In the depths of Yin Chen's eyes, there was no panic like Zhang Lexuan's. Instead, there was calmness and... a hint of golden light.
'This is it now.' He thought silently in his mind.
The devastating explosion in the outside world, the escape of Ice Empress and others, the pursuit of the Wangsheng Hall... all these chaotic lines of cause and effect were the best opportunity that he had been waiting for for a long time to quietly intervene without being noticed.
He did not respond to Zhang Lexuan's proposal, but instead sunk all his spirit into his body and communicated with the existence deep in the origin of his soul.
'Istaroth, don't sleep, get up and help me.'
Thoughts are like pebbles thrown into an ancient well.
The next moment, he felt his consciousness being pulled away and instantly entered a strange golden space.
This space is infinite, and beneath your feet is the "water surface" flowing with a golden halo, reflecting the stars-like light spots in the sky.
And in the center of the space, there stands a giant golden tree whose majesty and mystery cannot be described in words.
This is the inner manifestation of his fourth Soul Skill "Here and Now" and the projection of the law of time in this world in his soul.
Here, he can transcend the normal flow of time, observe, choose, and even... try to interfere with the infinite river of possibilities.
At the same time as he entered, Yin Chen seemed to have caught a slightly unreal figure of a sleepy silver-haired girl wearing a platinum dress - Archon of Time·Istaroth, also "caught" in from a certain corner.
"Well..."
Istaroth yawned. After seeing the surrounding environment and Yin Chen clearly, his delicate little face was instantly filled with question marks and reluctance, with a strong complaint in his tone:
'What are you doing? Haven't I already helped you get 'Here and Now' in advance, giving you the ability to interfere with your destiny at the Soul Ancestor stage? You have overdrawn so much power, and you still want to pull me up to work? Then wasn't my previous work in vain? I want to sleep.'
Yin Chen had already anticipated her reaction and went straight to the point:
'I know you want to be lazy, but this time the situation is special. I may not be able to handle it alone, and I need your help.'
He paused and threw out the chips he had prepared.
'In return, I can open up part of my memory permissions and let you browse those... you have always been interested in, about the world where I lived in my previous life, and other possible otherworldly knowledge related to your hometown.'
He knew that Istaroth was not very interested in the Douluo Continent's troubles, but was extremely curious about the bizarre knowledge and information from another world in his mind.
Whether it was different scientific and technological civilizations, philosophical thoughts, or those fantasy creations called "novels" and "games", they all made her feel very novel.
Yin Chen has been strictly controlling the leakage of information in this area before, just for fear that Archon of Time, who already likes to fish, will become completely addicted and turn into a real "home girl salted fish", and then she will really be ruined.
But now, forced by the situation, he needs Istaroth's help, and the other party has indeed obtained huge benefits for him before. He should reciprocate the favor, both emotionally and rationally.
Sure enough, upon hearing this condition, Istaroth's lazy eyes instantly lit up.
Without any hesitation, she immediately put on an "I'm super serious" expression, clapped her hands and said:
'Deal, you must keep your word, tell me, what help do you want from me?'
Yin Chen The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and it turns out that only benefits can lead to motivation.
He cast his gaze on the giant golden tree.
I saw this giant tree, which symbolizes time and possibility, growing with countless branches of different thicknesses and alternating light and dark.
Each branch represents a possible future based on the current reality.
The flowing light and shadow on the branches are vaguely reflecting the scenes that Extreme North is playing out or may be playing out -
He saw Ice Empress with dim blue light and pierced by a purple-black sickle.
I saw Ice Empress who successfully escaped the pursuit and disappeared into the depths of the wind and snow.
I saw Ice Empress being killed by Guang Ling Douluo's arrows and exploding ice crystals all over the sky.
I saw the tragic scene where Titan Snow Demon King was besieged by digital Titled Douluo and died of exhaustion.
I saw Ice Bear King Xiaobai's determination to cover Ice Empress's escape by self-destructing to delay the pursuers...
Countless possibilities, like complicated scrolls, flicker, rise and die on the branches of the tree of time.
These are all "possible futures" that evolve naturally based on existing conditions.
What Yin Chen has to do is not simply choose a relatively favorable future to "anchor".
What he wants to do is find a future that can perfectly realize all his intentions.
He worries that among the countless future branches of natural evolution, there is no such "perfect" option.
"If you can't find it..."
Yin Chen took a deep breath and said to Istaroth.
"If these branches don't have what I want, we need to... give birth to a new branch."
This means that they have to rely on their own understanding and power of the law of time to forcibly open a tributary in the river of time that does not exist before and create a "future" they want.
This is undoubtedly going against the grain, and is an almost impossible task for the current Yin Chen.
Istaroth tilted his head, looked at the giant golden tree, then looked at the firm look in Yin Chen's eyes, and curled his lips:
'I knew it was going to be bad... Forcibly spawning future branches will only consume my accumulation, that's all. For the sake of that memory, I will go crazy with you once. Let's get started, let's write a story.'
Yin Chen nodded, concentrated all his energy, and began to carefully search and sense among the countless flickering branches.
He doesn't have to worry about Zhang Lexuan in the outside world. In this space, the flow of time in the outside world is static, and he has enough time to write stories.
The biting cold wind was like a bone-scraping steel knife, carrying ice shavings and lashing Ice Empress's delicate but tired face.
She hugged the Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus plant in her arms that exuded soft white light and the breath of life tighter, as if it was the most important thing in her life.
Because this is not just Snow Lotus, deep inside the layers of petals, there is an ice-blue Snow Core that contains vast soul power and ultimate ice and snow power - that is most of the soul origin and power that Snow Empress forcibly split out at the last moment when it self-destructed its body and created the illusion of destruction.
He gave up his physical body and nearly half of his cultivation accumulated through hundreds of thousands of years of hard work, in exchange for this golden cicada's chance to escape its shell and retain the last Core Flame.
If she hadn't been forced into a desperate situation, as the master of Far North, how could she have made such a tragic choice?
But for Heavenly Snow Woman, who is originally composed of the extremely cold elements of heaven and earth, the physical body is not something that cannot be discarded. As long as this original Snow Core still exists, she has the possibility of reuniting with the elements and reappearing in the world.