Chapter 665: Ley Line Timeline Regression and Heart-Sensing Resonance
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 665: Ley Line Timeline Regression and Heart-Sensing Resonance
"Xiao Han... are you alright? What are you seeing?" Seeing my state, Bai Yu immediately stepped forward in concern. As a subjective consciousness existing outside of my subjective time sense, she naturally didn't understand what was happening.
She could only piece things together from my earlier mutterings, guessing that my time sense was acting up again.
She had clearly heard keywords like "time regression," but even without a time sense of her own, she knew that time hadn't actually moved backward. A body cultivator couldn't possibly reverse time, let alone Xiao Han.
Thus, Bai Yu could only step in to steady me.
"Bai... Sister Bai... sorry. I've had a bit of an accident here. I might not be able to explain it clearly right away."
Now that I had calmed down, I was trying to adapt to the experience. The Knowledge Shadow told me this was a subconscious behavior triggered by my poor control over my own abilities.
I was experiencing and feeling it bit by bit, attempting to harness this sensation and power.
"It’s okay. Take your time, don't rush." Hearing that my speech was clear and my logic sound, Sister Bai breathed a small sigh of relief. She had been afraid I would fall into that motionless, catatonic state I’d been in on the bus.
"Right now, I'm using the Ley Line Identification Art within the Tree of Great Knowledge to push through past events in chronological order. However, my time sense has pulled me into a temporal illusion. What my subjective consciousness sees has been replaced by phantoms of the past..."
"Time sense can do that?!" Sister Bai looked bewildered by my brief explanation.
"Time sense isn't just about manipulating subjective time... it's a form of control, a manifestation of a body cultivator's power. Manipulating the perception of time is the most typical example, but its derivative abilities actually extend the very concept of 'control'..."
"Alright, now isn't the time to be explaining theories. We can talk about that when we get back. For now, Xiao Han, hurry and adapt to this state. If you can... it’s best to pull yourself out quickly," Sister Bai interrupted anxiously.
She could tell I was trying to describe my sensations and experiences to perhaps give her a spark of inspiration or enlightenment.
And that was indeed my intention. It wasn't just for her sake, but for mine as well; by articulating these insights, I was reinforcing them for myself, helping me adapt to the ability.
Furthermore, I had left one thing out: the ones perceiving and interpreting this ley line information were the Tree of Great Knowledge and my Heart Sense. It was my Heart Sense that had structured this cognitive illusion of a past "timeline," while my time sense organized and propelled that timeline forward.
It was, I had to admit, a wondrous experience. After a brief period of adjusting to this backward-flowing time, I realized who these phantoms were.
They were my "parents" and my younger brother.
To my surprise, Yang Yunhan appeared in this house quite often!
I knew his school wasn't far from home, but to think they had chosen for him to be a day student during such a critical period!
I tried to slow down the flow of time to understand their conversation, but doing so took a significant amount of effort before I finally succeeded.
Moreover, while slowing down time, I had to play these illusions in forward motion. This constant, alternating control was incredibly taxing on my mind.
Fortunately, I succeeded.
"Hurry up and eat! How are you supposed to have the energy to study this morning if you eat so little? Are you planning to go buy that junk food at the intersection again?" A familiar voice rang out, and soon a figure emerged from the kitchen.
"Mom, I'm not..." A tired, groggy voice drifted from the phantom sitting at the dining table.
"Your father is free today; he'll drive you to school. You'd better eat more..."
"No, I'll walk. Why do you think I got up so early? Why didn't you tell me Dad was driving? I could have slept longer!"
"Hah! You're starting to talk back now? Do you think you're all grown up now that your wings have hardened? You won't listen to me anymore! I'm doing this for your own good! Are you still picking up food for the others in your class? Stop learning those bad habits. Why are you running errands for people? Do you want to grow up to be a delivery boy?"
The barrage of words grew heavier with every sentence, fired off like a Gatling gun, leaving the listener no room for rebuttal.
"They pay me delivery fees. Do you?"
"Delivery fees... delivery fees! How much is that even worth? Why earn such dishonest money?"
"The money you give me isn't enough!"
"You only spend money at the cafeteria. Twenty or thirty a day is more than enough! Do you want to live like a high-roller every day?"
"Look at the time! The College Entrance Exam is almost here, and you're not worried at all, are you? You just have to treat our kindness like dirt..."
"..."
I watched these scenes, momentarily dazed. Soon, the images began to blur and destabilize.
From these few exchanges alone, I could see their suffocating desire for control, as well as their... stinginess.
Thinking back to when I lived at school, I had to find ways to earn money myself. Even then, I would sneak out in the mornings to bring breakfast to others, earning a bit of pocket change for my expenses, or working part-time on weekends...
But those things were no longer worth mentioning to me.
I felt a pang of irony. After I left, these two had indeed begun to dump all their life's misfortunes and work pressures onto Yang Yunhan.
What puzzled me even more was... wasn't Yang Yunhan supposed to be their hope?
Faced with the hope of their family, why were they so irrational?
Stinginess alone couldn't explain so many questions.
I continued to scroll through the images. As I grew more familiar with the ability, I began to exert subjective control over it. To put it bluntly, this power was an extension of myself; I simply lacked absolute mastery over it.
"Xiao Han, are you feeling better?" At this point, seeing that I was no longer as panicked or helpless, Sister Bai leaned in to ask.
"Yes... I'm gradually getting used to this power. I'm seeing phantoms recorded by the ley lines in the past." I looked up toward an empty space and spoke.
Currently, Sister Bai was obscured by my subjective illusion, but now that I was familiar with the controls, I could perceive her objective position.
"Then be careful, Xiao Han."
"I know." I nodded, accepting Sister Bai's company. It was a strange sensation; I couldn't see her in my field of vision, yet she was right there beside me.
Meanwhile, another thought occurred to me.
Was what I was currently seeing and hearing a form of "true perception"?
The answer was... yes.
If a sense was powerful enough to deceive perception, then that perception could be shared.
As for the method?
The live streaming platform built by the Tree of Great Knowledge and the information exchange facilitated by the Great Knowledge Sharing Spell should work.
Sister Bai also possessed a Great Knowledge Seed. Even if I couldn't fully share all my perceptions, a simple sharing of visual and auditory data would be enough.
Perhaps... the power of Heart Sense could achieve an even more profound, unknown sensory resonance.
Regardless, at least this way, Sister Bai could witness my past—or my former family—alongside me.
"Sister Bai... I want to ask you something. I've mastered a method... would you be willing to witness my past with me?"
"I am," Sister Bai replied without a moment's hesitation.
"Then... take my hand and accept this sharing permission." I reached out, extending my hand toward Sister Bai's position by feel.
A rune for the Great Knowledge Sharing Spell flickered on my hand. I had opened a private visual-sharing stream for Sister Bai, a synchronization of visual data.
Naturally, I hadn't constructed this technology in such a short time. It was the work of those witch sisters who silently built the architecture and updated the applications for the Tree of Knowledge platform...
"Okay." Sister Bai nodded and took my hand. The sharing rune synchronized permissions with the Tree of Knowledge inside her. Soon, familiar yet strange images appeared before her eyes.
"Sister Bai... remember the Heart-Sensing Resonance you mentioned and tried with me? It allows us to perceive each other's feelings more clearly."
"Yes."
Bai Yu nodded. Looking at the slightly dizzying images, she nevertheless opened her Heart Sense. When two people who both possess Heart Sense drop all their defenses, they can reach a state of resonance—a magical state where even "two hearts beating as one" is insufficient to describe the intimacy.
In that moment of Heart-Sensing Resonance, combined with the visual feed, Bai Yu was completely submerged into the phantom known as "the past."
And in that same moment, within my vision of the past, I saw Sister Bai's figure walking from the future into this moment of the past. Her form gradually solidified until our gazes met.
As expected, the connection of Heart-Sensing Resonance was far more potent than the sharing of the Great Knowledge Sharing Spell. It was a resonance at the level of cognition, influencing our subjective consciousnesses to a certain degree.
"Is this what you see, Xiao Han?" Sister Bai looked at the scenes that were technically moving forward in the vision but backward in actual time, her face filled with wonder. She even felt a faint glimmer of revelation and enlightenment.
"It's okay, Sister Bai. I'll accompany you on this journey against the flow of time."
With our Heart Sense in resonance, I didn't even need to speak. I knew exactly what she had felt in that instant—a tiny spark of the time sense.
Thus, on this journey, while I traced my past, I would lead Sister Bai toward a new breakthrough.
This wasn't something I felt the need to hide. I had always considered Sister Bai my true other half. From the moment I welcomed her back to the main world, I knew she hadn't changed.
At least, she hadn't changed for me. Differences in status, strength, life level, or cognition—none of these things could pull us apart.
If it was within my power, I would unhesitatingly give her a hand, just as she had unreservedly shared her knowledge with me when she learned I had awakened my sixth sense, Heart Sense.
I held Sister Bai's hand, tracing back along the ley line timeline. Whenever we encountered a particularly violent ley line fluctuation, we would stop and watch...
The only pity was that we could only see what happened within this house.
With Sister Bai's company and the sense of security she provided, I found the motivation to keep going.
We learned many things that happened after I left. We learned why they had turned to the Holy Light.
After I left this home, up until that final phone call and those broken fragments of conversation, we realized it was the people from the Holy Light Church who had sheltered them. Otherwise, Yang Yunhan might have been dragged off to fill the quotas at the Lesser Demon Academy.
Even though Yang Yunhan was not yet an adult and hadn't taken the College Entrance Exam, he had awakened his Spirit Vision very early.
Though I didn't know what had happened outside this house, the end result was that the Holy Light Church nearby had intervened.
Even though the Holy Angels I had encountered personally seemed unreliable, the people at this Holy Light Church were quite willing to help.
While it appeared they were using this case to promote the protection of the Holy Light Church and take a jab at the Lesser Demon Academy, the result was that they had saved this family.
After all, the Lesser Demon Academy and the Holy Angel Academy were indeed at odds—though the Lesser Demon Academy had since been integrated as a department within the Abyssal Lesser Demon Academy.
"What a suffocating family..."
Having walked this path with me, Sister Bai had witnessed these twisted values firsthand. She remembered that this family had been quite good to the brother, Yang Yunhan—at least they used to be—but now things were wretched...
Even though the timeline hadn't yet reached the period when I was still here, she could feel what the unwanted Xiao Han must have endured every day.
"Yes... suffocating. A single 'it's for your own good' satisfies their own self-righteousness, shackles the child's freedom, and fulfills their desire for absolute power over them."
"And they never even said 'for your own good' to you, did they?" Sister Bai asked, though the answer no longer seemed to matter.
At this point, my own figure appeared in the temporal node. Back then, I was still a boy...
I led Sister Bai as I pushed open a door. In the study, a thin figure sat at the computer desk. I stopped the regression and let time flow forward.
Until a phone ringtone sounded.
"Hello~ Is this student Yang Yuehan?"
"This is the Witch Academy Admissions Office. Today is the day for filing your preferences..."
As that familiar voice came through the phone, I knew that this moment was the most important turning point of my life.
I looked up at Sister Bai, as if to show her that this was how I had been "kidnapped" into the Witch Academy.
I still remembered the look of utter disbelief on Sister Bai's face when I told her I had applied to the Witch Academy... Looking back now, it was a fond memory.
Teacher Ji Niang... she was the most important benefactor of my life.
And Sister Bai... she was the person willing to accompany me for the rest of my life. Or rather, she was a witch now.
"Wait... someone is coming back."
At that moment, the perceptively sharp Sister Bai sensed movement. Since she wasn't the one leading the ley line regression, she was more attuned to the movements of objective reality.
"What?"
"It's fine... they won't find us." Sister Bai gripped my hand tightly, as if trying to soothe the momentary panic that flared within me.
Because I knew exactly who was coming back at this time.
"Thank you..."
"It's nothing. I'll always be with you."