Okay. So he lived through a whole month of training before... something happened... and then he woke up in his room back in Wei Village, as if the entire month never happened. Even with cultivation arts factored in, that was preposterous. Time reversal was impossible. He didn't have any scrolls in his room that discussed the topic at any appreciable length, but all of the passages that dealt with time reversal agreed that it couldn't be done. Even the most profound space manipulation techniques could only warp time, speeding it up or slowing it down. It was one of the few things cultivation masters agreed was beyond the ability of even immortal arts to accomplish.
So how, then, was he living through it?
He was just in the process of consulting the scrolls in his room for any type of technique that could 'fake' time reversal in some way when a knock on his door interrupted his thoughts, and he suddenly realized he was still in his sleeping robes and that mother wanted to talk to him quite a while ago. He quickly changed and opened the door, only to find himself under the scrutiny of two women, only one of which was his mother.
He almost greeted Senior Sister Yun by name, but he caught himself in time.
"A senior disciple from the sect has come to speak with you," his mother said, her disapproving stare telling him she was going to give him an earful once Senior Sister Yun leaves.
"Greetings," Senior Sister Yun said. "I am Yun Xia, Inner Disciple of Celestial Peak Sect. I was hoping to speak to you about some matters before you depart. It won't take long."
"Of course," said Wei Zian. "Um, where do you..."
"Your quarters shall suffice," Senior Sister Yun said.
"I'll bring you some spirit tea," his mother said, excusing herself.
Wei Zian watched Senior Sister Yun as she unpacked various jade slips and placed them on his desk (what was she doing with those, anyway?), trying to decide how to proceed with this. If his future memories were valid, she should be handing him the scroll right about...
Yes, there it is. Knowing what's going to happen in advance is strange.
For the sake of appearances, Wei Zian gave the scroll a cursory examination before channeling qi into it. It was exactly how he remembered it , the calligraphy, the flowery official-sounding phrases, the elaborate sect emblem at the bottom of the document , and Wei Zian felt a wave of dread wash over him. What the hell had he gotten himself involved in? He had no idea what was happening to him, but it was significant. Very significant.
He had the urge to tell Senior Sister Yun about his predicament and seek her advice, but he restrained himself. It sounded like the most sensible thing to do , surely a fully trained Inner Disciple like her was far more qualified for tackling this than he was , but what could he possibly tell her? That he was remembering things that hadn't happened yet? Yes, that would go over well. Besides, considering the nature of his future memories, he could easily see himself arrested if a conspiracy to invade Celestial Peak were really discovered thanks to his warnings. After all, it's far more likely his shocking knowledge comes from being a defector of the conspiracy than him being some kind of weird time traveler. An image of a couple of sect interrogators extracting information through soul techniques briefly flitted through his mind, and he shuddered.
No, best to keep all this to himself for now.
So for the next ten minutes, Wei Zian basically reenacted his memories of his initial interaction with Senior Sister Yun, not seeing the point in choosing differently this time , all of his choices were made for reasons that were currently every bit as valid as they were in his future memories. He didn't argue with her about Elder Xu this time around, though, since he already knew arguing over that topic was pointless, and he didn't request a break to visit the washroom, since he already knew what cultivation paths he wished to select. Senior Sister Yun seemed completely indifferent to his strange decisiveness, apparently just as eager as he was to get this whole thing out of the way. Then again, why would she be surprised at his decisiveness? She had no future memories to compare this entire encounter to, unlike him. In fact, she didn't even know him up until now.
Wei Zian sighed and shook his head. They really did feel just like normal memories, and it was hard to ignore them. This is going to be one long month.
"Are you alright, Junior Brother Wei?"
Wei Zian glanced at Senior Sister Yun curiously, trying to divine why she asked him that. She glanced towards his hands , only for a moment, but Wei Zian caught it. His hands were shaking. He balled them into fists and took a deep breath.
"I'm fine," he said. A second or so of uncomfortable silence ensued, Senior Sister Yun apparently unwilling to continue with her closing speech while she continued to study him. "May I ask you a question?"
"Of course," Senior Sister Yun said. "That's why I'm here."
"What do you think about time reversal?"
She was clearly taken aback by the question , it was probably the last thing she expected him to ask, or at least close to the bottom of the list. She composed herself very quickly though.
"Time reversal is impossible," Senior Sister Yun said firmly. "Time can only be dilated or compressed. Never skipped or reversed."
"Why?" asked Wei Zian, honestly curious. He had never actually seen an explanation for the impossibility of time reversal, though that might be because he wasn't terribly interested in the topic up until now.
Senior Sister Yun sighed. "I admit I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the details, but our best understanding indicates that going against temporal currents is utterly impossible. As in 'draw a square circle' impossible, not 'leap over the Great Eastern Sea' impossible. The river of time flows only in one direction. Beyond that, innumerable attempts have been made throughout recorded history, all ending in failure." She gave him a sharp look. "I sincerely hope you won't waste your talents on such a fool's quest."
"I was just curious," Wei Zian said defensively. "I was just reading a chapter discussing limitations of cultivation arts and wondered why the author was so certain time reversal is impossible."
"Well now you know," Senior Sister Yun said, getting up. "Now if that's all, I really should be going. I'll be happy to answer any further questions on Monday after class. Have a pleasant day."
Wei Zian watched her leave and shut the door behind her before collapsing back on his bed. Definitely a long month.