Chapter 641: Retrospection and light cone

When the entire Universe, only you can perceive the True Knowledge…

When only you can realize that this void Universe is being constantly manipulated by someone.

Even if you know that other people have free will, it’s just… this free will is ridiculously weak.

They have free will, simply because Great Powers want them to have it.

If they wished, Great Powers could also reshape the entire Universe according to their will, allowing those ‘free wills’ to change at will.

Modifying memories, erasing experiences, reshaping personalities, it’s all effortless.

When you understand such a thing, and at the same time… you also possess the perspective of these Great Powers, you will be very pained.

Especially when you are not a Great Power.

You can only watch all of this, and constantly repeat the trajectory set by the Great Powers.

You have free will, simply because they need you to have free will.

If you didn't care about anything, then it would be fine; you could go crazy, you could violently vent your pain, mess up everything around you, and pour out all your dissatisfaction.

But Li Qi couldn't do it. Facing him were Rabbit and Little rabbit. If he vented, they would only think something had happened in the past three hundred years. Their reunion would turn into worry, and their rare joy would be overshadowed.

Although… indeed, many things had happened, Li Qi really didn't want it to be like that.

After dozens more repetitions.

Li Qi was truly exhausted, and Shen Shuibi had asked him dozens of times.

He didn't know when, but Rabbit could always sense Li Qi's abnormality, yet Li Qi couldn't say anything.

This was the perspective of the Shaman God, and it couldn't be spoken about freely.

Just as Great Shaman Chang Xi had said, merely knowing some things could bring about utter destruction.

However, after dozens of times, Li Qi woke up.

This time, it wasn't in Guanghan.

Li Qi took a deep breath.

What followed was not joy, but ‘liberation’.

Finally… finally.

If it was a loop, Li Qi would rather constantly Reincarnate in life-and-death battles than experience time with his family over and over again.

However, if it's not Guanghan, this should be a war zone, right?

He was still looking around when a voice came from beside him: “Li Qi?”

Before Li Qi could speak, Li Shiwei beside him exclaimed in surprise: “Uncle Bo Yue?!”

Li Qi also found the source of the voice. Not far away, there were some halos from the World Group Formation. This place should be within a certain world, and it was also one of those worlds on the verge of death.

And at the very center of those halos, which extended for hundreds of miles, about seventy miles from him, Bo Yue was sitting there.

This really was a coincidence.

This was probably a genuine coincidence, because no one would control such insignificant trifles. Li Qi also didn't observe any strange fluctuations in the Karma threads, and the Shaman God had said that from now on, no one could arrange Li Qi's destiny. Li Qi truly possessed substantiality, breaking free from this situation.

Then it truly was fate.

“Haha, Bo Yue, I didn't expect to be working under you this time.” Li Qi laughed, lifting his spirits, his numb heart loosening a bit.

People still need some new things to stimulate them. Constantly going through the same thing in an infinite Reincarnation, even Li Qi couldn't bear it.

And on Bo Yue's side, while he was processing the information sent by the World Group Formation, he said, “It really is you, kid. Why are you bringing your family along… I can't move, so you guys come over.”

“What? I'm here to be your Zhang Lu Small Team, and you're not happy about it? How many people are stronger than me?” Li Qi said, stepping out of the Spirit Raft with Shen Shuibi.

The Spirit Raft vanished the moment Li Qi left it.

It is said that Guanghan's Spirit Raft can go anywhere, but to go to Guanghan, one can only travel by oneself; it cannot be teleported. This is a completely one-way connection.

“Happy… You scoundrel, you're already at the Fifth Grade. Can't your cultivation speed slow down a bit?” Bo Yue sighed, his face full of weariness.

Seventy miles is instantaneous for a Fifth Grade cultivator, so as they spoke, Li Qi had already brought Shen Shuibi before Bo Yue.

Although Shen Shuibi had become a mother and her personality had changed a lot, she was still largely an introverted and quiet person. She didn't speak, only holding Li Shiwei's hand and standing to the side.

Li Shiwei also knew that her father was discussing important matters with her uncle, so she didn't interrupt, but she kept looking around, especially at the World Group Formation.

This thing is an advanced version of the Shaman Dao Mountain and River Grand Formation, capable of allocating resources from an entire world group. Its power is terrifying, and it is the main force against human war fortresses.

“I also really want to settle down, but unfortunately, if I settle down, I might die. The situation forces me, there's no other way…” Li Qi shook his head and sighed.

He tried his best to return to normal, not letting others see any problems.

Bo Yue was only at the Sixth Grade at this moment, just as when Li Qi was the commander.

“Alright, I can tell from your expression that you haven't been doing too well, but my situation here isn't great either. As you can see, my Zhang Lu Small Team has been largely wiped out, which is why I requested support from above. You'll have a lot to do.”

“Minor matter, I came here to work. If you truly let me do nothing and wait for a free win, it wouldn't be good. How is the situation on your side?” Li Qi sat down and asked Bo Yue.

Since they were old acquaintances, there was no excessive politeness, and they immediately got to the point.

“The opponent is very strong. They used an ambush to wipe out my Zhang Lu Small Team, which made me unable to contain the human strong army. Now I'm in a passive, defensive position, and it's difficult to break through,” Bo Yue said straightforwardly.

“Indeed, it’s very difficult.” Li Qi nodded, he had also been played like this by Liu Junyi.

Liu Junyi first eliminated Li Qi's Zhang Lu Small Team, then used a kiting tactic to toy with the Shaman Dao army, and finally, Li Qi had to fight desperately, temporarily grasp the power of Karma, and have a Third Grade treasure assist his Breakthrough to finally defeat Liu Junyi.

In terms of pure battlefield strategy, Li Qi honestly couldn't outplay Liu Junyi.

Bo Yue continued, “I've already tried several times with the Demonic Seed, cutting off many futures I didn't want, but it's still hard to win. Even if I can start over, the opponent hasn't given me any opportunities.”

This made Li Qi suddenly pause.

Wait, he suddenly remembered.

Bo Yue's Demonic Seed! It could prune time! And he could do it even when he was at the Ninth Grade.

Is this some kind of special 'rewind'?

Just like his True Knowledge Dao Resonance, it's a manifestation of a special power. As a Young Master, basically everyone has such a trick.

“Wait a moment, don't talk about that yet. Let me ask first, does your Demonic Seed have a range limit?” Li Qi suddenly asked.

“Ah? Do you have a grudge with me? Are you trying to uncover my origins?” Bo Yue smiled.

This was quite rude, asking this was trying to find Bo Yue's weakness.

“No, I've encountered some things recently that are related to this of yours. I'll trade with you…” Li Qi also realized his impropriety, but he couldn't give up.

However, Bo Yue waved his hand: “No matter, between you and me, brothers, we entrusted our lives to each other at the Ninth Grade. How could I not trust you? But do you really need this information? Is it even more important than battlefield intelligence?”

At this moment, Shen Shuibi was also tactful. She coughed twice, claiming she wanted to go look at the World Group Formation nearby, and took Li Shiwei with her.

Li Qi and Bo Yue naturally watched her leave, leaving only Bo Yue and Li Qi on the scene.

So, Li Qi nodded: “Yes, this is very important to me, and if I know this, I might be able to help you win this battle.”

“Alright, I trust you. Go ahead and ask.” Bo Yue was also very straightforward and readily agreed.

“Still that question, does the Demonic Seed have a range limit?” Li Qi asked.

“Yes, it mainly depends on the surrounding Heavenly Dao pressure, my magical power level, and the duration of the rewind.” Bo Yue nodded: “Right now, in the outer domain, cutting off one second covers a range of about six hundred thousand miles in rewind. But I can adjust it; if I cut off ten seconds, the covered radius will be ten times greater.”

“If it's in the world, this number will probably be fixed at around five miles, because I can't support cutting off more time and range. Five miles… the time rewound is probably less than an instant, it can't even be considered a rewind, only a pause. So it's basically useless in the world; the Heavenly Dao there is simply too strong.”

Li Qi immediately realized something: “In other words, this range is linked to time. The longer the time cut off, the larger the range that can be affected, and the magical power consumed increases exponentially?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Bo Yue agreed, and said: “This range is generally related to the Heavenly Dao limit. I can also manually compress the range, but that requires me to adjust the Heavenly Dao limit of speed.”

Saying that, he demonstrated it.

Bo Yue raised his hand, the Demonic Seed activated, and Li Qi immediately felt the surrounding time begin to peel away. The range… was light speed × time.

Li Qi was an intelligent person. With just this one move, he immediately realized the reason.

It's the speed of light.

Bo Yue's rewind limit is the speed of light.

When he uses the Demonic Seed to rewind one second, he has to rewind the distance light travels in one second, regardless of what the speed of light is or if it's changed.

Or rather… what he rewinds is the light cone.

All events in the Universe spread outwards with time, like a diffusion. As time increases, the influence range of an event also expands. Stacking the ranges of each time segment together eventually forms a cone shape.

Suppose you light a candle and it emits light in all directions.

The moment the candle is lit, light rushes outwards in all directions, traveling at the speed of light, forming an ever-expanding bubble.

You can never surpass this bubble, because massive objects cannot exceed the speed of light, nor can they exceed the Heavenly Dao limit.

You can modify the Heavenly Dao limit, just like all travelers in the outer domain, but light will also accelerate accordingly, and you will never truly surpass this limit.

This is the meaning of 'Heavenly Dao limit': it can be modified, but not surpassed.

Therefore, you cannot escape from this bubble.

If you slice each moment of this bubble into flat planes and combine them, you can see a cone shape, starting from the candle and extending infinitely into the future.

This cone expands from the past to the future. Time is the central axis of this cone, and the sides of the cone are tilted at 45 degrees, because the distance light travels in a given time is absolute. For example, in one year, light travels one light-year in space. This cone is the light cone.

The foremost ‘point’ of the light cone is the cause of the light cone.

The circle at the back is all the effects.

The origin is the start of the event. The direction of increasing time is the future of this event, and the direction of decreasing time is the past of this event.

The cause of this event and all its effects on the future are contained within this cone, thus forming the Karma relationship in the Universe.

This is the most important Law of Karma in the Universe.

Within the light cone, there is destiny.

Any event in the Universe can only affect objects within its future light cone. Any object outside of an event's future light cone will not be affected by that event.

Those outside the light cone cannot understand events happening inside the light cone, and those inside the light cone cannot understand what is outside the light cone.

From the light cone onwards, the Universe is clearly separated.

Therefore, the Demonic Seed's rewind can only rewind one light cone.

And thus, rewinding will not create any Karma paradoxes, because things within the light cone cannot affect the outside, so local rewinding will not produce any consequences.

Then… perhaps the Great Powers' rewinding also follows the same principle? It's just that their methods are more advanced, similar to the comparison between a bonfire in a primitive forest and nuclear Fusion.

Although both utilize temperature, the difference between them is beyond comprehension.

If that were truly the case…

Li Qi shook his head.

Even so, he didn't seem to have any solution.

However, this conjecture should be somewhat useful to Bo Yue?

So, Li Qi began, “Recently… I’ve gained some insight into the threads of Karma. Hearing about your Demonic Seed like this, a conjecture came to me. Please listen.”

After speaking, Li Qi began to perform his Dao before Bo Yue.

The Karma threads unfolded, and at the same time, combined with the ‘light cone’.

Time-space and Karma, at this instant, became one.

It turns out that the threads of Karma are not two-dimensional.

Previously, Li Qi's understanding of Karma was 'cause lines' plus 'effect points', which then laid out a huge network, but this network was flat, two-dimensional.

But… what if it's combined with time and space?

At this moment, the flat network transformed into a ‘three-dimensional’ structure like a light cone. The Law of Karma reached a new height, just like a two-dimensional creature evolving into three dimensions.

It's just that Li Qi's Dao performance was a bit clumsy.

He was very familiar with Karma, but he didn't quite understand the time and space represented by the Demonic Seed.

But coincidentally, Bo Yue understood it very well.

Bo Yue immediately stood up from the World Group Formation and sat down in front of Li Qi.

He also began to perform his Dao, using his own understanding to supplement Li Qi's lack of understanding of the Demonic Seed and time-space.

The two combined, each complementing what the other lacked. Their understanding of the Dao path merged in a peculiar way.

It was as if… it was natural for them to be like this.

Time-space and Karma are inherently one.

Karma has a strict temporal relationship.

There must first be a cause, then an effect.

At the same time, the light cone itself is also a manifestation of space, and time and space are one. The relationship between cause and effect in time can also be projected into space, becoming a trajectory in space.

Yes, time is the trajectory of things moving through space; time is an axis of motion in space.

In this way, the Law of Karma and the Law of Time-Space are unified.

For Li Qi, this was merely an inspiration.

But for Bo Yue, it was the opportunity for a Breakthrough!