Chapter 1055: Fighting

Transcending subjective time.

Can this be done? Is this possible?

Imagine, even for a Third Grade or Second Grade being, everything they experience is, to themselves, linear.

In their eyes, even if space-time itself can be reversed, everything they personally experience still has a 'time sequence,' otherwise their very self would collapse.

If the time sequence of something collapses, if there is no continuous temporal order, then what would that thing look like?

You can't imagine, right?

Because it simply cannot exist.

If the time sequence of a thing is chaotic, what is its foundation of existence? What did it come from, grow from, develop from, and end from?

If it doesn't have these processes, then in what form does this thing exist in objective reality? After all, its time sequence is chaotic, and it can no longer be cognized by an existence with a normal time sequence.

But... isn't First Grade precisely an existence that transcends imagination?

In terms of action, it means Li Qi no longer devoured the body of the Heavenly Demon.

There was no need.

He directly integrated his entire being into the Heavenly Demon.

Li Qi, taking advantage of the Heavenly Demon being suppressed by Amitabha, directly transformed into the Heavenly Demon's eye, returning to the Heavenly Demon's body.

According to Mortals, this is called 'Possession.'

Of course, this is a very inaccurate description.

At this level, they can no longer be Possessed, unless it's a thin layer of mind from the Immortal Heaven; otherwise, with the power of substantiality, Possession is impossible because their true body and mind are completely identical.

How do you Possess? His body is his mind; there is no such thing as seizing consciousness and leaving the body, because... as long as the opponent's body is present, his thoughts are present; there is simply no such thing as replacement.

But Li Qi did exactly that, only what he did was so abstract that it couldn't be described at all.

Imagine.

Something was said before.

How does the Heavenly Demon believe he is the true body of all living beings?

Because the Heavenly Demon is demonic thoughts itself.

And everyone has demonic thoughts.

Does everyone's demonic thoughts belong to themselves?

Undoubtedly, it is so; demonic thoughts is actually the very thoughts of each person, and the Heavenly Demon is also demonic thoughts, so the Heavenly Demon is the very thoughts of each person, and everyone's subjective will is actually an extension of the Heavenly Demon.

This is the basic core of the Demonic Dao's invasion of everyone's thoughts; you could say it's absurd, but the Heavenly Demon achieved it, he accomplished this point, and his First Grade also comes from this.

So, if Li Qi acknowledges the existence of Mortals, and at the same time exists in the world in the form of the Heavenly Demon, what will happen?

The Heavenly Demon believes Li Qi is one of his projections.

My subjective reality is the objective reality in the eyes of others.

My objective reality is also the subjective reality in the eyes of others.

When Li Qi exists in all living beings in the form of demonic thoughts, and at the same time acknowledges the existence of all living beings, what will his time become?

The subjective time of all living beings will become Li Qi's objective time.

At the same time, because Li Qi exists within their subjective reality, their subjective time will also be Li Qi's subjective time.

And between the two, a 'difference' will arise.

The existence of relative time is because everyone's subjective time is different; at high speeds, while I experience ten years, you might have already passed a hundred years; the time everyone experiences is inherently different.

If one wishes to maintain this state, which is both subjective and objective,

In this case, the existence of an absolute reference frame is necessary to maintain this state of 'transcending subjective time,' otherwise, the time sequence itself will become chaotic, and even substantiality itself might be torn apart by the chaotic time sequence.

How to overcome this difference, or eliminate this relative time difference?

Li Qi didn't know.

He had no certainty.

But, he still had to do it first and then talk about it.

Otherwise, there would be no chance.

He merged into the Heavenly Demon's body, began to exist as the Heavenly Demon's demonic thoughts, and thereby spread to all subjective times.

Using the Heavenly Demon's 'subjective' to become all subjectives, and to align with all objectives.

As for how to eliminate the difference?

Let's talk about it later.

There will be a way when the car reaches the mountain.

If there's no way, then Li Qi doesn't need to consider the rest.

Leave it to the Demonic Prince.

Li Qi had already done his best anyway.

Just as Li Qi took this opportunity to completely merge into the Heavenly Demon, he finally, within the Heavenly Demon's body, directly confronted all of his mind.

"Oh-ho... Li Qi, you're truly bold," the Heavenly Demon said.

Li Qi felt his willpower suffer an immense shock at that instant.

All of the Heavenly Demon's mind!

Every one of his personalities, every demonic thoughts, unfolded completely before Li Qi.

His mind was incredibly chaotic, with its various parts and traits interweaving and permeating each other.

Each part of the personality influenced the other parts.

The entirety of his mind was precisely the sum of its parts, and each part permeated the others; each individual mind was both an absolute self and an extremely tiny part of the whole.

This was a more terrifying structure than Li Qi's, even more extreme than the Grand Unity.

Li Qi, in the true sense, saw 'all living beings' within the Heavenly Demon's mind...

What are all living beings?

They are the thoughts of all people, the personalities of all people.

Within the Heavenly Demon's heart, hidden are the 'hearts' of all life, all higher intelligences.

The Heavenly Demon reflects them.

Just as they also reflect the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon said he was all living beings, that he was everything; he did not lie.

Within his heart, there existed indeterminate non-geometric space-time.

An eternal, perfect mental body, containing everything, all time, observing without beginning or end the endless, diverse multitude it encompassed.

What overwhelmed Li Qi was merely a negligible fraction of these infinite Heavenly demonic thoughtss, like a wisp of breeze emanating from an eternal spirit.

And now, Li Qi was one of these endless personalities, drifting in the Heavenly Demon's sea of personalities.

However, he didn't feel any fear due to his insignificance.

The Heavenly Demon... was doing this himself, wasn't he?

Li Qi had extinguished many demonic thoughtss before; the Heavenly Demon's demonic thoughtss often used this method to speak with Li Qi, disguised as Li Qi's 'inner voice.'

Because Li Qi had many thoughts, extinguishing some demonic thoughtss was nothing.

Now it was just the reverse.

Li Qi became one of the Heavenly Demon's thoughts, wandering in the Heavenly Demon's sea of personalities.

The only difference was...

The Heavenly Demon's demonic thoughtss being extinguished would cause no problems, nor any loss.

If Li Qi were extinguished, he would truly die.

However, he showed no fear, instead replying, "Heavenly Demon, haven't you always known how bold I am?"

"I know very well... Ugh, never mind, you're already dead, there's no point in saying this to a dead person," the Heavenly Demon sighed, then extinguished Li Qi.

This experiment failed. Although the strategic goal was achieved, the World Honored One entered nirvana, and there was no longer anyone he cared about in this world.

Li Qi and the Demonic Prince could also die.

However, after Li Qi was extinguished, he did not vanish.

Immeasurable light, immeasurable life, immeasurable wisdom.

The vitality emanating from Li Qi even resisted the Heavenly Demon's power.

The Heavenly Demon let out a slightly surprised sound: "Oh? You really dared to assimilate Amitabha."

"What's there to be afraid of? At most, it's just being corroded by Amitabha until the Dao path is severed; that's still better than being eaten by you," Li Qi chuckled.

Then, he began his actions.

The Heavenly Demon, intrigued, began to pursue and intercept Li Qi within his own mind and personality.

This was a very interesting game, and the Heavenly Demon enjoyed it greatly.

And the prize of the game was Amitabha's corpse, as well as Li Qi himself.

The Heavenly demonic thoughts it was very good.

———————————

What kind of battle was this?

Specifically, no one could clearly say.

To outsiders, there was only an unformed material body.

It had no clear characteristics, no clear direction, no intricate physical Laws, and even no particularly special life trajectory; despite having magnificent intelligent exploration, there were no wild disturbances in any form, instead presenting a deadly calm appearance.

What kind of thing could create such a spiritual body?

Existences below Second Grade simply couldn't comprehend it.

What could be known was that this was a dead zone.

And this dead zone had persisted for 4.5 billion years.

4.5 billion years is not a lot, but in this kind of close-quarters combat, lasting for 4.5 billion years, even forming an indescribable Chaos storm around the Heavenly Demon's body, this is thought-provoking.

Many people speculated about the progress of the battle, but they couldn't get close at all.

Because, around the Heavenly Demon's body, foul demonic thoughtss pulsed; although it seemed like just a small smudge in the vast space-time, no one who came into contact with these foulnesses ever returned with an intact mind.

After the bravest adventurers either died or went mad, no one wanted to court disaster anymore.

However, it could be seen that around this spiritual body, countless starlights formed strange, alien constellations.

In the terrifying stillness and silence, a cold and dark eternity lay quietly, its light radiating to all places within 4.5 billion light-years, and behind it was nothingness, the end of the Universe, settled with impenetrable darkness.

And in this terrifying place, one person quietly stood at the edge for 4.5 billion years.

That was the Demonic Prince.

He had been standing here, waiting for the day the battle would end.

In addition, people would often come to see, including Shen Shuibi.

However, Shen Shuibi did not come often; she came about once every billion years, usually bringing Li Shiwei and Li Tian De.

She didn't say much to the Demonic Prince, just looked at those places, and then left.

She only spoke to the Demonic Prince once, at the very beginning.

That time, the Demonic Prince initiated the conversation.

The Demonic Prince then told her: "He might not come back. You can look for a retreat."

Shen Shuibi stroked Li Tian De's head, then replied to the Demonic Prince: "A retreat... I've already found one. Now I'm just waiting for him to return."

"Oh, I see, that's good," the Demonic Prince nodded, saying no more.

But Shen Shuibi did not end the conversation; she pressed further: "I don't know what you're doing, nor do I understand how you're doing it... But can you tell me, what are the odds of success?"

"Ten-tenths," the Demonic Prince said.

He said it with such finality, so firm and unyielding, as if even the most absurd things, once spoken by him, could become reality.

Could it be ten-tenths?

Even Shen Shuibi knew that they were facing the Heavenly Demon, one of the most dangerous First Grade beings in this world, and also the First Grade with the greatest malice and most brutality towards the world.

His brutality was not killing, not destruction, but a fundamental contempt for all things, a denial of their existence.

As long as the Heavenly Demon existed, the meaning of all living beings would be suppressed, and their nature of existence could not be freed from nothingness; this was the greatest brutality, more terrifying than all killing.

So-called killing, in essence, is still the obliteration of the opponent as an 'existing' entity.

But the Heavenly Demon wouldn't even obliterate, because in his eyes, all living beings never existed from the start; only he himself existed.

Facing such a fierce and evil First Grade, was there a ten-tenths chance of victory?

Shen Shuibi knew that if Li Qi were to answer this question himself, Li Qi would certainly not state any odds of victory.

He would just give a wry smile and say, "But it still has to be done..."

Regardless of the odds, it had to be done; there was no other way.

But the Demonic Prince was different.

He confidently declared to everyone that his odds of victory were ten-tenths.

It could be seen from his eyes that he was serious.

"You all... keep going," Shen Shuibi simply said, then, holding Li Tian De with Li Shiwei following behind her, she left the place.

She couldn't help much, but she also couldn't be a hindrance.

As for the claim of ten-tenths...

She believed it.

Because she wanted to believe.

4.5 billion years later, inside that tranquil, alien nebula—

Countless horrifying waves connected into a single expanse, like strings of flames, clusters of fire, and streaks of meteoric light streaking across the sky in Hell, all indicating that it was not peaceful here.

Trapped in an intricate labyrinth formed by curved time, space, possibilities, world structures, and mental circuits, Li Qi was surrounded by scorching light currents and intermittent bursts.

Around him was a pagoda, protecting him within the constantly roaring Chaos spirit.

But at this moment, the pagoda's dome, pillars, arches, and roof were all teetering on the verge of collapse in a thunderous, uncontrolled breakdown, only barely supporting each other under Li Qi's control.

Yet, this seemed so ephemeral; just a tiny tremor would cause the collapse to continue until it turned to dust.

The Heavenly Demon's voice came: "You've lost so badly, what are you still holding on for? You won't find a way to transcend subjective time." (End of Chapter)