"Are you sure you can persuade Di Tian?"
Du Busi didn't believe Su Ming could move Di Tian with pure reasoning alone.
The Beast God was the Beast God, the representative of the Spirit Beasts opposed to humanity. Compromise with humans was impossible.
Su Ming knew he needed to give his teacher some confidence.
"Teacher, after my Martial Soul's second awakening, I've gradually awakened new attributes."
Upon hearing this, Du Busi's gaze shifted slightly.
Su Ming's Martial Spirit was Spirit Power itself. A second awakening was already incredibly exaggerated, and now there were other changes?
"What attributes?"
"Fate," Su Ming said. "I've spent these last two months developing this attribute, trying to give myself some characteristics of the Auspicious Beast. The reason I need the Auspicious Beast's Spirit Ring is also because of this."
Understanding the whole story, Du Busi showed a look of pleasant surprise.
"It's actually the power of Fate! Then you must obtain this Auspicious Beast Spirit Ring, even if we have to hunt it down by force."
Now, he had a firmer resolve regarding hunting the Auspicious Beast.
On the way, Du Busi asked again, "If you become an 'Auspicious Beast,' what if Di Tian forces you to stay in the Star Dou Great Forest? Or, what if he doesn't have the Auspicious Beast sacrifice itself to you in exchange for the stacking effect of the Fate power to break through to a higher realm, but instead chooses to have the Auspicious Beast devour you? Wouldn't you have to be constantly wary of Di Tian?"
"Teacher, I've considered that problem too."
Su Ming wouldn't imagine Di Tian to be too benevolent.
He opened his hand, and two forces surged in his palm.
They were the intertwined powers of Destruction and Life.
Du Busi was puzzled.
What does you mastering this power have to do with Di Tian?
Su Ming smiled without answering.
This really couldn't be explained to Du Busi.
In his Sea of Consciousness, while displaying the intertwined Destruction and Life powers, Su Ming also had Electrolux lift the shielding effect on him, allowing the God Realm to sense his aura freely.
God Realm.
Although Tang San controlled the God Realm Core, being fixated on Huo Yuhao daily made him less sensitive to Su Ming suddenly removing his stealth.
On the contrary, it was the God of Destruction, who watched Su Ming every day.
Although he couldn't see Su Ming, he often observed the continent, occasionally determining Su Ming's approximate location.
The moment Su Ming removed his stealth and displayed the Destruction and Life powers, he noticed immediately.
"What does this mean?"
The God of Destruction frowned.
"This kid... does he know I'm watching him from the God Realm? Intentionally lifting the shield and displaying this power... is he hinting at something?"
By the time they reached the Star Dou Great Forest, Su Ming still hadn't had Electrolux shield him again. He had given the God of Destruction enough time to notice him.
"Teacher, let's use this valley. It's considered part of the Core Region, and my range of influence should roughly cover the Core and Mixed Regions."
Su Ming activated his "Auspicious Beast" ability.
At this moment, the God Sealing Platform trembled slightly.
Although the Snow Empress didn't know exactly what was happening, she had a faint sense of being used as a tool.
When Su Ming and Electrolux were "developing" her before, it was only minor adjustments. Now, operating at full power, she finally sensed something was amiss.
But there was nothing she could do.
Su Ming thus settled temporarily in this valley.
He wouldn't directly approach Di Tian and announce he was an "Auspicious Beast" with Auspicious Beast abilities.
He wanted Di Tian to discover it himself and then come to him.
This wouldn't take too long, as the Auspicious Beast's effect was quite noticeable, especially for the Fierce Beasts.
In the valley, Su Ming wasn't idle.
He was developing his Spiritual Domain.
The three main bodies were all complete Spirit Masters, possessing physical bodies and Seas of Consciousness; their spiritual origins were separate.
So far, only the Douluo 3 Su Ming had cultivated his spiritual power to the Spirit Domain Realm.
This was a massively overachievement. Even Gu Yue, who reincarnated and cultivated a new, wasn't as fast as the Douluo 3 Su Ming, lagging far behind him.
This probably also involved the Trinity effect. The three main bodies' ability to enter the River of Time and observe its operation was itself a form of stimulation for the spirit.
Even the non-spirit-attribute Douluo 1 and Douluo 2 main bodies weren't lacking in spiritual power cultivation, comparable to spirit-attribute Spirit Masters.
"I, located at the present node, am unique."
Su Ming entered the River of Time, standing firm at the Douluo 2 node. He watched the world beneath his feet advance bit by bit, solidifying the countless tributaries downstream into the only possibility, transforming into the fixed history upstream.
"The history upstream also holds little to explore, but the future holds infinite possibilities."
"The Douluo 3 me is standing within infinite possibilities, traversing timelines and exploring different parallel worlds."
"The current me can stand on this more stable platform of the present and exert influence on the countless possibilities of the future."
This was a sudden inspiration Su Ming had while developing the power of Fate.
He had suppressed this inspiration at the time.
Now, with some free time, he brought it out again.
The Spiritual Domain of the Douluo 3 main body allowed Su Ming to enter nodes around the River of Time. This "around" actually included the future of the node Su Ming was currently in.
It's just that the True Future of the Douluo 3 node had no future itself, as it had already detached from the River, possessing only a fixed past.
In that era, Su Ming temporarily had no past information he needed to consult, so he hadn't visited that past yet.
However, the Douluo 2 Su Ming could attempt to influence his own future.
"For example, I genuinely will not achieve godhood as the God of Spirit Souls. But I can traverse to the future of my present moment, and by influencing that future, make the future me achieve godhood as the God of Spirit Souls, thereby preserving the future branch where Xu Yuan exists."
"I can also enter another future, exert another influence, and sustain another future branch."
Connecting the beginning and the end might be the best way to comprehend Fate.
If he only unilaterally worked from effect to cause in Douluo 3, Su Ming's understanding of Fate would remain one-sided.
He also needed to work from cause to effect.
Above the Long River, Su Ming's gaze held a trace of anticipation.
He looked towards the branches following the Douluo 2 node.
"For now, the Spiritual Domain only covers the next year of the future."
Having gained this new insight into cultivation methods, Su Ming developed a new understanding of the Long River.
Above the Long River, the only real entity was the single Douluo 2 world. This node, located in the present, constantly moves forward, traversing the River. The areas it passes through become history, recorded upon the River as memories. The areas it hasn't yet reached are where the River strives to evolve infinite futures—uncertain, illusory deductions.
For Su Ming, only three nodes on the entire Long River held meaning for him.
The Present.
The Douluo 1 node, ten thousand years in the past.
The Douluo 3 node, ten thousand years in the future.
Three nodes, housing his three main bodies.
The Douluo 1 him condensed an illusory history from the River. Although it was memory, he had to refine the false into the true from those memories.
The Douluo 3 him was cast out by the River due to a paradox, forming a True Future, already separated from the natural evolution of Douluo 2. Yet, Su Ming needed to reconnect the two, complete the logical closed loop, link Douluo 2 and Douluo 3, and make the True Future of Douluo 3 the only possibility.
***
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(Chapter End)