Chapter 459 Three Directions That Changed History

I can't determine exactly how much time has passed on the other side of the small bowl.

It's not just because of the chaotic timeline in the apocalyptic era, but also because the flow of time cannot be properly compared between different eras. This is completely different from comparing the flow of time in two different spaces. Although the "present" is constantly moving forward, whether the "future point in time" will also move forward at the same time as the "present" is a proposition that is fundamentally flawed from the start.

From this perspective, my past ability to communicate normally with the small bowl, which was clearly changing over time, in the virtual world seems to have become a source of suspicion.

Furthermore, when contemplating issues related to time, I also recalled how Asahi and I interacted with Yomi, the Great Impermanence of Doomsday, across the river of time, and became aware of even more possibilities.

I am able to interact with historical figures from the past; in other words, I am able to transmit energy and information to the past. Wouldn't this cause history to change?

Or is it that the reason my "present" hasn't changed is because my act of altering history is itself an event that was bound to happen in my timeline?

That afternoon, I saw Lu Chan again at the mansion.

He seemed to have something to report to me, and I also wanted to ask him for advice, as his knowledge and experience far surpassed that of both Asahi and me combined. Seeing that I seemed to have a question, he made a gesture of deference, indicating that I should ask first.

After listening to my question, he nodded slightly and said, "Are you asking yourself if you can change history through certain means, and thus change the present...?"

"Well... that depends on how you plan to change things and what you want to change."

"How so?" I asked, curious.

"In the world of Witcher, there's more than one way to alter history," Lu Chan said. "While each method is incredibly difficult, there are also ruthless characters who can accomplish it easily, like the great demon Silvermoon..."

"Since you've had contact with her more than once, you must have witnessed her methods of altering history, right? The method she used is one of the easiest to implement among all the methods."

"According to the documents about the Silver Moon that I know, strictly speaking, the power of the Silver Moon does not actually cross time and space to modify the facts of the past, but rather it uses illusionary power to forge the world's historical records, that is, to deceive the world."

"The world has a memory. A large number of past causes and effects and established facts are deposited deep within spacetime, much like the code that supports the events and visuals of a computer game. Although invisible to the naked eye, it plays a crucial role. Silver Moon can manipulate the 'world's memory' in a way that benefits itself, causing the 'present' to be corrected by the world to a corresponding form... That should be easy to understand, right?"

I understand now, and at the same time, I feel the power of Silver Moon once again.

Ordinary illusionists can at most hypnotize sentient beings like humans and animals, but Silver Moon has hypnotized the world itself. Needless to say, the range of her power cannot truly be the entire world; at most, it's limited to the spacetime region she inhabits. Even so, it's terrifying.

A monster with such power is indeed almost omnipotent. For a moment, I couldn't even remember how I had so easily defeated her.

"Of course, that kind of power cannot directly affect you Great Impermanence. Because even if the world misremembers you, as long as you don't misremember yourselves, the world's corrective power cannot affect your form of existence," Lu Chan continued. "And the second way to change history is to truly transmit yourself, or your power, to the past."

"Then, three different results will occur here: the first result is that since the history that has already happened also has a corrective force, if you rashly try to change it, you will be suppressed by this corrective force."

"Either you travel to the past, but no matter what changes you make, you can't succeed; or you successfully travel to the past, but inexplicably lose your memory and can only recover it at the time you started traveling, or you may never recover it; or it's like the Grim Reaper has arrived, and the corrective force directly kills you..."

"In the history of Luoshan, there are four or five hundred unlucky or lucky people who were caught up in some inexplicable and bizarre events and traveled through time, as well as powerful witchers with ambitions to travel through time and change history. There are probably many more who left no records. Later, everyone learned their lesson and stopped researching this kind of thing."

Is "time travel" really that common? Although considering that this number is scattered throughout Luoshan's entire history, it should actually be quite rare, but it still far exceeded my imagination.

"You're saying this is only the first outcome... meaning, the 'possibility of successfully changing history' still exists?"

I thought of Asahi; she might be someone who traveled through time to the present, trying to prevent the apocalypse. If history is absolutely impossible to change, then all her efforts would be in vain.

“Of course it exists,” Lu Chan replied. “Those who will ultimately be overwhelmed by the corrective force are the demon hunters within the stages of formation, existence, decay, and emptiness. If they are at the Great Completion stage, they can initially contend with the historical corrective force. This is the second outcome.”

"However, the results of the resistance were not ideal. Although it has not been completely proven, the altered history may create parallel worlds, and the results of the alteration will be inherited by the parallel worlds. Regardless of whether it is true or not, even if history is successfully changed using this method, it will not affect our present."

Asahi is also at the Great Accomplishment level, which seems to explain why our current activities have not affected the apocalyptic era in which Xiaowan lives... While verifying this in my mind with my own observations, I asked, "Then, what if the person trying to change history is not at the Great Accomplishment level... but rather the Great Impermanence?"

"Compared to the Great Completion stage, the Great Impermanence can certainly do more. Without creating so-called parallel worlds, it is possible to forcibly change the present by modifying history, but it requires an extremely large amount of power. And that is the third outcome," Lu Chan said. "As for the specifics, since it involves the realm of the Great Impermanence, I don't know much about it. But just thinking about it for a moment makes it clear that it is an act of distorting the already established timeline itself."

"The greater the degree of change required in the present moment, the more power is needed; at the same time, the further back in time the change is from the present moment, the more difficult it is to make.

"Take the example of 'resurrecting the dead by rewriting history.' If you just want to resurrect a few or a dozen ordinary people who have accomplished nothing or weak demon hunters, it shouldn't be too difficult. But if you want to resurrect ordinary people and demon hunters who are capable of making great achievements, or even great figures in history and demon hunters at the highest level... then you might as well think about how to open the third door first."

Hearing this, I remembered what the Lord of the Seal had said before.

When questioned by Number One about whether it was possible to resurrect the dead, the Lord of the Divine Seal replied that he could resurrect all the dead people in human history, and also admitted that he had the power to change the past.

This answer is, of course, based on the premise of fully restoring the Divine Seal. I feel like I'm directly experiencing the difference between the Great Impermanence and the complete Divine Seal for the first time.

And, according to this theory, Shan Liangyi doesn't seem to be able to change the future at will by reincarnating into history... However, if he doesn't mind entering a parallel world that is still in doubt, then he can do whatever he wants; even if he insists on changing the original timeline, as a god who pushes open the third door, his degree of freedom will definitely be much higher.

As for myself, if I want to change history, I first need to be able to perceive historical information itself. Right now, I can't directly investigate historical information like Asahi does—not because I can't perceive it, but because I can perceive it but can't understand it.

It's like facing unfamiliar conceptual information that resembles computer program code; my experience isn't enough to translate it into a form I can understand.

By creating a fake reflection of the moon in the water and synchronizing the results with Ma Zao in real time, this step can be skipped, and history can be modified directly.

"Well, did my answer clear up your doubts, Your Majesty?" Lu Chan asked.

"Thank you, I've learned a lot," I said. "Next... what is it you'd like to report to me about?"

“Well, I have two things to say,” Lu Chan said. “First, last time you told me that there was a traitor in the Mingzhuo forces who leaked information to Taoyuan Township, and asked me to investigate him secretly… I have already made some progress.”

As he spoke, he took out some documents and handed them to me, continuing, "Based on the results of my investigation using my connections, it's very likely that the intelligence leak occurred at the Luoshan branch base under Mingzhuo. However, I can't pinpoint which branch base leaked the information yet, so I can only provide three suspected locations."

"I have marked them on the map here with red circles, and I have also marked them with numbers one, two, and three next to them according to their suspicion from highest to lowest."

"In addition, the information here is an introduction to these three branch bases, as well as the basis for judging them as suspects..."

Watching his meticulous and efficient work style, I felt like I had hired a highly capable secretary. Or perhaps a butler.

As he explained, I picked up the documents and glanced at them, and after he stopped, I asked, "So... what's the second thing you want to report?"

Lu Chan gave me a deep look, and then said, "The Great Impermanence Willow Shadow has requested a meeting with you."

(End of this chapter)