Chen Ye remained skeptical about Qin Jiaming’s words.
There was no way he would believe the one-sided story of a stranger cultivator.
Moreover.
Why had he forgotten Qin Jiaming, yet Qin Jiaming still remembered him?
Qin Jiaming’s smile slowly faded as Chen Ye shot her a cold glance.
"Ah, it seems that big brother still doesn’t want to believe me from beginning to end... from beginning to end."
The young girl sighed softly, looking melancholic,
"I should have expected this outcome. After all, in the past, big brother often didn’t believe me. But all of this is unimportant. What’s important is that both you and I want to leave this world."
Chen Ye was not moved by her pitiful appearance.
He sneered:
"Since you claim we once depended on each other, then tell me, why do you remember everything clearly while I have lost that segment of memory you’re talking about?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Jiaming shook her head bitterly:
"I don’t know..."
"Big brother, I really don’t know why you lost your memory. Back then, we spent two whole years together in the Qi Kingdom, lurking and hiding before finally settling down. But later... war broke out again between the Lingyin Sect and the Emotion Crossing Sect."
"This time, the war was far more brutal than ever before. Bai Li ventured deep into the Celestial Abyss and ended up... perishing within it."
"His fall had such profound impacts that not even Black Cliff City could quell the anger of the Lingyin Sect. The entire Qi Kingdom was engulfed in flames of war. It was during that sudden upheaval that we were also forced apart..."
At this point,
Chen Ye silently calculated in his heart.
In the original historical timeline, Bai Li perished when Bai Susu was nine years old.
The current Little Susu was around six or seven, so in about two years, she would be nine.
"Two years..."
Chen Ye’s thoughts continued to reconstruct.
And it was exactly two years later that his missing memories picked up again.
Because at that time, he was already in the Yan Kingdom and had met Li Guangzong.
This indicated that the upheaval two years later not only resulted in Bai Li’s death but also served as his opportunity to return to the Yan Kingdom!
Chen Ye’s eyes flickered slightly.
At least from the current logic and known historical trajectory, there was indeed no flaw to be found in Qin Jiaming’s words.
Furthermore,
Qin Jiaming didn’t know when he lost his memory, but the timing she mentioned was spot on.
"Could it be that within this erased past, I indeed had a two-year connection with this woman?"
Chen Ye pondered silently, his mind momentarily filled with suspicion and uncertainty.
Qin Jiaming had been quietly observing Chen Ye’s expression.
Seeing the slight relaxation of his furrowed brow, she gently bit her lower lip, a trace of indescribable sorrow in her eyes:
"For these past twenty-two years... I’ve actually been hiding near the Celestial Abyss all along."
"I dared not go far, hoping that perhaps one day I could reunite with you on those ruins. Although big brother, you... later on..."
She bit her tongue as if she had a hard truth to share, but eventually swallowed back her words.
Chen Ye was unmoved, choosing to ignore her emotional revelation.
Seeing this, Qin Jiaming took a deep breath and wisely curbed her fragile emotions, instead saying:
"In fact, over all these years of wandering near the Celestial Abyss, I’ve discovered some secrets about it. In a rare stroke of fate, I came across an ancient text recording similar phenomena, which is why I can infer the nature of this world."
Chen Ye raised an eyebrow, his interest finally piqued:
"The nature of this world?"
Qin Jiaming nodded, casting her gaze over the dim alley around them and lowering her voice:
"Big brother, pay close attention... this world is neither real nor false."
"Neither real nor false?" Chen Ye squinted his eyes slightly.
"Yes." Qin Jiaming explained, "To be precise, this place is an historical projection born from the massive spatial and temporal distortion following the explosion of the Celestial Abyss, intertwined with a past fragment of true years."
"Within this projection, events that have occurred are predetermined by the Law of the Heavenly Dao. We are amidst it, yet completely unable to change the course of history. Even elements contrary to historical logic are whisked away and forcibly reconciled by the laws of this world."
Finishing her explanation, Qin Jiaming paused, casting a glance at Chen Ye:
"Big brother, haven’t you noticed? Your cultivation now is far beyond what it once was, yet Bai Li, an unparalleled genius, even after personally inspecting your meridians, somehow failed to see through it."
"Moreover, not just that, but despite the traces of time on our appearances and demeanor compared to back then, Bai Li still regarded us as the same as in those years?"
This was an epiphany for Chen Ye, who now suddenly understood; this matter had once perplexed him, and if Qin Jiaming’s theory was the reason, it seemed plausible.
Qin Jiaming continued:
"Thus, not just anyone can casually arrive in this world during the explosion of the Celestial Abyss."
"First, that person must have verifiably existed in this world at that historical point to overlay and replace the projection. Second, they must be exactly at the space-time node of the Celestial Abyss during the explosion. Third, they must possess sufficiently strong cultivation to protect themselves, or else they’d be pulverized to dust while crossing into the projection."