Chapter 94: Past and Future, All in Flux (Please continue reading!!!)
Su Ming's thoughts drifted, his entire being as if his soul had left his body, his perspective slowly rising.
He effortlessly merged into the River of Time.
Looking up, the upstream water surged steadily and powerfully along its predetermined path, carrying an irresistible, awe-inspiring natural force.
Looking down, tributaries gradually converged, countless scenes flickered, and with a single ripple from where he stood, countless futures were overturned and reshaped.
Su Ming's heart was stirred.
Watching this magnificent river undergo earth-shattering changes with himself as the node, an infinite heroic spirit rose within his heart.
I am that variable!
"The changes this time are not small."
Entering the perspective of the River of Time again, while Su Ming's heart was stirred, he also noticed the differences in where he stood.
Firstly, the past Su Ming, that illusory history, had become longer.
Secondly, the downstream, representing the future, showed a tendency to converge into one.
Not only that, Su Ming also found that the node where his future self was located downstream also showed a familiar sign.
"Illusory..."
What consequences would a time paradox lead to?
Su Ming didn't know, and he was trying to avoid it as much as possible.
But for cultivation, some paradoxes had to be touched upon.
"This time, I've done a bit too much, and the changes to the future are also immense. My future self should explore less, be less curious, and only rely on future resources to cultivate and grow stronger. This way, the impact of paradoxes can be minimized."
Based solely on his memories of the original work, Su Ming already had a basic understanding of that era.
The so-called history, the so-called glory, he could choose not to explore, not to pay special attention to, thus minimizing the impact of paradoxes.
The biggest conflict of a paradox lies in the future Su Ming's experiences becoming unreal.
Therefore, as long as he avoids contact with histories that might be overturned, he can avoid many paradox-induced effects. For example, he already knows the history of Shrek. In the douluo iii era, if he doesn't attend history classes or actively search for the past history of Shrek, then even if the history of Shrek changes due to the influence of douluo continent ii Su Ming, he won't be affected.
Of course, it's only relatively less affected; living in that era, one will passively receive many pieces of information, more or less.
Su Ming's caution was justified.
Now he saw the effects of the paradox.
Above the node where his future self stood, a segment of illusory history was about to slowly emerge.
"Paradox, paradox. When there are differences, separation begins, just like the past where my upstream self is located. Because changes occurred, illusory history appeared. The downstream is the same."
"In this way, my future self is still anchoring that point, but everything my future self experienced has become illusory. Memories haven't been silently altered; it's just a pure separation of reality and illusion."
Su Ming calmly analyzed this scene.
He didn't relax his guard just because the future showed the same changes as the past.
The future had split into reality and illusion.
Was this a good thing?
"Although the past river is mighty, it flows very steadily. Even if the place where my past self stood completely turns into illusory history, there's no need to worry about being overturned by the river one day. But the future is different."
If he had to describe it, the future Su Ming was like a lone boat. The changes the present Su Ming made to the Douluo Continent would all form ripples, altering the evolution of the future, but these couldn't shake the future Su Ming. Only the ripples formed by paradoxes would pull the future Su Ming's anchor out of the water little by little.
Once the impact of the paradox was too great, the future Su Ming would directly capsize, truly disappearing into the long river of the future.
"Too much impact will capsize the boat."
"At the same time, if the anchor is pulled up, the anchoring effect on the future will be affected, which in turn will make the future more unstable. Perhaps equally powerful ripples caused by paradoxes will amplify their impact on the future?"
This was not good feedback.
Fortunately, Su Ming realized this now, and he wasn't on this feedback loop.
"The future river is converging, indicating that my future self's anchoring effect is strengthening."
The stronger the future Su Ming, the stronger the anchoring effect. While the paradoxes caused by the present Su Ming would weaken his anchoring effect, if the weakening was less than the strengthening, then it would be a continuous positive feedback.
In the end, it all boiled down to one sentence.
"Stay steady, don't make waves!"
[douluo continent i]
As the present Su Ming entered the perspective of the River of Time, the past Su Ming also looked downstream.
His focus was not on the future, but on his own past.
"My history has extended."
On the River of Time, the node where the past Su Ming was located experienced the most frequent changes.
The first time he entered this perspective, three bodies stood at three nodes.
The second time, he understood that 'the past cannot be undone, the future can be changed,' so the douluo continent i node where the past Su Ming was located became illusory.
The third time he entered this perspective, the illusory history of the douluo continent i node was no longer a surface but became a 'body,' extending from a cross-section of the River of Time. Everything douluo continent i Su Ming experienced accumulated into a history, and at the same time, his 'future' that he had not yet experienced also appeared.
It was precisely because of that extension that douluo continent i Su Ming gained the ability to acquire status, because his influence no longer stopped at the present; he also had 'future' illusory fragments.
This time, his illusory fragments had lengthened.
If the previous time the past history extended a hundred years of illusory future from the douluo continent i node, then this time Su Ming saw a full five hundred years of illusory future!
"Five hundred years."
Su Ming's expression was dazed.
What was the method for this illusory history to extend?
What would happen when this history extended to the douluo continent ii node?
He took advantage of his perspective before it disappeared and shattered the illusory thousand-year spirit ring.
Borrowing power!
On the River of Time, the two Su Mings below looked over simultaneously.
douluo continent i Su Ming also stared at the end of his illusory history.
No change.
He looked towards his douluo iii self.
douluo iii Su Ming nodded, ready to cooperate with douluo continent i Su Ming. He had the Light Orb condense another illusory thousand-year spirit ring for douluo continent i Su Ming.
The spirit ring shattered again.
This time, there was no stored spirit power; douluo continent i Su Ming directly borrowed power, borrowing all the spirit power from douluo continent ii Su Ming and douluo iii Su Ming.
He stared intently at the end of the illusory history.
The change came.
The end was extending, by about a year.
[douluo continent i]
Geng Xin City.
Su Ming took a deep breath, calming his agitated emotions. He tried to empty his mind as much as possible, not letting the emerging conjectures disrupt his thoughts.
"One thing that needs to be clear is that I must prepare for connecting with douluo continent ii. Extending the illusory history is something I need to promote, but I absolutely cannot connect rashly."