Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1355 - 1354 - Mysterious Stream

Lind did not know how much time passed or if it was passing at all. There was no external reference for him to measure it at all. He tried seeing if the streams of energy had a pattern but they were chaotic. There was no steady pulse to get an accurate flow of time.

It bothered him how little attachment time had to the current trial. He felt like it was passing but he could not regulate his awareness for some reason.

He tried to time his heartbeat but it was like he lost track of it without sensing any interference. It confused him.

It was not like in the Forest of the Now. He was not experiencing all variations of the present like before.

The lack of interaction was starting to grate on his nerves. He had cultivated for years on end without issue but the streams of energy and the blackness left him feeling irritated.

He tried using the Laws of Time he had comprehended but nothing reacted. In fact no Laws at all did a damn thing. His pseudo-Dao also failed. His harmony failed.

Nothing worked! The streams just moved around him to continue their previous paths but he did not understand it at all!

Why couldn't he analyze them or interact with them?! What were they?! What was the point of the bloody trial?!

He suddenly realized he was losing any semblance of calm and stopped all he was doing. He had to re-center himself.

He assumed a lotus position and began to cultivate. It was not necessary to recover Qi or comprehend his Laws, but it would help his mental state.

However, the instant he felt his mind about to settle, nausea flowed over his entire being. He had not felt such a strong reaction since he was a Soul Realm!

The teleportation arrays affected lower realm cultivators more as they had no ability to adapt to the shift in space.

They were too connected to the location around them and thus shifting vast distances disoriented them badly.

What was being affected now?

He did not know at first but he finally felt it after trying to cultivate once more. He realized the streams were shifting Time randomly around him!

No wonder he felt so disconnected from the main stream of energy! He quickly left it and his disturbed senses settled at long last. His irritation faded and he could finally objectively analyze his current situation.

"The streams make time vary but they are not affected by the Laws of Time. At least not the Laws I know. I know the Laws of Stillness, Slow, Accelerate, Balance, and Stagnation. I have touched on the Laws of Variance, Stop, and Precognition." Lind calmly broke down his process and realized he had to feel what the energy was.

He had to isolate his preconceptions and simply try to grasp what was in front of him. He also had to stop trying to track any relative time. It was clearly being altered from one moment to the next.

He did not understand how, but that was due to his own assumptions. He had to approach things from a clean slate and act as if he knew nothing.

Lind let his senses absorb whatever they could grasp but it was disturbing.

Just when things seemed to be leading somewhere, a shift would occur and all his progress would reset. It was like trying to use a sieve to sift water itself!

What was going on? Just what were the streams of energy and why was there a main stream at all?

Lind realized the issue was more basic than simply his preconceived notions or his other Laws. He was faced with a trial that forced him well outside normal conventions of Time and comprehension.

"George, what would you make of ever shifting time?" He had a thought about his old coworker and strangely, it seemed to spark an idea.

"Please let this work." Lind thought of science fiction, specifically every damned show and movie George ever talked about. Star Trek sprang to mind but that was not enough. He needed something more flexible.

Time was not fixed, it was not set in stone for him. He realized that an Immortal and a Divine Realm cultivator were distinct in that. His recent encounter with his future self revealed time was not fixed for him but that would change.

What was a Divine Realm? Why was Time fixed for them?

Something changed on a fundamental level for a Divine Realm, of that he was certain. Yet, he was only an Immortal, and a Radiant Tier at that. He focused on his desire to grasp the essence of the trial.

Bootstrap Paradox, fixed events, butterfly effect, and other common tropes filled his mind but nothing fit. George had loved that crap but Lind realized James merely entertained his friend and nodded along!

Still, something had to help at this point. His own experience and knowledge was not enough!

The world of fiction often led to answers in his opinion and he had seen enough to know cultivation walked paths his old world only dreamed of.

Even at such an advanced cultivation realm, his old world still held answers few cultivators could grasp on their own.

It was because his world could dream. Dreams of possibilities even their own science could not make a reality.

Cultivation could bridge that gap if he could comprehend a Law behind it!

The streams of power were nothing he knew of so he had to look outside. He had to look at other possibilities!

He tried so many theories of time travel, time theory, and just plain old concepts of time. He started from scratch but it did not seem to matter.

The streams of energy evaded his attempts. It frustrated him to no end. Why were those streams so damned mysterious?!

"No Law nor Dao works. Just what are they?" Lind verbally expressed his frustration. He had approached the issue from all angles yet he was still left high and dry.

He had never encountered anything that did not respond to something. Basic elemental power, Laws, and Dao covered the gamut of all that could be. Even Earth, his old world, would be easily controlled by a single cultivator.

Yet, the streams of light and color defied all his attempts to even scratch their surface.

"If it exists, it has to be guided by something. Nothing can exist in a vacuum!" His frustration rose once more but he had no way to vent it. His emotions made his harmony flare in his dantian.

The reaction did nothing to the streams but it made him hyperfocus for a brief moment. HIs eyes were capable of catching tiny movements even other Immortal Realms would miss. His Eyes flared and shock filled his heart.

He saw one of the streams in the main flow suddenly separate but he saw why it did. There were similarities in the main stream until a flicker of color separated a single thread.

It then was flung outward into the darkness to forge a new path. It was so fragile but it held on, yet what was part of the main stream remained unchanged!

The pattern in colors and flashes were nearly identical.

A thought entered his mind. It was a crazy thought, but given the name of the trial, it made sense.

"The future is not set. Our choices make it moment to moment until we become a Divine Realm." He only spoke the words but a reaction was finally felt. The streams slowed and he realized it was not simply color but events.

They were events he recognized very well. It was his history! His life in the Frey Clan in the Lotus Empire to being trapped in the Law Binding with the soulmancers.

He just remembered! Memory! He was looking at living memories!

There were oddities though. He walked back and could find no beginning of the main stream. It was like it had no end or beginning, but many strands flung off into the dark.

Some of those strands were as vivid as the rest but he noticed others were vague and becoming illusory. It was like they were slowly falling apart.

He traced things back until he came to a shocking discovery. The main stream had a branch! It was not a single thread but a group of them! He carefully looked at where they met and saw a familiar event.

Teylin was confessing to him at the river. He ran away from her that day but the branch did not! He saw lives where he struggled to survive as a 6 elemental until he won the tournament to save her.

Instead of simply protecting her, he wed her! He never met Ethry nor Cyntilla as he simply lived out his 2 centuries as a Soul Realm.

He had children and later one of his descendents did succeed in becoming a 6 elemental World Realm but it was a weak foundation.

He was seeing alternate futures but why were some so clear like that and others were so vague? Further, why was that the only branch he found?

"Past and future are intertwined? My past can still be changed?!" The words left him as he thought of it. The instant they did the streams all froze. He was then moved and came to another branch.

It was thicker than the last one but Lind realized he could not perceive either the main stream nor the branch past the deciding moment.

He was standing in darkness with streams of light! He was looking at his present!