[Since that playboy paid for your meal that day, you should return the favor and revive his biological father.]

Unfortunately, the Source of Light and Dust does not exist in the underworld or the cycle of reincarnation. This spirit realm cannot be considered hell or a pool of rebirth; it can only be considered a place for the preservation of souls.

Furthermore, the playboy father's true form and soul dissipated several days ago, leaving behind only an "emotion," or rather, an obsession and will.

[This is just a very small slice of a person, similar to a character named Pleasant Goat. She has her own personality and will show different behaviors in different situations; she can get angry or laugh.]

This kind of imagery is equivalent to "Pretty Sheep in front of Boiling Sheep (a stereotypical internet image)," "Pretty Sheep in front of Happy Sheep (same stereotypical image)," and "Pretty Sheep carefully dressing up."

[The first stereotypical portrayal of Pleasant Goat shows her frowning and scolding even in front of Happy Goat, because this segment lacks any emotion of "liking" or words of praise.]

"But it certainly wasn't as offensive as insulting Boiling Sheep."

Similarly, other versions of the story are the same; their vocabulary, memory, and even emotions are fixed and can never change like a living person, because they are not living beings, but merely emotions.

[But even so, having a fragment of a father's memory to keep one company is better than being told he's completely dead.]

[You infused this emotion with enough spiritual power to sustain its existence, then sealed it within a pendant. A crow flying from the south (the direction where his father died in battle) then smashed the pendant onto the纨绔's head.]

The next day, he didn't come to the pleasure boat. Instead, he sent you a letter through his servant, declaring his determination to change and wishing you a future friendship.

You stand atop the pavilion, gazing into the distance towards the General's Mansion, where you see a young man diligently cultivating.

You were the one who orchestrated all of this.

If you're going to help someone, then help them completely.

[It's just that you're not prepared to reveal your invincible power. After all, he still has a spoiled, arrogant mentality. Direct help might make him even more lazy and reckless, thinking, "I've hired a powerful figure who can change the world, so wouldn't I be able to roam freely across the land?"]

[You still decided to let him turn over a new leaf and reform, so you used indirect methods.]

After being hit on the head by a pendant that fell from the sky, the spoiled brat heard his father's voice through the pendant and from then on wore it around his neck.

[Among these, his father constantly educated him on various matters, teaching him how to handle family affairs, how to navigate social situations, and how to keep Xiao Xiao in check within the family.]

Most importantly—teach him cultivation.

According to his father, the gods discovered that his remnant soul had traveled thousands of miles to return to his home to see his son. Moved by this genuine affection, they decided to place him in the pendant and send him back to his son's side.

However, the gods disapproved of his son's behavior and did not directly resurrect the father of his beloved son. Instead, they left behind a set of trials for posterity.

[That纨绔 (wán kù, a spoiled young master) needs to cultivate diligently and reach the third realm before he can rebuild his father's physical body.]

That god is you.

"There's no need to reveal something that even a fool could see."

[It's important to note here—the general's "emotions" were essentially like a rigid AI, with a limited vocabulary and memory bank. It could only respond to specific questions with specific sentence structures, and couldn't even remember the content of the previous questions.]

Every exchange is "the beginning of a new dialogue."

[Similar to some single-player games, there is no save function; you can only play while you are playing. If you quit halfway through, you have to start from the beginning again when you pick it up again.]

However, you have made some improvements.

[In the pendant you crafted for him, you added a solid... uh, a large memory bar to the general's emotional core. To prevent excessive information accumulation from slowing down response times, you also upgraded the hardware.]

Without revealing the truth, he could indeed act like a living, breathing person, albeit a bit clumsy, and only thinking of his son, ignoring everyone else.

Although this general loved his wife and daughter, his will to die in battle was solely focused on his spoiled, unambitious son. He had so much he wanted to say to that child, hoping he would take on the responsibility of supporting the family.

Therefore, even if this being were resurrected, he would only have a vague memory of his wife and daughters, and his feelings for them would be weak, with all his attention focused on his son.

The cultivation method you provided is a simple, fast-leveling, and easy-to-learn spiritual system, and the pendant also contains a complete set of resources that will be distributed according to your cultivation progress.

"It's a case of a prodigal son returning home, more precious than gold."

You sip your wine and flowers with satisfaction, watching your former friends now striving and working hard.

You left the planet a month later, unaware of what happened afterward.

You have departed this world, but all things continue to move forward.

[A year and a half after news from the battlefield arrived—the General's Mansion was in turmoil.]

[The dynasty was defeated in the war and ceded territory.]

The emperor, showing no mercy, chose to shirk responsibility, condemning the generals who died on the battlefield, and also taking advantage of the misfortune of those the old generals had offended.

[The servants in the manor deserted, the attendants colluded with outsiders, and forged evidence of treason was aged and buried in the study.]

The general's mansion, which the spoiled brat had managed so well under his father's tutelage, was thrown into chaos within just half a month, leaving his mother and sister in despair.

They originally thought their son/brother had turned over a new leaf, displaying astonishing abilities and a style no less impressive than that of a former general, and that he could keep the family from falling, or even rise again in the future.

However, they fail to understand that the rise and fall of a dynasty does not depend on the excellence of its successor, but rather on the emperor's whim.

[On the twentieth day after the emperor's rebellion, when the imperial guards surrounded the general's mansion, the former playboy sighed as he walked to the gate, shielding his loyal servants, mother, and sister behind him.]

He stroked the pendant around his neck: "Father, given the circumstances, must I truly continue to uphold loyalty and righteousness?"

[If you hadn't added a memory bar to that emotion back then, perhaps the general's lingering regret would still be constantly repeating to the纨绔 (playboy): "From now on, you must be loyal to righteousness, filial to the emperor, and place the emperor in the highest position..."]

[Because his thinking is rigid and inflexible, just like some stupid AI that gets Liu Bei's character settings wrong.]