Chapter 415: Time-Space Waterfall (2/3)

"How can one fish without baiting the spot?"

Li Heng slowly arrived beside Prince Qi, looked at the Time-Space River flowing quietly below, and smiled slightly.

"Why, Brother Li, do you have insights into fishing?"

Prince Qi's eyes lit up as he spoke.

At this moment, Prince Qi seemed like a different person; his speech had become fluent, no longer stuttering. It was just that his disheveled hair and messy clothes meant his air of madness remained unchanged.

"There are no insights, it is merely common sense."

"To fish, one must first bait the spot, look."

Li Heng reached out and grabbed into the Void; not knowing what he had grabbed, he threw it into the Time-Space River, splashing waves. Then, very quickly, fish could be seen swimming around.

Prince Qi widened his eyes, revealing an expression of disbelief.

There were fish so quickly?

Li Heng watched the fish in the river quietly, feeling somewhat surprised. Because even though the Time-Space River had the word "river" in it, it was not a river in the true sense. If one wished, it could be called a Time Axis, a world line, a time-space hourglass, and so on.

Since that was the case, why did this Time-Space River actually have fish?

Or was it that the Time-Space River of the True Realm leaned more towards being a "river"?

In the Great Void, there are infinite Heavens and Earths; although there is a Time-Space Mother River that has existed since ancient times running through it, as long as it is an independent Heaven and Earth, it will have its own time-space system. Therefore, different models will appear for each. Even if the essence of time-space does not change, the forms they manifest may not be the same.

For example, in some Heavens and Earths, the time-space manifested might be a book, where every page turned is an epoch, and in other Heavens and Earths, time-space might just be the result of material movement...

"Brother Li truly has great skill."

Prince Qi came back to his senses and praised him.

"These fish are very high-quality Time Fish, extremely difficult to catch, but they are very useful for cultivation and attaining the Dao, especially for practicing Supernatural Abilities and laws related to time. Back then, I was able to ascend to the Creation Realm because of a bowl of Time Fish Soup."

Li Heng smiled and did not mind.

"Not necessarily, it might be because the Time Fish have become more numerous."

"Become more numerous..."

Prince Qi raised his head, seemingly savoring Li Heng's words, and then spoke with endless emotion. "Yes, perhaps they really have become more numerous, and the people who fished back then have already gone far away..."

"What? Are you also a person who fishes?"

Li Heng laughed.

"Brother Li, you flatter me; I dare not accept that title. Only those qualified to stand on the bank can be called people who fish. I am still very, very far away, and I have already lost the opportunity."

Prince Qi shook his head bitterly.

"It seems you know some things."

Li Heng still smiled, his expression calm.

Prince Qi did not seem to intend to hide it and nodded slightly.

"I do know some things, such as the truth about the Great Zhou, but I cannot tell you for the time being. Unless you do your utmost to protect my niece in this matter."

The niece he spoke of was the Great Zhou Empress, Wu Wushuang.

"Oh?" Li Heng raised an eyebrow.

"You have that much confidence in me? You should know that your niece is very strong. On the surface, she only appears to have the strength of the Five Tribulations Heaven and Earth, but once she uses the power of the Lord of Great Zhou..."

Li Heng intended to flatter Wu Wushuang a little.

One must know how to be low-key and humble.

However, the next moment, he was interrupted by Prince Qi.

"No, my niece is not enough to face that monster. The monster brought by that fellow, the second one, is truly too Terror-inducing; she is simply no match for that monster."

"Then why am I capable?" Li Heng said with a smile.

Prince Qi's expression became serious.

"Because you are very strong; both you and I are very clear about that."

Li Heng felt helpless upon hearing this; he could no longer be low-key and humble now.

"Then why do you know I am very strong?"

He asked with some curiosity; he had hidden his strength, and if it were through investigative means or heavenly secret predictions, Prince Qi could not possibly know his true strength.

"Because I believe in my niece's intuition."

Prince Qi gave a very outrageous answer.

"You might think this reason is very absurd, but this is the truth. My niece made the decision to go and crusade against that monster precisely because of your appearance."

"This is enough to show that you can resolve that monster."

Li Heng fell into deep thought and then spoke slowly.

"What if the intuition is wrong?"

Prince Qi answered very readily.

"Her intuition cannot be wrong."

Li Heng was also speechless upon hearing this; it was another logical loop.

Prince Qi immediately realized that Li Heng must have misunderstood something and spoke again. "This is not some paranoid thought; in fact, it is because you have not witnessed the power of her intuition."

"To tell you the truth, it was because of her intuition that she ascended to the position of Lord of Great Zhou, which is why that fellow, the second one, was so resentful, feeling that she was a very lucky girl."

"It was precisely this thought of his that sent him to his doom."

Speaking of this matter, Prince Qi sighed and shook his head.

Hearing such an explanation, Li Heng frowned slightly.

His reaction was not because of the past events Prince Qi mentioned, but because Prince Qi was actually able to provide reasons to explain why he believed in Wu Wushuang's intuition so much.

This meant that this was not a logical loop.

But rather a high degree of trust in Wu Wushuang.

In other words, this Prince Qi, who was hidden extremely deep, did not possess an extremely paranoid logical closed loop like the Prince Wei he had hacked to death earlier.

So, why exactly is that?

He asked this question out loud.

Upon hearing this, Prince Qi fell silent instantly; he did not even lift his fishing rod when those Time Fish took the bait, letting these Time Fish eat the bait on his line.

"I know the answer to this question."

"But please forgive me, I cannot tell you right now."

After a long while, he finally spoke.

Li Heng was not annoyed; he created a fishing rod, a fish bucket, and a stool out of the Void, sat down, cast his line, and then spoke leisurely.

"Then when will you be able to tell me?"

Prince Qi gave a bitter smile.

He knew that if he did not give a concrete answer, this Li Heng, whose strength was extremely Terror, would likely not let him go, and might not even let his own niece go.

"After this matter concludes, I will tell you."

Li Heng smiled.

This Prince Qi and Wu Wushuang really are birds of a feather; both are acting like riddle-mongers, and both insist on only telling him after this matter concludes.

If this matter did not concern his own interests and was merely a matter of personal curiosity, he would have already started fighting these two.

"A fish has taken the bait."

The fishing rod in Li Heng's hand sank slightly; he pulled upward with force, and a large, seemingly delicious Time Fish leaped out of the water, which he caught in his hand and placed into the fish bucket.

Prince Qi beside him was surprised.

"Brother Li, how did you do that again?"

"You didn't even put on bait, and if I'm not mistaken, even the fishhook is straight; why were you still able to catch a fish? Could it be that it was a 'willing victim taking the bait'?"

Li Heng smiled slightly.

"You guessed wrong."

"Then why is that?" Prince Qi was a bit confused.

These Time Fish are very clever; some that have lived a long time have even attained intelligence and entered the Dao. He had heard before that during the time of the Immortal God, there was even a Time Fish King that could run rampant in the Time-Space River of the True Realm, and even the Immortal God could do nothing about it.

Although he did not know when that Fish King had vanished without a trace.

"Because I am stronger, and they are afraid."

Another cast went down.

But this time, there was no need to wait at all.

The next moment, a Time Fish took the bait and was flicked out of the water by Li Heng, who caught it in his hand. At this moment, Prince Qi could clearly perceive the fear of this fish; its body was trembling.

If one did not look closely, one would think the fish was just full of vitality.

Because of fear, it surrendered and "voluntarily" allowed itself to be caught.

Prince Qi fell silent immediately; he understood.

So he spoke very tactfully.

"Actually, the reason why Prince Wei was paranoid and trapped in a logical closed loop, while I am not, is simple: because I am still alive, just as I told you earlier."

"And what about Prince Wei?" Li Heng asked.

"You already have a clear answer in your heart, don't you?"

Prince Qi did not answer directly, but asked in return.

Li Heng smiled and pointed at the surface of the Time-Space River.

"Look, this fish refused to take the bait, and it died."

Prince Qi cast his gaze over and discovered that around the straight fishhook, which was emitting a Terror baleful aura, there appeared a Time Fish with its eyes rolled back, already devoid of life.

He fell silent again, then slowly spoke.

"Because Prince Wei is already dead; he died long ago."

"Only the dead would be so paranoid, wouldn't they?"

Li Heng pondered upon hearing this; was it really the same as what he had guessed?

He had dared to guess this earlier, not because of the issue of Prince Wei's paranoia, but because he had killed Prince Wei yet gained no Source Power.

Then, might other things also align with his expectations?

He turned his gaze back to Prince Qi.

But Prince Qi's gaze had become resolute.

"Brother Li, I can only tell you this much. Only after the matter ends, when you are about to leave Great Zhou, can I tell you the rest; this is the necessary order."

"Even if you kill me now, it will be the same."

"I see, then I understand."

Li Heng nodded.

He could sense that there was indeed some kind of restriction involved.

Of course, he also knew that Prince Qi must still be hiding information that could be spoken, but he could not push too hard; after all, people are not fish, and it is easy for them to jump over the wall.

"However, I still have a few questions."

Prince Qi felt helpless inside, even feeling some regret; had he known, he wouldn't have attracted this Li Heng's attention earlier. Now he was being held in the palm of his hand, and he regretted it deeply.

"Have you actually gone mad?" Li Heng inquired.

Prince Qi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; so it was this question. He had thought he was going to be asked something else that would trigger the restriction.

He answered very readily.

"I have indeed gone mad."

"But you are very rational right now," Li Heng said.

The Prince of Qi shook his head.

"Brother Li, you must know that we are currently in the Time-Space River. I am mad, but that does not mean all my time points—my past, present, and future selves—are all mad."

Li Heng nodded; he understood.

It did not matter if the Prince of Qi at a previous time point was mad. As long as the Prince of Qi had not been mad before, and was not born mad, that was fine. As long as one was situated in the Time-Space River, one should be able to use a Secret Technique to communicate with a version of oneself that was not mad.

"Then what is the reason for your madness?"

Upon hearing this, the Prince of Qi felt helpless. "I cannot say for the time being."

Li Heng nodded.

That was fine then; he had asked everything he needed to ask, so he would focus on fishing.

Following this, it was a happy fishing trip.

The Prince of Qi kept coming up empty-handed, while the fish on Li Heng's side never stopped biting for a moment, which could not help but make the Prince of Qi depressed, pondering in his heart whether Li Heng had sucked away all his fishing luck.

Being mad was one thing, but having finally come to the Time-Space River, and with fishing being one of his few remaining hobbies, he could not keep coming up empty-handed.

He roared in his heart.

Finally, the treasure ship sailed against the current and eventually approached the destination.

A vast Time-Space Waterfall appeared before their eyes.

Hovering above the waterfall was a dragon...