447: Chapter 447 Zhou Yan vs. Suihua Tianlu

"Five hundred years of shifting sands and seas, even the stubborn stone is covered in moss, covered in moss..."

A thick, melodious singing voice accompanied by reverb and BGM drifted out from a cave.

The sound startled a kingfisher outside the cave that was preening its feathers, nearly causing it to fall from the tree.

After fluttering in the air to regain its balance, it flew away stumbling.

Inside the cave.

Stalactites emitting faint, crystalline light were dripping translucent droplets of water—the kind that would upset one's stomach if drunk.

Beside those stalactites was a rock wall that looked artificially carved, covered in dense vertical and horizontal lines.

They were arranged very neatly, almost all consisting of four vertical lines and one horizontal line.

At that moment, a slender palm drew another horizontal stroke across four vertical lines at the bottom right of the stone wall.

The lines on this rock wall had just reached the count of five hundred.

The person who wrote this final stroke had a head full of white hair but a young face, with bits of moss still clinging to his body.

He shook his head, sighed with his hands behind his back, and lamented.

"Sigh, did it take five hundred minutes just for observation? It really was a long time."

This person was none other than Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan casually brushed away the spiderwebs from his head and the moss from his body, revealing his jet-black long hair and clean robes, then walked further into the cave.

"Damned spiders. In the time it took for one meditation session, you all did a real number on me. Fine, I'll let the webs slide, but what's with plastering me in moss?"

"Are you trying to turn me into a Beggar's Chicken human!"

Zhou Yan sat back in his original spot and began flipping through the Cripple's Scripture again. Beside him was a large pile of charred spider corpses; the largest was the size of a human head, looking truly terrifying.

Feeling that these things were in the way, Zhou Yan waved his hand to create a wind field, blowing away all the spiders that had been burnt to charcoal.

"Speaking of which, this Cripple's Scripture is truly miraculous. No wonder so many people still Cultivate it even though the path of time is broken."

"With a good environment, one can truly soar to the heavens in a single bound."

By studying the Cripple's Scripture, Zhou Yan had directly mastered the Time Observation skill.

He then cleared out his inventory, upgrading Time Observation to Level 3.

This inventory originally contained some skill cards provided by the workers in the main city. Zhou Yan had originally only intended to keep them temporarily, but since he couldn't go back now, he just used them up.

As for compensation, he'd just have Yuan Chenling and the others issue some game coins.

It was also because he possessed the ability of Time Observation that Zhou Yan saw the river of time for the first time.

The sensation was incredibly wondrous; countless powers converged into a river that truly resembled a vast ocean, full of rhythm, rushing forward without a moment's pause.

Zhou Yan felt as if he had opened a slit above this ocean, allowing him to feel the "waves" surging before him and sense the aura of time; he nearly lost himself in it.

Fortunately, the Cripple's Scripture had warned beforehand that those with low cultivation cannot normally observe the true face of the river of time.

Once unable to see the true river, one would be increasingly attracted to it, wanting to explore the truth and thus becoming immersed, eventually being pulled in and suffering a total demise of body and Dao.

Luckily, the small alarm he set beforehand went off, and Zhou Yan extracted himself from it. He hurriedly closed the small door, panted heavily, and checked the progress of time.

Looking at the pleasing growth in the comprehension of the Law of Time on the panel, Zhou Yan knew that what Senior Yu Kou said was no lie.

Although he couldn't see the river of time clearly, he vaguely sensed a point of light in the distance of that long river.

As long as he tried to observe that point of light, his comprehension would skyrocket.

After having the first experience, Zhou Yan became increasingly proficient.

Every minute, Zhou Yan would observe the river of time once, and every time he stopped, he would carve a mark on the stone wall.

The time spent walking back and forth between the cultivation spot and the rock wall was exactly one minute; walking back and forth like this also helped him better digest and adapt.

In this way, in less than eight hours, Zhou Yan successfully mastered nearly one hundred percent comprehension, and his Time Observation reached level four.

With everything prepared, Zhou Yan naturally began his Law comprehension.

Because he had already independently comprehended the Law of the Heart and the Law of Consumption, Zhou Yan's experience in this area was unexpectedly strong.

Additionally, the Law of Creation comprehension formula given during the Dragon Gate Dao enlightenment allowed him to understand through analogy, assisting him in completing his cultivation of the Law of Time.

Finally, after meditating for several hours, Zhou Yan successfully mastered the Law of Time, obtaining Law of Time Lv1 and simultaneously gaining a somewhat special Law Divine Ability.

Zhou Yan sat cross-legged, looking at the records in the Cripple's Scripture.

A Soul Transformation cultivator uses the Power of Law as a guide to choose a marker in the river of time; they can then ride the Law currents to go downstream or upstream.

The marker can be either an object or a person and needs to have a significant connection with the caster. The more and greater the connections, the more stable and clear the marker becomes.

【Final verification: Going downstream is feasible; going upstream is not.】

Looking at the records in the Cripple's Scripture, Zhou Yan knew what that point of light in the river of time was.

Zhou Yan rubbed his chin, falling into thought.

"I see. To put it plainly, it's related to Karma."

"Time is the boat, Karma is the spear."

"No wonder the Sect recommended I establish a Dao lineage so much; it's actually this versatile."

During those eight hours of observation, Zhou Yan noticed that the light point wasn't just one type, but was formed by many gathered together.

Just like on a mini-map, there will be many markers in one area, but when zoomed out, these markers all crowd together and become exceptionally prominent.

"Right! I haven't looked at the things I couldn't see before."

"I originally thought it would take a long time, but now it seems I have more than enough time. It's not a problem to waste a little."

Zhou Yan rubbed his hands and took out the suihua heavenly record. Sure enough, the item that originally couldn't be opened now showed a small red dot, indicating it could be opened.

"What is this?"

Zhou Yan held the thick suihua heavenly record with both hands, his eyes wide.

This thick book had nothing in it except for a photograph on the first page.

Even that photograph was dim, with only a name and a progress bar.

【????】 (1%).

Looking at the content, Zhou Yan felt an urge to curse.

"Damn it, I've even comprehended the Law of Time, and this is all you show me?"

"A string of question marks and one percent. What does that mean? You had to hide even this little bit of stuff until I unlocked the Law of Time?"

"This is a total rip-off!"

Zhou Yan angrily slammed the suihua heavenly record onto the ground, but the book looked hard on the outside while actually being very springy. The moment Zhou Yan threw it down, it bounced right back, heading straight for his forehead.

"Ouch!"

"You beast, you dare try to slay your master!"

Zhou Yan made a show of fighting with the suihua heavenly record, but unfortunately, it now had the same top-tier attribute as the cun hao sword: indestructible.

Consequently, Zhou Yan was utterly defeated by the suihua heavenly record.

"Haha, that was a hearty battle indeed! suihua heavenly record, in terms of being able to take a beating, I, Zhou Yan, declare you the strongest!"

"I, Sui, have traversed half my life with few rivals. Today's victory was unearned; let us fight again another day."

Of course, the book couldn't speak; this was all Zhou Yan's own voice acting.

Observing the river of time was truly too torturous, leaving Zhou Yan acting a bit neurotic now.

After playing around like this for a while, Zhou Yan finally put away the suihua heavenly record. His expression returned to calm, he sprang up with a carp kick, and then sat cross-legged naturally.

"Venting a bit finally made me feel better."

"I really admire those guys who can go into seclusion for a thousand years. Even with a stable Dao Heart and mastering the Law of the Heart, I still need a break when practicing these troublesome things."

"If someone really practiced for a thousand years, how could they not go crazy?"

Zhou Yan stretched his body, and after confirming there were no side effects, he decisively deployed Zhou Yans Marvelous Array and prepared two Top-Grade Spirit Stones in advance.

Going to Luyuan Heaven was very dangerous. While Zhou Yan trusted the Dao Sect, he didn't trust the Dao Sect of this era.

So to prevent accidents, Zhou Yan chose to use a trapping Formation as a barrier.

"Based on the power conversion, this Formation that can trap a Soul Transformation cultivator for a while should also be able to affect someone at Zheng Dafu's level."

"So as long as Prime Minister Zhang doesn't come personally, it won't be completely useless."

"And if he does come personally..."

Zhou Yan tried contacting his female body buried deep under the seabed outside the island.

"Good, this way it's foolproof."

"Then let me see what this legendary sea of laws is really like!"

Zhou Yan activated his Cultivation Technique, and a five-colored glow vaguely shone through his skin, the light becoming increasingly brilliant.

As the light reached a critical point, a wisp of radiance surged out from Zhou Yan's Dantian, transforming into a tiny emerald-green infant.

The infant's appearance was identical to Zhou Yan's, but not long after appearing, it vanished into thin air as points of light.

Everything returned to silence, leaving only Zhou Yan sitting cross-legged with his eyes tightly shut.