Lin Yu did not answer immediately.

He was calculating rapidly in his mind: his time since transmigrating, plus the earlier period of slumber, was indeed around five hundred years. But the Shen family's annihilation was a thousand years ago. If Hao Yuan thought of him as a member of the Shen family, then he should have been inside the ring since that time a thousand years ago.

A five-hundred-year gap versus a thousand-year gap—how was he going to square that?

But then he reconsidered: what he had said was the truth. As for how Hao Yuan chose to interpret it, that was his problem. Getting full marks on reading comprehension was the examiner's business, not the examinee's.

So he spoke, his tone calm:

"I can't remember clearly. I only recall that during my recovery, this ring changed owners six times."

That was the truth. When he had first awakened, he had indeed sensed the lingering auras of several previous short-lived owners through the ring's residual energy.

Hao Yuan squinted slightly but said nothing. He was sensing—his divine sense flowed like liquid mercury, enveloping every fluctuation of Lin Yu's soul power.

No lies.

The frequency of his soul was as steady as water, without a single ripple.

He asked: "And before that? Before the first owner, what were you doing?"

Lin Yu was silent for a moment. He could hear the probing in Hao Yuan's words. This was a timeline check.

Then he spoke, his voice carrying a hint of genuine bewilderment:

"Before that... I think I was sleeping for a very long time."

There was a real sense of trance in Lin Yu's tone, as if he were straining to remember. "A very, very long time. No light, no sound, nothing at all."

That was the truth—before transmigrating, he had died from sudden exhaustion, and the darkness of that death had indeed felt like an endless, boundless slumber, his consciousness extremely fuzzy.

"When I woke up, that was when the first owner found the ring."

That was also the truth—the first time he had truly "woken up" with clear self-awareness was when the first owner appeared.

Hao Yuan's tightly furrowed brow slowly relaxed.

His interpretation was this: that battle which destroyed the Shen family had been too brutal. This remnant soul had been gravely wounded and had fallen into a long period of hibernation to protect itself.

Very reasonable. Very logical.

What he didn't know was that Lin Yu's "slumber" was due to the adjustment period after transmigrating, and had nothing to do with the Shen family.

But Hao Yuan believed him. Because every single thing Lin Yu said was the truth.

Sincerity truly was the ultimate killing technique.

Hao Yuan gave a slight nod and didn't press further. He looked at this incomplete soul before him—one that couldn't even solidify its face—and a deep sense of guilt flickered in his aged eyes, eyes that had seen through the world's affairs.

"Forgetting the past may well be a blessing."

Hao Yuan let out a soft sigh.

Lin Yu's soul body shifted slightly but said nothing. Inwardly, he was grumbling: A blessing? If you knew I couldn't even remember how I died, you probably wouldn't say that.

But he could only think these words to himself.

Because Hao Yuan's next question had already been asked.

"And what about the path of formations? Do you still remember?"

Lin Yu's soul body trembled faintly above the ring.

This wasn't deliberate acting, but a natural instinct that stemmed from the depths of his soul.

The string in his heart tightened to its breaking point. This was a life-or-death question.

If he answered "I remember everything," then why would a "core member of the Shen family," reduced to a remnant soul, not seize someone's body to be reborn? Why would he choose to parasitize a mediocre outer sect disciple? That wouldn't conform to the logic of the cultivation world, where the strong preyed on the weak. Instead, it would invite even deeper suspicion from this Unity realm powerhouse.

If he answered "I don't remember," then he would lose all value. In this cruel cultivation world, something without value typically faced only two outcomes: being erased, or being abandoned.

Lin Yu's gaze swept over the elderly man before him—seemingly ancient and frail, but capable of crushing him ten thousand times over with a single finger—and countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

He couldn't lie.

So he would tell the truth.

Lin Yu was silent for a breath.

"When I first woke up, I didn't remember."

Lin Yu finally spoke, his voice dry and hollow, carrying the blank confusion of someone who had weathered ages of vicissitudes.

That was the truth. When he had first transmigrated, he was completely dumbfounded. All he knew was that he had become a "convenient old grandpa," and his mind was cleaner than his face.

Hao Yuan squinted slightly, his ancient well-like eyes showing no ripples, simply waiting in silence for him to continue.

Lin Yu paused, the glow of his soul body flickering in and out as he "recalled":

"Later... this child joined the sect. The Internal Affairs Hall issued a jade slip, which was 'The True Meaning of Basic Rune Deconstruction.'"

His tone was very light, carrying a dazed uncertainty as if even he himself wasn't sure:

"Having nothing better to do, this junior followed along and took a look. When I saw those runes, the empty, hollow feeling in my heart suddenly felt... a little filled."

That was also the truth. It was his only entertainment after transmigrating, his only straw to cling to in search of a sense of security in this strange world.

"They looked familiar."

Lin Yu raised his blurry soul hand, tracing a simple "Gathering" symbol in the air. The movement was clumsy, yet carried a practiced proficiency etched into his very bones. "At first, I couldn't remember what they did. I just felt... this line should go like this, and that node should fall like that."

"Later, after seeing more, those messy fragments in my mind slowly started to piece themselves together."

Hao Yuan said nothing.

His divine sense, like liquid mercury, pervaded every fluctuation of Lin Yu's soul power.

Stable.

Real.

Not a trace of pretense or acting.

That dazed sense of "deja vu," that uncertain "slowly piecing together"—both were genuine psychological states.

The scrutiny in Hao Yuan's eyes quietly faded by a fraction.

Bloodline memory.

He reached a conclusion in his heart. The Shen family's formation inheritance was a brand etched into the deepest recesses of the soul. Even if the soul body was severely damaged and memories shattered, as long as it came into contact with a familiar medium, that instinctive "Dao" would awaken.

This wasn't learning; it was awakening.

"And now..." Hao Yuan paused, then asked the most crucial question, his voice a shade heavier than before. "How much do you remember?"

Lin Yu fell silent again.

He was rapidly calculating what degree of "how much" would be appropriate.

If he said too little, he'd seem useless. If he said too much, he feared the other wouldn't believe him.

But then he thought: to teach Su Ming well, to survive in this world, he had indeed chewed up and swallowed those three thousand six hundred basic runes, even dreaming about their variations.

That wasn't just the truth—it was his foundation.

So he spoke, his tone still flat, as if talking about a trivial little thing:

"The basic runes... three thousand six hundred of them. I remember them all."

The air froze in that instant.

Hao Yuan's gaze suddenly sharpened.

For the first time, a visible fluctuation appeared in those eyes.

He stared at Lin Yu's soul shadow, his voice low:

"All of them?"

Lin Yu nodded, his soul body bobbing up and down slightly:

"Mhm."

No explanation, no showing off. Just that single word.

Hao Yuan was silent for a full ten breaths.

In his mind, he rapidly calculated.

This remnant soul had gone from "not remembering at all" to "mastering three thousand six hundred basic runes" in five years.

What did that mean?

For an ordinary formation cultivator, mastering three hundred in five years would already make them a genius. Even the prodigies of the Shen family back in the day had barely managed this much at this stage.

The only explanation was that this wasn't relearning at all.

This was a complete inheritance awakening.

In his past life, this remnant soul's mastery of the path of formations had absolutely been among the very top tier of the Shen family. Perhaps he had even... come into contact with the "Dao Pattern."