Chapter 1827: Yuan Tong

Jin Ren left.

He chose not to kill the Rao family grandfather and granddaughter.

The destruction of Wu Rao had absolutely nothing to do with him.

If blame were to be assigned, it would fall on the Five Great Saint Emperor Families, or even solely on Dao Qiongcang.

Regardless of Rao Keke's talent, the old man's strength, or whether they had any hidden abilities... having entered Ganshi, they were trapped by Dao Qiongcang's schemes, unable to escape this cage. Wu Rao had no chance of recovering. Even if they still harbored some hope, that hope was too elusive and granted by others.

"Ganshi Imperial Realm..." "Never mind, I'll continue forward."

Jin Ren left Linhu and walked deeper into the mist.

Since arriving at Ganshi, he felt the encounters along the way were incredibly surreal, much like the mysterious mist covering the lake.

He first killed an old woodcutter. He felt it resembled one of Dao Qiongcang's Heavenly Secret Puppets, but after killing him, he no longer thought so. In reality, judging by the old man's life patterns, he was a living person. Unfortunately, Jin Ren couldn't afford to take that risk.

After his encounter with the two Wu Rao individuals, Jin Ren again felt that what he experienced in Ganshi was not illusory. If other Saint Emperor Families wanted to destroy Wu Rao, they would surely annihilate the entire clan. Once these major powers decided to act, they would never leave any roots behind, allowing Wu Rao a chance to rise again. The Ganshi Imperial Realm, however, might indeed have a tendency to hold back. Dao Qiongcang's style was never to push things to extremes; he planned meticulously, step by step, ensuring any changes could be turned to his advantage. Perhaps the Ganshi Imperial Realm shared a similar disposition.

"But were those two Wu Rao individuals truly real?"

Jin Ren got lost in the dense fog, feeling he had forgotten something important, remembering only to keep moving forward. He could no longer distinguish between the illusory and the real in Ganshi, believing that if his true body were here, he might be able to see through it all. But he was only half a will of a second true body; his abilities were too limited. Not to mention Saint Emperor Ganshi, even Dao Qiongcang could probably toy with his current self.

"Perhaps entering Ganshi was a mistake from the very beginning?"

Since he was already here, Jin Ren could only console himself by gathering more information. Even if the information was flawed, it was enough that he obtained it; the rest would be for his true body to judge.

Not long after, as he emerged from the dense fog, the scenery before him changed, and Jin Ren found himself on a stretch of tidal flats.

The boundless sea was not far off. The muddy, sandy ground of the tidal flats underfoot shimmered in the starlight, dazzling and disorienting him, making him feel as if his soul was about to sink into it.

"Hmm?"

Jin Ren was startled awake again. He was here to contaminate Dao Qiongcang's memory imprints. How was it that after walking for so long, every time he tried to activate his Intention Dao Compass, a "change" would occur?

"Something's not right..." "Has the Dao of Memory altered my memories?"

He stopped, no longer fixated on weaving Dao Qiongcang's imprints. He felt that from the moment he entered the Ganshi Imperial Realm, he had stepped into a "strange loop," perhaps already locked onto by Saint Emperor Ganshi. The rest was just circling in place, a futile effort.

Jin Ren stood in thought amidst the muddy yellow tidal flats, then let out a self-deprecating laugh and spoke loudly to the empty surroundings: "Come out, Dao Ganshi. There's no need to play hide-and-seek anymore. I surrender."

His voice drifted across the flats, but it elicited no echo or ripple.

Jin Ren thought for a moment, then formed a sword-finger and aimed it at his forehead, deciding to commit suicide. He had truly lost. Everything he encountered along the way had been baffling. The Ganshi Imperial Realm truly lived up to its reputation as a mysterious place capable of nurturing enigmatic figures like Dao Qiongcang; its very existence was a "riddle"!

The sword light was sharp. But just as he was about to pierce his brow, Jin Ren's movement involuntarily paused, his gaze drawn to a colossal creature far out in the nearby sea.

"What is that?"

It looked like an enormous... turtle?

Even from a great distance, with half its body submerged in the muddy water, it still appeared as tall as a three-story building.

Jin Ren's eyesight was keen. He could also see a small human figure sitting atop this turtle-like creature near the sea. The figure had their back turned to him, facing the starlight. As Jin Ren saw the creature and the figure, a tender child's voice echoed from afar, speaking profound words: "Mystery knocks on immortality, an old turtle bears longevity patterns. Stars weave myriad paths, destiny falls upon the central balance."

As the ethereal child's voice settled, Jin Ren's vision blurred, and he found the world around him shifted. He was now inexplicably past the tidal flats, by the nearby sea, right in front of the old turtle.

This turtle-like creature was colossal! It wasn't just three stories high; it was as tall as the sky itself. In front of it, he felt as insignificant as a grain of sand.

"A soft-shelled turtle?"

The old turtle lowered its gaze, its eyes interwoven with stars. It seemed like something otherworldly, only visible after one had unraveled profound mysteries and pushed open the highest gate. Yet, after Jin Ren blinked, he realized it was clearly very small again. It was only as tall as an average person, though still substantial, no longer impossibly towering.

Up close, Jin Ren could tell that this old turtle had likely endured a long time and was quite ancient. It bore a shell like a regular turtle, but its carapace was covered in star-like warts, containing unknown power, and crisscrossing patterns that seemed to brand the myriad laws of the Great Dao. However, its shell was unlike an ordinary turtle's; it was covered by a layer of soft skin, making the star-warts and Dao patterns appear very blurry. A turtle's shell and flesh have a clear separation. This old turtle's shell and flesh, connected by the soft skin, seemed to have grown completely together, with visible but indistinct seams.

Jin Ren pondered for a long time before managing to describe it: "It's like the misty veil over the lake—mysterious, yet simultaneously obscuring the truth." He then felt this didn't quite capture its essence, like scratching an itch through a boot, finally realizing: "It obscured the Dao!"

The old turtle... and the boy riding it backwards... Jin Ren's heart stirred with ripples as he determined the essential truth: Saint Emperor Ganshi! Either this old turtle was Dao Ganshi, or the child riding it backwards was!

Although this image was vastly different from his preconceived notion of Saint Emperor Ganshi, Jin Ren found it understandable. Given how eccentric Dao Qiongcang was, what difference would it make if Dao Ganshi were a child or even a soft-shelled turtle instead of a human?

He looked at the old turtle. The old turtle seemed bored, its eyes, large as copper lamps, drooped in drowsiness. Clearly, the few "Dao theories" just spoken didn't come from its mouth, so Jin Ren turned his gaze to the small boy riding on the old turtle's shell with his back to him. The boy was draped only in a star-robe, sitting hunched over, his hands propped up in front of him, out of sight, as he gazed at the starry sky. When Jin Ren strained to look up, he could only see a very round, smooth back of a head—devoid of hair.

"Big brother, everyone seeks the Dao and desires immortality, why do you want to end your life and commit suicide?" the boy riding the turtle backwards asked, his voice filled with deep confusion.

Jin Ren took a deep breath, disinclined to play word games with these Daoist riddle-masters, adhering to the principle of adapting to the situation. Since he had met them and couldn't avoid it, he would talk! He cupped his fist and said solemnly, "This junior, Xu Xiaoshou, greets Saint Emperor Ganshi."

"Hmm..." The little boy shook his head. "Big brother, how are you so sure that I am Saint Emperor Ganshi?"

People surnamed Dao were such a hassle! Jin Ren found these riddle-masters most annoying. Why couldn't they just meet plainly and speak straightforwardly, instead of every sentence being a roundabout? But he merely didn't want to play along, not that he couldn't. Upon hearing this, he burst into a long laugh and began showering praises: "Mystery knocks on immortality, an old turtle bears longevity patterns, stars weave myriad paths, destiny falls upon the central balance... Someone with such an air and such spirit could hardly be an ordinary person, could they? Though this Ganshi Imperial Realm is vast and full of capable individuals, if you are not the Saint Emperor, then who could be?"

The little boy still had his back to Jin Ren, his voice childlike, as if asking a very serious question: "Could I not be Dao Qiongcang?"

Jin Ren laughed heartily, picking up a grain of sand from the ground. "Dao Qiongcang is full of stratagems, yet he's less than a grain of sand. Saint Emperor Ganshi's talent eclipses the heavens, like a star above. How can the two of you be mentioned in the same breath?"

"Hmm..." The little boy shook his head again. "Besides Saint Emperor Ganshi and Dao Qiongcang, could I not be someone else?"

Jin Ren was stunned. What other powerful figures could there be in the Ganshi Imperial Realm? Dao Xuanji? Just a comedian.

Jin Ren continued to flatter, "Saint Emperor Ganshi, your esteemed name has long preceded you, resounding like thunder. Seeing you today, your reputation is truly well-deserved..." After a lengthy string of pleasantries, he finally voiced his true thought: "But does Saint Emperor Ganshi intend to remain with his back to me, not showing his true face?"

The little boy on the turtle's back chuckled, still preoccupied with gazing at the stars. "If you want to see my face, why don't you walk around behind my Dao Turtle, the one I'm sitting on, and come see me yourself?"

"Uh..."

Even Jin Ren was momentarily choked. These Dao family members truly were something! He didn't get angry, though; he simply took a step, intending to walk around the giant, man-sized Dao Turtle to get behind it and meet this vexing little brat.

"Never mind," the little boy on the turtle's back said with a wave of his hand. He shifted his position, turned around, looked down, and smiled, "Who am I?"

Jin Ren stopped and looked up. When he saw the little boy's face clearly, his pupils constricted, and he instinctively recoiled three steps, exclaiming in horror, "A... Ah Jie?!"

This bald little boy, with his red lips, white teeth, round eyes, and straight nose, wasn't he Ah Jie, the Heavenly Secret Puppet his true body had unearthed from underground in the Heavenly Mystic Gate's Killing Corner at the Heavenly Sang Spirit Palace?

At that moment, Jin Ren's face turned green. Too many images and too much information flashed through his mind, yet he couldn't form another complete logical structure, no matter how hard he tried.

What he originally knew was that Ah Jie was a defective product from Dao Qiongcang's first generation of Heavenly Secret Puppets, with Heavenly Secret Envoy No. 2 coming later. Subsequent truths changed: it turned out Ah Jie had developed sentience, and Dao Qiongcang was thus sanctioned by the Five Great Saint Emperor Families, who believed he was colluding with Bei Huai. Dao Qiongcang had no choice but to abandon Ah Jie, leaving him on Void Island! Elder Sang brought Ah Jie back to the Heavenly Sang Spirit Palace... Wait, why would Elder Sang do that, how could he dare? No, that's not important, not important...

After that, Ah Jie was buried within the Heavenly Mystic Gate. Since he couldn't be shown to outsiders, he became a great treasure of the realm, available for Elder Qiao Qiao to research Heavenly Secret Arts. But Elder Qiao wasn't actually studying Heavenly Secret Arts. He was one of the Four Sons of the Saint Palace, with extraordinary ambition, attempting to re-verify the Array Dao, aiming to surpass Heavenly Secret Arts. Later, Elder Qiao became a Saint; indeed, he took that step without needing a half-saint rank. Yet, something went wrong midway, and it had been over half a year, and he still hadn't successfully become a Saint... *Hiss*?

Thinking of this, Jin Ren's mind felt like it was about to explode, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. But his thoughts continued to scatter, endlessly.

He then thought of the first Heavenly Secret Puppet: since it had already developed sentience, in the eyes of the heads of the great Saint Emperor Families, Dao Qiongcang had fallen onto the wrong path, like Bei Huai. Bei Huai himself suffered such "restraint," suppressed his entire life within the Lamenting Imperial Realm, not allowed to leave. So why was Dao Qiongcang able to transcend, not only suffering no ill effects but also traveling freely across the Saint God Continent and becoming the Hall Master of the Dao Hall? Did no one truly suspect that after creating the first sentient Heavenly Secret Puppet, he would remain well-behaved and not cause further trouble? The entire Dao Department wasn't composed of real people. A significant portion of the key officials at Gui Zhe Sacred Mountain vanished without a trace after Dao Qiongcang retired. In thirty years, did the Five Great Saint Emperor Families not find a single anomaly in these matters, these clear signs? Even if they genuinely didn't! What about Saint Emperor Ganshi himself? His own family produced a Dao Qiongcang, and the first Heavenly Secret Puppet, Ah Jie, even bore Saint Emperor Ganshi's face—how malicious was that? Was Dao Qiongcang just let off the hook like that? Could his heart truly be so magnanimous? But if Saint Emperor Ganshi had turned a blind eye to Dao Qiongcang's life's work, then Dao Qiongcang was clearly a "Dao Family traitor"! He had no desire to take over the Ganshi Imperial Realm. His ambition was to start from scratch, to achieve godhood through Heavenly Secrets, surpass the Saint Emperors, and become a Divine Ancestor. Did Saint Emperor Ganshi not see any of this, letting a traitor meticulously plot for thirty years?

"Ah..." A rolling groan escaped Jin Ren's throat. His head truly felt like it would explode; his thoughts were a tangled mess, unable to form a single coherent line.

"Suicide!" "I can only commit suicide!" "This Ganshi Imperial Realm is unbearable; I can't even have a conversation. Saint Emperor Ganshi is problematic; this guy means no good!"

The little boy on the turtle's back watched his torment with a grin. Jin Ren's heart was filled with a resolve to die. Without a second thought, he again formed a sword-finger and aimed it at his forehead. Simultaneously, he sent a terrified thought towards his true body: "Do not enter Ganshi!"

The Dao family members were more cunning than all the countless billions across the five regions of the continent combined. The waters of Ganshi were murkier than the chaos stirred up after the Five Great Saint Emperor Families simultaneously detonated. As for malevolent spirits, holy demons, or medicine ghosts... they could all be shaken by force. But fighting Saint Emperor Ganshi and Dao Qiongcang was like punching cotton; one would never know who truly bore the impact or suffered the blow in the end.

"Bang!" The little boy on the turtle's back smiled as he watched the person below commit suicide, not stopping him. After Jin Ren's finger struck, his head exploded like a watermelon, and his entire being, body and spirit, was annihilated, not even a trace of consciousness remaining, as if in fear of being caught.

"Ah, why couldn't he think straight?" The little boy sighed softly, cupping his chin, a look of regret on his face. Then, addressing the empty space below the turtle, he asked, "Xu Xiaoshou, what exactly is death, do you think? Or to put it another way, if body, spirit, and will are all extinguished, is that truly 'death'?"

Before Jin Ren's death, his short yet brilliant life flashed before his eyes. He had closed his eyes to self-immolate, knowing that after this finger, he would surely die, leaving no trace. He would fall back into darkness. When his true body needed him, a "birth" would occur, and he would return. Although the 'him' at that time would not be the 'him' of now, while living—or rather, while Jin Ren lived—there was no need to be so particular. It was all him! Thinking this way was enough.

But when Jin Ren opened his eyes, he wasn't reborn by his true body on the Saint God Continent. He gazed at the giant, man-sized old turtle before him, and at "Ah Jie" on the turtle's back, cupping his chin and observing him... He was stunned, numb. He lowered his head and examined himself. His existence felt illusory; he had no physical body, no soul, no consciousness, yet it also seemed as if all three coexisted? This was a "living" state of a highly peculiar nature, and as for what state it actually was, Jin Ren's mind had short-circuited, unable to process.

"True body, kill me! Detonate me!" Jin Ren's inner voice roared frantically. Although he couldn't commit suicide, his true body had a fallback; it always controlled the life and death of the second true body with a single thought. "Stop struggling. The connection between your avatar and your true body was 'altered' long ago. Haven't you noticed?" "Hmm, when you entered my divine court?"

His true body's response didn't come, as if the connection had been completely severed with his recent death. Yet, the little boy on the turtle's back looked over, and his words were chilling: "Your name is 'Jin Ren'?"

Jin Ren's hands fell weakly, his entire being felt drained of strength. He remained silent.

The little boy on the turtle's back seemed to bear no ill will, still discussing "death." He spoke to himself, "I think there are three deaths for a person." He held up three sparkling white fingers.

Jin Ren remained unmoved. Seeing no response from him, the little boy continued, "There are three deaths for a person: the first is when body, spirit, and will all vanish; the second is when the meaning of one's existence is erased at their funeral; and the third is when one is forgotten by the entire world." "So..."

At this point, Jin Ren's gaze flickered, and he shivered slightly. The little boy on the old turtle's back stood up, stretched, and yawned, saying, "So, Jin Ren, as long as there is one person who remembers our names, does that not mean we have achieved 'eternal life'?"