Chapter 972: The Past

Li Pin frowned. "No, that's not right. It shouldn't be like this. If it truly were, at most it would only complete a loop in spacetime, like completing a cycle of cause and effect. Moreover... if it were truly because of me that this Liu Chengyuan attained Eternity, I would never be able to traverse that eternal void. I would instead sink forever within it until my extinction."

After all, through Null, he would also be exposed to this Eternal.

For a moment, his gaze focused once again on Null, Liu Chengyuan, and the Lord of Time. The three seemed to form a strange condition.

It was as if Null was the Eternal's past True Self, Liu Chengyuan was the Eternal's present True Self, and the Lord of Time was the Eternal's future True Self.

Originally, the Lord of Time should have taken precedence among the three. In fact, the Lord of Time was indeed consolidating Liu Chengyuan's timeline as the present True Self, evolving toward Eternity, but... Null, as the past True Self, betrayed him.

All along, Liu Chengyuan, as the Eternal's present True Self, had been wary and hostile toward Null due to his extraordinary perception. It was as if he knew that once the Lord of Time, the future True Self, consolidated him and Null, he would become part of the Lord of Time.

However, the operation of all things in the world was so absurd and bizarre. Yet, upon closer thought, it was also so reasonable.

Due to the Eternal's present True Self being wary and hostile toward Null, Null was driven to earn his trust, ultimately betraying the Lord of Time at the very moment he was about to achieve Eternity.

It wasn't really considered a betrayal.

Li Pin's gaze fell on Null.

She was currently the past True Self, yet differed somewhat from the actual past True Self. But soon, Li Pin understood where these differences came from.

Null spared no effort in helping Liu Chengyuan, the present True Self, to resist the Lord of Time, who should have been the Eternal and was referred to by the Eternal as the future True Self to be severed.

And the method she ultimately used was to replace Liu Chengyuan, the present True Self, and be consolidated by the Lord of Time, who was the future True Self!

However, she was not the present True Self required by the Lord of Time, so in the end, the Lord of Time failed in his attempt to achieve Eternity.

Liu Chengyuan seized the opportunity created by Null and escaped the consolidation of his present True Self by the Lord of Time, the future True Self.

Since he represented the present and the Lord of Time represented the future, Liu Chengyuan's only way to survive was to flee into the past!

"The past!?"

Li Pin focused on Liu Chengyuan, tracing back along the river of time, and suddenly looked toward the direction he was heading...

It would pass through his era and proceed to the deeper, more ancient era of the Ancient Astral World!

Ultimately, Liu Chengyuan became... Zhan Yuan!

The moment Li Pin saw Zhan Yuan, he sensed a gaze. As he followed this gaze upward, at the far end of the river of time, a towering figure stood, scrutinizing the direction where Li Pin was.

As soon as Li Pin saw him, he recognized his identity.

"The Eternal."

This was the Eternal, the one who severed the paths to Eternity for both himself and Li Qiuxian.

"Eternal Zhan Yuan!" Li Pin said the name aloud.

Zhan Yuan was clearly an Eternal, yet his timeline still manifested through the river of time, allowing Li Pin to clearly see him.

At this moment, Li Pin came to a sudden realization.

"It's the past!" Li Pin said softly.

Zhan Yuan had become the Eternal's past. Liu Chengyuan was the Eternal's present, and the Lord of Time was the Eternal's future. But Liu Chengyuan and the Lord of Time, confronting each other, were both obliterated before the achievement of Eternity.

Instead, Zhan Yuan, using the destiny formed from the foundations of Liu Chengyuan and the Lord of Time, naturally achieved Eternity in the era of the Ancient Astral World.

"Converging the past, present, and future... the Sole True Self..." Li Pin murmured softly.

And his past...

Li Pin finally turned his gaze back to Li Qiuxian, who most likely represented his present True Self. Soon, he realized something.

"Hold on. If achieving Eternity requires converging the past, present, and future to reach the Sole True Self, then Li Qiuxian... isn't my present True Self, and I do not belong to Li Qiuxian's future True Self."

Time, at this moment, was a scale Li Pin could freely observe.

Although he could not manipulate, intervene, or change things like an Eternal, every process unfolded clearly before him. He saw the Li Qiuxian from the most ancient era, the one that truly represented Li Qiuxian's past True Self!

It was precisely this past True Self that laid the foundation for Li Qiuxian's Eternity, allowing him to emerge into his second lifetime.

Thus, there was Li Qiuxian's acknowledged previous life, the Cosmic Sovereign belonging to his present True Self.

With past and present established, it was then time for the actual future True Self, Li Qiuxian.

Li Qiuxian, worthy of accumulating the foundations of two lives, displayed a profound divinity that was truly incredible.

His aptitude and ingenuity, unmatched across three lifetimes, allowed him to effortlessly cultivate to the Transcendence Realm, standing before the Eternity Realm.

However, he failed, all because of Zhan Yuan!

Carrying the destiny formed from Liu Chengyuan and the Lord of Time's foundations, Eternal Zhan Yuan descended into Li Qiuxian's era!

This existence preceded Li Qiuxian, stepped into Eternity, and decisively severed Li Qiuxian's path to Eternity.

Although Li Qiuxian refused to accept failure, making countless efforts to change his future and bypass the path to Eternity severed by Eternal Zhan Yuan, he ultimately failed in his attempt to achieve Eternity.

He fell into the void and nothingness of Eternity.

Li Pin felt an unprecedented upheaval. "How could this be...?"

Consolidating the past, present, and future, the Sole True Self, to achieve Eternity.

Theoretically, Li Qiuxian should have achieved Eternity. Why was he intercepted by Zhan Yuan, who crossed time from the future, and achieved Eternity before him?

"Moreover, if Li Qiuxian's life contained his past, present, and future, and they managed to completely converge to become the Sole True Self... then everything I previously sensed..."

Li Pin's emotions surged.

The development of events didn't completely diverge from his own speculations, but it was still very different.

His eyes suddenly widened, and his gaze returned to Li Qiuxian's struggle against Eternal Zhan Yuan.

Destiny!

Facing the nearly hopeless pressure of Eternal Zhan Yuan, Li Qiuxian, unwilling to give up, touched the power of destiny.

Thus, he began to form his plan. This scheme even extended into a whole new era, subtly pointing toward Li Pin and to Li Pin's era.

However, it was useless.

Everything he did was under Eternal Zhan Yuan's watch. It was just as Li Pin had guessed. No being below Eternal could keep a secret from an Eternal. There was no concept of "process." What Eternals directly perceived were the "effects" of "causes."

He could freely manipulate the time of beings under Eternity, reshape their cause and effect, and reverse their past, present, and future. This was a power that, no matter how vast one's scale, trillions or quadrillions of light-years, could not resist.

Li Pin looked up. He saw the Eternal, that towering existence standing at the far end of the river of time.

He seemed to have just made a move, severing Li Pin's path to Eternity.

And the aftershock of severing the path to Eternity directly destroyed the Astral World. A catastrophe befell the Ancient Astral World, annihilating it, taking with it all traces belonging to Li Qiuxian's existence.

However, because time held no meaning in the river of time, events in the Ancient Astral World—whether done then or now—were indistinguishable to the Eternal.

This extreme temporal disparity made Li Pin feel a sudden daze. And while he was dazed, the Eternal's gaze shifted away from him.

***

At that moment, Eternal Zhan Yuan seemed to speak, his gaze far-reaching.

"So that's how it is."

"Just now, from the memories of the King of Gods, I saw the Phantom Space Technique. It was because a certain Creation Lifeform, the Lord of Time, went to the Empyrean World and was defeated by him, touching upon this method. At the time, I wondered why I was also involved in this Phantom Space Technique..."

His gaze swept across in search. Soon, he located One, whom he had casually tossed into an unknown timeline.

He had only followed Liu Chengyuan's instinct to save One's life and did not intend to interfere much with her future.

As a result, One coincidentally drifted into the era after the Ancient Astral World shattered, transforming into the Lord of Time, and, with the newly emerging future of Li Qiuxian, created the Phantom Space Technique.

When his present True Self, Liu Chengyuan, and his future True Self, the Lord of Time, clashed, One took his place to block the Lord of Time's convergence. In a sense, One was equivalent to him.

It was because of this that he sensed his presence within the Phantom Space Technique.

And as Eternal Zhan Yuan gradually traced the Phantom Space Technique, his expression began to change.

"Destiny," he murmured.

His gaze inevitably shifted again, seemingly spanning multiple timelines, seeing both Li Qiuxian of his own era and Li Pin of the present era!

The two of them were so alike.

Destiny?

For a moment, he smiled.

The Eternal already represented the ultimate, controlling time, achieving a Sole True Self, traversing past, present, and future. How could there be a greater existence than an Eternal?

It was merely a trick devised by Li Qiuxian, who was unwilling to accept failure.

But at that moment, he suddenly realized something. He suddenly fixed his gaze on One, who called herself Null.

He saw it!

Li Pin had sent One, who called herself Null, back to the future. This became the key for his present True Self, Liu Chengyuan, to escape the convergence from his future True Self, Lord of Time!

This strangeness, peculiarity, and coincidence were all very reasonable, yet unreasonable at the same time!

Eternal Zhan Yuan's expression instantly grew extremely grave. "Something has happened."