Space-Time Power

"Hiss!"

Once Little Marten came to his senses, he drew in a sharp, cold breath. A chill ran down his back.

Thank goodness that lord hadn't meant them any harm. Otherwise, even if the two of them had joined forces, they might still have been casually wiped out.

At first, Little Marten hadn't known Cang Wu's identity. He'd told Lin Dong to try awakening the remnant soul of that ancient powerhouse for two reasons. First, the other had once saved him, and Little Marten figured he couldn't be the sort of demonic cultivator who'd harm them.

The second reason was that Little Marten had thought that, with his status as a Heavenly Demon Marten Demonic Spirit and the tricks up his sleeve, plus Lin Dong's mysterious stone talisman—in other words, the new owner of the Ancestral Stone—the two of them should be able to suppress the other.

After all, no matter how powerful that ancient powerhouse had been, he was still nothing more than a remnant soul. Little Marten was, at the very least, the son of the Heavenly Demon Marten clan's chief and a candidate to become the next chief. He had every right to be confident.

But that move of Cang Wu's had nearly scared Little Marten's Demonic Spirit right out of him.

The Ancestral Stone was clearly inside Lin Dong, yet that lord could control it with ease and seemed so familiar with it. Could the Ancestral Stone have been left behind by Symbol Ancestor?

Little Marten suddenly realized something. The fur on his back nearly went damp with fright—thank goodness he was a Demonic Spirit and couldn't sweat.

"Hey, Little Marten, what's wrong?"

Seeing Little Marten looking completely out of sorts, nothing like the big shot who loved to show off in front of him, Lin Dong couldn't help asking quietly.

Startled back to his senses, Little Marten hurriedly shook his head and waved a paw.

"Nothing, nothing. But are you really going to try that Spirit Grinding Mill? Don't say Lord Marten didn't warn you: that thing will grind your Spiritual Power to pieces. The pain is more than most people can bear."

Little Marten pointed at the two enormous crystal millstones in front of them. As he spoke, he made sure to give Lin Dong a pointed warning.

Lin Dong's breath caught. Anything that Senior Cang Wu had used so many times couldn't be ordinary, and the pain it brought was surely just as extraordinary.

Just as Lin Dong was about to back out, he suddenly felt the power of the Life Spirit Talisman within him. He steeled himself and nodded firmly.

"Senior Cang Wu passed the talisman to me. I wouldn't dare call myself his successor, but I can't bring shame on him, either. No matter what, I have to give it a try!"

"As expected, anyone that lord takes an interest in is a freak."

Little Marten muttered under his breath. Then, as if realizing what he'd just said, he hurriedly covered his mouth with a paw and cautiously looked around before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

After clearing his throat, Little Marten pointed his tiny paw toward the place where the two crystal millstones met. At the spot where the white light gathered, even space seemed to twist.

"See that spot? If you want to temper your Spiritual Power, just sit there. Remember, you have to hold on until your Spiritual Power has been reshaped before you stop. Otherwise, you might damage your mind itself or even suffer lasting aftereffects."

"Mm, I understand."

Lin Dong nodded firmly, then leaped into the ball of light where the two enormous crystal millstones met.

The next instant, immense force enveloped Lin Dong's spiritual body. At the same time, excruciating pain surged over him, wave after wave like a tide.

Under the crystal millstones, Lin Dong's body began to be ground apart inch by inch. As the cracks across him multiplied, he finally burst apart, scattering into countless points of light.

Just then, a mass of white light inside the crystal millstones wrapped around all the points of Spiritual Power. It then fused them together, reshaping them into Lin Dong's form.

After taking shape again, Lin Dong felt that his Spiritual Power had grown a little more solid and couldn't help feeling pleased. But the next instant, the agony swallowed him again.

Watching the scene, Little Marten couldn't help swallowing. He muttered quietly, "I wonder which lunatic came up with this method. It's completely ridiculous. They must have some kind of peculiar... interest, right?"

But just after he finished speaking, Little Marten suddenly felt a chill sweep over him. He shuddered, but when he looked around, he couldn't see anything.

In the depths of the darkness, Cang Wu withdrew his gaze from Little Marten and watched Lin Dong grit his teeth and persevere inside the crystal millstones. He nodded with some satisfaction.

In any case, Lin Dong was one of the Devouring Lineage. If he performed too poorly, he would bring shame on Cang Wu.

After watching for a few moments, Cang Wu turned his gaze away and paid Lin Dong no further attention.

Returning to the place where he'd slept before, Cang Wu sank his consciousness deep into the origin of his remnant soul and let out a long sigh.

Cang Wu's situation was complicated. His soul was a remnant, and its incomplete state wasn't only because part of it had been burned away when he burned his Reincarnation. Another part of his soul remained inside his physical body.

An incomplete soul meant that if Cang Wu wanted to become one of the true Eight Ancient Lords and return to his peak, he had to merge with the remnant soul inside his body and restore his soul.

Before then, he could wait until he obtained a mass of Yin Yang Qi and form a physical body to make do with.

But for now, Cang Wu wasn't in a hurry to deal with a physical body. First, before he had one, he couldn't leave the Ancestral Stone Space. Second, he was deeply interested in the Space-Time Power within his soul.

Among the Eight Ancient Lords, before Cang Wu had broken through in his final moments, he wouldn't claim to have been the strongest of them all, but he had certainly been the most talented and gifted!

It was true that Cang Wu had been the second disciple back then, but that was because Eldest Senior Sister, the Lord of Life and Death, had joined first. She belonged to the Immortal Holy Whale clan, part of the demonic beast lineage. Her long lifespan meant that her cultivation progressed relatively slowly.

When Cang Wu joined, Eldest Senior Sister had already been several hundred years old. Yet among the Immortal Holy Whale clan, she still didn't even count as an adult.

As a result, by the time Cang Wu's cultivation caught up, he had become the most powerful of the Eight Ancient Lords. And since Symbol Ancestor was usually busy, Cang Wu was tasked with teaching his junior brothers and sisters—and Eldest Senior Sister—for the most part.

It could be said that the other Eight Ancient Lords each cultivated only one Dao, while Cang Wu had attained considerable mastery not only of the Devouring Dao, but also of the other seven Ancestor Symbols, with the exception of the Ice Ancestor Talisman.

This naturally included the Space Dao!

That was why Cang Wu had been considered the strongest of the Eight Ancient Lords back then—though that was before Ice Master's breakthrough.

Feeling the Space-Time Power in his soul, Cang Wu gradually sank into contemplation. Through the changes in the spatial power within the Space-Time Power, he sensed the might of time. Now and then, he could even sense the transformations of space and time.

Cultivation knew no years. In the blink of an eye, several days passed.