279: Comprehending the Great Way of Time

"I cannot remain on the defensive... I must strike first!" Lin Yuan's gaze was sharp as a blade, and the vortex of Gui Xu deep within his right pupil spun frantically!

Although the newly comprehended [Eye of Chaos Ruin] was only in its nascent form, it was currently his strongest time-based attack method!

"Eye of Chaos Ruin — Spacetime Annihilation!"

A gray beam of light, as thin as a strand of hair and edged with flowing gui xu runes, shot out from Lin Yuan's right eye!

Wherever the beam passed, the concepts of time and space blurred simultaneously, as if thrown into the guixu origin point, completely annihilated into the most primitive Chaos particles!

The Guardian of Time seemed to sense a threat, and for the first time, a ripple appeared on his withered face.

He flipped the hourglass in his hand abruptly, and countless drifting sands of time condensed into a crystalline shield before him. On the face of the shield appeared phantom images of the River of Time from thousands of worlds, attempting to offset the annihilation of the Power of Gui Xu with the immense weight of endless time.

Hiss!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a hair-raising, subtle sound of the Dao being forcibly erased.

The instant the gray beam made contact with the shield of time, those phantom images of the River of Time on the shield's surface vanished section by section, just like pencil marks erased by an eraser!

The Power of Gui Xu was domineeringly erasing the very concept of time itself!

"Roar!" The Guardian of Time let out a painful roar, his figure becoming slightly more illusory.

But he was, after all, an Incarnation of the Origin of the Sea of Time Sand. More drifting sands of time poured out from the broken hourglass, constantly repairing the shield that was being eroded by the Power of Gui Xu.

Stalemate!

Fine beads of sweat seeped from Lin Yuan's forehead, and a tearing pain radiated from his right eye.

The consumption of the [Eye of Chaos Ruin] was far beyond his imagination; with his current level of control, he would be exhausted in at most ten breaths.

And since his opponent had the endless support of the Origin of the Sea of Time Sand, a war of attrition was extremely disadvantageous for him.

"I must break this deadlock!" Lin Yuan's thoughts raced, and suddenly, inspiration struck!

He pressed his fingers together like a sword with his left hand, and a dark golden beam containing 80% of the true meaning of the Chaos Great Dao shot toward a spot on the periphery of the storm—there, a time fragment, more brilliant than the other sand grains and seemingly sealing a miniature star inside, was drifting with the current.

This was the strange phenomenon his Divine Thought had captured earlier while fighting against the turbulent flow of time—in the entire Sea of Time Sand, only some special time fragments were unaffected by the storm, always maintaining their own stable flow of time.

They were like "anchor points" in the chaotic flow of time, maintaining the most basic balance of the Sea of Time Sand.

The dark golden beam accurately struck that special fragment!

Boom!

The moment the fragment shattered, the starlight within it burst forth violently!

A surge of pure Origin power of time erupted, causing the turbulent flow of time in a large surrounding area to pause!

The figure of the Guardian of Time also became blurry, clearly affected by the repercussions.

"As expected! These special fragments are the key nodes maintaining its existence!"

Lin Yuan's spirits were greatly lifted. Enduring the intense pain in his right eye, he pointed his left hand out seven times in succession, firing seven dark golden beams toward all similar "time anchor points" within his field of vision!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Amidst the successive explosions, the balance of the Sea of Time Sand was briefly broken!

The Guardian of Time let out a shrill wail, his figure flickering violently like a hologram with a bad signal!

The broken hourglass in his hand developed several new cracks, and the speed at which the drifting sand leaked suddenly accelerated!

Opportunity!

"Chaos Domain — Myriad Laws Return to Ruin!"

Seizing this fleeting combat opportunity, Lin Yuan abruptly spread his seventh-tier chaos wings to their limit!

A solidified dark golden Domain erupted with a roar; it was no longer merely for defense or harmonization, but for the most domineering annihilation and devouring!

At the edges of the Domain, countless miniature Gui Xu vortices spun frantically, ruthlessly devouring and refining the surrounding chaotic sands of time!

"Instant Eternal Flower, you belong to me!"

In the instant the Guardian of Time's figure became unstable, Lin Yuan took a step forward. His right hand, shaped like a blade, slashed fiercely into the weakest node of that cage of time!

The dark golden light of the Great Accomplishment Chaos Body perfectly combined with the ruling true meaning of the 80% Chaos Great Dao, forcibly tearing open a path through the chaotic Great Dao of Time!

Five zhang... three zhang... one zhang!

Just as Lin Yuan's fingertips were about to touch the Eternal Flower, the Guardian of Time made a final counterattack!

"Time... Paradox..."

Amidst the hoarse voice, the old man's phantom figure shattered with a roar, turning into countless streams of light that merged into the broken hourglass.

The hourglass immediately erupted with blinding white light, and a wave of time annihilation, even more terrifying than before, swept out!

This time, the target of the attack was not Lin Yuan, but the "Instant Eternal Flower" itself!

"Not good!" Warning bells rang wildly in Lin Yuan's heart.

The Guardian of Time actually wanted to perish together with him, using his own demise as the price to trigger a time paradox for the Eternal Flower, causing it to fall into an endless self-loop!

At this critical juncture, Lin Yuan made a crazy decision. Instead of retreating, he accelerated forward, simultaneously channeling all his power into the miniature chaos origin spring within his body!

"chaos origin seed! Appear!"

Hum!

A point of nine-colored light flew out from between his brows—it was the chaos origin seed obtained from the Myriad Dao Origin Pool!

The Origin seed hovered between Lin Yuan and the Eternal Flower, radiating a supreme dao rhyme that encompassed all existence and dominated life and death.

The paradox frenzy triggered by the Guardian of Time collided with the light of the Origin seed and, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, was forcibly absorbed and harmonized!

"Refine!"

Lin Yuan roared, the light of the chaos origin seed flared brilliantly, and the nine-colored halo completely enveloped the Eternal Flower.

Under the guidance of the power of the Origin seed, the projection of the guixu origin point at the heart of the flower slowly detached from the main body, turning into a stream of light that merged into Lin Yuan's brow!

Boom!

An indescribably massive flow of information rushed into his Sea of Consciousness in an instant!

Lin Yuan "saw"—the Origin and end of the River of Time, the interweaving and separation of countless parallel spacetimes, the entire process of all things from birth to annihilation...

The purest true meaning of the Origin of time, like a flood from an opened sluice gate, poured frantically into his Soul!

[Soul Great Dao Mastery: 66%... 67%... 70%!]

[Great Dao of Time Comprehension: 0%... 3%... 6%... 10%!]

A dual Breakthrough!

70% Soul Great Dao brought about a qualitative change!

Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness instantly expanded threefold, the chaos green lotus surged, and in the miniature universe evolving on the lotus platform, the movement trajectories of the stars became more profound, and the veins of mountains and rivers on the continental plates were clearly visible!

More importantly, his Soul power began to possess the "differentiation" characteristic; with a single thought, he could briefly manifest three Soul Clones possessing 30% of his main body's combat power!

And the 10% comprehension of the Great Dao of Time allowed him to initially possess the ability to interfere with local time flow rates!

Although far less terrifying than the Guardian of Time, he could already accelerate, decelerate, or even briefly stop time within a small range!

This all takes a long time to tell, but in reality, it happened in the blink of an eye.

When the aftermath of the Guardian of Time's self-detonation dissipated, the chaos origin seed had already returned to Lin Yuan's body, and the "Instant Eternal Flower" had turned into a crystalline stream of light, wrapping around his left wrist to form a strange tattoo made of time runes—this was the mark of a time treasure acknowledging its master!