394: Tender buds on the tree stump

The majestic voice seemed to come from all directions, yet it also seemed to appear directly within Gu Qinghan's heart.

Gu Qinghan even had the feeling that the voice was neither male nor female, sounding like a single entity yet also like the chorus of a crowd.

But he roughly understood that the owner of this voice was those surrounding... deities.

These figures must be deities, because the feeling of helplessness surging from the depths of his heart made him fully aware of this fact.

But clearly, the Guardian had said that these deities could not interfere with this game!

Had the Guardian lied, or had some accident occurred?

Gu Qinghan wanted to look elsewhere, but he could only see the scenery within his field of vision.

He knew that everything before him was beyond his control; he was merely an observer.

This time, he was slow to hear his own voice.

The majestic voice did not sound again, but Gu Qinghan could see that the scene within the light screen had changed once more.

The lightning in the sky was carried by a massive dragon over the sea, likely to be thrown in at any moment.

At this moment, the sea surface suddenly boiled, and countless hideous heads poked out, like beasts waiting to be fed.

A massive, crimson dragon suddenly appeared beside Wang Yan, who was caught in the tornado, and breathed out a scorching Dragons Breath.

Instantly, the tornado ignited, scorching the figure inside, who had condensed sand and stone defenses, until he gradually vitrified.

A giant dragon grabbed a struggling figure from the ground and tossed him back into Whale Fall City, which was already utterly ruined.

Several slightly smaller dragons flew over, snatching Piao Jun, whose fate was unknown, back and forth as if they were fighting over a toy.

Although the golden light in the distance was dazzling, as more and more giant dragons appeared, the golden radiance was gradually obscured.

The golden light emitted by Chu Tian was like a flickering candle in the wind; no one knew when it might suddenly be extinguished.

"You still have a brief moment to consider, otherwise, it will be too late."

The majestic voice sounded again, but Gu Qinghan felt as if he were in a nightmare.

Finally, he heard his own voice:

"Stop... I... Open the door..."

In that instant, Gu Qinghan suddenly felt that all the surrounding figures were laughing.

Although he couldn't clearly see their expressions, he was certain these fellows had laughed.

On the light screen, a golden ray suddenly appeared in the sky, and the giant dragons all paused.

Subsequently, the giant dragons seemed to receive some kind of command and suddenly stopped attacking.

Gu Qinghan watched himself take out the Deaths Touch and tremblingly opened the gate to the Netherworld.

The surrounding figures suddenly became excited, throwing out streams of energy one after another to prop open the Netherworld Gate.

Afterward, Gu Qinghan felt himself repelled by a powerful force, and his vision blurred for an instant.

In the moment his vision completely blurred, countless portals seemed to open around Gu Qinghan.

Various living beings emerged from these portals and then rushed headlong into the Netherworld Gate.

After his vision cleared, he found himself waking up amidst a pile of ruins.

His injuries were extremely severe; he couldn't even manage to stand up.

What made him even more despairing was seeing the giant dragons that had previously left suddenly turn back and fly toward him once more.

Clearly, those deities had broken their promise; they had no intention of letting Gu Qinghan go, nor anyone else.

Unsurprisingly, Gu Qinghan was killed again. When he opened his eyes once more, he found himself deep underwater.

Yet, not a single drop of water clung to his body; the water merely swept lightly past his skin, completely lacking the strangeness he had felt before.

And before him was a slowly rotating portal.

"This immortal grade secret realm can't possibly end just by showing me so many movies, right?"

Gu Qinghan couldn't quite believe the scene he was witnessing, even wondering if he had been affected by a time rift again.

But when he looked behind him, he realized that the massive body of the Deaths Touch was quietly coiled there.

He spent a long time examining it, but found no abnormality whatsoever.

Finally, he could only withdraw the Deaths Touch and returned to stand before the portal.

Gu Qinghan stroked his chin, recalling everything he had just experienced.

He felt as if he had just seen countless versions of his own choices; if he hadn't been able to control his actions freely now, he might have even felt he was still trapped in that state.

He slowly walked toward the portal, but suddenly stopped just as he was about to step inside.

Light flickered in Gu Qinghan's eyes, and then he released Gu Qingyuan.

"Can you absorb this water?"

Gu Qinghan and the Deaths Touch were no longer affected by the river of time—or rather, the Sea of Time.

Thus, he boldly guessed that his subordinates should also be unaffected.

Luckily, he guessed correctly.

Gu Qingyuan was first startled by the vast amount of seawater, then looked at Gu Qinghan with a strange expression and asked:

"If I'm not mistaken, this seems to be the power of time..."

"Yes. Enough nonsense, can you do it or not?"

Gu Qingyuan nodded, then surprisingly opened his mouth, and a burst of suction erupted, drawing in a large amount of seawater.

But within a few seconds, he spat the seawater back out exactly as it was, as if someone had pressed the rewind button on him.

Gu Qinghan raised an eyebrow, watching the scene thoughtfully.

Gu Qingyuan, meanwhile, looked incredulous, glancing at Gu Qinghan, then pointing at the omnipresent water around them.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds before Gu Qinghan suddenly sighed and said:

"Let's go. It seems we can't take this power with us."

Gu Qingyuan nodded and followed closely behind Gu Qinghan toward the portal.

Gu Qinghan's body stepped into the portal, but when only one arm remained outside, he suddenly shouted loudly:

"Quick! Now!"

Gu Qingyuan didn't speak, but violently opened his mouth, releasing a burst of suction.

A large volume of seawater was sucked into his mouth, and then he was abruptly pulled into the portal by Gu Qinghan.

The surrounding seawater suddenly became turbulent, yet it could find no target.

The portal had vanished after Gu Qingyuan was pulled inside.

Meanwhile, the water level of this Sea of Time suddenly began to drop rapidly, with no one knowing where the water had gone.

Gradually, branching rivers appeared, reforming the previous river of time.

And as the water level rapidly dropped, the ground gradually reappeared.

However, if someone could look down from a height, they would notice that the direction of these rivers and paths seemed to have changed.

A small ripple suddenly appeared on the river of time.

Inside the ripple was an image: a bare, large tree.

This ripple fell, splashing up three smaller ripples.

The image in one ripple showed the large tree becoming lush and green again.

The image in the second ripple showed only a tree stump remaining.

But in the third ripple, there was still only a tree stump remaining.

However, on this stump, several tender shoots had sprouted out.

The ripples quietly faded away, as if they had never appeared, merging back into the river of time and flowing forward.