Chenping Continent, Northern Region.
On an official road thirteen thousand li away from the North Pass Sect.
A seemingly ordinary carriage traveled slowly along the smooth road paved with bluestone.
Two people sat inside the carriage.
One was a young man who looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, and the other was a young girl who appeared to be only about thirteen or fourteen.
"You're saying that if I break through to the Passable God Realm, I will no longer be myself?"
The girl blinked her large eyes as she asked the young man sitting across from her.
"Correct."
The young man replied.
"The tenth palace ruler of Heavenly Summit Palace at Heavenly Summit Mountain, the Immortal Ascension Realm great power, Pure Dust True Person, who was active more than seventy thousand years ago."
The young man continued.
"Heavenly Summit Mountain, Immortal Ascension, Pure Dust?"
The girl tilted her small head in confusion.
She wasn't very knowledgeable about the history of Chenping Continent's cultivation world, only knowing that Heavenly Summit Mountain was once the cultivation holy land of Chenping Continent, which later inexplicably perished.
And now, every ten years, the cultivation world of Chenping Continent holds the Dao Inquiry Assembly of Chenping Continent and the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry on the ruins of Heavenly Summit Mountain.
"That's right. You are Pure Dust True Person, or rather, you are the reincarnation of Pure Dust True Person."
Chen Yan explained to Si Youyou:
"Pure Dust True Person was active more than seventy thousand years ago and presided over Heavenly Summit Mountain for eight thousand five hundred years. There are two main speculations regarding Pure Dust True Person's exact age. According to the records in Wind Ravine Valley's library, Pure Dust True Person lived for eleven thousand years; however, some unofficial histories in the cultivation world record that Pure Dust True Person lived for thirteen thousand years. Considering Pure Dust True Person's life events, the former possibility is indeed more likely."
"Breaking through to the Passable God Realm, and then recovering Pure Dust True Person's memories..."
Si Youyou mumbled to herself, then lifted her head:
"But, if I really can recover those memories, what does that have to do with me no longer being myself?"
"Your life has only spanned a short fourteen years, while Pure Dust True Person's Path to Immortality experienced at least eleven thousand years. Do you think your fourteen years of life can amount to anything within Pure Dust True Person's vast memories spanning over ten thousand years?"
Chen Yan replied.
"...I would still be myself!"
The girl shook her head in refutation.
"I definitely won't forget, I won't forget you, Chen Yan, I won't forget Supervisor Fang from the sect who always gives me pastries, I won't forget Little Jiang in the sect who owes me three high-grade spirit stones, I won't forget that big silly guy who always stands at the ferry, I won't forget Mr. You... everyone, I won't forget any of them!"
Si Youyou's voice was incredibly firm:
"I am myself!"
"I also hope that would be the case."
Chen Yan merely nodded and didn't say anything more.
After so many cycles of reincarnation, Chen Yan had long since stopped harboring any unrealistic fantasies.
He knew all too well that once the girl sitting across from him recovered her memories, Si Youyou would no longer be a living person, but merely an insignificant dream of Pure Dust True Person.
From a rational perspective, Chen Yan should have fled the North Pass Sect alone.
But he couldn't do it.
Whether it was physical pain or mental anguish, Chen Yan believed he had grown increasingly numb.
But he still possessed his humanity.
He truly regarded Si Youyou as his younger sister, and Youyou absolutely regarded him as her older brother.
Or rather, in the most recent cycles of reincarnation, both he and this little girl Youyou had, to a certain extent, relied on each other.
But Chen Yan didn't know what would happen in the future.
His choice to bring Youyou with him was entirely driven by his own selfishness and willfulness.
As for the consequences...
"Speaking of which, how is everyone in the sect doing?"
Si Youyou asked.
This little girl had deep feelings for the North Pass Sect.
She was only fourteen this year. When she was six years old, Chen Yan founded the North Pass Sect. For the next eight years, Si Youyou spent the vast majority of her time living within the sect. Coupled with her identity as the "Vice Sect Leader," this gave the little girl a strong sense of belonging to the North Pass Sect.
"They should all be fine, I suppose."
Chen Yan said.
Three months had already passed since he and Si Youyou left the North Pass Sect.
This amount of time wasn't exactly short, but it wasn't long either.
The North Pass Sect should still be operating with its original inertia, but the disciples within would surely gradually realize the fact that their Sect Leader had disappeared.
Chen Yan could roughly speculate what would happen to the North Pass Sect in the future.
The North Pass Sect, having lost the upper three realms cultivator Si Chen to preside over it, naturally could not continue to maintain its current scale and size, and would thus begin to disintegrate and collapse.
But for the disciples of the North Pass Sect, this was absolutely not a catastrophic disaster.
Because the North Pass Sect's operational policy had always been to maintain friendly relations and avoid conflicts of interest with other cultivation sects as much as possible.
It was possible the North Pass Sect would be directly annexed and absorbed by a top-tier sect like the Lightning-Severing Sect, or it might be divided up by several top-tier sects or first-rate sects.
As for the safety of the North Pass Sect cultivators, there shouldn't be any major problems.
Si Youyou leaned against the carriage window, gazing out at the scenery slowly receding behind them:
"So slow."
It really was slow.
In three months' time, Chen Yan and Si Youyou, traveling in this carriage, had only just traveled thirteen thousand li away from the North Pass Sect.
As a Passable God Realm cultivator, Chen Yan could naturally fly through the air.
With Chen Yan's current cultivation level, even carrying Si Youyou, if he flew at full speed without rest, he could appear two hundred thousand li away within twelve hours.
A mere thirteen thousand li, why would it need three months?
But this carriage had to be used.
Because this carriage was a rare treasure gifted to him by Mr. You, right after Chen Yan had just discerned the truth behind Heavenly Summit Mountain's destruction, eradicated the Cause of Calamity, and shouldered the karmic backlash spanning over sixty thousand years.
Now, the Path to Immortality had been reconnected, and the Great Dao of Chenping Continent had revived.
The sixty-thousand-year karmic backlash he was shouldering would inevitably attract the attention of those Immortal Ascension Realm reincarnations who could ascend to immortality immediately.
Chen Yan's body was tainted with the aura of the karmic backlash.
And this carriage could shield Chen Yan from this aura of karmic backlash, thus evading the searches of those Immortal Ascension reincarnations.
"There's a city up ahead!"
Leaning against the carriage window, Si Youyou's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked into the distance along the bluestone-paved road.
A city indeed stood there, with the three large characters "Boshui City" fluttering on its gate tower.
It was time to take a break.
Chen Yan thought to himself.
Three months had already passed since he and Si Youyou left the North Pass Sect.
He needed to gather some intelligence to assess the current situation in Chenping Continent.
The Boshui City ahead was indeed a good place to do so.