Versatile Mage: I Awakened Nine Stars

Chapter 408 The Ship of Theseus

Yu Mian stared blankly as the illusion dissipated into specks of light.

At this moment, she finally understood Xu Shen's strange reaction when he first met Liu Xian at the Pearl Tower, and why he fell into a coma for three days and three nights after killing the vampire Nie Dong. All of this made sense now.

These unresolved knots linger in the heart, and no one can easily let them go.

but……

These memories...

Could it be, like in those wildly imaginative novels, that rebirth truly exists in this world?

Just as Yu Mian was wondering, the illusion changed once again.

In the quaint and natural town, a silver eye hangs high, like a sun, bursting with dazzling light.

At that very moment, the fox mother once again used the power of time to jump out of the town.

Everything in the world seemed to be rewinding at double speed, so fast that only afterimages remained.

Ding Yumin watched all of this, her heart filled with indescribable shock.

This power is like that of a god incarnate.

Just as Ding Yumin was staring at the fleeting, blurry image of the past, the fox mother stood in mid-air, her elegant white fur neck tilted back, gazing at the sun hanging in the sky.

The world changes in an instant, but the bright sun remains steadfast.

No, its westward slant is no different from usual.

The fox mother seemed to be deep in thought, and with a light leap, she jumped into the small bedroom where the elderly Xu Shen was kept.

The world outside Time Town is constantly changing.

But here, the small town, exuding the fragrance of Lifan flowers, seems to have been forgotten by time.

Xu Shen was still on the bed, his eyes closed, and the trace of his aged soul fluctuations was almost at their limit.

His disheveled, dry hair almost completely obscured his face, and his exposed chin was covered with a tangled beard, making him look like a bundle of dry firewood.

Does the power to reverse time cover the entire planet, but exclude this prison of infinite time loops?
The fox mother glanced at Xu Shen, who was lying on the bed barely breathing, and then disappeared.

When it reappeared, it was already atop the snow-capped peak of Bocheng.

Time is still flowing backward.

The snow line of the snow-capped peak retreated and then advanced.

Suddenly, this power that could turn back time seemed to stall.

The clear blue sky suddenly changed.

The dark clouds obscured the sunlight.

The deafening thunder continued, and lightning struck as if it were the end of the world.

Suddenly, all of this came to an abrupt end, as if some force had blocked the flow of time.

The bright sun dispelled the gloom, and the world returned to normal.

The high school entrance exam is approaching.

The sound of students reading aloud filled the air at Shuilan Middle School.

However, a carefree young man was lying on the lawn behind the hill.

Ding Yumin was no stranger to this young man, but she was puzzled as to why he was the center of the illusion.
Mo Fan...

Could this person also hold the secret of time?

In the illusion, Mo Fan slept for a long time before rubbing his sleepy eyes, stretching, and sauntering into Shuilan Middle School.

"Mo Fan, you skipped class again!"

The homeroom teacher had a gloomy face.

"Relax, teacher. I told you before, this knowledge is too simple for me. It makes me sleepy. I'd rather find a quiet place so I can sleep better."

"you!"

The homeroom teacher, unable to bear it any longer, pointed at his nose and said, "Since you're so good, go and solve that problem on the blackboard."

"okk!"

Mo Fan gave an OK sign, ignoring the homeroom teacher's murderous glare, and slipped into the classroom, casually picking up the chalk. When he turned around and saw what was on the blackboard, he froze.

"What the heck... Isn't this supposed to be physics? Why is it biology now? Wait, what is that fire-breathing thing in the drawing? Are you sure it exists on Earth?"

Mo Fan felt like he was possessed and quickly rubbed his eyes, but the content on the blackboard did not turn into his beloved physics formulas.

Undeterred, he turned and glanced at the textbooks on the lectern: "The Origin of Light Magic," "The Restraint Relationship Between Water and Fire Magic," and so on.

"what?"

Mo Fan stared at all of this in disbelief, completely stunned.

The homeroom teacher wore a mocking smile: "What? Our great genius, are you planning to hand in a blank paper again for the high school entrance exam?"

Ding Yumin did not pay attention to the argument between Mo Fan and his homeroom teacher in the illusion.

She stared intently at a boy by the window.

His face was slightly immature, with some baby fat, and his peach blossom eyes were full of schadenfreude towards the guy on the podium.

“Ah Shen…”

Yu Mian was utterly shocked at this moment.

If the force that reversed time didn't affect Time Town, then...

The fox mother seemed to have read her mind; her eyes gleamed with silver light, and scenes from Time Town appeared simultaneously in the illusion.

In that small house, on the bed, the elderly Xu Shenyou was still there.

One young, one old—the two Xu Shens appear so clearly!

Ding Yumin's pupils dilated slightly upon witnessing this scene.

She once told Xu Shen an interesting story: Before becoming king, Theseus, the king of Athens, led his warriors to Crete to slay the Minotaur and rescue the boys and girls who were being offered as tribute. To commemorate his achievement, the Athenians preserved and continuously maintained the ship, eventually replacing all its parts. Was the ship still the same at that point?
Xu Shen then asked her, "If we rebuild a new ship using the replaced old parts, which of these two ships is the real Ship of Theseus?"

Human cells are renewed on average every three months, and it takes about 7 years for all parts of the body to be replaced.

Therefore, if Time Town were not affected by the time reversal, it would be possible for two Xu Shen to exist at the same time!

The paradox of the Ship of Theseus thus appeared before Ding Yumin!
Which Xu Shen is actually her Xu Shen?

Or perhaps both of the above? Or neither?

Clearly, the fox mother was also very interested in the worlds where two Xu Shen coexisted on the same timeline.

Time continued to pass in the illusion.

Outside the illusion, the Seven Emotions Bitter Bamboo Forest is withering and turning yellow at a visible rate.

A light rain was falling, and the high school entrance exam arrived as scheduled, bringing the fantasy to an abrupt end.

The fox mother's eyes flashed with anger, and the sharp claws in her paw pads gleamed with a cold light.

However, the bamboo forest, with its listless and yellowed appearance, cautiously tried to appease her, and its aggrieved mood gradually calmed her anger. She flicked her tail and tossed the unconscious Xu Shen to Ding Yumin.

Yu Mian instinctively hugged Xu Shen.

At this moment, his spiritual power was almost exhausted. Without top-quality natural treasures, he might even risk a regression in his spiritual power cultivation.

Fortunately, there's enough of both Lifan flowers and Tianshan snow lotus.

Before she could even take out the snow lotus petals, a bamboo leaf suddenly drifted down from her palm. Unlike the one that was as hard as steel mixed in with the Rending Wind Falcon, this one was lush and green, soft as silk, and exuded a faint fragrance. Just smelling it made one feel refreshed.

Along with the falling bamboo leaves, there also drifted the fawning spirit of the Seven Emotions Bitter Bamboo.

Ding Yumin wanted to laugh, but when she inadvertently saw the fox mother curled up in a small nest woven entirely of bamboo leaves, closing her eyes to rest, she immediately stopped laughing.

This damn bamboo is being treated differently!
After taking the bamboo leaves, Xu Shen slowly woke up and met Yu Mian's caring eyes.

"how do you feel?"

"It's both real and illusory," Xu Shen said with a wry smile, rubbing his temples. "I still can't tell whether this is an illusion or a real world."

"Whether you can tell the difference or not is not important. As long as you believe it to be real, even if it's in a dream, it is real," Yu Mian said earnestly. "Life is just a dream, and sticking to your attitude towards life is much more important than distinguishing between what is real and what is fake."

Xu Shen carefully pondered Yu Mian's words: "Now I believe it's true. That broken bamboo could never say something so philosophical."

Yu Mian smiled, looking absolutely beautiful.

　My business trip is over. It was inconvenient while I was on the road, but I'm back today!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)