Chapter 303: This Is Return to True!

【1101 years old: On this day, you encountered the most powerful enemy of your cultivation life.】

【So powerful that the entire world was wounded in your battle, an entire continent shattered to pieces.】

【1102 years old: You fell gravely wounded, your body sinking into a boundless sea, losing consciousness.】

【Even your closest companion fell into complete slumber because of it.】

【But before you slept, you still left a contingency. You knew that after this battle, trouble would still come looking.】

【So, to plan for what came next, you exhausted your last strength to once again lay down the Heaven-Concealing Grand Formation.】

【Except this time, what you concealed was yourself.】

【Even to make it absolutely foolproof, you hid away your own memories as well.】

【1103 years old: In the second year of your slumber, an unknown powerhouse arrived in your world, carrying endless fury.】

【He began searching the entire world, searching for your companion, searching for your sleeping self. The other party seemed to know you had not died.】

【......】

【1600 years old: That unknown powerhouse searched the entire world, yet could not find you or your companion. But the other party firmly believed you had not died.】

【To find you, or rather to eliminate you as a potential threat, that unknown powerhouse actually chose to lie dormant.】

【1601 years old: During your slumber, that powerhouse used every means to overtly and covertly control and suppress the forces you had left behind.】

【1602 years old: The power structure of the entire world seemed unchanged on the surface, but in truth had long since been infiltrated by the other party.】

【.....】

【1700 years old: The little trinket you had casually refined back then, after fermenting through time, gradually prospered and flourished.】

【1701 years old: The traces of cultivators seemed fewer and fewer, especially high-tier cultivators. The world seemed to have changed because of your companion's slumber.】

【The deeper one cultivated, the harder it became to break through. Even when someone outstanding occasionally appeared, they would vanish for unknown reasons.】

【1702 years old: Your existence seemed to have become a legend. People took the facts of what once happened as mere stories, even myths.】

【......】

【2224 years old: That unknown powerhouse seemed to have given up searching for your existence and left this world. And at that very moment, you awakened.】

【Ding! Simulation ended: Archive ended.】

【This simulation lasted: 2224 years.】

【Simulation settling in progress, please wait…】

【Settling complete.】

【Items that can be brought back this time: Clue about your companion ×1, Method to break the Heaven-Concealing Grand Formation ×1】

【Simulation Points obtained this time: 0】

【Panel loading, please wait…】

【Loading complete.】

【Name: Lu Qingyang】

【Constitution: Rank 59】

【Comprehension: Rank 59】

【Fortune: Rank 59】

【Family Background: Rank 59】

【Remaining Simulation Points: 0】

【Simulation cooling down: 29 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds】

"It's… over…"

Lu Qingyang sat blankly on the bed, his head a mess.

He wasn't stupid. He had merely lost all his memories.

So, if he wasn't mistaken, what he had just seen was his own past!

Or rather, what he had seen were his own memories!

It was just that this feeling was extremely uncomfortable.

It was like the difference between experiencing something yourself and hearing the story from someone else's mouth. Utterly unlike.

The difference between the two was enormous.

Even if all of it was true, it was all as if he had heard it from someone else, leaving his mood complicated.

"Haah—"

Letting out a long breath, Lu Qingyang closed his eyes, wanting to sort out his thoughts.

Although he could not recall anything now, he still hoped he could at least make some sense of it.

If this miraculous Simulation just now was all real…

Then that means, I was the one who hid away my own memories.

The reason for doing so was undoubtedly to keep others from finding me — or more precisely, to protect myself?

Lu Qingyang murmured to himself, his gaze flickering.

He didn't know whether he should believe what he had just seen.

Could it be that as long as I release my own memories, I'll be found?

Or… the other party's method is to trace through memories?

Lu Qingyang felt he was close to the true answer.

But he still could not be certain.

And looking at the rewards the Simulation brought back, he hesitated again.

A clue about my companion… the method to break the Heaven-Concealing Grand Formation.

If I truly wanted to hide myself, why leave myself a method to break it?

The first reward, Lu Qingyang could perhaps understand.

But the latter, he could not figure out no matter how he tried.

And these two rewards left him caught in a dilemma.

Forget it. Better not to cling to hope. My companion must also be… vitally important to me.

Lu Qingyang seemed to have made some kind of decision.

He immediately tried to speak.

"B-Bring back the clue about my companion!"

His voice was faint, like a thin breeze passing by, ethereal and distant, almost imperceptibly weak.

But he still forced it out.

Then, the instant he called out, he sensed something burrow into his body.

A vague, indistinct connection appeared in his mind.

That connection seemed to be guiding him.

Somewhere, something of vital importance was waiting for him to retrieve it.

This made Lu Qingyang eager to rise and set off right then.

But before he could move, a crisp system notification sounded in his ears.

【Ding! Return to True time has cooled down.】

【Start Simulation? Yes/No】

"Hm? Again? Return to True?"

What is this…

Lu Qingyang's heart jolted.

But with the experience from the first time, he was clearly much more familiar this time.

After deliberating for a moment, he softly spoke. "Yes!"

Except this time, it was completely beyond his expectations.

As his voice fell, his vision suddenly went black!

"W-What's going on?!"

Lu Qingyang was shocked.

Before he could figure out the situation—

A glimmer of light abruptly appeared in his eyes.

Then his vision shifted, and he seemed to appear within a rundown, old temple.

Voices of a man and a woman reached his ears.

"Hurry! Throw him away quick! Careful the officials don't come collecting taxes again!"

As a sharp yet weak female voice fell.

An ugly, filthy middle-aged man appeared in Lu Qingyang's vision.

But the man could not even be bothered to spare him a glance.

He directly grabbed his shoulder and tossed him into the pile of dry hay to the side.

And this sent Lu Qingyang's head spinning.

It seemed he really had become an infant.

Unable to withstand such a blow.

So it seems… this is what just happened in the Simulation.

Lu Qingyang now had his answer, and his vision grew even hazier.

After all, he was now an infant.

And as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, in the instant his eyes finally shut, his consciousness gradually faded.

He only saw a hunched figure slowly walk in through the temple gate…