Within the fourth spirit ring that was currently forming on Caelus's Martial Soul, Istaroth cautiously peeled away the future tributary that represented the "original Fourth Soul Skill," which had just begun to condense and take shape. At the same time, her consciousness spanned the distance of time, exploring towards the further downstream regions.
The resistance was immense.
It was as if she were moving through thick amber, and every step consumed her power of Origin.
This World was repelling her "ultra vires" act, attempting to pull the future back to the "right track."
Countless chaotic fragments of time assaulted her perception; there were scenes of ice plains cracking, eerie figures, the roars of powerful Soul Beasts, and the image of Caelus fighting in different possibilities...
"Hmph..." Istaroth let out a suppressed grunt, and her figure swayed slightly, becoming a bit more translucent.
This was even more difficult than she had anticipated.
If it were not for the fact that Caelus and her Soul were bound, and if she did not herself represent a portion of the authority over time, such an operation would be completely impossible to realize.
Finally, amidst the countless chaotic phantoms of the future, she captured that tributary—the one that represented the Sixth Soul Skill—which belonged to the more distant "downstream," a skill that should only have been lit up and acquired when Caelus obtained his sixth spirit ring.
"It's you."
Istaroth concentrated her final strength, like a master fisherman, using an invisible fishing line to precisely hook that future tributary, which was still weak but extremely powerful in essence. Then, she pulled it violently from the "sixth spirit ring" node, forcibly inserting it into the empty "skill slot" of the "fourth spirit ring" that was currently being filled by the rules of the World.
This action seemed to trigger some core mechanism of this World.
An even more massive repulsive force descended with a boom, attempting to repel this "non-compliant" existence and twist the future back onto the "right track."
Istaroth gritted her teeth and pushed her own authority over time to the limit, forming a thin yet tough "amber of time" that temporarily wrapped and secured the forcibly transplanted future tributary, compelling it to undergo Fusion and adapt with Caelus's fourth spirit ring.
"The rest... is up to you..."
After doing all this, Istaroth's figure became nearly transparent, clearly having consumed a massive amount of energy.
She took a deep look at Caelus, who was absorbing the energy of the spirit ring in the outside World, then slowly sank into the depths of the Sea of Consciousness, falling into a deep sleep to recover her strength.
She had done what she could, changing Caelus's future, allowing a Spirit Ability that should have only been obtained at the sixth spirit ring to appear on the fourth spirit ring.
In the outside World, Caelus, who was in the midst of painful suffering, suddenly felt that the impact of the Ice Prison Ape-Crocodile's remnant Soul within his Sea of Consciousness seemed to weaken, and a surge of information, accompanied by the massive energy of the spirit ring, violently poured into the depths of his Soul.
Countless fragments of the future and branches of possibility flashed through his consciousness, then quickly converged into a single point, condensing into four words containing endless mysteries—"This Moment, That Moment."
At the same time, the Soul Power within his body, under the infusion of the ten-thousand-year spirit ring's energy, surged like a breached flood, breaking through the barrier of level 41 with unstoppable momentum. The momentum did not cease, and it finally stabilized at level 42, on the verge of breaking through to level 43.
The frost faded, and the trembling of his body ceased.
Caelus slowly opened his eyes. Within his pupils, for a split second, it seemed as if countless intertwined and flowing phantoms of time were reflected, which then quickly vanished, returning to normal, though deep within his eyes, there seemed to be something more.
Zhang Lexuan, who had been watching him nervously, saw that he had successfully absorbed the ring and broken through two levels. She first let out a sigh of relief, but then immediately noticed the expression on Caelus's face—it was not one of joy, but rather one filled with intense surprise, confusion, and even a hint of something strange.
Her heart tightened, and she quickly stepped forward, asking with concern, "Caelus, what's wrong? Is the Spirit Ability... not to your liking? Or did something go wrong?"
What she worried about most was that an attribute conflict would cause the Spirit Ability's effectiveness to be greatly discounted, or that some unknown mutation would occur.
After all, the time attribute was too rare, and absorbing an ice-attribute spirit ring carried risks that were inherently unpredictable.
Upon hearing this, Caelus raised his head and looked at Zhang Lexuan, the strange expression on his face still not fading.
He shook his head, his tone carrying a sense of disbelief and emotion, "It's not that it's bad, Senior Sister, but rather... it's too good, so good that it's a bit excessive."
"Excessive?" Zhang Lexuan knitted her beautiful brows in confusion.
A powerful Spirit Ability was naturally a good thing; how could it be called excessive?
"Yeah." Caelus took a deep breath and said, "It is a very powerful Spirit Ability, and I like it very much. Senior Sister, you will have a chance to see it."
"Playing coy with me." Zhang Lexuan rolled her beautiful eyes, but she did not ask further; after all, it was better to keep the effects of one's own Spirit Ability secret.
"It's not that, it's just that this Spirit Ability is a bit complicated, and I am still exploring it myself."
Caelus smiled. A Spirit Ability would reveal its effects as soon as it was used, but he did not want to expose the effects of his Fourth Soul Skill too quickly.
Moreover, as long as he did not speak of it himself, it would be difficult for others to discern the specific effects of his Spirit Ability from its appearance.
The Fourth Soul Skill, "This Moment, That Moment," has the effect of 'the fruit first, the cause later.'
Caelus can first anchor a 'future fruit' that he wishes to happen, and then, the rules of this World will autonomously correct and guide things, allowing a series of 'causes' to occur naturally, ultimately... inevitably achieving the result he anchored.
This was not a capability that a Fourth Soul Skill should have at all.
Of course, the limitations were also great.
First, due to Caelus's cultivation level, the 'future' he could observe and anchor would not be very far in terms of time span.
He could not observe things years from now, let alone centuries or millennia later.
For now, at most... it was only the future within a few months.
Secondly, the future he could observe must be a future branch that would actually appear among the countless possibilities.
Those futures that could not possibly happen, he could not observe, let alone anchor.
For example, if he anchored the future where 'one month from now, Caelus will kill Sea God Tang San with his own hands.'
But according to reality, it was absolutely impossible for him to possess the power to kill a god in one month, so this future did not exist at all among the countless possibilities; it was absolutely 'impossible,' and his Spirit Ability would not be able to take effect.
Conversely, if he wanted to meet a certain person or find a certain item tomorrow in this vast Extreme North Land.
Then, the future of 'meeting someone tomorrow' or 'finding something' existed among the countless branches of possibility, though the probability might be extremely low.
At this time, he could use "This Moment, That Moment" to forcibly anchor this 'fruit,' and then the rules of the World would operate on their own; perhaps it would be an accidental detour of a snowstorm, or the disturbance and guidance of a Soul Beast, and ultimately, he would achieve this goal in a way that seemed like a 'coincidence.'
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