Land of Death: The eerie time difference

The Heaven and Earth spun, and his consciousness blurred as well, as if he were in free fall from tens of thousands of meters in the air. After a long time, Zhuge Xiang regained consciousness and then realized that he was no longer on Black Iron Mountain.

The black earth exudes an aura of death, with jagged rocks appearing one after another. A magnificent temple once stood atop an unnamed mountain, but now it has become a dilapidated ruin. Only the scale of the temple's architecture can reveal its former glory.

For miles around, there was no sign of life, not even a single blade of green grass could be seen. They had been absorbed into the black lotus, where a Heaven and Earth of its own existed. However, this was a barren, abandoned land, where every grain of sand and every stone seemed to be filled with curses and resentment...

More than a thousand disciples from the Asura Sect and the Puppet Cult were sucked into the Black Lotus. These disciples randomly appeared within a Heaven and Earth of a hundred miles. There happened to be two disciples of the Puppet Cult next to Zhuge Xiang. They also noticed Zhuge Xiang and charged at him without saying a word. The two disciples at the Void Splitting Realm Fifth Layer were quite powerful when they joined forces. They took out two Puppet from their Storage Artifact, which made them even more threatening.

However, with his strength already having broken through to the Void Splitting Realm, and further enhanced by the heaven-defying power of Sword Intent, Zhuge Xiang didn't spend much time before slaying the two disciples with his sword. But just as Zhuge Xiang was about to collect the Magic Artifact and Storage Ring from the corpses, a crack suddenly appeared in the ground, swallowing the two corpses whole.

He stepped on the ground; it was incredibly hard, almost like rock. But why had the land suddenly cracked open? Lost in thought, Zhuge Xiang couldn't find an answer, so he didn't dwell on the question. He simply suppressed his doubts, determined his direction, and then started walking towards the ruins of the magnificent temple.

Although this Heaven and Earth was devoid of any life, faint, sacred chants could be heard emanating from the ruins of the temple.

Within a radius of a hundred miles, the massive temple ruins were the only landmark. Zhuge Xiang set his sights there, as did the others. As they traveled further, they encountered more and more disciples of the Puppet Cult. Of course, they would occasionally run into Asura Sect Disciple, but none of them were trustworthy. Zhuge Xiang was unwilling to travel with them.

As he walked, Zhuge Xiang also took the time to secretly examine his Life Skill System Life Skill System, which was divided into three major systems: Forging System, Pill System, and Appraisal System.

The Forging System, as the name suggests, is responsible for forging all kinds of equipment and magical Magic Artifact, while the Pill System is responsible for refining all kinds of Pill, such as Healing Pill that restore HP, or other secret medicines with special effects.

The final Appraisal System specializes in Appraisal various equipment, Treasure Artifact, Pill, and recipes. By summoning the power of Treasure Artifact, their Artifact Spirit can be awakened from their slumber. As for Pill, some unknown secret medicines, their effects after consumption also need to be Appraisal.

Cultivator primarily focus on cultivation, but forging, Pill, and Appraisal are all extremely lucrative professions. For example, Liao Wufa's Sky-Slaying Sword is powerful enough, but once its lifespan is exhausted, it becomes a piece of junk. To continue using it, a powerful Artifact Forger is needed to repair it.

In the Life Profession Status Panel, the three professions of Artifact Forger, Pill Alchemist, and Appraisal all require a skill called proficiency to level up. You can choose one of the three profession systems or practice all three. However, it's better to specialize in one than to try to learn too many systems. Moreover, wasting too much time on these Life Profession will always affect your cultivation progress.

For Artifact Forger, the system gifted two recipes for One-Star Artifact, one for a weapon and one for a defensive armor. For Pill Alchemist, it gifted recipes for Healing Pill and Qi Recovery Pill. As for Appraisal, they gained the Appraisal Eye the functions of all One-Star Magic Artifact.

To upgrade their professional titles, these three systems must continuously forge magical Magic Artifact, refine Pill, or Appraisal Magic Artifact Pill in order to gain proficiency.

The three major systems and the professional titles are ranked from low to high: beginner, intermediate, advanced and master. Each level is further divided into twelve grades. Only by accumulating enough proficiency can you continuously upgrade your professional title and improve your Life Profession skills.

Zhuge Xiang had carefully considered the issue of the three major profession systems. Although adopting all three professions would indeed affect his cultivation level, it was undeniable that Magic Artifact, equipment, Pill would have an immeasurable effect on his combat power. Moreover, these methods were also the best choice for accumulating wealth.

Of the three professions— Wealth, Companions, Dharma, and Land, and land—wealth comes first. Although it will affect one's cultivation time, once these three professions are on the right track, the resources one obtains will be enough to make up for the time wasted in cultivation. From a long-term perspective, pursuing the three professions simultaneously will have a significant impact on one in the early stages, but it will get better and better as time goes on.

Otherwise, if one doesn't pursue any path, as cultivation levels increase, the experience required for leveling up will also increase, making one's path increasingly difficult. Moreover, since this Super Game System has a Life Profession system, its usefulness is undeniable...

"Zhuge Xiang, so you're here! I've finally found you!" A familiar voice suddenly rang out as Zhuge Xiang was heading towards the temple ruins. Turning his head, he saw Mo Wuyan, who looked slightly disheveled, but his face clearly lit up with joy when he saw Zhuge Xiang.

"That's great! I knew you'd be alright with your abilities," Mo Wuyan said, patting his chest with a relieved expression as he approached Zhuge Xiang.

"Senior Brother Mo, what happened to the rest of our team?" Zhuge Xiang asked, sensing the unspoken meaning in Mo Wuyan's words.

With a hint of pain on his face, Mo Wuyan nodded. "Our team, including you and Dugu Jue, has twelve members. We've been in this Land of Death within the Black Lotus for two days now. During that time, although I reunited with the other disciples in the team, we encountered a group of thirty remnants of the Puppet Cult. Apart from me, who escaped with my Innate Realm cultivation, the other disciples all perished at the hands of those Puppet Cult members."

"Wait, two days!?" Mo Wuyan's words startled Zhuge Xiang, who asked, "You're saying you've been here for two days? Impossible! We were only sucked in half a day ago!"

"Just now? We were sucked in here two days ago, weren't we?" Zhuge Xiang was utterly astonished by Mo Wuyan's words, and Mo Wuyan Zhuge Xiang even more shocked. The two looked at each other speechlessly. It was certain that they were sucked in at the same time, but why was there a time difference of more than a day between them?

"Ah..." Just as Zhuge Xiang and Mo Wuyan were immersed in this shocking news, a scream suddenly rang out from the sky. Several feet in the air, a disciple of the Puppet Cult appeared, waving his arms and legs, and then fell down, landing heavily on the ground.

Half a day has passed, and yet disciples are still being sucked in? Zhuge Xiang still remembers the suction power of the Black Lotus; he believes it could have sucked all the disciples in less than the time it takes to brew One Incense Stick. But half a day has passed and people are still coming in. This situation is too strange. For Mo Wuyan, it's even more shocking, as he has been in this Land of Death for two days...

The Puppet Cult disciple who had fallen to the ground shook his head. When he saw Zhuge Xiang and Mo Wuyan beside him, his expression changed drastically. He hurriedly took out his Bear Puppet and tried to escape.

With Explosive Steps, Zhuge Xiang's Sword of Slaughter was placed directly against the opponent's neck. The terrifying and fierce aura emanating from the Sword of Slaughter made the Puppet Cult disciple stiffen and dare not move.

"Tell me the truth! How did you get here?" Zhuge Xiang asked in a cold voice, his face cold and his sword, filled with a violent aura, pressed against the other man's neck.

The Puppet Cult disciple glanced at Zhuge Xiang with some surprise, not understanding why he would ask such a strange question, but he didn't dare to say anything more and honestly replied, "I was just sucked in by the Corpse King's Black Lotus."

"Just now? You're not mistaken? Our Asura Sect attacked the Puppet Cult just now too?" Zhuge Xiang asked coldly, his face still icy.

"Of course, if not just now, when would it be?" the Puppet Cult disciple said to Zhuge Xiang, seemingly out of nowhere.

With a swift pull, blood splattered five steps away. Zhuge Xiang had killed the Puppet Cult disciple, his face grim. Mo Wuyan's expression was even more so; in his Memory, the Asura Sect's attack on the Puppet Cult had occurred just two days prior—the time difference was completely off...

"There are two possibilities for this situation," Zhuge Xiang said with a grim expression. With his intelligence, he could only think of two possibilities.

"Which two?" Mo Wuyan asked Zhuge Xiang seriously, clearly understanding the gravity of this strange time difference.

"First, the Black Lotus absorbed us all, but stripped us of our consciousness and stored us in a special place, dividing us into different time periods, and then throwing us one by one into this Land of Death. However, this possibility is not high," Zhuge Xiang said with a solemn expression.

Mo Wuyan nodded in agreement. The situation Zhuge Xiang described was indeed possible. He then asked, "What is the situation where the probability is higher?"

With a grim expression, Zhuge Xiang spoke, "Although we were all sucked in by the Black Lotus, we were at different times. Perhaps the flow of time in this Land of Death is very different from that in the outside world, causing the disciples who were sucked in first to be more than two days behind the disciples who came later. This is the most likely possibility, and it's the situation I least wanted to see..."

Two whole days had passed between being sucked in by the Black Lotus? Hearing this, Mo Wuyan's expression changed drastically. How long would it take to survive in this Land of Death before the Sect came to rescue him?! Half a month? A year?! (To be continued...)