Time flew. A year slipped by amid work and preparations.
Inside the Swallowing Heaven Tower, Fang Chen slowly opened his eyes. The Time Bell floating before him gave a long, gentle hum. The golden radiance flowing over it had grown softer and more subdued than a year ago, yet it faintly resonated with the surrounding space, as though it had become a tiny anchor in time.
That year, he had devoted nearly all his attention to comprehending this Ancient time Supreme Treasure.
Drawing on fragments of the Time Immortal Emperor's inherited memories, Fang Chen's understanding of Time Law had advanced by leaps and bounds.
He could now control the Time Bell with greater precision. Not only could he accelerate or slow time across a wide area, he could also finely adjust the Time Flow Rate in small areas at multiple gradients. He had even begun experimenting with combining the Power of Time with other formations to create unique time barriers.
This laid a solid technical foundation for the time-control module at the heart of the Artificial Time Herb Garden project.
Meanwhile, after pouring vast manpower and resources into surveying dozens of potential sites, the exploration team led by Immortal Emperor Yun Yi and the Golden Roc Immortal Emperor finally sent back news that was both exhilarating and daunting.
They had found a site that was nearly perfect, in theory, for building the Time Herb Garden.
The site lay deep within a shattered Star Domain called the Falling Star Sea, on the northeastern edge of the Ancient Region. Its spatial structure was exceptionally stable because a nearly intact Boundary-Space Godstone vein lay at its heart. This divine stone could powerfully suppress and smooth spatial disturbances.
More remarkably, three Earth Veins—one of Thick-Earth Wujing, one of Profound Nether True Water, and one