Chapter 74 : A Dialogue Within Consciousness

Chapter 74: A Dialogue Within Consciousness

After Long Tao had passed out, his consciousness did not sink into total darkness.

Instead, it waas as if he were floating within a warm, chaotic ocean, maintaining a peculiar state akin to a lucid dream.

Within this strange space of awareness, he saw a blurry silhouette from behind.

The figure’s clothing details were impossible to discern—only a hazy humanoid outline—but Long Tao immediately formed a guess in his heart.

“System… Senior?” he called out tentatively.

The silhouette seemed to move slightly.

A voice tinged with helplessness and faint disdain sounded directly within his “mind.” “Stop calling me that. It’s awkward. There’s just the two of us here anyway—just call me Senior.”

“Th… alright then.” Long Tao went along with it easily, yet still pressed on.

“But… this means you’re admitting that you really are that ‘System,’ right?”

“It’s not that simple to say I am the System.” The silhouette swayed, as if shaking its head.

“At present, you could say I’m fused with it, or rather… I’m one of the forms it currently exists in. But binding to you earlier, and issuing those System Tasks—that had little to do with this particular personality of mine.”

“I see…” Long Tao pondered this.

He felt there was something odd in those words—one of its forms of existence… wasn’t the subject reversed? Still, he did not dwell on that detail and instead asked what concerned him more.

“Then… Senior, I won’t ask about your true identity in this world, but… could it be that you also…?”

“All right, all right, stop beating around the bush!” the voice cut him off briskly.

“Just from the way I talk, can’t you already guess? I’m a transmigrator! From that angle, you calling me Senior isn’t wrong at all.”

Hearing the other party so readily admit this “fellow townsman” identity, an indescribable warmth and excitement rippled through Long Tao’s consciousness.

In this otherworld, encountering another existence from the same “hometown” was, after all, something deeply reassuring.

“Then… Senior, what exactly is your purpose—and the System’s?” Long Tao seized the moment and asked his most pressing worry.

“Is it really to help Nan Yuchen, that Child of Destiny, or is it…?”

“Or what? Planning to possess you?” The voice teased, bluntly exposing the suspicion he had not dared to voice completely.

Long Tao’s consciousness fluctuated slightly, tinged with embarrassment.

After all, the other party had just saved him; such direct suspicion was indeed rather ungrateful.

“Still, that concern is understandable… but first, it’s meaningless for you right now. Even if I wanted to harm you, would I be stupid enough to admit it? Second… even if we take ten thousand steps back and I truly wanted to possess someone, why wouldn’t I choose a fetus with extraordinary talent and Destiny Luck? Why pick you—a fellow transmigrator with mixed spiritual roots and no special physique? Do you think I found my future cultivation path too smooth and wanted to make it harder on myself?”

The words were unpleasant—but damn it, they made sense.

Long Tao was rendered speechless.

“Then… why were you and this System… bound to me?” he asked, changing tack.

“Sigh…” The voice let out a sigh, sounding somewhat helpless.

“Some things really aren’t suitable for you to know at your current level. Just treat it as a ‘binding error.’ From a certain perspective, that explanation isn’t entirely wrong.”

“Damn it!” Long Tao cursed inwardly.

“You’re really going to play riddles with a junior transmigrator like me too?!”

Unexpectedly, this so-called “System Senior” not only felt no shame, but seemed to have had some strange funny bone poked.

He chuckled, the laughter carrying a mischievous, almost malicious amusement.

“Hehehe… that’s right! When I first transmigrated, I was tormented plenty by a bunch of old, riddling bastards! Always saying half of everything and hiding the rest. Back then I swore that once I became awesome, I’d use the same method on others! Doing it to native inhabitants is boring! Doing it to a junior transmigrator like you—that’s the most fun! Hahahahaha!”

“……”

At that moment, Long Tao could only express his mood with a string of ellipses.

This fellow townsman Senior’s personality was just… far too lively.

He was nothing like an ancient monster who had cultivated for thousands of years and seen through worldly vicissitudes.

Even as a transmigrator who had lived for millennia, shouldn’t his temperament have been worn down into steadiness, if not outright stodginess?

“Tch, are you muttering to yourself that my personality doesn’t seem like that of an old guy who’s cultivated for thousands of years?” The silhouette seemed to read his mind and spoke lazily.

“Heh… you’re not entirely wrong. The way I’m talking to you right now is indeed closer to my younger personality from when I first transmigrated. To be honest, later on in cultivation, I really did become boring and old-fashioned—turning into the kind of person my younger self despised.”

“So…” The voice paused, actually carrying a hint of pride.

“Before becoming that way completely, I deliberately spent some effort adjusting my personality—suppressing those dull, lifeless later parts as much as possible, and pulling out this bit of early ‘true temperament.’ Well? Feels more friendly now, doesn’t it?”

“You can even do that?!” Long Tao was shocked.

Wasn’t cultivation supposed to make one’s state of mind increasingly perfect and tranquil like an ancient well? How could someone manually ‘roll back’ a version like this?

“You’ve barely scratched the surface.” The Senior’s tone carried a smug, you’re still too green superiority.

“All right, all right, my time’s about up. If you’ve got anything to say, spit it out now—miss it and you’re out of luck.”

“Wait!” Long Tao seized on the key words.

“What do you mean your time’s about up? You don’t mean… you won’t keep accompanying me like this? You’ll turn back into that cold, emotionless machine-voice System?”

“Of course!” The Senior replied crisply.

“This youthful personality state of mine waking up was purely an accident. It was probably by chance—likely due to some kind of power that leaked out when the newborn Azure Phoenix combined with the Child of Destiny—that I managed a brief awakening. The emotionless machine voice you usually deal with is the System’s true primary personality.”

“And…” The Senior’s tone suddenly turned more serious, carrying a warning.

“Don’t mistakenly think that just because I can jump around and banter with you now, my level is higher than that cold machine voice. It’s the exact opposite! That mechanical primary personality is the truly terrifying existence! This little remnant of personality consciousness of mine merely clings to it.”

“This… how is that possible?” Long Tao found it hard to comprehend.

How could a soul so human, even somewhat chatty, be inferior to a rigid program?

“In any case, don’t underestimate the System.” The Senior’s voice began to drift.

“Every System Task it gives you has deep meaning; none are issued casually—this one included. As for the specifics, ponder them slowly yourself. Doing the tasks properly won’t be wrong. At the very least… you can still obtain Soul Lamp Value to strengthen your divine soul, right?”

“Oh…” Long Tao pondered.

“Then by that logic, that previous voyeurism task also had some profound planning and deeper meaning?”

“Uh… well…” The Senior’s voice instantly stalled.

The drifting sensation grew stronger, laced with obvious guilt and perfunctory evasion.

“P-probably! Yes! Surely the primary personality perceived some heavenly secrets! That’s right! That must be it! Anyway, it’s not like I’ll never have a chance to wake up again—it all depends on fortuitous opportunity!”

“Fortuitous opportunity…” A trace of bitterness surfaced in Long Tao’s consciousness.

“Sigh, the tasks your primary personality gives aren’t something someone at my level can complete at all. Every time it’s fraught with danger, and I only scrape by on luck—just like this time. I really don’t know if I’ll live long enough to witness the next ‘fortuitous opportunity.’”

“That’s perfectly normal.” The Senior’s voice sounded utterly unsurprised, even a bit heartless.

“The path of cultivation is one of defying the heavens and contending with fate. You’re a kid whose only special trait is being a transmigrator—your spiritual roots, talent, and background are all ordinary. If you want to climb upward on this path, of course you’ve got to risk your life.”

At that moment, Long Tao really wanted to say that compared to risking his life cultivating, he would much rather lie flat.

However, the System Senior’s state was becoming increasingly unstable, and he did not want to waste time on idle talk.

The other party also asked his final question.

“By the way, that Child of Destiny the task had you help—Nan Yuchen—what kind of kid is he?”

“Ah… him? He was extraordinarily talented, a bit silly, but… innately kind. Very suitable to be a friend.”

“Kind…” The Senior repeated the word.

His tone suddenly grew complex, carrying an indescribable emotion, as if he were seeing some other shadow through endless years.

He gave a light, almost sigh-like chuckle.

“Heh… that’s good. Kind is good… everything else doesn’t really matter. That alone is enough.”

These final words were as light as a feather touching the ground, yet they carried a heavy sense of relief and release.

After speaking, the already blurry silhouette, like thin mist scattered by the wind, completely dissipated within this space of consciousness.