Chapter 167: Deriving Billions of Forms

In human history, the understanding of light went through a tortuous process. It shifted from wave theory to particle theory, then back to wave theory due to various experimental phenomena. Later, Einstein proposed the concept of light quanta, so light became particles once again, until the final concept of wave-particle duality.

Of course, the abstract concept of wave-particle duality was of no help to Lin Lei. In his current understanding, light was more like a pure energy, possessing no rest mass, only motion mass. This was the mass derived from the famous mass-energy equivalence equation E=mc2.

But the solution proposed by Lenna was related to this multi-faceted nature of light. The difference was that she did not just stop at wave-particle duality; she made Lin Lei completely convert the structure of his body into light quanta.

Subsequently, she applied the multi-faceted nature of light quanta manifested in various dimensions, instantly deriving nearly countless images of Lin Lei in different places across the Universe.

There was no distinction between virtual and real in every image. As long as Lin Lei’s Will was loaded onto it, that image became his true body. If he detached from it, then it was just an illusion.

Even more wonderful was the fact that the movement of the Will was the only action at a distance in the Universe! Didn’t they say, “How far your thoughts go, there you can travel”? This sentence vividly described Lin Lei’s current situation.

Because the Monster he was dealing with had a very simple mind, was very sensitive to any provocation, and would chase him to the end.

So, Lin Lei placed countless photon illusions between Andromeda and the Galaxy, to allow his Will to transfer rapidly within them.

These photon illusions, in essence, were still just one. Besides the multi-faceted nature of light quanta, their ability to manifest also relied on Lenna’s operations in the Time Dimension.

Lenna divided one second on the time axis into the smallest unit. Of course, Lenna admitted that this minimum unit of time was only the limit of Pan-dimensional Creature understanding, not the limit of the Universe.

This unit was so small, approximately ten to the power of negative fifty, that when Lenna rotated Lin Lei’s photon illusions among every predetermined position in each time unit, Lin Lei could not tell which one was real and which was fake.

To Lin Lei, these photon illusions existed simultaneously, with no difference. Presumably, this foolish Monster did not realize this difference either, which was enough.

Lin Lei only needed to transfer his consciousness from one illusion to the next in order, towards the Galaxy. If there were no surprises, this should attract the Monster to head toward the Galaxy.

To ensure he did not give up halfway, Lenna arranged for a billion illusions. They were evenly distributed over a journey of nearly 2.8 million Light Years. Basically, one was placed every 0.003 Light Years. They were densely arranged within star systems with many influencing factors, and sparsely arranged between empty star systems.

Now, Lin Lei had confirmed the Monster’s location. It was near Tanster, the planet where Lin Lei first arrived in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Lin Lei waited for Lenna to finish setting up the illusions, then loaded his Will onto the illusion closest to the Monster. He openly released his Will Fluctuation.

At this moment, Lin Lei’s distance to the opponent was only ten light-seconds, that is, less than 3 million kilometers. Lin Lei’s huge Will Fluctuation immediately caught the Monster’s attention and was seen as a serious provocation.

Lin Lei could even see the Monster looking up and roaring at the sky. It was unknown what meaning this action had in a vacuum. It was probably influenced by the subconscious of the Immortal that composed his Will.

The Monster charged at him with a speed unimaginable to Lin Lei. This was a speed beyond the scale of Pan-dimensional Creatures, and Lin Lei couldn’t react at all!

In Lin Lei’s perception, he only noticed the rapid fluctuation of quantum tides. While a large number of particles were annihilating, a large number were being generated simultaneously. And at this time, the Monster had already arrived right in front of him!

Fortunately, Lenna had anticipated this situation beforehand. Although Lenna’s current Will was weakened and her fluctuation was not as strong as Lin Lei’s, she could still react. She transferred Lin Lei’s Will to the next illusion before the Monster reached Lin Lei’s true body.

Lin Lei only needed to act as a bright, attention-grabbing big lamp. Lenna would handle the specific transfer process.

Even so, Lin Lei was still terrified. Every time, Lenna carried Lin Lei’s Will backward to escape only when the Monster’s giant claw was about to strike him.

It was unknown whether this was the result of Lenna’s weakened abilities or if she deliberately wanted to scare Lin Lei.

Lin Lei guessed it was mostly the former. This set off alarm bells in his heart. In such a critical moment, no accidents should occur; otherwise, he would definitely be finished.

He could only worry by himself. He dared not disturb Lenna, who was fully focused on operating the conversion process. The feeling of it was truly not for outsiders to know.

If he could choose again, Lin Lei would decisively give up. The Andromeda Galaxy being finished was none of his business.

The marathon in this group of star systems did not last long. From the Tanster planet to the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy, it took less than one second!

It should be known that although the Tanster planet was remote and located at the edge of the star system, it was the edge far from the Galaxy side. To reach the side near the Galaxy, it would take passing through nearly 150,000 Light Years.

Lin Lei opened his eyes to the contest between Pan-dimensional Creatures.

In just that one second, the calculations performed and actions taken by Lenna were unimaginable to Lin Lei. Presumably, even if the Galaxy’s Super Intelligence did this, its speed would still be far behind Lenna’s.

It was truly unknown what it looked like when the World Tree’s abilities were at their peak.

Compared to this, the Monster’s brain was much simpler. It simply ran through the Andromeda Galaxy. Although its running speed was indeed fast.

The Monster did not perform any Space Jump, nor was there any Warp Flight. In fact, Warp Flight has limits on Curvature. Once it reaches 10,000, it is difficult to improve further. And even with a Curvature of 10,000, it is hard to cross the entire star system in one second.

The Monster flew in a manner similar to action at a distance, purely by instinct. It ran entirely on the limit of time recognition for Pan-dimensional Creatures as described by Lenna!

This meant that this one second, relative to Lenna and relative to the Monster, had already passed an equivalent of ten to the power of 50 seconds for humans. By the time the Universe was destroyed, this time had not yet passed.

The eternity of Pan-dimensional Life was reflected here!

However, an accident happened at the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy!

This Monster, for unknown reasons, was bound. Upon reaching the edge of the star system, it immediately lingered and did not advance. Although it kept making roaring motions, it refused to cross a certain invisible boundary.

What was going on? Neither Lin Lei nor Lenna could figure it out.

What in the Andromeda Galaxy could bind it? This was strange.

The Monster looked at Lin Lei, who was behind an invisible boundary, and went mad with anger. It maimed all the visible planets around it like a madman. Even a small-mass star was collapsed by it using some unknown means.

Lin Lei and Lenna looked at each other, feeling at a loss.

Just then, an unexpected person appeared via teleportation at the edge of this star system. It was Veren!

Veren was wearing the golden-bordered robe of the Supreme Council President of the Holy City. It was very magnificent. On his head, he wore the “Origin Law.” This appearance was very similar to that of Ptolemy back then.

What shocked Lin Lei and Lenna was that Veren stood near the Monster, but this frenzied beast ignored him completely, not even looking at him.

This… There were too many unexplainable events encountered today. Lin Lei felt somewhat numb. He instinctively sensed that all of this was related to the “Origin Law” worn by Veren.

“Archmage Lin Lei, you truly live up to your reputation as an peerless genius. You even thought of such a method to lead this Monster, born from the ‘Origin Law’, away from the Main Plane. If I am not mistaken, the direction pointed to by that row of illusions behind you should be the ‘another Main Plane’ you mentioned, right?”

At this moment, Veren was confident and composed. And indeed, he guessed correctly.

Seeing that Lin Lei did not speak or refute, knowing he had tacitly agreed, he continued, “I never understood why Ptolemy was so afraid of you. Only now, after obtaining this Divine Artifact, do I truly know the reason. Whether it is the Monster behind me or you, both radiate an inexplicable aura, that is, the aura of a Deity!”

“If I am not mistaken, you, Archmage Lin Lei, should be the incarnation of a certain Deity. Otherwise, I cannot imagine how a mortal could rise so quickly and be able to contend with a true Deity like the one behind me!”

This time, Veren guessed wrong. Lin Lei smiled and said, “You say the one behind you is a true Deity? Would a Deity be so… so barbaric?”

Veren seemed not to sense any mockery from this, but spoke solemnly, “How a Deity acts or what appearance they have is not something I can guess. Just like you, Immortal Lin Lei, I also cannot see through your thoughts.”

Whether he was really a Deity or not, Lin Lei did not argue. He only looked at Veren and said, “Then what is your purpose in coming here?”

Veren glanced at the Monster behind him, breathed out deeply, and lowered his eyes, saying, “Although the one behind me is a Deity, it is the incarnation of a Deity’s anger. He has vented for long enough. The Main Plane cannot bear his anger. It is time to return!”