Eternity

It wasn't that he didn't know the fact, but the act of complaining itself provided its own entertainment.

Similar to how he despised those main characters who cried about their own inferiority and begged their comrades to punish them for their mistakes.

"Oh, no. I am a bad person, please accept me for what I am."

"You do not need to forgive me because I also didn't forgive myself."

Such talks were present in that kind of setting.

Niu Chang wasn't a fan of that kind of drama; he was well aware of the overall situation.

His expectation of having a great tale wasn't unfounded.

He was just too overpowered for anything to truly create any meaningful conflict. Moreover, if he encountered a genuine problem, he would simply take a detour.

Life was too precious to be wasted on shallow obsessions.

In this world, longevity was easily attainable, so why risk that longevity for a life-threatening problem?

...

The situation Niu Chang found himself in was quite peculiar.

He was alive, yet he did not exist.

His life was sustained by the effect of Death's Ignorance skill. As long as the system continued to supply him with an endless stream of energy, this ominous void wouldn't be able to kill him.

But how could his system provide energy to him? Would the Land Dao Spirit be so foolish as to not eliminate every single person who formed karmic bonds with Niu Chang?

Each of them had already died, yet strangely, this act of killing didn't trigger the system.

So how did the Land Dao Spirit manage to accomplish this?

In the account of the war's aftermath, it was explained precisely how the Land Dao Spirit erased Niu Chang from existence.

By annihilating everyone on the continent, while sacrificing the seven saints and the last one who was crippled before arriving on the battlefield.

All of this was a minor sleight of hand compared to the method of evading karma itself.

Karma could be linked to causality – it was simple, two sides interacting.

One cause and one effect.

Nothing was truly independent in this world; there had to be a connection in some way.

'The Land Dao Spirit's method of evading karma was truly commendable. Working much like causality—cause and effect—it only required a flip,' Niu Chang acknowledged.

If karma functioned by causing something to lead to an effect, then the trick was to cheat it in order to delay the process.

By interchanging both sides, effect became cause and cause became effect. The damage would occur before the action was even taken.

Following this logic, everything the Land Dao Spirit had done to try to kill Niu Chang was justifiable from a systemic standpoint.

Safe!

However, everything must have its limit. Even the most potent technique would ultimately be restricted by the energy it consumed.

The boundary of this karma inversion method was that it could only persist if and when Niu Chang survived, as the cause would follow the effect.

Thus, after his death and subsequent revival, the cycle would complete, forging a karmic bond with the Land Dao Spirit.

Though it sounded simple, the intricate details were so convoluted that Niu Chang found himself with a headache, struggling to grasp everything without the aid of his second brain.

Similar to how his system presented him with choices: face karmic retribution or resolve it independently.

The Land Dao Spirit mimicked Niu Chang's approach precisely, employing every individual connected by karmic bonds to settle the karma by self-sacrifice, killing the other person.

Using this method, Niu Chang would be defenseless against such an attack, destined to die even after death.

Ultimately erasing his existence.

A complete annihilation with no apparent alternative for survival.

Yet, the system indeed acted as a stroke of luck.

Or more accurately, it was his ingenious conception of Death's Ignorance skill.

After all was said and done, who remained to withstand the schemes of the mightiest being on the continent while still furnishing Niu Chang with energy?

It was his two followers who were no longer alive.

Contemplating the term "alive" caused a slight tremor in Niu Chang's mind, as he found himself in a situation where conventional logic only led to confusion.

Being recipients of the Seed of Loyalty, they had willingly relinquished their existence to the donor. Consequently, as long as Niu Chang remained alive, they would never experience death.

In this manner, since they hadn't died and the karmic entanglement between them had been resolved, the system naturally fulfilled its primary function by providing Niu Chang with an unending supply of energy from both of them.

However, they were deceased… they simply didn't exist... The situation was so intricate that Niu Chang decided to forgo any further contemplation of this matter.

'As long as it works, I'll let it be,' he muttered, shaking his head.

The energy they contributed to Niu Chang was nearly negligible, much weaker than a tiny single-celled microorganism.

Hence, they were incapable of resurrecting Niu Chang's consciousness from the abyss of nonexistence. Herein lay the bizarre anomaly of the fantasy realm.

Within the void of emptiness, nothing possessed existence, not even the concept itself.

As the system persisted in attempting to channel energy to "Niu Chang," it created minor disturbances, insufficient to effect any change.

Even a microorganism consisting of a single cell was mightier than what the system endeavored to achieve.

In this dimension devoid of time, everything occurred simultaneously and did not occur at all.

Past, present, and future lacked existence—they neither transpired nor would they transpire, for everything remained constant.

Hence, it was as if time itself toiled tirelessly to accompany the system's effort to resurrect Niu Chang.

Time no longer bore significance within this prolonged sequence of events.

Thus, the term "eternity" was apt, though the more precise description would be "infinity."

Without a beginning or an end, if a singular system attempt amidst the extensive span of infinity failed to produce change, then naturally a qualitative leap occurred when this attempt was executed an infinite number of times.

Due to this, Niu Chang managed to restore himself to his current state.

'But I can't understand one thing,' Niu Chang mused as his awareness meandered like a child in a park.

He playfully kicked and reached out to various spots within the emptiness, posing a crucial question.

'If I'm alive, then I exist. Since I exist, this place should also exist. I mean, how can nonexistence contain an existence?'

His gaze swept across the boundless void, finding nothing.

'So, what is this place, actually?'

Drawing from his role as a reader, someone who readily absorbed intriguing ideas and concepts proposed by great minds in various authors' works, he formulated two conjectures.

Firstly, considering that everything had its opposite, the counterpart of everything would naturally be nothing.

And in this moment, Niu Chang found himself in that very state of nothingness.

'It's hard for me to put into words, since this delves into high-level concepts. Only by partaking in good medicine or sharing intimate moments with a woman in bed could my state of mind be sufficiently elevated to comprehend this realm of existence and nonexistence.'

'Ah… I truly miss my second brain right now.'

Niu Chang metaphorically shook his head and endeavored to articulate his first theory.

Ultimately, he concluded, 'The first theory might be dubbed the coin theory—akin to the two sides of a coin. Ah… I'd rather not delve further into this; I've grasped the concept, but articulating it eludes me.'

'Next, the second theory. This one is simpler than the first. It's referred to as the state theory. If everything were nothing, then simultaneously, everything was contained within nothing. It all makes sense.'

The second theory proposed that nothingness was the fundamental state of anything. For every event that occurred, it was a part of nothingness, destined to return to nothing at some point.

'Ugh… my head,' Niu Chang groaned about this intricate topic of high dimensions.

As someone inherently inclined toward laziness, he casually shifted his mental focus, redirecting the subject to his desired topic.

'That was one matter; now, onto my revival.'

As this place ceased to be the original realm of non-existence, various concepts began to emerge, each brought forth by Niu Chang's presence.

The first of these concepts was naturally that of time.

But how would time function within this realm?

'Well, isn't it quite simple?' Niu Chang responded to himself with a hint of confidence. 'The so-called past, present, and future resemble a line extending from one side to the other. However, since only I exist in this place, shouldn't time operate in accordance with my perspective?'

Niu Chang mimicked the gesture of pinching something with his imaginary hand.

Although he found nothing tangible, his thoughts were sufficient to stir contemplation.

'Indeed,' Niu Chang concluded, though he had no evidence to substantiate his claim; he was assuming without substantiation.

He was bullshitting his way thoroughly without batting an eye!

'Time doesn't flow within this place.'

'But, how could that be? The system's interference remains constant at the moment... right. Where does the system itself exist? Does it adhere to the local time of the continent or does it also exist here with me, within this state of nonexistence?'

'The two followers should occupy a state lower than mine; thus, they shouldn't transcend the bounds of nonexistence. Therefore, the system should be present with me, right?'

'Given that the three variables in this realm, does this imply that the events here are detached from the realm of existence?'

'So, regardless of how much 'time' elapses in this place, no alterations should occur once I depart.'

'Yet, how long will it take for the system to accumulate adequate energy to trigger a qualitative transformation in my state?'

'Hah!' Niu Chang exclaimed. 'At this juncture, eternity doesn't appear quite as lengthy.'

Niu Chang foresaw that he would 'spend' an exceptionally protracted period—an eternity—within this void, just prior to reviving himself.

'Time doesn't flow, and yet it does. Eternity doesn't denote a measure of time but rather signifies accumulation. Although my mind would naturally crumble even if I experienced only a single day in this forsaken place, simultaneously, that same duration might be required for the system to achieve its purpose.'

'Look, the 'time' is here,' Niu Chang smiled, as 'eternity' passed by without fanfare.