Deep in Caelus's eyes, there was no panic like Zhang Lexuan's; instead, there was calmness and... a faint, flickering golden light.
'Now is the time,' he murmured in his heart.
The World-shattering explosion outside, the flight of the Ice Empress and others, the pursuit by the Hall of Rebirth... all these chaotic threads of Karma were the perfect opportunity he had been waiting for to intervene quietly without being detected.
He didn't respond to Zhang Lexuan's suggestion. Instead, he submerged his entire consciousness into his body, communicating with the existence deep within his Soul Origin.
'Istaroth, stop sleeping. Get up and help me.'
His thoughts were like a stone thrown into an ancient well.
In the next moment, he felt his consciousness being pulled away, instantly entering a strange golden space.
This space was vast and infinite. Beneath his feet was a "water surface" flowing with a golden halo, reflecting points of light like a sky full of stars.
In the very center of the space stood a golden giant tree whose grandeur and mystery were beyond words.
This was the internal manifestation of his Fourth Soul Skill, "This Moment, That Moment," and the projection of this World's Law of time within his Soul.
Here, he could transcend the normal flow of time to observe, choose, and even... attempt to interfere with the infinite river of possibilities.
As he entered, Caelus seemed to reach out and "grab" a slightly illusory figure of a silver-haired girl in a white-gold gown with sleepy eyes—Istalu, the Ruler of Time—from some corner.
"Ugh..."
Istaroth yawned. After seeing the surroundings and Caelus clearly, her exquisite little face was instantly filled with question marks and reluctance, her tone heavy with complaint:
'What are you doing? Didn't I already help you get "This Moment, That Moment" early, giving you the ability to interfere with fate at the Spirit Ancestor stage? I overextended so much power, and you still want to drag me up to work? Wasn't my previous effort for nothing then? I want to sleep.'
Caelus had long anticipated her reaction and got straight to the point:
'I know you want to slack off, but this situation is special. I might not be able to handle it alone; I need your power to assist me.'
He paused and threw out the bargaining chip he had prepared.
'In return, I can open up part of my memory permissions, letting you browse those... bits of knowledge about my previous World and other possible otherworlds related to your hometown that you've always been interested in.'
He knew that Istaroth had little interest in the troubles of the Douluo Continent, but she held immense curiosity for the strange knowledge and information from another World in his mind.
Whether it was vastly different technological civilizations, philosophical thoughts, or those fantasy creations called "novels" and "games," she found them all very novel.
Caelus had previously strictly controlled the leakage of this information, fearing that this Regent of Time, who already loved to loaf around, would become completely addicted and turn into a true "shut-in salted fish," which would really ruin her.
But now, forced by the situation, he needed Istaroth's help. Moreover, she had indeed secured great benefits for him before; in terms of both reason and emotion, he should return the favor.
Sure enough, hearing this condition, Istaroth's lazy eyes instantly lit up.
Without any hesitation, she immediately put on a "super serious" expression and clapped her hands:
'Deal! You better keep your word. Tell me, what do you need help with?'
The corner of Caelus's mouth twitched imperceptibly; as expected, interest was the only motivator.
He turned his gaze toward the golden giant tree.
This giant tree, symbolizing time and possibility, grew countless branches of varying thickness and alternating brightness.
Each branch represented a future that could possibly derive from the current reality.
The light and shadows flowing on the branches were vaguely reflecting scenes currently playing out or that might play out in the Extreme North Land—
He saw the Ice Empress, her emerald light dimmed, pierced by a purple-black scythe.
He saw the Ice Empress successfully shaking off the pursuit and vanishing into the depths of the wind and snow.
He saw the Ice Empress perishing along with Light Feather Douluo's arrow, exploding into a sky full of ice crystals.
He saw the tragic scene of the Titan Snow Demon King being besieged by several Titled Douluo and dying of exhaustion.
He saw the determination of the Ice Bear King Xiao Bai as he self-detonated to delay the pursuers and cover the Ice Empress's escape... Countless possibilities, like complex scrolls of paintings, flickered and perished on the branches of the Tree of Time.
These were all "possible futures" naturally evolving based on existing conditions.
What Caelus wanted to do was not simply to choose a relatively favorable future and "anchor" it.
What he wanted to do was to find the future that could perfectly realize all his intentions.
He worried that among the naturally evolving countless future branches, such a "perfect" option did not exist.
"If I can't find it..."
Caelus took a deep breath and said to Istaroth.
"If what I want isn't among these branches, we will need to... stimulate the growth of a new branch."
This meant they would have to rely on their own understanding and power over the Law of time to forcibly carve out a tributary that didn't originally exist in the river of time, creating the "future" they wanted.
This was undoubtedly Heaven-Defying, and for the current Caelus, it was an almost impossible task.
Istaroth tilted her head, looked at the golden giant tree, then at the determined look in Caelus's eyes, and curled her lip:
'I knew it wouldn't be anything good... Forcibly growing a future branch will consume my accumulated power. Oh well, for the sake of those memories, I'll go crazy with you this once. Let's begin; let's write the story.'
Caelus nodded, concentrated his entire spirit, and began to carefully search and perceive among those countless flickering branches.
He didn't need to worry about Zhang Lexuan outside. Within this space, the flow of time in the outside World was frozen; he had enough time to write the story.
The piercing cold wind was like a bone-scraping steel knife, carrying ice shards as it lashed against the Ice Empress's exquisite but exhausted face.
She held the hundred thousand year snow lotus, which radiated soft white light and the aura of life, even tighter, as if it were the most important thing in her life.
Because this was not just a snow lotus; deep within the layers of petals lay an ice-blue snow pill containing vast Soul power and the power of Ultimate Ice—it was most of the Soul Origin and power that the Snow Empress had forcibly split off at the last moment of self-detonating her Physical Body to create an illusion of destruction.
She had discarded the Physical Body she had cultivated for hundreds of thousands of years and nearly half of her cultivation just to trade for this chance to escape like a cicada shedding its skin, preserving the final spark.
If she hadn't been pushed to a dead end, how could she, as the Dominator of the Extreme North, have made such a tragic choice?
But for the Ice Sky Snow Lady, who was originally condensed from the World's extreme cold elements, the Physical Body was not an indispensable foundation. As long as this Origin snow pill remained, she had the possibility of re-gathering the elements and returning to the World.
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