Chapter 80 Philosophy: I think, therefore I am

History repeats itself, Pei Wenjing feared, that Shen Cangyu would suddenly disappear again, just as he remembered, and never be found again.

He hasn't fully recovered all his memories yet. He doesn't know what they went through in the past, nor why Shen Cangyu disappeared. Perhaps only when his Tai Chi Daoist techniques are fully mastered and merged with the self within his mind will he be able to unlock all his past memories and find the final truth.

But before that, he had to find a way to get her to stay.

“Who’s trying to control you? Is it the Kunlun disciples harassing you? Or the Five Evils?” Pei Wenjing said. “Tell me, and I’ll take care of them for you.”

His expression was unusually solemn. Shen Cangyu had no idea what he was thinking. He twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "If I told you that it was the Heavenly Dao that wanted to control me, would you still slay the Heavenly Dao for me?"

Back in the Sword Pavilion, not a single sword was willing to stand against the will of Heaven and the protagonist on her behalf, which seemed like an incomprehensible request.

But Pei Wenjing didn't hesitate and quickly replied, "Okay, no problem." Even though he had lost his memory, there was still a voice in his heart telling him to agree quickly, because if he delayed even a second, the outcome would be different.

But Shen Cangyu took Pei Wenjing's words as a joke. After all, that was the Heavenly Dao, and the Heavenly Dao was the author. She controlled everything in the book, and at the author's whim, the people of this world were either born or died. Going against the author was not as simple as just talking.

See? You ask someone for a promise, they agree, but you don't believe them.

Being naturally suspicious is a virtue of a lone wolf. You say you don't want to be a lone wolf, but you're born to be one, and there's nothing you can do about it if you try to be stubborn.

Shen Cangyu licked his back teeth and thought to himself, "If you ask me, the author should stop stirring things up in the comments section and encouraging readers to push me through the plot."

After she said that, the live chat was silent for a while.

Shen Cangyu knew that it was 4:30 in the morning, and apart from the author who was so anxious that he couldn't sleep every day and would only hide behind the screen to peek, no one else could be so active in the comments.

Shen Cangyu continued, "Even if you hide behind the crowd, it won't work. If you really want to control me, then come to me and let me meet you in person."

After a brief pause in the comments, that guy started posting comments again, changing his speaking style.

[A clown (despise) (despise)]

[That's scary, the main character seems to have paranoia.]

[I don't understand this plot at all. Can someone explain it to me?]

Shen Cangyu chuckled. Previously, she had only guessed that about 70% of these comments were from the author herself, but now, seeing the latest comments, Shen Cangyu was 100% certain that it was her.

Even though she changed her speaking style, she didn't think to change her IP address. It's really funny.

Perhaps the author's secrets had been exposed, and now that she'd hit a nerve, he truly stopped talking. The comments section finally quieted down, and Shen Cangyu finally had some peace and quiet.

"Give me a little more time. Once I've mastered the Dao, I'll find a way to destroy the Heavenly Dao," Pei Wenjing said.

Seeing Shen Cangyu look up at him, Pei Wenjing frankly said, "If one can master the Taiji Daoist method, one can understand heaven and earth, yin and yang, and even see through the Dao of Heaven." If one can master the Taiji Daoist method, one will transcend all things and reach a realm close to that of an immortal.

If that time comes, they might actually find a way to break free from the author's control.

but……

Shen Cangyu suddenly realized that she had almost forgotten a crucial point.

This world is a novel, and before the transmigrator entered, Pei Wenjing was the original protagonist. The story of this novel is about Pei Wenjing experiencing hardships, constantly growing, and ultimately attaining immortality.

If Pei Wenjing truly achieved the goal of becoming an immortal, then he should have retained the memories of his hundreds of reincarnations, just like the Sword Pavilion Master.

But Pei Wenjing seemed to know nothing at all.

Where did his memory go?

Similarly, Shen Cangyu's memories from his previous hundreds of lives have also disappeared, and he can only rely on scene stimulation and dreams to gradually recover his memories.

In the past, Shen Cangyu thought she was a native of Kunlun, but Shen Qingyan's appearance took away the position that belonged to her. However, just now, she vaguely sensed something was wrong.

A word that had never appeared in the comments or the storyline came to mind, yet it was imprinted in her mind as if it were something she already knew.

If she really is a time traveler, as the comments suggest, and doesn't belong to this world, then what is her place in this world?

No matter what the author of this novel writes, she loves to talk about tropes, trending topics, exciting moments, and public expectations. Following her writing style, she, as a time traveler, should be the protagonist. But if she is the protagonist, then what is Pei Wenjing?

The information she received—that "this world is a novel, and Pei Wenjing is the protagonist of the novel"—was incorrect.

The world is full of all sorts of errors and fallacies, and Shen Cangyu realized that much of the information she had obtained in the past might also be wrong.

The author deliberately released false information to mislead her, making her believe that the answer she had found was correct. From then on, she fell into the author's trap and willingly embarked on the path the author wanted her to take.

Under the doctrine of destiny, is Shen Cangyu's act of resisting destiny also part of destiny?

Is her rebirth and awakening a manifestation of her free will, or a result of manipulation?

But Shen Cangyu seized upon a budding doubt, and the question grew wildly in her mind, like a tree constantly sprouting new buds, growing into fine, dense, and intricate branches.

If everything is fake, then what is real? And how can she distinguish whether what she sees is real or illusory?

I think, therefore I am.

A string of words floated onto the screen.

Everything could be fake, but the "I" who is questioning everything is real.

Maintain skepticism, keep thinking, and retain the ability to question everything.

Shen Cangyu looked over and recognized the ID of the comment; it was the author she had just argued with. Shen Cangyu couldn't understand what that guy was thinking. Their relationship had clearly deteriorated to the point of irreconcilable conflict, with a fight to the death looming ahead, yet the author suddenly appeared, acting as if he wanted to answer her questions.

Shen Cangyu thought to himself, "Instead of talking to me about philosophy, why don't you tell me what you really want?"

The familiar ID stopped speaking, and the chat fell silent again, as if she had just been drawn into Shen Cangyu's thoughts and had involuntarily typed those words.

“You don’t believe me.” Pei Wenjing looked into Shen Cangyu’s eyes and read her meaning.

Shen Cangyu blinked: "If you can really reach that level, then we'll talk about it." How long they can live in this life is still unknown.

She is used to planning for what will happen in the future, but she doesn't indulge in meaningless daydreams.

*

Another year has passed, with spring, summer, autumn, and winter arriving once again.

The Kunlun disciples' classroom learning was coming to an end, and the final assessment happened to coincide with the disciple competition. The Kunlun elders were planning to take this opportunity to hold the final assessment and disciple competition together, and use the final assessment results to determine the final rankings.

The disciples, who were already feeling dizzy and overwhelmed from studying, were overjoyed to hear this news.

They were worried that the assessment would require a written test and were struggling with memorizing the material. If the outcome were determined by a competition, it would be much simpler.

After spending a month studying the "eight-legged essay" (a rigid set of classical Chinese texts), Lu Yuan decisively threw away his notes upon hearing the news and said to Shen Cangyu, "Now the elders seem to have received guidance from a master and have finally understood that strength is the only true measure of success. They no longer get hung up on the words in those books."

Shen Cangyu nodded.

Cultivating immortality is a process of constantly repeating the cycle of leaving the world and entering the world. It is useless to only focus on leaving the world but not to combine the learned principles with reality.

Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth; dead memories still haunt me.

Kunlun has always emphasized cultivating immortality, but in the past few hundred years, not a single person has truly achieved enlightenment and ascended to heaven. The elders began to discuss the future and explore Kunlun's path to immortality.

This idea was initially proposed by Shui Linglong, who felt that Kunlun had wasted too many resources over the past few centuries. While one may not necessarily become an immortal in this lifetime, one can certainly make the most of the few decades of their life to benefit all people; this would be considered an act of kindness and virtue.

The debate between the worldly and otherworldly factions raged on, until the otherworldly faction was finally silenced by Shui Linglong's words: "Since you want to withdraw from the world, then go ahead and do so. Once you're out of the world, you can stop interfering with what we do."

That outrageous remark nearly gave the elder of Wen Cang Sheng a stroke; he pointed at her, speechless for a long time. Logic had become a closed loop. Indeed, Wen Cang Sheng, Xiaoyao You, and other Daoist practices emphasize detachment from the world, returning to nature, and minimizing involvement in human affairs. According to their philosophy, whatever happens to Kunlun in the future is none of their concern.

Someone relayed Shui Linglong's words to Elder Xu Mei. After listening for a long time, Elder Xu Mei sighed and said, "This is her path; it has nothing to do with me anymore." Everyone scattered and went in different directions, leaving only Elder Xu Mei behind in the deserted Gazing at the Heavenly Secrets. She said, "This is also her fate."

Shui Linglong's proposed Taoist methods are more practical, which gives her a significant advantage in this disciple assessment.

Lu Yuan said several times, "I also want to leave Wen Cang Sheng and follow Senior Sister Linglong's Taoist teachings." But after saying that, she was beaten by Lu Sheng several times.

Lu Yuan said "also" because Shen Cangyu left Wanqi Guixin and joined Shui Linglong. She and Shui Linglong hit it off immediately, like long-lost friends. They shared many similar ideas and ways of doing things. Therefore, when Shui Linglong invited Shen Cangyu to join her Xinshu Hall again, Shen Cangyu did not refuse this time.

Shui Linglong wasn't familiar with Qiu Sheng's group of four, even though they had all grown up in Kunlun and were from the same generation of Kunlun disciples. When Qiu Sheng learned that Shen Cangyu wanted to leave Wanqi Guixin to join Shui Linglong, he frowned: "You've already inherited the Kunlun Sword, and you're destined to become the sect leader and a pillar of Wanqi Guixin. How can you leave now?"

Shen Cangyu said, "It was the Kunlun Sword that chose me, not the other way around. It follows me. Whatever Daoist principles I believe in, the Kunlun Sword belongs to that Daoist principle. It cannot bind me."

She needs strength—the strength to see the world clearly, the strength to survive the storms of life. No matter what path the author has laid out for her, she can keep going.