Chapter 685: Many flashbacks

Chapter 683: Recursion…Many

Within the Immortal Heaven’s Path of Ultimate Good, Li Qi sensed… Yao Ji’s Qi.

Moreover, it had directly descended beside him.

Yao Ji was a Sixth Grade, which was well-known. As a Heavenly God who had undergone Reincarnation and re-cultivation, although she wasn't a Heavenly God in this life, she still retained a considerable portion of her Heavenly God nature.

According to Li Qi’s own understanding, she could basically be said to be unharmed, retaining most of her power as a Heavenly God, merely possessing a Physical Body formed from a Spiritual Plant.

This also led to her losing her pure divinity, becoming somewhat human, which is why she was like this now, an arrogant little girl.

The reason for this speculation was that when Li Qi was a Seventh Grade, he had witnessed Yao Ji, then a Seventh Grade, fighting the Demonic Prince. At that time, she was clearly only a Seventh Grade, but she already possessed the ability to materialize the ethereal.

Materializing the ethereal was a characteristic of Fifth Grade Shaman Dao. Yao Ji could do this purely because, as a Reincarnation of a First Gods, her Inner World was incredibly resilient, and her comprehension of Dao principles completely surpassed that of Mortals; even Li Qi and the Demonic Prince at that time couldn't compare to her.

As a Universe administrator herself, her talent in constructing an Inner World was unmatched by others, which is why she was called the strongest of Shaman God Mountain’s younger generation.

At least, Li Qi, as a Seventh Grade at the time, couldn't touch her.

It was just that the cultivation speed of Heavenly Gods was relatively slow, coupled with Li Qi’s extraordinarily fast Breakthrough speed, which created the gap, but among Sixth Grades, Yao Ji was still exceptionally powerful.

And this power was now displayed.

Yao Ji, relying on her status as a First Gods, actually—forced the Immortal Heaven’s Dao principles to recede.

This was simply ridiculous!

Was she cheating?

But on second thought, it seemed quite normal and explainable.

When she first arrived at the Immortal Heaven, Yao Ji, with a casual remark, commanded a mountain of Water Gods, forcing them to spew out all their Spiritual Qi to cleanse her clothes.

Li Qi deeply detested this behavior, and it was precisely because of this that Li Qi became utterly disgusted with Yao Ji, leading him to directly tell her to go her own way and part ways.

However, for a First Gods, this was very normal; they naturally possessed the ability to command other lower-level deities.

And as the daughter of Haotian, Yao Ji was extremely skilled at this, having long been accustomed to it.

So, Yao Ji was now using this power to forcibly repel the Immortal Heaven’s Dao principles!

This would probably only work the first time.

Because although the Immortal Heaven’s status should be lower than Haotian, its essence was also a naturally born First Grade. Even if it wasn't a First Gods, its status definitely surpassed most Heavenly Gods, and might even surpass the essence of the world, reaching the level of ‘Heaven’.

The Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds—Myriad Worlds is easy to understand, but why is it called Myriad Heavens?

It’s because all the Heavens are imitations of ‘Haotian’, all manifestations of the Physical Body of a First Gods.

This is probably… also the reason why the Immortal Heaven calls itself ‘Immortal Heaven’?

Therefore, Li Qi immediately judged that the Immortal Heaven would likely only be affected by the first accidental impact, and the other party probably didn’t take it seriously at all.

But why did Yao Ji appear?

And the timing of her appearance, as well as what she was doing at this moment, how did it look so much like… protection?

Yes, protection.

Although she was a Sixth Grade, and although she was not actually stronger than Li Qi, at this moment… she seemed to be acting to protect Li Qi.

Li Qi’s mind raced like lightning, but his hands didn’t slow down. In the very next instant, as the Immortal Heaven’s Dao principles retreated, he immediately and decisively acted, wanting to assist Yao Ji!

No matter how much he disliked her, now was a situation where they needed to work together.

Li Qi acted, wanting to use his Inner World to assist Yao Ji!

Only… to his surprise, he found that his Inner World was also repelled.

Yao Ji was not only fighting the Immortal Heaven, but also simultaneously taking the time to fight Li Qi.

As arrogant as ever.

Li Qi seemed to be able to sense her meaning—

Yao Ji seemed to be saying: “This is the Domain of a God; Mortals, stay back, get out.”

Her attitude hadn't changed at all, even when facing the Immortal Heaven.

This infuriated Li Qi, but without her cooperation, his unilateral attempt to assist would only lead to both of them being buried here.

Since that was the case, it was better to sit and wait for her to die, then he could take over.

Therefore, Li Qi immediately arrived at the optimal solution for the current situation.

Yao Ji wouldn’t let him interfere, so during her struggle against the Immortal Heaven, he would continue his previous contemplation. By comparing Haotian with the Immortal Heaven, he might find the Immortal Heaven’s weakness and perhaps last a bit longer.

Despite the utterly hopeless situation, Li Qi still did what he had to do, not giving up just because these actions were ‘futile’.

Such was true steadfastness.

Just do one’s best; as for the outcome, that could be discussed later.

However, as he pondered again, Li Qi suddenly realized… he had an idea.

For no other reason than that he understood ‘Haotian’ a little more.

Yao Ji was the daughter of Haotian.

The reproduction of Heavenly Gods was essentially the same as that of Great Powers; both involved separating a portion of their own Dao principles and then endowing it with life.

In other words, Yao Ji was actually a part of Haotian.

The battle between Yao Ji and the Immortal Heaven could be said to be a small part of the battle between Haotian and the Immortal Heaven.

Yes, a small part. The Immortal Heaven still hadn't used its power, but that was normal. If the Immortal Heaven had been determined to kill Li Qi, they wouldn't have been able to last until now.

This was also one of the reasons Li Qi felt confused.

Li Qi was very sure that if he couldn’t resist the Immortal Heaven’s erosion, he would die.

Oh, to be precise, not die, but ‘assimilate with the Dao’.

The Immortal Heaven didn’t want to kill them, only to ‘consume’ them, to make Li Qi and Yao Ji completely part of the Immortal Heaven. This process could actually be resisted.

So, there was still room for resistance.

Was this… some kind of test?

Li Qi pondered these questions while observing the battle between Yao Ji and the Immortal Heaven.

He couldn't intervene anyway.

Soon after, Yao Ji was defeated and assimilated by the Immortal Heaven.

She ‘assimilated with the Dao’.

Li Qi’s heart tightened, knowing it was his turn, and then he stood up.

But at that very instant, Li Qi discovered… the world around him began to reconstruct.

This, he was very familiar with; a common recursion used by Great Powers.

This was inside the Immortal Heaven, meaning… the only one who could perform recursion here was probably the Immortal Heaven itself, right?

Li Qi had the protection of the Shaman God, so he wasn't affected by the recursion, but Yao Ji over there had already returned to the moment she made her move.

Everything replayed again.

Li Qi sat back down, and Yao Ji reappeared, attempting to ‘protect’ Li Qi.

Time returned to that very moment.

Why did the Immortal Heaven do this? What was it recursing? Was there anything that needed to be recursed?

He didn't understand.

But with insufficient clues, he couldn’t deduce anything.

He would continue to compare the Immortal Heaven with Haotian.

He continued to focus his attention on the battle between Yao Ji and the Immortal Heaven.

However, after watching it through again, he gained nothing.

There was no suspense; it was a completely overwhelming victory.

The Immortal Heaven didn't even act; its mere presence easily crushed Li Qi and Yao Ji. The perfect and impeccable Dao principles effortlessly swallowed Yao Ji.

Yao Ji couldn't even display the nature of Haotian and was directly defeated.

Only… immediately, time recurred again, and Yao Ji acted once more.

Li Qi was confused.

What on earth was going on?

Was someone manipulating all this? Or was this a test from the Immortal Heaven?

Li Qi’s mood had, unknowingly, shifted from initial anger and tension to confusion.

This was truly too bizarre; what kind of situation would cause this?

With a skeptical mind, Li Qi began to constantly observe and ponder.

But he quickly found that things were not as simple as he thought.

Yao Ji failed once, twice, thrice…

Then, a thousand times, two thousand times.

One hundred thousand times, two hundred thousand times.

One million times, ten million times.

Finally… it reached one hundred million times.

Time kept recurring, kept resetting.

Yao Ji’s battle lasted for a few minutes.

Li Qi watched these few minutes from beginning to end, and then, after Yao Ji failed, it would start over.

It repeated, one hundred million times.

Li Qi didn't know what Yao Ji was thinking; perhaps she wasn’t even aware of this, and to her, everything was happening for the first time.

But Li Qi had truly experienced it over a hundred million times.

Even with Li Qi’s patience, he was now nearing his limit.

He couldn't describe this feeling. The same event had happened before him a hundred million times, and each time he dared not miss anything, fearing some change.

But every time was the same.

Li Qi found that even with ample time to review and deduce, he couldn't find any flaws in the opponent.

It was too difficult.

Perfect, the ultimate good, even when compared to Haotian, he couldn't find any crucial points.

Furthermore, the sense of crisis in Li Qi’s heart grew heavier and heavier.

He didn't know where the sense of crisis came from, but a Shaman’s sixth sense had always been very accurate.

He could only continue to record, continue to repeat this battle. Fortunately, he was already a Fifth Grade, with a firm Dao Heart and extraordinary patience.

Finally, after the one hundred and thirty millionth time, Li Qi couldn't hold on any longer. He couldn't continue to record the number of times, the duration, and the specific events that occurred.

Li Qi also had a limit; one hundred and thirty million times had reached his processing limit.

Unfortunately… the recursion had no limit.

After that, Li Qi simply didn’t know, nor could he count, how many recursions he had actually experienced.

He didn't understand why the other party kept recursing so many times, nor what the Immortal Heaven wanted.

There was only one thing he could do: try his best to stay conscious.

After one hundred and thirty million times, Li Qi stopped counting.

Every time he saw the same beginning.

The perfect Immortal Heaven’s erosion, Yao Ji’s stubborn battle. After Li Qi gave up counting, he began to move.

Later, Li Qi chose to act, ignoring Yao Ji’s obstruction, forcibly intervening in the battle, creating a variable in the battle that had cycled over a hundred million times.

But this small variable was meaningless. Yao Ji’s stubborn refusal and lack of cooperation infuriated Li Qi; he simply couldn’t achieve a different outcome.

He had many choices, such as escaping, or actively cooperating with Yao Ji in various ways, like using sacrificial methods to boost Yao Ji from behind. So many spells, he could try each one.

Yes, many, many choices.

He had tried every single one.

He kept trying until his imagination was exhausted, yet he still couldn’t break free from this recursive predicament; all outcomes remained the same.

He even resorted to backstabbing Yao Ji, actively killing her.

Just to explore more possibilities.

Yes, possibilities.

Li Qi had to find a ‘possibility’, a possibility to break through this cycle.

At this moment, he suddenly recalled that the Shaman God had once said that maintaining this perspective would be very ‘painful’.

In his previous life, Li Qi had already deeply understood this pain, profoundly realizing the horror of the recursive perspective.

But he had never imagined that this pain would be so intense.

Time slowly passed, and this event slowly repeated…

How many times had it repeated?

So, two hundred million times?

Perhaps more?

He didn't know, couldn't distinguish. Even with Li Qi’s mental fortitude, his spirit was somewhat fractured.

He began to experience trances and memory loss, though he would quickly recover. But Li Qi realized this was a sign that his Dao Heart was being tormented to the brink of collapse.

He had no choice. Even though Li Qi remained steadfast, neither committing suicide nor going mad, his mental endurance had a limit after all.

Memory loss, loss of behavioral control, and memory confusion began to appear repeatedly in Li Qi’s subsequent actions.

He would occasionally have fits, sometimes forgetting who he was, even feeling as if he were dreaming.

After an unknown number of times… perhaps five hundred million times? Or even a billion times? Such numbers had lost their meaning; Li Qi’s sanity had almost completely collapsed.

No matter how many times it repeated, the outcome was always the same.

No matter how many possibilities he sought, all possibilities led to the same future.

He even wanted to give up thinking, to completely devolve into a beast, letting instinct guide him to continue sinking in this endless Reincarnation, or simply commit suicide and die.

But…

It was meaningless.

No matter what he did, he had to face this endless Reincarnation.

Infinite repetitions.

He still remembered Zhu Fengdan telling him that coming here might take a million years, and asking if he wanted her to erase his memories to avoid affecting his Dao Heart.

At that time, Li Qi had righteously said he didn’t need it, that if 99% of his memories were deleted, he wouldn’t be himself anymore.

But now, he regretted it a little.

However, there was no regret medicine in the world, and he had to bear the consequences of his choices.

People can make any decision, no matter what the decision is—good, bad, criminal, or anything else—but they must be responsible for every single decision and bear the consequences. Only then can one be considered a person.

Thus, Li Qi bore the bitter fruit of his initial arrogant decision.

In this seemingly infinite Reincarnation, Li Qi, in a daze, suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

For a First Grade, were their infinite monkey typewriters also like this?

Was what he was facing now what a First Grade faced?