The emergency message was repeated seven or eight times before finally ceasing. Yet Master Dafu's thoughts exploded—clearly, this was not Yuan Shi Tian Zun fishing patiently. It wasn't the kind of move one would make while fishing. Nor did it resemble the behavior of the Pure Yang Master after he had completely gone mad; in that case, he would surely have launched a full-scale assault, not simply repeating this strange, enigmatic message. So, had the Pure Yang Master indeed uncovered a secret, only to find himself entangled in some difficulty? Master Dafu pondered this, then quickly retrieved materials and sketched a spiritual scroll array on the ground, mimicking the celestial constellations. He chose not to make a phone call, fearing that if this were indeed a setup orchestrated by the Five Elements Alliance, the call might be pinpointed by their technical means. As a Day-Wandering God, he effortlessly and swiftly drew a celestial array—something even years of study in the Star Officials' school would not guarantee. He settled into a meditative posture, then began to unfold and analyze the patterns. Fifteen minutes later, the celestial charts indicated that both making the phone call and traveling to Songhai would be safe. The Great Protector thought for a moment, stood up, waved his hand, and the spiritual scroll array beneath him faded away. Then he picked up his phone on the desk and dialed the mobile number of the Master of Pure Yang. The Great Protector took off his phone, selecting hands-free while checking the messages. As his gaze settled on the screen, his pupils—like those of a cat exposed to bright light—contracted suddenly. The chat history was completely blank. The message sent by the Master of Pure Yang had vanished. The Great Protector grew alarmed, his tone shifting noticeably: "Pure Yang, what happened when you arrived at Songhai? Who are you investigating? Is anyone with you?" His voice was not only urgent but loud, as if stirred by a strong impulse. "Wait—hold on," the Master of Pure Yang hesitated, "what exactly has happened to you?" "It's not that I've encountered something. It's you who've encountered something—something significant." The Great Protector immediately conveyed to the Master of Pure Yang the strange phenomenon of the message vanishing upon arrival. "This...," the Master of Pure Yang replied, feeling both startled and puzzled. If, indeed, as the Great Protector claimed, something major had happened to him, then he must have been in trouble—yet on his end, everything seemed calm, nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. "Who are you looking into? What node have you found?" the Grand Guardian asked repeatedly. "Just...," the Pure-Yang Master began, only for the phone line to go dead mid-sentence. The Grand Guardian immediately tried to call again, only to find the line busy—unreachable. Something had happened. The Pure-Yang Master had encountered an issue in Songhai. A mysterious, unknown force had forcibly erased the information that had already been sent, leaving the Master completely unaware of what was unfolding... The Grand Guardian's mind raced—who in Songhai possessed such power? And what kind of force could alter reality itself? At that moment, the phone chimed softly, signaling a new message. The Grand Guardian focused and saw it was a message sent by the Pure-Yang Master. "Rush to Songhai—I've discovered a stunning secret." "Help!" "Rush to Songhai—I've discovered a stunning secret." "Help!" The message repeated again and again. This time, the Grand Protector did not immediately call the Master of Pure Yang. Instead, he held the phone, standing in the dimly lit study, silently waiting. His eyes were fixed intently on the phone screen, on the dense stream of emergency messages. After about half an hour, one message suddenly vanished. Then another. Then the third, the fourth… The messages on the screen seemed to be being withdrawn, one by one, as if retreating, and time itself appeared to flow backward. At that moment, the Grand Protector’s hair stood on end. He finally realized what had happened to the Master of Pure Yang. Instruments of Causality! Only instruments of causality possessed such powerful capabilities—only they could erase established facts and create phenomena resembling time reversal. What on earth was this person investigating that had brought in instruments of causality? He immediately contacted the Leader… Without hesitation, the Grand Protector quickly gathered materials infused with spiritual essence and inscribed a summoning scroll symbolizing spiritual expansion on the ground. The difficulty of summoning the array seemed far greater than simulating the celestial constellations of the week. The senior protector, much like a night-wandering deity learning the art of spiritual scrolls, drew each stroke with great care and meticulousness. It took a full hour before the circular array finally took shape. Immediately, he infused the divine power of the Sun God to activate the array, enabling it to automatically absorb the spiritual essence of materials and summon beings from the unseen realm. "Leader, Leader, Leader..." He whispered the summons softly. Yet the circular array remained silent—no signs of movement, no sound. This meant the Leader was engaged in other matters and had no time to respond. "Strange. The Leader should have been free recently. Why isn't he responding?" the protector murmured, puzzled. At that moment, his phone on the desk rang. The caller was the Master of Pure Yang. The protector's eyes brightened—the fact that the Master had chosen to call rather than send a text suggested he had broken a certain cycle. He quickly picked up the phone, answered it, and tentatively said, "Hello!" "The voice from the speaker, weary and strained, said, 'I think I might need some help—I've encountered a problem.' 'You've actually broken free of the cycle?' The Senior Guardian was surprised, after all, since causal-type artifacts were the most intractable and challenging among the three major categories. 'What cycle?' the Pure-Yang Master blinked. 'Hmm? It seems you've completely forgotten everything you did just two hours ago. Then, how do you know you've encountered a problem?' the Guardian asked calmly. The Pure-Yang Master paused for a few seconds before responding, 'Lately, I've been researching Yuan-Shi Tian-Zun. I've traced him to a retired teacher's home, and now I'm standing in the hallway of that house, ready to knock on the door and visit. In my perception, I've only just arrived here and haven't yet met this teacher, yet I clearly remember arriving at ten in the morning. Now, it's exactly twelve thirty in the afternoon. Moreover, my spirit is profoundly weary—so weary that I feel I'd like to sleep for three or four days straight.' I feel as though a part of my soul has been lost—unless something unexpected has happened, I must have used the "Momentary Blossom," an exceedingly profound spell of amnesia that allows one to forget specific memories. "With that," the Pure Yang Master asked, "could you please clarify what you meant by the cycle?" The Chief Guardian did not immediately respond but instead asked, "Are you certain you're safe?" "Not entirely," replied the Pure Yang Master. "But I can keep observing. I've already descended to the ground floor and am now planning to leave the neighborhood. If there's no anomaly within the next half hour, then I'll be safe." The two remained silent, passing the half hour in quiet observation. With a sense of relief, the Pure Yang Master said, "It seems I'm safe now—go on, tell me what happened." The Chief Guardian then recounted his experience in full detail. There was silence on the phone, Pure Yang Master seemed frozen in place, and only after a long while did a soft murmur finally reach the listener: "Ah, now I understand. Now I understand..." He took a deep breath and began his serious analysis: "I didn't face any attack, which means I didn't encounter a formidable adversary. Yet I did find myself caught in a cycle—repeatedly going through the motions of investigation, calling for help, and then forgetting—until I finally realized something was wrong and used the technique 'Momentary Splendor' to erase my own memories. I believe I may have uncovered something truly remarkable, which triggered the capabilities of a cause-and-effect artifact, thus setting up this cycle. Only when I erased that secret and forgot it did the cause-and-effect chain dissolve. Hmm—alternatively, perhaps after sensing something was amiss, I chose to leave instead of meeting that retired teacher, thereby breaking the cycle." The voice of the senior attendant also carried a notably serious tone: "So, what exactly have you discovered, Master? What is the true identity of the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign?" "Master Chuyang chuckled, 'The true identity of the Prime Origin Celestial Sovereign isn't even worthy of drawing the influence of causal-class artifacts yet. But one thing is certain—the Sovereign's true identity is tied to some astonishing secret. 'What's trapping me in this cycle isn't the Sovereign's true identity, but the secret that emerges from it.' Though he's now wildly erratic, Master Chuyang's intelligence remains sharp. 'The Sovereign's true identity involves a secret of the highest caliber—phew!' the Deputy Guardian drew a deep breath. It's not that the Sovereign is connected to the secret; rather, it's his current, tangible identity that's linked to it. That means the Sovereign's true background is truly remarkable. He's not just an ordinary spiritual journeyer from the grassroots, is he?' So, Deputy Guardian, how much will the Night Rose offer to purchase the retired teacher's personal information and household address?" Master Chuyang asked. The senior guardian on the phone remained silent for a moment, "If it involves causal artifacts, then we can no longer participate—even the leader himself would be in danger. Right now, I'm unable to reach him." "Very well," said the Master of Pure Yang calmly, "I'll wait for your leader's reply." ... Room 15, the Palace of the Fate Keeper. The forest stretches endlessly, a vast, primordial expanse that remains evergreen, never wilting, always brimming with vibrant life. Yet upon closer inspection, one notices subtle yet terrifying details. On every tree, there are grotesque human faces. Dense, hanging vines occasionally wrap around passing animals, seizing them without resistance and forcing them to be chewed. The undergrowth emits a misty, hallucinogenic vapor that disorients passing creatures, and beneath the thickets, animal skeletons lie piled densely. The forest's snakes, insects, rodents, and birds and mammals have become mere sustenance for the plants—yet they never seem to be consumed. Instead, they reproduce rapidly, continually giving rise to new generations. And parasitic plants, being the predators of trees, absorb their very essence with full vigor. According to the description in the spiritual realm, this is a heavenly abode and blessed land from the ancient times, nurtured by the life essence, which allows the forest to remain evergreen and vibrant. However, since the demise of the Jade Life Sovereign, the power of the life domain has become disordered, causing mutations in the flora and fauna within the forest. At the heart of the forest lies a ruin formed after the collapse of a palace—its weathered walls, cracked stone steps, and fallen pavilions all bearing witness to the passage of time. The vast expanse of several hundred mu, combined with the series of interconnected palaces, reveals the grandeur and opulence of the original palace of the Jade Life Sovereign. After navigating through the forest's myriad dangers, Xie Su reaches the core of the palace—the Samsara Spring. It stands precisely at the center of the palace, a tranquil pool measuring thirty meters in length and ten meters in width, filled with golden liquid as smooth as gold foil, reflecting the sky and the ruins of the palace. Surrounding the pool are white jade stones and balustrades. According to records kept in the Xie family's archives, the most miraculous feature of the Siming Palace is this Afterlife Spring. The spring water is a concentrated essence of life, and the mud at the bottom possesses the ability to shape a physical form. Half a century ago, when the Xie family's ancestors were still in charge, they had personally visited the Siming Palace and thus possessed detailed knowledge of its layout and strategies. Xie Su stood by the pool, recalling the steps outlined in the quest guide. The basic strategy for passing the Afterlife Spring quest was simple: dive into the pool, collect the mud from the bottom, and use it to create a duplicate body, thereby completing the quest. At first glance, this seemed straightforward. However, the life-based energies within the realm had long since become disordered and chaotic. As soon as any living being entered the spring, the system would automatically generate evil duplicates; the longer a being remained in the pool, the more duplicates would accumulate. The spiritual travelers had to gather the mud before the number of duplicates exceeded their capacity, then purify the chaotic energies using Siming spiritual power, shaping a pure, flawless duplicate in order to successfully complete the quest. No elaborate rule-setting, yet the difficulty is extremely high. Back in the old days, the patriarch himself nearly died from being surrounded and pummeled by his own duplicates. As a reward, that duplicate could then be carried out of the realm and become a perfect puppet. Xie Su sat by the pool, meditating to heal his bodily injuries, restoring his physical strength, mental clarity, and spiritual energy to their peak, then plunged into the spring water. Though the pool appears modest in size, it is actually very deep. With graceful movements of his limbs, Xie Su swam toward the pool's bottom. As he neared the bottom, he saw several bodies lying quietly on golden silt. It was Zhu Xueyi—he too had entered the Palace of the Fate? Wearing bell-bottom pants and a floral shirt, clearly from the 1970s or 1980s. Xie Su examined the bodies carefully and recognized them. A senior figure from the Zhu family. He passed through this area and continued swimming forward. Soon, he spotted another cluster of broken bodies scattered like refuse, dressed in a Mao-style suit, with snow-white hair and youthful features, his face handsome—indeed, the patriarch himself. It's time to rush down to the pool's bottom and collect the silt for refining—I sense that life forms are beginning to emerge within the pool... Xie Su quickened his pace, soon spotting a large pile of broken corpses ahead. This surprised him. The overseer's cycle is long, there are ninety-nine overseer-tier dungeons, the spiritual realm has existed for a century, yet the number of overseers is relatively small... Given that, one would expect far fewer survivors of a high-difficulty, single-player spiritual realm dungeon. As he pressed on, carefully observing the corpses, he finally made out their features. Well-proportioned faces, with a touch of youthfulness, dressed in ordinary T-shirts and shorts... Xie Su suddenly stopped, as if struck by lightning. The Prime Immortal? The Prime Immortal! One after another, the bodies of Prime Immortals lay spread across the golden silt.