Chapter 29 – The Secret of the Timeline
At her present angel-level, Fors Wall was someone Ning Lu absolutely refused to appear in front of.
Even though he carried the aura of the Celestial Venerable and wore Amon's face, it was precisely that which might trigger the 'Salty Fish' who, ten years ago, had been nothing more than an ordinary Beyonder.
So, regretfully, although Ning Lu had already plotted a whole set of intimidation tactics for Salty Fish, as long as she didn't come knocking, he would simply stay out of her way.
Right now he could, to a certain extent, command Sefirah Castle, but provoking Lady Salty Fish offered zero benefit—besides, he was still only a weak, pitiful, helpless sequence 7; if she slapped him to death by accident it would be hilarious.
When the chance arose, it would be better to seek out Lady Salty Fish, currently only Sequence 9 on mystery timeline.
"Speaking of which, Celestial Venerable…"
Ning Lu spoke slowly, as though talking to himself. In his perception, the Celestial Venerable cloaked in a yellow-black mantle stood at his side, toying with prayer beads.
"I remember that although the king of time and space can befool history and travel through time, you still can't alter the past, correct?"
"…So if I change the 'past,' does the 'present' shift at once?"
Sunlight from outside the window spilled over the Celestial Venerable, passing through that illusory form and slanting across the floor.
It was already late; following Ning Lu's hint, Lumian Lee had gone to Cordu Village to send telegrams, do some fishing, and look for anything that might help him escape.
With this rare leisure, Ning Lu decided to have a small discussion with the Celestial Venerable about matters relating to himself.
Hearing Ning Lu, the Celestial Venerable paused in rolling the beads, stepped forward, sat opposite him, and said with a smile:
"Does this mean you're ready to cooperate with me?"
"Just asking a question." Ning Lu left the Celestial Venerable no opening to exploit.
…That's a rather heartless way to put it.
The Celestial Venerable sighed, put away the beads, and said:
"But I don't mind telling you these things."
He paused for a moment.
"You should know that all time, space, rules and symbolism in our world originate from the very first creator—from the complete 'Me,' right?"
He naturally gave himself a bit of credit.
"Under ordinary circumstances, the history Sefirah Castle lets me revert to isn't wholly false, but it isn't real either."
The Celestial Venerable spread the fingers of his right hand.
"For example, the 'Age of the Outer Deities' on this planet has already been destroyed by the revival of the Original Creator; all symbols linked to the Astral World and all records in the Spirit World—bang—gone without a trace.
He kept his tone light:
"But if the complete 'Me' descends, I can 'fraud' the Spirit World, 'befool' the Astral World, 'shift' reality, and patch together that bygone era with fragments of history."
"Then I can blur the boundary between reality and history and make them switch—turning truth to falsehood and falsehood to truth—so that the Age of the Outer Deities would cover the Earth in an instant, and everyone would rejoice as though the Original had never awakened."
"I only need to bring over the Sun and reset the stars, and reality becomes history while history becomes reality. Would you call that changing history?"
Listening, Ning Lu already had a vague answer.
Strictly speaking, that would not count as changing history. Unlike Ning Lu's current state—he walked two different timelines at once, both rolling forward.
"So you've realised your own peculiarity." The Celestial Venerable spoke slowly. "In our world, history and time march in only one direction, yet your stature lets you start from a single 'origin'—the instant you transmigrated—and open up an entirely new timeline."
"Of course, I'm not you, and you shouldn't ask me." His eyes narrowed slightly.
"I can only hazard a few small guesses: tiny actions you take on that other timeline won't echo here; only when the stature of the body you occupy keeps rising will the consequences of what you do over there feed back into the 'future.'"
With that, the Celestial Venerable chuckled softly. "Are you satisfied with that answer?"
"More or less what I thought."
Ning Lu nodded, speaking in the empty room. The Celestial Venerable's voice paused for a few seconds, then he said with a hint of amusement:
"—I actually have one more question, compatriot."
"How long do you plan to keep playing inside this dream? A simple jolt to its source—Lumian Lee—could shatter it; we wouldn't need to waste so much time here."
The Celestial Venerable's gaze fixed on Ning Lu, trying to see how deep he ran. Ning Lu turned his head, stared back for several seconds, and said:
"…But why should I end this dream so soon?"
"You can't leave my body, you can't use the will awakening within me to influence the outside world, whereas I can stay safe atop Sefirah Castle, digest potions, and even finish off both the Marauder and Cryptologist potions before returning to Tingen—so why hurry to end the dream?"
"—Oh, I almost forgot: every time I digest a Beyonder characteristic, its mental imprint is erased. So you've begun to feel your own 'death' and grown anxious, haven't you?"
At that, a low laugh rumbled in Ning Lu's chest.
"Besides, I truly treat Lumian Lee sincerely. You may only see him as the future Calamity of Destruction, but he's an independent, free individual; if you don't deal with him honestly, how will he help you in the future?"
"Of course, turning him into your marionette or avatar would also achieve your goal—but don't puppets and avatars turn on their masters all the time, my dear self-proclaimed merciful god?"
The Celestial Venerable withdrew his gaze, his tone carrying regret that might have been feigned or genuine.
"You and I are no different. Hah, I thought you might be a mortal pretending to be a god—but it turns out you're just as obsessive as the rest of us."
"You think everyone is the Fool?" Ning Lu quipped, taking a playful jab at that certain Fool.
The Celestial Venerable shook his head gently and slowly dissolved into the bright sunlight.
"Since I can't separate from you of my own accord, let's sit together on the highest seat."
From the sunlight came a laugh, impossible to tell whether encouragement or mockery: "Do your best, compatriot."