A pale hand lifted the curtain. Li Xiang gazed out, her eyes as placid as calm water, long hair equally as smooth. She lifted her lashes and met his eyes. “Weiheng Hui.”
“Li Xiang. Will you walk with me?” Hui suggested.
“I have something to say—”
“Please. Walk with me.”
Li Xiang paused. She nodded and stepped out of her room. “But afterward, please listen to me.”
Hui nodded, scratching the back of his neck. “Ah… yes. Of course.”
They walked for a bit. Hui moved quietly, hiding his qi signature under Li Xiang’s. In case they notice I’m missing. Though I think Jun Ke and Sa Zhangli will keep up the drama show for quite a while longer, as long as Cho Haoli and Xi Muchen don’t get bored and interrupt. Ah, and I got the impression that Xi Muchen was amused by the whole thing, so I don’t think that’s about to happen.
After about five minutes, he looked at Li Xiang. “I know what you’re going to tell me.”
“Oh?”
Hui nodded. “I’ve seen this all before. We’re caught in a loop. The Golden Immortal manipulates time, and you are beholden to the cycle. I… am almost in the same state as yourself. If I ever deteriorate to that point, then the game is over. I don’t know what happens then, but I’m afraid to find out.”
“How troublesome,” Li Xiang murmured, a hand on her chin.
“Before that happens, Li Xiang… your predicament. Have you ever considered that it might be true for you to be both woman and sword at once?”
Li Xiang looked up sharply. Her brows furrowed. “If one is true, the other must be false.”
Hui shook his finger. “There’s no need for that binary thinking. Something can be two things at once.”
“This isn’t like an immortal ship being both gold and silver. If I am a woman, then I cannot be a sword, and vice versa,” Li Xiang stated, crossing her arms.
“Incorrect. Li Xiang, have you ever heard of the principle of superpositioning?”
She frowned and tilted her head at him.
Hui grinned. I didn’t think so! “Li Xiang, consider light. Light is all around us, but what is it?”
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“Light,” she replied.
“Fair, but that’s not what I mean. As far as humans can tell, light is both a particle and a wave at the same time. It exists in a state that is both particle and wave, until observed, at which point it becomes a particle or a wave.”
Now, this isn’t necessarily the actual state of light. In fact, it almost certainly reflects more upon human observation, senses, sensors, and our limited comprehension of reality far more than it reflects upon the true nature of light. But that isn’t the point. I think it’s a far more uphill battle to convince Li Xiang that everything is untrue and true, limited by human perception rather than bounded by absolute truth, rather than to simply get her to understand superpositioning.
That’s a crazy thing to say, and yet, given Li Xiang’s personality? I think she’d go insane if I tried to explain something like the base lack of truth to the world, as opposed to simply giving her a handy explanation that she can latch on to for comfort. After all, to explain that to her would be for her to be forced to reject every single thing she sees or understands from this point onward. For someone like me, understanding that I can’t fully comprehend any part of the world is easy to accept. For Li Xiang, to realize that she cannot know the truth of anything would break her.
Li Xiang frowned. “A particle and a wave?”
Hui gestured. A ball of qi appeared before him. “You can think of waves as energy, pure energy. As for particles, those are what solids are made up of. A wave can be made up of particles, as waves upon the ocean, but fundamentally, if something is a form of energy—that is, a wave, it cannot also be a physical object—that is, a particle.”
Her brows furrowed. “Then… how is light…”
Hui beamed at her. “Precisely. Light is a special type of thing, that possesses the attributes of both pure energy and particles at the same time. It should be impossible, and yet, it possesses two traits that must reject one another at the same time. Li Xiang, why not follow the example of light? Superposition yourself. Become both a sword and a woman at the same time. Ah, isn’t it easier? Since both you and the sword are made up of particles. Light has to fundamentally oppose the most basic laws of reality. You simply have to become two solid objects at once.”
Li Xiang’s eyes shone with the light of enlightenment. She dropped to the ground beside him and entered a meditative pose. Qi circulated wildly all around her, spinning at top speed, pouring into her body. Her sword unsheathed itself and hovered over her lap, glowing as qi also poured into it. “To be both the woman and the sword,” Li Xiang whispered.
“Good, good,” Hui said, nodding. He glanced around, a little nervous. Er, I certainly hope the Inspectors don’t come to inspect this riotous qi. Ah, haha, I might have made a small mistake… How was I supposed to expect that such a simple explanation would cause Li Xiang to directly enter enlightenment?
High overhead, gold light glittered. Hui glanced around, searching for a place to hide, then quickly compressed himself and jumped into Li Xiang’s sleeve. In here, I should be safe! There’s so much qi flying around that there’s no way they’ll notice me. Right, right. I’m just a small little mouse hiding in her sleeve!
Though, if they move to attack or disturb Li Xiang, I won’t let that happen. Elder Siblings Inspectors, please be nice! There’s no need to disturb an earnest practitioner already beholden to the loop like Li Xiang! You have no reason to bother her, no reason at all!
The gold light grew brighter as the Inspectors hurtled down toward the street. Hui held his breath. Compressing his presence, qi, and everything to the utmost, he laid completely still in Li Xiang’s sleeve and waited.