“You were partial! Admit it, old man!” Han Yu snapped as the Demon Eyes Flower that had shrunk countless times suddenly expanded, all of its blossoms staring at Wu Ji like numerous demonic eyes.
From the Demons that had returned to the Demon realms, he had learned that Nie Tian’s master from the Realm of Flame Heaven had channeled the river of time and foreseen the imminent danger, which had helped end the calamity in the Shatter Battlefield. Such news had exasperated him.
The way he saw it, since Wu Ji had mastered time power and gained the ability to look into the future, Nie Tian’s gradual rise to prominence and attracting everyone’s attention as a Son of the Stars must be because of Wu Ji’s guidance and support.
If Wu Ji could change Nie Tian’s fate, why hadn’t he done the same with him?
Furthermore, he had a feeling that many of Nie Tian’s incredible incantations and magics had been acquired from Wu Ji because he could channel the river of time and see into the past.
In comparison, the incantations he had learned from Wu Ji were far less profound.
Back in the day, he had deemed himself an accomplished cultivator, and had thus gone to temper himself in the Realm of Split Void, where he had accidentally entered a spatial rift and ended up in a Demon realm. As a result, he had been captured, and become a slave to the Demons.
As a slave, he had lived a dark life in a mine.
Later, he had been shipped off to work in one of the most dangerous areas, where he had run into and been devoured by a Demon Eyes Flower, which was regarded as the most powerful Demonic plant.
With his unusually strong will to live, he had repeatedly stopped it from erasing his soul awareness.
Eventually, he had won the Demon Eyes Flower’s acknowledgment, and started nourishing it with his own flesh and blood. That was when the plant’s power had gradually transformed him and turned him into the half-man half-Demon he was today.
After that, he had accidentally caught Ophelia’s attention, and won the opportunity to follow her. Since then, he had been killing people of his own kind to win the Demons’ trust, even though this wasn’t what he wanted.
Basically, he simply wanted to live.
Of course, he had accepted his fate now, and no longer considered himself a member of the human race.
Even so, many Demons still hadn’t accepted him as one of them, which put him in a rather awkward situation.
As another disciple of Wu Ji, Duan Shihu had traveled to the Domain of Heaven Python, where he had been discovered as a treasure and married into the Divine Seal Sect. From the look of it, he would most likely become the Divine Seal Sect’s next sectmaster. His life had turned out to be fortunate.
Nie Tian’s life had turned out even better. As the Seventh Son of the Stars of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, he was currently at the apex of his power. He had even defeated Ophelia, who was his backer in the Demon race.
This had made Han Yu think that Wu Ji, who was well-versed in time power, had contributed to Duan Shihu and Nie Tian’s success, but forsaken him.
BZZZ! BZZZ!
The Demon Eyes Flower’s thick roots swirled towards Wu Ji, soul-capturing evil soul power spreading from its ‘Demon Eyes’.
“You’ve become stronger than before, much stronger. And that Demonic flower is hard to deal with as well.” With these words, Wu Ji shook his head calmly. “Unfortunately, we’re in the presence of the ethereal river of time. As long as I’m here, I can draw power from the river of time, so…”
As he spoke, strange light suddenly flew out of the glorious winding river that was connected to his time domain.
Like a stream of light, it rushed out of the river of time.
Time froze immediately, as did the Demonic plant’s roots, the purple light-emanating blossoms, and Han Yu’s sinister-looking upper body. Not just that; even the wind, spatial fluctuations, flesh auras, and all energies around them became completely still.
Han Yu suddenly entered a bewildered state, where he constantly switched back and forth between his memories of the past and the present.
“Time Trace!” Wu Ji exclaimed softly as he took a deep look at Han Yu.
Han Yu’s past experiences seemed to be forcibly dug out from the deepest parts of his memories.
They included how he had gone to the Realm of Split Void, accidentally entered a spatial rift, and ended up in a strange realm, and how he had been captured and whipped by the Demons, and lived the miserable life of a slave for ages. These scenes spread out before Wu Ji’s eyes with great clarity.
Just like this, Wu Ji effortlessly learned every detail of Han Yu’s life after he had left him.
After a long while, Wu Ji let out a deep sigh and deactivated his time enchantment, allowing Han Yu and the Demon Eyes Flower to recover their mobility.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to help you back then,” Wu Ji said. “The truth is that my understanding of time power was rather shallow, and I simply couldn’t. Also, you’ve misunderstood. I didn’t contribute to Nie Tian’s success. It’s actually the other way around.
“If it weren’t for him, I would have exhausted my lifespan and died already after spending so much time deriving enlightenment from time power.
“He also helped me achieve a significant breakthrough in my understanding of time power. It was because of him that I was able to come to the Shatter Battlefield and find this river of time.
“I didn’t make Nie Tian who he is today. I don’t have such an ability.”
Wu Ji seemed to be partially explaining to Han Yu, and partially speaking to himself.
With these words, he waved his hand and said, “You may leave now. I won’t try to tell you what to do, and I don’t think I can anymore. Even grand monarchs and God domain experts won’t have any chance at killing me here, much less you.”
Confusion spread across Han Yu’s face.
Having broken free from Wu Ji’s time enchantment, he was just about to fight back.
However, he was dumbfounded after hearing Wu Ji’s words. Only after a while did he snap out of his daze and ask, “So what’s my future like?”
“I didn’t try to see it,” Wu Ji said, frowning. “I’ll have to consume my lifespan if I do. You…”
“I don’t deserve that, do I?” Han Yu said with a grim face.
“Your hands are covered in the blood of your own kind. The things you’ve done in order to survive are simply ruthless and inhumane.” Wu Ji said with an ice-cold tone. “Since you’ve decided to join the Demons, I can’t save you from degeneration. But since you were my disciple, I won’t kill you myself…”
Before he could finish, Han Yu turned around and left with a hateful look on his face.
The master-disciple pair parted on bad terms.
…
At the heart of the Shatter Battlefield.
A bright spatial rift ripped the sky open, and a group of people arrived through it.
The leader was Xuan Guangyu, one of the two vice sectmasters of the Void Spirit Society.
Those who had come with him were Qu Yi’s disciple Hong Minghui, Hong Minghui’s father, and a handful of Saint domain experts that were Hong Minghui’s subordinates.
Upon arriving, Hong Minghui glanced around and said, “People from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace said that my junior martial sister came here. And it’s said that Nie Tian descended to the depths of the earth inside the Star Behemoth’s head. Mo Heng stood guard for him at first, but left due to the messy situation in the Domain of Endless Thunder, so my junior martial sister took his place in guarding Nie Tian.”
Xuan Guangyu hadn’t entered the Shatter Battlefield with Qu Yi and Ji Yuanquan.
He had stayed and overseen their headquarters.
Standing underneath the glowing spatial rift, he mixed his soul awareness with numerous spatial blades, which spread out to scan heaven and earth.
Only seconds later, he withdrew the spatial blades that had covered a thousand-kilometer radius around him. “The girl isn’t up here.”
Then, looking down at the glorious shield that separated them from the space underneath it, he said, “Outsiders and Ancientspirit experts can’t go through it due to its natural suppressing effect on their flesh auras.
“Mo Heng and the other human experts aren’t skilled with spatial power, so it’s also very difficult for them to split the Star Behemoth’s flesh aura shield and enter the space underneath it.
“Our sectmaster might have other important business to attend to, or respects Nie Tian enough to not go under and explore the space with him.”
As he spoke, zealous sparks gradually appeared in his eyes.
“A Star Behemoth that’s been buried here for who knows how long.” With these words, he summoned a glowing blade that seemed to have been forged from a slender crystal.
“Slash away!”
As soon as he cast a secret magic, the unique blade slashed down towards the colorful energy shield below.
