Silence.
The endless white world remained perfectly still.
A lone figure slowly appeared before the hovering white lizard.
It was the child.
No—
it was no longer the child.
A young woman stood quietly within the endless white.
Dark hair flowed gently behind her.
Her cultivation had vanished along with the simulation.
Yet the calm temperament forged through nearly five decades remained.
She slowly looked around.
Confusion filled her eyes.
*...Where...?*
Her gaze suddenly stopped.
A tiny white lizard hovered before her.
She frowned slightly.
*...What is that creature?*
Fragments of memory quietly surfaced.
Dark clouds.
A heavenly tribulation.
The final bolt.
Then—
nothing.
Her thoughts became increasingly chaotic.
*...Wasn't I...*
*Going through my Golden Core tribulation...?*
Before she could continue—
a calm voice interrupted.
"...You died."
The young woman's body stiffened.
Her eyes immediately locked onto the tiny lizard.
Silence.
Her thoughts raced.
*...It answered.*
*...I never spoke.*
Realization slowly dawned.
Her pupils narrowed.
*...It read my thoughts.*
She stared at the creature for several long breaths.
Finally—
she spoke.
"...What are you?"
Her gaze swept across the endless white world.
"...And what is this place?"
A brief pause.
"...Is this..."
"...Hell?"
Silence.
The tiny white lizard simply watched her.
Then—
"...No."
"...It is neither Hell..."
"...Nor Heaven."
The young woman frowned.
"...Then where am I?"
Lizarius answered calmly.
"...A space detached from the world."
Her confusion only deepened.
"...Detached from the world?"
"...What does that even mean?"
Silence lingered.
The tiny white lizard remained expressionless.
"...It doesn't matter."
She stared at him.
"...Doesn't matter?"
His voice remained calm.
"...Understanding it serves you no purpose."
She took a slow breath.
"...Then why bring me here?"
"...Who are you?"
"...What is all this?"
Question after question followed.
Lizarius remained completely silent.
Not because he couldn't answer—
but because there was no reason to.
After several quiet breaths—
he finally spoke.
"...I had my reasons."
The young woman's brows drew together.
"...That's not an answer."
"...It is enough."
Silence.
Neither of them moved.
Then—
the endless white world trembled.
Tiny cracks spread across the boundless space.
The dream had reached its limit.
The surroundings slowly began dissolving into countless drifting fragments of light.
The young woman instinctively turned.
"...What's happening?"
The white world continued collapsing.
The cracks spread farther and farther.
Even the light beneath her feet gradually disappeared.
She looked back toward the tiny white lizard.
"...Wait."
"...What do you mean?"
"...What's happening?"
The world continued fading.
Lizarius quietly watched the collapsing dream.
Then—
he spoke one final sentence.
"...For now..."
"...Live on."
The young woman instinctively reached toward him.
"...Wait—!"
Her voice echoed throughout the collapsing white.
Then—
everything shattered.
The dream disappeared completely.
Silence returned.
---
The room remained peaceful.
Then—
the child's eyes suddenly opened.
For a brief instant—
they were filled with bewilderment.
Not the confusion of someone waking from sleep—
but the confusion of someone whose entire world had just been overturned.
"..."
She looked at the familiar ceiling.
The familiar room.
The familiar bed.
The familiar hands.
Nothing matched the memories within her mind.
"...Waaah—!!"
The child suddenly burst into tears.
The cry shattered the silence.
Several maids immediately rushed toward the cradle.
"Young Miss!"
"Did she have a nightmare?"
One gently lifted her into her arms.
Another hurried over with a blanket.
"It's alright..."
"It's alright..."
"You're safe."
The child continued crying.
Her tiny body trembled uncontrollably.
Inside—
her thoughts had descended into complete chaos.
*...No...*
*This...*
*This isn't right...*
She remembered.
She remembered everything.
Growing up.
Cultivating.
Stepping into Foundation Establishment.
Joining the Demonic Dao.
Becoming an elder.
Standing beneath the heavenly tribulation.
Dying.
Then—
the endless white world.
The tiny white creature.
"...You died."
Those words echoed through her mind once again.
*...Then...*
*What am I now?*
She looked down.
Tiny hands.
A tiny body.
The embrace of the woman she called Mother.
*...A child?*
*...What?*
Her breathing became uneven.
*...Reincarnation?*
The thought surfaced almost naturally.
Then—
she immediately rejected it.
*...No...*
*That creature...*
*What...*
*What was it?*
No answer came.
She cried even harder.
The maids exchanged worried glances.
"It must have been a terrible nightmare."
"I'll inform Madam."
"Perhaps Young Miss is hungry."
One gently stroked her hair.
Another softly hummed a lullaby.
None of them knew...
The child wasn't crying because of a nightmare.
She was crying because she could no longer distinguish which life had been real.
---
Far above the city—
an invisible white lizard silently glided through the night sky.
His thoughts remained calm.
*...The hypothesis was incorrect.*
The experiment had concluded.
Immediately afterward—
he had attempted to consume the child once more.
Nothing changed.
The restraint remained.
Exactly as before.
His body still refused.
He had attempted another approach.
Returning to the child's subconscious.
Destroying it directly.
The result...
Had been identical.
The same invisible restraint emerged once again.
His golden eyes remained emotionless.
*...So the limitation does not originate solely from my own perception.*
*Or at least...*
*Not entirely.*
The conclusion quietly settled within his thoughts.
Another followed.
*...However.*
He recalled the final moments within the dream.
*"For now... Live on."*
Silence.
He carefully analyzed the likely consequences.
The simulation had never been identical to reality.
Different people.
Different places.
A different life.
From the child's perspective—
only one reasonable explanation existed.
She would almost certainly conclude...
That she had lived another life.
Then returned.
Or perhaps...
Been reborn.
The tiny white lizard remained silent.
*...She will also associate me with that event.*
Silence.
The invisible white lizard continued gliding through the night sky.
Not a sound escaped him.
Only the wind quietly flowed over his scales.
His thoughts calmly organized everything that had just occurred.
*...She will inevitably reach her own conclusions.*
The simulation.
Her death.
The endless white world.
His appearance.
Then—
awakening once again as a child.
His crimson eyes remained indifferent.
*...From her perspective...*
*There is only one logical explanation.*
*Everything was my doing.*
He neither confirmed...
Nor denied that conclusion.
There had been no need.
His thoughts continued.
*...The bloodline.*
Another variable entered his calculations.
Within the simulated life—
the Namewright Bloodline had never awakened.
Its existence had remained completely unknown.
Reality, however—
was different.
She now possessed memories that should never have existed.
Memories of another lifetime.
And throughout every one of them—
one constant remained.
Him.
The tiny white creature within the endless white world.
His gaze remained fixed upon the distant horizon.
*...When the bloodline eventually awakens...*
*She will inevitably associate it with me.*
*Its manifestation never existed within the simulated life.*
*Therefore...*
*She will conclude that I am responsible.*
Silence.
He quietly examined that conclusion.
There was nothing unreasonable about it.
In fact—
it was the most logical explanation available to her.
He neither intended to encourage that belief...
Nor to dispel it.
If she reached that conclusion through her own reasoning...
Then it belonged to her.
Not him.
Another thought quietly surfaced.
*...Useful.*
The word settled naturally.
If she believed he possessed knowledge regarding the bloodline—
she would begin searching for answers herself.
She would investigate.
Research.
Question.
Experiment.
She would devote herself to understanding something she otherwise might have ignored until the bloodline awakened naturally.
His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
*...That may accelerate the process.*
The awakening itself could not be forced.
The system had already established that.
But understanding...
Often preceded mastery.
If she spent years studying the bloodline—
then once it finally awakened—
its abilities would likely develop far more rapidly than they otherwise would have.
He remained silent for several long breaths.
Then—
another conclusion quietly settled.
*...If her assumptions naturally benefit my observations...*
*There is no reason to correct them.*
It was simply the most efficient course.
He had no intention of guiding her.
No intention of deceiving her.
Whether her conclusions were correct or incorrect...
Made no difference.
So long as they continued producing useful results.
His gaze slowly shifted toward the distant horizon.
*...For now...*
*Observation alone is sufficient.*
Without another thought—
the invisible white lizard disappeared into the darkness.