Fang Yuan set foot on Stone Lotus Island once more.
To be more precise, it was his first time in this life, but he had already visited in his previous life.
The moment he stepped onto Stone Lotus Island, Fang Yuan was immersed in the memory projections of Red Lotus Demon Venerable.
He had already studied these in his previous life, so this was merely a repetition, yet Fang Yuan still felt somewhat moved.
"Red Lotus Demon Venerable was perhaps the most unique of all the Venerables. He originally possessed Ninth Transformation cultivation, but he used the Spring Autumn Cicada to be reborn, effectively giving up his status as a Ninth Transformation Venerable."
"But had he not given it up, he would never have been able to return to the past, change reality, or make up for the regrets and sorrows in his heart."
"And so, it was only later that he created the Future Self, as well as the killer moves 'With Predecessors Before, and Successors After'…"
Stone Lotus Island, which bore Red Lotus's true inheritance, itself possessed the ability to conceal its presence. The Heavenly Court found it extremely difficult to locate. For a long time, they had gained nothing.
In his previous life, just when they were about to find it, Fang Yuan had disrupted them, and ultimately Feng Jiuge was forced to unleash the Great Unity Wind killer move, destroying Stone Lotus Island. From the Heavenly Court's perspective, it was quite a tragic affair.
The Stone Lotus Island Fang Yuan now stood on had been resting quietly in this spot for millions of years.
For some reason, this time, as Fang Yuan stood on Stone Lotus Island and watched the surging waters flowing past the island's shores, he suddenly experienced a flash of insight.
"The origin point of this River of Time should correspond to the very beginning of the entire world."
"The terminal point of the River of Time naturally corresponds to the destruction of the entire world."
"The length of the River of Time—its纵向—represents the entirety of the world's history. And its width—the横向—corresponds to every single thing that exists in the world: flowers, birds, fish, insects, people, beasts, grass, trees, and so on."
"Clearly, the more prosperous the world, the more things exist within it, and the wider the River of Time becomes. The more barren and desolate the world, the fewer things exist, and the narrower the River of Time becomes."
Fang Yuan possessed the Half-Supreme realm in the Time Path. In this moment, enlightenment flashed through his mind, and he gained a deeper understanding of rebirth itself.
"The true essence of my rebirth is simply that the will of the future downstream, through the Spring Autumn Cicada, slipped upstream and fused with me at some point in the past."
"The truth of time in this world dictates that only one world exists—there are no parallel dimensions. When I was reborn, the downstream still continued to flow. The future after my death was clearly the era of the Heavenly Court's dominance, with the four regions powerless to resist."
"But now that I've been reborn, it's as if a blob of ink was dropped into a crystal-clear river. As I change more and more things—causing some things to exist and others to vanish—the ink will gradually spread through more of the water, dyeing a longer stretch of the river's surface a different color."
"Once the ink spreads far enough to reach the point where the Heavenly Court repairs Destiny Gu and hosts the Gu Refinement Conference, countless things will have undergone drastic changes, and the future will be rewritten."
Fang Yuan had originally transmigrated from Earth, where there was a term for this phenomenon: the butterfly effect.
Fang Yuan now suddenly realized that for this Gu world, the ink effect was a more accurate description of the impact of rebirth.
"Of course, I can easily change other things because Destiny Gu is not intact. More critically, I am an Outsider Demon, unbound by Destiny."
"If Red Lotus Demon Venerable were reborn into the past, it would be very difficult for him to change the state of other things. Various causes and circumstances would always pull them back to their original form."
"In other words, an Outsider Demon is a massive blob of ink, while a native Gu Immortal's rebirth is merely a splash of water. Even if it creates ripples for a short time, under Destiny Gu's constraints, everything soon returns to the state it was always meant to be—calm waters once more."
At this thought, Fang Yuan couldn't help but admire Red Lotus Demon Venerable even more.
This extraordinary existence, even without being an Outsider Demon, had nonetheless forced open a path against impossible odds.
It was impossible to imagine how much he had sacrificed, and how much he had given up in the process!
On Red Lotus Island, there was a vast stockpile of Time Path immortal materials, with Eighth Transformation-grade materials making up the majority.
The Red Lotus True Meaning—a force capable of catapulting a Gu Immortal's Time Path realm to the level of a Half-Supreme Grandmaster.
There were also various immortal-level killer moves centered on the Spring Autumn Cicada, with "Spring Autumn Inevitability" being one of them.
Finally, there was one last手段 that Red Lotus Demon Venerable had specifically left behind, called the Future Self, which could grant a Gu Immortal the state of a peak Seventh Transformation cultivator.
What was missing was Regret Gu.
This Eighth Transformation immortal Gu still remained inside the Dragon Whale Blessed Land, having been taken away by the Earth Immortal.
In his previous life, Fang Yuan had used the Earth Immortal's arrangements to first obtain Regret Gu, then be directly teleported to Stone Lotus Island.
In this life, he had learned Stone Lotus Island's position within the River of Time in advance, came searching for it early, and inherited the bulk of Red Lotus's true inheritance ahead of schedule.
In terms of timing, it was an enormous advancement.
In his previous life, Fang Yuan had entered the River of Time three times. The first time, he was pursued and intercepted by the Heavenly Court's four great Time Path Immortal Gu Houses, then ambushed by Li Huang. He lost the prototype Immortal Gu House he had painstakingly invested in creating, and after exposing all his trump cards, he barely managed to escape.
The second time, Fang Yuan relied on the Earth Immortal's arrangements, obtained Regret Gu, and was directly teleported to Stone Lotus Island, where he collected the entirety of Red Lotus's true inheritance.
The third time, another Stone Lotus Island appeared, and it seemed highly likely that the Heavenly Court would succeed. Fang Yuan then allied with Bing Sai Chuan and others to fight against the Heavenly Court and contest Red Lotus's true inheritance. In the end, Feng Jiuge activated the Great Wind Song, destroying Stone Lotus Island, with neither side gaining any advantage.
All in all, Fang Yuan's experiences within the River of Time had been full of ups and downs, steeped in bitterness, sweetness, joy, and sorrow.
This time, reborn and armed with the memories in his mind, Fang Yuan was finally tasting the sweet part first!
"Without Regret Gu, it's fine for now. The immediate crisis is the Heavenly Court's invasion of the Langya Blessed Land, and there's still quite a bit of time before I mass-refine my immortal Gu."
"For now, I'll make good use of the Future Self killer move."
Fang Yuan released Ying Wu Xie and the others, letting them cultivate on Stone Lotus Island just as in his previous life, to familiarize themselves with the Future Self.
Unlike his previous life, this time the fairy Miao Yin and the White Rabbit Girl under his command were both still alive, greatly improving the utilization rate of the Future Self.
And he himself got to enjoy the Future Self as well!
In his previous life, his cultivation had been at the Eighth Transformation, so the Future Self killer move had no effect on him. But this time, Fang Yuan had come early, with only Seventh Transformation cultivation, so the Future Self was naturally useful to him.
"Wait!"
"Perhaps this is the correct point in time for me to have arrived at Stone Lotus Island."
"Back then, Red Lotus Demon Venerable's calculations determined that I would come here when I reached Seventh Transformation, which is why he left the Future Self killer move to help me."
"In my previous life, I assumed Red Lotus's calculations were flawed… but now it seems—could it be that Red Lotus Demon Venerable had already accounted for my state after rebirth?"