The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

"But the problem is—"

Xia Mi touched the Widmanstätten patterns that were still over a thousand degrees Celsius and the branch-like alchemical circuits: "Since it is the 'life-bound object' of the Earth's will, how could the 'mere' White King shake it and even refine it for his own use? This is clearly not a power of the same level, is it?"

Conservative estimates suggest that the size of Earth's consciousness is at least equivalent to several thousand or tens of thousands of ordinary Ninth Realm cultivators, a difference that is immeasurable.

Generally speaking, the origin of this star's core, the planet that created the Aiken crater, has already undergone nuclear differentiation and has a complete iron-nickel core, so it can basically be considered a planetary embryo—albeit the lightest and smallest one.

It is roughly equivalent to the standard initial stage of the ninth realm of longevity.

With a mass of 2180 trillion tons, although it is comparable to one thirty-thousandth of the total weight of the moon, it is still pitifully small compared to the 19.3 trillion trillion tons of the Earth's core, powerless to resist like an ant.

Its original consciousness was clearly obliterated in the perilous battlefield between Earth and the Moon, and it was quickly reduced to a tool.

As for the White King, especially the White King who has not yet reached the peak of her strength, she may not be much stronger than this star.

After all, relying on external forces to rise to the top in one step, without the foundation accumulated over geological eras, can never be considered a strong player among its peers.

"Because the meal is over."

Zhao Qing replied, "Once it is confirmed that it is impossible to 'chew' further, the power poured in by the Earth's will will naturally be withdrawn. The predators have no need to, and will not allow, too much power to remain outside; that would be a pointless loss and risk."

"Speaking of which, how do you think an existence like the consciousness of stars can be destroyed? How can it be killed?" she countered. "Describe the process of one devouring another in the language of cultivation?"

"Hmm..." Xia Mi pondered to herself, "Is it related to the 'tidal force' at the level of laws? Tearing apart the target's stable structure, slowly stripping away its law threads, dismantling everything about the loser?"

Compared to life forms at the ninth realm, the only examples of death battles she knew and understood were the "elixir of immortality" and the White King.

The former's power form should be more similar to that of stars.

"Mostly correct."

Zhao Qing expressed his approval: "For a law core that is independent of the outside world and forms its own system, the origin of a ninth-realm powerhouse, the first step is to isolate and suppress it, preventing it from continuously repairing its own energy. The second step is to use Dao patterns to overwrite the field, slowly eroding and transforming it, causing the opponent's 'heart essence' to decay and its original nature to be destroyed, so that it is incorporated into one's own law system and gradually assimilated. Finally, all the original energy is extracted, leaving not a trace, in order to completely annihilate it and make its consciousness completely disappear."

"However, from the perspective of the 'natal star', it can indeed be simplified to the tearing of the tidal force, and the longevity fruit will disintegrate as a result."

"But it is clear that in this process of Earth's consciousness devouring Moon's consciousness, each of the three steps has only been half completed."

"Severing the flow of energy from the outside world?" She continued, "The sun shines brightly, it can't block it out; meteorites fall frequently, bringing supplies."

"Even though this star core has been refined into a 'natal object' and placed at the 'doorstep', it is still far from the 'Roche limit' of the tidal forces of the two laws. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of kilometers between the Earth and the Moon, and the distance is getting wider and wider, and we still can't reach the critical point."

Because of the vast physical distance between the two, no matter how much power is poured in, how many natal artifacts are implanted, or how many layers of laws are infiltrated, it can only "weaken" rather than "end".

As for changing distance by stretching space?

This actually involves a certain paradox, which I won't go into detail about. Just know that the calculation of the attenuation of the law's strength can be done with the background spacetime as the reference frame. Otherwise, where would the "spatial law" be placed?

"So, it's not that you don't want to fully digest it, but that you can't?"

Xia Mi summarized thoughtfully.

“Contrary to previous academic beliefs that the lunar magnetic field declined sharply about 31 billion years ago and remained in a low-energy state,” EVA interjected at the opportune moment, “analysis of deep basalt borehole samples from lava tubes shows that the lunar magnetic field rebounded significantly 28 billion years ago, reaching an intensity of 5 to 21 microteslas. Although far from its peak, it was still a definite recovery.”

"A final burst of energy before death?"

“That’s a fair interpretation,” EVA confirmed. “This recovery lasted for about 200 million years before weakening again. Several smaller magnetic anomalies were also detected in younger rock formations, with intervals ranging from 100 to 300 million years, decreasing in a stepwise manner.”

“That was mostly an attempt to repair itself with all its might,” Zhao Qing said. “Unfortunately, more than 90% of the origin was damaged, and healing was ultimately wishful thinking. Not only was it futile, but it also consumed most of the remaining energy, causing the lunar consciousness to fall into silence. Although it has not truly died, it is on its last legs.”

On the verge of death. Xia Mi pondered this phrase. A celestial body weighing 7350 trillion tons was described as being on the verge of death.

Its pulse was still beating, but the intervals were so long that the observer almost thought it would never wake up again.

"120,000 years ago, when the White King came into contact with it, communicated with the lunar consciousness, and even discussed cooperation, the White King's power was probably superior, and he took the lead."

Zhao Qing's voice was flat, yet it seemed to bring that distant moment closer: "From then on, she began to use this star core to control the interface left behind by the Earth's consciousness, which was originally used for 'feeding,' and began to refine it and manipulate the threads of fate."

"Is it fate again?" Xia Mi smiled.

In recent times, she has heard and discussed more topics related to "fate" than in the past few thousand years combined.

The term gradually evolved from a specific divine power into a kind of simple, unadorned, and analyzable cosmic parameter, which always gave her a strange sense of unreality.

It was as if the solid lunar ground beneath our feet had become unreal.

“At a lower level, one cultivates their natal artifact,” Zhao Qing’s thoughts transmitted again, calm and slow, “which means entrusting one’s natal energy, imprinting the laws of natal energy, merging the body with the artifact, and using the artifact to carry the body. But at the level of stellar consciousness, the natal artifact involves the Dao patterns that define the laws, the decrees, and even cause and effect, and destiny itself.”

"After being refined by Earth's consciousness, the core of this star core actually has only two functions: resonance and projection."

"It is a relay station that projects the brilliance and shadow of destiny to another distant place—it could be the original owner's Earth consciousness, or the remnant Moon consciousness, or even... a new owner who has found a way to 'tune'."

"A sword breaks a spark?" Xia Mi blurted out.

“You understand correctly.” Zhao Qing continued, “It makes destinies that would never have intersected intersect, connects dreams, links scattered stars into a pattern that reflects the heart’s desire, illuminates other corners of the world, and creates new destinies.”

Now, she has already come into contact with this mysterious realm.

“It sounds like a motivational quote,” Xia Mi said.

"If chicken soup could move 2180 trillion tons of iron-nickel star cores, then it would be as good as dragon liver and phoenix marrow," Zhao Qing replied calmly.

“But I still don’t quite understand,” Xia Mi tilted her head, carefully choosing her words, “fate… how can this thing be projected back and forth like a light? How did it become a ‘wave’ that can form an image? What is the meaning of this? And who can see it?”

"Isn't destiny just a three-dimensional temporal construct? To transmit and receive it like a signal? That's a bit too much like 'matter waves.' Won't that disrupt its order?"

It's as incredible as treating an entire person as a matter wave, emitting it at high speed, and forming a pattern.

Even if the corresponding waveform could be observed, the unfortunate creature would probably have already vanished into nothingness and shattered into quantum foam.

“Gaze,” Zhao Qing said, emphasizing each word, “I’m talking about gaze.”

Xia Mi paused, taken aback. "The theory of light and shadow relativity."

Zhao Qing continued to elaborate:

"Imagine that when a higher-dimensional being looks down upon all living beings, the fates observed and seen by His 'gaze' will naturally take shape and collapse, becoming an immutable 'stream of light,' a solidified branch of spacetime, recorded on pages that can be turned."

"And the part that goes unnoticed, the fates that are ignored, bypassed, or not brought into view, linger in a state of uncertainty, drifting and overlapping, silent and free, unwritten, and perhaps never to be written."

"This is the 'shadow'."

"Light and shadow are two sides of the same coin, sharing the same origin."

"The only difference is whether or not a gaze falls upon them."

The entity called "Shadow," which the Black King once split off from, must have a similar meaning, corresponding to the "Light" of the original body.

Xia Mi listened silently, as if she could see that invisible and intangible river of fate, cut into mottled patterns of light and shadow by an ancient and magnificent gaze in some unspeakable dimension.

“If there were only one light source in the world, a constant and unchanging gaze, then the shadow would only be a passive, absent, and deficient existence dependent on the light,” Zhao Qing said.

“But what if there are two light sources?” she asked.

“Dual light source…” Xia Mi fell into deep thought.

“What the White King did was create a second light source.” Zhao Qing revealed the key: “She originally existed as the Black King’s pupil, and the Black King was also the pupil of Earth’s consciousness. There was no essential difference in their gazes. But the Moon is different.”

"There exists another independent and distinct stellar consciousness here."

"When the White King, through the star's core, resonates with the moon's consciousness, she becomes the vessel of another gaze, the source of another beam of light."

"Though faint, though just a tiny flame carefully nurtured and rekindled from the wreckage, it was indeed light."

“When the sun is in opposition, the light is not always in harmony and is obscured by the earth; this is called darkness and emptiness.” EVA quoted a sentence from Zhang Heng’s “Ling Xian” in a steady tone: “When the stars are faint, the moon is eclipsed.”

“The light of fate is divided into three colors: red, white, and black,” Zhao Qing explained. “The shadow can also be called negative red, negative white, and negative black, which are completely different from complementary colors in optics. It’s just an analogy for easy understanding.”

"Moonlight is born from the sun's rays, and the moon's essence is born from the sun's shadow. But what if one day, the moon itself learned to shine?"

“Then the interplay of light and shadow is no longer a simple act of concealment, like a toad devouring the moon,” Xia Mi continued, “but rather two beams of light shifting in the air, eroding each other, merging, and exchanging positions, their rosy hues mingling and overflowing…”

"Where two light sources meet, light and shadow are no longer mutually exclusive, but can obscure, permeate, and transform each other. Shadows can block light, and light can illuminate shadows. A fate locked in by one gaze may regain uncertainty in the vision of the other; a life written with certainty may gain unwritten possibilities due to the intervention of a second gaze."

"The theory of light and shadow relativity is thus established."

Zhao Qing reiterated: "Of course, it can also be understood as a variant of Yogacara. From emptiness arises wondrous existence, and from wondrous existence manifests emptiness."

Xia Mi closed her eyes.

She seemed to see countless threads of destiny stretching out in the void, some dyed a sun-like crimson gold, some soaked in moon-white frost, and others sinking into unfathomable darkness.

They should have flowed independently, without interfering with each other.

But at a certain moment, a thread of fate plucked by the White King deviated from its original course and touched another line that should not have intersected with it.

Then the color of light began to spread.

Like a drop of cinnabar falling into clear water, at first it's just a faint red hue, then it spreads out in wisps, blurring and soaking in, until the whole cup of water is tinged with a thin layer of crimson.

“A wisp of fire elemental energy is insignificant,” Zhao Qing said. “But when thousands of such wisps of energy gather, they will naturally create corresponding laws of energy. Destiny is the same.”

“Countless originally isolated individual destinies gather, intertwine, and resonate in a specific field, and naturally form a higher-level ‘law of destiny’—a macro-law that governs the direction of the destinies of all beings, a beautiful geometric structure that allows the dreams of countless individuals to connect and achieve each other.”

"Let me use the mathematical framework of string theory as an analogy."

"That is, to introduce high-dimensional Feynman diagrams as a tool for understanding."

She patiently continued, "The interaction of the colors of fate can be seen as the form of an open string. They vibrate and sweep out layers of world surfaces. The splitting and merging of these surfaces represent the transmission of cause and effect, such as 'trouser-shaped topology,' which, driven by the Nambu-Goto action, moves towards minimizing the area..."

"Gazing is measurement."

"The choice of the induced metric g(ab) determines which world surface is minimal and which topology is suppressed; it is a purely geometrically optimal solution. Ultimately, we obtain the macroscopic phenomena."

"Why are you getting more and more confused?" Xia Mi covered her face.

“Hmm…” Zhao Qing said, “To put it simply, it means using the shape and color of the two light sources as constraints to select the most stable and harmonious set of solutions, which tends to be more complex and gives rise to order.”

"Have you ever seen a soap bubble membrane? It contains the optimal posture of a minimal surface, which was first noticed by Lagrange, and since then..."

"I still don't quite understand." Xia Mi, refusing to overthink, quickly interrupted, "Let's get down to business! What should I do next? Is this star core still useful? How should it be modified?"

"Will this lighthouse projecting the 'ecosystem of destiny' be of any use in dealing with the Black King? It seems to only work on groups!"

"Furthermore, how is the lunar consciousness doing? It relies entirely on it for light."

“There are quite a few questions,” Zhao Qing said calmly. “Which one should I answer first? Here’s what we’ll do: you take out my ‘One Yuan All Heavens’ sword intent seed, infuse it with enough true energy, and bury it deep within the star core.”

Xia Mi said it was very simple.

Then, an incomparably pure and radiant divine light emanated from her hands, which she slowly pressed towards the metal wall.

At the center of the myriad rays of dawn, there seems to be a crystalline double helix, circling endlessly, containing a rich vitality. But upon closer inspection, it reflects the towering clouds and the dazzling colors of glass, covering all directions.

Within a radius of a hundred miles, azure thunder, dancing like dragons and snakes, suddenly erupted.

……

At almost the same time, Shi Yiguang also heard the end of the story.

She carefully recalled many details, and thoughtfully asked, with a hint of wariness and inquiry: "How long exactly did that promise of 'salvation' continue?" (End of Chapter)