During the coming months, Jin focused himself on his study. He compiled, on one side, a book of his own in which he took note of all the discrepancies between this reality and the previous ones and, on another side, wrote down all the sentences that seemed to contain some truth.

[There are always ways to uncover an illusion for the fake can never truly be real]

[Illusions have limits]

[It can't replicate everything for no one knows everything]

...and so on.

After having organized all the things that he found, Jin reached a simple conclusion.

This was the one reality.

And he reached this conclusion because he began to truly understand what illusions were like and how the breakthrough to the 9th stage worked. He had known how it worked before he attempted of course. He underestimated it.

Then again, now that he was finally aware and certain of his reality, he did not regret.

It had been horrible and tormenting like nothing else before.

But he got a lot out of it.

For one thing, even though most of the things he seemed to have learn were 'fake', there were still some 'truths' mixed in there. One such truth was the 'Fear' element. He was already an expert at using it.

Aside from that, his ability to fight as in his techniques, were all improved by leaps and bounds.

It was a shame that all the elements he perceived during the illusions were but illusions. He who had been using all kinds of elements from fire to water was now limited to Fear. And nothing else.

The fusion with the element was a very peculiar time in cultivation.

The inner demon would mix with the element to create a stage in which the element would be able to showcase itself. The question one needed to ask himself was how this stage was manufactured.

Was it created by the element?

Or was it the inner demon?

The element had no true 'self' and, as such, no memories. It could never build something like that. It would only incorporate itself into the construct, guiding it.

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Everything was made from the inner demon which was a creation of the cultivator's self.

The memories of the demon are the memories of the cultivator.

Everything that happened in those illusions...It had been based on Jin's memories and knowledge. And that was the reasons there were so many flaws.

Geography

History

People

Cultivation

..

There had been so many discrepancies with this reality. There were many proofs pointing towards this conclusion, enough to convince Jin.

It was all based on the fact that he began to doubt his doubts though.

At first, he began to doubt the reality.

Then, he met that weird man and began to doubt himself more than the reality. From there, he questioned the truth of it.

And that's when he began to find his answer.

Of course, if not for that man, he would never have reached this conclusion. After all, even if he had regained sanity and found out the many things that were different, he would not have made a link. Because he would have doubted whether it was another trick or not instead. He would not have been considering the same things.

Now that he had ascertained this as a fact and restored most of his sanity, though some was forever lost, he could only be thankful to that man.

At this moment, Jin was waiting in his restaurant for a guest.

It was a man he paid a lot to get to know and invite here. Of course, material wealth meant nothing to him at the moment thanks to all that he owned, courtesy of Harold.

He had invited over a so-called expert on illusion arrays.

While Jin believed and wanted to believe in his findings, there seemed to always be a small part of him that remained fearful and doubting. He wanted to test his theory.

After waiting for a dozen more minutes or so, the manager brought an old man up to his table. Jin got up and greeted the man: "Thank you for coming this far, Master Fang Zheng. Please have a seat"

The old man nodded and sat. He kept an arrogant and aloof demeanor as he did. If not for the fact that Jin came from an upper continent, he might be impressed by this man's identity. Since he did though, this aloof old man was not much in his eyes. An array master capable of crafting grade-2 arrays... It truly was not that impressive.

However, in this continent, this was very close to the pinnacle. After all, only someone at the 30th stage and higher would be able to try their hands at making grade-3 items.

That meant that this man did have a high status here.

And that he was the best Jin could get his hands on.

The meal was served as both exchanged pleasantries. Jin was never a fan of this kind of discussions but, after having lived so many fake lives, he knew the codes and how to do things. In better ways than before at least.

If it hadn't been too faked by his own self, of course.

It seemed to go well.

And finally, they began to divert the topic to the main point.

Illusions.

"So, Vice-Captain Jin, I recall that you are very interested in my illusions?"

Jin nodded and affirmed it while praising the old man: "Indeed. I have heard much about them and their might. I was wondering if Master Fang would allow me to witness it with my own eyes"

The old man chuckled and stated: "A lot of time and much effort is required to create them..."

Jin picked on the implicit meaning and quickly assured the man: "Of course. Master Fang can be assured that you would not be doing this for nothing"

From there, they began to haggle implicitly as the old man seemed to wish to keep his image. In the end, obviously, it was only a matter of how much gold had to be paid.

Things were easily settled for gold was not something Jin lacked.