"..." Wei Wuyin's heart shook. Does this Wei Wuyin know about the other's history? The past that led to them diverging? How?
As if predicting young Wei Wuyin's question, the clothed Wei Wuyin answered: "He told me. You've yet to grasp the power of Magi, but he has. It's not hard for us to break certain taboos, even the taboos that the River of Time prevents due to the paradoxical nature of it. Well, to a certain extent." While he spoke, his lips didn't match his words, clearly, he was using a different form of language, and the millions of intricate formations in his silver eyes were shining softly with mystifying light.
"..." Wei Wuyin was shaken, but he remained quiet. He wasn't slow, and he knew that this was a manifestation of the River of Time, and they were being monitored. Furthermore, he knew that with his nature, this version of himself would tell him what he needed to know.
As for completing this tribulation, he had some clues that this wouldn't be difficult at all. In fact, from the scarred Wei Wuyin's reactions, signs of his power being unable to affect Wei Wuyin, and the regressing cultivation base, he had some theories that suggested the two Wei Wuyins knew the outcome of this tribulation.
"Do you want to know?" The clothed Wei Wuyin asked, his eyes never leaving the Deep-Violet Lunar Roses.
"..." Wei Wuyin lifted his gaze, directing a surging desire to learn the difference.
The clothed Wei Wuyin didn't need to look at Wei Wuyin, already knowing his answer. "Since you've arrived here, you must have seen my life unfold before your eyes, but considering your age, and the fact you were experiencing the Temporal Eye Astral Tribulation…hm, uhm…did you undergo tribulation in the Time Vortex?" The clothed Wei Wuyin's train of thought diverted as he realized something.
Young Wei Wuyin nodded with a soft confirming noise.
"No wonder. Haaa…truly divergent. Well, my life and this one here aren't much different from the beginning, except I didn't neglect Su Mei, giving her an Everlore Ascension Pill. She succeeded in her Mortal Star Formation Tribulation, but I…" A leaking of raw emotion occurred, causing clothed Wei Wuyin's voice to quiver slightly, but soon regained its serenity, allowing a brief silence to form before continuing.
"Since you know my life, you'll know that I saved Qing Qiumu from execution." The clothed Wei Wuyin pointed out, and he glanced at the silent young Wei Wuyin, and then faintly sighed. "You did too, interesting. So we don't diverge there." His words contained relief and a wisp of happiness.
Young Wei Wuyin saved Qing Qiumu from the execution platform due to Na Xinyi declaring to the world that Qing Qiumu was his wife. The entire sect went wild as he had his hands in every jar imaginably, stealthily controlling the benefits of countless individuals. Not even the Grand Imperial Sages at the time could refuse his bribes, allowing him to gain the ability to quietly use the Void Gate and visit the Bloodforge Continent.
This was a consistent part of both of their lives, except the clothed Wei Wuyin focused on cultivation, and sent the Ascendants instead of going himself.
The clothed Wei Wuyin continued: "He had saved Qing Qiumu during her execution, and this led to him proclaiming to the world that they were his wives. His priorities changed then and there, and he began to…it didn't matter. What matters is that he didn't concoct a ninth-grade product and focused on cultivating the Ascendants and his harem.
"Su Mei died during her tribulation. Since then, everything went downhill. He grew irritable and violent, obtaining the desire to conquer instead of relaxing, to grow in strength, and suppress. Even Long Chen went into hiding, saved by Wu Yu as he tried to kill him. The oldest scars on his body were from his defeat against Wu Yu after being spared and forced to run like a beaten dog, kept as a reminder of his weakness. A habit he kept carrying from every fierce battle and defeat."
"..." Young Wei Wuyin's eyes widened slightly. He recalled himself exercising extreme caution because Wu Yu was an unknown variable, and Blessed was insidiously difficult to deal with. Long Chen was likely the worst thus far, having a literal Ascended being's spirit protecting him.
Not even Jing Jiu had such an unreasonable degree of protection growing up. While his means were terrifying at the time of death, capable of even resisting certain death in the face of Demi-Mortal Lords, that wasn't during his Qi Condensation Realm, but earned through his efforts.
"Slowly, this Wei Wuyin began to neglect his loved ones. His enemies after he entered the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region were endless and relentless. He lost Qing Qiumu to her ancestor; he lost Na Xinyi to Trueborn; he lost Bai Lin to the Imperial Clan; he lost Du Ling and Mei Mei to the Everlore Association; he lost his freedom to the Endless Voyage Realm." Every word sent thunderous waves through Wei Wuyin's mind.
"He lost everything little by little until he had nothing left—nothing." The clothed Wei Wuyin's eyes rippled as he walked towards the corpse of the scarred Wei Wuyin, and then he gently touched his shoulder. The corpse glowed with soft earthen light, and then it sank into the ground without disturbing any soil or grass.
A few moments later, a silver-colored rose sprouted out of the ground, hurdled by endless violet roses. It swayed happily.
While this was merely symbolic, not occurring in any true reality, it felt right.
"Have you faced your Second Calamity?" The clothed Wei Wuyin asked, his eyes observing the silver rose dancing amongst the violet-colored ones. There was an indescribable presence to his aura.
Young Wei Wuyin nodded.
"Third?"
"Eleven years."
The clothed Wei Wuyin turned to give Wei Wuyin a sidelong glance, "You've killed Blessed?"
Young Wei Wuyin frowned, "..." But the clothed Wei Wuyin was silent, his eyes contemplative, and the young Wei Wuyin added: "Three—Long Chen, Yuan Longshi, and Jing Jiu."
"Jing Jiu? You met him?" The clothed Wei Wuyin was unable to contain the surprise in his voice. Immediately after, an extremely perplexed frown emerged on his expression. "He shouldn't be someone you can face at your level or age. If my memory is correct, he's at the Galactic Battlefield."
Wei Wuyin shrugged. Jing Jiu wasn't that difficult to kill when he was merely at the Gravity Emission Phase, and that was six years ago. Now, he was reaching the Temporal Eye Phase.
"...You've truly taken an accelerated path. I genuinely want to know what went differently in your life." The clothed Wei Wuyin sighed admiringly.
"..." Young Wei Wuyin remained silent.
"Guess I have no chance of living, huh? Well, we all die someday. I've always been irritatingly perceptive, but I don't think I could've held my tongue this long without bombarding me with all sorts of questions." The clothed Wei Wuyin placed his left hand on his saber hilt, but there was no ill intent within his movements.
"I don't have any intention of dying," the young Wei Wuyin flatly said.
The clothed Wei Wuyin softly heaved a sigh filled with equal parts unwillingness, dissatisfaction, and praise. It contained all his emotions.
Wei Wuyin knew from the beginning that this version of himself felt distrustful, but he couldn't quite pinpoint why. It was an instinctive feeling that scratched at his heart, so he kept himself in a passive and cautious situation. However, as the clothed Wei Wuyin continued, Wei Wuyin realized that he was trying to cause Wei Wuyin to speak out about certain things.
"What was it?" The clothed Wei Wuyin asked, his eyes brightening by the second.
"The other one," the young Wei Wuyin pointed at the graveyard.
"He told you?" The clothed Wei Wuyin frowned, finding that to be impossible.
The young Wei Wuyin shook his head, "He told me not to lose Su Mei, but he never once told me how to do so. Moreover, he used that trick of yours. I couldn't hold that in towards others no matter what I've experienced. He lost more than his loved ones, but even his slyness has dulled."
"Huh. So from the beginning, how 'Wei Wuyin' of you. Haha," the clothed Wei Wuyin chuckled softly, a wisp of pride in his eyes. It seemed that Wei Wuyin's acute senses and intelligence were satisfying to him.
The young Wei Wuyin stared straight at the clothed Wei Wuyin, his eyes exuding a sharp light. They both wanted him to ask questions about the future. To inquire about anything.
They were in the River of Time, and some taboos existed that he was unaware of, but the other Wei Wuyin made it seem as if they, as Magi, could easily overcome these issues by circulating the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity. Wei Wuyin was capable of freely seeing every formation, openly shown them by the clothed Wei Wuyin, and he felt that he could replicate it. He had even tried it for a moment, succeeding with extreme ease.
It was clear that the clothed Wei Wuyin expected him to grasp it, especially given his desire to skirt the rules of the world. It was an innate desire of his, born from his Bloodline of Sin and Exploitative Blessed status. They knew each other too well.
With this so-called Magi power activated, they could openly communicate, but Wei Wuyin wasn't so idiotic to fall for something like that. He was already vigilant, feeling that something was off about this entire event, and refused to actively seek out any answers of the future or past by asking them himself.
After a long while, the clothed Wei Wuyin shook his head, saying: "We can't defeat you, so we had to do this play, letting the River of Time kill you for us." The admission was the first time that Wei Wuyin felt that this version of himself was speaking without ulterior motives.
"The tribulation regresses your cultivation base to my level?" The young Wei Wuyin inquired.
Nodding, the clothed Wei Wuyin admitted without holding back. "Not exactly, but you can say that. The tribulation will bring my cultivation base to yours, but I'll be at my level of peak foundation at that stage of cultivation. This one here," he pointed at the silver rose, continuing: "indulged in women, drink, and vices of life, accumulating a harem of thirty-three women at the Realm World Phase, so his cultivation foundation was as shitty as they come before he began to lose everything as he never fought using his own power. This was why he lost everything, he fell back into weakness—he deserved death."
"..." Wei Wuyin clenched his fists tightly. He had sworn to himself that he'd never fall back into weakness, but this version of himself had fallen, satisfied with living a life of luxury until it took everything from him.
"He was enslaved to the Endless Void Mirror by that ruthless bitch of a woman too. No, she's lower than a bitch could ever be." The once debonair Wei Wuyin, incomparably serene and patient, surged with a killing intent that was irrepressible. He bared his fangs to the world, and wisps of draconic power surged out of him.
But he soon calmed down, clearing his throat and faintly smiling: "So when we fought, we were both brought to your level. I easily trumped him. In truth, I definitely wouldn't have defeated him if you weren't here." The clothed Wei Wuyin snorted softly, shaking his head.
"After all, in the Demi-Mortal Lord level, he still had four Astral Souls." A wistful expression formed on the clothed Wei Wuyin's face. "I'm not his match or yours. After all, you've triggered the River of Time Earthly Ascension Gate during your Temporal Eye Phase. What type of transcendent cultivation base requires that? But that's how the River of Souls works when deciding…timelines. Haaa…"
"What? You didn't fight up there?" Wei Wuyin's heart shook. If they were both brought to the Realm World Phase, then wouldn't that mean he could've sensed them? But he hadn't.
"No, he dealt himself those fatal injuries. He had no chance of beating me. Moreover, should we fight, my chance of succeeding against you becomes considerably less. He gave me a chance. Apologies." It was quite deceitful, a little shameless even.
Two of his senior versions of himself had plotted to entrap him into committing a taboo and dying to the River of Time.
"You must be wondering, having so many questions, and since I've already failed and am unable to kill you, I might as well push the taboos for your benefit. That said, it's a little sad though." The clothed Wei Wuyin bitterly smiled.
"..." The young Wei Wuyin remained silent, his eyes narrowing sharply.
The clothed Wei Wuyin laughed, clearly amused that he hadn't been able to get Wei Wuyin to inquire about something, about anything he shouldn't ask, and not something like what it meant to be a Temporal Apparition, or things involving the tribulation. After all, these are things that were 'expected' to be known. "Haha, can't blame me for trying, right? Anyways, we don't have a lot of time, so I can't give you everything even if I wanted to. The River of Time isn't infinitely stable, especially since the Heavenly Daos took action recently, damaging this part of it. So how about you choose.
"Do you want my sixty-eight years of life that you hadn't seen yet or my entire life's knowledge of cultivation? Whatever I transmit, it doesn't matter—I'll be destroyed by the River of Time instantly after. Take it as me gifting my younger self something nice. So make your choice."
"..."