A Dream of Golden Millet No There's a Second Playthrough

As Gu Yun and Lin Xi's figures faded into the Moon Realm,

all was swallowed by darkness.

The dream vanished.

Zhong Yi's eyes snapped open.

"Gu—"

He started to speak, only to see Poison Doctor Wen Yaoxin and the servant Chen Lili standing by Gu Yun's bed, their faces filled with grief.

The twin gu worm by the pillow had long fallen silent.

Gu Yun was gone.

Zhong Yi lowered his head, a hollow emptiness settling in his chest. He couldn't find words to describe how he felt at this moment.

Not long ago, he had been immersed in a vision where Gu Yun finally made up for a lifetime of regrets, reuniting with Lin Xi and a host of loved ones to embrace a beautiful ending.

But in the blink of an eye, he was back to reality.

Here.

Lin Xi had waited her entire life, never seeing the man she loved with all her heart remember that crucial promise they had shared.

There is a kind of love that reads as regret.

The live-stream chat was now buzzing with comments.

[If only the illusion had stopped the moment they stepped into the Moon Realm...]

[Damn that Old Demon Lu!! Just when everything was perfect, he yanked us back to reality.]

[In the end, it was all but a fleeting dream.]

[Gu Yun thought he was the one taking care of the reclusive Lin Xi all his life, but it was Lin Xi who spent her whole life trying to make him remember who he was.]

[Stop it, I'm about to cry again.]

[Look on the bright side—at least the old man passed on without regrets.]

[And Lin Xi? Her whole life was nothing but regrets!]

[I can't accept this fake ending... it hurts too much.]

[This ending is even more unbearable than if Gu Yun had died without remembering the promise.]

...

Watching the comments, Zhong Yi's heart ached even more.

Everything he had just experienced was nothing but a dream. All the painstaking efforts he and Qin Li'en had made were merely to plant a seed—a seed of "cause"—in Gu Yun's memories, allowing the story from another timeline to replace them.

In his final moments, Gu Yun had likely been happy.

To him, all those things were real.

But in Zhong Yi's eyes, and in the eyes of every player, reality was brutally cruel—

Lin Xi had used her entire lifetime, yet she never made Gu Yun recall that promise. She could only leave this world suffused with regret.

Was this a good ending, or a bad one?

Zhong Yi didn't know, either.

Maybe all he had done was use a well-intentioned lie for Gu Yun to make up for his regrets.

But who could ever make up for Lin Xi's regrets?

Thinking this, Zhong Yi felt even sadder, to the point where he could barely breathe.

The illusion's scene shifted to two days after Gu Yun's death.

His and Qin Li'en's sect mission was complete, and the spiritual contract signed with Gu Yun had taken effect. They helped Chen Lili handle the funeral arrangements, burying Gu Yun beneath that lighthouse of profound meaning, alongside Lin Xi.

Zhong Yi wanted to say something more.

Then the illusion ended.

Carrying many regrets—both Lin Xi's and his own—he stood dazed at the beginning screen of the illusion, that overwhelming feeling of loss growing stronger.

The story of "To the Moon Realm" was one worth savoring and revisiting time and again.

The melancholy swelled in Zhong Yi's heart.

"No. I want to walk through their memories one more time..."

With that, Zhong Yi began his second playthrough.

...

...

By the Carefree Cloud Lake.

After the door to her emotions had been thrown wide open, Guo Yunfeng's emotional reactions were even stronger than everyone else's. The feelings she had suppressed for centuries burst forth at that moment, completely overwhelming her. She had utterly forgotten her identity as an elder of the Heartless Sect, wholly immersed in the sweetness and regrets of Gu Yun and Lin Xi.

When the illusion ended—after Gu Yun was buried—she should have exited the illusion and announced the results.

But Guo Yunfeng lingered on the illusion's starting screen, unmoving for a long time.

She felt a power unlike anything before spreading through her heart.

It wasn't just the regret for Lin Xi; there was also a faint premonition of breaking through to a higher realm...

Guo Yunfeng felt that the answer lay right within this illusion.

Around Carefree Cloud Lake, the gathered cultivators were still lost in this touching story.

"That Old Demon Lu is such a bastard for writing something so... so heartbreaking."

"Ask what love is in this world—it makes people pledge life and death!"

"Why hasn't Elder Guo come out to announce the results yet?"

"Do we even need an announcement? Look how much she's crying..."

"Then what is she doing...?"

"Holy crap! Elder Guo is going through it again!!!"

"Is there any higher praise than playing it a second time?"

"This is the power of Old Demon Lu... amazing!"

...

...

In the main server's illusion world.

"So... it's over?"

Watching cultivator after cultivator finishing their first run of the illusion, the remnant Heavenly Dao spirit felt a slight surprise. But then it accepted the outcome.

"Oh well. It's never easy to make cultivators willingly offer up their spiritual energy." The remnant Heavenly Dao spirit shook its head.

"Ha! If you'd just drop that stupid pride of yours, I guarantee you'd have cultivators lining up every day to donate their energy to you."

Lu Ze shot a look at the remnant spirit and chuckled teasingly.

"Hmph, mind your own business. The Heavenly Dao does not wish to owe mere ants anything." The remnant spirit clasped its hands behind its back, still stubborn.

The leverage Lu Ze used to make the remnant Heavenly Dao spirit intervene and secure a minimum standard was his promise that it could use "To the Moon Realm" to recover some spiritual energy—just like it had with "This Devil Cultivator Isn't So Cold."

Now, it seemed to have failed.

"Don't rush," Lu Ze said unhurriedly, standing in the air above, gazing down over countless players journeying through the illusion.

"If we want them to offer their energy willingly, their regrets need to be big enough..."

...

...

In Zhong Yi's illusion world.

Going through the memories of Lin Xi and Gu Yun again—now knowing the whole truth—

The heartache and sorrow were no weaker than the first time.

In fact, the more clearly he understood the reasons behind Lin Xi's actions, the more deeply he felt the pain and regret that had filled her entire life.

The further he went, the stronger the regret in Zhong Yi's heart became.

His heart felt empty, as if a piece of it was missing.

In Gu Yun's dream world, he discovered more scattered memories. Each and every one carried Lin Xi's unspoken, inexpressible regret.

Regret and sorrow kept piling up.

Zhong Yi began asking Qin Li'en if there was any way to truly change the past.

Qin Li'en kept looking at him like he was a fool.

...

The story moved forward slowly.

Zhong Yi solved the riddles again, watched Lin Xi disappear again, watched Gu Yun and Lin Xi reunite again, and watched them walk hand-in-hand up the heavenly staircase toward the Moon Realm again...

Even though he knew the plot.

He couldn't stop the tears from flowing.

The more perfect the story became, the more his heart ached.

Because he knew that, for Lin Xi, all of this was a dream that had never existed.

...

He buried Gu Yun and Lin Xi together one more time.

This time, the illusion didn't end.

Zhong Yi stood silently before their grave, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

"Junior Brother Zhong, it's time to return to the sect."

Qin Li'en spoke gently from behind, pity in his voice.

“If only there were a way to turn dreams into reality…”

Zhong Yi muttered, clenching his fists.

“If only…”

“If only there were some way to truly change the past…”

Seeing Zhong Yi like this, Qin Li’en let out a sigh before speaking slowly:

“Such techniques only exist in the legends of the ancient era… In our time, spiritual energy is scarce and methods are incomplete—how could it be possible?”

With that, she shook her head and comforted Zhong Yi, “At least we let Old Master Gu pass away peacefully, didn’t we?”

Hearing this, Zhong Yi rose with immense regret.

“Only by restoring spiritual energy and recovering lost methods can it be done? That truly is…”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Qin Li’en.

The latter stood there with her mouth slightly open, motionless as a carved statue.

“Senior Sister…?”

Zhong Yi only then noticed something was wrong. Frowning, he patted Qin Li’en.

Still, she showed no reaction at all.

Just then.

A faint, ethereal voice suddenly sounded above his head:

“So that’s how it is…”

“Is this your regret?”