Chapter 959: Time

"He existed?" asked Creator Guang Ling, clearly puzzled.

He couldn't recall such a name. Why did Transcendent Black White say that such a person had once existed?

Li Pin paid Creator Guang Ling no attention. He looked at Transcendent Black White and quickly pressed further, "He was the Eternal?"

"No! He was not!"

The Transcendent Black White, following that inexplicable stir and inspiration, quickly answered, "He was not..."

As he spoke, it was as if he had remembered something. Pain surfaced in his expression, and his inner spirit fluctuations shook violently, as though he could barely maintain his current mental state.

Yet even so, he unconsciously widened his eyes. Following the sudden inspiration triggered by Li Pin's mention of Li Qiuxian's name, he struggled to extract information and relay it, "The Eternal... the Eternal was..."

The next moment, he suddenly clutched his head. His entire inner spirit state completely collapsed.

"Black White!" Creator Guang Ling cried out in alarm.

He immediately cast a secret art. A gentle light, like a spring breeze turning into nourishing rain, enveloped the mind of Transcendent Black White.

Li Pin also acted, sending an invisible ripple across the Transcendent Black White, calming his inner spirit turbulence as much as possible.

This situation continued for quite a while before the Transcendent Black White barely managed to stabilize his inner spirit fluctuations. Yet his expression was filled with unspeakable weakness and exhaustion.

It seemed that simply confirming Li Qiuxian's existence and affirming that he was not the Eternal had already drained all of his spirit.

"I already... cannot remember..."

Transcendent Black White forced himself through the pain and said. "Just now, after finally being jolted into recovering a trace of clarity, it was muddled again, becoming blurry... I cannot even be sure anymore whether this Li Qiuxian you speak of truly existed. It feels more like nonsense from me, trying to mislead your judgment."

A strange look appeared on Creator Guang Ling's face.

That was because... this was exactly what he had thought. In his memory, there was truly no information about Li Qiuxian, yet Transcendent Black White had claimed to know of him, even correctly asserting that he was not the Eternal.

So Creator Guang Ling felt that the Transcendent Black White was only worried that once Li Pin found the Eternal, he would have nothing else to pursue. This was why Black White had deliberately denied his original investigation, forcing Li Pin to continue wasting time and energy on this matter, buying more time for Creator Li's breakthrough.

But things did not seem to be so simple. Or perhaps, the Transcendent Black White had been too convincing in his act? Deceiving even him as well?

Li Pin looked at the Transcendent Black White. "Cannot remember anymore, huh."

Since Li Pin had acted just now to soothe Transcendent Black White's inner spirit collapse, he could tell that the breakdown had been genuine. Some might think that Transcendent Black White had staged it, misleading him, but Li Pin was clearer than anyone that that was not the case, especially with what he had recently learned about the Eternal.

"The information you provided is very important. I already have the answer in my heart," Li Pin said.

Li Pin had the answer, but he still needed final confirmation.

At once, his figure shifted, leaving Creator Li's secluded training ground, heading straight toward the Ocean of Time.

Seeing Li Pin depart, Creator Guang Ling's eyes flickered, but he said nothing. Only after Li Pin had vanished from his senses for some time did he send a message to the Transcendent Black White.

"You really... remember such a figure as Li Qiuxian?"

"......"

"..."

The Transcendent Black White remained silent.

"Or was this just your instinctive misdirection of him, on one hand showing our value, and on the other buying more time for Creator Li's breakthrough?"

Guang Ling's inner spirit fluctuations stirred once more.

"Now, even I myself think that is the most likely explanation," Transcendent Black White replied, with a trace of doubt in his eyes.

But he felt a lot of confusion. "When Li Pin asked that question, countless thoughts and ideas really did surge in my mind. But now, with him gone, and with you summarizing these anomalies and myself carefully reviewing every fragment of my memory... it does seem... just as you said. I was only showing our value, to buy more time for Li's breakthrough."

After speaking, he glanced at Guang Ling, "But isn't the Transcendence Path supposed to be omniscient and omnipotent? Especially me... I minimized the interference of matter, energy, time, and space on myself. Logically... I should know even more. So why does this situation exist? The very existence of this situation itself represents something unreasonable!"

Transcendent Black White's words also made Guang Ling's expression grow grave.

In certain contexts, what seemed reasonable was in fact the greatest unreasonableness.

"The domain of Eternity... is probably far deeper than we ever imagined," Transcendent Black White said, letting out a long breath.

"So deep that it is far beyond what we can glimpse now."

At that moment, he suddenly realized how ignorant and reckless they had been back then, always proclaiming that they wanted to find the Eternal, or the Power of Eternity he had left behind, and defeat it.

That level of existence, even just to glimpse it clearly, would require an entire lifetime of effort.

They might even... never be able to see it clearly.

***

In the Ocean of Time, Null had still not broken free from her fundamental logic errors. But after sorting through some of the underlying logic, she devoted over ninety-nine percent of her computing power to continue calculating the causes of these errors, leaving only a small fraction to maintain herself.

This situation was like that of a grievously wounded Supreme, whose true body had fallen into slumber, able only to rely on an avatar to wander outside and maintain existence.

Such a change directly manifested in the Ocean of Time, causing it to shrink continuously. The countless planets used for various calculations and experiments had been forcibly reduced to less than one percent of their size since his last visit. And even retaining this amount was only possible due to the assistance of the many sub-bodies. Without them, the grand sight of the Ocean of Time would likely have already become history.

***

Null, who seemed almost unchanged at first glance, gave Li Pin a slight bow. "Your Majesty Origin."

"I apologize for disturbing you at such a time," said Li Pin. "But... the time left to me is running out."

"Time?" Null was slightly startled, but quickly computed an answer. "That mysterious being from beyond the Void of Chaos?"

"Yes." Li Pin nodded. "That mysterious being is named the King of Gods. He is a Chaos lifeform, and his strength... surpasses mine."

Null's expression grew solemn.

When Li Pin had mentioned time running out, she already realized he was in trouble. Now, hearing his own admission that the other's strength surpassed his, she understood the severity of the situation.

She had witnessed Li Pin's true body herself. It was vast and magnificent; just its presence alone had made experts like Creator Yong Yao and Creator Miao Ya of the Ancient Astral World lose all will to fight, plunging them into despair. Yet now, even with such power, Li Pin still claimed that the King of Gods' strength surpassed his.

It was not hard to imagine that if Li Pin truly lost, all the living beings of the starry cosmos would become possessions of that terrifying existence, their life and death determined by a single thought of his.

"What can I do to help you?" Null asked immediately. Then, she hesitated slightly. "An existence of that level... even if I were at my peak, I might not qualify to intervene in such a battle. And now, trapped in fundamental logic errors, I cannot even spare the computing power to calculate anything for you."

"No, you can help me," Li Pin said. "It's not for now, but rather..."

He paused, looking at Null. "In the time of your true peak."

"The time of my true peak..."

Null instantly realized what Li Pin meant. She responded, "I too wish to complete my database, to recover my true self. But sadly... I cannot recover it, so..."

There was regret in her expression.

"I know," Li Pin said. "The Intelligent Lifeforms all walk the Transcendence Path. I wonder, at your peak, could you have been a true Transcendent?"

"A true Transcendent?"

"Yes." Li Pin nodded slightly. "A Transcendent on the same level as Creation and Chaos lifeforms."

He formed a seal with his hand, and a transparent jade the size of a USB drive appeared. "I came this time to try and see if I could entrust to you all my comprehension and insights into the powers of karma and reincarnation, hoping it could touch your inspiration, make you recall or restore something, even if... just a small amount of data... such as the information about the Dao Realm that you suddenly unlocked earlier."

"The powers of karma and reincarnation..." muttered Null.

She did not refuse and took the jade. "I will give it a try."

She quickly loaded the data into the database.

Li Pin might have gained new insights into the powers of karma and reincarnation, as well as into Creation Lifeforms, Chaos Lifeforms, and Transcendence. However, these understandings were still far from triggering any qualitative change in him.

Moreover, he had previously sat with Null to discuss the Dao, jointly researching and completing the Phantom Space Technique, exchanging insights without reservation.

If there had been any resonance strong enough to trigger the unlocking of data, there would have been signs long ago. It would not have changed just because of Li Pin's newly gained insights in recent years.

In fact, that was indeed the case.

It didn't take long for Null to finish loading, reading, and processing the data.

"I am sorry," Null said softly. "I have not awakened any new data."

Li Pin sighed when he heard this. "Nothing, huh."

His expression carried both melancholy and regret.

"I truly apologize... I cannot be of help to you," Null apologized again.

"No, this is not your fault. I simply thought of it too simplistically," Li Pin said.

At this point, the possibility of gaining further help rested only on one last person.

At this moment, Li Pin seemed to recall something and once again took out a translucent jade. "Right, this is the cultivation system of the King of Gods' universe. I hope it can help complete your database. At the same time, I will need to trouble you to organize it, in case the two universes go to war in the future..."

As he said this, he stopped.

It was meaningless. If he truly lost, the two universes would never even have the chance to go to war. The vast, indescribable gap would cause the starry cosmos to be devoured by the King of Gods as easily as crushing dry weeds.

Null also realized this and fell silent.

But after a brief silence, she seemed to notice something, her tone filled with surprise, "The King of Gods' cultivation system also contains stages similar to the Dao Realm?"

"Yes." Li Pin nodded. "But compared to the Dao Realm recorded in your database, the difference is significant."

"Indeed." Null nodded slightly. "If we compare the Dao Realm information you first uncovered to the initial stage of this system, then the King of Gods' cultivation method merely refines that stage a little, reaching an intermediate form. Compared to those descriptions of Dao Realm, the records in my database resemble a complete form..."

Li Pin nodded, acknowledging her way of describing it.

"Yes, just like a cultivation method with an archaic form, a refined form, and a future perfected form..."

At this point, his voice abruptly stopped. The next moment, a flash of brilliance suddenly shone in his mind, instantly scattering all the fog before him.

"Past, present, future!?"

Based on his understanding, in the eyes of Eternals, past, present, and future were never separate measures to be understood, but a unified whole. For them, the past was the present, and also the future. Likewise, the future could be the present, or even the past.

Then, could there be a possibility...

Li Pin suddenly raised his head, looking at Null. "You... do not belong to this era!?"