It was as Cerydra had expected. The people responsible for the anomalies detected by Anaxa, Hyacine, and Terravox were none other than themselves.
“You went through a lot of notions to arrange this meeting. I suppose it is not just for a boring meet-and-greet.”
“What if it is?”
Cerydra did not want to believe her other self at first, but when she stared back at her, the authoritative presence nearly made her knees buckle. The Cerydra sitting on the throne wasn’t comparable to her at all.
She exists in a different league!
The tacit understanding hidden beneath that gaze strangely calmed the tense atmosphere. Hysilens did not say anything, merely taking a glance to her supposed counterpart. It was that glance that made her halt. Freeze, even. The familiar deep-blue irises were unmistakably hers.
But why…
‘Why was she so similar to my past?’
“I can see questions drooping out of your face. Hadn’t you been taught the first lesson of negotiations? To..”
““...never let the other party know your thoughts.””
It was one of the few lessons taught by ‘Merlin’ on their first day. The fact she spoke of it with such familiarity reduced the possibilities inside Cerydra’s small head.
Undoubtedly, she is her.
“Let’s stop these charades while it’s early.”
She crossed both her legs before her hands clasped together. Her confidence, bordering arrogance, was clear to the naked eyes. It was a stark contrast to the stern, somewhat cruel air in Cerydra.
“Let me… no.” The Cerydra at the throne looked to her right, her eyes turning complicated. “Let us tell you one thing.”
Tap-!
Rustle-!
A gust of wind swept through the entire throne room. The tattered and ruined gray bricks ran over by thin green vines disappeared. What replaced it was a magnificent, almost unbelievably wide, throne room. Patterned white bricks could be seen throughout the entire structure. The red carpet was made of something soft and fluffy, giving off an extremely luxurious feel. The ceiling was extremely tall, as high as the skies of Amphoreus itself.
The entire palace has the internal size of an entire planet!
“We are your futures… if you won’t do things right.”
The future Cerydra’s words were everything she needed to hear. She understood why her future self had gone so far as to arrange a meeting in a ‘roundabout’ manner.
As if sensing her gaze, she continued speaking:
“Knowing too much is worse than knowing too little. The machinations of time were something that affected those who hadn’t transcended it.”
The Void Refinement Realm was the severance of one’s karma to the rest of the world. They won’t be burdened by anything, but they would still be held down by the anchors they had chosen—the people close to them.
Without that connection, karma would no longer be generated. It could be said that this major realm was the ‘escape’ of ‘someone’ from the world they were in.
A similar concept exists at the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. One of their requirements would be to ‘sever’ their past, present, and future, becoming a singularity. Their existence originates from this ‘singularity’. Nobody could change their past, for they had also become the present, and also the future.
In short, facing the ‘past’ of a Tribulation Transcendence Supreme meant facing their ‘present’, a Supreme. It was completely unlike the Dao Integration Realm that could ‘influence’ time to a large extent.
Unfortunately, the future Cerydra was but a future possibility. A figment of existence stemming from imagination. She was practically a fictional character that came to life, all because of how powerful she was.
“There are things only we can do, and there are others that only you can do.”
“And what are they?”
This time, the future Cerydra fell silent. Her air of confidence wavered.
“To save our beloved Merlin.”
“..!”
Rumble-!
Those words sent tremors to Cerydra’s heart. The harsh quaking of the throne room reflected her thoughts. Yet it could not compare to Hysilens’ chilled heart. She now understood why her future self looked more like her past self.
She had lost a huge part of herself, all over again.
Hysilens could barely suppress her trembling, her fingernails digging deep into her palm. The throne room’s shaking soon subsided, though the future Cerydra’s countenance looked visibly worn out than before.
“Save your words for later., The others should be here already.”
Just as she had said, an arc of light cleaved through space. The next instant, the Great Emperor received a few more visitors.
The most striking was Fu Hua. She moved in a flash, catching Li Sushang before she fell head-first on the ground. The future Cerydra gave her a glance, acknowledging their presence, before she tapped her right pointy finger against the throne’s armrest.
Zoom-!
Just like before, a gust of wind brought them elsewhere. They were no longer inside the humongous palace, but outside of it. They all saw its true appearance—a planet-sized palace built upon an even larger planet. The brown soil outside glowed in gold, with countless weapons and artifacts piercing it. One look and everyone could tell they were in a graveyard.
“The seven of us were the fortunate ones to have reached this step, the Pseudo True Immortal Realm.”
Outside the planet, the familiar gray clouds emerged. Everyone, save for Cerydra and Hysilens, grew wary. They already faced this ‘tribulation power’ and were traumatized to a certain extent.
Hum-!
Their worries were proven wrong when a thin golden film enveloped the planet’s atmosphere. It isolated the gray fog entirely, something that no one was able to do until now!
“The Dao of this Great Emperor is still useful in dealing with these pesky little tricks.” The future Cerydra looked up at the sky, and then towards the crowd. “Your Daos would also be of huge help, so fret not. It is too bad for that oracle girl. Had she not fallen, she would have been the eighth.”
She sighed, lamenting the end of Wendy’s future. The latter truly possessed the potential to tamper with time, more so had she been a Pseudo True Immortal. Unfortunately, she lost her way, using her everything as a bargaining chip, only to fail.
They, too, are doing the exact same thing!
The future Cerydra sighed for the future Wendy, and at the same time, for them too.
‘If all else fails…’