this infinite world

"Wait, miss, haven't we met somewhere before?"

Although Yang Yun's words sounded like a flirtation, and a rather lame one at that, it was obvious that he wasn't the frivolous type, especially towards a beautiful stranger he had just met... The only explanation was that Yang Yun had indeed seen her somewhere before.

"...I'm sorry, sir, I don't remember such a thing."

Faced with Yang Yun's question, Tianyi turned back with an unchanged expression, revealing her usual smile, which was truly beautiful: "If I have ever been fortunate enough to see your face, even if it is just a fleeting glimpse, my soul will surely engrave it into an eternal memory."

Tianyi's voice was neither humble nor arrogant, every word precious. His appropriate words and graceful reply alone far surpassed those of the other members of the Heavenly God Team who were "trembling with fear and almost ready to flee." But surprisingly, Yang Yun showed an indescribable expression after hearing this. He waved his hand repeatedly and said, "Well, it's fine if you pretend in front of others... After all, the shielding function of the Investiture of the Gods is truly powerful. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have been able to recognize you."

"But, we're face to face now, and you still expect me not to recognize you? That would be underestimating me."

"However, it's really unexpected that you were able to bypass the restrictions of the 'Main God' in this way and enter the Main God Space again... Hmm, I suppose you didn't enter the Main God Space by clicking on that dialog box 'Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly live?', but rather joined the Celestial Team through an invitation from someone else."

"And if I'm not mistaken, your original identity should be that of an orphan who survived in another world invaded by the C Organization and the X Organization, or the kind who is blessed with good fortune... Hmm, the protagonist of the world? I'm afraid only such an identity would be noticed by the Celestial Team."

Yang Yun's last words were addressed to Ling Xin, who was standing to the other side.

"how do you know?"

Ling Xin was still shocked by Chu Hao's sudden appearance before him, and by his speculation that the mental energy controller in the team, with whom he had spent considerable time, actually had a different identity. After hearing Yang Yun's analysis, he exclaimed in surprise.

The reason is simple: Ling Xin and the Celestial Team did indeed fight alongside Tianyi, the protagonist of that plane, in a battle against the X Organization that had broken through the boundary. Although the X Organization ultimately shattered the principles of civilization in that plane, Tianyi, as the last spark of that plane, survived and was invited by Ling Xin to join the Celestial Team… And these events are exactly as Yang Yun described, as if he had witnessed them firsthand!
"Yeah, I guessed."

Having finally satisfied his craving to be a wise man who "reads the script," Yang Yun smiled slightly and replied.

Yang Yun had already seen a similar scenario involving Tianyi... Wasn't this just a combination of Tian Ting and Quiliana's experiences in the world of Legend of Sword and Fairy? Moreover, the so-called invasion of planes and the shattering of civilization principles were probably all fabricated by the clone Chu Xuan to achieve his own goals. For Yang Yun, he had long since surpassed the level of recognizing people by their appearance, and his previous statement of "having seen" referred to a deeper level of understanding.

In fact, in Yang Yun's eyes, unless a woman is at the level of Houtu, no matter how beautiful she is, she is nothing more than a beautiful skeleton... Well, of course, he couldn't say such things to Zhao Yingkong, Liuli, and Shana, otherwise, even though Yang Yun is now a high-level saint, he would probably be in deep trouble.

Getting back to the point, the reason Yang Yun was able to sense the problem with the other party was because he had seen Zhang Xiaoxue, a member of the Demon Team, who had first fought fiercely with Zhao Yingkong and then fought alongside her in the final battle. In Yang Yun's vision, this mental power controller of the Celestial Team named "Heavenly Will" actually had at least 50% similarity to Zhang Xiaoxue in terms of true spirit!

Each person's true spirit is unique, its essence like the trajectory of stars in the universe—even if two planets happen to have similar paths, the pulsation of their cores can never be exactly the same. In the endless river of reincarnation, the probability of a true spirit having a similarity of more than 1% is even more remote than finding two identical grains of sand in the desert.

If the spiritual fluctuations are 50% similar, it can only mean one thing: the being before us is indeed "that person," but their spiritual essence contains some impurities, like an unknown metal melted into pure gold. Although some properties have changed, their essential brilliance remains unchanged…

As is widely known, in that decisive final battle, the emotionless and absolutely rational clone Chu Xuan ultimately lost to the original, who possessed the light of humanity. Under the Eastern Emperor Bell, hurled with all its might, the world-destroying power shattered every inch of flesh and blood, every wisp of soul, of the Demon Team's sage into basic particles.

Originally, complete annihilation of body and soul was the only fate for the clone Chu Xuan. However, the Investiture of the Gods, being a fragment of a great artifact, was forcibly torn open in the river of time by Zhang Xiaoxue, who controlled it, burning all the karmic points she had secretly accumulated. This allowed the clone Chu Xuan, who was destined to die, to retain a sliver of life... but the price was that both of their bodies and souls were smashed into powder by the Eastern Emperor Bell. To describe it as "turned to dust" would be an exaggeration.

This is the truth behind the "Chu Xuan gender reassignment" rumor circulating among those in the know—after that earth-shattering final battle, the cloned Chu Xuan and Zhang Xiaoxue's true spirits formed a bizarre symbiotic state at the quantum level. Like two cups of ink of different colors poured into the same container, although their original hues can still be discerned, they can no longer be completely separated.

Even more dramatically, due to the extreme severity of Chu Xuan's injuries, Zhang Xiaoxue's soul structure unexpectedly took over during the fusion, causing the reconstructed being to exhibit characteristics centered around her. This, however, is the story of *Infinite Future*, following *Infinite Terror*.

So, are you going to keep pretending?

Gazing at the still flawless smile, yet beneath which lay a strangely familiar sense of "otherness," Yang Yun revealed an expression of "seeing through everything": "So, you like me calling you 'Zhang Xiaoxue'..."

"Or should I just call you, 'Copy Chu Xuan'?" (End of Chapter)