Time Flies Like Water
Time flies like water.
Tang Ping's secluded life consisted of three routines each day: sitting in meditation Chaos Monument, and when his soul was nearly exhausted by the torrent of laws, he would seek out two Daoist partners to exchange and verify his understanding.
The energies of ice and fire collide, serving as both healing and refinement; or one could step into the Floating Flower Palace of the Elf Race and listen to a group of Silver Eye maidens playing music and dancing.
The Elf maidens were deeply grateful to him for securing a leisurely and lucrative job. Their admiration for him was almost tangible, and they wished they could repay him with everything they had.
Faced with such intense affection, Tang Ping could never bear to refuse.
Although this made him feel that his loyalty to love was tainted by a little dust, he was an honest man who didn't know how to refuse such pure kindness, so he could only let things take their course.
After completing these processes of conditioning his mind and body, every one or two months, Tang Ping would venture into the Deep Cold Cavern of the "Journey" dimension to hone his will.
Now that he has reached the ninth level of the Realm Lord, it is no exaggeration to call him a true giant in this game world. Even if he were to overthrow a country and reshape the order of a region, it would be nothing more than a matter of lifting a finger.
However, he had never had such ambitions; on the contrary, he was quite interested in this Deep Cold Cavern.
It should be noted that his will had already been tempered to the Immortal Realm, and even after venturing tens of thousands of kilometers into the underground cave, the endless darkness and bitter cold still showed no end in sight. What was even more bizarre was that the Will Impact from the depths of the cave was becoming increasingly violent, and even he could not withstand it for more than a month before he had to retreat.
There must be some unknown secret hidden here.
Tang Ping, however, was not in a hurry. He was currently safe and his lifespan was as long as the sea; there would always be a day when he could uncover the mystery. For someone of his World Lord Rank, the most important thing right now was to calm down and accumulate his strength, rather than chasing after illusory secrets.
Another fifty years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Earth Calendar, year 2453.
Inside the secret chamber, Tang Ping slowly opened his eyes. His eyes seemed to hold the birth and death of stars and the passage of time.
He raised his hand to press his brow, the weariness emanating from the depths of his soul clearly discernible, yet mixed with the exhilaration of a breakthrough. Glancing at the timer on his wrist, he couldn't help but sigh softly; this seclusion had actually lasted half a lifetime for an ordinary person.
But as he became engrossed in the mysteries of the laws of the universe, he felt as if he were touching new peaks of power every second, and the pleasure of his soul stretching out in the torrent of origin made him forget the passage of time.
Only now did he truly understand why some realm lords missed the best opportunity to break through to immortality. Without a strong will, it was impossible to extricate oneself from the ultimate beauty of merging one's mind with the Origin of the Universe in time.
With a thought, his personal panel unfolded in the void, and the data on it indeed showed a qualitative leap:
[Realm: Ninth Rank of Realm Lord] (9,999,999/10,000,000)
[Willpower: Ordinary Immortal (5 million/1 billion)]
[Laws: Wind Laws (602,220/10 million), Thunder Laws (602,220/10 million), Time Law (14,051/100 billion)]
[Arcane Technique: Wind-Thunder Brief Notes (804250/10 billion), Chaos Bell (Soul Defense: Ordinary Immortal)]
[Weapon: Miao Divine Weapon Level 6 (9123/10000)]
[Lifespan: 193/10 million years]
What delighted him most was finally being able to control the sixth form of the sixth level of the "Miao" Divine Weapon: the Sword World.
It should be noted that for Domain Lord realm cultivator, being able to unleash such a form is already an unparalleled level among those of the same rank; even looking at the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, and even the entire Human Race, those who can master the Sword World at the Domain Lord realm are all monsters among their peers, comparable to natural overlords like the Golden Horned Beast.
Ordinary cultivators need to push their Law Comprehension to the ninth level of the Tongtian Bridge before the Sword World can reach a stable state.
Although he only mastered this move with the cultivation of a ninth-level Realm Lord, which is only considered to be the average level of an ordinary Realm Lord, when you calculate it carefully, he only took a little over a hundred years to catch up with those geniuses who had accumulated thousands or even tens of thousands of years of law accumulation.
This is his talent!
Moreover, as the upper limit of his soul's capacity to contain the Origin of the Universe continued to increase, the speed at which he received the inheritance from the Wind-Thunder Chaos Stele also became increasingly rapid. The profound mysteries of the laws that were obscure and difficult to understand in the eyes of others were as smooth as flowing water for him. This was the terrifying aspect of the "Proficiency Talent".
He can perfectly accept and quickly grasp any existing insights without any hesitation.
Of course, he was also aware that he still had a gap to close with Luo Feng, the genius who was hailed as "once in ten million years" a hundred years ago: Luo Feng had comprehended the Law Essence, had a solid foundation, and his future was limitless; while he relied more on the inheritance of his master, the Wind-Thunder Chaos Stele, which was like "standing on the shoulders of giants".
Ordinary people who advance in this way often hit a bottleneck because they "know what but not why," but he has a talent to back him up. At least before breaking through to the Time Venerable, his path ahead is smooth and there are no more obstacles.
His greatest hope now is that his master can successfully break through the shackles of the Space Law and ascend to the supreme Universe Master before he attempts to reach the Time Venerable Realm, so that he can rightfully inherit a more profound legacy.
If things don't go as planned, he already has a plan: at worst, he can find another master who has perfected the Space Law to be his teacher. Although his master treats him well, he can't stop him from pursuing a higher path and a better life, can he?
Actually, he felt that his Grandmaster Peng Gong, was quite good. In the future, he and his master would each call each other by their own names; he would call her "master," and she would call him "junior brother."
Tsk tsk tsk~
Next, as is customary, Tang Ping, having just ended fifty years of intense seclusion, should indeed take a good rest and recuperation. So, with a thought in mind, he turned and headed towards Luo Xiaoyu's residence.
The moment the door opened, no words were needed; the atmosphere between the two was already intensely passionate.
The enormous Cultivation Room, forged from Star Iron and originally incomparably sturdy, was now humming slightly from the rising and falling energy fluctuations.
The gentleness of water, the speed of wind, the violence of lightning, and even the occasional fleeting glimpse of the obscure aura of the Time Origin Law —all these forces intertwined and collided, creating ripples on the walls of the room.
Half a month later, Luo Xiaoyu collapsed on the floor covered with Cloud Velvet cushions. Her once exquisite clothes were now disheveled by the aftershocks of the energy. Her fair cheeks still bore the flush of the energy, but her eyes were somewhat vacant and unfocused. Her smooth legs occasionally trembled slightly uncontrollably, clearly due to excessive exertion.
Tang Ping only closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment before recovering most of his energy. "I've rested enough. Let's spar a bit more. I'll try out the Wind-Thunder Rhythm I just mastered."
"Wait!" Luo Xiaoyu quickly propped herself up on her arms and sat up, her voice hoarse and urgent, "No—let's talk about something else."
Tang Ping paused, sighed helplessly, and turned to sit on the stone bench next to her.
"Xiao Yu, we've been together for over a hundred years, we're husband and wife, not brothers. But now, whenever we're together for even a short while, you start talking to me about the increase in interstellar trade, the military losses in Outer Battlefield, and even bringing up the stock market fluctuations of Earth's old era."
Those things are too far removed from us, what do they have to do with us? You're clearly trying to find topics to lull me into a sleep, just to get me to rest early."
"You're completely different from when you were twenty-five. Back then, as soon as you entered the Cultivation Room, you'd roll up your sleeves and start doing squats, hundreds or even thousands without getting tired, your eyes shining like stars."
And now? We've barely warmed up and they're already rambling on about all this nonsense. We chat for a bit, then they go to the bathroom to pee, and end up staying there for hours.
You're at the Universe Level, why would you need to pee?
He leaned down to look at her, his voice tinged with grievance. "Xiao Yu, do you understand what I mean by telling you this?"
Luo Xiaoyu kept her head down and remained silent for a while before raising her face, her eyes filled with a tentative tenderness. "Then—then next time I'll tell you about Earth Calendar, okay? The part about the Five Great Heroes who sacrificed themselves for their country, it was especially heroic, we should all remember it."
Tang Ping:???