"Of course, these things didn't have much of an impact on me."
"What truly made me realize your extraordinary nature was what that consciousness said—that you would change this world and influence the future."
"I don't know who he is, to dare claim he can see the future. However, the abilities he demonstrated were indeed godlike, and I gradually came to believe that he could predict the future."
At this point, Xu Yuan also furrowed his brow.
The future?
Time is a very special existence. Some people believe time is purely a concept—a process of material change artificially defined by humans, rather than a fundamental universal law.
However, others argue that this is merely humanity's way of understanding time, attempting to interpret temporal changes through material transformations.
Does time truly exist? And does the timeline composed of past and future allow for so-called foreknowledge of the past and future, or even time travel? Xu Yuan wasn't certain.
Nevertheless, he had his inclinations.
After all, his very existence was quite unique.
The plot of the Douluo world had already been predetermined, yet he appeared within this predetermined storyline and changed so much.
Xu Yuan didn't dwell on the existence of time itself. His focus quickly shifted to that mysterious being.
Someone capable of predicting the future—what level of strength did that entail?
A God King?
Xu Yuan frowned.
If there was any existence he couldn't comprehend, it was the God King.
Based on the storylines he had seen—and limited by my own knowledge (A/N: I haven't read the entirety of Douluo IV, let alone Douluo V, and subsequent cosmic settings won't reference the original works)—there was no clear description of a God King.
Could a God King transcend the timeline?
This was something Xu Yuan was unwilling to accept.
If a God King could manipulate the timeline, it would be terrifying.
Yet, reflecting on the twenty thousand years of development he knew about, he had to admit that God Kings must possess some understanding of time. Otherwise, how could plans spanning ten thousand years be carried out so effortlessly?
Consider this: the Divine Realm disappeared six thousand years ago, yet Tang Wulin now appears in the present era, six thousand years later.
Perhaps it wasn't just the Divine Realm being affected by temporal turbulence; maybe Tang San himself employed some method. When sending Tang Wulin away from that chaotic spacetime, he may have subtly pushed time forward, causing those fleeting moments to span six thousand years on Douluo Star.
In simple terms, while Tang Wulin, still an infant, experienced only a few minutes, six thousand years passed in the outside world.
Perhaps this was the power of a God King—or perhaps it was an authority granted by the central hub of the Divine Realm.
"Was Father noticed by a God King?" Xu Yuan felt this assumption was implausible because he couldn't think of any God Kings still existing on Douluo Star.
Destruction and life had fallen, their divine origins remaining in the Divine Realm, with some residual destruction and life energy scattered on Devil Island, not here on Tian Dou Continent.
As for the God Kings of kindness and evil, they shouldn't appear near Douluo Star, and the likelihood of the God of Retribution appearing was even slimmer.
Could there be unknown God Kings on Douluo Star?
Storms of thought swirled in Xu Yuan's mind as he finally considered another possible God King-level existence.
"The Dragon God!"
No, not just one—the Dragon God commanded many Dragon Kings, including the nine strongest Dragon Kings under him, all at the God King level. Could their consciousnesses still linger on Douluo Star?
"The Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well was a miracle formed from the corpses of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings after their deaths. Besides these two Dragon Kings, could Douluo Star also bury other Dragon Kings?"
Or perhaps the direction of his thoughts had deviated. Was the entity communicating with his father unrelated to the dragon race?
But if it wasn't a Dragon God King, which other God Kings might exist that he didn't know about?
Xu Yuan scanned his surroundings, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Fire.
This should be a key factor.
However, besides fire elements, the other party must also master all elements, and their control over them must be advanced, though they clearly favored fire.
A flame-condensed egg.
Turning his gaze toward the egg behind him, Xu Yuan's eyes flickered.
Failing to find definitive answers, Xu Yuan continued reading the letter.
"Although I believed he could see glimpses of the future, I also discovered that his foresight was limited. At most, he could predict events up until before your ascension to godhood. Yes, he said you would become a god. At first, I was astonished, but upon reflection, it seemed reasonable. Isn't it natural for my son to ascend to godhood?"
"I've also begun studying the realm of gods, exploring the level of deities through willpower. If you inherit my research and establish the strongest foundation, your chances of becoming a god are significant."
"He provided me with much information about gods. It turns out the gap between gods and ordinary god-level beings is vast. You cannot become a true deity unless you break through to the hundredth level. Even after becoming a god, there remains hope to pursue higher realms." (Referring to the difference in level of life. One is a god, and the other is just god-LEVEL with no god position.)
"He offered me much assistance, but I didn't ask him to alter my cultivation aptitude or anything like that. My age is too advanced to walk the path of a soul master anymore. Thus, I decided to continue my own research. Long ago, I realized that the abilities of evil soul masters touched upon profound domains, but researching them was too perilous, so I refrained."
"By the way, he told me that in the future, you would also study evil soul masters, and advised me to leave behind some research findings. I did leave results, stored in the Spirit Pagoda's database. A thorough search should uncover that file—it's signed with your name."
"Researching evil soul masters is dangerous, but with his protection, I never faced any true life-or-death crisis. However, as I delved deeper into evil soul master research, I inadvertently touched upon Qiangu Dongfeng's taboos within the headquarters."
"At first, I didn't care. But Qiangu Dongfeng's actions would destroy the Spirit Pagoda's millennia-old reputation. Since I relied on the Spirit Pagoda's resources for my research, I couldn't turn a blind eye."
"Perhaps, after this, I'll die. But I might not die—I might exist in another form."
The contents of the letter ended here.
The sheer volume of information left Xu Yuan momentarily dazed.
Seeing the mention of his own ascension to godhood, Xu Yuan wasn't overly excited.
If he couldn't even become a god, then what was the point of his coming to this world?
Breaking through to the hundredth level was merely a milestone.
But beyond that, the future became obscured.
"Can achieving godhood enable one to resist a God King's foresight?"
Or perhaps breaking through to godhood would bring about some special transformation, rendering the other party unable to peer into the future.
This was the first time Xu Yuan formally pondered questions related to foreknowledge of the future.
"Is the reason I'm learning about my future now because I've grown strong enough, and my abilities are nearing maturity? So that I won't give up and fail to achieve the future?"
Xu Yuan never believed the future was fixed.
The past could not be undone, but the future could be changed.
So, the things Xu Zhi left behind also came with prerequisites—that Xu Yuan had inherited the three spirit-attribute spirit souls and demonstrated extraordinary talent. Only then could he enter here and access this information.
It was also a way of filtering the future.
"Seems like the Douluo universe is even more fascinating than I imagined."
Xu Yuan didn't dwell on the astonishing information he had received today.
The universe in which Douluo Star resided was boundless. The abilities of soul masters below the god level weren't particularly impressive, but at the god level, there was a qualitative change.
Even time began to come into play, and many situations Xu Yuan wasn't aware of would arise, which delighted him.
"If everything were predictable, it would be too boring. Maybe I should try ascending to godhood earlier and explore the unknowns of the universe that I'm not familiar with."
Of course, Xu Yuan only thought about this briefly. He didn't have a map of the universe, nor did he know where life existed in the cosmos or the locations of various planes.
Searching for habitable planets in the universe was even harder than finding islands in the ocean. And these were just habitable planets, not planets with life, let alone planes that nurtured cultivation civilizations.
From this, one could imagine how difficult exploration in the universe would be.
"The Demon Plane is connected to many planes. Though most of the planes invaded by the Demon Plane wouldn't involve gods, they were still safe. Moreover, the different cultivation systems could provide me with some inspiration."
Xu Yuan felt that when he had time, he absolutely needed to visit and explore other planes.
After storing his father's letters in his storage-type soul-guided device, Xu Yuan turned around and looked at the flame-condensed egg before him.
"What's so special about this egg?"
The letter hadn't mentioned this egg, nor had it detailed anything about the surrounding environment. It hadn't even elaborated on the mysterious being who communicated with his father.
Xu Yuan guessed that the other party didn't want to reveal themselves yet, possibly due to certain reservations, so he wasn't overly concerned.
He tried to control the surrounding space and sense the fluctuations of this flame-formed egg.
"There's some kind of life being nurtured inside."
Xu Yuan could feel the dense vitality within the flames.
The vitality floating in the air seemed to exist solely to nourish this egg.
Moreover, the energy fluctuations within the egg were peculiar—it was vitality sprouting from the flames, incredibly unique.
This made him instinctively think of the phoenix.
In the Douluo Plane, the phoenix and dragons were distinct. Though they were on the same level, the phoenix was based on the concept of the phoenix from Xu Yuan's previous life, while the dragon race wasn't the Eastern dragon but Western dragons.
It could only be described as strange.
"The phoenix bloodline isn't widespread on the continent—it's much rarer than the dragon bloodline. Is the life within this egg a phoenix? A phoenix reborn from fire?"
Xu Yuan pondered the possibilities.
For something like this to happen, it would at least require a phoenix at the god level, right?
Xu Yuan had never heard of any phoenix soul beasts that could be reborn through a flame-condensed egg after death.
"The thing is, I haven't sensed any fluctuations of bloodline power."
This was the key point that made Xu Yuan hesitate.
After all, flames, life, and a scene resembling nirvana easily brought the phoenix to mind.
However, he remained skeptical about the life being nurtured within this egg and didn't immediately confirm it as a phoenix because he hadn't detected any fluctuations of bloodline power.
The phoenix bloodline was rare, but Xu Yuan wasn't incapable of sensing it.
He had also never heard that the phoenix bloodline couldn't be detected. Although it wasn't as ostentatious as the dragon bloodline, they were both on the same level, and their presence should be detectable from afar.
Even a single drop of blood or a wisp of flame might contain the oppressive aura of the phoenix bloodline.
Moreover, Xu Yuan had experienced the phoenix bloodline before. The sisters Leng Yaoju and Leng Yulai both had phoenix martial souls, and their bloodline power fluctuations were intense, similar to the dragon bloodline, exuding an aura of high status.
"If it's not a phoenix inside, then what could it be?"
Xu Yuan was curious.
He cautiously approached and picked up the flame egg.
Nothing unusual happened. The flame egg quietly burned, and it truly felt like a condensed, solid egg. The flames inside were gentle, nurturing a unique life.
Though Xu Yuan's spirit, vitality, and mental power controlled the surroundings, he couldn't observe the interior of the egg—it was being interfered with by some force.
"Though I don't know what's inside, it can't be an ordinary life form. Taking it back won't be a loss."
After some thought, Xu Yuan decided he could let Elder Tree of the Golden Ancient Tree study it.
Elder Tree was at a higher level and might be able to uncover the essence of this egg.
At the same time, Xu Yuan was also considering Elder Tree's situation.
The Golden Ancient Tree was somewhat depleted. Though it had reconnected to the Demon Plane and its energy was recovering as much as possible, accumulating vitality was a long-term process that couldn't be achieved in a short span.
Unless it relied on plane feedback.
But using plane feedback to rapidly accumulate vitality would require an immense amount of energy to be devoured and handed over to the plane. The energy absorbed by the Golden Ancient Tree from the Demon Plane simply wasn't enough.
The vitality within this egg was very dense, and Xu Yuan suspected that the egg itself was emitting vitality. Perhaps it could be given to Elder Tree to absorb the emitted vitality.
After retrieving the egg, Xu Yuan explored the surroundings but found no other anomalies. He then piloted his mech back to the spatial rift.
He returned to the spatial rift and examined it once more but found nothing new.
"There must be something special here, but I can't figure it out, and Father didn't leave any useful information."
Sighing, Xu Yuan stopped obsessing over it and left.
"Indeed, the vitality of this egg is dense enough to naturally emit vitality, and the amount is quite significant."
Energy was conserved. Since this egg was still in the nurturing stage, it naturally wouldn't only emit vitality; otherwise, the egg would quickly die.
"The bottom of the abyss beneath the spatial rift concealed this egg well, locking in the vitality it emitted and creating an excellent nurturing environment. However, it also restricted the further development of the egg—too much vitality ended up blocking the intake of other energies." Xu Yuan made some guesses: "By taking this egg out, I've actually promoted its nurturing. The egg has entered the next stage, absorbing external energy to develop while also releasing some of its own vitality as feedback."
This process seemed like a form of reciprocation.
I absorb your energy, and I return a portion of my vitality—neither owes the other.
Xu Yuan's gaze flickered.
Looking at it this way, this egg was of a very high level.
It seemed to be avoiding entanglements like causality.
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