Chapter 1738: A Lifetime of Bewilderment and Empty Regrets, or Also Yan Zi and Three or Two People

“Kong Yuhan?”

“You mean Kong Yuhan from ‘Moon Drunk in Wine, Empty Remorse’?”

At first, the Five Domains couldn't recognize who this elder was, but after a moment, it dawned on them.

Among the Ten Venerables, there was one whose name was known but whose person was never seen. One couldn't even recall a specific appearance of this individual.

“Ah? So Kong Yuhan looks like this? An old man-flower?”

“That's not right, he should be about the same age as Palace Master Dao and the others. When I was beaten by them back then, they were all very young…”

“Could it be because he ate this flower? The Flower of Life? It feels like it can consume people's life force… His head has been replaced, could it be that the flower actually ate the person and tampered with his memories?”

“No, no, you need to think about it from another angle. This name was given by Palace Master Dao. Is he really Kong Yuhan? He could very likely just be a Heaven's Secret Puppet!”

“Brother, you’re not paying attention to detail. He said ‘found’ his name, not ‘given’ his name!”

“You're wrong again. Is the key issue about nitpicking words, about ‘found’ or ‘given’? It’s about him encountering Palace Master Dao!”

“Hmm, that's true, after all, it's that perverted Dao…”

The Five Domains were stunned for a long time by the phrase "Kong Yuhan," and then a heated discussion erupted.

Aside from that completely blurred memory, this seemed to be the first time everyone had seen what Kong Yuhan looked like.

Completely inhuman!

As for the "master" game between Palace Master Dao and Kong Yuhan, it might be amusing to mention casually, but it was truly irrelevant at the moment.

Palace Master Dao's twisted sense of humor was now known throughout the world.

Perhaps he couldn't defeat you openly, but secretly, there might be countless Heaven's Secret Puppet maids named "Kong Yuhan," "Ba Zun'an," or "Ai Cangsheng," calling him "Master."

Xu Xiaoshou initially couldn't accept the "master" setting.

Upon learning that the sunflower-headed elder before him was also named "Kong Yuhan," he suddenly understood.

The flavor was indeed strong!

But it felt right!

If you weren't named Kong Yuhan, that flamboyant old Dao might not even bother letting you call him "Master." His interests were always so unique.

As for whether this Kong Yuhan was Dao Qiongcang's prank, or the same person as the goose-egg-faced, connected-brow Kong Yuhan he had seen in the Gujin Wangyou Tower…

“At least, he’s not a Heaven's Secret Puppet!”

As a master weaver, Xu Xiaoshou recognized at a glance that the sunflower-headed Kong Yuhan was a real person.

His life紋 was very strange, difficult to discern or penetrate, but he was indeed a living entity, with no connection to Heaven's Secret Puppets.

“Of course, he’s not a plant either!”

He wasn’t eaten by the Flower of Life.

Rather, perhaps he ate the Flower of Life, and after his head mutated, his life紋 became elusive.

All these had traces to follow.

“But to say he is Kong Yuhan…”

How to identify if someone is Kong Yuhan?

This question was actually simple: either you possess spatial-temporal attributes, or you make people forget you, or you can conjure a Gujin Wangyou Tower at will.

Xu Xiaoshou had an idea and asked, “How are you able to move freely on the sixth level of the Dead Sea?”

The Dead Sea suppresses spiritual power, rendering spatial-temporal attributes useless.

Under the Saint Emperor's Golden Edict, even more would be suppressed, not less.

Perhaps Dao Qiongcang had encountered this Kong Yuhan a long time ago and, after getting a "zero offensive" answer, decided to let him roam freely.

But now, under the Saint Emperor's Golden Edict, this sunflower-headed Kong Yuhan could still move, which might be beyond Dao Qiongcang's expectation… right?

The sunflower-headed Kong Yuhan heard this, scanned the surroundings, and said with slight confusion:

“Move freely?”

“I've been able to since I was born.”

“I still don't understand why they like to stay in their rooms and not come out.”

Upon hearing this, the people of the Five Domains felt that if they were prisoners in those black stone prisons, they would rush out and pluck all the seeds from this old man's face.

He was too obnoxious!

Xu Xiaoshou didn't think so. He pointed to an empty cell nearby, “Try walking into one.”

The sunflower didn't understand.

The sunflower did as told.

Xu Xiaoshou watched as he swaggered to the edge of the black stone prison. He seemed to have no concept of doors or walls, simply pressing his hands forward…

Xu Xiaoshou remembered!

He remembered clearly!

Previously, when the sunflower-headed elder was scared by him, he ran to a distant black stone prison and could cling to the sealed bars with his hands.

But this time, he simply gave a gentle push.

As if pushing open a "door," his whole body seemed to shimmer, and he walked through the boundary of the door and wall.

“Come inside and chat?”

The sunflower waved from inside, facing the wall.

The Dao Transmitting Mirror activated, virtualizing the wall's existence, allowing everyone to see clearly:

The sunflower wasn't waving at the wall.

He was waving at everyone behind the wall!

In his world, it seemed there was nothing in front of him that could form an "obstacle," not even a visual "obstacle"?

“So strong!”

The spirit refiners of the Five Domains were stunned.

If this were in the outside world, and the sunflower could do this, no one would be surprised.

Various wall-piercing escape techniques, various spiritual sense perceptions.

Any few innate spiritual skills could achieve the same effect as him.

But this was the Dead Sea!

Forget spiritual skills and spiritual sense.

Even saint martial arts and saint perception couldn't be used here.

Yet, he moved as if in an uninhabited land, going wherever he pleased.

Looking at it this way, if he wanted to leave the Dead Sea, it should also be a matter of a single thought?

“Does anyone still remember, he said that eating the ‘Flower of Life’ had a few effects?”

“Hmm… Immortality? Cannot be killed? Cannot be imprisoned? But gains ‘fear’?”

“Cannot be imprisoned? Could that be the reason?”

“But ‘Flower of Life,’ as the name suggests, shouldn't it only grant immortality? This sunflower doesn't look like it could be combined with an absurd ability like ‘cannot be imprisoned,’ does it?”

“Zhu Yike would be more like it!”

“Indeed, Zhu Yike has the ability to ‘not be imprisoned,’ but he is also restricted by the Dead Sea and cannot truly transcend…”

The Five Domains’ divergent thinking was not necessarily useless. Soon, someone thought of something:

“You mean, could it be that the power of this ‘Flower of Life’ is too strong, and after granting immortality, it enhanced the sunflower’s…呸, enhanced Kong Yuhan’s own abilities?”

“Kong Yuhan, he has spatial attributes, have you all forgotten?”

This indeed awakened many.

Before he spoke, not many people linked it to attributes, as if they were guided.

Xu Xiaoshou had high resistance to guidance.

He linked it to this point almost immediately.

In his eyes, under the Dead Sea's prohibition, the sunflower-headed Kong Yuhan had not shown even the slightest fluctuation of spatial attributes.

But without fluctuation, without aura, without traces…

Was it not a spatial attribute?

“If his comprehension of the Dao of Space has reached the Transcendence realm, or even beyond the Transcendence realm!”

“Can his very existence be understood as ‘space’?”

“The Dead Sea might prohibit spatial attributes, spatial profound truths, and spatial Dao Transcendence… but isn't the Dead Sea's form of existence also a type of space?”

Xu Xiaoshou reached out to touch the flowing clear water, and looked up, he could also touch the near and far, up, down, left, and right.

It could materialize…

It could be a carrier…

It had containment…

The Dead Sea was a "space"!

If the sunflower-headed Kong Yuhan could represent "space," then in the Dead Sea, he was like being at home, indeed going wherever he wanted and opening whatever room he wanted.

After roughly confirming that the sunflower-headed elder should be one of the Kong Yuhans, Xu Xiaoshou then pondered a question:

“Can Kong Yuhan represent space?”

“Space, Ancestor Kong… Time, Ancestor Shi… Space-time, Lord of Space-time, Ancestor Shi?”

The Five Domains fell silent, knowing that Grandpa Shou was thinking.

What kind of questions he would ponder was beyond normal people's imagination, but no one dared to disturb him.

Feng Zhongzui carried the Dao Transmitting Mirror, waiting silently.

The Holy Mountain Refugee Group felt that the sixth level of the Dead Sea had become eerie again due to the appearance of the sunflower-headed Kong Yuhan.

The sunflower waved in the cell but received no response, so he trotted back on his own.

Did I do something wrong again?

He was hesitating whether to stick out his butt…

After a trip to the Divine Ruins, Xu Xiaoshou indeed learned a lot from Dao Qiongcang.

He realized that some things, when considered superficially, would affect the outcome, and the impact would be significant, leading to vastly different results.

He connected all entities related to space and time from the past and present, including people, events, and objects.

Finally, through calculation, he arrived at a few targets.

“First, Kong Yuhan from Gujin Wangyou Tower.”

“Second, Yan Wang Huangquan, he also possesses spatial attributes.”

“Third, Ye Xiaotian, this existence later even comprehended spatial profound truths and managed to fool everyone into thinking he was weak—isn't this also a form of weakening presence?”

“Fourth, the sunflower, this looks like an older-generation big shot, and Ba Zun'an said that perhaps there's a Kong Yuhan in each generation…”

“Fifth, me? I also have spatial profound truths, am I also Kong Yuhan?”

At this thought, Xu Xiaoshou almost crashed.

After first excluding “Five,” he looked at the sunflower and asked:

“How old are you, old sir?”

The sunflower tilted his head, “I forgot.”

As if afraid Xu Xiaoshou would pull out the taming stick, he quickly added, “I’ve been here for a long time. At first, there was only one piece here.”

He pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

Xu Xiaoshou realized he was referring to the Dead Sea.

This guy had been in the Dead Sea so long that he experienced its transformation, division, and the eventual emergence of the "eighteen layers" concept?

That's not something from a few eras ago.

He really might have gained immortality by eating the "Flower of Life," hiding from the era of the Medicine Ancestor, Shennong Baicao, until today?

“Tell me about the Ancestor Gods you knew before you came here,” Xu Xiaoshou tried to converse with the sunflower using an exaggerated mindset.

The sunflower thought for a moment and then said, “Shen, Long, Void Master, …”

Xu Xiaoshou waited patiently.

That was it!

This guy was done!

He only said three… no, including the name that should have been "Shennong Baicao" but was silenced, he said a total of four names!

Moreover, this guy's way of addressing them wasn't by their Ancestor God codenames, but rather like calling them by their true names!

“Holy Ancestor, Dragon Ancestor, Heavenly Ancestor, Medicine Ancestor?” Xu Xiaoshou asked, unsure.

“Yes!”

The sunflower nodded, his tone somewhat fearful: “You shouldn't be Master, but you guys…”

“Our problems are exactly the same?” Xu Xiaoshou knew he was referring to Dao Qiongcang, and it was Dao Qiongcang he feared.

“Mhm.”

This confirmed that the Ancestor God he couldn't name, but who was still alive, was indeed the Medicine Ancestor.

Conversely, it also verified that the Holy Ancestor, Dragon Ancestor, and Heavenly Ancestor had all truly fallen, or no longer concerned themselves with matters on the Saint God Continent, making it less significant to call them by their true names.

“You don't know Sword Ancestor?” Xu Xiaoshou asked.

“Heard of him.”

“What about Art Ancestor?” Art Ancestor was the closest Ancestor God to this era.

“Heard of him.”

He knows nothing of the Sword Ancestor, and cares not for the Art Ancestor. So this Dead Sea, is your blessed sanctuary, then?

Xu Xiaoshou hesitated for a moment and asked, “What about Time Ancestor?”

The sunflower had no abnormal reaction, shaking his head very frankly, “Master also asked about him, but I’m not sure, never met the real person.”

This made Feng Zhongzui's hand tremble, causing the mirror's image to shake.

What?

You mean, you've met the Holy, Dragon, Heavenly, and Medicine Ancestors in person?

Grandpa Shou asked "Ancestor Gods you know," and you answered using this "know"?

That's quite "knowing," then!

The Five Domains spectators felt an inexplicable panic.

Ancient times always instilled a deep sense of awe.

They subconsciously believed this must be one of Palace Master Dao's pranks.

In fact, few of the sunflower's and Grandpa Shou's previous conversations were truly credible.

Everyone comforted and guided themselves this way.

Because once acknowledged…

“If this Kong Yuhan is so strong, why is he only one of the Ten Venerables, and why does he still call Dao Qiongcang ‘Master’?”

“Just a coincidence, a mere coincidence of names?”

Xu Xiaoshou felt his head getting bigger.

The more questions he asked, the more questions he felt there were.

The sunflower was like an inexhaustible, endless historical treasure.

You poke him, and he reveals something.

You poke him again, and he spills more information.

But if you don't ask, he reverts to his previous state, giving nothing, timid and reserved.

If it were just like this, it would be fine.

Xu Xiaoshou could spend a month thoroughly talking to the sunflower, asking every conceivable question.

But the key was that this thing had been "poked" by Dao Qiongcang before…

Thus, you couldn’t be sure how credible his words were.

Perhaps when you thought you had grasped eight or nine tenths, the most crucial part of his words might contain one of Dao Qiongcang’s lies.

And that could be fatal!

“Still asking?”

At the Divine Ruins, everyone looked at Elder Sang, waiting for an answer.

As the former leader of Fenqin, he had the most dealings with Dao Qiongcang, in the open and secret games of chess.

Perhaps the one who understood Dao Qiongcang best was this bald man in front of him.

Elder Sang shook his head.

He had a good grasp of the current situation.

But when it came to history, and things related to the Ancestor God level, he was a bit lacking.

After all, he was not one of the Ten Venerables, and his resistance to guidance was not high.

If not for Xu Xiaoshou's reminder, he might not even clearly remember what "Kong Yuhan" had done, or if he had a long beard.

“The more you talk, the more confused you'll get.”

“Dao Qiongcang left him here for exactly this effect.”

“If you call Ba Zun'an, or invite this person to Gujin Wangyou Tower, perhaps you can figure things out.”

“At worst, if Dao Qiongcang were by your side, I believe you would have a better judgment of his words.”

“Now, asking more is useless; just use him.”

An old man in the family is like having an old man.

Xu Xiaoshou felt that the last sentence, "just use him," was indeed well said.

What Kong Yuhan was or wasn't had nothing to do with him.

As long as he could help him, then he was a good Yu Han!

Thinking this, Xu Xiaoshou felt relieved. In front of Elder Sang from the Divine Ruins, he asked the sunflower-headed Kong Yuhan from the Dead Sea a devastating question:

“Do you know Ye Xiaotian?”

The Five Domains were stunned.

Ye Xiaotian?

That Half-Saint Ye Xiaotian, with spatial profound truths?

Why was Grandpa Shou talking about him now? Could this person be related to Kong Yuhan? Wait… spatial attributes?

Elder Sang also had a shocked, speechless, expectant, fearful… mixed expression.

Ye Xiaotian?

No way?

Kong Xiaotian cannot be, at least not…

The sunflower saw that Xu Xiaoshou before him wasn't very aggressive, so he relaxed considerably. He pulled out a water-resistant biscuit from the seeds on his face and munched on it with a crunching sound:

“Ye Xiaotian, what's that, a biscuit?”

He was too relaxed.

So relaxed that it made everyone feel tense.

“So Ye Xiaotian was a biscuit?”

“Uh, no, Ye Xiaotian, he shouldn't be Kong Yuhan, right? Grandpa Shou means there are many Kong Yuhans, and the sunflower is just one of them?”

“Is Grandpa Shou having an episode?”

“Or am I sick? Spatial attributes, are they all Kong Yuhan?”

“Uh, if you ask me, Grandpa Shou is simply projecting his own thoughts onto Kong Yuhan. Kong Yuhan isn't Grandpa Shou, so how could he have countless offspring?”

The Five Domains had many opinions.

"Kong Yuhan" stirred up a thousand waves, and everyone chatted animatedly.

Due to the Intent Dao Disk's guidance on "forgetting," the more people talked, the more they remembered, and they couldn't stop.

In the Dead Sea, Xu Xiaoshou had temporarily put aside his curiosity about the sunflower, pointing at the black stone prison where Aunt Xiang was located, and said amusedly:

“Do you know this little sister?”

Given the sunflower's age, he would certainly consider Aunt Xiang a "little sister," so saying this was not at all impolite.

“I know her.”

The sunflower crunched his biscuit.

Xu Xiaoshou glanced over, and there was indeed a handshake pattern on the biscuit.

After all these years, he must have eaten a lot of biscuits. Dao Dog, you are truly a dog. Compared to you, Ai Gou is a normal person… Xu Xiaoshou sighed and returned to the main topic:

“When you say you know her, what kind of knowing? Before the Dead Sea, before this place, you had met her, right?”

Xu Xiaoshou hadn't forgotten the legend of "Ghost Gate Pass, Gods are Gods," and which individuals had forged it.

As for where that Kong Yuhan from the same era as Ba Zun'an and Shen Yi was now, whether the sunflower in front of him knew or remembered what he did, all this remained to be verified.

The sunflower evidently didn't quite grasp Xu Xiaoshou's implication, merely shaking his head:

“Generally acquainted.”

“I can see them, and I don’t want them to see me, so they can’t see me.”

“Everyone here, I'm not interested in them. I'm only interested in outsiders, only in you…”

“We're talking about Sister Xiang,” Xu Xiaoshou interrupted.

“Oh, this Sister Xiang, I haven't greeted her, I've only seen her writing.” The sunflower indicated they weren't close.

“A critique?”

“Her writing is average.”

The two of them, in a back-and-forth, had been heard from afar for some time. Aunt Xiang, finally unable to restrain herself, shouted from within the black stone prison:

“Xu Xiaoshou?”

Her voice carried a hint of exasperation, as she quickly and clumsily tidied up the numerous "good people" scattered across her cell:

“I’m still not entirely sure about your voice.”

“But your lifeless appearance makes me think you're not that flamboyant old Dao in disguise!”

Finally, you dare to speak to me… Xu Xiaoshou chuckled, not responding to Aunt Xiang, and said to the Kong Yuhan in front of him:

“If I asked you to rescue her, what would you say?”

The sunflower froze, then quickly shook his head, actually daring to refuse:

“I can save her, but I don't know her, and I don't want to get involved in karma.”