470: Chapter 470 Practical Training

She aimed her Space Cutting at the Puppet's teleportation landing point, setting it in advance at the spot where it was about to appear. As soon as the Puppet materialized, the Space Cutting had already struck its core crystal stone.

Starting from the fifth Puppet, Su Ning's combat style shifted from "responding" to "controlling."

The fifth Puppet was a "Space Mirror" — it could replicate Su Ning's form and Spells, using her own methods against her. Su Ning cast Space Cutting, and the mirror also cast Space Cutting; the two attacks collided in mid-air and dissipated simultaneously. Su Ning attempted Time Reversal, and the mirror followed suit by casting Time Reversal, returning both their states to how they were a few breaths ago. Su Ning frowned; fighting like this would never yield a result.

She recalled the method Gao Feng used when facing the sword array in the Lost City — breaking it through resonance. She stopped attacking the mirror and instead synchronized her Space Power with the mirror's Space Power, bringing their frequencies into alignment. The mirror's "replication" ability had a limit; when the Space Power Su Ning injected exceeded that limit, the mirror began to destabilize, and cracks appeared on its body surface. A moment later, the mirror collapsed with a bang, turning into a sky full of crystal stone fragments.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth. Su Ning defeated three Puppets in a row, her tactics becoming increasingly mature. She learned to utilize the terrain within the Spacetime Battlefield — space rifts and time turbulence. She lured one Puppet into the time turbulence, causing it to age instantly, making its crystal stone fragile and prone to shattering at a touch. She lured another Puppet to the edge of a space rift, using a Space Cutting to push it into the rift, where it was torn to shreds.

The ninth Puppet was a "Time Accelerator." It could accelerate the flow of time around itself, moving so fast that Su Ning's Space Cutting could not keep up with it at all. Su Ning stopped pursuing and instead set up a Spatial Barrier around herself, using defense as an offense. Every attack from the Puppet was blocked by the Spatial Barrier; it was fast, but its attack power was not strong. Su Ning patiently waited for an opportunity, while using time perception to capture the Puppet's speed pattern. It would have a brief pause every so often — that was the cooldown gap of its time acceleration Spell.

Su Ning seized that gap. Space Cutting slashed into the Puppet's back, shattering its core crystal stone.

The tenth Puppet was a "Space Pressurizer." It could create a super-gravity field, making Su Ning's body feel as heavy as a mountain. Su Ning felt her bones creaking, and every step required immense effort. She applied Space Cutting in reverse, creating a "space buoyancy field" around herself to counteract the gravity. The two forces clashed, and Su Ning gritted her teeth, walking step by step toward the Puppet, condensing her Space Cutting into a single line, and piercing its core crystal stone.

After defeating ten Puppets in a row, most of Su Ning's spiritual power had been exhausted; her face was pale, and fine beads of sweat oozed from her forehead. But she did not stop, because there were still two Puppets left standing.

The eleventh Puppet was a "Time Reverser." This Puppet was more troublesome than all the previous ones she had encountered. The first time Su Ning used Space Cutting to shatter its core crystal stone, it activated Time Reversal, the crystal stone re-condensed, and the Puppet stood up again. The second time, she used Space Cutting to slash it into several pieces, and it reversed again. The third time, after she shattered its core crystal stone, she used Space Cutting to scatter the fragments across the battlefield, yet it still reversed — those fragments flew back from all directions, reassembling into a complete Puppet.

Su Ning frowned; three consecutive kills could not completely destroy it. She calmed her mind to analyze the Puppet's Time Reversal ability; its reversal ability was not infinite, and every reversal consumed the energy stored within itself. If she could completely destroy it in a single attack, preventing it from having time to reverse, or preventing its energy from replenishing in time, she could defeat it.

She poured most of her remaining spiritual power into Space Cutting and unleashed her strongest strike. The silver-white sword radiance cleaved the Puppet in half, while simultaneously using time freezing to briefly pause the flow of time around it, preventing its reversal ability from triggering. The Puppet's core crystal stone shattered, and fragments scattered across the ground; this time, it did not stand up again.

The last Puppet. Su Ning took a deep breath, dragging her exhausted body toward the depths of the battlefield.

The twelfth Puppet was the "King of Spacetime." It could simultaneously manipulate space and time, its form was larger than all the previous Puppets, and the crystal stone patterns on its body were more complex. As soon as Su Ning stepped into its alert range, it launched an attack — "Spatial Imprisonment." A silver-white light shield enveloped Su Ning, the space inside the shield was compressed, and the flow of time became extremely slow. Su Ning felt like a bug struggling in amber, with every movement requiring a hundred times the effort.

She countered with Time Reversal, attempting to reverse the imprisonment state, but the Puppet's power was too strong, and her Time Reversal could not shake it at all. She then attacked the inner wall of the light shield with Space Cutting, but the shield was indestructible under the dual reinforcement of time and space. Her spiritual power was depleting rapidly, and her vision began to darken.

At the critical moment, she remembered Gao Feng's words — "A battle is not a one-person affair." She closed her eyes, simultaneously activating her spatial perception and time perception, constructing a "Spacetime Map" in her mind. On the map, every node of the light shield was clearly visible — some nodes were hubs of space, some were nodes of time, and others were cores where both intertwined. She found the weakest node of the light shield, smaller than a needle tip, hidden in a shadow where space and time intertwined.

She condensed her final strength into a Space Cutting as thin as a strand of hair and thrust it toward that node.

Boom.

The Spatial Imprisonment shattered. The Puppet's core crystal stone was also shattered by the aftermath of the Space Cutting, cracking into several pieces. The Puppet's body swayed a few times and then collapsed with a crash.

Su Ning slumped to the ground, panting heavily. Her spiritual power was almost exhausted, and her Meridians ached faintly. But she had won; all twelve Puppets were defeated.

Master Void walked into the Spacetime Battlefield, looked at the Puppet fragments covering the ground, and nodded with satisfaction: "Twelve Puppets, it took four hours. Your rate of progress far exceeds my expectations."

Su Ning stood up, her legs a bit weak, but her eyes were bright: "Can I learn 'Spacetime Stasis' now?"

Master Void nodded: "You can. But before that, I need to tell you one thing."

"What is it?"

"About your identity."

Master Void took Su Ning to the Scripture Pavilion of Taixu Palace. The Scripture Pavilion was located underground in the Spacetime Hall, a huge secret room constructed by Spatial Magic, with walls made of transparent Spatial Crystal that could reflect people's silhouettes. Master Void took out a yellowed bamboo scroll from the deepest part; the corners of the bamboo scroll were worn, and the handwriting on it was somewhat blurry, but still legible.

"This is the genealogy of the Star Clan." Master Void handed the bamboo scroll to Su Ning, "You have been searching for your own background, haven't you?"

Su Ning took the bamboo scroll, her hands trembling slightly. She opened the bamboo scroll and flipped through it page by page. The Star Clan was originally a branch of ancient humans, considered an anomaly by other races because they had mastered Spatial Magic. During the Great War of Ten Thousand Races a thousand years ago, the Star Clan was forced to participate; after the war, their vitality was severely damaged, leaving only a few survivors scattered in various places. The last page of the bamboo scroll had Su Ning's name written on it — next to it was a line of small text: "The last descendant of the Star Clan, carrying the hope of the Star Clan's revival."

Su Ning looked at that line of small text, her eyes reddening slightly. She looked up and asked Master Void: "Why... give this to me?"

"Because you should know by now. You are not fighting alone; your companions are your new family." Master Void's voice was very soft.

Su Ning put the bamboo scroll into her Storage Pouch and walked out of the Scripture Pavilion. Sunlight shone on her face, and her eyes were no longer cold, but had warmth. The sky in the distance was very blue, and the clouds were flowing slowly. She thought of Tianxin, Luo Li, Chu Lan, Yaoguang, Lin Yue, Lin Jingyu, Situ Lan, and Gao Feng. They were all working hard to become stronger, and she could not fall behind.

Master Void walked out of the Scripture Pavilion, stood behind her, and asked if she was ready.

"I am ready."

"Then let us begin."

The seclusion room deep within the Spacetime Hall of Taixu Palace was an independent small space. The surrounding walls were built from Spatial Crystal, and silver-white light flowed slowly along the walls, like countless sleeping rivers.

The Spirit Stone on the ceiling emitted a soft glow, illuminating the room as if it were daylight. The floor was flat and smooth, clearly reflecting people's silhouettes. The flow of time here was one-fifth of the outside world — one day passed outside, five days passed inside. This was a dedicated seclusion room prepared by Taixu Palace for Disciples Cultivating the highest secret techniques.

Master Void stood at the door of the seclusion room, holding a fist-sized spacetime crystal stone in his hand. The crystal stone was entirely silver-white, with fine light spots jumping inside, like countless tiny stars flickering.

This was the most precious Cultivation resource of Taixu Palace, condensed by successive Palace Masters using Time Power and Space Power, which could assist in comprehending the Law of spacetime. He handed the crystal stone to Su Ning and said solemnly: "Spacetime Stasis is the most profound secret technique of Taixu Palace. To Cultivate this technique, you need to capture the pulse of time in an instant, and then press down on it with your own spiritual power. It is just like pressing down on a river, making it stop flowing."

Su Ning took the crystal stone, feeling the immense power contained within it: "What happens if I fail?"

Master Void's voice lowered, and a hint of solemnity flashed in his eyes: "At best, your spiritual power will be thrown into disorder; at worst, you will be backlashed by Time Power, and your body will age instantly. In the history of Taixu Palace, three Seniors failed to Cultivate this technique. The first one turned white-haired overnight, their Cultivation was completely crippled, and they never recovered; the second one had their Meridians broken throughout their body, and after ten years of bedridden existence, they died in depression; the third one... turned into dry bones on the spot, without even leaving a last word."

Su Ning was silent for a moment, gripped the crystal stone tightly, her knuckles turning white from the exertion: "I understand."

The door of the seclusion room closed slowly, and silver-white light seeped out from the walls, casting her shadow on the ground. Master Void's footsteps faded away, and only the faint humming sound from the operation of the Spirit Stone remained in the surroundings. Su Ning sat cross-legged, placed the spacetime crystal stone in front of her, closed her eyes, and sank her spiritual consciousness into it.