395: The Trial of Time

"Whew..." Time Without Trace took a deep breath. His state of mind as a Time Dao Lord, as clear as an ancient icy lake, instantly activated, forcibly smoothing out that ripple and restoring absolute rationality and control.

Within his silver eyes, there were no more waves, only a calm that saw through everything. He understood his mission with absolute clarity: his original body was deeply mired in a planar war thick enough to bury even a Saint, and there was no possibility of escape in the short term.

To keep the promise of attending Bai Li's coronation ceremony and ensure she would not face the potential undercurrents and unknowns of the Yuqing Palace alone—this heavy responsibility now fell solely on his shoulders as a Clone!

With the strength of the Myriad Dao Realm Peak at 2,600 Yuan Force, in a Six-Star Great World where Hunyuan Realm Martial Artists were legends and Saints remained hidden—the Xuanxiao Great World—he was almost an existence at the very top of the pyramid!

It was enough to suppress an entire Star Domain and make ten thousand sects bow their heads! For him, going to a Holy Land like the Yuqing Palace to fulfill his original body's promise presented almost no obstacles from a power perspective.

"A three-day deadline... Yuqing Palace is located in the Xuanxiao Great World, Tianxuan Domain, Piaomiao Realm..." Silver light flared in Time Without Trace's eyes, and an absolute confidence in controlling time arose spontaneously. With his current attainments in time and space and the great power contained within the Aeon Tribulation Undying Dao Bone, three days were more than enough!

"Time is in my palm," he whispered indifferently, his voice carrying the rhythm of time dao patterns. He slowly rose, his Trace-less Saint Body flowing with immortal silver radiance, as the surrounding phantom of the frozen River of Time naturally receded like a submissive servant.

Although no wings manifested behind him, the Aeon Tribulation Undying Dao Bone vibrated slightly, and invisible space-time power had already woven itself around his body.

He didn't need to ask anyone for permission. He was the Dao Child of the First Time Hall; he had sufficient authority to act freely. Target: Six-Star Xuanxiao Great World, Piaomiao Realm, Yuqing Palace!

His mind locked onto the spatial coordinates of the Xuanxiao Great World, which was an incredibly clear mark in the original body's memory. Time Without Trace took a step forward.

Swish—!

The time within the entire "Instant Eternity" Cultivation chamber seemed to be instantly stretched into an infinitely extending straight line, then compressed into a singularity.

His figure did not turn into a stream of light; instead, it was as if he were gently erased by the River of Time itself, vanishing directly from the spot without causing any spatial ripples.

However, just as he stepped into the space-time shuttle, a sudden change occurred!

It wasn't an attack from an external enemy, nor was it spatial turbulence, but an extremely subtle time distortion originating from the level of Laws. The surroundings were not the expected colorful space-time tunnel, but instead suddenly fell into an absolute, heart-palpitating gray-white silence.

Time... had been stripped away!

No, more accurately, it was frozen within an extremely tiny "instant" and infinitely elongated. Time Without Trace felt as if he were nailed inside a massive, transparent amber of time-stagnation.

His thinking remained clear, yet his senses could not perceive any flow of time. Even the operation of his own power became incredibly sluggish, as if heavy shackles had been placed upon him. Only his Instant Eternity Dao Heart maintained a cold alertness in the absolute silence.

The gray-white silence did not last long. The scene before him blurred and reorganized like ink dropping into water, finally settling on a desolate and dilapidated Mortal village.

Ruined walls, scorched earth, and withered trees; the air was permeated with the scent of blood and despair. A woman in tattered clothes and a blood-stained face, holding a dying infant, was being chased by a hideous "Time Shadow Beast" emitting a decaying aura and composed of distorted time fragments.

That shadow beast was not a real life form, but rather a manifestation of some Law, emitting a malice that caused time to rot.

The woman was clearly at the end of her rope, about to be devoured by the shadow beast. The faint crying of the infant in her arms pierced Time Without Trace's ears like a sharp needle in this frozen time—it was the final wail of a life in a desperate temporal situation.

Just then, a cold, emotionless thought was transmitted directly into Time Without Trace's Divine Soul core, as if the Time Venerable himself were whispering in his ear:

"Choose:"

"One: Ignore. This is a time illusion, all is vanity. Stay for one breath, and the time shackles will unlock themselves, allowing you to leave on your own."

"Two: Intervene. Slay the shadow beast and save the mother and child. The price: the time shackles will forcibly extract 'ten years of your own Time Origin' to transform into a 'Time Key' to briefly break this realm. You may still leave, but you might also miss certain critical moments."

"Is this... Revered Master's test?" Time Without Trace understood instantly. The Time Venerable had not blocked his actions, but at the moment his Cultivation ended, he had set an invisible checkpoint—a test of humanity and choice.

The cold thought dissipated. The illusion was incredibly real; the woman's despair, the infant's frailty, the shadow beast's ferocity, and the "time" itself that was about to be devoured all struck Time Without Trace's senses with a heavy texture.

Ignore? That was the most rational choice. The Time Venerable's teachings still rang in his ears: The Great Dao is walked alone; emotions are shackles.

To save these ants in an illusory bubble would cost ten years of his own Time Origin and might even delay the promise between his original body and Bai Li.

Between this woman and infant, and Bai Li in the Yuqing Palace, which was more important? The answer seemed self-evident.

Within his silver eyes, the absolute rationality belonging to a Time Dao Lord shone, and the silver light lingering at his fingertips almost turned into a blade to cut through the vanity.

Intervene? Yet that infant's faint cry was like an invisible thread, winding around his Soul mark that had been washed by the original body's emotions.

He saw the cold future on the timeline where the woman was devoured and the infant died young; that image strangely overlapped for a moment with the original body's memory of Bai Li's figure weeping blood outside the Law Pagoda.

A disgust for the passing of life and a pity for the weak and helpless, originating from the depths of his shared Soul, suddenly collided with his frozen mental barriers like suppressed volcanic lava.

Especially the price of "ten years of Time Origin"—for a Time Dao Lord, time was power, time was life! This price was heavy enough to make his fingertips tremble slightly.

"Ten years of time... in exchange for the survival of two who might just be illusory bubbles?" Time Without Trace mocked in his heart, his will as a Time Dao Lord nearly reaching a verdict. But just as he was about to choose to ignore it and let the shadow beast's claws tear the mother and child apart—

He "saw" that in the woman's eyes, it wasn't pure fear, but rather the maternal radiance that burst from the depths of despair when she looked at the infant in her arms—a radiance that transcended the decay of time.

That light, though faint, was pure, and it actually produced a resonance across reality and illusion with the bone-deep pity and desire to protect Bai Li that his original body had transmitted to him!