Headed to the village chief, and after a long-winded speech from the elder, Xiao Nanchu stepped onto that stone slab.
[Congratulations to player [Left Hand High Damage, Right Hand High Damage] for entering the northern outskirts of the Longyuan Empire—[Return City]]
Unlike Luo Taozhi, Xiao Nanchu didn’t blend in as quickly as she had the moment he arrived.
He also didn’t praise how impressive the teleportation formation was.
Instead, his first action was to look around, puzzled. ‘Is this courtyard a bit too small?’
The yard was about the size of a basketball court. Small wasn’t exactly the right word—it wasn’t tiny, after all.
But this size was absolutely insufficient to accommodate all the players from Novice Village No. 001.
Right now it didn’t matter, since only the fast-leveling ones had arrived first. But when most players later reached this level, the courtyard’s size would be completely inadequate.
Out of curiosity, he walked around, only to find in surprise that no matter how far he went, the scenery remained identical, and his distance from the vermilion gate ahead stayed exactly the same!
‘Infinite size?! Space folding?!’
Xiao Nanchu finally realized how ridiculous his earlier thoughts had been.
Here he was, in a cultivation world, doubting whether a place could hold all the players.
There were countless methods to make it work! Shaking his head, he strode toward the vermilion gate.
Before the sound of the gate opening reached his ears, the system notification rang out first.
[Notice: There is interfering noise in the player’s external environment]
[Connect?]
[Yes] [No]
Yes.
[Connecting to audio source…]
[Connection successful…]
[“Log off, log off, log off!! I have an emergency!”]
The moment it connected, Luo Taozhi’s impatient voice came through.
This was the first time since she appeared that he had heard her voice laced with such urgency.
He immediately logged off. The second he took off the headset, he saw Luo Taozhi’s irritated face.
“Let me ask you—the one you met in the Immortal Sect named Li Xunxian, is she really the Sixth Princess of the Longyuan Empire?”
“Yeah,” Xiao Nanchu answered, confused. “The system description says so. It can’t be wrong!”
But to his surprise, as soon as he said that, Luo Taozhi’s expression shifted to shock.
“You got a system description? The kind that pops up when you stare at someone?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t seem to work on people with too high a level. At least, it didn’t show anything on my master.”
Luo Taozhi’s gaze turned subtle.
This guy seemed completely unaware of just how strange a thing he had under his control.
“Your account is messed up.”
“No kidding! If it weren’t, I wouldn’t still be stuck in the Novice Village!”
“No.” Luo Taozhi shook her head. “That’s not the only thing wrong.”
“I’m already level 10 and made it out of the Novice Village. Did you see the system announcement?”
Xiao Nanchu paused. At the time, his ID was [Left Hand High Damage, Right Hand High Damage]. How was he supposed to know whether the account named [Xiao Nanchu] could see it?
“No idea. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“How can you not pay attention to that? Whatever, it’s not important.” Luo Taozhi looked at him like he was an idiot.
“I’m currently in a new zone. Want to guess what it’s called?”
“Are you in the Longyuan Empire?” Of course he knew—he had gone there too.
“Bingo!” Luo Taozhi shrugged. “No reward, but I do have good news.”
“What good news?”
“I found out some information about that Li Xunxian you met.”
“How is that good news?” Xiao Nanchu shot back a look that said ‘are you dumb?’ “Isn’t it easy to get info on a princess?”
But unexpectedly, Luo Taozhi didn’t snap back at his expression. Instead, her gaze softened, almost dotingly.
“That’s the thing—the Longyuan Empire doesn’t have a Sixth Princess. In fact, the Empress of the Longyuan Empire has no children at all!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Xiao Nanchu’s face was full of disbelief. “The system description can’t be wrong, can it?!”
“The system description naturally isn’t false. But the information I got here isn’t false either.”
Luo Taozhi’s expression turned serious, silencing Xiao Nanchu before he could speak.
“Listen carefully. The current ruler of the Longyuan Empire is an Empress. And her name is Li Xunxian!”
“Mmph!!??”
With Luo Taozhi still covering his mouth, all Xiao Nanchu could produce were muffled sounds. His wide eyes, however, expressed his shock.
“Oh, and by the way, that Empress joined the Immortal Sect a thousand years ago.”
“Mmph?!!!!!!!”
Xiao Nanchu wanted to ask if she was lying, but her expression didn’t seem fake.
But if what she said was true, then his title of [One Who Stands Alone] might be far more valuable than he thought.
One person, two accounts. One account a thousand years ago, the other a thousand years later.
Yet his consciousness hadn’t felt anything wrong. In that instant, a crazy idea flashed into Xiao Nanchu’s mind, making his entire body jolt.
‘If I can span a thousand years of time, doesn’t that mean I could have my past self bury top-tier equipment and rare treasures, and then have my future self dig them up?’
‘Going further, if my future self wants something, I just need my past self to bury it at a marked spot. Then right now, wouldn’t that item already be lying there silently?’
‘After all, my future self will definitely do it. And to my present self, the future action is already history from a thousand years ago—a predetermined fact!’
‘What my future self will do is something my present self has already done in the past?!’
Xiao Nanchu was startled by this line of reasoning.
‘If this line of thought is correct and feasible, then from the moment I realized it…’
‘My past has been bound to my future. Only the present can be changed.’
‘Although my present self doesn’t know what my future self will do, that event already happened a thousand years ago.’
‘It’s already part of history.’
‘That’s terrifying! If the future is already fixed, doesn’t that mean there is no future?’
‘No, my current actions affect the future, and the future affects the past, so I…’
‘No, no! What happened in the past doesn’t mean my future self will definitely do it. No matter what the present is, my future self will definitely go and…’
‘Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong!’
The more Xiao Nanchu thought, the more tangled it became. His brain nearly crashed.
In Luo Taozhi’s eyes, Xiao Nanchu had completely spaced out after hearing what she said.
“Hey, hey? What are you spacing out for?”