivation arts, recounting ancient legends, and preparing to engrave their own cultivation arts to gift to a friend coming from future generations.

He saw too many scenes that had long since been annihilated in history.

Not knowing how long he had walked against the river of time, Ren Yidao finally reached his goal—the source of everything.

Ren Yidao saw a dead giant.