A sage once said: Dreams are the gateway to our subconscious, the window to the past and future.

  Ironically, when Bubai first caught a glimpse of his own reflection from a mirror within one of the many dreamscapes, he knew… that face wasn’t his past nor future.

  After all, that face was neither that of his current life nor his previous life!

  Let’s not talk about this life where he was reincarnated as farmer boy Fang Bubai.

  Instead, let’s jump back into his past – the life before transmigration.

  Back then, he... was a researcher, sure, but not of the kind most would expect.

  He wasn’t dealing with futuristic tech or studying aliens.

  No, he was a researcher of culture! What culture?

  The almighty kind embraced by men of culture! Ahem.

  There’s no shame in admitting it. He, Pro Ye, was a true blue NEET in his previous life.

  Novels, manga, anime—these were the areas of his expertise.

  He had immersed himself in the rich, imaginative worlds they offered, even going as far as dabbling in voice acting to breathe life into some of them!

  Outside of that, he was your friendly neighborhood keyboard warrior and barely spared some time to dabble in some small side businesses to sustain his way of life.

  That had been his existence.

  This begs the question.

  When in Merlin’s name did he ever get the chance to be a hyper-successful scientist living in a fancy grand mansion? Never.

  Thus, these memories of a top-notch scientist were great and all, but definitely foreign.

  Alas… every time he experienced a blackout in this world of cultivation, more fragments of that foreign life were stuffed into his mind and integrated with his very being.

  From pleasant wet dreams to life as an academic overachiever to nightmares just as haunting as the babbles itself...

  Sometimes they came as disjointed flashes, other times they were vivid experiences, like he'd been living them all along.

  At first, Bubai could delimit a clear boundary between his identities, but ten years was enough to change a lot.

  The more time passes, the more they feel like his...

  Now, various flavors of that colorful life had become an inseparable part of him.

  The most clear cut thing Bubai gained from that life was the broad knowledge bank.

  Anyone wonder where all the knowledge he put up for trade with the fairy actually came from?

  How about the technicalities behind how parachute works?

  Basics like how to avoid lines entangling, how to catch the wind, how to properly repack his parachute so it wouldn’t be a one-use life-pack…

  Those certainly weren’t sold in that mysterious old shopkeeper’s package.

  So where did those know-hows come from?

  Did anyone really think he was actually a master of all trades in his previous life as a NEET?

  At most he has seen more, read more.

  Every story is a journey to a new world.

  Never underestimate someone like him who has seen all those cliché tropes to the point of throwing up.

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  This wisdom was definitely critical for his slippery survival thus far, but...

  When it really came down to fields like economics, architecture, agriculture, physics, biology, etc…

  It all boiled down to his own community college shenanigans versus Mr. Rich Academic Achiever.

  The winner of this knowledge contest is obviously the born-cheater next door.

  And these knowledge was now his own to use. It was almost a cheat in itself, if not for their fragmentary nature.

  Fractured though they were, the flashes of scientific insight spanning countless fields—the kind he could never hope to touch upon as an ordinary civilian—had ingrained themselves into his mind.

  Complex formulas, theories of worlds beyond, blueprints of life...

  They’ve taken rooted as if they'd always belonged there.

  Alas... it wasn’t just knowledge that had taken root.

  The assimilation of a whole entirely another self. It’s a rather unnerving topic.

  On the surface, it seemed like nothing had truly changed. He was still himself, wasn’t he?

  But when Bubai reviewed his current life and traced the subtle shifts in his personality compared to his previous life, he couldn’t deny that those immersive memories had left their mark on him.

  His drive to seek knowledge, his uncanny taste for experimentation, his insatiable desire for all sorts of research...

  Like the faintest ripple spreading across still water, certain unwarranted habits became his second nature, including those… impulses.

  What impulses? Ahem. You know... the ones he’s experiencing right now.

  Ahem. Let's just say the steamy of the service soon let the pressure reach its breaking point…

  Unable to hold back the wave of pleasure, Bubai could only pay her salary in advance!

  The cool secretary accepted everything without flinching…

  Bubai could sense the throbbing seed of pleasure within her... soaking up all the nutrients coming from the same source and thirsting for more.

  This thirst perfectly harmonized with his thirst to dig deeper into the hidden skill sets of this secretary of his…

  This kind of thirst for discovery, where did it come from?

  Before transmigrating, he'd been nothing like that.

  Sure, he was curious as a NEET, always finding joy in digging into new cultural anime or manga, but his thirst for actual knowledge was never this consuming.

  That just wasn’t him…

  The cause of his current circumstances was obvious.

  Bubai leaned back and closed his eyes, feeling his inner self.

  Those memories. The profound influences had run deeper than he initially imagined.

  It was even more powerful than the influence brought by the memory integration with his current body’s original owner right after his transmigration.

  Of course, even though those shallow memories of an innocent farmer boy felt almost superficial in comparison to the growing effects of those immersive dreams, there was an impact nevertheless.

  This is just the flip side of the coin of transmigration.

  A blending of past and present lives, forging... a new existence.

  A wry smile crossed Bubai’s face. He is his old self, yet also… not.

  It was an unsettling realization, but one he had already made peace with.

  Either bend with the wind or break against it. The bamboo chose to bend. So did he.

  Because in the end, a survivor doesn't cling to the past. They evolve, no matter the cost.

  Survival, after all, was about adaptation.

  “A new world, a new self.” Bubai mentally repeated the mantra he’d taken up long ago.

  When Bubai opened his eyes once more, he already put his past behind him, focusing back on the present.

  As for the most important priority at present?

  Bubai gazed up at the lingering inky haze that was almost no more.

  What’s left of that mysterious dark energy was fizzling out and the last drizzle was trickling to their final destination...

  Bubai’s consciousness sunk into his inner world.

  The mysterious dantian space was a pond of unchanging green, and the gluttonous seed was still too lazy to move from its spot at the heart of it all.

  But this time… Bubai noticed a change on the seed.

  On the stem in between the sprouted red and green leafs, there were signs of a black bud!

  “A precursor to a new leaf? This time, it’s for the black Qi?”

  This seed really grew on everything!

  Whether this was a blessing or a curse, Bubai couldn’t yet say. But one thing he knew for certain.

  Except for the trickle from the beret and the drizzle during the Blue Moon, there was no other known energy supplier for that black Qi!

  So, unlike his other two leafs, it was unknown how long he will have to wait till this new black leaf blooms.

  “Merlin’s beard, I can already see the pattern. More grindy grind. Yikes.”

  Too bad there wasn’t much time left for grinding in his circumstances.

  “Before, the Blue Moon blackout used to hit me much earlier, and I would be immersed in the VR experience for what felt like an eternity, sleeping right till morning, but this time…”

  The time chart kept by his doll told him the blackout had been only a mere few hours.

  The gluttonous seed had actively shortened the duration of his immersive experience, but that didn’t change a fact.

  “Another day flew by just like that...”

  The Inner Sect Exchange draws ever closer.

  The climax is fast approaching, yet there was still lots to prepare. No time for dawdling.

  Bubai’s consciousness hopped back to reality and his gaze fell down to his secretary.

  “Xiao Lan, morning will arrive soon. I should go get ready...”

  Those lips lingered for a moment longer before withdrawing slowly.

  Throughout, her blank face remained as composed as ever, as if she had merely completed another part of her duties.

  But just when Bubai thought it was all over, those chilly lips came to a stop at the very tip.

  A pair of cold hands asked his own for warmth and guided them to the crown of her violet field.

  Those attractive soul freezers gazed up at him, and her icy demand hit his strike zone hard, right where it counts.

  “One more time. Be quick.”