Chapter 1829 - 1829. Backward
Nothing made sense in Noah's eyes anymore, but he simply accepted those events and let them guide him. His poor cultivation level was still unable to understand a lot, but gathering insights and vague clues was already a lot in that situation.
Time flowed backward, but a few figures turned out to be unaffected by that event. Noah, the experts in his group, and the three leaders could move freely as the environment played the events that had just passed.
Afterimages came out of the leaders and experts. They depicted their previous movements as time flowed backward. Noah saw his clash with the dragon, his arrogant question, and his arrival in the region. Everything felt real as if it was happening at that exact moment, but he appeared unable to affect the scenes around him.
The scenes suddenly accelerated. Noah and the others saw the arrival of the other dragons, the flight of the leaders, and the absorption of the storms to clear the area, but time soon picked up speed again.
Only the raging of the storms filled Noah's vision for a while. A massive magical beast would fly backward from time to time. The group even saw a humanoid figure in the distance once, but that spot didn't seem to offer more.
The nature of the storms of chaotic laws made it hard for the group to understand the actual speed of the gales. They didn't notice that everything had accelerated far more than they imagined. The scenes went back by years in mere seconds, but the technique only grew stronger and increased that proportion.
The years piled up until they became centuries, millennia, and eras. The ground saw multiple changes due to the influence of the chaotic laws, but it was hard to inspect them properly with the chaotic laws raging in their vision. Noah's group even grew bored of the process after the technique had gone on for a few hours.
"We are almost there," The green dragon suddenly exclaimed, and the scene froze before falling downward.
Noah quickly noticed that the world wasn't falling. The green dragon was moving those that the technique didn't affect through the scene at a speed that they wouldn't normally be able to reach.
No wind blew on their faces even after they crossed countless regions in the span of a single instant. The group soon exited the storms, and the higher plane with the white sky around it unfolded in their vision.
"It's better to see it from here," The green dragon revealed as the group stopped right under the sky, and time started to flow backward again.
The landmass appeared different from how Noah recalled it. A stronger glow filled the various regions. Its overall quality and quantity of energy were far higher compared to the state that Noah had experienced.
The glow intensified until it suddenly vanished. Immense cracks opened through the entirety of the entire landmass until it transformed into a mass of giant boulders that flew toward the stormy regions and left nothing at all at the center of the sky.
"You have just experienced the first reconstruction of the higher plane," The green dragon explained before moving its gaze toward the storms.
The gales of chaotic laws seemed to react to its gaze. They started to shatter and transform into trails of energy that flew toward the sky. The white layer took everything into its structure, and its radiance intensified as it returned at one of the many peaks experienced throughout its existence.
The Tribulation eventually ended, and the entirety of the original landmass appeared under the group. The plane was different at that time. It didn't feature only divine areas. It was a world where even human and heroic creatures could live.
The green dragon brought the experts closer to the landmass. Noah and the others could see the immense packs of magical beasts running free through the regions. They were the overlords of the entire world, and they occupied every corner of the plane.
"We initially thought to have won," The green dragon sighed. "Heaven and Earth had filled the world with a powerful energy meant to benefit everyone, but everything pales in front of the hunger of the magical beasts."
The green dragon allowed the scenes to go back again. The group could witness the expansion of the magical beasts. Those creatures fought against beings that they didn't recognize. Some of them even resembled humans.
Everything went back until crumbled structures came out of the ground, and the magical beasts only controlled a small region. The world seemed to be at its peak at that point. Tall buildings and flying cities filled the landmass. An intelligent species ruled over everyone else and achieved wonders with the "Breath" provided by Heaven and Earth.
It felt hard to see Heaven and Earth as the enemy there. It almost seemed that the rulers had decided to reward their species after taking control of the world, but they had obviously underestimated their natural opponents.
Time went back, and the magical beasts started to diminish, but the sky shattered together with them. The various cities also broke and brought the world to a state when different species occupied multiple regions. The plane didn't have overlords anymore, only numerous domains.
Yet, a few orange shards were still disappearing in the sky, and the green dragon didn't hesitate to bring the group closer to the few magical beasts that had remained on the landmass.
Entire groups of magical beasts disappeared as the sky lost part of its shards. The process continued until only four creatures remained, and Noah couldn't help but recognize the green dragon among them.
The other three magical beasts were still dragons, but they didn't resemble the current version of the upper tier leaders.
The life dragon was completely white and short. It had had a vast and almost flat body that made it resemble a strange turtle. The death dragon was similar to one of Snore's versions with its small feathered wings and short clawed arms. The space dragon was a black spot with the shape of a proper member of its species, but it was hard to study its features since it appeared made of void.
"We were the first to appear," The green dragon explained. "The laws of the previous world generated more magical beasts as Heaven and Earth continued to expand. We experienced a few defeats due to our disorganization, but we eventually proved the rulers' wrong."
"You were the one who forced them to change the nature of their existence," Noah whispered as shock filled his mind.
"We were just the final demonstration of their flawed path," The time dragon replied. "Taking over a world while retaining the d.e.s.i.r.e to improve is wrong. Worlds shouldn't have wills, and wills shouldn't have worlds."
"The change that we witnessed made them strong enough to break that rule, right?" Noah asked. "They would be right if the magical beasts fail to stop them."
"Indeed," The green dragon sighed. "Heaven and Earth's approach has been methodical and relentless. They forfeited their stability to absorb laws. This world barely remembers what it was before their arrival anymore, and, soon, it won't carry any of its previous law."
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Author's notes: Ok, writing the whole event backward has been a real challenge. Do tell me if some events feel off. I reviewed step by step to make sure that everything happened in the correct order, but a lot can escape my eyes since I wrote these parts. Anyway, sorry for the immense delay today.
