Without the Time Origin Law's acknowledgment, challenging the Gatekeeper on the Eighteenth Layer was pointless. Even if Ye Muxuan launched the first attack, a single "Chaos" was enough to make him feel as if the distance between him and the Gatekeeper had suddenly widened.
No—that wasn't right. The distance between them hadn't changed. Instead, the time field around the Gatekeeper had fallen into chaos. The point where Ye Muxuan's blade landed didn't match the moment he was in. It might be a second later, or it might be a minute later.
Ye Muxuan cultivated the Law of Time as well. He was only a hair's breadth away from fully comprehending the Origin Law of Wind and breaking through to Immortality, but he no longer dared to study it. So, for the past two thousand years, he had devoted himself to comprehending the Law of Time under the Heavenly Feather King's guidance. He was now only a fraction away from earning the Time Origin Law's acknowledgment, and had developed exceptionally high resistance to the Law of Time.
"Break!"
His will roared. The next instant, Ye Muxuan abruptly thrust out his left hand and pressed down on the space before him!
The time field was in disarray. The blade tip of the burly masked old man appeared there for no apparent reason.
He disrupted time in the space where Ye Muxuan stood, sending him back to the instant before the long saber was drawn and swung. This was already very close to "reversing time," and naturally resonated with his insights into the laws of time. A sudden flash of inspiration struck, and before he even had time to draw his saber, his left hand abruptly pressed down.
"Hm?" The burly masked old man's faint voice carried a hint of surprise. The next instant, he thrust his blade toward Ye Muxuan's brow.
Ye Muxuan drew his blade, blocked, swept it up, and slashed!
"Chaos."
"Hmph!"
"..."
The fight left Ye Muxuan utterly frustrated! The masked Gatekeeper used only one move: he thrust his blade, using his comprehension of the Law to throw the time field around Ye Muxuan into disarray. It combined some of the mysteries of Time Reversal and Time Acceleration. The old man's movements were as ghostly as an apparition, impossible to track, and every strike came from an unexpected direction—thrusting, chopping, hacking, or slashing.
No wonder people said that experts who cultivated the Law of Time were difficult to deal with. Even those who had successfully comprehended Teleportation would struggle to keep up.
But that was exactly why Ye Muxuan kept absorbing what he could. Over two thousand years, all the insights he had gained from comprehending the Laws flowed through his mind, deepening his understanding of the Law of Time. The Gatekeeper found it increasingly difficult to throw Ye Muxuan's time field into disarray. In the end, he simply spread the effect across the entire area around him.
"That's it!" After dozens of grueling exchanges, Ye Muxuan's eyes suddenly lit up. His left arm, its wrist already severed, instinctively swung out at an angle. His bare forearm appeared out of nowhere in one spot, and the next instant, the tip of a blade emerged there.
The Gatekeeper's expression changed drastically. That strike had clearly been aimed at Ye Muxuan's brow!
Time Disorder!
With the Gatekeeper's level of comprehension of the Law of Time, he had disrupted the flow for only an instant, but that was enough for Ye Muxuan to turn and calmly strike!
"This young fellow made a breakthrough in the midst of battle and earned the Time Origin Law's acknowledgment." At some point, a crowd of figures had gathered before a huge screen in front of Guardian Bafen on the Tongtian Bridge Plane. Each of them exuded an aura powerful enough to oppress the starry sky.
"What a monster."
"If I remember correctly, he's been cultivating for only a little over a hundred thousand years."
"In just over three thousand years in Chaos City, he went from the Thirteenth Floor to nearly the Eighteenth. How many years has it been since a monster like this appeared among the Five Great Powers?"
"Yun Ming isn't bad either. He's now a World Lord in the Primal Secret Realm, and he reached the Sixteenth Floor a while ago."
"You can't compare the two. Yun Ming's been receiving support since Star Rank, while this young fellow was left to fend for himself until he became a World Lord. I'm more impressed by him."
"True. Surviving for over a hundred thousand years on the Outer Battlefield means the young fellow's at least very lucky."
"His self-created Combat Secret Technique is pretty good too. It's barely risen above the ordinary level and reached the threshold of a top-tier technique."
"Once he's created a Combat Secret Technique that reaches the threshold of a top-tier technique, passing the Eighteenth Layer won't be difficult. Even if he doesn't pass this time, he'll manage after a few more attempts."
"Exactly. The Eighteenth Layer won't hold him back for more than ten years."
"The younger generation is really impressive these days."
"Talent like his is rare. Calling him a genius who appears once every ten million eras wouldn't be an exaggeration."
"If I remember right, he hasn't officially taken a master yet."
"I do recall the Heavenly Feather King guiding him for a while."
"The Heavenly Feather King..."
The people present chatted among themselves, one voice after another. But when the Heavenly Feather King came up, they all fell strangely silent.
The Heavenly Feather King himself wasn't intimidating. He was merely a junior at Peak King Level. Many of the powerful figures present were older and more accomplished, and several were even Venerables. The important thing was who stood behind him: White Phoenix Palace Master!
With the Heavenly Feather King's proud, aloof, and domineering temperament, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to visit Chaos City and guide a young World Lord if his teacher, White Phoenix Palace Master, hadn't instructed him to.
Besides, news had spread two thousand years ago that White Phoenix Palace Master had accepted the young fellow as a nominal disciple.
But... if he was only a nominal disciple...
When Ye Muxuan successfully passed the Sixteenth Floor, Bafen had already sent the news to the group of World Lords and Immortals who had entered with him, as well as the Heavenly Feather King.
The ninety-nine surviving World Lords and twenty Immortals among the powerful figures who had come from the Outer Battlefield all learned of the news. Of the three hundred and seventy-three Immortals and one thousand and eight World Lords who had come from the Universe Kingdom auction, forty-seven had died. But three World Lords had broken through and become "quasi"-Immortals, allowing them to remain in Chaos City. By then, all three hundred and seventy-six of these powerful figures had heard the news too!
The news spread from one person to ten, then from ten to a hundred. Before long, more powerful figures had heard of Ye Muxuan, a World Lord from the Outer Battlefield who had successfully passed the Sixteenth Floor of the Tongtian Bridge!
That already matched the level of the very best World Lords in the Primordial Secret Realm. Of its thousand World Lords—now down to eight hundred and fifty-three—only seven had reached the Sixteenth Floor.
As for the eighty-four World Lords in the Primal Secret Realm—originally there had been only eighty-three, but Yun Ming, who had placed first in the Genius Battle 4,600 years ago in the Primal Universe, had broken through from Domain Lord to World Lord—they still included more than a dozen who were on the Sixteenth Floor!
And when Ye Muxuan reached the Seventeenth Floor, it caused an even greater sensation.
Most of the eighty-four World Lords in the Primal Secret Realm were on the Seventeenth Floor. In other words, after only a little over three thousand years of cultivation in Chaos City, Ye Muxuan had caught up to the average level of the Primal Secret Realm. And if one also considered his cultivation time and the resources invested in training him, he had left those geniuses far behind.
Now, under immense pressure, Ye Muxuan had made a breakthrough in the midst of battle and successfully earned the Time Origin Law's acknowledgment. It was practically happening before their eyes; they could already foresee him passing the Eighteenth Layer. That would put him among the very best World Lords in the Primal Secret Realm.
Before you continue