A Higher Level of Dao

"Is this... a ghost wall?"

Shi Yan blurted out a term from his mortal memories without thinking.

This was exactly like a ghost wall—walking and walking, only to suddenly return to the starting point.

But for Shi Yan, who had become a true god by walking the Path of Time and Space, encountering a ghost wall was utterly absurd.

Especially since he hadn't detected anything unusual at all.

"The space-time in this Divine Temple is definitely abnormal."

Shi Yan's expression turned grave as he once again flew swiftly toward the sculpture.

As expected, moments later, Shi Yan returned to the starting point once more.

Next, Shi Yan tried moving in the opposite direction of the statue and even other directions, but the result was the same every time—without his awareness, he was abruptly teleported back to the starting point.

"I'm being sent back every time I advance about one percent of a light-year."

After repeated attempts, Shi Yan gradually noticed a pattern.

"The key must still be those three statues." Shi Yan's gaze fixed straight ahead, and he left a divine power avatar at his current location before flying toward the statues.

"One percent of a light-year... one percent of a light-year..."

Shi Yan calculated the distance and finally stopped when he was less than a kilometer short of the one-percent-light-year mark.

"Let's stop here and see what difference there is between these two spaces."

Shi Yan sat down cross-legged and, together with his divine power avatar, began to sense the difference between the two spaces.

But as time passed, Shi Yan's brow gradually furrowed into a deep crease.

Ten days later, Shi Yan suddenly opened his eyes, a contemplative look on his face: "The two spaces are no different at all—both are extremely condensed and extremely stable..."

In his perception, the edge of this "ghost wall" and the place where he had first arrived had identical spatial fluctuations—none at all, like a pool of stagnant water.

Yet Shi Yan had been inexplicably moved back.

The ironclad fact proved that the space nearby must be strange; it absolutely could not be completely stagnant.

"There's only one explanation... my realm is too low, and the dimension where the spatial fluctuations exist is too high for me to reach." Shi Yan let out a long breath, accepting the reality.

A technique like "space lockdown" could be performed even by those little realm lord-level fellows who had gained recognition from the spatial law source in the Primal Universe, provided their comprehension was high enough.

But without a doubt, the space frozen by little realm lords and immortals was only the shallowest layer; Universe Venerable-level beings could completely ignore the space lockdowns performed by realm lords and immortals.

Correspondingly, the space lockdowns performed by Venerables could also be ignored by Universe Masters.

And for Shi Yan, there was probably no being in the entire Universe Ocean capable of performing a space lockdown that could hinder his teleportation—only battles or domain-induced spatial turbulence could block it.

However, there was always a higher mountain; in a super Mechanical Path treasure like the Universe Boat, there were many situations that could completely cut off his ability to sense spatial fluctuations.

This Divine Temple was clearly one of them.

"If I can't sense spatial fluctuations, the only way to break this inexplicable transfer is through brute force—overcoming the law with power—but..." Looking around, Shi Yan let out a self-deprecating laugh. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he could pull off "overcoming the law with power" in the core region of the Universe Boat.

Just from the extraordinary nature of this Divine Temple, Shi Yan felt that even a Void True God would have to obediently follow the temple's rules.

"Then there's only one way: raise my realm... Once my realm is higher, I'll naturally be able to sense deeper spatial fluctuations." Shi Yan took a deep breath.

It just so happened that when he was forcibly teleported into this Divine Temple earlier, Shi Yan had vaguely gained some insights into space, so it wouldn't hurt to cultivate here for a while.

In history, so many true gods had been trapped in the core region of the Universe Boat until their time ran out; Shi Yan didn't think he'd be lucky enough to leave quickly.

With that thought, Shi Yan closed his eyes again and began to organize his insights into space along the direction he had glimpsed earlier.

"Hahaha... This little one has some self-awareness, not trying to overcome the law with power."

While Shi Yan was immersed in comprehending the laws, in the core region of the Universe Boat, a mysterious being shrouded in a green robe was staring intently at a peculiar bronze octahedron before him.

The green-robed being appeared roughly the same size as an ordinary person, but the hood covering its head seemed unusually large.

The octahedron before the mysterious being was about three meters tall. On the upper half, the tetrahedron facing the green-robed being reflected a figure—Shi Yan, sitting cross-legged in cultivation.

Around the green-robed being stretched a vast expanse of exquisite silver architecture—palaces, pavilions, temples, and more—stretching into the distance like an immense City of Metal. The different styles of buildings clashed yet somehow created a strange harmony.

The green-robed being sat cross-legged on the roof of one palace.

"I don't know how many Reincarnation Eras have passed, but finally another little one walking the path of time and space has come here... Is this your fortune or your misfortune?"

The green-robed being's voice was hoarse, its gaze fixed on Shi Yan's figure within the octahedron. After a long moment, it let out a strange laugh and said, "It should be fortune, I suppose. If 'I' hadn't desperately modified the restrictions of this Maze Lock before dying, a little one at the mere true god level would have been killed the moment they entered."

Toward the end, the green-robed being's voice grew softer and softer until it was barely audible. The being fell silent, simply staring at the bronze octahedron, the "Maze Lock."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Shi Yan, who was cultivating, had no idea that a mysterious being was watching him.

At this moment, Shi Yan had discovered another pleasant surprise.

The space within this Divine Temple was extremely condensed, with spatial fluctuations frozen. But precisely because of this, the space in the temple had solidified into a single whole—at least from Shi Yan's perspective.

And coincidentally, the insight he had gained during the forced teleportation was also "spatial unity"—perceiving space from a holistic perspective, merging his body into the void.

Thus, this Divine Temple became a blessed land for his cultivation. Comprehending the void as a whole here was like adding wings to a tiger.

Shi Yan immersed himself fully in the mysteries of the surrounding space, as if a standard answer had been placed before him, and he only needed to deduce the intermediate steps.

Though still difficult, cross-referencing insights made cultivation far more efficient with half the effort.

In cultivation, time knows no days or years. For the vast majority of True God-level powerhouses, every single advancement in realm was measured in "trillions of epochs." If one took a wrong path, it was not impossible for the unit of measurement to become entire Reincarnation Eras.

Though Shi Yan had the aid of fortune, the accumulation of law insights still required time.

In the blink of an eye, over eighty thousand epochs had passed. Eighty thousand epochs meant over eight hundred million years.

Not long after beginning his cultivation, Shi Yan's divine incarnation within the Miniature Universe had set up a ten-thousand-fold time acceleration for himself.

Though far inferior to the effects of the Black-Veined Stone Pillar Space, given his current conditions, he had pushed himself to the limit. After all, a mere divine incarnation, lacking any protective treasures, dreaming of entering the Black-Veined Stone Pillar Space was nothing but fantasy.

Thus, in reality, Shi Yan had already cultivated for over eight billion epochs.

Over these eight billion epochs, Shi Yan gradually touched the threshold of a higher level of the Path of Space.

Within the empty Divine Temple, Shi Yan currently floated midair, his form flickering in and out of existence, seeming both illusory and real.

It looked somewhat similar to the protective technique Shi Yan had used earlier to vanish into other time lines, but in truth, the two were completely different. The technique Shi Yan now employed was Voidification—his divine body merging with space, becoming intangible and immune to force.

If an opponent's strength were insufficient, their attacks likely would not even touch Shi Yan.

Ninth Order—this was Shi Yan's current realm on the Path of Space.

If any other True God were to hear this, they would likely be green with envy. Having become a True God and cultivated for merely over eighty thousand epochs—or eight billion epochs counting time acceleration—to reach the Ninth Order realm, even the Original Ancestor back in his day was no more than this.

In fact, if Shi Yan had not broken through via the Path of Time and Space, and his insights on the Path of Time were relatively lagging, his realm might have advanced even further.

"What a pity. The lag in the Path of Time has actually interfered with my comprehension of the Space Laws." Shi Yan opened his eyes, somewhat unwillingly.

In his eyes now, this Divine Temple was no longer a perilous ground but an excellent place for cultivation. However, now that his Space Path had broken through to the Ninth Order, his Time Path still remained at the Eighth Order.

Since the day Shi Yan was born, the disparity between his cultivation in the two paths of Time and Space had never been this vast. Only now did he realize that breaking through via the Path of Time and Space made the balance between time and space critically important.

"Perhaps it was fated that I could only cultivate the Space Path to the Ninth Order here." Shi Yan landed on the ground, letting out a helpless smile.

Reaching the Ninth Order on the Time Path was not something achievable in a short time. For now, Shi Yan had not found that this Divine Temple offered much help for cultivating the Time Path.

Since that was the case, Shi Yan decided not to stay any longer. He had not forgotten that this place was the Universe Boat Core Region.

"Space fluctuations... I can sense them again now."

Shi Yan pointed his index finger at the void. Ripples spread out in layers through the space.

If any other powerhouse were present, they might sense that the once stagnant space had become slightly more active.

This was the difference between having insight and not. If one tried to break through by force, it was utterly impossible for a True God-level being to shake this spatial seal.

But with insight, one could achieve the effect of "four ounces moving a thousand pounds."

Shi Yan tapped the air nine times in succession with his finger. The space fluctuations grew increasingly active.

"That should be enough. With this, any teleportation technique should be detectable by me."

Shi Yan briefly sensed the space fluctuations, then burst forward at maximum speed, racing toward the direction of the three statues.

He had not advanced far when he indeed felt a subtle spatial fluctuation envelop him, attempting to teleport him away.

With a thought, Shi Yan's form instantly turned ethereal. This spatial fluctuation, though subtle, was far inferior in finesse and force to the one that had originally teleported him to this Divine Temple.

The fluctuation swept past Shi Yan's position without touching him at all.

"Hahaha... just as I thought."

Shi Yan laughed heartily and continued advancing toward the statues.