Thankfully, in the next instant, the fragments of time swirling around Lu Qingyun suddenly shattered inch by inch like glass.
The resplendent golden light of the Emperor Realm dimmed at a visible rate, and that vast pressure that suppressed all Dao and looked down upon the heavens swiftly receded like the ebbing tide.
In only a few breaths, he fell back to the Emperor Path Realm. Though his aura remained mighty, it no longer carried the oppressive presence of an Emperor descending into the world.
The Emperor hovered in the chaos. The heart he had held suspended quietly settled, yet the gravity between his brows did not lessen in the slightest.
His gaze remained fixed on Lu Qingyun as he asked in a deep voice:
"What was that...?"
Lu Qingyun casually waved a hand, his tone light as though he were speaking of something utterly insignificant:
"Just a few unorthodox little tricks. I borrowed a fraction of my future self's power; it isn't my true cultivation at present."
His voice was calm and unruffled, as though this heaven-shaking method of spanning the ages and reversing time and space truly was nothing more than a paltry trick unworthy of mention.
Yet when he caught the undisguised shock in the Emperor's eyes from the corner of his eye, he was already blooming with joy inside.
There was no thrill quite like showing off.
And the Emperor was truly stunned.
He had lived through endless epochs and seen countless secret arts of time and space, heaven-defying divine abilities beyond number, yet he had never encountered anything so outrageous.
Naturally, he could tell that Lu Qingyun was somewhat deliberately showing off, but that display was built upon a foundation of genuine, terrifying strength.
Borrowing power from the future?
This was no simple borrowing of