Entering the Space-Time Secret Realm

After walking for about half an hour, Qin Yuan suddenly stopped.

Several rows of footprints had appeared in the sand ahead.

The footprints were fresh, apparently left not long ago. Each was as large as a washbasin, shaped like the paw print of some fierce beast and pressed deep into the silvery-gray sand. Qin Yuan crouched down and examined them closely. He found that the sand around them had crystallized in a strange way, as though some force had frozen it in an instant.

"A Space-Time Beast," Qin Yuan concluded at once.

Only a creature native to the Space-Time Secret Realm could have left footprints in a place like this. Judging by their size and depth, this Space-Time Beast was certainly enormous, and its strength was likely no less than that of a Universe Master.

Qin Yuan stood and looked in the direction the footprints led. They stretched into the distance, vanishing at the end of the pale violet horizon. There seemed to be a low hill there, its outline blurred by the refraction of light.

Follow them and have a look.

Qin Yuan flew in the direction of the footprints. He did not fly too fast, instead extending his Star River Domain a hundred zhang around him as he kept a wary watch for any movement. In an unfamiliar and dangerous environment like the Space-Time Secret Realm, a single moment of carelessness could bring disaster crashing down on him.

After flying for about fifteen minutes, the low hill finally came into clear view. It was no ordinary hill, but a mountain of crystals formed from countless silvery-gray clusters. The clusters varied in size, the smallest no bigger than a fist and the largest tens of zhang tall. They gave off a faint silver light, casting a kaleidoscope of strange colors across the space around them.

At the foot of the crystal mountain, Qin Yuan finally saw what had made the footprints.

It was an enormous exotic beast, more than ten zhang long. It looked somewhat like a tiger from Earth, but its entire body was covered in silvery-gray scales, a row of bony spikes ran down its back, and the tip of its tail was a mass of constantly twisting time-space fluctuations. It lay beside a huge crystal cluster with its eyes closed, apparently asleep.

Even in slumber, the aura the Space-Time Beast gave off made Qin Yuan's heart tremble. Its pressure was comparable to that of a Fourth-Order Universe Master, and it carried the strange fluctuations unique to the laws of time and space.

Qin Yuan did not disturb it. He concealed his aura, slipped silently around the crystal mountain, and continued deeper into the secret realm. His goal for now was not to hunt Space-Time Beasts, but to first learn the basics of the realm-how large it was, what regions it contained, the pattern of the time tides, and where he could cultivate and break through.

After flying for another four hours or so, Qin Yuan finally left the monotonous silvery-gray sands behind. The terrain ahead began to vary, with rolling mountain ranges, dry riverbeds, and strangely shaped rock formations.

The fluctuations of the time tides also became increasingly pronounced. In the sandy region, the time flow rate had fluctuated by only about tenfold in either direction; here, the range had widened to over a hundredfold in either direction. Qin Yuan could clearly feel a slight tearing sensation in his divine body whenever the time flow changed rapidly. It was not enough to injure him, but it was deeply uncomfortable.

"It looks like this is still only the outer region," Qin Yuan said to himself. "In the true core of the time tides, the fluctuations will probably reach thousands or even tens of thousands of times. I really shouldn't venture in recklessly before I've adapted."

He found a relatively level valley, set up concealment and defensive restrictions around it, and settled down for the time being.

"System, analyze the pattern of the time tides in this area."

[Analyzing...]

[Current area's time tide cycle: approximately three hundred breaths per complete cycle.]

[Range of fluctuation: time flow rate ranges from approximately 9,900 times at its slowest to approximately 10,100 times at its fastest.]

[System notice: the effects of the time tides on the divine body will accumulate with increased exposure. It is recommended that the host spend no more than six hours exposed to the time tides each day and rest and recover within a restriction where time stands still for the remainder.]

Qin Yuan nodded. The system's recommendation made sense. The kind of restriction he had set up in the warehouse before, where time stood still, would be useful here.

In the days that followed, Qin Yuan began systematically exploring and adapting to the Space-Time Secret Realm.

Every day, he left the restriction and moved around within several hundred li of the valley, adapting to the fluctuations of the time tides. At first, he could endure only two hours before his divine body began to feel noticeably fatigued. But as time passed, his divine body gradually adapted to the rhythm of time speeding up and slowing down, and he could endure it for longer and longer.

While adapting, he did not neglect his cultivation. He took out the Void God King Inheritance: Core Chapter he had obtained from the Void God Hall and spent a great deal of time each day studying its contents. The Core Chapter recorded not only the Void God King's understanding of the Space-Time Law, but also the three ultimate secret techniques he had created himself-

The first secret technique: Instant Eternity. This was a pure Time Law attack technique that could stretch an instant to near eternity, allowing the user to deliver a killing blow without the enemy noticing a thing.

The second secret technique: Void Greater Teleportation. This was a Space Law movement technique. Cultivated to its peak, it allowed the user to ignore the vast majority of space lockdowns and restrictions and travel freely through the void.

The third secret technique: Space-Time Annihilation. This was the Void God King's Strongest Secret Technique, a devastating attack unleashed by perfectly fusing the Time Law and the Space Law. Compared with it, Qin Yuan's Return to the Ruins was like a child's scribble beside the work of a master calligrapher.

Qin Yuan treasured them like a priceless find and devoted all his energy to cultivating the three secret techniques.

Time passed day by day.

In the Space-Time Secret Realm, time itself became a vague concept. Qin Yuan could only tell how long he had spent in the secret realm by using the timer on the system panel.

In the first month, he adapted to the time tides in the outer region and expanded his exploration to a radius of ten thousand li. He encountered Space-Time Beasts several times during that period, all at the level of second- or third-order Universe Masters, and easily avoided them.

In the third month, he began formally cultivating Instant Eternity. The Time Law secret technique proved far more difficult than he had expected; understanding the routes along which its laws operated took him an entire month.

In the sixth month, he successfully used a rudimentary form of Instant Eternity. In an area where the time flow rate was extremely unstable, he pointed a finger and froze a fourth-order Space-Time Beast for a full ten breaths, then departed at his leisure.

In the first year, he extended his exploration into a deeper region of the secret realm. The time tides there fluctuated by thousands of times in either direction, and the Space-Time Beasts were generally fifth order or above. Once, he encountered a peak sixth-order Space-Time Beast King and fought it fiercely for hundreds of exchanges. In the end, he escaped by the skin of his teeth using an initial version of Void Greater Teleportation.

In the third year, he discovered a relatively stable space within ancient ruins riddled with holes by the erosion of the time tides. Traces of laws left behind when the Void God King cultivated remained in the ruins, and they were of great help in comprehending the Path of Time and Space. He made the place his long-term cultivation base and stayed for two years.

In the fifth year, he reached the minor accomplishment stage in both Instant Eternity and Void Greater Teleportation, and had also grasped the basics of Space-Time Annihilation. Although his Gene Level had not grown explosively over those five years, it had risen steadily to 3,500 times under the constant tempering of the time tides.

The tenth year...

The twentieth year...

Time flowed by like water.

Qin Yuan had fully adapted to life in the Space-Time Secret Realm. His beard and hair had grown very long, and his battle armor was covered in marks from combat, but his eyes grew brighter and his aura ever deeper. 3,200 times, 3,500 times, 4,000 times... His Gene Level climbed steadily as the time tides tempered him and he cultivated the three secret techniques. His understanding of the Time Law and Space Law also advanced from the peak of the mastery level to the major accomplishment level.

He no longer remembered how many Space-Time Beasts he had slain, from the fourth- and fifth-order beasts at the beginning to the sixth- and seventh-order ones later on. On one occasion, he even came face to face with a True God Level Space-Time Beast King and fought it fiercely for three days and three nights. In the end, he relied on the major accomplishment version of Space-Time Annihilation and the system's Law Acceleration Card to forcibly slay the Space-Time Beast King with his own hands.

After that battle, the time tides across the entire region seemed to tremble. Qin Yuan was drenched in blood, his divine power nearly exhausted, but he wore a smile.

Because he knew he was ready.

The time to break through to True God had come.