Yue Shi’s consciousness rose, entering that familiar mysterious space.
The towering black stone tablet remained eternal, standing in the center of the wasteland.
On the tablet, countless tentacle reliefs were layered, guarding the full moon at the very top.
Yue Shi opened his palm, and the Sandglass of Time floated quietly.
It seemed to receive some kind of summons; without any push, it slowly drifted upward and landed against the Full Moon Stone Tablet.
The moment the sandglass touched the surface of the tablet...
A tentacle that had originally been a mere relief suddenly came to life!
It detached from the hard body of the tablet, shifting from stillness to motion like the extension of some indescribable existence, and gently coiled around the sandglass.
The entire process was silent and swift.
At the moment of contact, the sandglass rapidly merged with the tentacle, becoming one and the same.
After the fusion was complete, the newborn tentacle did not form an independent ability sequence.
It appeared somewhat unstable, its light and shadow flickering.
Ultimately, it wound itself tightly around the "progress bar" symbolizing the spatial path, binding them together!
The two paths, time and space, began a preliminary fusion upon this mysterious stone tablet.
Only then did a flood of information surge into Yue Shi’s vision, announcing the birth of a new ability.
However, Yue Shi did not immediately check the information for the new ability.
This was because he keenly sensed that the mysterious space itself had undergone an unprecedented change.
The full moon statue seemed to have been injected with life, becoming brighter and purer than ever before.
The thick chaotic mist that had always shrouded the space above now noticeably thinned.
Through the mist, Yue Shi could vaguely see the scenery behind it.
It was a boundless darkness, deep and deathly silent.
Specks of light were scattered across this darkness.
The scene was somewhat blurry, as if seen through frosted glass, yet it conveyed that sense of vastness and grandeur with absolute realism.
“Where... exactly is this?”
Yue Shi was shocked, and it took a long time for him to recover from this wondrous sight.
This change was caused by the sacrifice; he would eventually figure everything out in the future.
He composed himself and turned his gaze toward his newly acquired ability.
【Temporal Skywalk】
【Flick the strings of time and space; walk through the gaps in time.】
【The past and the present are both part of the journey.】
【“The finishing blow you imagined may be something I have already witnessed.”】
【Gain preliminary authority to interfere with the flow of time in reality, allowing for the acceleration or deceleration of time within a designated range.】
【Insight into the symbiotic nature of time and space; time and space are an inseparable whole. All previous abilities in this path will now possess temporal attributes, undergoing a fundamental metamorphosis.】
Yue Shi eagerly checked the abilities that had evolved along with it.
【Exile】: 【Open a spatial rift to exile a target into the turbulence.】 → Additional effect: 「Temporal Stagnation」: The exiled target will endure time acceleration or deceleration effects within the spatial turbulence, greatly increasing the probability of becoming lost or annihilated, while interfering with any potential space-time positioning methods they may possess.
【Trace Seeking】: 【Track “traces” left by a specific target.】 → Additional effect: 「Temporal Afterimage」: Allows for the vague perception of recent traces left by the target on the timeline (tracing back up to 12 hours), enabling the user to see afterimages of the target’s past actions, greatly enhancing tracking efficiency.
【Painted Realm】: 【Create and maintain an independent extra-dimensional space.】 → New effect: 「Time-Dilated Domain」: The user can actively adjust the flow of time within the extra-dimensional space, creating a difference from the outside reality. The current maximum time difference is 10:1 or 1:10.
【Waymark】: 【Establish a permanent spatial beacon at any location.】 → Additional effect: 「Space-Time Anchor」: The beacon can simultaneously record the space-time coordinates of the moment it was established. When performing long-distance teleportation via the beacon, space-time interference can be avoided to a certain extent, greatly increasing stability.
【Labyrinth】: 【Distort physical space on a large scale to construct a complex labyrinth.】 → New effect: 「Looping Corridor」: Allows for the setting of time loop traps within the labyrinth. Those caught will continuously repeat the same time segment in a specific area.
【Traveler】: 【Perform short-distance spatial shifts or long-distance spatial jumps.】 → New effect: 「Time Reversal」: Allows for a brief return to the past. The maximum reversal span is 12 hours, and the user can stay in the past timeline for a maximum of 60 minutes.
· Items brought back to the past remain for the same duration as the user; when the user returns, the items return with them.
· Significant interference with established reality or communicating with one’s past self will carry unpredictable risks.
Looking at these exaggerated new abilities, Yue Shi’s mood reached its peak.
Abilities built by absorbing a massive amount of source essence truly did not disappoint!
Adjusting the time flow inside the extra-dimensional space meant he had an excellent preservation base, which could also be used for training, resting, and contemplating.
Setting time loop traps in the Labyrinth was enough to make anyone trapped inside experience the meaning of eternal despair!
And the new 「Time Reversal」 effect of 【Traveler】 was even more heart-pounding.
Going back to the past!
Even with only a 12-hour span and a 60-minute stay, this was a divine skill capable of turning the tides!
Heaven-defying!
Aside from that word, no other expression was more suitable.
Yue Shi felt an unprecedented sense of power filling his entire body.
“In all the heavens and on the earth, I alone am the honored one!”
He was getting ahead of himself again.
It took a long while for Yue Shi’s agitated emotions to slowly calm down.
His consciousness detached from this no-longer-completely-mysterious space and returned to reality.
...
In the real world, the area where the 「Orphan's Grudge」 supernatural domain had been located.
The supernatural aura that had shrouded heaven and earth had completely dissipated.
The abandoned town, the sinister welfare home, and the world-connecting giant vine hidden behind the scenes had all vanished into nothingness.
All that remained was a desolate and dilapidated wasteland, a deathly silent place with all its life essence drained away.
“The supernatural domain... collapsed?”
In the distance, members of the 「Ark」 organization, who had been lying in wait for a long time, cried out in surprise.
The bespectacled man’s face was filled with shock and unease.
The most likely reason for the domain’s disappearance was that the core supernatural creature supporting it had died.
Who had the ability to bring down a domain of this intensity?
There was no need to even guess.
The more the bespectacled man thought about it, the more his heart raced. He wanted to advise his leader that they should retreat as quickly as possible.
Turning his head, he saw the 「Ark」 leader staring forward with absolute fanaticism.
Clearly, he had no intention of giving up.
Almost at the same time, from another direction, a team from the Bureau also revealed themselves.
Everyone looked at the area ahead, their expressions solemn.
“What’s happening? Where are the people inside? Where is Yue Shi?”
The captain leading the team furrowed his brows, a premonition of disaster growing stronger.
Just like the people from 「Ark」, they were all waiting for the opportunity to strike, and their target was also Yue Shi.
The difference was that 「Ark」 wanted to take advantage of the situation, while the Bureau had sent people to negotiate.
Although the Bureau would have loved to crush Yue Shi with a single palm, the life of The Resonant Daoist was at stake. They could only use a delaying tactic and save him first.
If it were any other captain afflicted by the curse, the Bureau might have simply given up on them.
But The Resonant Daoist was special.
Two groups of people waited outside, only to witness the collapse of the supernatural domain.
Aside from them, some people who had luckily escaped from the domain were also looking toward that place of death with uncertainty and suspicion.
When Yue Shi had stepped into the domain, the Life Vine had sensed him and immediately activated its traps.
This had caused mutations within the domain, and many people searching for Demon Seeds had been caught in the crossfire and killed.
Those who could escape this conflict were very fortunate.
They did not linger, quickly moving away from this place of trouble.
The people from the Bureau and Ark continued to wait.
Unfortunately, all their waiting and plotting lost its meaning in the next second.
Yue Shi’s figure appeared silently.
He didn't pay attention to anyone, merely raising his hand casually.
Immediately, physical space distorted violently, like a shattered kaleidoscope.
The advanced version of the Labyrinth encompassed all members of 「Ark」, the Bureau team, and all the observers lurking nearby.
Space was looping, and time was looping as well.
The spatial loop could be perceived; no matter how much they walked, they always returned to the starting point.
After some time...
“What’s going on? Why am I back here again?”
“Didn’t I just walk down this path?”
“Boss, where are you?”
Shouts and roars—everything was sealed within that space-time labyrinth.
It was like a movie playing on a continuous loop, never-ending.
Yue Shi quietly watched everything happening within the labyrinth.
This time, as the controller of the loop, he clearly perceived the essence of a time loop.
It wasn't truly reversing the long river of time; it was more like opening an independent instance against the background of the main timeline.
The looped area and the people trapped within it were like being encapsulated in a constantly resetting space-time bubble, independent of the normal space-time continuum, repeating a certain fragment.
To put it bluntly, it was a bit like watching a movie.
The time within the film did not match the external time, and as the sole audience member, Yue Shi could fast-forward, rewind, or play it on a loop.
After briefly testing his abilities, Yue Shi finally noticed the prisoners trapped in the space-time labyrinth.
Judging by their clothes, some were from the Bureau.
The others should be from the Ark organization; their attire was identical to the man and woman Yue Shi had killed not long ago.
Unfortunately, all these people had become test subjects for Yue Shi’s new abilities.
Releasing them was impossible; Yue Shi would only devour them whole and suck the marrow from their bones.
None of these people’s supernatural powers were particularly striking. Only one person made him look twice.
It was a middle-aged man whom the others around him called "Boss."
His rank was 【Slaver】: Through direct contact, he could leave a Slaver's Mark on a target. A marked target could not disobey the Slaver’s orders, with both their body and mind coming under his control.
Yue Shi became interested. Had he caught the leader of the Ark organization?
The man had delivered himself right to his door.
The 【Slaver】 ability was indeed insidious and overbearing.
Inside the labyrinth, the Ark members and the Bureau team encountered each other.
The Ark leader took the initiative to show weakness, shaking hands with the Bureau members to cooperate.
In the moment of that handshake, the captain of the Bureau team became his slave.
In a short while, the entire Bureau team had joined Ark, being used as disposable pawns to scout the way.
This ability could pull together a team in minutes, and they would all be loyal to him, as easily as moving his own fingers.
However, Yue Shi quickly discovered the fatal weakness of this ability.
The Slaver himself possessed no combat strength.
His physical fitness was that of a slightly stronger ordinary human.
It was unknown how he had managed to gather so many transcendents as slaves.
Presumably, in the beginning, he must have been sneaky, causing trouble in the shadows.
Using deception and disguise, he would find opportunities to get close to transcendents and leave a mark.
Once his team grew, he no longer needed to be sneaky or pretend to be kind; he could simply use violence.
Yue Shi rubbed his chin, thinking seriously.
What the Slaver feared most should be the disclosure of information.
As long as the Slaver’s ability was made public and his mask was stripped away, allowing everyone to see his true nature, it would be difficult for him to continue developing subordinates.
Then again, truly powerful people wouldn't be easily approached by him to leave a mark.
“What are you thinking about?”
The Ghost’s voice came from behind.
Earlier, Yue Shi had gone ahead to capture all those waiting outside the domain.
The Ghost and Huang Fengjing had walked out on their own.
As soon as they emerged, they saw Yue Shi posing like "The Thinker."
“I caught a few people. One of them has a very special ability. I’m considering whether to keep him for later use or just finish him off,” Yue Shi answered dismissively.
“If you think he’s useful, then keep him.”
The Ghost pointed at Huang Fengjing. “Isn't this guy also kept by you? It’s not much trouble to keep him around.”
At this moment, Huang Fengjing’s state was still terrible.
Thinking of his usefulness, Yue Shi showed some mercy, handed Spring Is Not Late over to him, and threw them both into the extra-dimensional space to be kept like livestock.
Then, Yue Shi explained the Slaver’s ability.
To his surprise, as soon as the Ghost heard it, he immediately changed his mind and said firmly, “Kill him!”
“Huh?”
“If you use him, he’ll have a chance to turn the tables. No one knows how high the upper limit of the Slaver’s ability is. If by some freak accident he touches you, or touches some big shot...”
...
At the Bureau.
“Why are you wearing a mask? Too ashamed to show your face?”
Su Tianyan, the Vice Minister of the Action Department, looked at The Resonant Daoist before him, his brow slightly furrowed.
Not long after Captain Ugly had taken The Resonant Daoist out of the ward, The Resonant Daoist had returned.
Furthermore, he claimed that although the curse had not been lifted, it had been temporarily suppressed.
He was still wearing his ethereal, daoist-style robes with his white hair, but there was now a mask on his face.
The Vice Minister felt that something was strange; the man’s stature seemed slightly off.
If he hadn't seen that the long sword was still under the man’s control, the Vice Minister might have even thought that the Resonant Daoist before him was an impostor.
“This is the price of suppressing the curse, not because I am ashamed to show my face. You need not ask further,” The Resonant Daoist said.
“Fine. Actually, the Bureau has already sent people to try and negotiate with Yue Shi to lift your curse...”
Before the Vice Minister could finish, he was interrupted by The Resonant Daoist: “No need. I will settle this trouble personally.”
“Don’t be impulsive. Don’t forget how badly you were beaten last time,” the Vice Minister reminded him.
The Resonant Daoist took a deep breath. “Rest assured, I have made thorough preparations this time.”
“It was a great humiliation. If I do not kill him with my own hands, it will be impossible to quell the hatred in my heart!”
END
Rate on N.U.
