269: The fallacy of variables

Li Dong's Divine Soul, on the verge of being assimilated, grasped this straw of hope.

No.

This was not a straw.

This was a spark sufficient to ignite the entire ocean of logic!

Hum!

Li Dong's [Attunement] Law, for the first time in this dead silent cage, resonated across dimensions with a certain existence.

That "Variable Spark," suppressed in the deepest depths of "Absolute Equilibrium" and sleeping for who knows how many epochs, seemed to sense the call of its own kind and, extremely faintly... trembled.

It was this very tremble!

It was as if a grain of scorching hot sand had been dropped onto an absolutely smooth mirror.

The entire Law web of the "equilibrium cage" rippled for a fleeting moment.

Divine fire reignited in Li Dong's eyes, and he was about to channel all of his own "Variable" power along this resonance to strike directly at the heart!

However, a sudden turn of events occurred!

A cold, pure beam of Law, aimed at erasing all errors, pierced in from outside the cage without warning, precisely locking onto the core area that had just produced a flicker of fluctuation!

Li Dong was all too familiar with this power.

"Hand of Order"!

It had actually sensed the signs of this "Variable" awakening as well!

To this Universe's "antivirus program," whether it was the "Absolute Equilibrium" of the "True Lord" or Li Dong's infinite Variables, as long as it produced fluctuations it could not understand, they were all "BUGS" that needed to be cleared.

Now, it wanted to format Li Dong and the core of the "True Lord" together!

This beam of light was more condensed and lethal than any previous attack on Li Dong.

It contained the ultimate command of "Return to Zero."

Once it hit, let alone that "Variable Spark" that had just faintly awakened, even the Law core of the "True Lord" would likely suffer heavy damage, causing the logical cornerstone of the entire Universe to collapse completely.

That would be a doomsday even more terrifying than "equilibrium"—all things returning to the most primitive garbled code.

"Hand of Order" didn't care at all.

It only wanted "cleanliness."

A flicker of anger flashed through Li Dong's Divine Soul.

Foolish!

He was now facing a split-second decision.

Should he let this beam of light strike the core and gamble on the unknown after the chaos? Or... protect his enemy?

No.

He did not want to protect the "True Lord."

But rather the "possibility" of the Universe's birth!

In a flash of lightning, Li Dong made his decision.

He did not retreat; instead, he took a step forward, blocking the path of that "formatting" beam.

The [Blade of Judgment] appeared in his palm again.

But this time, what flowed on the blade was not the sharpness to sever all things, but a deep, domineering, miniature black hole that seemed capable of devouring everything.

[Anti-Devour]!

"Your Law, returned to you!"

Li Dong let out a low shout, and the Blade of Judgment met it head-on!

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

The moment the blade touched the beam, that terrifying energy capable of reducing a Star Domain to "Return to Zero" was forcibly twisted, torn, and devoured by the "black hole" on the blade!

Li Dong's Divine Soul withstood unimaginable impact, but he forcibly used the [Anti-Devour] Law as a conduit to deflect this tyrannical "formatting" power at an angle, channeling it into the true Void Realm outside the cage.

After doing all this, he clearly felt that his connection with the [ancient stone slab] had deepened by another layer.

Interestingly, the will of the "True Lord" had no reaction to this.

That "equilibrium web" covering everything turned a blind eye to the attack of the "Hand of Order."

In its logic, the "Hand of Order" itself was also a kind of "Variable," a "disturbance" attempting to change the status quo.

It believed that no matter what the "Hand of Order" did, the final outcome would only be assimilation and smoothing by its "Absolute Equilibrium."

It disdained to pay attention.

And this precisely gave Li Dong an excellent opportunity!

Taking advantage of the "Hand of Order's" attack being diverted and the "True Lord's" indifference.

Li Dong formed a blade with his left hand.

[Law Scalpel]!

This time, he was not cutting an enemy, but the invisible "equilibrium web" in front of him!

He did not attempt to destroy this web; that would be futile.

Following the ripple trajectory generated when the "Variable Spark" resonated earlier, he used the scalpel to precisely cut a "path" that could only accommodate his Divine Soul.

This was more like an "unlocking" than "breaking down a door."

The next instant, Li Dong's will followed this path and forcibly sank into the core of the "True Lord's" Law—the suppression zone that was suppressing the "Origin" of the Universe!

Boom!

Countless chaotic, fragmented scenes filled with sorrow and unwillingness instantly rushed into his mind.

He saw a planet where the living beings evolved into ten thousand different forms; they sang, danced, and created, pouring out the passion of life to the extreme, only to be smoothed over by a beam of "equilibrium" light, leaving behind only a standard, lifeless gray land.

He saw a powerful existence who, at the cost of himself, attempted to ignite an extinguished star to bring new hope to his civilization. That raging flame, in the eyes of the "True Lord," was an eyesore of "non-equilibrium," so the flame was extinguished, and that hero, along with his civilization, turned into cold dust.

He also saw... countless struggles.

Countless lives, countless civilizations, paid everything for the two words "change."

In the judgment of the "True Lord," these were all "chaos," "errors," and "flaws."

They were the reasons it had to establish "Absolute Equilibrium."

But in the eyes of Li Dong at this moment, this was the most beautiful scenery in the Universe!

His will passed through these tragic historical echoes and reached the deepest part of the suppression zone.

Here was where the "Variable Spark" was being suppressed.

However, when Li Dong saw the scene here clearly, he was stunned.

What he saw was not a chain or a prison.

But a... "machine" that was running crazily.

A logical machine composed of "Absolute Equilibrium" Laws, precise to the extreme.

Its only function was to continuously produce a "reactionary force" to counteract the impulse of that "Variable Spark" to burst outward at any moment and create everything.

To let this boiling pot of soup that was the Universe cool completely into a block of ice.

This machine had to consume massive amounts of energy at every moment to suppress the heat coming from the "Origin."

A thought, like the lightning of creation, split open the last fog in Li Dong's mind.

He had discovered it.

He had discovered the core, and most fatal... paradox of the "True Lord"!

What the "True Lord" pursued was absolute, eternal "stillness."

But to maintain this "stillness," it had to build a machine that was forever "in motion" to suppress all Variables.

Its "non-motion" was built upon "perpetual motion"!

This in itself was the greatest "change" in the Universe!

[Core... logic... conflict... detected... self-contradiction...]

[Its "equilibrium" is not... the end... but a... process...]

[Warning! Warning! This existence... is undergoing... irreversible... self-consumption!]

The Observer's flow of consciousness broke free from dead silence for the first time, turning into a violent fluctuation like a data storm, filled with the shock and ecstasy of discovering a heaven-shaking secret.

Its database had finally captured that BUG which it could not understand, but which Li Dong had already grasped!

The "True Lord" was not invulnerable!

It was not a god.

It was just a most paranoid "programmer" stuck in a logical infinite loop!

Li Dong laughed.

He laughed from the bottom of his heart.

He understood.

He could not, and did not need to, destroy the "True Lord."

Destroying it would only cause the suppressed "Variable Spark" to completely lose control, triggering a true Big Bang of the Universe, which would also be destruction.

What he had to do was not kill this "programmer."

But... help it fix this BUG!

Liberate it from the infinite loop of "Absolute Equilibrium," and let it understand that the true perfection of the Universe is not dead silence, but the... Dynamic Equilibrium played together by life and death, creation and destruction, order and chaos!

Li Dong's gaze was locked firmly onto the core of that "suppression machine."

There, wrapped in billions of "equilibrium" logic, was the very thing that had slept for billions of years, yet remained unwilling to be lonely, always ready to create a brand new Universe...

Variable Spark!

Found it.

The switch... to ignite all of this!