Su Ming's thoughts emptied, his entire being as if his soul had left its shell, his perspective slowly rising.
He seamlessly merged into the river of time.
Looking up, the river water from the upstream flowed along its set path, surging forward steadily and powerfully, carrying an irresistible, majestic force of heaven and earth that inspired awe.
Looking down, numerous tributaries gradually converged, countless images flickering. With every ripple originating from the point where he stood, countless futures were overturned and reshaped.
Su Ming's heart surged with excitement.
Watching this magnificent river undergo earth-shattering changes with himself as the node, boundless ambition rose in his heart.
I am that variable!
"The changes this time are significant."
Entering the perspective of the river of time once more, while his heart was stirred, Su Ming also noticed differences in the place where he stood.
First was the past Su Ming; that segment of illusory history had grown longer.
Secondly, the downstream representing the future showed a tendency to converge and unify.
Not only that, Su Ming also discovered that the node where his future self resided also showed some familiar signs.
"Illusory…"
What consequences would a time paradox cause?
Su Ming didn't know, and he was trying his best to avoid it.
But for the sake of cultivation, some paradoxes had to be triggered.
"This time, I've done a bit too much, and the changes to the future are also huge. My future self should explore less, be less curious, only using future resources to cultivate and become stronger. This way, the impact of paradoxes can be minimized."
Relying solely on his memories of the original work, Su Ming basically had a fundamental understanding of that era.
The so-called history, the so-called glory, he could choose not to explore, not to pay special attention to them. This would minimize the impact of paradoxes.
The biggest conflict of a paradox lies in the experiences of the future Su Ming becoming unreal.
So, as long as he avoids contacting those histories that might be overturned, he can avoid much of the paradox's influence. For example, since he already understands Shrek's history, in the Douluo 3 era, he wouldn't take history classes or actively search for Shrek's past history. Then, even if the history of Shrek under the influence of the Douluo 2 Su Ming changes, he wouldn't be affected.
Of course, it's only relatively less affected; living in that era, he would passively receive information, more or less.
Su Ming's caution was justified.
Now he saw the effect of the paradox.
Above the node where his future self stood, a segment of illusory history was about to slowly surface.
"Paradox, paradox… once differences appear, separation begins. Just like the past where my upstream self is, because changes occurred, an illusory history appeared. The same applies downstream."
"This way, my future self is still anchored to that point. It's just that everything my future self experienced has become illusory. His memories haven't been silently altered; it's purely a separation of reality and illusion."
Su Ming analyzed this scene calmly.
He did not let his guard down just because similar changes appeared in the future as in the past.
The future had split into reality and illusion.
Was this a good thing?
"Although the river of the past is majestic, it flows steadily. Even if the entire section where my past self stands turns into illusory history, there's no worry about the river overturning it someday. But the future is different…"
If he had to describe it, the future Su Ming was like a lone boat. The changes Su Ming now made to the Douluo Continent would form ripples, altering the evolution of the future, but these couldn't shake the future Su Ming. Only the ripples formed by paradoxes would gradually pull future Su Ming's anchor out of the water.
Once the impact of the paradox becomes too great, the future Su Ming would capsize directly, truly disappearing into the long river of the future.
"Too strong an impact will capsize the boat."
"At the same time, if the anchor is pulled up, the effect of anchoring the future would be affected, making the future even more unstable. Perhaps similarly powerful paradox-induced ripples would have an amplified effect on the future?"
This was not good feedback.
Fortunately, Su Ming realized this now, and he wasn't yet caught in this feedback loop.
"The river of the future is converging, indicating that the anchoring effect of my future self is strengthening."
The stronger the future Su Ming is, the stronger the anchoring effect. The paradoxes caused by the present Su Ming would weaken this anchoring effect. But if the weakening is less than the strengthening, it creates a continuous positive feedback.
In the end, it all boils down to one sentence.
"Steady, don't get reckless!"
[Douluo 1]
At the same time as the present Su Ming entered the perspective of the river of time, the past Su Ming was also looking downstream.
His focus wasn't on the future, but on the past where he resided.
"My history has extended."
On the river of time, the node where the past Su Ming resided changed most frequently.
The first time he entered this perspective, three entities stood at three nodes.
The second time, he understood that 'the past cannot be retrieved, the future can be changed.' Thus, the Douluo 1 node where the past Su Ming resided became illusory.
The third time he entered this perspective, the illusory history of the Douluo 1 node was no longer a 'surface' but had become a 'volume', extending from a cross-section of the river of time. Everything experienced by the Douluo 1 Su Ming superimposed into a history, and the 'future' he had not yet experienced also appeared.
It was precisely because of that extension that the Douluo 1 Su Ming gained the ability to acquire '位格' (status/rank), because his influence was no longer limited to the present; he also had illusory fragments of a 'future'.
This time, his illusory fragments had lengthened.
If the last time the illusory future extending from the Douluo 1 node was a hundred years, 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 extending this illusory history?
What would happen when this history extends to the Douluo 2 node?
While this perspective hadn't vanished yet, he shattered the illusory thousand-year spirit ring.
Borrow Power!
On the river of time, the two Su Mings located downstream both looked over.
The Douluo 1 Su Ming also stared at the end of his illusory history.
No change.
He looked towards his Douluo 3 self.
The Douluo 3 Su Ming nodded, preparing to cooperate with the Douluo 1 Su Ming. He had the light sphere condense another illusory thousand-year spirit ring for the Douluo 1 Su Ming.
The spirit ring shattered again.
This time, without stored spirit power, the Douluo 1 Su Ming directly borrowed power, borrowing the full spirit power of both the Douluo 2 and Douluo 3 Su Mings.
He stared intently at the end of the illusory history.
Change came.
The end extended, roughly by one year.
[Douluo 1]
Gengxin City.
Su Ming took a deep breath, calming his agitated emotions. He tried to empty his mind as much as possible, not letting the numerous conjectures now emerging disrupt his thinking.
"One point needs to be clear: I must prepare for connecting with Douluo 2. Extending the illusory history is something I need to promote, but I absolutely must not rashly connect the timelines."
...
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(Chapter End)