Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 420 Baskets and Shelves (5k) (Worldview Chapter)

Let's go back three days to the climax of Mirror's performance of "Silver Melody".

"After a long journey, we've finally arrived." Luo Qing looked at the Trisolaran star system, which was gradually becoming clearer, his face full of vicissitudes.

To avoid alerting the high-dimensional barrier sealed by the star god, Li Bai stayed close to Luo Qing, concealing his presence, and flew slowly at the speed of light.

For Luo Qing, the distance he has traveled in his past and present lives combined is not as far as the distance he has traveled now.

That's a full four light-years!

276363 astronomical units!
41342 trillion kilometers!

"A thousand miles away? It's more than a thousand miles," Li Bai said casually.

Luo Qing gazed at the three twinkling stars and said, "Isn't there a more suitable adjective? You know, language limits my expression of emotions."

Li Bai wrote: "I departed Baidi City amidst colorful clouds at dawn, returning to Jiangling a thousand miles away in a single day. The cries of monkeys on both banks never ceased, yet my light boat had already passed countless mountains."

Luo Qing: "Stop plagiarizing Li Bai's poems. Have you ever been Li Bai? You're just bringing shame to Li Bai."

Li Hei glared at him.

Li Bai asked, "I'm curious, in your hometown, how do you travel long distances? Do you fly slowly like you have for the past four years?"

Luo Qing nodded: "You're absolutely right. When traveling in our hometown, we usually fly slowly. But it depends on our cultivation level. An ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator can only make a round trip to my hometown in their entire life. A Tribulation Transcending cultivator can reach the edge of the continent in a few days if they fly day and night."

Li Bai asked in confusion, "Just how big is your hometown?"

Luo Qing gestured: "According to the official setting of the Human Emperor's Palace, it's about ten times the area of ​​Jupiter, but the actual area of ​​Kyushu should be about the same as the surface area of ​​the solar system." (Note: See the next chapter for references)
"The combined surface area of ​​ten Jupiters is only one-tenth of the surface area of ​​the Sun. That's too small. The cross-sectional area of ​​the solar system is much larger, though."

With a wave of his hand, Li Bai seemed to cause the entire Milky Way to move rapidly for a moment.

"But compared to this, it's still small."

"It is indeed smaller than the Milky Way, but my hometown is just a continent. A single continent can be the size of the solar system. Have you ever seen a planet in the universe that big?"

“I remember now, you told me that your hometown wasn’t a planet, but a flat earth with a round sky, but…” Li Bai glanced at Luo Qing, who stood calmly to the side.

"And according to you, even a Tribulation Transcending stage cultivator can't outrun a Nascent Soul stage cultivator like you who can fly at the speed of light. What's going on with your hometown?"

Faced with Li Bai's disdain for the size of the cultivation world and the speed of cultivators, Luo Qing did not show any displeasure at being looked down upon. He slowly asked in return.

"My hometown may be small, but its energy density is far higher than that of the vast universe. Do you believe that if you come with me to Kyushu, you might not be able to fly?"

Li Bai didn't believe it at all.

Luo Qing gave an analogy: "A Nascent Soul cultivator, if placed in his hometown, could at most shatter a mountain peak, and his escape speed would not exceed one thousand Mach."

Li Bai gave a disdainful smile.

Luo Qing added: "If you put it in the universe, you could kick a star like a ball and travel at sub-light speed."

Li Bai's smile froze slightly.

Luo Qing continued, "Cultivators at the Tribulation Transcending stage can move mountains and overturn seas; the world can change in the blink of an eye."

Li Bai's smile turned serious: "And then?"

Luo Qing: "Then, when a Tribulation Transcending cultivator arrives in a universe-type world, they can easily exceed the speed of light. When traveling long distances, they can also shatter the void to teleport directly, but the distance is limited, only within a certain range, and they cannot cross worlds. However, such a Tribulation Transcending cultivator's speed in the Nine Provinces does not exceed Mach 10,000. And in the Immortal Realm, a Tribulation Transcending cultivator is almost the same as an ordinary person. This is the unique world rule suppression in my hometown. Think about it yourself."

Li Bai could no longer laugh.

"Do you mean the speed of light in higher dimensions when you say faster than light?" Li Bai asked after thinking for a while.

Luo Qing's answer surprised Li Bai.

"No, it's faster than light. Our home world is generally a three-dimensional world. Although the energy level is very high, it is still three-dimensional. Although the concept of higher-dimensional space exists, it is basically uninhabited. A cultivator in the Tribulation Transcending stage can achieve faster than light speed in three-dimensional space. As for how much faster, it depends on the escape technique and cultivation level."

After Luo Qing finished speaking, he thought back to when he first came to this world. At that time, his impression of the cultivators in his hometown was still limited to the Nine Provinces. He was genuinely shocked when he first witnessed Zhi Zi's near-light-speed flight. He had overlooked the characteristic of [World Rule Suppression] at the time, and it wasn't until later, when he flew into space for the first time due to Hines's thought imprint and reached a speed of 0.01C on his way to Jupiter, that he belatedly realized what had happened.

Faced with Luo Qing's claim that the Tribulation Transcending stage could exceed the speed of light, Li Bai questioned: "What about general relativity? The speed of light is an intrinsic property of spacetime, how can you exceed that? The causal relationship is all messed up!"

In Li Bai's understanding, the speed of light is an intrinsic property of spacetime. Even if one can achieve "faster than light" speed in a lower-dimensional space through a higher-dimensional space, it is essentially just taking a shortcut.

No matter how fast it goes, it can't be faster than the speed of light in an eleven-dimensional universe.

0.162 meters per Planck time is the maximum limit.

Faced with Li Bai's questioning, Luo Qing was also unable to explain: "I don't know."

Luo Qing and Li Bai discussed it for a while and jointly attributed the cause to the difference in the rules of the world.

Yes, Luo Qing comes from another world/universe, Li Bai had already confirmed this.

The two also had a thorough discussion about the act of breaking through the void and directly traversing during the Tribulation Transcending stage.

The conclusion is that, considering that cultivators in the Tribulation Transcending stage cannot teleport across realms, even the maximum escape speed of a Tribulation Transcending stage cultivator who is proficient in the Dao of Space is far inferior to Li Bai's eleven-dimensional light speed.

But immortals above the Tribulation Transcending stage are a different story.

Li Bai had a basic understanding of everything from Qi Refining to Tribulation Transcending.

The two also had a brief discussion about the suppression of world rules, and finally concluded that, in terms of energy density and speed alone, Li Bai was far above the Tribulation Transcending stage, corresponding to the level of an immortal. As for what level of immortal he was, that was uncertain.

As for combat strength, it is difficult to quantify, and Li Bai has never used his full strength.

Maybe we can find a more intuitive standard by fighting the Star God later.

Li Bai seemed thoughtful: "From this perspective, cultivators are quite fast, especially with your description of shattering the void. This method of opening spatial portals is truly unheard of, but..."

Li Bai frowned slightly: "The speed is there, but the size is still not enough. Let's not even talk about the Immortal Realm. Just take your hometown as an example. According to your description of Nascent Soul cultivators, even if we consider your mountain as a star, your hometown can't be that big. But there are trillions of trillions of stars in the observable universe. Do you think there are trillions of trillions of mountains in your hometown?"

Luo Qing shook his head: "Of course there aren't that many, but my hometown is only a part of the Great Thousand World, and the void outside my hometown is endless, similar to the cosmic vacuum. If you include the area of ​​the void, the total volume should be no less than this universe."

"The vast world?" Li Bai asked, puzzled.

Luo Qing explained: "The universe is a big basket, and superclusters, composite galaxy clusters, and so on are all stuffed into it. My hometown, on the other hand, is a shelf, where all kinds of worlds are placed, and the variety of worlds is countless."

Li Bai: "For example?"

Luo Qing explained: "For example, the shelves also include galactic worlds like the universe, where similar technological civilizations exist. However, the scale of technological universes is generally smaller than that of the carbon-based federation. It's not that they can't develop, but that the size of their technological universes is limited."

From the "World Encyclopedia Analysis: Human Emperor Edition" (written by Commander Liu) that I obtained from my own Kyushu Human Emperor Palace, I learned that the size of most technological universes is generally on the scale of the Milky Way to the Virgo Supercluster.

Technologically advanced universes at the level of the Laniakea Supercluster are rare, and those of the size of the Pisces-Cetus Supercluster or the Hercules-Corona Borealis Supercluster are practically nonexistent. The upper limit of these worlds restricts the upper limit of those technological civilizations, to the point that even the strongest technological civilization cannot defeat a late-stage Earth Immortal.

(Note: See the next chapter for references)
Li Bai asked, "Tell me in detail what kind of strength this Earthly Immortal Realm cultivator possesses?"

Luo Qing frowned: "It's not easy to quantify. The battlefield between the Nine Provinces and the Earth Immortal monsters is generally under the suppression of the world's rules, so it seems to be at the level of world destruction. I don't know how it performs in the cosmic environment."

Luo Qing explained: "According to the book 'Analysis of Extraterrestrial Demons: The Human Emperor Edition' (Note: written by Commander Liu), the size of the Earth Immortal monster is equivalent to that of a universe. This point was also acknowledged by the three rulers of the Tribulation Transcending stage: Entropy Reduction, Entropy Balance, and Entropy Increase."

But the universe back in my hometown... is completely different from the universe now. The difference in size is like night and day. I estimate that an Earth Immortal corresponds to the size of the Milky Way galaxy, or perhaps the Virgo Supercluster. But such a powerful Earth Immortal, in the Nine Provinces, would at most be at the level of destroying a nation; they could be easily overwhelmed and killed by dozens of Tribulation Transcending stage cultivators.

(Note: See the next chapter for references)
Li Bai was very wary: "An earth immortal capable of destroying a galaxy is indeed not to be underestimated... If an earth immortal of this level appeared in the universe, it might require the combined efforts of several gods."

Luo Qing's eyes were filled with memories: "I once dealt with three enemies at the Celestial Immortal level. In our land, Celestial Immortals can destroy the world in batches, and there are even legends of killing a Mahayana cultivator in thirty-one moves."

However, considering the size of the world, the Celestial's power here would be equivalent to easily destroying the Milky Way and the Virgo Supercluster, and its size is estimated to be comparable to the Laniakea Supercluster.

"But when these celestial beings fought me in the Ten Realms, they were at most at the level of a shattered continent. This shows that even celestial beings are subject to the suppression of world rules. The guy who invented the suppression of world rules is truly a genius." Hearing this, Li Bai completely abandoned his contempt for Luo Qing's hometown.

Laniakea Supercluster?
This is beyond the scope of what ordinary gods can handle; it requires the intervention of a god of the level of a risk-relief.

Luo Qing continued rambling, "As for the higher-level Golden Immortals, I have never come into contact with them and do not know anything about them, but I imagine that Golden Immortals are also a giant in the Immortal Realm, probably equivalent in size to the Hercules-Corona Borealis Supercluster, or perhaps... the observable universe."

Li Bai's expression changed drastically.

At this moment, Luo Qing suddenly sensed an additional "viewpoint" beyond the observable universe.

Again.

This gaze did not come from the will of that star, but from something else.

Luo Qing's mind stirred slightly. He controlled his "thoughts" to ensure that his "thoughts" remained in a state of facing the wall.

After all, this thing can read 'thoughts'.

Li Bai, seemingly oblivious, hurriedly asked, "Above the Golden Immortal realm, are there anything stronger?"

Luo Qing's gaze inadvertently swept across the end of the universe, and he deliberately raised his voice: "Yes, there are three levels above such a powerful Earth Immortal: Primordial Limitless Immortal, Heavenly Dao, and Mahayana stage (more than two hundred years)."

Li Bai cautiously approached Luo Qing, his tone now tinged with reverence: "Brother Qing, please explain in detail."

Luo Qing was far from reaching that level, a level above the Golden Immortal. Being able to combine the nascent form of the Heavenly Dao to deal with a Celestial Immortal was the limit for him, a Nascent Soul cultivator. You must know that a Golden Immortal can kill a nascent form of the Heavenly Dao that has not yet grown up.

However, as someone who has experienced two playthroughs, and who even switched sides from Jiang Renhuang to Xianrenli's world to help the sincerely repentant Xianrenli quickly complete the second playthrough, I have some understanding of these top-tier beings.

And since there's a third listener here, it's perfectly acceptable to just say it directly.

Luo Qing said loudly, "I don't know much about Primordial Limitless Immortals. They are either the lords of the underworld or the controllers of the laws of time. Jumping through time and reversing countless worlds are commonplace for them. In the Immortal Realm, they would be top-level rulers. According to my guess, the size of Primordial Limitless Immortals should be at the multiverse level."

Li Bai was greatly alarmed.

The universe was horrified.

"Um?"

Luo Qing grasped that fleeting moment of shock from the darkness, and a series of insights arose in his mind. He seemed to have guessed what the mysterious existence beyond the observable universe behind the will of the stars was.

It seems... to be the universe itself?
It is not some existence outside the universe; it is the will of the universe!

No wonder this gaze came from outside the observable universe—it's because the universe itself is far larger than the observable universe; the real entity is outside!
Luo Qing thought of the Risk Remover sensor and his conversation that night.

"The universe is an expanding corpse, a 'thinker' that can never complete a single thought."

The thinker is the will of the universe; the will of the stars is merely an extension of its tentacles…

Luo Qing swallowed.

Naturally, he regarded thinkers as something of the same level and type as the Way of Heaven.

'Can I win? Oh no! According to the First Emperor's data, it takes over two hundred years of Mahayana cultivation to fight the Heavenly Dao to a standstill. I've only been in the Nascent Soul stage for two hundred and eleven years since I came to this world. I've had enough years, but the starting point for the Nascent Soul stage is different from that of the Mahayana stage...'

Just as Luo Qing was about to think this way, the deeply ingrained principle of facing the wall awakened him, and Luo Qing immediately stopped thinking.

Because Luo Qing's thought process was too fast, faster than the thought itself, the cosmic will only read the first four words.

I can beat it!

Who can I beat? Me?
The will of the universe was gripped by fear.

While the 'Thinker' was pondering, the Risk Eliminator and the Zeroer had already found the remaining dark energy, forcing the 'Thinker' to stop watching Luo Qing and focus on protecting the remaining dark energy from being converted into visible matter by these two super gods.

This Zero-Returner insists on restarting the universe to its singularity state. Instead of allowing it to do so, it gathers a bunch of people to relentlessly pursue it. By the way, why are these life forms so evil? Why are they forcing it to restart when it clearly shut down?
Luo Qing was also gripped by fear.

He realized that his cultivation time was too short. Putting aside whether two hundred years of Nascent Soul stage could be used in the same way as two hundred years of Mahayana stage, even if they could be used in the same way, the best way to win against the Heavenly Dao was to be like the Human Emperor with three hundred years of Mahayana stage. In other words, he still needed at least eighty-nine years of development time.

At this moment, if the Heavenly Dao (crossed out) or the will of the universe were to intervene directly, I would probably be in grave danger.

Fortunately, the other party did not seem to have any 'malicious intent' and even shifted their gaze away from Luo Qing.

Luo Qing had no idea why the other person had looked away.

Although he was moved away, Luo Qing remained in a meditative state, avoiding deep thinking about himself. Once he understood this cultivation method, the other party would also understand and would have to be on guard. It was better to continue to be confused.

As long as I find a way to continue cultivating, it doesn't matter if it's vacuum zero-point energy or high-dimensional space energy, or even solar energy, as long as I can cultivate immortality.

'But speaking of which, according to the Risk Remover's sensors, shouldn't the Thinker be a corpse incapable of thought? Why would it possess self-awareness?'

Luo Qing immediately cut off the idea as soon as it arose.

"Brother Qing, Brother Qing?"

Li Bai greeted Luo Qing, who was in a daze, several times.

We were just talking about the Primordial Immortal, but we haven't even discussed the Heavenly Dao and the Mahayana stage yet. Why are you spacing out? Li Bai was getting anxious.

"If the Primordial Chaos Immortal corresponds to the scale of the multiverse, then what is the Heavenly Dao you speak of?" Li Bai felt an infinite sense of grandeur simply from understanding the two words "Heavenly Dao".

Luo Qing didn't know if the Thinker was still listening, so he simply explained, "I don't know either, I'm just guessing. You can think of it as a unified formula above the multiverse, a manifestation of rules."

What about the Mahayana period?

Luo Qing's explanation was even more concise, consisting of only three words: "positive infinity".

Upon hearing this, Li Bai was filled with melancholy for a long time.

Luo Qing also recovered from his emotions. "So comparing the size of the world is meaningless, because there are too many worlds in my hometown, so I call it the 'Great Thousand Worlds'."

Luo Qing added, "Besides, as I said, one is a shelf structure and the other is a basket structure, so comparing their size or combat strength is meaningless."

Li Bai nodded dejectedly.

Meanwhile, outside the sky.

The Zero One: "The two-dimensionalization of the universe is irreversible. If it is not stopped, dark energy will exceed gravitational energy, which will cause the universe to change from closed to open and head towards heat death."

Risk Eliminator: "The Thinker's dark energy balance is only 68.3% of the total mass of the universe. If we can reduce it to below 50%, gravitational energy can defeat dark energy, and we can change the end of the universe from the Big Freeze (heat death) to the Big Crunch (contraction)... I'm really curious about what the Thinker is thinking."

Zero-Returner: "No matter what He is thinking, as long as the universe contracts, everything will be alright."

God: "I wish there were a true, infinite ocean of light..."

Nebula Will: "Stop dreaming. The Overarching Will is here again with its minions. While the Stellar Will is away, let's concentrate our forces to deal with these short-sighted Black Forest Gods."

Zero-Returner: "We will definitely win! I can already see the day when I launch the Super Membrane Broadcast 'Return Movement Statement' and announce our victory to the entire universe!"

Almost simultaneously with the battle between the gods outside the observable universe, the will of the stars seemed to receive some message. Suddenly, ignoring all concealment techniques, it locked onto Luo Qing's location and abruptly revealed its fangs!

Almost simultaneously, the Star God, having received the warning, also located Luo Qing's position.

Li Bai could not sense the existence of the will of the stars, but he was very familiar with the star gods.

He reminded Luo Qing:
"The Star God has discovered us."

Luo Qing sensed it too, and his expression turned solemn. "A fierce battle is about to begin."

(End of this chapter)