LIGHTNOVELONLINE Time War [1]
“So, we're basically in a time war?” Ling Xuan asked, a mixture of awe and dread in his voice.
“Exactly,” the man possessed by Xia Longwei confirmed. “This battle is happening across countless points in time simultaneously. Each version of us is fighting, and the battlefield shifts through different eras.”
“I see. There has to be a limit to this, right? Otherwise, can't the Maitreya just kill you when you were a child?” Ling Xuan asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Oh, but it can’t for a specific reason, and there is a limit to the furthest point we can travel to,” Xia Longwei replied.
“We are unable to travel to the future in relation to when we first arrived on the island, and we cannot go further back than a few decades from this point in time,” he explained.
“Why’s that?” Ling Xuan asked, intrigued.
“Well, we cannot go further into the future due to an unknown reason which I’ve not figured out yet,” Xia Longwei admitted, his voice tinged with frustration. “And we cannot go further back for a single reason—we’d be annihilated.”
“What?!” Ling Xuan exclaimed, confusion etched across his face.
“We are dangerously close to a certain era of the world,” Xia Longwei continued, his expression darkening. “The Age of Myth. If we go into that era, we won’t even know the moment we perished.”
“Well, there has to be something that can be done to beat the Maitreya, right?” Ling Xuan asked, his voice tinged with desperation and hope.
“Indeed! There is only a single method to beat it. And that method is you!” Xia Longwei declared, pointing directly at Ling Xuan.
“Huh?” Ling Xuan blinked, taken aback.
“You see, I am protected from being attacked when I’m young, but the Maitreya isn't,it’s vulnerable to attack at any time. As long as I can stall it and you can change the past, then we win,” Xia Longwei explained, his voice steady and confident.
“But the Maitreya is still a powerhouse! I don’t think its power is affected even if we are in the past!” Ling Xuan protested, a frown creasing his brow.
“That is correct,” Xia Longwei acknowledged, “which is why I have to help you!” He grinned.
“What?” Ling Xuan asked, still trying to wrap his head around the plan.
“It’s time to give you a power-up, Ling Xuan!” Xia Longwei announced.
“What!” Ling Xuan exclaimed, another blast echoing in the far distance, shaking the ground beneath them.
“Quick, tell me what I have to do to make your cultivation rise!” Xia Longwei urged, his urgency matching the dire situation.
“Qi! I need loads of Qi!” Ling Xuan answered quickly, desperation in his voice.
“Just that much? Alright!” Xia Longwei rubbed his hands together, then raised them upwards, controlling the body of the primitive man.
“Oi! Ling Xuan needs Qi!” the possessed man shouted. Suddenly, numerous bodies of Xia Longwei materialised. Each had unique appearances: some had wings, while others had limbs transformed into grotesque, powerful forms. All of them watched Ling Xuan from above as if they were divine beings.
“What the hell is your true form?” Ling Xuan muttered, awe and confusion in his voice.
“You don’t want to know,” Xia Longwei smiled through the possessed man's lips before a torrent of Qi rained down upon Ling Xuan.
BOOM!
The Qi struck Ling Xuan with overwhelming force, enveloping him in a radiant, pulsating aura. His body absorbed the energy like a parched desert drinking in the rain. Every cell, every fibre of his being vibrated with newfound power.
“Let’s fucking do this,” Ling Xuan thought, steeling himself as the Qi surging through him, slowly began to move according to his will as it started condensing.
It was time to complete Construction.
—-------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, as Ling Xuan prepared for the finalisation of The Ox Pathway, 50,000 years before the present day...
BOOM!
Trees and animals disintegrated in front of the sheer force of the explosion.
“You lowly scum dare!” The Maitreya roared in wrath as another version of itself attacked Xia Longwei from behind.
BANG!
However, another Xia Longwei appeared and dragged The Maitreya away to another point in time.
“Yes, I dare, you imperfect fool!” Xia Longwei replied as his already grotesque limbs started to morph further.
Tendrils erupted from Xia Longwei and wreathed around him, forming an armour of flesh.
The Maitreya grasped the air in front of it.
And in the next moment...
WHOOM!
The space between Xia Longwei and The Maitreya disappeared!
BANG!
The Maitreya struck, but Xia Longwei quickly blocked the attack and countered with a kick, throwing The Maitreya back.
“You can’t win this. You are still learning how to travel to different points in time whereas I have mastered it,” The Maitreya taunted, hoping to provoke a reaction from Xia Longwei.
Yet Xia Longwei only scoffed.
“So, is this how you plan to beat me? By taunting me? You are correct—I am still learning to use this skill. But you didn’t even notice I had displaced the time,” Xia Longwei smiled.
As The Maitreya heard those words, its pupils shrank in realisation.
“Why are you bringing us so close to that era!” The Maitreya shouted, and in a flash, it vanished.
Xia Longwei merely smiled as he vanished as well.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, in the distant past, Ling Xuan was condensing one meridian after the other using the Qi given by Xia Longwei. The entire area around Ling Xuan was desecrated, the sky populated with hundreds of Xia Longweis, each redirecting the ambient Qi toward him.
Though each Xia Longwei possessed tremendous amounts of Qi, they couldn’t fully utilise it, as the limit of Qi Ling Xuan’s body could hold in a single instance was unknown. Yet it was enough.
Currently, Ling Xuan’s body had already forged more than twenty meridians, and it was still in the process of forging even more. A normal human mind would’ve been unable to hold on for so long, and this included Ling Xuan.
The one forging the meridians was actually an informational program that had one task: forge meridians, which it was doing relentlessly. Yet there was something peculiar happening to Ling Xuan as more meridians were being forged. Slowly, his control over Qi was reaching a certain limit.
As the meridians formed and the Qi flowed more efficiently, information was being released and transferred to The Library. These were pieces of information that had never been there before, sealed away by Ling Xuan himself.