Time Is About to Accelerate!

Soul power descended, and a small gap was chiseled into the hundred-thousand-year soul ring.

However, in an instant, the gap widened. A massive surge of soul power poured out from the fissure like a bursting dam, flooding entirely into Jiang Ci'an's body.

In the past, such a mistake would have likely meant a restart.

But this time, Jiang Ci'an remained calm. The soul ring beside him shone brightly as he activated Time Control.

Everything stopped abruptly.

The surging soul power solidified within his meridians, and his distended vessels froze at the very moment before they were about to rupture.

Then, everything reversed.

The soul power flowed back like a receding tide, retreating from his meridians and following its original path, bit by bit, returning into the hundred-thousand-year soul ring that had been breached.

The crack healed, and the soul ring returned to its original state.

Jiang Ci'an withdrew his hand, the corners of his lips curling slightly.

"This makes things much simpler."

With Time Control, he no longer had to kill himself and restart every time. He only needed to rewind time like watching a video in reverse and try again, significantly increasing his research efficiency.

At the same time, he could slow down or pause time entirely to better observe those fleeting, minute details, making it easier to identify gaps and correct errors.

Very good.

Jiang Ci'an suppressed his smile and closed his eyes. The familiar sensation of rising emerged, and when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to reality.

The Virtual World reset.

Following this, Jiang Ci'an closed his eyes once more.

The familiar sensation of falling struck him.

When he opened his eyes again, the Blue Silver Grass lawn was beneath his feet, and the gray walls of Notting Academy stood in the distance.

Jiang Ci'an silently cast Indifference upon himself, his figure slowly rising into mid-air, buoyed by his soul power.

He chose a spot with an expansive view and solidified his position in the air, like a speck of dust suspended in the sky.

Then, the deep purple soul ring beside him bloomed with brilliant light.

The domain belonging to Time Control began to spread outward from his body.

It was a sensation difficult to describe in words—like ripples in water or waves of light, spreading rapidly in all directions with him at the center.

It covered Notting Academy, covered Holy Soul Village, covered the Soul Hunting Forest...

In a fleeting moment, it covered the entire Virtual World.

Jiang Ci'an took a deep breath, his gaze turning calm.

Time... began to accelerate.

The world began to change.

Below, the figures in Notting Academy began to move; those attending class, those leaving, those eating, and those training—everything operated according to its predetermined trajectory.

Then, it grew faster and faster.

A person walked out of a classroom, hurried across the corridor, and nodded to someone approaching; these actions were completed in a mere second or two, moving with the speed of a tape played at high-speed.

More and more people shuttled back and forth through the academy, their movements trailing afterimages until countless lines blurred into a mass, difficult to discern.

In the sky, the sun began to sink rapidly toward the west.

The orange-red sunset glow lasted less than half a second before dissipating. Night fell immediately, and the moon rose from the east, dragging a ribbon of silvery light across the horizon before setting before one could even see it clearly.

Then the sun rose again, and set again.

The sun rose and the moon fell, the moon fell and the sun rose; the cycle of day and night accelerated, dragging a continuous trail of light across the sky. The ribbons of light from the sun and moon intertwined like a piece of brocade being woven at high speed.

The world flickered between light and dark, pulsing like a heartbeat.

The trees nearby grew at a speed visible to the naked eye; branches lengthened, leaves unfurled, tender green turned to deep green, and deep green was stained with withered yellow. The withered leaves fell one after another, leaving the branches bare; then new buds sprouted, branches and leaves flourished once more, and another new cycle began.

One year, two years, three years...

Time was racing forward at an astonishing speed.

Jiang Ci'an hovered in mid-air, his golden eyes watching everything below with calm indifference, unseen and unfelt by anyone.

His gaze fell upon Tang San.

He watched Tang San assemble hidden weapons in that work-study dormitory. As his fingers flew, numerous hidden weapons took shape, their speed accelerated by time until it looked like skipped frames in an animation.

He saw Tang San leave Notting Academy and obtain his second soul ring in the Soul Hunting Forest, and he saw Xiao Wu leave the dormitory alone on a moonlit night, hiding in the woods behind Notting Academy to secretly condense a new soul ring for herself.

He saw them gradually grow up, their faces changing from youthful to mature, their figures changing from short to slender, and then leaving Notting Academy, riding a carriage all the way south.

Jiang Ci'an followed them, arriving at another city.

He watched Tang San and Xiao Wu clash with Dai Mubai, who was holding twin sisters, and saw the conflict end quickly. A day later, they enrolled in Shrek Academy.

Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Oscar, Ma Hongjun... one by one, characters both familiar and strange to him appeared on the stage.

Jiang Ci'an watched all of this silently, having no intention of interfering for the time being.

Time continued to race forward.

Soon, Zhao Wuji led the Shrek Seven Devils into the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for spirit rings.

Subsequently, after successfully obtaining the third spirit ring for Oscar, Er Ming appeared with a roar and snatched Xiao Wu away in front of everyone.

Jiang Ci'an's gaze followed Xiao Wu and Er Ming, soon arriving at the Lake of Life, which radiated a dense aura of vitality.

At this point, Jiang Ci'an slightly slowed the acceleration of time.

Ignoring the chatting Da Ming, Er Ming, and Xiao Wu, Jiang Ci'an's pupils shimmered with a faint light as his vision pierced through the lake water, traveling all the way down.

Before long, he saw a massive underground cavern located beneath the Lake of Life.

Standing there were dozens of figures with terrifying auras.

With immense bodies and varied forms, these spirit beasts, whose cultivation levels were almost all at the hundred-thousand-year tier, each occupied a corner in silence, possessing a sense of order.

In their midst were several figures with even more terrifying auras.

Jiang Ci'an looked at them one by one, the names of these existences naturally flashing through his mind.

Red King, Bear Lord, Ten Thousand Demon King, Zi Ji, Bi Ji, Di Tian... and even a large golden cat curled up into a ball, fast asleep on the side.

Jiang Ci'an's gaze paused involuntarily on this large cat, a sense of inexplicable closeness rising in his heart.

Why do I suddenly want to feel what its fur is like?

Suppressing the strange thought that had suddenly arisen, Jiang Ci'an shook his head and continued to cast his gaze forward.

At the center of all the spirit beasts, a giant silkworm with a snow-white body and golden patterns was restrained by chains.

The energy within its body was continuously dissipating, being evenly consumed by every spirit beast present.

With every wisp they consumed, their auras naturally climbed slightly.

The speed did not look particularly fast, yet it was far, far faster than their normal cultivation.

After taking a brief look at this one-of-a-kind million-year spirit beast material, Jiang Ci'an's gaze swept past the dozens of fierce beast figures and continued to probe deeper below.

There, in another equally massive underground cavern, a colossal figure was currently slumbering.