Su Ming's reaction was decisive.
And very clever.
The waters of the River of Time filled his Spiritual Domain, causing it to become infused as well.
But precisely because of this, his Spiritual Domain, which originally seemed like it could be consolidated in one step, immediately hit a snag.
The domain's consolidation, halfway through, began to slow down.
"Is a domain involving the River of Time this difficult to consolidate?"
Su Ming's entire face scrunched up.
"I'm clearly a Trinity, my soul's intrinsic nature is related to the River of Time. This is just about excavating that nature."
After waiting for a long time and realizing the consolidation of his Spiritual Domain had reached a limit for now, unable to be perfected further, he could only check the current domain's effects.
"It's obviously incomplete, just a rudimentary foundation—"
As Su Ming spoke, his eyes widened.
"Is this—"
"The ability to traverse the River of Time that I've been longing for?"
Releasing his Spiritual Domain, he felt the presence of the River of Time. After connecting with it, he could actually project his consciousness to corresponding nodes within the area covered by his domain?
He looked around. Lin Yuhan had long since returned to Lin City, and now he was the only one in this pocket dimension.
"Better return to the continent first. If the pocket dimension gets lost while I'm traversing, things could get messy."
Returning to the valley via the spatial node, Su Ming simply set up an array to avoid disturbances and began testing his Spiritual Domain.
Although it wasn't fully consolidated yet, the framework of its abilities filled Su Ming with anticipation.
River of Time.
Above his True Future, Su Ming looked down upon the river below, feeling immense pride.
He spread his arms.
"Go forth, my spiritual power."
He extended his spiritual power into the River of Time, spreading it outwards.
And then...
Nothing else happened.
Su Ming stared at the short reach of his spiritual power, falling into deep thought.
This span was so short he could barely sense any change.
If he didn't sense carefully, he couldn't even tell if his spiritual power had extended beyond the area of his True Future.
It had!
Within the River of Time, even a single drop of water contained infinite possibilities. Su Ming's spiritual power, seemingly not extending outward, had actually reached a full nine parallel worlds!
"Nine parallel worlds. But they aren't True Futures; they are futures deduced by the River of Time, capable of collapsing at any moment. I definitely can't send my true body there."
Su Ming separated a portion of his spiritual power and invested it into the nearest parallel world.
After a dizzying spin, countless images flooded into Su Ming's mind.
Douluo Planet.
Tianhai City.
"I'm just a spiritual body?"
Su Ming looked at his own form, somewhat surprised.
This method of traversing parallel worlds was unexpected.
Shouldn't there be a counterpart for me to possess?
He released his spiritual power, instinctively searching in familiar places.
"There's no other me. Teacher Zhang Tianyang didn't take a disciple. There is no 'me' in this parallel world."
Su Ming calmly accepted this fact.
It was better without him.
He wouldn't dwell on why this future lacked him, wondering if he had vanished under time's erosion.
He would only believe he was unique, that the so-called River of Time simply couldn't simulate his existence!
"I exist only at three nodes: past, present, and future. Only three. Beyond that, there are no other versions of me. No other 'me' exists in other parallel worlds."
Su Ming had a sudden realization. He looked up and made eye contact with his two other selves upstream.
This was the truth behind his transmigration.
He was an outsider, a unique outsider within this River of Time system.
Without a body of his own, Su Ming could only temporarily attach his spiritual body to a Spirit Master.
He chose a person named Xu Yuan.
"A spear Martial Spirit?"
After briefly understanding Xu Yuan's situation, Su Ming began to communicate with him.
"Who are you?"
It was Xu Yuan's first time entering his Sea of Consciousness. Seeing the unfamiliar presence within, he showed a wary expression.
Su Ming revealed a friendly smile.
"I am a traveler from outside this world. I wish to learn about this world. In exchange, I will help you with your cultivation within my capabilities."
Xu Yuan wasn't receptive.
"I don't need it."
"Although I'm not proficient in spear techniques, I am well-versed in elemental control. Your spear has the potential for elemental attributes."
"I don't need it."
Xu Yuan was unyielding, firmly refusing Su Ming.
He exited his Sea of Consciousness. After realizing Su Ming wasn't forcibly damaging it, he let Su Ming stay there, continuing his daily spear practice as usual.
Xu Yuan was twelve years old this year, with Spirit Power at level 42. His secondary profession, Mecha Design, had even reached level four.
This was also why Su Ming had targeted him.
He trained extremely diligently. Su Ming, observing from his Sea of Consciousness for a few days, found his schedule packed full every day.
This level of perseverance even surprised Su Ming.
"Although it still falls short of me splitting one day into three, he only loses out by not having the Trinity talent."
While observing Xu Yuan, Su Ming also learned about the developments in this parallel world.
Currently, at the Douluo 3 node beneath his True Future, changes had already occurred due to the timeline's deduction. The original storyline's plot was basically gone.
From what Su Ming had seen these past two days, Shrek was no longer the holy land everyone yearned for. At the very least, Xu Yuan, this hardworking genius, didn't aim for Shrek but sought to join the War God Hall.
The goals of several other talented classmates of Xu Yuan included the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, Di'ao Academy, and many prestigious schools familiar to Su Ming from the Douluo 2 era.
Just not Shrek.
"Tch, drowned in the River of Time?"
Su Ming recalled Shrek at the current Douluo 2 node; it was indeed already on the decline.
Shrek Academy's model could only work like a snowball.
Once it lost its dominant position, it was bound to decline rapidly.
In this aspect, the timeline was quite objective.
However, Shrek's disappearance was something Tang San couldn't prevent, but organizations like the Spirit Transmission Pagoda still existed.
From Xu Yuan's perspective, Su Ming learned that the Spirit Transmission Pagoda was founded by the God of Spirit Souls, Su Ming, and had stood for ten thousand years without falling. The War God Hall was an organization established by the Federation six thousand years ago to resist the Abyss.
"Eh? The Abyss is publicly known here?"
At the very least, the Su Ming in Douluo 2 hadn't reached the point of killing Tang San yet. The River of Time's deductions were still conservative; it hadn't deduced a scenario where Tang San died, so it was still proceeding according to Tang San's original plan.
The Abyss was still coveting the Douluo Continent.
And even—
"The Lord of the Plane is still Tang Hao."
It was then that Su Ming noticed a pair of eyes opening within the white, empty space, staring directly at him.
"How did Tang the Hammer manage to seize it?"
If the deduction started from the current Douluo 2 node, the foundation of the God of Forging already belonged to Su Ming. Without the forging faith, how could Tang Hao possibly seize the position of Lord of the Plane?
***
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(Chapter End)