Chapter 2662 – Flow Rates Of Time
Lu Yin remained unaware of the internal conflicts that were tormenting Chen Le.
There was no going back for the man. Between Monarch Luo, Mr. Daheng, and Lu Yin, he had to choose one, and once that decision was made, he would never be able to strike a deal with either of the other two. This decision would quite literally risk his life.
If Chen Le was someone who had only recently come into contact with the Liberation Palace for the first time, then he would have unquestionably sided with Mr. Daheng. However, after the conversation with Lu Yin, the Monarch found himself struggling with various misgivings. The man’s thoughts had been ensnared in a bewildering web of conflicting ideas.
Half a month later, Chen Le met Monarch Luo.
Monarch Luo scrutinized the stone in his hand. "Is this the treasure that you mentioned? The ones whose usage is unclear to you?"
Chen Le replied, "I managed to obtain it by accident, but there were many others at my level of strength who were also trying to get it. On the Endless Frontier, I noticed that many corpse kings were watching me, and it might have been because of this. I studied the stone for a long time, but have failed to discover anything at all. I can only ask you to try, Monarch Luo."
Monarch Luo stared at the stone, doubt filling his eyes. "Send someone to check the location of the Mountain and Seas painting. If this stone truly is a treasure, then its secret should be there. However, this stone is but a small fragment, and there’s no telling how big the full piece is. It won"t be easy to find the location from such a tiny portion of the painting."
He then tossed the stone back to Chen Le. "You can go look for it when you have the opportunity."
Chen Le had not expected Monarch Luo to return the stone to him. It was important that Monarch Luo keep the stone, as otherwise, Mr. Daheng"s attention would never leave Chen Le.
He quickly handed the stone back to Monarch Luo. "Please take this, Your Majesty. The painting might not represent a location in our Three Monarchs Universe, and I don"t intend to abandon this universe while I live. It would be better if you search for it, Your Majesty."
Monarch Luo thought for a moment before agreeing and taking the stone back. "Alright."
Chen Le soon left the rainbow wall. Arch-Elder Zen and Xia Shenji were both still stationed there to support Monarch Luo and Monarch Xing, so the new Monarch was unneeded.
If it were possible, Monarch Luo would have preferred it if Chen Le was stationed at the rainbow wall in his stead. However, the rainbow wall could only be protected with the support of the Three Monarchs Formation, and Chen Le was not able to join in activating the Three Monarchs Formation yet.
The man needed a bit of time to stabilize his new strength as a Monarch. After that, Monarch Luo could get Chen Le to help with activating the Three Monarchs Formation.
For the moment, Chen Le’s top priority was to search for spies and investigate the You family.
This was the task that Monarch Luo had entrusted to Chen Le, as Monarch Luo was unable to personally investigate the You family. The man was fully convinced that Monarch Mu"s disappearance was somehow connected to the You family.
On the same day that Chen Le met with Monarch Luo, he also sent word to the woman from the Liberation Palace so that he could meet with her.
"I"ve given the stone to Monarch Luo. Tell that to Mr. Daheng," the Monarch stated. He had come to a decision, so he no longer hesitated.
Of the three groups vying for Chen Le’s loyalty, Mr. Daheng was the one most likely to free Chen Le of others’ control, but the man would also very likely rea.s.sert his own control mechanism as soon as he freed Chen Le. After becoming a peak powerhouse, Chen Le had developed a bone-deep determination to fight against the heavens. He refused to accept being controlled by anyone else.
As for Monarch Luo, he might not have the strength needed to remove the energies that remained inside Chen Le.
Xuan Qi was the best choice. The Monarch did not believe what Xuan Qi had said, but instead trusted in his own value. Chen Le was a peak powerhouse, and Xuan Qi would benefit greatly from cooperating with such a person. Because of this, there was no option but for Xuan Qi to remove all the controls that he had placed on Chen Le, as this was the bare minimum that the Monarch would accept. As long as Xuan Qi did not want to end up in a lose-lose situation, he would have no choice but to keep his promise.
The entire reason why Xuan Qi had given the Monarch such a long speech was because he feared such a lose-lose outcome. This had helped rea.s.sure Chen Le.
This also meant that the Monarch’s only option was to work with Xuan Qi to regain his freedom. As for becoming Mr. Daheng’s enemy, that was something that Chen Le had already mentally prepared himself for. If forced into a corner, Chen Le felt that fleeing to the Origin Universe and living under a new alias was preferable to being controlled.
The woman was stunned by the declaration. "You gave it to Monarch Luo? You"re going against Mr. Daheng!"
Chen Le stared at the woman, and the pressure of his aura forced her to her knees. She trembled as she suffered from the oppressive force of a Progenitor-level figure for the first time. The irresistible force left her feeling as though the entire universe was collapsing around her. She found herself involuntarily on her knees as a sense of worship welled up in her heart.
"You people are nothing but keys. Without Mr. Daheng behind you, you aren’t even qualified to speak to me. Scram, and go tell Mr. Daheng that I, Chen Le, became a Monarch under my own power, overcoming his obstructions. I did it entirely through my own power. By suppressing my breakthrough, he blocked my progress, but I won’t hold that against him. Let bygones be bygones. I owe him nothing and will not speak ill of him. However, if he tries to push me too far, he can’t blame me for revealing all his secrets.”
"I am a Monarch! Even if Mr. Daheng is still stronger than me, what can he do here in the Three Monarchs Universe? Be gone!" Chen Le shouted fiercely.
The woman trembled, and then fled in terror. However, she did not make it very far before her body abruptly exploded. Flesh and blood flew everywhere.
Chen Le was startled, and he stared at the red stain that had suddenly appeared. The stench of blood filled the area.
As the man looked up ahead, he saw a face form from the blood. It was a face that was engraved into his memory: Mr. Daheng.
Chen Le and Mr. Daheng silently stared at each other. Mr. Daheng did not appear angry, but rather, he looked at Chen Le with a faint smile. The sight of it made Chen Le"s heart squirm.
Despite becoming a peak powerhouse, he had no confidence in being able to stand up to Mr. Daheng. The chasm between them was evident with nothing more than a single glance.
Without a word being spoken by either man, the blood dissipated.
Only after the blood was completely gone did Chen Le let out a sigh of relief. He had not even noticed that his back had become soaked with his own sweat.
He decided not to go anywhere for the time being. In the future, he would also need to keep a low profile when he returned to the Endless Frontier as he could not risk running into anyone who was connected to the Liberation Palace. The pressure he felt from Mr. Daheng felt like being crushed by a mountain.
Fortunately, Chen Le had chosen to give the stone to Monarch Luo. Mr. Daheng would unquestionably find a way to get the stone from Monarch Luo, so it was best to let those two fight over it, though Chen Le had no idea if Monarch Luo was capable of holding Mr. Daheng off.
…
In the Arboreal Realm, there was a lake of wine beside a forest of meat. It was a paradise at the most extreme level of luxury available to mankind.
There was only one man partaking in this feast of wine and meat: Mr. Daheng.
All around him, graceful female figures darted about as they laughed playfully.
Mr. Daheng laughed freely as he scooped up the fine wine from the lake below, and then he poured it over his head. The man appeared to not have a care in the world.
More beautiful woman joined, appearing from the distant fog.
Suddenly, the only man waved a hand, and at that instance, the lake of wine, the forest of meat, and all the beautiful women abruptly vanished. The man was now standing in the middle of a bamboo forest, with a melodious flute playing in the distance.
Luxury and tranquility were two extreme ends on the spectrum of pleasure, but the jarring switch between the two had not affected Mr. Daheng"s mood even the slightest bit.
He listened to the flute while staring at a distant lake. "Broke through with his own strength? Absurd. He doesn"t even know what kind of power was used, so how could he possibly have broken through on his own?”
"Handed it to Luo Shan? In that case, did Luo Shan help him? Or could Luo Shan have been the one who placed Chen Le in my Liberation Palace from the very start? Though, why would Luo Shan do that? He shouldn’t know anything about how to use that stone.”
"Strange, strange… Does Luo Shan know, or not?
"Luo Shan, oh Luo Shan, you"re just as mysterious as ever, hehe."
…
In the Transcendent Universe, Zi Jing was taken from her usual research facility to someplace new. However, this facility that was not much better than her previous s.p.a.ce, as the equipment and everything else was quite similar.
"Teacher, why are we here?" Zi Jing asked curiously. She had awakened in the new research facility after two days.
The slightly mad old man chuckled triumphantly. "Zi Jing, haven’t you noticed anything different between this place and the Transcendent Universe?"
Zi Jing was taken aback. “We’re no longer in the Transcendent Universe?”
She eagerly glanced around, studying her surroundings. When she looked up, she noticed that there were no stars to be seen. This research facility was completely sealed off, but what was different about it? Suddenly, she realized something odd; were there too many clocks present?
"Hahaha, you"ve noticed, haven"t you? This is a parallel universe where time flows at a different rate than in the Transcendent Universe!" The mad old man laughed raucously.
Zi Jing"s eyes grew large. “Time flows at a different rate?”
The mad old man nodded, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "You should understand what that implies."
Zi Jing was shocked. “How much?”
“Not too much. Just a hundred times faster.”
Zi Jing"s pupils instantly constricted. “A hundred times? How did you find such a place? Isn’t this purely theoretical?”
"You have the order wrong. We actually found this universe first, and then developed the theory. However, even though it"s nothing but a theory in our Transcendent Universe, the Cyclic Universe has long spoken of parallel universes where time flows at differing rates. It’s possible that similar theories exist in other universes as well, but it’s very rare for any of those theories to be proven. This is one of the greatest secrets of our Transcendent Universe. In this place, a hundred years is the same as just a single year in the Transcendent Universe! What do you think of that? Hahaha!" The mad old man cackled maniacally.
Zi Jing had never considered that the Transcendent Universe had discovered such a universe.
From a point in time that predated memory, the concept of parallel universes had been shrouded in mystery and speculations. There were countless hypotheses, such as the possibility of a person finding a copy of themselves in a parallel universe. There were also many debates regarding the limits of the size of a universe, which ranged from being nearly as vast as the entire megaverse, to as small as the size of a single room, or even a speck of dust. Other conjectures suggested that time could flow at different speeds in different universes. Perhaps a moment in one place would be millennia elsewhere, though that was the most extreme suggestion.
There were numerous speculations about parallel universes, and while Zi Jing had initially believed the idea of differing flows of time in various parallel universes to be nothing more than a theory, she was now witnessing it for herself.
"Teacher, how long can this universe endure for?" Zi Jing asked, her voice trembling with excitement. In the current theories regarding parallel universes, even if such a universe did exist, it would not be able to last for very long. The difference in the flow rates of time indicated that such universes had to follow an entirely different set of laws from other universes, and such laws could not be broken. If a creature from another universe entered one of those universes, disrupting the laws in place, the universe would be plunged into chaos, which would lead to its inevitable destruction.
This was similar to their current research on sequence particles.
The independent laws of each universe could be likened to a fixed sequence. Entering another universe effectively disturbed that sequence. While most parallel universes would remain unaffected by such a disturbance, if the laws of time and s.p.a.ce that were formed by the universe’s sequence particles were disrupted, there would be severe problems.
There were countless parallel universes that were essentially a collection of sequence particles that transcended human understanding. However, since it was impossible to alter the thoughts and actions of humans, such universes simply auto-corrected these external issues. For instance, the laws could not force Zi Jing to willingly leave the universe, which meant that the only remaining solution was to have the universe itself disappear.
The excited old man finally started to calm down. "That’s hard to determine. It might disappear soon, or it might never disappear. Isn"t that what we are currently trying to research?"
Zi Jing nodded. "This is fantastic! With time flowing a hundred times slower here, who can rival our Transcendent Universe?"
The old man chuckled. "Don"t get ahead of yourself, Zi Jing. Since we managed to find one, what makes you think the other universes can"t as well? There are many peak powerhouses in the Cyclic Universe alone. I suspect that the Great Sovereign must have also found a dimension with an exaggerated flow of time and has converted it into a place for cultivation."
Zi Jing’s eyes flickered. "That’s certainly not impossible."