Within a space less than three hundred yards across, a black shadow and a blue shadow were in high-speed motion, leaving behind interwoven afterimages. Black light and Sword Qi vied within the realm of light speed. Even though their silhouettes collided from time to time, both sides understood that it was meaningless. They existed in different times, unable to engage in hand-to-hand or edged-weapon combat. Even if they crashed head-on, space itself would not allow any effect to transpire between them.
The trajectory of the Sword Qi crisscrossed, cutting off most possibilities. Wang Qi's eyes were clear and empty; the mental method of the Book of Geometry marked every "trajectory." His body kept making movements akin to rhythmic gymnastics, elegantly evading all the potential "trajectories." If he truly couldn't avoid one, he would simply brace against it with Dragon Guard. Light speed limited the power of the attack, and compared to other methods, the force of this black light wasn't that significant.
Time became the most meaningless thing here. In their subjective perception of time, a single movement, a single dodge, could feel as if it took hours to execute. But if they failed to anticipate the other's moves, perhaps the next second, the light-speed attack would bypass the defense of time and determine victory and defeat.
Perhaps, time really has no meaning.
Time is a concept to describe the motion of matter.
Perhaps this sounds baffling, but maybe this is the truth.
This was undoubtedly a tightrope-like combat, a slip-up could mean a crushing defeat. Yet, in this combat, Wang Qi still had the mind to slowly contemplate the issues of life, time, and the universe.
The universe itself has no concept of "time." Humans created this concept to depict "motion." All techniques of Cosmic Light interfere with "motion." Therefore, all properties of "time" are actually reliant on "motion."
On a cosmic scale, "motion" defies ordinary perception as well. Maxwell's Equations/Heavenly Song Heavenly Element Group first revealed the absoluteness of light speed. Maxwell's Equations and the classical Newtonian mechanics clashed here. The result of reconciling these two immortal theories was another immortal theory—Special Relativity.
Motion is not absolute but relative. Depending on the frame of reference, the motion of an object appears different. The upper limit of speed, therefore, becomes the only "origin" of the absolute reference frame. Thus, the universe is truly the universe.
That is to say, relative to the cosmos, relative to absolute light speed, all planets are generally within a low light speed reference frame. But if you single out the speed of one planet, one beam of light, one particle, then their relative speeds have to be calculated separately. In order not to violate the natural law of light speed as supreme, not to violate the Great Dao, they exist within their own reference frames.
Perhaps the only thing that makes people feel the existence of "time" is the "direction of time." Different times exist in the universe. Yet, all these times, all these motions, begin and end at the same point.
That is, from the birth of the universe, pointing to the end of the universe.
Or, from high order to absolute chaos.
The direction of the Thermodynamics Time Arrow, the Cosmology Time Arrow, and the perceived Psychology Time Arrow is consistent.
"Space" is the existence of matter, "time" is the motion of matter.
Matter tells space how to exist, and space tells matter how to move.
Gravity is the curvature of space caused by mass.
Given these premises, it's no surprise that gravity can lead to the conversion of space-time.
He also remembered Feng Luoyi telling him about the matters concerning Immortals.
When an Immortal's Immortal Sense can cover at least one Earth-Moon System, can track the flow of light, they begin to discover the relativity of time. Limited by their own experience, they describe all this with "rivers" and "vortices." Relying on so-called inspiration and experience, after thousands or even tens of thousands of years of accumulation, they can bypass Relativity and master the Technological Black Box of "Time Relativity." They can have their own "Time Axis," that is, "step out of the river, dominate oneself."
It's just that "river" was a biased concept from the start. To the universe, time may only be an insignificant additional concept.
And when an Immortal's Immortal Sense grows to another level, where macroscopic coverage spans a whole Planet System, and the microscopic level enters Subatomic scales, their power enters a new heaven and earth. They would experience moments of devilish instantaneity and apply it. Thus, within the range of Immortal Sense, their reaction would be faster than light. The uncertainty principle blocked their path to peering into the microscopic world, but the infinite past, infinite future, and infinite possibilities would still be perceived by them. They don't understand path integrals, naturally, they wouldn't think of Historical Summation. However, powerful observational means cleared a pathway for them.
They would grasp the "Imaginary Time" of countless possibilities overlapping, seize the direction of Virtual Time, and possess the possibility beyond possibilities. And in Virtual Space-Time, time has no direction, past and future are equivalent, advancing and retreating are indistinguishable.
This is the "past and future, unified in one."