Chapter 913: The Truth of Invincibility

Let's not talk about the children's affairs; those are for the children themselves to resolve.

Things like interpersonal relationships and how to interact with each other are all left to the children to figure out.

Li Qi, like Zhu Fengdan in the past, adopted a completely hands-off approach with his Disciple; after all, even if they died, they could be brought back, so there was really nothing to worry about.

He only needed to be concerned if they would encounter certain particularly difficult situations that might damage their Dao Heart, leaving an indelible scar, and that would be enough.

Just like the Disciple of Grand Shaman Yun Fang.

Couldn't Yun Fang go back in time and see his beloved Disciple again?

He actually could, but he wouldn't do so, because that would be tantamount to erasing his Disciple's life; one must know that even trauma, even a demonic thoughts, is a necessary part of forming a person.

If he could cut off the memory of falling into Demonic Dao today, could he go back to when his Disciple was just born and start over?

If that were the case, would it still have meaning?

If it were truly like that, he could just create a Clone of his Disciple; it would be the same, and there would be no need for such a troublesome strategy as going back in time.

Therefore, it can be seen that in the eyes of Grand Shaman Yun Fang, despite differences in substantiality, the status of higher intelligences is equal to each other.

If a character in a game develops higher intelligence, then facing the players in front of the screen, even though they have differences in substantiality, do their thoughts really differ?

Is intelligence composed of numbers and code inferior to intelligence composed of proteins and neurotransmitters?

At least, this answer is negative for Grand Shaman Yun Fang.

Therefore, he used the method of planting a demon in the Dao Heart, trapping the other party within his heart in the form of a demonic thoughts, always hoping that his Disciple could emerge from it on his own; that would be the best outcome.

Unfortunately, there has been no progress so far; Li Qi's Senior Brother is still trapped in the damage to his Dao Heart, delirious, seeking death daily, and living each day in a daze.

However... in this world, that Senior Brother is not the only one in such a predicament.

The Demonic Prince is also in such a predicament.

However, for the Demonic Prince Shang Fan, his madness appeared extraordinarily calm.

The Demonic Prince floated alone in the Void Realm, as indifferent as usual, except that he had lost many times recently and drawn many times.

But... it gave people an indescribable feeling.

Silent madness.

A deep abyss.

It was like the second before pulling the trigger, like the calm before a volcanic eruption, or the last darkness before dawn.

Nothing had happened, yet this place made people fearful and uneasy, unable to calm down at all.

This fear even spread out from the Void Realm, making many passing world-class giant ships tremble endlessly, as if they had disturbed a sleeping giant beast.

But the Demonic Prince actually had no intention of harming them; he even completely ignored these passing Mortals.

He lay in the Void Realm, letting his body move freely in the boundless Universe, his gaze seemingly piercing through the profound darkness and focusing on an unimaginable point.

Around his body, there was a circle of existence similar to 'clouds and mist'; different parts of these clouds and mist were enveloped by various types of Qi, changing colors like incandescent liquid crystals.

In a sense, this was the 'corona'.

Due to the flow of hot body fluids within him, causing the temperature of his radiating body surface to change accordingly, small explosions similar to supernova explosions would occasionally occur; those were actually 'solar prominences'.

All of this indicated that the Demonic Prince was not as calm as he appeared externally at this moment; he seemed to be creating certain things, certain experiments, or... resisting certain special forces from intervening.

In short, he was fighting, fighting an existence of unknown nature.

However, if Li Qi were here, he would recognize what the Demonic Prince was fighting against.

A considerable number of Shamanes, including Yunfang Great Shaman and Li Qi, generally believe that the world is real and a natural part of existence, and they would not deliberately modify history or tamper with minds; this is also the fundamental reason why Yunfang Great Shaman was unwilling to tamper with the past and directly rectify the problem of Li Qi's Senior Brother from its roots.

Li Qi's unwillingness to let his daughter grow up again is also for this reason; ultimately, they respect non-substantial existences, and unless it's due to combat, which inevitably affects Mortals, Shamanes rarely interfere with history.

But the Demonic Dao is different.

The Demonic Dao believes that everything in this world is illusory, and only oneself is real, so for them, if their Disciple's mental state has a problem, then... why not just reverse it?

As long as time is reversed from the root, everything will naturally be resolved smoothly; as for free will or the dignity of higher intelligence, those are not within the Demonic Dao's consideration.

This is due to the different attitudes of the two sides towards space-time and reality.

So, for a high-level Demonic Dao... the Demonic Prince is also the same.

If the Demonic Prince's mental state had a problem, if the Demonic Prince had a problem similar to that of Yunfang Great Shaman's Disciple, what kind of treatment would the Demonic Prince receive?

Undoubtedly, the Demonic Dao would not care about those things at all; they would unhesitatingly reverse the Demonic Prince's space-time, eliminate all influences, and let the Demonic Prince return to being that 'invincible, strongest, calm' Demonic Dao Genius, a destined high-level existence in the future.

And at this moment, what the Demonic Prince was suffering was precisely this.

His mental state had a problem.

Just like in the past, the high-level Demonic Dao cultivators who monitored the Demonic Princes immediately began a 'Reboot'; the Demonic Prince's self-awareness and intelligence were not within their consideration.

However, what was different this time was... the Demonic Prince resisted.

The result of the resistance is how things are now.

The Demonic Prince is resisting a Tier 3 rollback with Tier 4 substantiality.

Undoubtedly, he cannot win.

A Tier 3 only needs to click the 'load' button, and everything about the Demonic Prince will be reset; no matter how strong he is, he is merely a fallen Empire in a game.

A fallen Empire sweeps everything in the game, but what can it do against save and load?

But...

He is the Demonic Prince.

The Tier 4 Demonic Prince has already thought of a solution, which is to do what he is doing now.

What the Demonic Prince is doing is very, very complex, but... it can be described through an analogy.

When the fallen Empire realized the truth of the Universe and was being deleted and rewritten by the Universe, the Demonic Prince chose to build thousands of frigates and stack them together.

The fallen Empire in the game disregarded martial ethics, built thousands of frigates, simultaneously refreshed them together, overlapping them on the player's planet, directly crashing the player's computer.

Since you want to go back, I will temporarily protect my world by destroying the hardware of the upper narrator.

Then, if the computer freezes, you naturally can't click load.

To click load, you either have to force a shutdown, which will inevitably close other programs and cause displeasure to others.

So, relying on this incredible method, the Demonic Prince resisted the Tier 3's attempt to rewind himself.

But this was just a drop in the bucket.

The other party merely made a casual click, yet the Demonic Prince had already exhausted all his efforts.

One must know that this is not that simple; to stack all interferences together, one not only needs to be aware of the Tier 3's motives but also needs to deduce the player's next option through various in-game features and make timely modifications.

But no matter what, for the Demonic Prince, a Tier 4, to be able to resist a Tier 3's rollback merely by relying on weak substantiality, which is the level of 'Awakening AI' substantiality, is truly astonishing.

One can only say... he is indeed the Demonic Prince.

However, the gap between Tier 3 and Tier 4 is too great; the next rollback will probably come very soon, in just about ten minutes.

What should be done then?

Even the Demonic Prince didn't know.

A Tier 4 resisting a Tier 3 is still too much.

What to do?

Countless plans swirled in the Demonic Prince's mind.

Actually, as long as there is a 'theoretical possibility,' the Demonic Prince is confident in turning it into reality, no matter how low the probability, just like how he personally managed to crash a Tier 3's rollback just now.

The difficult part is precisely that he can't even find a theoretical possibility.

"Master." At this moment, the silent Ink Tiger, which had been hanging at the Demonic Prince's waist, suddenly spoke.

Even Li Qi had never seen this Ink Tiger.

Among all the Heavens, probably only Shen Shuibi had truly witnessed the Ink Tiger in action in person; at that time, when Li Qi and the Demonic Prince fought to exhaustion, and Li Qi was fighting the Demonic Clone, Shen Shuibi appeared, and it was this Ink Tiger that came forward to protect the Demonic Prince. (For details, see Chapter 488)

Because of the Demonic Prince's own power, this Ink Tiger's presence was extremely low, so few people knew about it.

But the Ink Tiger also seemed to have grown from Tier 5 to Tier 4, merely appearing inconspicuous in the Demonic Prince's shadow, but in reality, it was considered extremely powerful among Tier 4s.

"What? Do you have a solution?" The Demonic Prince looked at this 'Spiritual Artifact' that had followed him since his Tier 9 days.

At first, it was just a Spiritual Artifact, but later it gradually developed sentience and became a Spiritual Artifact-type cultivator.

He also grew rapidly with the Demonic Prince to his current state, but even now, he rarely appears in front of outsiders.

"No, I just wanted to talk," the Ink Tiger said.

"Hmph..." The Demonic Prince let out an incomprehensible sound and continued to float in the Universe.

"We've reached a dead end, Master," the Ink Tiger continued.

"Mm." The Demonic Prince nodded but didn't respond, remaining as indifferent as ever.

"I am an item, Master, you don't need to care about my thoughts," the Ink Tiger said.

"Mm." The Demonic Prince still replied in the same way.

"What they need... is a new possibility for Master, not the Demonic Prince constrained by Li Qi. When you limit your own actions, they were already very displeased, and now, if you can once again display your former appearance, then the rollback should stop," the Ink Tiger continued to describe the Demonic Prince's current situation.

"Mm."

The Demonic Prince remained unmoved.

"So, show your former appearance; that should be enough. Use me as the object; that should also be enough, right?" The Ink Tiger still advised.

"I am an item; an item belongs to its Master."

An item, like a knife, doesn't care whether what's in front of it is an enemy or a baby; as long as it's held and swung, the knife will cut.

Even if there's strong acid or potent poison in front of the blade that could melt the knife, the knife won't stop.

An item, so-called, is something that can only obey the needs of its owner.

As long as the owner needs it, as long as a command is given, no matter how the item is used, the item will have no complaints.

A knife doesn't need to care whether it cuts a baby or an enemy, nor does it care whether what's in front of it is a giant rock or strong acid.

But... at this moment, the Demonic Prince looked at the Ink Tiger.

Then, he said, "Even if—the instruction is wrong, is it still the same?"

The Ink Tiger immediately bowed its head and said joyfully, "Yes."

"Then I command you, shut up," the Demonic Prince said.

The Ink Tiger was stunned.

But, just as he said...

Even if it leads to a bad outcome. As long as it's an instruction given by his Master, for him, it is the one and only correct answer.

But... it cannot be like this.

His Master just said: "The instruction is wrong."

Because they both knew, this was wrong.

If he did this, his Master would face a Tier 3 directly.

But...

"Roar..." He let out a low growl, his voice stern, revealing ferocity and determination.

However, the tips of his claws trembled incessantly.

He clearly knew what he was about to face, but after his Master gave a 'wrong instruction,' he, as an item, would cut towards something.

The Tier 3's rollback failed, so the 'player' would personally intervene.

The player...

His Master was unwilling to be rolled back and refused to show any weakness, so he would directly face the Tier 3. The final outcome was undoubtedly that the Demonic Prince could not be an opponent for a Tier 3; he would be rolled back.

Just like countless times in the past.

The Demonic Prince is invincible; this is widely known. The Demonic Prince has no weakness, no retreat; he has created countless miracles, found a way out of countless desperate situations, and established his path to invincibility.

So, before he achieved invincibility... how many times did he roll back?

Just as some legends say.

The Ashen One killed ancient giants and great kings, creating world-overturning miracles in the eyes of others, but... how many times did he fail? How many times did he restart?

In how many timelines did he fail?

He cleared endless difficult challenges in one life, his achievements surpassing all Geniuses in all the Heavens, an invincible powerhouse in the eyes of other NPCs, so what about from the player's perspective?

In the 'story,' the protagonist cleared all BOSSes in one life.

However, from the 'player's' perspective, they put in a lot of effort, stayed up several nights, reloaded countless times, and died every day.

Now, the player feels the ending is not good and wants to load a save.

It is well known that in the Universe, there is only one player.

The Heavenly Demon.

As soon as he thought of this, the Ink Tiger's Dao Heart almost shattered.