Mystery of Time and Transcendence

"It's time. You actually grasped the Mystery of Time!" The exotic beast suddenly spoke, his heart filled with disbelief.

Time was one of the most fundamental rules. For such a mystery to be grasped by a mortal was simply unbelievable.

"I can't call it mastery. I've only scratched the surface!"

Zhou Zheng pointed his sword at the exotic beast and said coldly, "Come on. Let me see the true power of a Transcendental!"

"You won't be smug for long!"

After leaving behind that threat, the exotic beast transformed directly into a streak of silver light and vanished beyond the horizon in the blink of an eye.

"He ran?"

Zhou Zheng was briefly stunned, but he immediately realized that the other party had not fled. He had most likely gone back to call for reinforcements!

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhou Zheng sheathed his sword and swiftly left the area.

One Transcendental was already enough to give Zhou Zheng a headache. If another came, it would practically cost him his life.

No matter how powerful the mysteries he had mastered were, he was still a mortal. In a fight against a Transcendental, he was the disadvantaged one.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Zhou Zheng was incredibly fast now, reaching roughly five thousand meters per second. That was a full two-thirds faster than before, a speed no weaker than that of some lesser Transcendentals.

In truth, at that critical moment, Zhou Zheng had suddenly broken through the final barrier to combining the Mystery of Wind and Thunder. The fusion of the two mysteries had allowed him to touch upon time.

More precisely, it was not the complete Mystery of Time, but Time Deceleration—the Time Deceleration of the Second Level of the Myriad Realms.

Time was one of the most fundamental rules of heaven and earth. To come into contact with it while still weak was exceedingly terrifying.

Normally, one would only gradually come into contact with certain mysteries of time upon reaching the level of a Deity. Therefore, beneath the level of Deities, even powerful Transcendentals would be helpless and severely constrained when facing the power of time.

That was why the exotic beast, who had completely overwhelmed Zhou Zheng moments ago, had instantly become passive after Zhou Zheng grasped the Mystery of Time.

Of course, Time Deceleration would not make Zhou Zheng faster when fleeing. The reason his speed had surged was still the effect of the Mystery of Wind and Thunder.

Although combining the two mysteries had allowed Zhou Zheng to comprehend Time Deceleration, he had not neglected their individual applications.

Now that the two mysteries had fused perfectly, they naturally boosted his speed enormously.

Less than a quarter of an hour after Zhou Zheng fled, the exotic beast that had escaped earlier returned to the site of their battle with a White-robed Man.

"That brat really did run!" The exotic beast had reverted to his dwarf-like form. He sniffed lightly, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

The man might have fled, but his scent remained.

For a mortal to touch upon the Mystery of Time—if they could kill such an opponent, they would surely receive a large sum of Time-Space Points after returning to the Reincarnation Temple.

"Silver Claw, since you can track him, there's no need to rush. We'll wait until Fear Moth and Purple Fiend arrive before pursuing him!" the White-robed Man suddenly said.

"The two of us joining forces, and we're still afraid of him?" the exotic beast asked.

"It isn't fear. Neither of us has any way to deal with time-type mysteries. When facing such a mystery, we are inherently at a disadvantage! To kill him, we must gather all our strength. Only then can we be absolutely certain of success!" the White-robed Man explained. The exotic beast recalled his earlier exchange with Zhou Zheng.

Indeed, the Mystery of Time was simply too strange, too impossible to counter.

Facing the Mystery of Time, he had no means of resistance at all. Though he was a Transcendental, he had been easily injured by a mere mortal.

If not for that, he would not have turned and left without hesitation.

The exotic beast understood clearly that by himself, he could never do anything to Zhou Zheng. With two people, they indeed had a chance to kill him, but he might also escape or even kill them in return.

In that case, waiting for reinforcements was indeed the best choice.

When the time came, would four Transcendentals really be unable to kill a mere mortal?

On the other side, Zhou Zheng did not dare pause for even a moment. He kept fleeing, and only stopped after running nonstop for three hours and covering more than fifty thousand li.

"They shouldn't be chasing me anymore, right?"

Zhou Zheng was utterly exhausted. Even though he was Title-level and could wield the power of heaven and earth for his own use, even though his Battle Qi had reached the mortal limit, he had covered more than fifty thousand li.

Even the finest Alchemy Flying Boat would need an entire day to fly that distance.

Yet he had done it in only three hours.

"Time to rest!"

Zhou Zheng looked around. This was a desolate mountain range, rarely visited by people.

He wandered through the mountains, killed a brown bear, and took over its den.

Naturally, the brown bear itself was soon devoured by the exhausted Zhou Zheng.

Zhou Zheng sat cross-legged in the pitch-black cave, quietly restoring his greatly depleted Battle Qi.

Time passed bit by bit. Before long, Zhou Zheng's Battle Qi had fully recovered.

At that moment, the Solid Core within Zhou Zheng's body suddenly trembled. A faint radiance appeared on its surface, then abruptly blossomed.

Whoosh!

Countless streams of light swiftly gathered, soon becoming wisps of mist that flickered with tiny bolts of lightning.

This mist was also Battle Qi, yet it was entirely different from the Battle Qi Zhou Zheng had possessed before. It appeared thin and weak, but it contained unimaginable Transcendental profundity. Its power surpassed ordinary Battle Qi by an unknown amount.

"Transcendent Battle Qi!"

Zhou Zheng instantly confirmed it, and wild joy immediately surged through his heart.

The birth of the first wisp of Transcendent Battle Qi meant that Transcendence was right before his eyes!

Whoosh!

Without hesitation, Zhou Zheng controlled the countless wisps of ordinary Battle Qi within his Solid Core and sent them pouring forth. Under the influence of that first wisp of Transcendent Battle Qi, they began forming new Transcendent Battle Qi.

The first wisp of Transcendent Battle Qi was the hardest to create. After that, the process would only grow faster and faster.

As more and more Transcendent Battle Qi was born, the conversion of Zhou Zheng's remaining Battle Qi also accelerated.

Before long, all of his Battle Qi had completed the transformation. Within his Dantian Qi Sea, ordinary Battle Qi had vanished completely, replaced by Transcendent Battle Qi suffused with mist.

At that moment—

Whoosh!

The boundless power of heaven and earth began pouring into Zhou Zheng's body, rapidly transforming into his Battle Qi. Only when Zhou Zheng felt that his Dantian had been "filled to bursting" did it finally stop.

"The transcendence of my Battle Qi is complete. Next comes the transcendence of my body!" Zhou Zheng suppressed the excitement in his heart and carefully controlled the Transcendent Battle Qi as it seeped into his body.

Transcendent Battle Qi was too powerful. A mortal body naturally could not withstand it, so one had to use Transcendent Battle Qi to make the body Transcendental as well before one could be considered truly Transcendental.

Of course, using Transcendent Battle Qi to transform one's body was extremely safe—countless times safer than Title-level individuals forcibly modifying their bodies into Pseudo-Transcendentals.

The birth of a Pseudo-Transcendental was a nine-in-ten chance of death, whereas Transcendental transformation carried virtually no danger.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Transcendent Battle Qi continuously seeped through every part of Zhou Zheng's body. His blood and marrow underwent transcendence first, followed by his limbs and internal organs, and finally his brain.