Chapter 928: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

“Could it be that the eyes the shadow spoke of are me?”

A thought popped up in Lin Yan’s heart.

With this shadow’s power, it could be said that no existence could spy on it.

Unless... spying from another time!

That is, the spying of Lin Yan from the future!

Lin Yan carefully recalled the past.

It seemed that his peeking had indeed been sensed by the shadow many times, resulting in obvious reactions.

There were also times when the shadow did not show an obvious reaction, but it might have sensed him nonetheless.

One must know that in order to deal with the shadow, Lin Yan had spent a full tens of thousands of years searching for and observing it.

Although he could only observe it once every month, this observation was not bit-by-bit, but rather leap-like, covering almost the entire process of the shadow from its birth to its growth!

The shadow was equivalent to the level of a Lord of Laws the moment it was born. An ordinary Lord of Laws would likely find it difficult to detect Lin Yan's observation, but the shadow was naturally born and nurtured, and coupled with its innate keen senses as an infant, it was normal for it to detect Lin Yan's observation.

And it goes without saying that it became even more powerful later on.

In fact, even Xihua had detected Lin Yan's peeking back then.

This was likely the reason why Xihua was able to react and glance at Lin Yan just now after the shadow said those words.

She had guessed it!

"Damn it, after all this time, did I trap myself?"

Lin Yan thought.

However, a new problem arose.

This shadow had existed for a long time, and Lin Yan had chosen to search for and peek at it precisely to deal with it. But why, in the end, did his peeking become the "Great Terror" in the shadow's mouth? And it seemed that it was precisely because of this "Great Terror" that the shadow chose to turn dark, chose to harvest era after era, and wanted to find and deal with this "Great Terror."

But before Lin Yan gained the power of time, before he went to search for and peek at this shadow, this shadow had already existed and had already harvested era after era. This was something that had already happened, so...

What would happen if Lin Yan had not discovered the shadow?

If he had not discovered the shadow, then there would be no peeking at it, and he would not be the Great Terror in the shadow's mouth, but this shadow had clearly already harvested countless eras...

Then, was the reason for this shadow harvesting countless eras still because of this "Great Terror"?

But Lin Yan suddenly felt...

There are no "ifs" in all things.

Because, having mastered the power of time, he was destined to discover this shadow one day. Unless Lin Yan was willing to be harvested, he had no choice but to deal with it.

Who would be willing to be harvested?

Even if Lin Yan's flame form was immortal and could not be destroyed, what about the people around him?

What about Vivila, the Goddess of Eternal Night, the Main God of Venerable Venerable Tianlan, the Goddess of the Ocean, and Sister Sister Mengying and Sister Qing Ling?

The entire Heavenly Realm would be destroyed. By then, the world would be dead and silent. It would take countless years to evolve into a brand-new era. During that process, the entire world would have no life, and Lin Yan's flame form would not be able to continue evolving, and might even be imprisoned by the shadow because it was not strong enough.

Therefore...

Lin Yan could not choose to wait for death after discovering this shadow.

He was destined to deal with this shadow, unless Lin Yan was willing to see everything he had destroyed.

Lin Yan would not be willing, nor would he allow himself to fall into a passive situation.

He was the one in control of the situation.

Therefore, that "if"... did not exist!

In other words, Lin Yan was destined to deal with the shadow and peek at the shadow, and this was something that had already happened. There was no point in "what-iffing" something that had already occurred.

Then the question arises: before Lin Yan discovered this shadow, what was the reason for it harvesting the world?

Even his own transmigration was only tens of thousands of years ago, so what was the reason for the shadow harvesting the world before he transmigrated?

After all, this shadow already existed before he transmigrated!

And this world did not have parallel events; the timeline was unique, and even the past was basically impossible to change.

Even Lin Yan, after giving the Heart of Life to Xihua, had only changed some of Xihua's states on a small scale.

Moreover, because of his actions, the time of this world became untouchable, and even time reversal became very difficult; wanting to enter history again was almost impossible.

Lin Yan thought of another question.

If he, having mastered the power of time, was destined to deal with this shadow, then did that mean the reason for the shadow harvesting the world would always be because of Lin Yan's peeking from the future!

For a moment, a large number of thoughts flashed through Lin Yan's mind. The cause and effect between him and the shadow were extremely difficult to figure out, even with Lin Yan's understanding of the rules of time.

His peeking from the future caused the shadow to harvest the world.

But in fact, it was precisely the shadow's harvesting of the world that led Lin Yan to have to peek at it in order to deal with it.

This question reminded Lin Yan of a classic question from before he transmigrated.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

"Careful!"

Suddenly, Xihua's voice rang out.

A black long spear rushed over violently, piercing straight into Lin Yan's flames.

This black long spear contained terrifying energy.

One could see that under the attack of this black long spear, Lin Yan's flames trembled violently and then weakened at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Go to hell, you don't know the true usage of this spear at all!"

The shadow's roar rang out.

This guy had actually taken advantage of the moment Lin Yan was thinking to forcibly pull the black long spear out of its own body, and then launched a fierce attack on Lin Yan.

And the power this black long spear could exert in its hands far exceeded what it could do in Lin Yan's hands.

In Lin Yan's hands, this black long spear had actually only served the purpose of breaking armor.

The shadow's defense was monstrous; in fact, if Lin Yan hadn't known its flaws, it would have been flawless!

Even using the black long spear, he couldn't break through its skin.

No, it didn't have skin; it should be called its shell.

The shadow and this black long spear were both things nurtured by this world.

However, one was nurtured by the bright side of this world, and the other was nurtured by the dark side of this world.

It and this black long spear were like a spear and a shield; neither could do anything to the other.

Unfortunately, it ultimately had flaws.

That was why Lin Yan was able to use the unparalleled sharpness of the black long spear to pierce it in one strike.

But this black long spear, while sharp, did not rely on sharpness as its only lethality.

In the shadow's hands, this black long spear was truly terrifying.

One strike of the spear was silent, yet it made the entire dark universe tremble, as if this black long spear could pierce through this broken universe in one go.

The black long spear contained energy capable of easily destroying the world!

Now, the shadow aimed such an attack at Lin Yan alone!

Using power capable of destroying the entire world to destroy Lin Yan!

"Die!"

The shadow roared crazily again.

The black long spear pierced further into Lin Yan's flames, and Lin Yan's originally overwhelming flames shrank rapidly, instantly becoming just a tiny cluster!

Under the attack of the black long spear, the flames seemed to be facing a torrent rushing in from the entire world, blown left and right, on the verge of extinction!

Beside him, Xihua's expression changed.

If it were her taking this strike from the shadow with the black long spear, she definitely wouldn't be able to take it!

It was impossible to take it!

She suddenly gathered her strength and attacked the shadow.

"Hahaha, you can't save him."

The shadow held the spear in one hand, vowing to completely extinguish Lin Yan's flames, while its other hand punched toward Xihua. Even though Xihua gathered all her strength, her power was far less than before.

Yes, after a thousand years of war, Xihua's power had declined quite a bit.

And after this shadow was injured, it actually had a sense of becoming braver the more it fought!

"Boom!"

The two forces collided, and Xihua was forced back by the shadow's punch, her face turning pale again.

She suddenly gathered her strength again and rushed toward the shadow.

"I said, you can't save him!"

The shadow shouted loudly, forcing Xihua back again.

Xihua, however, no longer cared about her strength and kept attacking.