Chapter 1870: Cause and Effect

"That phrase sounds so familiar."

When he woke up at the Heavenly Sang Spirit Palace and recalled his past life's memories, his previous self had also uttered, "Succeed or die trying," and then died trying.

"Am I the Mingzu?""Or was my past self the Mingzu?"

It sounded as if his previous life had been spent lying on a sickbed, perpetually depressed, paralyzed to the point of being unable to walk, let alone cultivate. Moreover, the world of his last life was indeed scarce in spiritual energy. A hundred years was considered a long life for ordinary people; living for thousands or tens of thousands of years was impossible. This indeed resembled what Nuozu had said: after consuming the Nine Worlds Breaking Fruit, the first life failed to transcend, dragging on to the last few lives.

But was that truly the case? Xu Xiaoshou wasn't so quick to judge, nor did he doubt that all the experiences of his past and present lives were prearranged based on just a few words from the three people in front of him.

"Don't trust anyone."

He had never forgotten that phrase from Elder Sang. Besides, the Source of Time came from Shizu, and ultimately originated from his cultivation of the Way of Time at the Ancient and Modern Forget-Me-Not Pavilion, encouraged by Kong Yuhan. Kong Yuhan's stance was unclear, and whether his animosity was significant was still unknown. What he saw and heard now already contained "fictional" elements—assuming Kong Yuhan had been loyal to Mozu from the very beginning. Xu Xiaoshou had never forgotten this point!

To take a step back, the few who could be confirmed as good people, standing on his side and on the side of the Saint God Continent, yet had not ascended to the Ancestor God realm, included Hua Weiyang, who once said:

"The transcendence of the Dao is easy, discerning myself is difficult."

At the time, he didn't understand how difficult this "discerning myself" truly was, but now, having walked this path, several points were clear.

Shengmo failed to discern himself, thus he turned to the demonic path.Yaogui failed to discern himself, leading to mutual antagonism.Shu Xie failed to discern himself, resulting in Cuiyin.

Leaving aside the Four Ancestors, who were already in reincarnation and seemed slightly inferior, did the remaining Shizu, Kong Yuhan, succeed in "discerning himself"? The answer was obviously no. There was no need to interpret how powerful Shizu in the current scene was, as it hadn't been fully revealed yet. One only needed to look at Kong Yuhan's current state in the Ancient and Modern Forget-Me-Not Pavilion to "know the autumn by seeing a single leaf."

If Shizu had succeeded in discerning himself, he wouldn't have fallen into such a state of "self-imprisonment"—splitting into countless Kong Yuhan, scattered across the River of Time, completely lost. If he had perfected his Dao, would Mozu still dare to covet Kong Yuhan, or seek to cooperate with him to collect all the Kong Yuhan from the River of Time? He would probably avoid him as if his life depended on it! And even if Mozu and Kong Yuhan conspired, and their previous words to him on the River of Time were false, at the very least, Mozu's ambition was clear: to surpass Shizu at his strongest.

So, from his fearless attitude, who was stronger, the Ten Ancestors of the Saint God Continent, or the three ancestors in the current scene? Without knowing the full picture, he couldn't comment. Xu Xiaoshou didn't dare to hastily conclude that the Ten Ancestors were far superior to the Three Ancestors, nor did he think the Three Ancestors were far superior to the Ten Ancestors. He just put a question mark on it and continued to ponder:

"The achievements of the Ten Ancestors are undoubtedly high. Neither 'Nuozu' nor 'Mingzu' here have been definitively confirmed by their titles; these are just my guesses..."

"If Mingzu is far stronger than Mozu, with an enormous disparity between them, and the black dial was a contingency left by Mingzu that ended up with me, then Mozu, no matter what, shouldn't have known about the 'dial'..."

"Things are made in secrecy; if they can be known, they will be obstructed, as this is a struggle of the Great Dao. And now Mozu is still present and aware, implying that Mingzu has a high probability of being gone."

Also, if he was the reincarnation of Mingzu, blessed with great luck and destined to succeed, then Mozu would ally with him, and Kong Yuhan would befriend him. Yet, on Void Island, the spirit of Tianzu didn't detect anything, foolishly passing on Tianzu's legacy to him?

"Was Tianzu that much weaker than them?"

That certainly wouldn't be the case. The "two-in-one" and "one-to-zero" might have a gap, but it wouldn't be this large. The warring parties in the divine war were most of the Ten Ancestors, fighting fiercely. If there was a huge disparity between them, the battle wouldn't have been so evenly matched. The final outcome was Tianzu's side losing, but Mozu's side didn't gain much either; only the Heavenly Realm shattered in despair. Cuiyin later revived in the Divine Ruins. He should be the first "two-in-one" Ancestor God on the continent, yet he dared not easily enter the Saint God Continent. Perhaps this was partly because Mozu had also successfully achieved the "two-in-one," but what about the other one, or two others? Yaozu and Guizu had definitely not yet achieved the "two-in-one"! After all, they coexisted, one befriending Beihuai, the other feigning friendship with Beihuai—both extremely insidious. The un-"two-in-one" Yaogui could already stand against Mozu on the Saint God Continent and among the Five Great Saint Emperor Families, which said a lot.

"The gap between Ancestor Gods won't be too large."

"Tianzu's side losing was probably not due to strength, but to luck; perhaps it was just a single misstep."

"The Ten Ancestors of the Five Domains all had glorious achievements, recorded in history. Now, they are locked in such a struggle with no clear outcome. These three in front of me look ethereal, their combat power unknown, yet they are united against the Great Tribulation..."

Xu Xiaoshou felt confused. One point was very much worth pondering. If the three of them needed help, why didn't they directly seek out the existing Ten Ancestors?

"Time..."

The answer, perhaps, lay in time.

"The era they are in is long before the Ten Ancestors, spanning billions of years, even countless epochs?"

But that didn't make sense! Shizu, Kong Yuhan, was among the Ten Ancestors of the Saint God Continent. And Shengzu was the first Ancestor God on the continent, laying the foundation for future generations. Kong Yuhan came after him, so while the Ten Ancestors might have ascended to godhood at different times, the temporal span shouldn't be that long.

"Then, from another perspective, they are all after the Ten Ancestors, and the era they are in is even after mine?"

"Is that Shizu, after countless divisions and getting lost, rediscovering himself and achieving the Great Dao, but forgetting about Mozu and other Ancestors, or perhaps other Ancestor Gods have already perished, making it unnecessary to mention them?"

Xu Xiaoshou had always had a wild imagination, daring to think anything during a brainstorming session. When this thought emerged, he couldn't help but gasp. It was a bit outrageous... If this theory held true, and he was still equivalent to Mingzu, then it wouldn't be him as Mingzu's contingency, but Mingzu as his contingency!

"Am I that strong?"

Time often played tricks on people. Once time was messed up, many things became illogical. Xu Xiaoshou's current transcendent Dao disk of time allowed him to sort through these thoughts, but after finishing, he felt even more lost, as if he himself was about to lose his way in the grand scheme of things.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he remembered Mingzu saying:

"Kong Yuhan, you can parallelize time, making all Daos cycle and advance simultaneously..."

At this thought, his scalp tingled. Xu Xiaoshou suddenly realized that this was the key. He was too confined by the distinction of "before and after." But from the insights gained from the transcendent Dao disk of time, time didn't strictly have a before and after, or rather, it wasn't absolutely divided. There was a possibility that on the River of Time, history might not flow linearly but in multiple parallel streams. Future, present, and past existed in parallel, not interfering with each other, yet influencing each other. Every change in a factor within these three would alter the destiny of an individual or many individuals in the same time segment and simultaneous space.

—It was like Cuiyin's reversal in the past, reflecting on him as the present him, doing nothing, yet inexplicably having his "Isolated from the World" ability sealed. This was time! This was the strangeness of time!

"My head's going to explode..."

Involving time, Xu Xiaoshou hadn't thought much more before he already felt a dull ache in his head. After reaching so many conclusions, he promptly stopped thinking and returned to his initial question:

"Am I Mingzu?""Am I the reincarnation of Mingzu?"

If time truly operated in a multi-threaded parallel manner, then what he saw now might not be a past scene, but something happening in a certain time-space. In that case, Mingzu was not him, and he was not Mingzu; Mingzu was him, and he was Mingzu... This, perhaps, was the essence of "discerning myself is difficult."

"What's happening over there will influence my thoughts, judgments, and future."

"Now that I've seen it, the changes in choices I make because of it will also feed back to that side, changing the fate of that Mingzu?"

"Schrödinger's Cat, or the wave-particle duality of light?"

Regardless, he was indeed "observing" and "intervening" now, exerting an "influence" on the dimension of time. A butterfly flapping its wings could cause a storm far away. But all of this had to be based on him and Mingzu having a causal relationship. And what if Mingzu's reincarnated body was actually his past self, Xu Xiaoshou?

"His life was also full of hardships!"

"Orphaned early, forced to wander;""Got a stroke of luck to enter the Heavenly Sang Spirit Palace, but was at the bottom of the outer court for three years;""When he entered seclusion, determined to make a breakthrough, it was the exact same phrase as Mingzu: 'Succeed or die trying,' and the outcome was death!"

"Such hardships align more with Nuozu's description of the tragic fate of the later lives after consuming the Nine Worlds Breaking Fruit."

Compared to his past self Xu Xiaoshou, and his previous life, he himself, after being reborn and waking up, had a surprisingly smooth journey. Even with dangers, he always turned misfortune into fortune, forging opportunities and achieving the Great Dao. This was unlike the bumpy fate after consuming the Nine Worlds Breaking Fruit; instead, it resembled that of a chosen one, somewhat like the pride of heaven, such as Bazun An or Kuilei Han.

"But there was an extra dial..."

Without this black dial, Xu Xiaoshou would be 120% certain that he and Mingzu were unrelated. If he had to force a connection, he could father a son. But just as time was always full of paradoxes, he happened to have this black dial, and thus his rise to prominence began.

"I'm numb...""Hmm, as the flamboyant old Daoist would say, a variable must have occurred..."

His thoughts lingered, though it was but a fleeting moment. After listening to the three talk about "reincarnation" and the "Nine Worlds Breaking Fruit," Xu Xiaoshou, harboring many thoughts, continued to look at the scene with a hint of anticipation. He was waiting for the black dial to appear. He knew all answers would ultimately come from how this thing was born, how it evolved, and how it finally affected him.

"Hurry up, I have things to do later!""Still not right!"

The one wearing the Nuo mask heavily shook his head after a long silence. White smoke swirled. Realizing that no matter how audacious he was, the three people in the scene probably wouldn't notice him, Xu Xiaoshou gradually regained control of his "body" and "pushed closer" to the center of the scene. The speed was very slow, but at least he could see more clearly.

The environment of the three subtly showed water currents, suggesting they were underwater? But they were clearly in an environment similar to a grotesque grotto, with white mist and flowing water present. On the stone table, there were indeed scattered chess pieces and a chessboard.

The Nuo-masked man picked up two chess pieces, placing one in front of Shizu and one in front of himself. He solemnly pointed at the first piece and said:

"You can go; time can be parallel. But Kong Yuhan cannot be left out. He must constantly keep an eye on you to prevent unforeseen events."

"However, the Great Tribulation is approaching, and variables are increasing. 'Peeking' and 'intervening' both cause influence, especially 'seeing from above to below'."

"My idea is that Kong Yuhan not only has to maintain time parallelism with his main body, but also has to create a clone in each life and send it to the plane you reincarnate into, to protect you."

"Their strength cannot be too high, but they must have self-preservation ability. Their will cannot be free, otherwise changes are likely to occur—mainly focused on 'guarding'."

As he spoke, he looked up through the Nuo mask, staring at Shizu on the right. Shizu didn't respond immediately. This seemingly excellent method made him hesitate? Mingzu, standing in the middle, slightly shook his head and spoke to reject:

"You know, the Way of Time is already overly Dao-ized. If clones are also dispersed, even if their will is restricted, it's easy for them to get lost and not be able to return."

"At that time, he will be trapped in the River of Time."

Nuozu ignored him. Through the white mist, his gaze couldn't be seen, but he still stared at Shizu: "Just nine clones..."

"Alright," Shizu finally nodded.

"No!"

Mingzu flicked his sleeve, picked up the chess piece in front of Shizu, and threw it out. Xu Xiaoshou hurriedly dodged, nearly getting hit in the face. He couldn't dodge; he didn't have such agile movement. But the chess piece didn't hit him; it passed through his "body" and fell into an unknown place.

"The Great Tribulation is approaching, everything is subject to change."

Mingzu said gravely: "What if I fail, and the power of the Nine Worlds Breaking Fruit eventually disappears, but I still want to continue? Will he keep guarding indefinitely?"

Nuozu laughed aloud, his laughter like sawing wood, as if ten thousand wild beasts were snarling simultaneously, making one's hair stand on end. He laughed and sat down on the stone stool behind, legs spread, single elbow propped on the stone table, his posture arrogant:

"You take risks upfront, and he enjoys peace and comfort in the back?"

Mingzu opened his mouth, wanting to speak further. Shizu reached out and stopped him, softly saying: "It's fine, I will guard him. Nine clones, I can maintain them."

"Ten thousand generations!"

Nuozu's voice deepened, his fingertips tapping the stone table repeatedly, the thudding sound shaking one's heart, and he said meaningfully:

"The Nine Worlds Breaking Fruit protects your will. If after nine cycles of reincarnation, you still haven't transcended, you don't need ten thousand generations. Even if you succeed in your tenth generation..."

"When we meet again, the name will no longer be the name."