The tenth day had arrived, the final day, but by now Luo Chen could no longer tell reality from illusion.
If the power of time during the first seven or eight days had been like water, then during the last two days it had become a raging torrent.
The violent power of time surged into his Spirit Sea like a rising tide, one wave after another. Each wave felt like countless knives slicing through his consciousness. The intense pain twisted Luo Chen's face into a grimace. His teeth clattered together, and blood seeped from the corners of his mouth.
He cursed inwardly, but only he could hear it. His consciousness had been battered into fragments, like a shattered mirror, its shards scattered throughout his Spirit Sea.
Luo Chen desperately clung to his core.
He didn't know how he managed to endure it. Perhaps he didn't want to die here. Perhaps he couldn't bear to die before accomplishing anything. Perhaps he was simply too stubborn to give in. Whatever the reason, he didn't fall apart.
Time was indeed ruthless, but it could also be kind. Sometimes it would soothe your wounds, and even grant you a new life!
Luo Chen endured.
After raging for who knew how long, that violent force finally began to subside. Luo Chen's Spirit Sea had been utterly transformed—or rather, not transformed, but completely remade. His once-narrow Spirit Sea had expanded dozens of times over, and its waters were no longer an ordinary pale blue. They shimmered with a silvery-white light.
That was the mark left behind by the power of time.
He felt his consciousness gathering itself from its fragmented state, like a shattered piece of iron being reforged into a sword. Sharper, tougher, and colder.
The light faded.
Luo Chen opened his eyes.
He found himself standing outside the Hourglass—not because he had walked out, but because the Hourglass had spat him out.
Luo Chen tried to stand, only to find that he couldn't quite control his body. Looking closely, he saw that his hands had grown long and slender, with distinct knuckles. He no longer had that youthful look.
So it really had been ten years!
He should be seventeen now, right? He touched his face. His hair had grown past his waist, and a thick layer of beard covered his face, though it was still soft since he had never shaved.
And yet, he had truly spent only ten days inside. Time really was wondrous. So this counted as time passing faster, right? He wondered how strong he was now.
He clenched his fists, feeling the strength in his body. At first, he really wasn't used to his new physique, but he quickly adjusted.
His Soul Power had long since hit the bottleneck at level thirty, but his greatest improvement had been in his spiritual power!
He closed his eyes and looked within his Spirit Sea. What had once been no bigger than a puddle had now become a genuine sea.
The boundless silver-white waters surged with waves, and every crest glimmered with the power of time. He tried releasing his spiritual power. Everything within dozens of miles came into his awareness: every snowflake on the ice, every hidden current beneath it, even several Soul Beasts fighting a hundred miles away. He could "see" it all as clearly as day.
He tried using his spiritual power to control the things around him, and effortlessly "grabbed" a candlestick in the Temple of Time.
"Like an abyss, like a prison; from the Netherworld to the highest heavens, all things answer the call of my will. This is the sign of spiritual power breaking through to the Spirit Abyss Realm!"
Luo Chen was overjoyed. Breaking through to the Spirit Abyss Realm meant that his spiritual power was now among the very best in the human world. What was more, the improvement in his spiritual power meant he could command more and stronger Soul Beasts.
Before, controlling six Soul Beasts had already exhausted him. But now, that was no longer a problem at all. At first, he had thought about going to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to seek out Heart Separation Control, but now he didn't need it.
After completing the First Trial, a silver mark shaped like an hourglass appeared between his brows, and his hair and beard turned silver as well.
[Congratulations on completing the God of Time's First Trial: Time Baptism. Your spiritual power has greatly increased, breaking through to the Spirit Abyss Realm! Your Soul Power has risen to level 30. The Time Indicator has unlocked the ability to accelerate time: a radius of five meters, twice the speed of time, lasting three seconds, with a cooldown of 24 hours.]
Very good. It was an ability related to time. For now, it only accelerated time, but perhaps later it would be able to slow time, stop time, or even turn back time!
Luo Chen was full of anticipation. "Time acceleration?" He tried activating the Pocket Watch.
A warm current surged from his chest and enveloped his whole body. Everything around him seemed to slow down—or no, it wasn't that things had slowed down. He had sped up. The sound of wind rushing past his ears stretched out, and the Ice Feather Eagle's wingbeats looked like slow-motion footage. He tried raising his hand, and his arm sliced through the air more than twice as fast as usual.
Three seconds later, the effect disappeared. Luo Chen took a deep breath. Twice as fast for three seconds didn't sound like much, but in a fight between experts, three seconds would give him enough time to strike several times.
"This thing's pretty handy." He muttered, closed the Pocket Watch, and tucked it away.
"It's time to go back and see how things are. I wonder how Mom and Dad are doing. They must've been frantic while I was gone for ten years."
Thinking of that, Luo Chen felt deeply guilty. He had left home without a word for ten years. To him, it might have been only ten days, but to everyone in the outside world, it had been ten whole years!
He immediately got up and bowed from afar to the "remains" of the God of Time. It wasn't merely an afterimage of the God of Time; it seemed more like the soul of a clone.
Then he turned and left the Temple of Time. The moment he stepped outside, the temple suddenly flashed with silver light, then shrank until it became a tiny hourglass.
So the Hourglass had been the Temple of Time's true form all along! After shrinking, the Hourglass flew into the Hourglass Mark between Luo Chen's brows, then sank beneath his skin along with the mark.
"Kid! I can finally reach you! Ten years! A whole ten years! Why didn't you talk to me? Do you know what I've been through these ten years?"
It was the Evil Emperor. The Evil Emperor had spoken. That was right: the Hourglass of Time had cut Luo Chen off from the outside world ten years ago, so his Soul Beasts had been trapped inside the Gulu Ball for ten whole years.
Luo Chen scratched his head, unsure what to say.
The Evil Emperor suddenly said, "Good grief, kid, what happened to you? Wait, let me take a look... This seems to be... the power of time! You've comprehended the power of time?"
His tone changed, tinged with something hard to place.
"Long time no see, Xiao Xiezi." Luo Chen's tone was flippant. He didn't waste any more words, heading to the crack they had found back then.
"Heh, what a pity about that Ice Jade Scorpion from back then. It would've made a pretty suitable Soul Ring for me," Luo Chen said.
Then he took out the Ice Feather Eagle and tossed it forward. In the next moment, its enormous body appeared. When it saw Luo Chen, it froze.
Back then, this guy had come up, locked it inside a tiny space without a word, and stayed away for ten whole years. How terrifying!
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