The Deep Essence of the Law of Time

Deep in the space of the Light Source Star System, a pale gold, triangular spaceship floated silently.

Inside the spaceship's training room, the Silver Pupil, standing about two meters tall, rippled with layers of dreamlike radiance, swirling mist filling the entire chamber.

Yu Duan sat cross-legged before the Silver Pupil, with a virtual projection displaying annotations for two different secret canons on either side of him.

"Senior Qiongtao King, which set of secret canons do you think I should choose as my future cultivation path?"

Yu Duan looked toward the burly, snake-headed figure beside him.

Qiongtao King's hideous snake head grinned: "If I had to choose, I would definitely pick the Nine Interpretations of Time. Although it will be ten or a hundred times slower in the early stages, the deeper your comprehension of the laws becomes, the faster your progress will be when following the path of analyzing the essence."

"Your Highness's current comprehension of the Law of Time is still at the foundational stage. Even if it is ten or a hundred times slower, it is merely a matter of cultivating for a few tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years more."

"But when you begin to delve into the profound changes of the Law of Time, where a single period of contemplation can take ten million or even a hundred million years, the time saved will be far more than just a few tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years."

Upon hearing this, Yu Duan nodded.

In truth, Yu Duan had already made his decision; he was merely asking out of habit.

The pre-advancement provided by his Book of Causality was also based on his actual rate of comprehension.

The more time he could save in the later stages, the more efficiently Yu Duan could grind through his progress.

Furthermore, the path of analyzing the essence of laws required a much higher level of comprehension than innate law talent.

Yu Duan's comprehension was far superior to his innate law talent, so choosing the path that prioritized comprehension allowed him to play to his strengths and mitigate his weaknesses.

The hardest part of the path of analyzing the essence of laws was not the comprehension itself, but the analysis.

The time required for the analysis process could be ten or even a hundred times longer than the comprehension process, with the exact duration depending entirely on one's comprehension.

It sounded abstract, so here was an example.

To find the circumference of a circle: if you knew nothing, the simplest way was to take a string and trace the circle.

The circumference would be the length of the string, and the whole process would take only a few minutes or less.

This was the conventional path of comprehending laws—knowing the result without understanding the underlying reason.

The path of analyzing the essence of laws, however, was like a mathematician studying the formula for the circumference of a circle, which took thousands of years.

Getting the answer was not important. What mattered was why it was the answer and what the underlying patterns were. This was analyzing the essence of the laws.

The example might seem absurd, but the logic was the same.

It required not only realizing the answer (the mysteries of the law) but also delving into the deeper logic behind that "answer" (the essence of the law).

"In fact, the two secret canons do not conflict. When you are comprehending the Origin Law of Light, focus on the Purification Secret Canon, and when comprehending the Origin Law of Time, focus on analyzing the essence of the origin law."

Qiongtao King offered a well-intentioned reminder.

Yu Duan responded politely: "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Qiongtao King."

In the Virtual Universe, at the palace of Qinghuan King.

Seeing Yu Duan's figure appear once again, a smile surfaced on Qinghuan King's face: "Disciple, have you made your choice?"

Yu Duan nodded solemnly: "Teacher, I wish to follow the path of analyzing the essence of the Law of Time. Please, Teacher, guide me!"

"Hahaha..."

Qinghuan King laughed heartily and said: "With your current attainments in the Law of Time, you are qualified to try and comprehend the first essence of the Law of Time."

"Once you master the first essence of the Law of Time, the third level of the Light and Time Sword Technique will reach perfection."

"Watch closely, I will now demonstrate the operation of the first essence of the Law of Time for you..."

Qinghuan King raised his hand, and brilliant starlight intertwined in his palm, transforming into thin, crystalline threads of light. They wove together, moving and surging along a mysterious trajectory.

"The first essence of the Law of Time is the mystery of 'motion'!"

"Time is the scale by which people measure the motion of all things, but time itself is also flowing and moving. This is the absolute foundation of all the mysteries of the Law of Time."

"Your comprehension of the Law of Time is still at the most basic stage. In fact, the mysteries you have already comprehended are themselves the 'motion' essence of the Law of Time, but your comprehension is not systematic; it is very general."

"With your ability to execute the third level of the Light and Time Sword Technique, as long as you analyze and reconstruct your existing comprehension, you will have a certain grasp of the first essence."

"According to my estimation, during your Star Level period, it will take you anywhere from a few decades to a few hundred years to reconstruct your comprehension of the Law of Time and master the first essence."

"At that time, even if your progress in law comprehension does not increase significantly, the power of your law applications will skyrocket tenfold, and the third level of the Light and Time Sword Technique will reach its peak perfection."

"Watch closely, I will demonstrate the mysteries of the first essence again. Comprehend it carefully, then tell me your questions."

Hearing this, Yu Duan's expression turned serious: "Yes, Teacher."

In the blink of an eye, a day passed.

Within the Virtual Universe network, in the palace of Qinghuan King.

"Teacher, look here. I feel that this part of the operation is still not quite right."

"Also, when I tried to operate the origin power of time in the 3,451st way to verify the mystery of the first essence, I found that something was wrong here as well..."

"Right, in the third level of the Light and Time Sword Technique, it once mentioned the relationship between the cycle of day and night and the flow of time. Teacher, do you think the way I am executing it is correct?"

"..."

Yu Duan seemed to have turned into a fountain of questions, posing all sorts of inquiries.

The Glazed Light Sword danced in his palm.

At the tip of the blade, black and white ghostly light rippled outward, leaving behind complex traces in mid-air that stirred and fluctuated the origin power of time.

Qinghuan King stared at Yu Duan with a look of suspicion and uncertainty.

Over the past few years, following the conclusion of the second Beiming Sacred Land Star Level student ranking tournament, Yu Duan had sought out Qinghuan King every morning to ask questions regarding movement techniques and insights into the laws.

Therefore, Qinghuan King was very clear about the level of his youngest disciple's comprehension.

Yu Duan might not even have realized the level of his own comprehension.

To put it this way, from stepping across the threshold of the origin laws to executing the first layer of the Light and Time Sword, An Yao—a genius ranked in the top 10,000 among all Star Level individuals in the universe—had taken decades.

Yet Yu Duan, having used the Book of Causality to overdraw the insights needed to barely cross the threshold of the Origin Law of Light, had then relied on his own study to execute the first layer of the Light and Time Sword in just two months.

This speed was comparable to Luo Feng, who had the backing of a Universe Level Golden Horned Beast.

Setting aside talent for the laws and looking only at comprehension, Yu Duan's comprehension during his Star Level period was the highest among the dozen or so disciples under Qinghuan King.

Comprehension is not something that remains static.

As one's will improves, as one experiences more, and as the essence of the soul (the speed of thought processing) increases, all of these factors influence comprehension.

Therefore, looking only at the Star Level period, Yu Duan's comprehension was clearly much stronger than the other disciples, but it was only "much" stronger; there wasn't a massive gap.

But now, in just a single day, Qinghuan King clearly sensed that Yu Duan's comprehension had improved significantly compared to before.

It was hard to describe; it was as if he had gained a new spark of intelligence, frequently coming up with viewpoints that even Qinghuan King considered "ingenious ideas."

"At this rate, perhaps in a few years, or at most a dozen, my youngest disciple will be able to reconstruct and dissect the law insights he has already mastered and fully comprehend the first essence of time."

Qinghuan King made a quick estimation in his heart, feeling increasingly incredulous.

"Disciple."

"Ah? Teacher, is there a problem with my understanding?" Yu Duan was startled, then quickly asked with an open mind.

Qinghuan King smiled and said, "Nothing, I am very satisfied. It's just that I would like to see you attempt the Eighteen Layers of Life and Death Illusion once more."

"Yes, I shall go and attempt the illusion now."

Yu Duan realized at this moment why Qinghuan King had reacted this way.

He must have noticed the changes in him, especially the amplification of his thought processes brought about by the Heart of Innocence.

Half an hour later, Yu Duan, who had been instantly wiped out by the eleventh layer of the illusion, was teleported directly into Qinghuan King's palace.

The first nine layers of the Eighteen Layers of Life and Death Illusion corresponded to the Universe Level, Domain Lord Level, and World Master Level.

Being able to pass the tenth layer of the illusion meant that his youngest disciple's strength of will was already comparable to that of an ordinary Immortal.

"Child, you..."

Qinghuan King hesitated for a moment, then said, "Attempting the illusion places too great a burden on your mental will. Leave the Virtual Universe first to rest your mind, and we shall continue tomorrow."

"Yes, Teacher." Yu Duan nodded, then respectfully bid farewell to Qinghuan King before exiting the Virtual Universe.

After Yu Duan left, Qinghuan King immediately dialed a video call to Qiongtao King.

Almost the instant it was dialed, the video call connected.

"Qiongtao, tell me, was there anything unusual about Yu Duan's return to his hometown this time? Or... did he come into contact with any special Star Level lifeforms?"

Faced with Qinghuan King's interrogation, Qiongtao King quickly replied, "Master, from the moment the young master stepped out of the Beiming Sacred Land, he did not leave my sight for a single second."

"Furthermore, since the young master left the Sacred Land, the strongest beings he encountered, aside from myself and the guard team, were only a few Planetary Level little ones."

"I understand."

Qinghuan King hung up the call and then dialed Ku Mixiu.

A moment later, Qinghuan King learned from Ku Mixiu about the situation where Yu Duan had sat in silent meditation on the snowy peak for half a year and experienced an epiphany.

"An epiphany, that explains it."

Qinghuan King received the surveillance footage from Ku Mixiu of Yu Duan sitting in meditation for half a year, and the doubts in his heart were answered.

Qinghuan King did not ask about any further details. There was no need to.

Qinghuan King knew that his youngest disciple must have his own fortuitous encounters.

Or rather, any genius born only once every long age would, to some extent, have their own unique opportunities.