畅想听

If this really is… my future self, visiting the present through a dream while Daozi is in the midst of proving the Dao, then what kind of experiences must my future self have gone through to become so weathered?

Though the face and appearance are the same, the “Ghost Song” attached to Daozi looks at least ten years older than the current me.

What could have happened that made him mature like that?

Aside from death, what else can make a man grow up? Is it marriage, having kids, family responsibilities, the cost of baby formula, mortgage payments, car loans, children’s education costs, financial pressure… or maybe even the thought of a daughter getting married? This thought popped into my mind.

Death, or rather the near-death state, can lead to maturity by forcing one to see things more clearly.

Besides death, a man matures for those reasons I just mentioned.

Of course, there are even more pessimistic and desperate reasons.

For example, heartbreak. Or the loss of a loved one…

However, “Ghost Song” just seems more mature, without any hint of deep sorrow on his face. This suggests he hasn’t experienced anything that tragic.

“Except for getting married and having kids… I don’t have to worry about family burdens, financial pressure, or car and house issues anymore,” I said to myself.

As for housing, I have the Core World. I’m set to become the biggest real estate mogul in the cultivation world—definitely not short on homes!

Financial pressure is there; right now, I’m the biggest pauper in the “Nine Provinces Number One Group.”

But with the “Cultivation Chat System” in place, my future financial stress should ease up.

As for what I owe Senior White, he’s not charging interest, so I can pay it back slowly. Eventually, I’ll be debt-free, so money shouldn’t be too much of a concern either.

And when it comes to my kids’ education, that’s the least of my worries. With the seniors in the “Nine Provinces Number One Group” and all my protective artifacts, my future children and even my little sister, who will be born in half a year, will start their education at the highest level across all heavens and worlds.

So… is it because my daughter got married?

Which daughter?

Li Yinzhu? Xiao Lingxiao? Or is it my future daughter who hasn’t been born yet?

As one of the top figures in the heavens and worlds, a “Three Corpses Severing Tribulation Immortal,” my mind operates at an unimaginable speed.

When a thought forms, it can instantly branch out and evolve into numerous scenarios. Each branch can develop into hundreds of complete storylines.

In terms of word count, each thought could extend to at least three million words.

I even managed to imagine what my daughter might look like in nearly three hundred different ways.

Just as I was getting carried away, imagining multiple scenarios where my daughters get married, the “Cultivation Chat System” sent me a flood of information.

This data was relayed through Daozi, the 8.5th Heavenly Dao, and it’s precious information related to [Death].

I have two clues regarding my “Path to Immortality.”

One is related to “Death,” a prototype I developed after countless encounters with powerful beings, dying, and reviving repeatedly.

The other is tied to the “Cultivation Chat System,” a path so complex that it’s terrifying—completely beyond the reach of any cultivator. I have no way to grasp or deduce this path.

So, I’ve only ever tried to deduce my own “Death Path.”

Initially, I thought my “Death Path” might be something like “Seizing a thread of life in the midst of nine deaths,” a path where one seeks life in the face of death.

Or it could overlap with Senior Skylark’s “Revival Path,” being a variant of the resurrection path.

But now, the data transmitted from Daozi doesn’t match either of these interpretations.

After analyzing the data, combined with the information from my own body, the “Death Path” I possess becomes clearer.

After careful analysis, I frown—this “Death Path” is extreme.

This path to immortality straddles the line between life and death… but it’s different from Pavilion Master Chu’s path of the “Cycle of Life and Death,” where withering and flourishing endlessly alternate.

This “Death Path” requires me to remain in a state where I’m dead but haven’t fully revived.

Neither alive nor dead.

Dead, but not completely.

Revived, but not fully.

“Is this like the ‘dead but can’t die any further’ state of Cheng Gou Dan and Emperor Son?” I pondered.

Cheng Gou Dan is the typical example of someone who’s “truly dead,” a state where his soul and body are annihilated, yet he can still walk, talk, and even provide external support to me.

The Emperor Son’s state is slightly weaker than Cheng Gou Dan’s. Although she’s marked as “dead and can’t die any further,” ever since her “death,” she hasn’t sent me her daily energy drip, nor has she spoken or appeared again.

Following this line of thought, I examined my own body.

Yes!

It’s this special state!

Dead, and on the verge of revival.

But the revival process is being suppressed—the cooldown timer is long, and I can’t fully revive.

Neither dead nor alive.

**But what’s the principle behind this “Death Path” leading to immortality?** I furrowed my brow.

An immortality path needs to make sense; it requires a logical foundation.

Whether it’s the Puppet Path, Cheng Lin’s Reincarnation Path, or Pavilion Master Chu’s “Withering and Flourishing Cycle,” where withering nourishes flourishing, and flourishing eventually withers—they all make sense as paths to eternal existence.

They are theoretically sound paths to immortality.

But what’s the logic behind this “Neither Alive Nor Dead” path?

Is it because this state is so unique, placing me in some “no-man’s land” between life and death, where death can’t claim me, and life can’t restrict me, that I can attain immortality?

“If this is really the principle, then this path to immortality has flaws… just like that genius from the Ink Sect’s Puppet Path—it loses certain characteristics and concepts of ‘life,’” I mused.

I may have lost the ability to reproduce… but I haven’t lost hope, I still have dreams.

If I lose the characteristics of “life” entirely, then I might be facing a hopeless situation, one that even the “Path of Life” can’t save me from.

So, if the principle behind this immortality path is “Neither Alive Nor Dead,” should I really walk this path?

I hesitated.

And why did Daozi send me the data to complete this “Path to Immortality”?

“Cheng Lin and the Heavenly Emperor seem to be deliberately maintaining this state too…”

Clues gathered in my mind.

My computational power as a Three Corpses Severing Tribulation Immortal focused like never before, running at overclocked speeds.

Every memory, every piece of data, every bit of information in my mind was poured into this computation.

“Wait… two different entities proving the Dao together.”

“What if… these two entities, one alive and one dead, could achieve immortality together?”

Does it have to be that both entities are alive to prove the Dao?

If one of them is dead, could there still be a loophole?