"I am not a master either, but merely a remnant of consciousness carried by machinery."
As he spoke, a gust of wind suddenly arose, swept past Chang Le's eyes, and dispersed the thin veil covering him, revealing his appearance.
Those familiar eyebrows, those familiar long brown hair, that familiar figure left Chang Le completely stunned on the spot:
"Dad, Dad?"
The person before me is clearly Jiu Fanggui!
It's hard to put into words, but his hair was longer and his clothes were peculiar, yet he possessed a sacred and inviolable aura that was unfamiliar to Chang Le.
He shook his head: "I am not the Nine Directions Returner, but I share the same origin as him."
As he spoke, he ran his fingers across his chest, and the clothes and body at that location became transparent, revealing a three-dimensional chip instead of a heart.
"I am merely a wisp of consciousness from the most primordial being, whose predetermined personality and program were set by Jiu Fanggui, and thus attached to the chip to serve as the guardian of this secret realm."
Chang Le asked in surprise, "Who do you mean by 'the origin'?"
"I say this because Jiufang Guiye is only a part of the original being."
His face showed a human-like sentiment: "Perhaps that was billions of years ago? Or many epochs ago?"
A genius somewhere in the cosmos, having glimpsed the secrets of spacetime, disintegrated himself into thousands upon thousands of fragments, scattering them across every corner of the universe, some perhaps even to other universes. One of the larger fragments was born into this world and is called 'Nine Directions Return'.
Chang Le recalled the scene from her flashback where Jiu Fanggui and Qi Qi disappeared at the edge of the Northern Ruins, and her heart surged with emotion: "Then, is it possible that he and Mom... didn't..."
“I don’t know,” He said calmly, “but I can no longer sense the aura of our shared origin—except for the trace of bloodline you inherited, diluted with blood.”
Chang Le looked slightly disappointed, but it was expected, so he wasn't particularly disappointed.
Before I regained all my memories, I felt like I had no parents; during the recovery process, seeing them felt like looking at them awkwardly through a screen; now that I finally have a real connection with them, I can no longer see them in person. I feel a little lonely.
"Jiufang Gui has abused the power of the origin, altered your destiny, and created this secret realm. It is no longer possible for you to exist peacefully."
This was his own choice. In his life, he found someone he deeply loved, learned to love, and raised a well-behaved and outstanding daughter. He grew up, started a family, and established a career. He lived a life of happiness that most people in this world cannot obtain.
He said he was very content.
Chang Le was silent for a moment, then smiled with relief: "This is already the best answer."
"There's one more thing. Remember to go to the Bone Melting Pit after you leave the secret realm. There's a secret chamber there, which Jiu Fanggui left for you. Some of the samples left over from when the extraterrestrial aliens descended are sealed there."
Chang Le suddenly realized.
It turns out that when they went to the Bone-Melting Pit to rescue Goubuli's group, the place they found that seemed to have been inhabited, and which only she could enter, belonged to Jiu Fanggui. It seems that this was the last place Jiu Fanggui and Qi Qi stayed in before they disappeared in the Northern Border Ruins.
"I see."
"There's one last thing to do."
He flicked the Milky Way with his fingertips, and a point of light as cool as water landed on Chang Le's brow: "The energy in your body is excessive. Now that the shackles have been broken, you will break through to the next realm."
With another wave of his hand, two screens rose up on the surrounding water, one on the left and one on the right, showing Qin Xian and Gu Yujing cultivating and advancing to the ninth realm in different places.
Thinking of the turmoil outside when he was about to enter the secret realm, Chang Le calmed his mind, sat cross-legged, and entered a meditative state to find the key to breaking through the realm.
What Chang Le didn't know was that after she entered a meditative state, vines and tentacles appeared simultaneously, surrounding her.
The dark green light mingled with the dark purple of the tentacles, eventually forming a mysterious black stream of light that shimmered with points of light. Upon closer inspection, it was exactly the same as the surrounding starry river and water mirror.
The starry water mirror flickered, and the flowing light on her body rose and fell with her breath.
Chang Le's consciousness was tentatively entering the inner world.
Successfully performing internal vision proves that one has already broken through to the ninth level.
However, when Chang Le guided the energy to break through the bottleneck, his inner vision suddenly opened up, but it was not an inner scene but a familiar pale expanse.
Above us was a gray-white sea of clouds, like raging waves, and all around us was a vast expanse of white snow. The world seemed to have no boundaries, and the sea of clouds and the whiteness blended together indistinctly.
There was no sound, not a single person.
The familiar yet chillingly pale world still struck her to the bone with its desolation and loneliness.
But this time, perhaps three hundred years is enough to remember this desolation. Chang Le will no longer panic, nor will he feel sad. His tears are sealed in his heart by the cold.
She let out a long breath, as if answering her own question: "I think the only ones still holding me back right now are us, right?"
The world was silent; no one answered.
But in the center of the pale landscape, a strange house appeared, with a withered tree to the side and six birds on the tree.
The house has no windows, but seven doors are irregularly distributed on its four sides.
The dead tree had no leaves, but it had six withered branches and a man standing under it holding a saw.
The bird sat silently, but there were six human faces with different expressions.
Chang Le was not surprised at all.
This world is a reflection of her state of mind, and it is inhabited by "she/he/them".
Just like that rainy night when the secret was revealed, Chang Le pushed open these doors one by one, but this time, she did not panic and collapse as before, but remained completely calm and composed.
She pushed open the first door, and there sat Ye Buqi, but this time, there was a hint of resistance in his eyes.
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