Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

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But the phrase "the unknown high-level cell has traces of interference" was like a key that unlocked the door to Shen Mo's darkest conjectures.

Was his time travel indeed part of the "plan"? Was the system, this mysterious entity that accompanied him on his journey, protecting him from the ultimate devouring of this "interference," or... supervising the execution of this "plan"?

If the system is protecting him, why does it strictly forbid him from seeking the truth? If the system is monitoring the plan, why is it so afraid of him being "covered up," even at the cost of self-harm to isolate the danger?

Contradictions! Chaos! A deeper layer of mystery!

But one thing is clear: the system is afraid! It fears the resonance of that "shared soul"! It fears the so-called "soul overlay"! It is desperately preventing him from exploring the answer to the question "Who am I?"

They are even willing to harm themselves in order to forcibly isolate, block, and interfere!

This fear, this alarmed reaction, was like a bucket of ice-cold water poured over Shen Mo's nearly boiling self-doubt and panic. The extreme cold brought with it a kind of abnormal, sharp clarity.

If the consciousness of "Shen Mo" was destined to be covered up and replaced, if everything was truly a pre-arranged script, why was the system so nervous? Why issue such a stern warning? It could have simply stood by and watched, or even fueled the flames, waiting for its "master" to return.

Unless... something has deviated from the "plan"? Or, is this "overlay" itself an unacceptable disaster for the system?

Does the "host" mentioned by the system refer to the collective consciousness of "Shen Mo," or to the physical body that serves as the "container," or something else entirely?

Countless questions, along with a chilling fear and a distorted clarity born from despair, intertwined in Shen Mo's mind.

He felt as if he had suddenly fallen from a fairly clear chessboard into a boundless, dark, viscous swamp, with no solid ground beneath his feet and surrounded by unknown, malicious gazes and invisible threads.

But in this swamp, he seemed to... touch something hard that didn't belong to the swamp, though he didn't know what it was.

He staggered backward, collapsing onto the prayer mat, his inner shirt already soaked with cold sweat, his hands and feet icy cold. His gaze unconsciously fell once more upon the floating jade slip, but now, the warm starlight seemed to transform into a ghostly green flame, ready to devour him, filled with ominousness and...temptation.

It's as if it's calling out silently: Come, seek the truth, know who you are, and then... become me, or be replaced by me.

He wanted to destroy the jade slip, to eradicate all thoughts in his mind about Qingyunzi, about reincarnation, about the resemblance, and about self-doubt! He wanted to escape from here, escape from Qingyun Sect, escape from everything related to "Qingyunzi"!

But...where could he escape to? The system had already "hibernated," and the warning still lingered in his ears.

The Tianyuan Tournament is imminent, with thousands of disciples of the Qingyun Sect looking on expectantly, and Han Lin, Shi Tie, Su Xiao, and others trusting and following him without reservation... There is also that terrifying dark hand that may have already locked onto him, regarding him as a "pawn" or "vessel"... And deep in his heart, there is that indelible, burning question of "Who am I?"

There's no escaping it, and... one cannot escape it. In fact, one cannot even completely cease thinking. The system's warning precisely proves that this thinking has touched upon something fundamental.

Shen Mo clenched his teeth tightly until he tasted the metallic sweetness of rust in his mouth. His heavy breathing gradually subsided, and his trembling body slowly stopped.

The churning fear, despair, chaos, and confusion in his eyes were gradually suppressed, replaced by an almost cruel coldness and decisiveness, and a deeper, more profound flame of inquiry that even he himself had not yet understood.

He slowly reached out, not to touch the jade slip, but to grab a spare, blank jade slip from the jade table beside him.

His divine sense, like the sharpest carving knife, swiftly engraved all his self-doubt, all his terrifying conjectures, all the keywords in the system warning, and all the fragments that made his heart tremble into the deepest part of this blank jade slip in a special, encrypted way that only he could understand.

Then, he took out several top-level sealing talismans and sealed them layer by layer. Finally, he mobilized the power of his newly stabilized nascent soul and mixed it with a trace of the original Daoist rhyme of the "Source Sea Dao Scripture" to set up an extremely complex restriction on the surface of the jade slip. This restriction would self-destruct if it were forcibly broken or touched by someone other than his own divine sense.

After doing all this, he carefully put the jade slip that recorded "taboo" and "doubt" into the innermost layer of a most secret storage bag in his bosom, storing it separately from the Qingyunzi jade slip.

Then, he looked at the Qingyunzi jade slip that was still floating. His gaze was incredibly complex, containing fear, anger, coldness, and a trace of... a strange emotion that even he himself was unaware of, as if he were facing "another self" or "a potential enemy," as well as the deepest, forcibly suppressed, faint yet stubborn desire for "verification."

He didn't destroy it. At least not now. This jade slip is a clue, a key, or perhaps a trap, a bait, or even... an "awakening device."

It would be foolish to blindly destroy known clues before uncovering the truth and possessing sufficient power. The system warned him to stop investigating, but the system's warning itself meant that the investigation had already touched the core.

He couldn't stop. From the moment he activated the mark, saw the scenes of reincarnation, discovered the resemblance to the original, and fell into self-doubt, there was no turning back.

He simply stretched out his hand and, using the power of his Nascent Soul and the Daoist rhyme of the "Source Sea Dao Scripture," laid out several more solid and precise layers of isolation and sealing around the Qingyunzi jade slip, ensuring that its aura would not leak out and that it would no longer easily resonate with his own soul in that "dangerous" way.

He even added a trace of his own unique divine imprint, derived from the "Yuanhai Daojing" but subtly different, to the seal, as if to declare: This thing is temporarily under my supervision.

After doing all this, he carefully put away the jade slip, but in a completely different place than the jade slip that recorded the warnings and doubts.

The quiet room fell silent once more. Only Shen Mo's slightly heavy but gradually steady breathing could be heard.

He slowly closed his eyes and began to circulate the mental techniques of the "Yuanhai Daojing".

It wasn't cultivation, but rather using this profound technique to forcibly soothe the turmoil in one's soul and suppress the wavering of one's Dao heart. It was to slowly and painstakingly suppress the earth-shattering self-doubt, fear, and discovery that had just occurred, along with the churning emotions, into the deepest part of one's heart, and to use reason and cold decisiveness to forge a thick layer of ice shell to temporarily seal it away.

He didn't know the truth, nor what awaited him. But he knew that fear and avoidance would solve nothing.

The system was in hibernation, but the warnings remained. The Tianyuan Tournament was imminent, powerful enemies surrounded them, and the rise and fall of the sect rested on his shoulders... He had no time to wallow in panic and suspicion.

More importantly, the question of "who am I?" has been planted deep in his heart like a poisonous seed. He can ignore it for now, but it will silently grow beneath the icy shell.

He needs strength, time, and more clues so that one day in the future he will be able to face it, answer it, or... fight against its possible consequences.

Whoever he is, whether he is Shen Mo, some kind of continuation of Qingyunzi, or a pawn or vessel of some other terrifying being... at least now, at this moment, before the system has completely abandoned him (or has not yet completed its mission), before the ice shell has shattered, he is Shen Mo, the head of Qingyun Sect, the newly promoted Nascent Soul True Monarch, and the pillar upon which thousands of disciples rely.

He must fulfill the responsibilities of this identity, leading the Qingyun Sect forward and making it stronger. Only with sufficient power can he have the right to struggle and choose amidst the great changes of the future, and only then can he... explore the truth that the system considers taboo, face the possibly returning "Qingyunzi," or... unravel the mystery of his own existence.