Chapter 974: Collapse

Li Pin quietly felt the flow of the river of time and stopped his thoughts from wandering. As long as he continued walking along this path, he would eventually find the answer.

However, this discovery was enough to fill him with joy.

"With you guys accompanying me, I will never be lonely on this path," Li Pin said with a smile.

He said "you guys," not "you."

Li Pin turned his gaze to the river of time. "But before that, you guys must wait for me."

As time flowed, the King of Gods appeared before his eyes.

Under the reflection of the river of time, the entire life of this Chaos Lifeform unfolded before his eyes.

From his growth in the Empyrean World, cultivating into a Chaos Lifeform under countless opportunities, to competing with another, far stronger Creation-level being for the master of the Empyrean World, then being defeated and exiled into the Void of Chaos.

During that period, he naturally experienced many universes.

Li Pin's gaze pierced through his experiences, seeing many universes within. But after a moment, he withdrew his gaze.

If I were a normal Eternal, then my future life would be to constantly follow along the river of time, observing the futures of one being after another. And through their futures, observe more beings, more brand-new futures, then using the traits of an Eternal, solidify all of these futures onto my timeline...

Li Pin pondered.

This was how Eternals grew.

As beings who had already reached what was considered the ultimate peak, they did not improve by ascending higher. Their concept of growth was different. By integrating all encountered beings into their timeline, they thereby cut off their chance of becoming Eternals, thereby ensuring their own uniqueness.

But this was never Li Pin's understanding of "growth." He even wished that more Eternals could be born in this world. Because through Li Qiuxian and the battle against the Eternal Abyss, he had seen things on a deeper level. Thus, the more Eternals were born, the better, so they could join him in peering into the origin of destiny that represented all causes and all effects.

Until one day in the future... they could surpass the origin and break destiny!

Thus, he withdrew his gaze from the King of Gods' timeline and focused on this Chaos Lifeform himself.

"Internal conflict is the nature of humans, and even of all living beings," muttered Li Pin. "The reason the Human Race of the starry cosmos can unite the races under one banner is mainly because of my own power, and partly because they are facing a common enemy. To prevent the starry cosmos from falling into internal strife, it'd be best to have a common enemy."

The King of Gods, who was weak in offense, strong in defense, and extremely resilient, was clearly very suitable.

"So, you need to stay alive... but in a state of eternal slumber."

Just as Li Pin was about to take action, something else came to his mind. He cast his gaze toward the river of time.

At this moment, this river of time had already fallen into a fixed state. Though it would continue to develop and evolve, all causes and effects within followed his settings, and he could freely swap and alter them. Any beings living within it no longer hid any secrets from him, nor held any novelty.

Li Pin could not help but let out a sigh. But out of habit, he did not stop his actions just because of this.

"There must be a beginning for there to be an end, even though for an Eternal beginning and end were one and the same.”

He took a step forward, splitting off an avatar that descended into the starry cosmos. More precisely, it descended into the Gods World outside the starry cosmos.

Since Li Pin did not conceal his existence, the moment he entered the Gods World, the King of Gods immediately sensed him.

In the next instant, the avatar condensed before the King of Gods.

The King of Gods looked at Li Pin with astonishment, "You..."

Then, he glanced again at the vast, boundless Void of Chaos, where Li Pin's figure was no longer present.

"What did you do?" asked the King of Gods, his voice deep.

"To kill without teaching is called cruelty." Li Pin said, "Since you asked, I will answer. I have already transcended spacetime, achieving Eternity."

Li Pin stated this earth-shattering news so directly and clearly. In an instant, the King of Gods' pupils dilated violently! Even though it was only an avatar, his expression was still filled with disbelief. Only after a long moment did he recover from the shock brought by this news, then said in an incomparably firm tone, "This is impossible!"

He glared at Li Pin, his eyes blazing with anger and shame, "Empty bluff! My strength is clearly above yours, and I have not even touched the Eternity Realm. By what right have you achieved Eternity?"

"By what right have I achieved Eternity..."

Li Pin spoke, his expression somewhat wistful, even emotional. "Since you have already learned much about Eternity from the starry cosmos, then you should understand that Eternals are a lifeform that transcends spacetime, an existence of a higher dimension. For them, the past, present, and future are all part of one whole, and different spacetime planes are meaningless.

"Therefore... even if my strength now is far inferior to yours, how can you be sure that the me in the future is also weaker than you? If the me in the future has already become stronger, almost grasping Eternity, why could I not at that time achieve Eternity and then project it into this very moment, appearing before you?"

As these words fell, the King of Gods' thoughts seemed to suffer an unprecedented blow. His avatar's form wavered slightly, seeming to be difficult to maintain.

And within his true body's Gods World, the ground shook violently, countless planes at that moment collapsing and shattering as if doomsday had arrived.

However, he was still an existence who had cultivated to become a Chaos Lifeform after all. The stronger a being was, the more easily they believed that their understanding was the only truth. Once their understanding was denied and their worldview collapsed, it was no different from dying.

The King of Gods quickly adjusted his state and sneered coldly. "You want to use such words to confuse my will? That's too naive. The more you say this, the more it proves that you are strong outwardly but weak inside... You guys cannot hold on any longer!"

"I only answered your question out of courtesy. Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter," Li Pin said calmly. "Ever since you were expelled from the Empyrean World by that Creation, you have destroyed many primordial universes. When you did so, you must have realized that such a day would come. Now, it is time for you to pay the price."

"The price?" The King of Gods' avatar sneered. "Since you know I have roamed across countless eras in the Void of Chaos, then you should know my strength. Pay a price? From you?"

The King of Gods' true body began swelling at an even faster rate, growing madly. The aura of mere Existence he radiated already covered the entire starry cosmos and surged boundlessly into the depths of the Void of Chaos, as if to stir up a tsunami of existence.

"I want to see how you can possibly make me pay a price."

His voice, like a great bell and mighty drum, echoed within his body and throughout the Void of Chaos. The will within it even passed through his very aura of Existence, spreading throughout the starry cosmos, sensed by the Supremes and quasi-Creators within.

And seeing the King of Gods, whose might was at its peak like the noonday sun, even Creator Li, who had truly broken through into the Creation Realm, felt at that moment a deep sense of powerlessness.

"Such an enormous difference in scale... how are we supposed to fight this battle!?"

***

"That's why you have not understood what an Eternal truly is," Li Pin said.

The King of Gods had yet to realize the disparity between them. It was one so vast it once would have made even Li Pin despair.

After a moment, he added, "Or perhaps, you have understood, but you are unwilling to accept it?"

"I no longer wish to waste time with you. Now, I will devour this universe. Let me see how you resist," snorted the King of Gods.

His body, vast beyond even the starry cosmos, rapidly closed in, as if he were about to swallow the entire starry cosmos.

"You seem to have forgotten that the reason you were able to cultivate into a Chaos Lifeform was thanks to my help," Li Pin reminded with a smile.

"You?" The King of Gods slightly lowered his brows. "Nonsense... In my memory, you don't even exist. The memory of a Chaos Lifeform would never have the slightest flaw!"

"Oh, sorry, I don't like interfering with others' timelines, because that would cut off the possibilities they might have had... so my movements are still not so practiced..." Li Pin said.

Within the river of time, Li Pin's figure arrived billions of years earlier, at the moment before the King of Gods had achieved Chaos Lifeform.

A young King of Gods had bowed before him for three thousand years, receiving from Li Pin the opportunity that led him toward Chaos.

"You may try to recall it again," said Li Pin's avatar.

The King of Gods sneered coldly. "Heh, I already told you, in my memory there simply isn't—"

His expression froze before he finished his words.

Immediately after, the King of Gods' gaze snapped to Li Pin in horror. His pupils dilated with terror and disbelief, like a kid seeing a ghost.

"You... you..."

"There's no need to doubt," Li Pin said calmly. "Just now, I changed your past."

He gazed calmly at the King of Gods. "If I wished, I could go back to the moment you were just born, or even before that, to the time when your mother was still pregnant with you, and give her an abortive medicine, so that you would not be born."

In an instant, an unprecedented chill swept across the King of Gods' body at the speed of light. He directly felt a bone-chilling dread pierce to the depths of his soul.

"How could..."

This existence, strong enough to be said as nearly impossible to kill, suddenly seemed to fall into a nightmarish terror, every corner of his body engulfed in horror.

When he thought back carefully, he seemed to recall that he had indeed seen Li Pin's face the moment he was conceived!

"How is that possible...?"

This was a terror and despair that could not be described in words.

The King of Gods shakily raised his head. "Eternity!?"

Li Pin nodded. "Eternity."

The King of Gods stared at Li Pin, comparing him again and again with the Li Pin in his memory; a shock like never before instantly crushed his will. His understanding of himself and of the world collapsed.

"Eternity! Eternity! Eternity!"

This Chaos Lifeform, an existence so powerful that even destiny itself would despair before him, burst into frenzied laughter. "Haha... haha... hahahaha..."