What had Jiang Ci'an done?
It was simple. He had merely turned back Qian Renxue's time.
Just as he could speed up the passage of time for the entire Virtual World, he could also rewind time for a specific target.
And the limit on how far he could rewind time was the same as the limit on how much he could speed it up: the time he had experienced in reality, which was seven years.
So he had directly turned Qian Renxue's time back by seven years.
Once a Soul Bone had fused into someone's body, removing it usually meant killing them and extracting the bone.
But Angel Lady wasn't Xiao Wu, after all. If Xiao Wu covered someone with "Indifference," they became nothing more than a puppet NPC, there for him to do with as he pleased.
Angel Lady, however, had some resistance to "Indifference." If he simply removed the bones, it would be like torturing her without anesthesia—far too cruel.
That was why he had tried to remove the Angel Divine Set by turning back time.
Fortunately, seven years ago, Angel Lady had not yet begun fusing with the Angel Divine Set.
Thus, the Soul Bones that had originally fused into Angel Lady's body were successfully separated from Qian Renxue.
He glanced at Angel Lady, still fixed in midair by the time stop, her eyes dazed and vacant. After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Ci'an raised his hand and released the time stop.
At once, Qian Renxue fell.
Feeling her body regain its freedom, Qian Renxue immediately came to her senses.
Almost instinctively, she tried to summon the Soul Power she had left inside her body, and then...
Run.
That was the first thought that surfaced in her mind.
She couldn't help it. This strange young man who had appeared out of nowhere was simply beyond her understanding.
He wasn't a Six-Winged Angel, yet he could fuse with the Angel Divine Set, and do so in an instant. He could remove Soul Bones at will, and even manipulate time as he pleased...
She had never heard of such abilities. He was no one she could possibly defeat.
But before she could summon her Soul Power, another overwhelming sensation surged through her first.
Her cheeks, neck, collarbones, waist, abdomen, and thighs—the places on her body that hand had casually touched just moments ago—suddenly erupted with sensations she couldn't ignore.
Almost instantly, every sensation flooded her mind, drowning out her consciousness.
"Mm..."
Qian Renxue's body went limp.
She hadn't even managed to stand before she sank onto the carpet, arms crossed tightly over her chest as she hugged herself. Her body curled up, trembling faintly.
She gritted her teeth, trying to resist the strange sensations surging from every part of her body, trying not to make any strange sounds.
But the sensations were too overwhelming. She couldn't stop them at all.
They came like wave after wave of tides, washing over every nerve ending and leaving her mind almost incapable of thought, utterly blank.
Then, in the next instant...
Every sensation suddenly vanished.
Qian Renxue, who had been desperately trying not to make any strange sounds, froze. She sucked in a sharp breath, and her awareness cleared a little after being battered by wave after wave of sensations.
The moment she came to, she realized who was responsible.
She raised her eyes and saw that the strange young man had appeared in front of her again at some point, watching her.
Qian Renxue's face was flushed an abnormal red. Her eyes glistened with tears, and her blue-green eyes were filled with shame and fury.
She glared at Jiang Ci'an, panting slightly as she spoke in broken gasps:
"What did you... do to me... exactly?!"
Jiang Ci'an unconsciously turned his gaze aside and gave a light cough.
"Sorry, I forgot my ability has a... small flaw."
What kind of ability had a flaw like this... this horrible flaw?!
Qian Renxue couldn't stop herself from complaining inwardly.
Her slightly childish face flushed even redder, and even the fingers clutching her clothes trembled faintly.
Her fists clenched!
Qian Renxue tried to stand, but unfortunately, although the guy had covered up those erupting sensations for her, the onslaught had left her legs weak and utterly powerless.
And even though the sensations had vanished, the memories they left behind kept replaying in her mind, again and again, making her feel ill at ease all over. Her body trembled involuntarily.
Qian Renxue gritted her teeth and sat where she was. One hand braced her body against the carpet between her legs, while the other held down her hem. She clamped her legs tightly together, trapping her hand between them, and remained perfectly still, as though trying to suppress something.
Jiang Ci'an looked at Angel Lady in that state, feeling a little apologetic.
He had only thought that keeping her suspended with the time stop the whole time wasn't right.
After all, her clothes had fallen off because her body had changed size. Keeping her fixed in midair like that for so long was simply undignified.
But he had forgotten about the small quirk that came with using Time Control to stop time.
Namely... sensory accumulation.
During a time stop, anyone caught in it couldn't feel anything their body experienced, whether it was a touch, pressure, or any other form of contact. Instead, the sensations accumulated inside their body.
Then, the instant time started flowing again, every accumulated sensation was released to them all at once, with no warning or transition.
Since there was no way to prepare for it, the person caught in the time stop usually had a pretty rough time.
To put it in simpler terms...
It could easily break them.
He couldn't help it. He hadn't meant to.
But what could he do when his Martial Soul was "World Modulation Mode"?
It was only natural for a slightly strange Soul Skill to have a few weird little quirks, right?
Jiang Ci'an sighed softly. He looked at Angel Lady, still sitting on the floor and not quite recovered, but left her alone. He returned to the sofa nearby and began examining the Angel Divine Set.
Even though he could adjust the flow of time between reality and the Virtual World to a certain extent after obtaining Time Control...
He still couldn't afford to waste time.
The room grew a little quieter.
Only Qian Renxue's somewhat labored breathing continued to echo through the study as she sat on the carpet.
After quite a while...
She seemed to have finally recovered. Qian Renxue took a deep breath, then slowly pushed herself up and stood, bit by bit.
She didn't hurry to run away like before. Instead, she first glanced warily at Jiang Ci'an nearby, only to see him pressing another piece of the Angel Divine Set against his arm. Then...
It fused successfully in an instant.
Qian Renxue's gaze paused briefly, then she looked away, no longer watching this blood-pressure-raising sight.
She lowered her eyes, and her peripheral vision happened to catch sight of several pieces of clothing on the carpet.
Her pants and her undergarments lay quietly on the carpet.
She fell silent for a moment.
They had probably slipped off naturally when her body, frozen in midair, shrank and could no longer fill them.
But she didn't really want to remember exactly how they had fallen off.
Because no matter the reason, the result was the same.
Fortunately, her moon-white dress was long enough, and she wasn't very tall after shrinking. The hem reached her calves, covering what needed to be covered.
But underneath,
there was nothing at all. It was bare.
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