I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

To properly grasp the "change," his strength was too weak, his mind too barren, and his senses too materialistic. Therefore, he could only use certain concepts from his worldview to apply a cognitive filter to the scene before him, so as to achieve a negligible understanding in its current form.

For example... you are a fish, a worm, a line segment, or anything in motion that is moving forward in the river of time.

Now, he leaped out of the river and saw the "three-dimensional" scenery.

Of course, "seeing" is just a metaphor. The five senses are useless here. If it weren't for his years of experience using the Flowing Moon that gave him a slight understanding of the nature of time, he would have been trapped in a state of emptiness and confusion, unable to do anything or feel anything, until his physical body died.

So that's how it is... Is this the risk that Shigure Uesugi was talking about?

Indeed, if he falls into silence in this way, probably nothing can save him...

With a lingering sense of panic, Mima looked around.

Time begins to flow from a certain "point".

And because of any slight difference, they diverged, eventually forming a complex network of waterways far beyond the imagination of any living being.

The past, present, and future are connected, forming a kaleidoscope of dazzling scenes.

Although it was just a fleeting leap, in the world above the river of time, a moment can be eternity, and eternity can be a moment. So as long as he wanted, he could stay here for as long as he wanted until the end of all things.

Wait... the end?

A profound sense of crisis compelled Mima to cast a horrified glance toward the future world.

There, the flow of time ceases. Of the countless tributaries of time, nearly half fall into complete stillness at some point in the future, neither moving forward nor backward, but simply remaining still, with everything returning to nothingness.

And that future deadline is precisely...

One hundred and fifty years later!

A tremendous sense of fear gripped Mi-chan's heart in an instant.

Even though historical recaps suggest the world might be destroyed, just as the deaths of countless people in a movie are less impactful than the killing of a chicken in real life, "seeing" and "experiencing" are two completely different concepts. His keen sense of time allows him to truly feel how terrifying the "stillness" at the end of time is...

The moth encased in amber may seem to have a great deal of artistic merit, but what if the moth were alive?

That's right... If you fall into that state of stillness, you can't even be considered dead. Instead, you might experience a void of darkness and death while retaining your senses, forever.

Are you kidding me... this kind of future...?

Whatever we do, we absolutely cannot let the future develop like that!

"Is that what you think?"

A sudden "sound" rang in his ears.

Of course, there is no sound in this place; what enters Mi Zhen's perception is merely a piece of information, a piece of news.

There are other people here?!

Mi Zhen was startled and immediately thought of a possibility.

He turned around and looked—

This action, of course, did not actually occur; he simply extended his perception along the path from which the information came.

Then, he "saw" a familiar "glory".

Like everyone who has mastered the skill of using spirit particles, he saw a deep blue "spirit particle glow" in this place where there was no color or light. The glow took the form of a blurry human figure, standing on one side of the river of time like a pedestrian on the shore, showing a grandeur that he could not comprehend.

"...The Spirit King?"

"Yes."

The figure clapped its hands and sent another message: "Congratulations, you've finally managed to break free from the linear perspective a little."

"I……"

After getting used to this strange way of communicating, Mima quickly imitated it: "You... have you been here all this time?"

"In the words of my descendants, this is called 'omniscience and omnipotence'," King Ling replied. "Although I am far from being 'omnipotent,' if it is just a name, then this understanding is acceptable."

Mima extended her senses into the future, and hesitantly sent a message: "So you really did... know all along?"

"What do you think?"

"That's a bit too much to ask..." Mima smiled wryly. "I was only able to come here because of my unique abilities. How could I possibly explain what the world looks like in your eyes?"

"Let's put it more clearly—if we divide it into percentages and round them down to the nearest whole number, in the absence of interference, there is a 52% chance that it will be destroyed by the initial nothingness, a 37% chance that it will be ruled by Yhwach, and only an 11% chance that it will overcome all world-ending catastrophes."

The Spirit King gave a straightforward explanation: "Is that clear enough?"

"That's enough, that's more than enough..."

Although he had no physical body in this place, Mi Zhen still felt his head and stomach churning violently—after experiencing firsthand just how terrifying the initial nothingness was, he instantly discarded his useless pride and decisively replied to the Spirit King, "What price do you want to pay for your life-saving intervention? Or... I'll kowtow to you?"

Why are you in such a panic? Have you forgotten what I said?

The Spirit King moved closer and conveyed to Mima a reenactment of their first conversation: "After me, there will never be another powerful being who can single-handedly defeat the world—this is no lie."

"But that thing looks like it could eat hundreds of first-level spirit warriors without even burping... Doesn't that count as single-handedly defeating the world?"

“If it is ‘the real thing,’ then that is indeed the case.”

"Hmm?" Mima slowly typed a question mark. "Could it be fake?"

"The torso in the Spirit King's Palace, the loose sand in Hueco Mundo, and the fire dragons in Hell are all just remnants of us."

The Spirit King gave an unexpected answer: "It's like holding a pen upright on a piece of paper. What remains in the Three Realms is not the pen itself, but the shadow left by the light."

She understood the reasoning, but Mi Zhen's attention was focused on something else that sent chills down her spine: "A fire dragon from hell?"

"The so-called 'Lord of Hell'—it doesn't interfere with anything, it just exists," the Spirit King comforted. "To you, it's like a scary box; as long as you don't touch it, you don't need to worry about any problems."

Generally speaking... once you start saying things like 'it's safe as long as you don't do certain things,' something unexpected is bound to happen...

Mi Zhen swallowed her words.

Anyway, the Spirit King knows more than I do, so whatever he says goes...

“Okay, I understand…” He tried to convey a calm message. “So you’re here… you must have a purpose, right? I guess it’s unlikely you just came to chat with me casually.”

"You can continue chatting if you wish."

The Spirit King joked, "As for the purpose... just consider it as me giving you a 'clue'."

"clue?"

The Spirit King sent a powerful message: "A clue that can lead you to a happy ending."

Mima's spirits lifted: "Please explain in detail!"

"Go and obtain all the 'essence' that transcends matter, and you will gain the power to contend with the future."

The Spirit King sent a message that sounded like a mission request: "In this way, I have fulfilled my friend's request—goodbye then..."

"Entrustment? What is beyond the material? What is the essence?"

Mi Zhen was about to ask a question when he saw the Spirit King's radiance become ethereal.

He quickly disappeared completely from Mi Zhen's "sight," plunging him back into that dull world devoid of color and sensitivity.

But as if seamlessly connected, another entity suddenly appeared within Mizhen's perception range.

"Hello, it's me."

A message came from something as ethereal as a shadow: "Well? Have you seen the future clearly?"

"You are……"

A feeling that is both familiar and strange.

It's like the same set of eyebrows and eyes you see every morning when you look in the mirror, yet it exudes a deathly stillness...

Strange, very strange.

Like an old stone carving seen in a temple in the mountains, it doesn't seem familiar at first, but when thunder rumbles in the dead of night and you catch a glimpse of it, you realize that the rough face is so similar to your own.

"Neither of us can stay here for too long, so let's keep it short."

The approaching shadows conveyed the message: "Only by communicating here can we avoid being seen or heard by anyone else."

Chapter 220: A Wonderful Correlation

"I never thought I would have such a rare experience in my life..." Unable to think of anything to say for a moment, Mima could only utter a nonsensical remark: "Seeing myself moving from outside the mirror... that's pretty absurd."

"Hmph... It's not like I'd enjoy seeing myself looking stupid during this period." Another Yama sent a rather malicious message, "Well, you're not so bad, you're better than the original Watanabe Yama."

"Huh?" Yama exclaimed in surprise, "What do you mean by 'authentic Watanabe Yama'?"

"What, have you even forgotten your own origins?"

Another Yama sneered, "There are so many branches of time, time travel is just a low-probability phenomenon. Of course, there is also the possibility that 'the original Watanabe Yama survived and began his life as a Shinigami,' and there is even a Watanabe Yama with a completely different personality, a Watanabe Yama who became a Quincy, a female Watanabe Yama, and a world line where Watanabe Yama did not exist in the first place, etc. There are many varieties, only unimaginable ones."

“Alright, since I’ve never met him either, I’ll take it as the truth.” Mima sighed briefly, then asked, “So here’s the question: since there are so many Watanabe Mimas, why did you come to me?”

"It seems you really have no self-awareness."

The other Yama paused for a moment, then replied, "The answer is simple: because you are the strongest Watanabe Yama."

This answer surprised Mima quite a bit, so he asked in confusion, "The strongest?"

“Alright, let me give you a lesson.” The other Yama answered bluntly, “Just like I said before, transmigration is a low-probability event. Among the countless Watanabe Yamas, those like you and me are only a minority. Most Watanabe Yamas are just natives of Soul Society—their talent is not low, but at most they are only at the captain level, not very useful.”

"I am aware of that."

"Secondly, the original Watanabe Yama's Zanpakuto wasn't Ryugetsu, but some weakling who only knew how to use ice, and couldn't even beat Rukia... Okay, I might be going a bit too far with myself, but if it weren't for the timeline where he was a transmigrator and received some recognition in the Seireitei, Watanabe Yama would have died in the early stages of the Thousand-Year Blood War. The culprit would probably be Bazzby or Bambiette, and there's a small chance he could have survived until Gerald's battle and been crushed to death by him."

“That’s really going too far…” Mima smiled wryly, “but it does sound very real.”

"Even if someone is a transmigrator and gets the trump card of the Flowing Moon, there is still a limit to their talent. Take me for example, I only barely reached the level of third-grade spiritual power in the fortieth year after I transmigrated. If I hadn't used some special means to increase my strength by sacrificing my life, even by the time of the Karakura Town Battle, my strength would have been at most comparable to Tosen Kaname, and it would have been difficult for me to participate in those truly major events."

"..."

Mima vaguely guessed what the other side of herself was about to say: "Could it be that you..."

“That’s right, you have something that none of the other Watanabe Yama have.” Another Yama confirmed, “A cheat code that came with time travel? Or some other opportunity, I don’t know exactly what it is, but you definitely have some special reliance, otherwise it would be impossible to have such great power at this time.”

Mizhen fell silent.

If the other version of myself is telling the truth, then it means that only I, Watanabe Yama, possess the system...

That's quite intriguing...

Over the past two decades, Mi Zhen has tried countless methods to explore the origins of the system, but no matter how he experiments, the system is just a mechanical operation that only issues tasks on a timer. It has never shown any intelligence, and the reward delivery mechanism is an even bigger mystery. No matter how he observes it, he can't figure it out.