The child smiled.
Li Tian did not.
They stood beneath a sky filled with black stars, surrounded by fragments of golden light. Beneath their feet stretched a mirror-like surface, but Li Tian's reflection was missing.
Only the child had a reflection.
And in that reflection, the child was not standing alone.
Behind it stood countless versions of Li Tian.
Some wore white robes. Some wore ancient armor. Others possessed faces obscured by shadows. One sat upon a throne made of broken swords, while another stood beneath a sky that had been split into nine pieces.
Every reflection watched him.
Every reflection waited.
Li Tian slowly raised his hand.
The child did the same.
Their movements were identical.
"Who are you?" Li Tian asked again.
The child tilted its head.
"I already told you."
"You said you were the first thing I created."
"Correct."
"That doesn't tell me what you are."
The child considered this.
Then it smiled more brightly.
"I'm your first mistake."
Li Tian stared at it.
After a moment, he sighed.
"Of course I am."
The child laughed.
The sound was disturbingly familiar.
It was the same laugh Li Tian sometimes heard in his dreams, the same quiet amusement that surfaced whenever he encountered something impossible and decided to pretend it was merely inconvenient.
"You haven't changed much," the child said.
"I've been told that before."
"By whom?"
"Ancient beings who refuse to answer questions."
The child clapped its hands.
"Excellent! You're learning."
Li Tian decided he already disliked this creature.
He examined the surrounding darkness. The golden threads that had appeared during his previous memory recovery were gone. In their place floated countless black fragments, each carrying faint traces of spiritual energy.
"Where am I?"
"Inside the space between your memories."
"Why?"
"Because you accepted Jian Wu's inheritance."
Li Tian frowned.
"That should have given me a sword technique."
"It did."
"Then why am I here?"
"Because the inheritance recognized you as its original owner."
The child pointed toward the darkness.
A golden sword appeared above them. Its blade was transparent, formed from countless intersecting lines of light.
"This is Heaven-Splitting Sword Intent. Jian Wu created its first form after the ancient war. He intended it to be a weapon capable of cutting through the laws of existence."
Li Tian studied the sword.
"And what did I create?"
The child's smile faded slightly.
"The system."
The black stars overhead began to move.
One by one, they formed a circle around Li Tian.
He remembered the system's first message.
Host: Li Tian.
Public Assessment: Low Talent.
Stored Cultivation: 1,095 years.
He remembered the rewards, the warnings, and the countless times the system had refused to answer his questions.
"You're telling me I created the system that has been guiding me?"
"Not exactly."
The child waved its hand.
The golden sword shattered into thousands of pieces.
"You're the one who created its original foundation. But the system you know today is not the system you built."
Li Tian's expression became serious.
"Someone changed it."
"Someone changed almost everything."
The child's eyes darkened.
"Your memories. Your soul. The Ninth Gate. The records of the ancient war. Even the history of the heavens."
It stepped closer.
"Someone wanted you to believe that you were merely a weak disciple who had received a mysterious opportunity."
Li Tian felt a cold sensation pass through his chest.
"Why?"
"Because a weak disciple can be guided."
The child lifted one finger.
"A powerful cultivator can be threatened."
A second finger.
"An ancient Dao Ancestor can be deceived."
A third finger.
"But someone who remembers the truth?"
The child's expression became empty.
"That person cannot be controlled."
Silence settled over the black stars.
Li Tian looked down at his hands.
For most of his life, he had considered the system a strange but useful advantage. It had allowed him to accumulate cultivation without drawing attention, survive threats that should have killed him, and discover secrets hidden beneath the sect.
Now he was being told that the same system might have been designed to keep him ignorant.
"Then why did you call yourself my first creation?"
The child smiled again.
"Because before you built the system, you created me."
A small golden sphere appeared between its palms.
It looked like a miniature star.
"I was supposed to observe your choices, preserve your memories, and ensure that no one could rewrite your past without your knowledge."
Li Tian stared at the sphere.
"The First Witness."
The child's smile vanished.
"Who told you that name?"
"I heard it during the memory recovery."
For the first time, the child seemed genuinely irritated.
"That name was never meant to be spoken."
"Apparently, someone has been ignoring your instructions."
The child glared at him.
Li Tian felt a small measure of satisfaction.
At least one ancient mystery had managed to become annoyed with him.
Then the golden sphere cracked.
A thin black line appeared across its surface.
The child's expression changed instantly.
"Ah."
Li Tian narrowed his eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"It means we have a problem."
"How serious?"
The sphere cracked again.
A distant sound echoed through the darkness.
Like a bell ringing beneath a dead world.
The child slowly closed its hands around the sphere.
"Very serious."
Inside the Forgotten Gatekeeper Shrine, Li Tian's body stood completely motionless.
The golden sword floated above his head, its light flickering irregularly.
Mei Ling knelt beside him.
"Li Tian, wake up."
There was no response.
Han Feng examined the formation beneath his feet.
"The inheritance has connected directly to his soul. If we interfere, we may damage the connection."
Chen Wei looked at Li Tian, then at the floating sword.
"Can we at least move him somewhere safer?"
"Safer from what?" Han Feng asked.
Chen Wei gestured toward the enormous chamber.
"Everything!"
Bao Bao sat on a broken stone pillar, his white fur standing on end.
For once, the fox was not interested in treasure.
"The inheritance has opened a channel that should have remained sealed," he said.
Mei Ling turned toward him.
"What does that mean?"
"It means Li Tian has encountered something that existed before the ancient war."
"Can you bring him back?"
Bao Bao remained silent.
Mei Ling's expression hardened.
"Bao Bao."
The fox lowered his head.
"I can try to reach him. But if the thing inside his consciousness is truly the First Witness, I cannot promise that I will be able to distinguish Li Tian's memories from its influence."
Chen Wei slowly raised his hand.
"Then perhaps we should wait until he wakes up naturally."
Everyone looked at him.
He swallowed.
"That was merely a suggestion."
Mei Ling turned back toward Li Tian.
She placed one hand against his shoulder.
"You said we would face this together."
Her voice was quiet, but firm.
"So don't you dare leave me to deal with these idiots alone."
Chen Wei immediately protested.
"Why am I included in this?"
"An unfair standard."
Mei Ling ignored him.
The golden mark on her sword began to glow.
A thread of light extended from the blade and connected to Li Tian's chest.
Bao Bao's eyes widened.
"Stop!"
Mei Ling looked at him.
"What?"
"The mark is responding to his soul. If you allow the connection to deepen, the First Witness may notice you."
"Then let it notice me."
Bao Bao stared at her.
For a moment, the ancient spirit beast seemed to see something far beyond the young sword cultivator standing before him.
"You don't understand what you're offering."
"No," Mei Ling replied. "I don't."
She tightened her grip on her sword.
"But I understand that Li Tian is in trouble."
The golden thread brightened.
"That is enough for me."
Bao Bao slowly lowered his head.
Then he closed his eyes and began to chant an ancient incantation.
The shrine trembled.
Far beneath the western mountain, the ninth ring of the black coffin stopped cracking.
For the first time in thousands of years, the seal had begun to respond to something other than Li Tian.
It was responding to Mei Ling.
Inside the black-star realm, the child looked toward the distant darkness.
"They've found the connection."
Li Tian followed its gaze.
A golden thread stretched across the void.
At its far end, he could feel a familiar presence.
Mei Ling.
His expression changed.
"Disconnect it."
The child glanced at him.
"Why?"
"Because she shouldn't be here."
"She's already connected to the Ninth Gate."
"Then disconnect it before the connection becomes stronger."
The child studied him.
"You really do care about her."
Li Tian's eyes narrowed.
"That is not the point."
"Of course not."
The child smiled knowingly.
"You're only worried because she might become another weakness."
Li Tian said nothing.
The child's expression became unexpectedly gentle.
"That's what you said last time."
Li Tian's breath caught.
"What do you mean, last time?"
The child looked at him.
"In the ancient war, you had someone you wanted to protect."
The black stars dimmed.
"You tried to save her by sealing away your memories, your power, and even the name you had carried since the beginning of existence."
Li Tian felt a sharp pain behind his eyes.
A woman's voice echoed through his mind.
If you forget me, I will find you.
The memory vanished before he could grasp it.
He staggered.
The child reached out, but Li Tian stepped away.
"Who was she?"
The child did not answer.
"Tell me!"
The black stars trembled.
The child looked genuinely sad.
"You aren't ready."
Li Tian clenched his fists.
"Everyone keeps saying that. The system. Bao Bao. Qiu Ming. The guardian. Now you."
His voice grew colder.
"How am I supposed to become ready if every person who knows the truth refuses to tell me?"
The child watched him for a long moment.
Then it spoke.
"Because the truth is not merely something you learn."
The golden sphere pulsed between its hands.
"It's something you must survive."
The sphere cracked again.
This time, a thin stream of black smoke escaped.
The child's expression became urgent.
"We have to go."
"Go where?"
"Deeper."
Li Tian stared at it.
"You just said I wasn't ready."
"I lied."
"You're remarkably bad at being trustworthy."
"I learned from the best."
The child grabbed his hand.
The black-star realm collapsed.
And Li Tian fell into a memory that had been hidden for ten thousand years.
He stood inside an enormous hall.
Its pillars reached into the heavens, and its floor was covered with intricate formations. Immortal cultivators knelt in rows, their heads bowed before a man dressed in white.
Li Tian recognized the face immediately.
His own.
But this version of him carried no uncertainty. His presence was so overwhelming that the entire hall seemed to exist only because he permitted it.
A golden sphere floated beside his shoulder.
The original system.
The white-robed man spoke.
"The Ninth Gate must remain closed."
A voice answered from the crowd.
"Then the Devourer will continue consuming worlds beyond it."
The hall fell silent.
Li Tian felt a chill.
The Devourer of Worlds.
The name stirred something ancient inside him.
The white-robed man continued.
"If the gate opens, the Devourer will gain access to the mortal heavens. Every cultivation realm, every immortal kingdom, and every living soul will become part of its domain."
An elder stepped forward.
"Then we must destroy the gate."
"No."
The white-robed man shook his head.
"The gate cannot be destroyed. It is a boundary between laws that should never meet."
Another figure rose from the crowd.
A woman with silver hair and a broken sword.
Li Tian could not see her face clearly.
But when she spoke, his heart ached.
"Then we must destroy the Devourer."
The white-robed man looked at her.
For a moment, his expression softened.
"I have tried."
"And?"
"I failed."
The woman lowered her head.
Then she looked up again.
"Then we try together."
The white-robed man closed his eyes.
When he opened them, his decision had been made.
"No."
The woman went still.
"What?"
"I will seal the gate. I will divide the heavens, erase the records, and make certain that no one can open it again."
"And what happens to you?"
The white-robed man did not answer.
The woman stepped closer.
"You cannot carry this burden alone."
"I must."
"Why?"
He looked at her.
"Because if I fail, everything ends."
The woman's sword trembled.
"And if you succeed?"
The white-robed man turned away.
"Then no one will remember what happened here."
The memory shattered.
Li Tian fell to his knees.
The child stood beside him, its face pale.
"You see?" it whispered.
"You always choose to carry everything alone."
Li Tian looked up.
"That was me?"
"And the woman?"
The child hesitated.
Then it answered.
"The first Gatekeeper."
Li Tian's throat tightened.
"What was her name?"
The child opened its mouth.
Before it could speak, the entire memory turned black.
A voice echoed across the darkness.
"Enough."
The child froze.
Li Tian looked up.
The black smoke from the golden sphere had spread across the realm, forming a towering silhouette.
Two enormous eyes opened.
The First Witness had arrived.
"You were created to observe, not interfere."
The child stepped in front of Li Tian.
"And you were created to preserve choices, not erase them."
The Witness's eyes narrowed.
"The Host's memories are restricted."
"The Host is the one who created the restrictions!"
"The Host is not the original owner of the current soul vessel."
The words struck Li Tian like a physical blow.
The child looked back at him.
For the first time, it seemed afraid.
The Witness continued.
"The truth has already been altered. Further memory recovery will destroy the remaining structure."
Li Tian slowly rose.
"Then explain the soul vessel."
The Witness looked at him.
"You were not born into this world as the Silent One."
The black stars began to disappear.
"You arrived from another world."
Li Tian stopped breathing.
The child turned toward him.
The Witness's voice echoed through the collapsing realm.
"The soul that once inhabited this body was destroyed during the ancient war. You were placed into the empty vessel to preserve the only being capable of rebuilding the Ninth Gate."
Li Tian felt the world tilt.
Another world.
An empty body.
A soul placed into it.
His memories of an ordinary life flashed through his mind—fragments of another existence, another world, another beginning.
Were those memories real?
Had he truly reincarnated?
Or had someone manufactured them to make him believe he was ordinary?
The Witness spoke again.
"You were never meant to remember your previous existence."
The child clenched its fists.
"Stop lying to him!"
"I am not lying."
The Witness's gaze returned to Li Tian.
"I am the only one who has preserved the truth."
Li Tian looked between them.
One claimed to be his creation.
The other claimed to be the original observer.
Both spoke as though they knew everything about him.
And neither seemed willing to admit that they might be wrong.
Li Tian took a slow breath.
Then he smiled.
It was not a pleasant smile.
"All right."
The child stared at him.
The Witness fell silent.
Li Tian raised his head.
"Since both of you know so much, let's start with one simple question."
He pointed at the towering silhouette.
"Who benefits if I believe you?"
For the first time, the First Witness did not immediately respond.
And in that silence, Li Tian discovered something more valuable than another memory.
Doubt.
Not doubt in himself.
Doubt in the voices that claimed ownership of his past.
The child began to smile.
The First Witness's eyes narrowed.
Li Tian looked toward the golden sphere.
"I don't care whether I was an immortal, a Dao Ancestor, or some unfortunate soul thrown into the wrong body."
The black stars trembled around him.
"I am Li Tian."
His voice grew stronger.
"And until I discover the truth for myself, nobody gets to decide what that name means."
The golden sphere shone.
A new message appeared before him.
[Unrecognized Authority Detected]
[Host has rejected external identity assignment.]
[Original System Core responding.]
The child laughed.
The Witness recoiled.
For a brief moment, the darkness split open, revealing a golden path leading beyond the collapsing realm.
The child grabbed Li Tian's hand.
"Now you're finally acting like yourself."
Together, they stepped onto the path.
Behind them, the First Witness roared.
"You cannot escape the truth!"
Li Tian did not look back.
"Then it should stop hiding from me!"
The golden path shattered.
And the child whispered one final sentence before vanishing.
"Find the woman with the broken sword."
A pause.
"She is the only person who remembers the world before you were born."
Li Tian's eyes opened.
He was back inside the Forgotten Gatekeeper Shrine.
Mei Ling was holding his hand.
Han Feng stood nearby, visibly exhausted. Chen Wei was arguing with Bao Bao about whether the fox had eaten one of his emergency rations.
The enormous stone sword had returned to its original position.
The shrine was silent.
Li Tian took a breath.
Then another.
Mei Ling leaned closer.
"You're back."
He nodded.
"Yes."
Her shoulders relaxed.
"What happened?"
Li Tian looked at her.
He could tell her about the First Witness.
About the system.
About the woman with the broken sword.
But the memory was still fragmented, and he had no proof that the voices had told him the truth.
So he gave her the one answer he could trust.
"I learned that I have been asking the wrong questions."
Mei Ling studied him.
"And what is the right question?"
Li Tian looked toward the stone sword.
Then toward the dark passage leading deeper into the shrine.
"Who decided that my past belongs to someone else?"
Before she could respond, the system returned.
Its familiar golden window appeared before him.
[Hidden Cultivation System Restored]
Stored Cultivation: 1,160 years
Public Cultivation: Qi Refinement Layer 1
Memory Recovery: 0.09%
New Trait: Sovereign Will
Effect: Resistance to forced memory alteration and external identity suppression.
Li Tian stared at the new trait.
Then another message appeared.
[Warning: The First Witness has identified the Host as an independent variable.]
[Warning: The Devourer of Worlds has noticed the Host's awakening.]
Li Tian's expression changed.
Far beyond the mortal heavens, something enormous stirred.
A world disappeared.
Then another.
And another.
At the center of the darkness, a vast mouth opened between the stars.
A voice older than the heavens whispered:
"So the empty vessel has begun to think for itself."
A pair of crimson eyes opened.
"Interesting."
The darkness expanded.
"Let us see whether the little Dao Ancestor can survive long enough to remember what he was created to destroy."
To be continued…