The Wonderful Use of the Water Clock

A patch of reeds had been crushed flat. He Yiyang lay stiffly in the mud, stripped completely bare, his storage pouch nowhere to be seen. He looked like a dead fish that had been skinned alive, utterly miserable.

"Dead?!"

He Sheng's heart sank heavily.

"After all that trouble chasing down a lead, it just broke off like this!"

Suppressing the rage in his heart, He Sheng spread out his divine sense and searched for every thread and trace.

Very quickly, He Sheng discovered a woman's corpse facedown more than a dozen zhang away. Beyond that, however, there were no other clues.

"If that female corpse was He Yiyang's favored concubine, then among the three who fled, only He Yiyang's brother-in-law, Ji Yunlai, is missing.

"Could it be..."

He Sheng's gaze fell upon He Yiyang's corpse again. He stepped forward and reached out to inspect it.

The body had not yet gone cold. No obvious livor mortis had appeared, and the joints had not stiffened either.

All signs indicated that He Yiyang had not been dead for long. Even though he was an immortal cultivator and his corpse would react differently from that of an ordinary person, He Sheng guessed that he had been dead for no more than half a day.

"More importantly, for an immortal cultivator who died so recently, his remnant soul should not have completely dispersed yet..."

The description of souls from the Soul Imprint Art surfaced in He Sheng's mind, followed by the soul-searching technique he had comprehended earlier.

"That's it!

"He Yiyang's remnant soul hasn't dispersed. If I use the soul-searching technique on him, I should be able to obtain a clue or two."

He Sheng immediately formed a hand seal with his left hand and gripped He Yiyang's skull with his right, chanting under his breath.

Bzz...

The soul-searching technique surged into operation. A tyrannical strand of divine sense, like a sharp awl, viciously pierced into He Yiyang's sea of consciousness, which had yet to completely dissipate.

Aah!

He Yiyang's remnant soul instantly let out a piercing shriek. This was originally one of the drawbacks of the soul-searching technique—it could draw a backlash from the target's soul.

But He Sheng was already a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator, and his divine sense far surpassed He Yiyang's. Before the shriek from the remnant soul could reach He Sheng's sea of consciousness, it was extinguished by his powerful divine sense.

Immediately afterward, Scene after scene appeared within He Sheng's sea of consciousness. Countless shattered fragments of memory were forcibly extracted and pieced together.

A moment later, He Sheng abruptly opened his eyes. A flash of red glinted in their depths before vanishing as he muttered, "So it was indeed as I thought!"

Through the soul search, the truth came to light.

Two hours earlier, He Yiyang had led his brother-in-law Ji Yunlai and his most beloved concubine all the way to this reed marsh as they fled.

Although He Yiyang was a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator, he had spent all year haunting pleasure quarters and willow lanes. His cultivation had also been forcibly piled up with pills, leaving his spiritual power extremely unstable.

After flying only several hundred li on his artifact, his spiritual power had run dry, and he urgently needed to meditate and recover.

Trusting his brother-in-law Ji Yunlai, He Yiyang had him stand guard nearby while he sat cross-legged, entered meditation, and regulated his breath.

But what He Yiyang never expected was that Ji Yunlai would brazenly strike while he was in meditation, directly blasting a cone-shaped artifact into his dantian and mangling the spiritual sea within it into pulp.

Until his death, He Yiyang could not understand why the brother-in-law he had always trusted would suddenly attack him. As a result, the resentment within his remnant soul was incomparably deep.

"With the resentment inside He Yiyang, his remnant soul will likely turn into a vicious ghost."

As the thought flashed through his mind, He Sheng found the matter somewhat troublesome.

"Ji Yunlai is only at the fourth layer of Qi Refinement, so he shouldn't have gotten far. But this reed marsh stretches in all directions. Even if he has only fled several dozen li, it will still be difficult to find his trail.

"Unless..."

A spark of inspiration flashed through He Sheng's mind. The third seal method of the Soul Imprint Art surfaced in his thoughts—the Vengeful Soul Imprint!

This was a soul imprint that could only be cultivated after the Soul Imprint Art had reached great mastery.

Using resentment as a tether, this soul imprint could trace back a lingering thread of karmic connection.

"He Yiyang's resentment is now extremely heavy. If I refine the resentment in his remnant soul into a Vengeful Soul Imprint, I may be able to find Ji Yunlai."

It was a fine idea, but when He Sheng glanced at the water clock, his available cultivation time had already fallen to zero.

Yet after his thoughts turned, an idea came to him.

"Perhaps I can roll back part of the Clear Billows Water Origin Art?

"After all, the Silver Sand River region is only a novice village. Back when Brother Piao was at Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, he was already like some great BOSS. As long as that sword-bearing youth doesn't come after me, there isn't anything threatening within a radius of several thousand li.

"The deterrent power of Foundation Establishment Late Stage and Foundation Establishment Great Perfection shouldn't differ by much, right?"

As soon as the thought arose, He Sheng acted on it. He immediately rolled back the Clear Billows Water Origin Art, quickly reducing it to the level of someone who had just entered Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

[Clear Billows Water Origin Art, Sixth Layer (Beginner): 1/100]

(Total cultivation time: eleven years, eight months, seven days)

The total cultivation time for the Clear Billows Water Origin Art had decreased by thirty months. At a time rate of 2, the available general cultivation time had indeed increased by sixty months.

[Current available total cultivation time: five years]

"Five years of cultivation time should be enough to cultivate the Vengeful Soul Imprint, right?"

He Sheng had just been about to further improve the Soul Imprint Art, when an idea suddenly arose in his heart as he looked at the water droplet displaying the Clear Billows Water Origin Art's information.

"After I comprehended the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm, not only did my efficiency in breathing exercises and refining qi increase greatly, but the time spent circulating my cultivation through its cycles also dropped significantly.

"In that case, if I revert the Clear Billows Water Origin Art to when I had just entered the Foundation Establishment Early Stage and cultivate it all over again, could I squeeze out even more time?"

The more He Sheng considered it, the more feasible it seemed.

As for why he would revert it to the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, it was because the Clear Ripple Water Control Art was an exclusive high-level spell available only after cultivating the Clear Billows Water Origin Art to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

And the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm had only been comprehended through cultivating the Clear Ripple Water Control Art.

He Sheng felt that if he reverted directly to the Qi Refinement Realm, the karmic logic behind the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm would no longer hold together.

If he had free time, He Sheng would not have minded experimenting a little to thoroughly understand the operating logic of the Time-Reversing Water Clock.

But with his urgent pursuit of Ji Yunlai, He Sheng could only suppress the thought.

"First, I'll revert the Clear Billows Water Origin Art to the realm when I had just entered the Foundation Establishment Early Stage and see what happens."

He Sheng focused his thoughts on the minus sign beside the Clear Billows Water Origin Art. The cultivation art's realm immediately plummeted, while He Sheng's aura and magical power cultivation were rapidly drained away like water being pumped from a pond.

"Done!"

[Clear Billows Water Origin Art, Fourth Layer (Beginner): 1/100]

(Total cultivation time: five years, two months, seven days)

The Clear Billows Water Origin Art's total cultivation time had decreased by a full nine years. It was still returned at double the rate, granting him an additional eighteen years of general cultivation time!

[Current available total cultivation time: twenty-three years]

"Let's see whether this idea can be verified."

He Sheng concentrated his thoughts on the plus sign after the Clear Billows Water Origin Art.

Whoosh!

His cultivation immediately shot upward like a rocket.

A moment later, He Sheng's cultivation had returned to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage in one leap, then surged all the way to Foundation Establishment Great Perfection!

[Clear Billows Water Origin Art, Sixth Layer (Complete): 500/500]

(Total cultivation time: twelve years, eight months, seven days)

"It worked, just as expected!"

This recultivation had clearly been calculated based on cultivating the art with the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm's enhancement. From the Foundation Establishment Early Stage all the way to Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, the total cultivation time had increased by ninety months—seven and a half years.

At a time rate of 2, fifteen years of general cultivation time had been deducted, leaving him with eight years.

[Current available total cultivation time: eight years]

"And this recultivation didn't merely squeeze out more cultivation time. By cultivating under the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm's enhancement from the Foundation Establishment Early Stage onward, my magical power is even purer and more robust than before!"

He Sheng figured that if his magical power's purity coefficient had previously been 1.5, then even if it had not reached 2 now, it should be around 1.8.

Based on the total of 9,600 drops of magical power at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, his quantified total magical power had reached 17,280—twenty percent higher than before!

"The Time-Reversing Water Clock truly has such marvelous uses. Then from now on, every day can bring renewal—if one renews oneself once, one should renew oneself day after day."

Looking at the eight years of general cultivation time he had squeezed out, He Sheng wore a satisfied expression. Then he focused his thoughts on the plus sign beside the Soul Imprint Art.

[Soul Imprint Art (Proficient): 26/300]

(Total cultivation time: seven months, four days)

Let's charge!