The whole world fell into a strange standstill.
Gu Qingshan felt an invisible torrent surging around him.
The torrent cut him off from this space-time.
Beyond it, Lola, Shen Xue, and his other self were heading for the door, ready to go out to the highway and wait for the truck driver.
If he wanted to enter this space-time...
At a thought from Gu Qingshan, the torrent parted, revealing the true appearance of the world.
At the same time, a line of Crimson Small Characters appeared:
"Warning!" "You have activated the Taboo Sword: 'Quicksand Mirror.'" "You are completing a space-time substitution of yourself." "—You have replaced yourself and arrived at the present moment." "The 'you' from this moment in the past will appear directly in the future where 'you' are." "From this moment on, you may do anything, but you cannot interfere with anything you have already done throughout time." "When you arrive in the future again—at the moment when you activated the sword art—you must return to the place where you activated it, concealing your substitution and ensuring that the entire affair does not cause space-time disorder." "Furthermore, you must complete the entire Closed Loop before you can release the space-time sword art 'Quicksand Mirror' again. Otherwise, you absolutely must not use this sword." "—All of this is to avoid attracting the attention of the Time Clan, and, even more importantly, to avoid being discovered by the terrifying beings in the River of Time." "Good luck."
Gu Qingshan drew a deep breath, keeping his emotions in check.
He took a step forward.
In an instant, the other him in the room vanished.
—That other him had gone to the future, where he was practicing swordsmanship in the desert.
Gu Qingshan had taken his place. He could no