Chapter Fifty-Four: The New Skill of Temporal Reversion (Second Update)

PS. Here’s today’s update. While I’m at it, I’d like to ask for your votes for the “Qidian” 515 Fans Festival—everyone gets eight votes, and voting earns you Qidian coins. I humbly ask for your support and appreciation!

Sangsang paused, a little surprised. “So you’ve made new friends too, Little Gold?”

Little Gold shook his head. “They’re not friends; they’re future subordinates. When I first entered their circle, they looked down on me, but I won them over with my unique personal charm. They wanted to help me find a job, but I found one myself with the Main Brain. The most renowned anti-counterfeiting expert in the gossip sector is an intelligent lifeform—he possesses the True Eye, condensed from the perfect origin of reality and illusion. Not only can he see through any disguise on the Star Network, but even spot fakes in multidimensional recordings. He’s fearless, never worried about trouble.”

“Amazing,” Sangsang praised. “I need your help with something—spread some news for me.”

Little Gold thumped his chest with a resounding thud. “No problem, that’s my specialty. Are we finally going to take revenge on the Saintess of Blossoms? It’s a shame she values her own security so much—unless her protective wall is breached, there’s no way to extract her private information.”

“Little Gold, the Saintess of Blossoms is at the Profound level, while I’m just at the peak of the Heaven level; she’s a seated saintess, and I’m only a candidate; she’s been in the temple for centuries, surrounded by countless followers, while I’m practically unknown with fewer than ten acquaintances.” Sangsang arched her brow. “Where, exactly, does your confidence in our ability to take revenge on her come from?”

Little Gold cocked his head. “In terms of strength, status, and power, you’re worlds apart. Normally, my calculations would put your odds at less than one percent—hardly worth mentioning. But I don’t know why, if I add ‘you’re Sangsang’ to the conditions, the success rate jumps to fifty percent. It’s worth a shot.”

Sangsang was momentarily stunned, then shook her head with a laugh. “It’s a pity I don’t have as much faith in myself as you do. All I want is to establish an objective impression of Danqing painting on the Star Network. Since the topic of Sang Hongye is already so popular, I might as well use this fire to set ablaze the art from the Galactic Civilization. You don’t need to know the rules to paint, it’s simple and affordable, good for self-cultivation, and elevates one’s soul—a host of benefits.”

“Oh,” Little Gold replied, sounding a bit disappointed as he curled himself into a ball. “No need for the anti-counterfeiting expert for this—I can handle it myself.”

Sangsang patted his head. “Still, the Saintess of Blossoms is always buzzing around, which is annoying. Little Gold, help me simulate some scenarios—are there ways to keep her from targeting me any longer?”

Little Gold instantly perked up, chest out. “Alright, I’ll get right on it!”

Sangsang laughed. “I’ve been reading the advanced civilization’s regulations on the protection of minors. Humans only become legally responsible after fifty; those under fifty are protected, and those under thirty are considered cherished youth. Any abuse or mistreatment of the young is severely punished, and if it leads to irreparable consequences, the sentence is tripled. The age conversion commonly discussed on the Star Network sounds reasonable, but it doesn’t align with temple law. By regulation, my bone age should be counted from my successful refinement, which means I’m not yet thirty. Many of the topics targeting me on the Star Network are, in fact, illegal.” She frowned. “Strange. According to the case studies, child protection organizations wield significant power. Even if I’m weak, I’m not entirely without backing. Even if there was some misdirection, so many people making the same foolish mistake doesn’t add up.”

“There is something off. I’ll run a simulation.” Before long, just as Sangsang finished a bite of meat, Little Gold jumped up. “Sena is playing a long game. Sangsang, do you remember what status you registered with when you entered the temple—subject, resident, or divine citizen?”

Sangsang blinked. “Divine citizen, I think. Sena said that although Grandpa Anthony gave the seed quota to someone else, he specially guaranteed that I could have the divine citizen status—normally only granted to confirmed saintesses—even before my selection. Most candidate saintesses are just subjects. Even those raised in the temple from advanced civilizations are considered residents. Only a handful, mostly descendants of temple staff, are divine citizens, and they enjoy many privileges, like free access to regular cultivation and technique halls. But for minors, the temple treats everyone the same, so it makes little difference.”

“That’s it!” Little Gold smacked his palm. “Divine citizens can fill out any classification on their identity records, but the Main Brain’s record is what counts. I ran a simulation—the information currently shared with the public lists you as a subject, courtesy of Sena, just like any other candidate from a lower civilization. The three statuses seem similar, but in reality, they’re vastly different. Being a subject means your actual identity still belongs to your place of origin—the temple won’t force you to change your customs. If you really are a subject, then this seemingly illogical age conversion actually aligns with the regulations. Targeting a seventy-year-old girl and an adult: for one, it’s a crime, for the other, it’s just a fine.”

“Sena was already making moves back then?” Sangsang shook her head. “He said at the time that making a candidate from a low-level civilization a divine citizen would draw too much attention. Now it’s come in handy—the more fish we catch, the more benefits I’ll get in the end. By the way, I wonder if the footage of those upperclassmen targeting me in the Forest of Myriad Trees will be useful?”

“They’re also minors, so the punishment won’t be as severe as for adults. But if we can find evidence, the Saintess of Blossoms behind them will be utterly disgraced.” Little Gold’s excitement grew. “Sangsang, do you have multidimensional recordings? I’ll go get the anti-counterfeiting expert.”

Sangsang replied, “Not at the moment, but in the Tomb of the Gods, I created a time-reversal skill that can form a real mirrored space-time, allowing for recordings at any time.”

“Take me with you! My eyes have been upgraded with multidimensional filming capabilities.” Little Gold was eager—this way, he could accompany Sangsang in revisiting the past.

“Alright.” Sangsang logged off the Star Network, entered the cultivation chamber, brought along Little Gold as her multidimensional camera, and then used time-reversal on herself.

At advanced levels, time-reversal allows the things within a space to return to a previous point in time. Sangsang could only manage a rudimentary version; she couldn’t turn back time for the entire world, only an upgraded version of basic time reversal. Whereas the basic version only affected specific objects, the upgrade allowed for the reversal of small spaces as a whole.

It sounded impressive, but in truth, the effective range of time-reversal was proportional to the size of her domain, and what she saw in the reversed space was merely a reflection created as temporal energy acted upon her memories. She wasn’t actually dragging everyone and everything in the space back to the past; she could only observe, not change anything. It wasn’t a matter of willpower, but of lacking the origin of time and space, which left her unable to pluck the strings of time—there was simply no way to alter what had already occurred. The only difference from an illusion was that it had once truly existed, and footage recorded by the multidimensional camera could pass the test of the Laws of Reality.

This wasn’t Sangsang’s first time using time-reversal on herself. She had created this skill in the Tomb of the Gods precisely to revisit the moments before the infused laws dissipated, following herself to re-comprehend them. Although she couldn’t change the past, she could deepen her memory and thus her current understanding of those laws.

Now, she pioneered a new use for time-reversal: to seek out overlooked details in her memories, recording each and every one, and then editing together feature-length films about cultivation and study…

PS: Second update delivered! Three updates tomorrow—ladies, don’t forget to like and bookmark after reading~~~

[The 515 event is almost here—I hope to keep climbing the 515 Red Packet Leaderboard, so that on May 15th, when the red packet rain falls, I can reward readers and promote the story. Every bit of support counts, and I’ll definitely keep up the updates!]