Time Law

The divine abilities of a Saint are profound; for an ordinary person, comprehending just one is enough to ascend to the heavens in a single step. Meng Chen had comprehended nine, so the extent of his improvement could well be imagined.

Thus, only a thousand years into the sermon of Yuanshi Tianzun, Meng Chen's cultivation base broke through.

Meng Chen's understanding of the Dao had always far surpassed his actual cultivation; theory had always walked ahead of practice. If not for his desire to be accepted as a disciple under a Saint and enter the official hierarchy, his cultivation would certainly not have been limited to this.

The Golden Immortal realm is divided into five stages of cultivation.

The first step of the Golden Immortal realm is to comprehend the Law of Immortality, transforming the physical body and primordial spirit into the essence of the Law.

Once the power of the Law is mastered, an immortal can open up a grotto-heaven within their body, and through the power of this grotto, comprehend the mysteries of space, thereby grasping the Law of Space.

The second step of the Golden Immortal realm is to combine the Dao Foundation with the primordial spirit to cultivate a World Seed. Once the World Seed takes shape, the grotto-heaven within the body undergoes a transformation, evolving into a Small Chiliocosm.

The essence of a world is spacetime; a Golden Immortal who possesses a Small Chiliocosm must begin to comprehend the Law of Time.

When a Golden Immortal comprehends the Law of Time, they can combine the Law of Time with the Law of Space, allowing the Small Chiliocosm to advance further and ascend into a Middle Thousand Worlds.

At this point, one enters the third step of the Golden Immortal realm.

The third step of the Golden Immortal realm is the end for the vast majority of Golden Immortals, because to ascend to the fourth step, one must comprehend the Law of Destiny. To comprehend the Law of Destiny, one must cast their consciousness into the River of Fate and find their own Spacetime Anchor Point within it.

This step is far too difficult; throughout history, countless outstanding figures have fallen at this very stage.

The Spacetime Anchor Point in the River of Fate is the foundation of a living being's existence; only by possessing a Spacetime Anchor Point can one exist in the present world.

Those immortal and indestructible Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals who fall do not truly perish; rather, their Spacetime Anchor Points have been destroyed by external forces. They are rejected by the laws of heaven and earth, unable to remain in the present world, and can only wait in the depths of the Eternal Calamity Land for their Spacetime Anchor Points to recover.

The final stage of the Golden Immortal realm is to stand firm upon the Spacetime Anchor Point, perceive one's past and future selves, and fix and consolidate one's own timeline.

When a Golden Immortal can permanently fix their Spacetime Anchor Point to a specific point in time, that Golden Immortal has successfully broken through to the realm of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal.

Before Meng Chen joined the Chan Sect, his cultivation had remained stuck at the first step of the Golden Immortal realm.

To cultivate to the second step of the Golden Immortal realm, one must combine the Dao Foundation with the primordial spirit. If his Dao Foundation did not contain the mana of the Xuanmen, even if he joined the Xuanmen, he could not have become a direct disciple.

The likes of Zhao Gongming and Yunxiao were exactly like this.

Their potential, cultivation, and strength were not inferior to Wuyun Xian and the others; however, because their Dao Foundations were not pure, they could only remain as outer sect disciples.

After receiving the Daoist arts of the Xuanmen taught by Yuanshi Tianzun, Meng Chen was able to use these arts as a foundation to condense a World Seed and ascend to the second step of the Golden Immortal realm.

Accumulating much and releasing it slowly, Meng Chen's reserves were incredibly vast.

As soon as he began his breakthrough, the Mana Golden Flowers in the void surged toward him in unison. Every single moment, millions of Mana Golden Flowers entered Meng Chen's body.

One must know that these Mana Golden Flowers were condensed by Yuanshi Tianzun using the power of a Saint to assist his disciples in their cultivation. Each flower was equivalent to the total mana of a peak Mystic Immortal.

The disciples were all Golden Immortals; Yuanshi Tianzun could not condense Mana Golden Flowers of peak Golden Immortal or Primordial Unity Golden Immortal level. That would not be helping his disciples, but murdering them.

Yuanshi Tianzun looked at Meng Chen calmly, waved his hand, and increased the supply of spiritual energy for Meng Chen.

Although Meng Chen's foundation was deep, compared to the great powers in his circle, it was still lacking. Therefore, he did not feel shocked. Yuanshi Tianzun merely hoped that Meng Chen could improve his foundation in his future cultivation, as that was the only way he would have a chance to become a Saint.

Meng Chen, currently in the midst of his breakthrough, felt extremely refreshed; his breakthrough was as natural as water flowing into a channel.

Boom!

Accompanied by a thunderous sound of World Creation, the grotto-heaven within his body exploded, then began to expand and grow frantically.

The clear qi rose to become the heavens, the turbid qi sank to become the earth, the celestial stars evolved, mountains and rivers were born, and various living beings were conceived.

Even as a Small Chiliocosm, it was a four-dimensional Small Chiliocosm; it had no concept of spatial size, for space within it was infinitely vast.

Meng Chen's heart stirred, and he grasped the time within the Small Chiliocosm in his hand. The next instant, all sorts of mysteries related to time flowed into his mind.

Boom!

In an instant, the flow of time around Meng Chen changed; it was sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes abundant, sometimes scarce.

The world itself contained the power of time, and by utilizing the World Force, Meng Chen could easily accelerate, decelerate, extract, or fill time.

However, he had not yet comprehended the Law of Time.

There is a difference between utilizing the power of time and comprehending the Law of Time; the Law is not just the use of power, but the modification and definition of it.

Everyone can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but not everyone can master the causal laws of mathematics.

"A breakthrough? Very good!"

Seeing Meng Chen break through successfully, a satisfied smile appeared on Yuanshi Tianzun's face. However, the next moment, Meng Chen's skin became crystalline, shimmering with the luster of time.

"The Law of Time!?"

Yuanshi Tianzun was deeply astonished. Meng Chen had just ascended to the second step of the Golden Immortal realm, and he had already comprehended the Law of Time? Could it be this outrageous?

Yet, the reality was indeed this outrageous.

Soaring immortal light rose from the top of Meng Chen's head, and a River of Time flowed out from his body, within which were various shadows.

These shadows traveled through the past and future; they possessed the same face, yet their mana and cultivation were not entirely the same.

They were the Meng Chen of the past and the future.

"Ti, the Law of Time—has he truly comprehended the Law of Time?"

Yuanshi Tianzun could no longer look at this disciple directly; breaking through once was one thing, but to break through again and again was another.

He could sense it clearly: among the Chan and Jie Sects, Meng Chen was the only one who had broken through.

Meng Chen had previously decided that he would use his absolute cultivation base to suppress his fellow disciples. He did not mean suppressing any single individual, but rather using his own strength to suppress every one of them combined.

He dared to think this way because he had the confidence to back it up.

In fact, before he even became an apprentice, he had already grasped the Time Law to a near-complete state. He was only one step away from opening up a Small Chiliocosm, which would allow him to fully comprehend it.

No one had decreed that cultivation must follow a rigid, step-by-step process. If he chose to comprehend the Time Law first and then break through his cultivation level, would that really be a violation of heavenly law?

More importantly, Meng Chen's primordial spirit had a natural affinity for the laws of heaven and earth. While others had to exhaust their minds and spirits to comprehend these laws, he only needed to put in a little bit of effort.

After Yuanshi Tianzun discerned the cause and effect, Meng Chen began to break through once more. With a single thought, his consciousness entered the River of Fate.