Chapter 2856: Cross-Spacetime Contact: Past or Future?

With the Cloud Pattern Announcement matters arranged, the preliminary preparations for the Prophecy Ritual were more than half complete; the remainder was merely the setup of the Spellcasting environment, which was no difficult task for Xia Duo.

He did not return to Nan Jing to cast the spell, choosing instead to remain at the Arcane Union Headquarters; after all, several previous prophecies had also taken place here, and he had obtained quite a bit of useful information, so perhaps conducting the ritual here again might borrow some of that previous luck.

The future is ever-changing and uncertain, and prophecy can only glimpse a corner of it; even Xia Duo, a man who does not believe in fate, could not help but want a bit of good luck at this moment.

With everything ready, Xia Duo calmed his mind and stood before the altar, skillfully anchoring to Reality; the subsequent prophecy would unfold based on the moment he had anchored.

Without this step, prophecy would be unable to distinguish between the past, the present, or the future; prophecy itself is an act intended to know future information in advance to guide current decision-making, and if the time cannot be determined, then the prophecy is meaningless.

This is somewhat similar to what is said on Earth: "Within the light cone is fate," while outside the light cone, it has no meaning at all.

……

Soon, as the ritual progressed, Xia Duo's Perception transcended the Main Plane and stood above the Astral Plane, utilizing the vastly different time-flow rules of the Astral Plane compared to the Main Plane to conduct the prophecy.

Before long, he saw the planar Time Lines spreading out like a spring based on the anchored moment; at this moment, he could still see the general trajectory of the Time Lines—whether they would persist or disappear.

But in this state, a prophet has no way to know the specific information of a certain Time Line; at most, Xia Shao cannot, though he believes that more advanced Prophecy might be able to lock onto a specific Time Line.

Generally speaking, even in indoor scenes, the faces of the figures appearing in the prophetic vision are relatively blurry, and one can only confirm their identities through indirect details such as clothing, movements, posture, and the environment.

To be slightly more precise, it is about what the future holds for the various nations of the Northland on the Main Plane.

That scene truly shocked Xia Shao; previously, no matter how many times he had conducted the Prophecy Ritual, the prophet and the scenes seen in the prophecy could never interact, and even if one were in the core area of the most intense battle, there was no need to worry about suffering any harm.

So when Xia Shao discovered that this prophecy was an indoor scene, he was already prepared to open a blind box in vain, but the next moment, he overturned that thought, because the "figure" within the scene suddenly turned around, faced him, and revealed a clear, incomparable face!

In a sense, this is opening a blind box! If your luck is good, you can get what you want in one go; if your luck is bad, you have to open the box repeatedly, and you might not even get what you want in the end.

No matter how one moves in front of the figures in the prophecy, the other party cannot perceive it; like now, the figure in the prophecy seems to see his situation, which is very difficult to explain as a coincidence.

The current situation of the Main Plane is the most typical example; if one cannot lock onto a specific Time Line, then by what right can it replace the current Time Line?

But what Xia Shao did not expect was that his very casual inquiry caused the other party's expression to change greatly, and that reaction from the other party also truly confirmed to him that he was indeed interacting with a figure in the prophesied scene!

Of course, the "from the past" and "from the future" mentioned here both refer to the time when the other party's prophecy occurred relative to the moment Xia Shao anchored to Reality for his prophecy.

This is not impossible; as long as the content of the prophecies of both parties shares a certain commonality, plus enough coincidences, it is entirely possible for a distortion in Perception or even space-time to occur, thereby achieving a face-to-face interaction between two prophets!

After all, he is not a true prophet, merely a worried person who wants to use Prophecy to resolve the crisis of the Main Plane.

This is a relatively precise future clue; Xia Shao actually has no need to look at any prophetic content unrelated to this clue, as it only increases his troubles.

But like today's situation of seeing a clear, incomparable face, Xia Shao had never encountered it before; perhaps it was because he had conducted fewer Prophecy Rituals in the past, but he no longer thought so after this.

The moment Xia Shao anchored to Reality is very close to the current time, and can almost be considered the present.

Almost subconsciously, Xia Shao asked directly: "Who are you? Do you know me?"

If it were from the past, this would mean that Xia Shao's current prophetic act had long been exposed, and the other party could take targeted actions, and such actions would also affect the future.

Previously, it was not that he had never prophesied indoor scenes; indoor scenes have one advantage, which is that they are rich in detail, especially regarding the details of the figures, rich enough to confirm the identity of the figures!

Calling it a "figure," it was actually a Gold Elf wearing a simple, loose robe, and the scene was a Secret Ritual Chamber with no obvious personal characteristics.

But now, he had to do this thing, so where to inquire was very particular; if he entrusted the wrong person, wouldn't he be directly exposed in front of the Demon Descendants?

So it could only be from the future, or from the past.

"Lord Xia Shao, why is it you?"

I am afraid it is not that he prophesied some magical, interactive future scene, but rather that he "crashed" into a Gold Elf prophet!

In the unknown realm of Perception, Xia Shao waited patiently; the next moment, the prophetic vision arrived as scheduled, but it was not the outdoor scenes of the Main Plane he had prophesied most often—this time, it was actually indoors.

Because the "figure" in the prophetic scene spoke to him, and as soon as they opened their mouth, they called out his name—

Because he was unsure how much of a time difference there was, he had to act immediately to determine the other party's identity before he could further decide what actions to take next.

But the next moment, the image vanished, and Xia Shao's previously transcendent Perception fell from the Astral Plane, instantly returning to his body; thinking back on the bizarre scene that had just occurred, he gradually began to process it—

But indoor scenes also have bad aspects; they are too one-sided, making it difficult to reflect the true situation, and it is also difficult to determine the specific time the scene occurred.

What Xia Shao chose to do was a rough selection, abandoning the investigation of specific Time Lines and instead exploring a more macroscopic trend, such as the future of the Main Plane he wanted to know now.

Xia Shao does not have extraordinary talent in Prophecy; his only reliance is his own influence on the Main Plane, and mainly, if nothing unexpected happens, his Cloud Pattern Announcement System will exist forever.

Now, what Xia Shao is unsure of is whether that prophet is from the future or the past; he basically does not consider being in the same moment, as time is almost infinitely divisible, and he would rather believe that the prophet is right next door than believe the other party could anchor to the same moment of Reality as him.

It could be more precise, but the more precise the prophecy target, the greater the interference and error, and the greater the deviation from the content he wants to obtain.

Gold Elf, prophet—this was originally information that was very easy to confirm, but Xia Shao had previously been suspicious of the prophets of the Elf Kingdom, so he had never shown any curiosity about prophets and had never inquired about relevant information.

And if that prophet were from the future, Xia Shao would have mastered the lead time and could take some targeted actions to obtain the future he wanted.

……