"I can't mentally collapse!"
Yu Xuan forced himself to remain calm. Sitting in the lotus position, he closed his eyes and entered a state of meditation. After taking several breaths, he felt more stable.
"I am me. Yu Xuan is Yu Xuan. No matter what the future holds, in this timeline there is only one of me. My life is mine. My destiny is mine. My choices are based on myself."
He murmured calmly. After accepting the truth, his existential crisis ended, relieving his headache.
"My future self sacrificed himself to send me the diary, hoping that I would continue his life goal. But that's his, not mine. My only will is to live freely, without limiting myself to anything."
"For the promise I made to my mother, I will live a happy life."
Yu Xuan's expression became peaceful. Knowing the future did not bother him; it only strengthened his resolve. At the same time, it reignited his desire to grow stronger.
He was not naive, and in his heart he understood that, to be free, he needed to gain strength. A power great enough to eliminate any unforeseen threat.
"A diary from the future with a thousand years of experience." Yu Xuan's greed was rekindled. "With this, I can become stronger quickly."
He smiled and then thought of the goal he had in his future timeline.
"Achieving eternal life… is it really something good?"
Yu Xuan did not understand; after all, he was just a sixteen-year-old boy, with many things that still confused him.
"I will learn that from life. Surely, my future self is the same. His desire to be immortal must come from the experiences of the past thousand years of his life. What did he see? What did he experience? What does he regret?"
It was uncomfortable to think about these questions, but Yu Xuan knew he could not run from them. After all, it was his destiny. Everything has a cause and karma; avoiding it would only be a myopic view.
"The best thing is to eliminate these problems one by one… No one will interfere with my happy life! If anyone dares, I will make sure to uproot the problem entirely."
Yu Xuan's gaze held a murderous intent, signaling a shift in his temperament.
The traces of youth gradually disappeared from his aura, leaving only a peaceful young man in search of serenity, yet greedy for power.
"Time to see Old Xuan's experiences."
Ending his internal monologue, Yu Xuan turned the page and examined the following content.
[Experience in Yu Village]
[I stayed in this region from birth until I was twenty. During my youth, not much happened, except in the year 1240, when I saw a cultivator for the first time. He came personally to the village to test spiritual roots.
I remember begging to take part in the test. He gave me a dark look, as if he wanted to cut me to pieces, but thanks to the village chief, he agreed to give me a chance. When I took the test, the cultivator was surprised by my Deep Sword Root. But that was it; my twenty-year-old age was inadequate for cultivation. In the end, nothing happened.
That was my experience. Later, I discovered that the cultivator did not come to the village out of kindness, but out of greed. In Yu Village, there was a spring pool. I don't know its exact location, but I am certain it's in the back mountains.
My past self, I'll give you a veteran tip: refine the Sun-Rising Butterfly. With it, the likelihood of finding the pool is high.
To refine it, find a silkworm and feed it sunlight for a month, every day. Then, give it a green butterfly to eat and keep it in darkness for three months. It will undergo a transmutation and become a new species. Release it into the mountains; the creature will be drawn to the spring.
If you succeed, congratulations.
The spring pool is the essence of the ancient elm that existed over the old Southern Plain. For unknown reasons, the entire region was devastated by Death Qi for a hundred years. It began to restore itself in the year 500, transforming into the Desolate Frontier, surrounded by uneven terrain.
The spring's liquid can nourish the body, cleanse the marrow, and provide Life Qi—an immense benefit.
[End]
"My god!" Yu Xuan was taken by surprise. He had never imagined that a spring pool actually existed in the village. "Old Xuan was so unfortunate… I really want to know how he survived a thousand years, or how he learned cultivation."
Yu Xuan enjoyed reading about his experiences; it was a good way to view his own life from a different perspective. "Did Old Xuan have a lover? It seems not, otherwise he wouldn't have sacrificed everything for the past. Or perhaps he did, but his wife met a tragic end?"
Curiosity struck Yu Xuan, who smiled faintly and shook his head several times, dismissing those uncomfortable thoughts.
"Is the next page blank?" Yu Xuan saw nothing written on the opposite sheet, which made him uneasy. "Are the others blank too?"
He wanted to confirm and flipped the pages. Seeing nothing, he confirmed his suspicion. "Does this diary have limitations? If I want to discover the next content, do I need to become stronger?"
This was his main theory. Yu Xuan did not believe that Old Xuan had written only this. After all, a hundred years were dedicated to this diary. So the best hypothesis was that the seals were linked to strength.
"Old Xuan really is a cunning old man. To prevent me from acting recklessly, he blocked everything. He also prevents me from courting death. This first experience does not involve deadly battles, so it's visible to me." He understood a little of the old man's thoughts.
Stopping his examination of the pages, Yu Xuan made a decision. "I will refine the Sun-Rising Butterfly."
This was the best alternative for him, as he had no confidence in finding the pool randomly. After all, his luck was not the best.
Yu Xuan even had a premonition that he could spend ten years searching every corner of the back mountain and still discover nothing.
"Let's get out of here first." Yu Xuan placed the diary under his robe. Immediately, a chill ran through his stomach, making his lips tremble.
Enduring the cold, he stretched his hands upward and grabbed the ground. Pressing strength into his palms, he dug them into the soil and lifted his body. Then, planting his feet on the rocky walls, he began climbing, crawling to the top.
After finishing the climb, Yu Xuan looked at the hole in the ceiling and rolled his eyes slightly.
"My poor dwelling." He let out a lamenting sigh, but that was all.
Yu Xuan felt no sense of loss. A rotten roof was nothing compared to the life experience of a cultivator of a thousand years.