385: Time travels backward, time stands still.

“Is this where the problem lies?”

Gu Qinghan's memories were extremely hazy, but it seemed that the only thing that had changed since arriving here was the Dragon Bear's leg.

He attempted to walk over, only to realize he was unable to move.

Left with no choice, he had the Dragon Bear approach him.

Staring at the patch of black fur, Gu Qinghan fell into deep contemplation.

If this truly was the cause of him being endlessly trapped here, was there any way to break free from this predicament?

Did he need to kill the Dragon Bear to succeed?

Putting aside whether Gu Qinghan even wanted to kill it, its current horrifying survival ability alone meant Gu Qinghan would be fighting for a very long time.

His current state was that of a frail, dying old man; Gu Qinghan wasn't even sure who would perish first, him or the Dragon Bear.

“There must be another way...”

Gu Qinghan shook his head. Throughout the long, repetitive process, he felt as if his brain had ceased functioning.

However, after forcing himself to think, Gu Qinghan managed to recall something.

He raised one hand, and a sizable jar materialized above it.

It took Gu Qinghan a great deal of effort to pry the jar open, from which he extracted a single capsule.

This was a time capsule he had acquired earlier at the Shangjing Base. According to the Time Walkers, it possessed the ability to disrupt time.

Although these were originally reserved for saving Chen Yuting, he could no longer afford to worry about that.

Firstly, he needed to escape before he could rescue Chen Yuting, and secondly, the sheer number of time capsules exceeded what he had anticipated.

Gu Qinghan held one time capsule in his hand, calmed his breathing, and then started considering how to utilize the item.

What had those people said back then... Drop the time capsule into the river of time, and seize the opportunity to take Chen Yuting away.

Gu Qinghan looked at the time capsule in his hand, then at the Dragon Bear's thigh, his gaze thoughtful.

If his guess was correct, all he needed to do was smash the time capsule onto the Dragon Bear's afflicted patch of growing fur.

However, his current physical state was insufficient for him to perform such an action, so he could only release the Scarlet Witch.

The Scarlet Witch was greatly startled the moment she saw Gu Qinghan.

But Gu Qinghan said nothing, merely describing the task she needed to accomplish.

The Scarlet Witch nodded, accepted the time capsule, and forcefully slammed it onto the abnormal area of the Dragon Bear.

The time capsule shattered under the immense external force, yet the sound it emitted resembled the winding of an old clock.

Click, click... Following several similar sounds, the space in that area seemed to warp slightly.

But upon closer inspection, it wasn't the space that was warping; rather, the surrounding scenery was rapidly shifting.

Gu Qinghan watched helplessly as a section of the black fur gradually shed.

Yet, in the end, over half of the fur remained stubbornly rooted there.

Gu Qinghan observed for a while before noticing that black scales appeared to be emerging from the flesh beneath the patches of shed fur.

It worked!

Gu Qinghan quickly had the Scarlet Witch use two more time capsules. As the winding sound echoed once more, the Dragon Bear's body returned to its original appearance.

It was precisely then that Gu Qinghan suddenly felt a powerful pulling force emanate from all directions.

He hastily recalled the Bear King and the Scarlet Witch, and simultaneously stowed the time capsule jar.

He had a feeling that this force was meant to pull him out!

As the force intensified, Gu Qinghan's body suddenly collapsed once more.

But he quickly rose from the ground again, then was pulled backward by an unseen force.

It was as if a massive, invisible hand had plucked him from a hidden corner, ready to toss him back into the sunlight!

He encountered no further forks in the road, nor did he face any threats.

Gu Qinghan quickly came to a halt. He looked around, finding the surroundings vaguely familiar.

He then glanced down at his hands. They were distinctly jointed, fair, and slender, bearing none of the roughness they had possessed moments before.

“Is this an illusion? No, it definitely isn't!”

A possibility arose in Gu Qinghan's mind, but he immediately dismissed it.

The previous feeling of weakness had been genuinely radiating from his body, spreading outward from within.

Thinking of how he had just been ejected as if time were reversing, Gu Qinghan concluded that everything that had transpired must have been real.

He had truly walked a long, long road, going through the process of gradually aging and nearly dying.

Just as Gu Qinghan was thinking this, he suddenly felt something flickering beneath his feet.

He looked down to see a silver-white button.

Engraved on the button was a pause symbol, and nothing else.

[Stagnant Time (Immortal): Causes all things except the user to enter a paused state. Use again to restore the flow of time. While time is stagnant, the user can move freely, but will suffer a certain degree of backlash after use. Current Remaining Stagnant Time: 30 seconds. This item will vanish once the time is fully consumed.]

Gu Qinghan held the object in his hand, taking a long time to recover from the sheer shock.

This item was undoubtedly the reward for everything he had just endured, yet Gu Qinghan found it somewhat surreal.

The ability to pause time, and for a full thirty seconds!

Naturally, Gu Qinghan knew without having to test it that if he were to use all thirty seconds at once, the resulting backlash would be extremely severe.

In fact, judging by his condition earlier, he doubted he could even survive such a backlash.

Even so, pausing time for just a few seconds could alter the outcome of most battles.

After putting the item away, Gu Qinghan noticed something unusual not far ahead.

He considered it for a moment, then stepped forward once more.

Since he would have to leave eventually, he decided to be a little bolder.

As he approached, Gu Qinghan discovered it was a rift.

Near this rift, there were two massive footprints.

“Is this where the Dragon Bear passed through just now?”

Gu Qinghan suddenly realized. He looked back at his surroundings—wasn't this the exact location where he had first entered this secret realm?

“Could it be that ever since the Bear King touched that thing, I was dragged into that world?

No, everything here is related to time. Could I have been pulled into this temporal rift?

But everything just now felt like a personal experience, yet I haven't moved an inch...”

Gu Qinghan analyzed the situation silently, ultimately arriving at a bold conclusion:

He had indeed completed the process of gradual aging, and had even been trapped in that state.

But when he discovered and repaired the “wound” on the Bear King's body, he was immediately pulled out of that state.

His brain retained all the memories, but his body had lived an entire lifetime.

And then, experienced a complete time reversal.