Ilúvatar's explanation was very abstract, but Lin Zhongtian understood what he meant.
The existence of life is different in the eyes of Ilúvatar.
Although Legolas and the time traveler's soul merged into one, they existed independently in the past timeline, so from Ilúvatar's perspective, neither Legolas nor Fritz had disappeared.
This unique perspective is incomprehensible to ordinary life.
Even someone as powerful as God King Odin would probably not be able to take his place among them.
In their eyes, life is life, death is death, soul fusion is soul fusion, and there is no such thing as state.
Although Lin Zhongtian could understand what Ilúvatar meant, he was not yet able to look at life from such a detached perspective.
After a little thought, Lin Zhongtian made a decision and told Ilúvatar about the Time Traveler Alliance.
Ilúvatar listened with great interest, and then suddenly said, "I see, the Traveler Alliance, this is a good idea. No wonder we will become friends in the future. Well, if you just want to join your Traveler Alliance, then I won't stop you. But you should not interfere too much in my music and force Legolas to leave my world. How about that?"
"make a deal."
Lin Zhongtian said decisively.
"Very good. Friends should understand and help each other, right?"
Ilúvatar smiled, then turned to look at Legolas in the cell and sighed.
“Two souls that merged into one across the world are now about to embark on a journey across the heavens and the universe again to find a way to solve the fusion of souls - what a great story!”
"Speaking of stories." Lin Zhongtian suddenly whispered, "You should have seen the story called "The Lord of the Rings" in his memory, right?"
"Of course." Ilúvatar said with a smile, "The great music of the Ainu was born before the universe, when this place was still a void. The Ainu's songs would naturally spread to the heavens and myriad worlds through various means, be received by the lives of other worlds, and then be written into stories. It is not difficult to understand."
…What about the other movie worlds?
Lin Zhongtian had such doubts in his mind, but he did not ask.
Ilúvatar raised the corner of his mouth, looked at Lin Zhongtian and said with a smile: "By the way, my friend, have you found that you are a little too obsessed with the soul of the time traveler?"
“…Is there?”
Lin Zhongtian frowned slightly.
Ilúvatar smiled and said, "Of course, but there is a reason for this. The souls of these travelers you found were all imbued with the power of your world during the journey. They can be said to be an extension of that world, just like the Ainu I created with the Eternal Fire. To some extent, they are also your children who have a close connection with you."
……What?
Is this suddenly a super-generational thing?
Lin Zhongtian raised his eyebrows and then fell into deep thought.
Ilúvatar didn't say anything more, just smiled and patted his shoulder.
"Well, my friend, have fun in my world!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everything around him finally started moving again.
The fallen leaves quickly returned to the treetops, and rotten peaches appeared out of nowhere and quickly shrank.
In the blink of an eye, the tall peach tree shrank back to the ground and turned back into the lifeless seed hidden underground. Everything around it was rapidly reversing, only Lin Zhongtian's clone was still standing there, frowning and staring at the world in front of him where time was going backwards.
The seal of the void emitting silver light has disappeared, but Lin Zhongtian's consciousness still exists.
This shows that his status is indeed very high, even so high that he is not bound by time, but his power is far inferior to that of Ilúvatar, who is the true transcendent who can travel freely in the long river of time.
This is the first existence stronger than Lin Zhongtian that he has encountered since he gained control of the void gap.
But I don’t think he will be the last.
"Thank you for your understanding."
The calm voice of the Elf King Thranduil came from the side.
Lin Zhongtian turned his head and saw him speaking calmly but with a hint of sadness: "But no need, you can take him away. I don't want to see him turn into a pile of rotten meat rather than return Legolas' body..."
The familiar conversation happened again, but this time, Lin Zhongtian's answer was slightly different.
"Thranduil, as you wish, I will take him away, but whether the problem of soul fusion can be solved depends on his own efforts!"
As the faint voice fell, Legolas in the cell and Thranduil outside the cell turned their heads at the same time, staring blankly at the calm Lin Zhongtian with their two pairs of very similar eyes.
The Elf King Thranduil asked in astonishment: "You mean, Legolas' soul has not disappeared?"
Lin Zhongtian chuckled and nodded: "Yes, just as he said, their souls just merged together miraculously, and did not disappear or be swallowed by the other party."
Legolas couldn't help but ask, "Then how should we separate?"
“I don’t know either.” Lin Zhongtian shook his head, and then whispered in the disappointed eyes of the two elves, “But I will give you a direction to solve the problem, or a path full of infinite possibilities. As for whether you can grasp it, it depends on you!”
As soon as these words were spoken, hope appeared in the eyes of Legolas and Thranduil.
…
“Crack—”
With the sound of locks, the door of the cell was opened.
Legolas walked out of the cell and was freed from his shackles with the help of Tauriel, the captain of the elven guard.
After the shackles were removed, Legolas looked at the Elf King Thranduil with complicated eyes, then walked to Lin Zhongtian, turned around and looked at the excited Tauriel and the many guards and whispered.
"From today on, I will give up my identity as the Elf Prince of the Woodland Kingdom and follow His Majesty..."
Those gentle words were like a bucket of cold water poured on the heads of the excited elves such as Tauriel.
"Your Highness, what are you doing..."
Tauriel said somewhat at a loss.
Unfortunately, reality did not give her enough time to think.
Soon, Legolas left the underground palace of the Woodland Kingdom with Lin Zhongtian.
Legolas stopped and looked at Tauriel and the others in front of the palace, who looked reluctant to leave with red eyes, and said softly, "Go back. The people of the Woodland Kingdom don't need me, but they need you very much..."
“…”
No matter how reluctant Tauriel and the others were, they could only turn around and leave helplessly after hearing Legolas' words.
When the door of the underground palace was closed, Legolas turned around and bowed respectfully to Lin Zhongtian, who was looking at him with admiration.
"Your Majesty, can you tell me how to solve the problem of soul fusion now?"
“No hurry.”
Lin Zhongtian asked curiously: "Compared to this, I want to know what it feels like to merge souls."
Legolas smiled bitterly and said, "I can't really explain it. It's probably the feeling of living two lives at the same time. This feeling is different from schizophrenia. I am very clear-headed and rational, but sometimes I can't tell whether I am Fritz, Legolas, or a completely new existence other than these two - oh, yes, schizophrenia is..."
"No need to explain, I know."
Lin Zhongtian interrupted him with a smile, then said thoughtfully: "According to what you said, it's probably like the fusion in Dragon Ball, right - have you seen Dragon Ball?"
"I've heard of it..."
Legolas nodded subconsciously, then suddenly reacted and stared blankly at Lin Zhongtian.
"You...you are?"
“It doesn’t matter who I am.”
Lin Zhongtian shook his head and said, "The important thing is, if you want to solve the problem of soul fusion, you must complete my test."
Legolas nodded with a strange look on his face: "Okay, you go."
Lin Zhongtian chuckled and said, "My test is very simple. Kill the evil dragon entrenched in the city under the mountain, 'Erebor', and take back the white diamond necklace of the Elf King Thranduil. If you complete this test, I will give you hope of solving the soul fusion problem."
"Okay, I accept your test!"
Legolas said without hesitation.
Lin Zhongtian smiled, then took out a compound bow engraved with the Seal of the Void and magic spells, and a set of silver light armor engraved with ice-blue patterns, and handed them to the stunned Legolas.
"This...is this a compound bow?!"
Legolas stared at the compound bow in his hand with wide eyes.
Lin Zhongtian said seriously, "Don't worry about these details. The shape is not important at all. What's important is that it is a magic weapon that allows you to shoot infinitely low-temperature ice arrows. This set of armor can even resist the claws of the dragon. With these two treasures, plus the skills of Legolas in your memory, it should be enough for you to kill the dragon Smaug alone, right?"
Legolas' eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately pulled the bowstring skillfully.
In an instant, the inscription on the alloy bow suddenly lit up with blue light, and countless water vapors gathered in the blue light, transforming into an ice-blue arrow emitting a cold white aura, which was placed on the cold-resistant bowstring made of Scylla's tentacles.
"call out--"
With a sharp sound of breaking through the air, the blue ice arrow instantly pierced through the trees in the distance, leaving a clearly visible white trail in the air.