Chapter 16: You Must Kneel and Beg Me Not to Die (Two-in-One)

To break the "Dream of the Yellow Millet" formation, one can take either the righteous path or the wicked path.

The righteous path is to use brute force to overcome finesse. Although the "Dream of the Yellow Millet" is a chronal illusion array and easy to fall into, its grade is not high—it is even inferior to the Resurgence Array that Gu Fangchen previously modified. As long as one's divine cultivation is high enough, it can be easily shattered. However, for Gu Fangchen, the righteous path is certainly not an option.

The wicked path is much simpler. It requires only three things: first, at least ninth-grade divine cultivation; second, locating the eye of the array; and third, destroying it. The reason the wicked path is considered wicked is that it requires almost no technique or mastery of array formations.

The "Dream of the Yellow Millet" has two eyes. The first is the fixed, manifest eye hidden within the spiritual patterns of the array. For an illusion array, this eye is buried among countless people, events, and objects, making it nearly impossible to find—even for Gu Fangchen. In a game, there would at least be clues to solve the puzzle, but here, the illusions are formless and ever-changing. Playing a game of "spot the difference" for decades within such a shifting environment is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

The second is the mechanical eye, which is actually the entrant themselves. As long as the entrant dies, at the very instant their consciousness enters extinction, the array collapses on its own. This is why a certain level of divine cultivation is required. The first realm of the divine path is called "Meditation." One who enters meditation has a mind that is spontaneously calm and not easily shaken by external forces, representing an willpower far exceeding that of an ordinary person. If human consciousness is likened to a candle flame, meditation is like placing a cover over it, ensuring it cannot be extinguished by the wind. Of course, unless the wind is so strong it blows the cover away as well—much like how Gu Fangchen previously used the death of the soldier puppet Gu Yuye to bluff Gu Yuandao, shattering his Dao heart entirely.

This wicked method of breaking the array requires one to firmly believe they are not dead even while dying within the illusion. It is truly wicked. Most people could never do this; after all, one only has one life, and no one can be certain if dying here means permanent extinction. Only a player could find such a path. In the game, after the player causes their own death, they must pass a willpower check; as long as they have reached the ninth-grade Meditation realm, they are guaranteed to succeed.

In the twenty-second year of the illusion, Gu Fangchen finally waited for his moment of epiphany. Perhaps because he had been pondering the legends of Princess Prajna before falling into the trap, the illusion he experienced was that of the long-fallen ancient kingdom of golden sands—Garuda. In the game, all intelligence regarding the ancient kingdom of Garuda existed only as background lore within the secret records of the Matriarch Sect. That was all. There was no map of Garuda in "Mirror in the Dust," nor had any player ever triggered a related side quest; everything about this ruined kingdom remained an unsolved mystery.

At the end of the Matriarch Sect's main questline, "Fire of the Red Dust," the last survivor of Garuda, Princess Prajna, would die in the flames, forced into a dead end by the player's own hand. Yes, despite her high popularity among players due to her beauty, she was actually a villain. This was one of the reasons Gu Fangchen did not want to encounter her so early. Her death buried all intelligence regarding Garuda. Gu Fangchen always felt there was much more content in the game that had not been unearthed, not because the developers hadn't created it. After achieving the sixth ending, "Return to Truth of the Six Dusts," this feeling reached its peak. He hoped his questions might be answered in the next playthrough, but he never expected the game company to throw him into the real thing.

In short, seeing that the illusion was the kingdom of Garuda, Gu Fangchen was actually quite pleased. The kingdom was resource-poor, its people fierce and bellicose, surviving by conquering and plundering neighboring nations. Gu Fangchen had spent nearly twenty-two years as a soldier there. Serving as a soldier was not his area of expertise; he prioritized self-preservation, running and hiding whenever possible. He was essentially a coward. After twenty-two years, he had only reached the rank of a squad leader. The biggest regret was that his timing for entering the illusion was poor; he hadn't encountered any key figures. He wasn't even qualified to see the priests or generals of Garuda, let alone the princess. It was a wasted trip. But because of this, he felt no hesitation or regret when it came time to kill himself.

"It’s just a pity..." he murmured. "After finally playing a cultivation simulation, I didn't even get to raise my 'daughter' to anything of note."

Gu Fangchen raised his head, a flash of ruthlessness in his eyes, and plunged his sword into the throat of the soldier in front of him. "Splurt!" Blood sprayed onto his face. In the illusion, time had passed, and he was now in his forties, appearing as a middle-aged man. The sand and wind had worn him down, leaving him rough, dark-skinned, and stubbled, his temperament much more steady—closer to the player Gu Fangchen than the spoiled brat he had once been.

He didn't withdraw his sword but pressed it against the soldier’s throat, roaring as he pushed the corpse forward like a shield. The soldiers behind were momentarily blocked, but soon, countless spears pierced through the body, running Gu Fangchen through as well. Until the final moment of death, Gu Fangchen stood firm, holding the door shut, refusing to fall. As the soldiers outside dispersed, the light faded from his eyes.

Time passed. The entire illusion began to collapse. Within the room he had died protecting, a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl with black hair crawled out from the cellar. She was thin and frail, with delicate features and a pair of cyan eyes like glass gems, clear and beautiful to the extreme. She walked dazedly to Gu Fangchen’s corpse and tugged at his hem. "Father..."

...

Gu Fangchen opened his eyes abruptly to find his heart being physically gripped by the beautiful woman before him. The scene was terrifying and shocking.

"Um... Princess Prajna, could you pull that out now?" Wait, why did that sound so strange?

The beautiful, blindfolded woman opposite him seemed stunned, then snapped back to reality, her expression turning icy. She curled her fingers, gripping his heart even tighter, as if intending to crush it. The Heart-Seed Poison was on the verge of going wild, and the other two poisons were also wreaking havoc. Gu Fangchen was in agonizing pain, but he held back. He had worked so hard to build his mysterious, unfathomable persona in front of Old Man Ding; he could not let it break now. He could lose his head or bleed, but his persona must remain intact! Otherwise, all the effort spent suppressing Ding Xingfeng would have been in vain.

Ding Xingfeng did not fully believe him and was still observing him. If Gu Fangchen didn't escape unscathed, the old man would surely doubt the existence of the backing he claimed to have. Furthermore, if he had been 80% sure before that Princess Prajna wouldn'