Chapter 507: The Overall Picture

One of the biggest questions is that of my death. The future Leylah considered it as such, and so did the others. I have a feeling the other future projections discovered things to a varying extent, but unfortunately, the future Leylah never gave me a complete answer.

At some point prior to this, I was even determined to find the truth. But so many things dawned on me after thinking for a while. 

One of them was time.

Much like the karmic threads binding everyone to the world, ‘time’ also has constraints. For once, the present rejects the presence of past and future. The same happens to things and people from other timeframes. 

It is completely different from future projections. These projections are, in essence, a probability. One could truly travel through time at the Dao Integration Realm. However, any changes incurred during that time would be borne by the Venerable who caused it. 

At best, their cultivation would be crippled. At worst, their existence would be wiped from the past, present, and future. They would be forgotten, making it that they never existed in the first place.

It occurs because of these ‘restraints’. They are likened to the karmic threads severed at the Void Refinement Realm. Those karmic threads cause a lot of trouble, be it curses, luck, destiny, or fate. Cutting them off meant everything would be up to them. It makes it more difficult for external influences to take hold of them.

Time, on the other hand, rejects any form of changes to its continuity. It instinctively goes against beings that affect this ‘linearity’, punishing them when necessary. That was the case in most worlds documented by the golden orb. It would reason that the same goes to this world. At least a part of it would do.

That ‘restriction’ is supposed to be broken by a ‘Supreme’. It is the Tribulation Transcendence Realm equivalent of cutting down karma. To exist eternally and to be unaffected by time, dictating everything through one’s will. Such was the meaning of a Supreme.

Nonetheless, there exists a lot of differences in this world’s time. The continuity held by Nous and Fuli acted very differently. I tested it several times. I could be certain that the future simply does not exist in this world. It is why only future projections could descend to the present. They are probabilities, not certainties. Once those Supremes descend in person, the power they could exert was far greater than that of the projections. Yet they did not.

I don’t know the exact cause, but I am certain the ‘future’ does not exist.

If that was the case, and the others knew about it, they would definitely hide key information. Those who are under the restrictions of time would suffer its wrath. It is best to not know about it at all.

I sighed as I realized how far we had come. We are no longer the rookie cultivators who almost got demolished by the honkai. We could now afford to play mysterious because we are already high-level enough.

Shaking these thoughts off, I rushed to remove the formation in its fully-activated state. Rays of light emerged out of my fingertips, causing the white door to appear. I turned its golden knob and left the place. The space rippled slightly before returning to normal.

Before I returned, I took out my jade slade. With my mind immersed into it, I received all the information I missed out. 

Five years.

That was how long my breakthrough took. It was shorter than the previous time I spent, but I have quite a lot on my plate. I could not leave everyone alone, more so when I hadn’t made things up yet. Even if they say something like prioritizing the overall picture, I would still leave time for them.

They are also my overall picture!

With my Tao Body’s unexpected upgrade, I could reach the pinnacle of the Void Refinement Realm at a speed faster than my prior expectations. It is just right to spend more time with them.

After a second of turning the jade slate on, I received several messages. One of them was from Theresa, the other one was from Kiana, and the last one came from Welt Yang.

The last one…

So it has come to this.

*****

The people from the solar system were aware of the machinations of time, and in turn, the roles they must play. One of the most crucial people to it was none other than Welt Yang. He was supposed to discover the outpost left by Sa’s motley crew, the Sky People. 

They were the only ones who possessed a connection to the outside world. They had long been scheming to make moves on Earth, that if Kiana wasn’t there to become the Cocoon’s successful Embrace, they would have pulled the entire APHO storyline through. Unfortunately, she succeeded.

Whether in this life or the original one, they are never destined to succeed.

Things have been far more difficult for them now. Not only was Sa completely obliterated by the extravagant lineup, the Federation and the Sect developed all of humanity at a shocking, jaw-dropping rate. The number of cultivators they housed over the long years had broken into the trillions, with the numbers of high-ranking cultivators increasing.

The one leading in front are the two high-grade spirit roots, Welt Yang and Chen Tianwu. They were at the pinnacle of Nascent Soul Realm, saving their ‘breakthrough’ pills for another opportunity. Following from behind were hundreds of Nascent Soul Realm Dao Lords, and thousands of Golden Core Realm True Lords.

At this point, it was no exaggeration that they could become a major faction throughout the cosmos. Their only concern was the Aeons making a move, but even that seemed less and less significant as the Star Lords’ cultivation increased.

Still, for the safety of it, Welt Yang was assigned to fulfill his role in the upcoming upheaval, and at the same time, become the vanguard. Through the help of others, with Kiana and Seele taking the main role, they were able to push him out without anyone noticing. They utilized the antithesis of Aeons, the Sea of Quanta, and made a pathway out of it. As for whether the Aeons had noticed it or not…

It does not matter.

Welt Yang never intended to hide in the first place, or rather, he knew he could not hide. What he needed to use was to make full use of his current role, be it to feed them with false information, help the Astral Express from its current state, interact with the other forces, and so on.

The only thing for concern was its unpredictability. He could end up anywhere within the cosmos. Thus, the moment he ‘landed’, he immediately scanned his surroundings.

‘This land of endless ice…’

It took a second for him to learn of a name.

‘...Belobog.’