Let alone ordinary mortals, even the legendary Saints possessed various flaws, inevitably making mistakes throughout their lives—some trivial, others self-destructive, and still others exposing their ignorance, foolishness, and utter insignificance. Therefore, if there were one single endeavor everyone desired, it would undoubtedly be to—return to the past, to have another chance, to rectify those foolish and ignorant choices, and change the future.

Yet, reality dictates that even if one could truly travel back, the future that has already unfolded would not change. At best, it might merely… present the cause of that future clearly within the past.

However, amidst these rare miracles, the majority involve scenarios where even the individual doesn't know how to manifest that cause.

Lin Luo currently faces a situation much like this.

After the battle with Luo Tianyi concluded, when he next awoke, Lin Luo found himself in an unfamiliar world, knowing neither the year nor the date, nor which plane he inhabited. He didn't even know how to leave this world, because… upon waking, he possessed absolutely no power. This wasn't a regression of strength, but a true transformation into an ordinary mortal.

A beggar might be overjoyed when suddenly transformed into a magnate overnight, but if he were to become a beggar again the very next day after possessing dominion over the world, surely no one could withstand the shock of gaining and then losing everything. Death would be the preferred option.

When Lin Luo discovered he had become a complete nobody, he, too, found the blow almost unbearable. For the first few days after waking, every moment was fraught with terror, his heart constantly unsettled and never finding peace. Moreover, being penniless in this strange world, even sustaining himself proved incredibly difficult.

But despite this, he never considered death. Instead, he struggled to survive.

Because he knew that as long as he lived, no matter how desperate the circumstances, there was always a sliver of hope. Though he currently lacked any power, he hadn't possessed world-shattering might from the very beginning.

If his speculation was correct, the reason he lost his power was most likely due to Luo Tianyi erasing his concept of opposition… similar to how a world, if it lost the central concept of 'opposition,' would lose 'up,' 'down,' 'north,' 'south,' and the entire structure would descend into chaos, devoid of direction.

The erasure and sealing of his opposition encompassed not just the negation of 'nothingness' but also the destruction that creates opposition, and… all those concepts of 'being' built upon the concept of 'nothingness,' such as swordsmanship, magic, and combat.

What he couldn't fathom, however, was this: If everything was gone, why was he still alive?

Had Luo Tianyi shown mercy, or was there another reason?

If Luo Tianyi had done this intentionally, then what was the meaning of his arrival in this unfamiliar world?

He didn't know. Lin Luo was ignorant about so many things. Although he remembered what his existence used to be, for some reason, Lin Luo felt he had forgotten something critically important. If he could recall it, perhaps he could understand the purpose of his presence here, maybe even recover his power and escape this strange world.

But what exactly had he forgotten?

Bewilderment and panic, hunger and cold, pain and anxiety… It was in this state that Lin Luo endured the first seven days in this strange world—the most perilous seven days.

Then, having successfully overcome the psychological pressure and the strain of survival, his mindset gradually regained composure. He finally resolved to set aside the unnecessary worries and the matters too distant for his current self, truly taking his first steps in this unknown world to search for the meaning of his arrival and that vital thing he had forgotten!

...

Two months passed. As Lin Luo traveled further and saw more places, he gradually realized this was a world unfamiliar to him, a version of Earth that was ancient yet magnificent, mysterious yet concealed from common knowledge.

It was ancient because of the sheer length of time; from his modern perspective, it was akin to traversing the obscure eras preceding the Tang Dynasty. It was magnificent because the technology of this age had not lagged due to its antiquity; on the contrary, many aspects surpassed even the modern era. It was mysterious because this world harbored strange abilities and strange professions, such as Alchemists. These individuals were nearly equivalent to mages, but unlike the mages in novels or in the worlds he had previously experienced, Alchemists, despite their diverse powers, didn't convey an air of untouchable superiority. In fact, due to their sheer numbers, some Alchemists earned their living performing on the streets.

Of course, this might only be because the Alchemists he encountered were of too low a rank—like apprentice magic students who handle the mystique of magic but don't possess great skill. However, this was normal; after all, Lin Luo was currently an ordinary person, and with his current capability and status, he naturally couldn't interact with the upper echelons.

Finally, it was unknown because, through some books, Lin Luo discovered that the era he currently inhabited simply did not exist in established history!

To put it plainly: using ancient China as an example, the Tang Dynasty followed the Sui Dynasty; this historical sequence is known to all. But if someone suddenly proposed there was another dynasty situated between Sui and Tang, no matter who said it, no one would believe them. But what if it were true?

The age Lin Luo inhabited was precisely this anomaly: unknown to later records, yet truly existing in history, and it was so beautiful, so mysterious, its prosperity rivaling that of the modern age.

How could such a marvelous era remain unrecorded in written history and unknown to posterity? Though Lin Luo was deeply puzzled, being immersed in this historical blank space, he had no immediate desire to investigate the source. Whether surviving in this age or traveling widely, his goal remained singular.

That was finding a way to locate what he had forgotten!

However, he had no clue how to search for it, precisely because he didn't know what he had forgotten.

During these days of aimless wandering, one day, Lin Luo passed through a small town called Puppet City. He was drawn by the commotion near an open-air stage and approached out of curiosity. Upon his very first glance, he was stunned by the scene before him… On the stage stood more than a dozen puppets, each over half a meter tall. They sat or stood clustered together, chattering and laughing, vividly enacting stories well-known throughout this world.

The word "Puppet Show" instantly sprang into Lin Luo's mind. But it wasn't just the concept; what truly left him agape was the method of this performance.

The typical puppet show an ordinary person could imagine involved placing several puppets on stage, with operators hidden behind a screen manipulating them using threads to achieve basic movements and somewhat stiff expressions, while the operators also voiced the characters—thus, a puppet show was born.

But the performance before him was nothing like that. None of the dozen figures were connected to any threads, there were no extra props on stage, and no hidden operators. Both speech and motion were executed entirely by the puppets themselves; they were not marionettes.

They were actors—real actors!

The princess possessed the noble bearing of royalty; the knight, the uprightness of his calling; the thief, the villainy expected; the commoner, the simplicity of the masses… Every single puppet was astonishingly lifelike. Their appearance, demeanor, and expressions during the act—save for their bodies being significantly smaller than normal humans—were virtually indistinguishable from real people.

At least from Lin Luo's perspective, if they were placed on a screen without any normal humans nearby for comparison, no one would ever mistake them for anything but actual human beings.

Puppets with life?!

Watching the show, Lin Luo could only rationalize it that way. Yet, he understood that some people could achieve such feats; his former self, for instance, could accomplish far more exaggerated things than merely creating living puppets. Surely, anyone capable of this level of art would be a mighty figure. Would such a powerful individual stoop to performing on a common open-air stage to earn money?

Lin Luo would not believe it even if beaten.

An artisan capable of creating living puppets would, at the very least, be a supreme authority in their domain, an absolute powerhouse situated atop the highest echelon, if not a reigning sovereign. The quintessential example was Alice of Gensokyo; despite being unable to create truly living puppets, she maintained significant standing in a place teeming with monsters.

So, could a puppeteer more powerful than Alice have fallen so low?

What stunned Lin Luo even more was his observation: the middle-aged man standing beside the stage, bowing and scraping to thank the audience while collecting the coins offered by the patrons, was the owner of the puppet show—the very creator of these puppets.

And it wasn't just that this man was humble; his attire was common, showing no hint of wealth or nobility. What truly sent Lin Luo spiraling was his very aura—it was inferior not just to that of a great powerhouse, but even to many Alchemists. He looked no different from Fatty Zhang, the man who sold pork at the city gate market.

Damn it!

How could a man like this create living puppets? This was absurd!

In that moment, Lin Luo's entire worldview shattered.