What is real, and what is false?
Having traversed so many worlds,
Each vibrant face,
Every heroic or tragic tale,
Rivers, lakes, seas, and mountain breezes,
Love and hatred, obsessions with immortality,
Heroes and cowards, saints and sinners…
Are these all illusions?
At first, Qiao Sidao was confused.
Their heartfelt desires, their painstaking pursuit of divine techniques, treasures, and realms of cultivation—
When time resets, it all begins again.
Even death, which they so fear, is not the end, but the start of something new.
In one lifetime, two souls might share a deep friendship, only to become strangers in the next.
What a sorrowful reality this is.
In his bewilderment, Qiao Sidao lost interest in everything.
Despairing, he began spreading the truth that the world was false.
He thought this would attract the attention of the “Observers” beyond the skies, bringing him liberation.
To his surprise, no one believed him.
Instead, they mocked him as a madman.
Even when he exhausted himself explaining the truth, people responded impatiently,
“Why don’t you see if my sword is real or not!”
When annoyed, they even sent sword lights his way, severing his legs.
At that moment, Qiao Sidao noticed the indifference in their eyes—there was no sympathy, only glee at his suffering.
In a world rife with madness, why would the Observers beyond care?
After this realization, Qiao Sidao gave up on exposing the grand conspiracy.
He adjusted his mindset and sought to blend into each world,
Abandoning the dream of being a savior, focused instead on finding a way to survive.
In this false world, escape was bound to be extraordinarily difficult.
Initially, Qiao Sidao was at a loss.
But soon, he found a path. He stopped openly proclaiming that the world was false.
Instead, he wrote fictional tales, narrating the story of someone living within an immortal artifact called the “Traveling Horse Lantern”, experiencing countless fleeting and illusory cultivation worlds.[1]
With his vast experience across numerous civilizations, the grandeur of his depictions attracted many cultivators’ attention.
As the tales spread, some cultivators began discussing whether the world they lived in was real.
Inevitably, discussions also turned to: “What would one do if they discovered the world was false?”
“If falsehoods can masquerade as truth, it means the laws of this false world must mirror those of the true world outside.”
“To construct a flawless world framework… such an achievement is akin to creation itself.”
“If so, the line between real and false blurs.”
“Indeed, even if the beings within are false, the foundation of the world’s operation might not be.”
Someone mentioned an artifact called the “Stone of Dao Deviation” in the Taiyan Sect.
It was said that within its every instant, countless worlds evolved and perished. What might such fleeting worlds look like?
Through collective wisdom, the cultivators’ discussions illuminated a path for Qiao Sidao.
From then on, his purpose became clear.
In each lifetime, he no longer sought cultivation or realms of power but delved into formations, restrictions, and simulation techniques.
Though cultivation could not carry over between reincarnations, memories could.
Qiao Sidao believed that, with patient accumulation, he would eventually uncover the flaws in this false world.
The idea was beautiful, but execution was fraught with challenges.
Initially, his proficiency in these niche arts advanced rapidly.
From ignorance, he quickly grasped the basics.
But when he sought mastery, he encountered the immense monopoly over knowledge in the cultivation world.
Ordinary sects only taught the most rudimentary techniques. Even in the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, information on these topics was scarce.
True expertise could only be found in the Ten Great Immortal Sects.
But how could someone of average aptitude gain entry?
This was true even in ancient times, let alone in the post-cataclysmic wasteland of sect ruins.
Only in rare worlds, like those governed by the Immortal Net or under the unified rule of the Immortal Alliance, did conditions exist for proper study.
Despite the hurdles, Qiao Sidao believed that, over enough time, his gradual progress would lead him to a method of escaping this world.
But…
After experiencing his 9,999th world, he did not awaken in a new world.
Instead, he found himself in a vast, blue ocean.
There, he witnessed an unforgettable sight.
Countless souls, packed tightly together, drifted.
From above, one could vaguely see sleeping faces.
In the ocean, whirlpools churned, tossing millions of souls about.
Some collided and shattered, dissolving into the sea.
Others absorbed fragmented remnants, reforming into something purer.
A sharp pain, like a needle, stirred in Qiao Sidao’s mind, making him dizzy with agony.
What horrified him most was realizing that certain memories within his soul were vanishing amidst the sea’s resentment-filled waves.
Despair crept in, and Qiao Sidao lost consciousness.
When his true self awakened again, it was after countless reincarnations.
He regained clarity, as suddenly as before.
Though most of his memories were lost, fragments of knowledge about the ‘false world’, the ‘Sea of Resentful Souls’, and scattered insights into formations remained deeply etched in his soul.
“It seems that to prevent other souls from awakening memories of reincarnation like I have, there is a periodic cleansing process conducted on us.”
“In each cleansing, I lose most of my memories.”
“If I accumulate knowledge too slowly, I will never be able to grasp the method to escape from here.”
After careful calculation, Qiao Sidao reached this conclusion.
Even so, he did not give up easily.
Having seen so much, Qiao Sidao had come to understand one principle: if there are enough iterations, then even the most extraordinary things can happen.
Just like himself—by all accounts, he shouldn’t be able to inherit and retain the memories of each reincarnation.
Yet it happened anyway.
Qiao Sidao lay low and waited.
After enduring countless cleansings in the Sea of Resentful Souls, he finally encountered an opportunity to break free.
It was a highly developed world called [Eternal Immortal Realm].
In this world, not only was the average lifespan extraordinarily long—thousands of years even without cultivation—but there was also a great entity known as the [Immortal Spirit Tower].
The Immortal Spirit Towers were scattered across every corner of the world, continuously emitting pure spiritual energy day and night.
More critically, any knowledge—
Cultivation techniques, formations, alchemy, pill crafting…
Everything you could imagine could be found, studied, and accessed within the Immortal Spirit Tower without limitation.
Gazing at the vast ocean of information within the Immortal Spirit Tower, Qiao Sidao trembled uncontrollably.
He understood that the method to escape was hidden somewhere within.
Thus, Qiao Sidao devoted himself tirelessly to studying.
He lived in the Eternal Immortal Realm for 3,658 years without ever stepping away from the Immortal Spirit Tower.
Although he was still far from uncovering the [false world], he had finally glimpsed a sliver of hope.
After experiencing thousands of reincarnations and waking up from yet another cleansing, Qiao Sidao was thrilled to discover that, perhaps because his soul had grown more resilient, he had lost far fewer memories this time compared to before.
This gave him renewed confidence.
He continued to accumulate knowledge and insights, waiting for the next time the [Eternal Immortal Realm] would appear.
…
When Qiao Sidao arrived at the Eternal Immortal Realm for the ninth time, near the end of his life, he finally uncovered the secret of his world.
It was a false world, constructed around a certain mysterious artifact of deduction.
Most of the living beings within this world were virtual constructs.
Only a small fraction had real souls.
And Qiao Sidao was one of those rare true souls among millions.
“Deductions have their limits.”
“This also means that the timeline of this world has gaps.”
“Each smallest gap is an opportunity for me to escape.”
“Of course, to avoid detection, the best time to escape is during a world reboot.”
Standing atop the Immortal Spirit Tower, gazing at the sky above, Qiao Sidao silently resolved to act.
He spent the remainder of his life preparing.
When his life finally ended, as he sank into darkness, Qiao Sidao awoke from his slumber.
He sensed a fleeting opportunity, like a thread, breaking through the boundary.
In his mind, he had envisioned the [outside world] tens of thousands of times.
He had even imagined confronting the possible [Observers].
But what Qiao Sidao never expected was that the so-called outside world would be so cold and vast.
His once-mighty soul, which he thought invincible, was on the verge of collapse under the assault of this icy expanse.
It seemed like he would disintegrate entirely in the next moment.
To make matters worse, the halo he had escaped from began emitting an alarming sound.
Drifting aimlessly in the void, Qiao Sidao observed his surroundings in confusion.
“A… museum?”
He fell silent.
It turned out that his world was nothing more than an exhibit.
He vaguely sensed several powerful presences rapidly approaching.
Despite the vastness of the heavens and earth, there was no place for him to hide.
For the first time, Qiao Sidao experienced true despair.
At that moment…
He noticed a human skull in the center of the museum.
It sat there quietly, seemingly gazing at him.
From this skull, Qiao Sidao felt an indescribable warmth.
While the entire world rejected him, it exuded the greatest goodwill it could muster.
It was like a mother’s embrace, moving Qiao Sidao to tears.
Thus, as his soul was about to dissipate, Qiao Sidao used the last of his strength to dive into the skull.
[1] Traveling Horse Lantern 走馬燈 (Zǒumǎdēng) is also called zoetrope in english, which some of you might know is a pre-film animation device that produces the illusion of motion, by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion.