Eternal Time and Space

Chapter 20 The Past Has No Beginning, the Future Is Limitless

Zi Chen flipped his left hand, and Zhongtianmen flew out from his sleeve.

A silver-white portal hung above the torrent, within which surged boundless spatial power.

Zi Chen flicked the strings again, and Zhongtian Gate slowly sank into the torrent, landing in the future.

The moment Zhongtianmen fell, the future exploded in the torrent.

Countless portals surged forth from the torrent, one after another, layer upon layer, stretching towards the unknown distance.

Each portal leads to a possible future, each portal represents a choice that has not yet occurred, their number is endless, constantly splitting, extending, and branching, like the roots of a towering tree, growing wildly in all directions.

The future is limitless, because it has not yet happened, so there are countless possibilities.

Zi Chen sat cross-legged in the middle of the torrent; his location was now.

The past solidified into chaos behind Zi Chen, while the future differentiated into boundless possibilities before him. Zi Chen is the point connecting the past and the future, the intersection of chaos and boundlessness, and the balance between solidification and differentiation.

Zi Chen radiated light, beginning to draw power from the past and the future.

In the past, the light of the Eternal Bell began to gather, and countless light patterns flowed on the bell's body. The light grew brighter and brighter, and finally, a human figure condensed on the bell's body.

This was a young boy with a youthful face. He could vaguely see the shadow of Zi Chen in his eyes and brows, but he was even younger than Zi Chen. There were no traces of time on the boy. He was like a blank sheet of paper, like the first ray of light before chaos was created. He held the Eternal Bell in his hands and walked out of the past.

"My name is Wushi." The boy's voice was as clear as spring water.

In the future, the light of Zhongtianmen began to gather. From among countless portals, a white light flew from the deepest distance, passed through layers of portals, and landed on the torrent.

The white light transformed into a middle-aged Taoist priest with a dignified face, white hair, and white clothes. He also bore the shadow of Zi Chen in his eyes and brows, but was even more weathered than Zi Chen. Behind him, the Zhongtian Gate stood tall, with countless portals unfolding layer upon layer within the gate, leading to an unknown distance.

"My name is Wuliang." The middle-aged man's voice was as steady as a mountain.

It is without beginning, without limit; the past is without beginning, and the future is without limit.

Zi Chen opened his eyes, looked at the two avatars in front of him, a faint smile appeared on his lips, and he suddenly clasped his hands together.

The past, present, and future—three points in time vibrate simultaneously at this moment. Wushi represents the past, Zichen represents the present, and Wuliang represents the future. The auras of the three begin to intertwine and merge. The torrent no longer surges forward but begins to bend, with its head and tail approaching each other and its two ends converging.

The past and the future converge in the present.

The torrent curved into a circle, or into countless circles superimposed, nested, and intertwined.

Each circle represents a complete time cycle, and each circle contains the complete relationship between the past, present, and future.

Countless circles nested, permeated, and overlapped one another, transforming into a twisted and mysterious form with no beginning, no end, no past, no future, no distinction between time and space; everything was a whole, everything was the eternal present.

The magnificent torrent suddenly contracted, and endless silvery-white light converged from all directions, gathering behind Zi Chen's head and transforming into a silvery-white halo.

The halo slowly rotated, spreading outwards like ripples. Within the halo, the figures of Wushi and Wuliang appeared and disappeared. Wushi held the Eternal Bell and stood on the left side of the halo, representing the solidified past; Wuliang carried the Zhongtian Gate on his back and stood on the right side of the halo, representing the differentiated future; while Zichen sat cross-legged in the center of the halo, bearing the eternal present.

The past is without beginning, the future is immeasurable, the present is eternal; the three bodies of time are thus accomplished.

But this is only the beginning.

Above the three flowers above Zi Chen's head, the Three Treasures appeared.

Above the ceiling, the Milky Way unfolds, the sun, moon, and stars flow within the scroll, and the world of stars rises and falls within it.

Within the painting, a giant egg floats silently. This is the offspring of the phoenix, conceived from the essence of Yin and Yang, and the last legacy left behind after the fall of the Yin and Yang gods and demons.

The giant egg is black, white and gold, with yin and yang forces swirling and intertwining within it, sometimes clearly distinct, sometimes merging into one. Beside the giant egg, a fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation slowly rotates, absorbing and exhaling boundless starlight.

Above the earth flower, the Nine Nether Cauldron stands suspended, its inner light as deep as an abyss, within which the Netherworld evolves.

Deep within the cauldron, the pitch-black giant egg formed from the ghost chariot floated silently, with nine lines flickering on its shell. Beside the giant egg, a fragment of the Creation Jade Disc also hung, breathing in and out the deathly and yin energy of the Netherworld.

Above the flower, the mortal prison spun, and the blood-red giant city on the petals shrank to the size of a fist, its three gates wide open, reflecting the blood-red light.

Deep within the giant city, five-colored giant eggs float silently. These are offspring conceived by the phoenix using the five elements as their source, and are the last legacy left behind after the fall of the five elemental gods and demons.

Five-colored light flowed endlessly on the eggshell, the five elements interacting and restraining each other in a continuous cycle. Beside the giant egg, the third fragment of the Creation Jade Disc slowly rotated, absorbing the blood and karma of the mortal world.

Three flowers, three treasures, three eggs, and three fragments of the Jade Disc of Creation.

The halo behind Zi Chen's head suddenly turned.

Endless power of spacetime burst forth from the circular light, like a silvery-white waterfall, cascading into the three flowers.

The smallpox suddenly swelled up.

The thirty-six petals unfolded layer by layer, each petal becoming crystal clear under the infusion of the power of time and space, like thirty-six pieces of silver-white glass. At this moment, the fragments of the Creation Jade Disc melted, turning into a beam of clear light that merged into the ceiling. At the same time, the Milky Way axis unfolded, and the starry world in the scroll descended from the sky, merging with the ceiling.

The celestial flowers transformed into a vast starry world.

The sun and moon hang high in the sky, the true fire of the sun and the true water of the moon reflect each other, and the seven stars of the Big Dipper, the six stars of the Southern Dipper, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, and Jupiter, and countless other stars move in the sky according to their own trajectories, endlessly cycling.

In the starry sky, the origins and spiritual treasures of the three beings, Cangtian, Qingtian, and Huangtian, transformed into three beams of heavenly light, merging into the sky of this starry world and becoming a vast and boundless will of heaven. This is the will of heaven, the law of the stars' movement, and the fundamental principle of the universe's operation.

The moment the starry world took shape, the giant egg, which was black, white and gold, suddenly trembled.

On the eggshell, the power of Yin and Yang began to spin wildly, black and white light intertwined and entwined, and golden light burst forth from between them.

The eggshell began to crack, and the cracks spread from the top to the bottom, from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred. Golden light gushed out from the cracks, illuminating the entire starry sky in a golden hue.