183: Chapter 183 The Fourth Level of Zhenhai, the Time Cage

The moment he stepped through the light gate, Lin Fan felt his entire being being torn, stretched, and twisted by an invisible force. The sensation was even more intense than when he first entered the Ancient Road, as if countless hands were simultaneously pulling at his Physical Body and Divine Soul.

After an unknown amount of time, the world before his eyes finally brightened.

He found himself standing in a world of grayish-white.

There was no sky, no earth, only an endless grayish-white. Beneath his feet was a grayish-white plane, above his head was a grayish-white dome, and surrounding him were grayish-white walls—no, there were no walls, only an endless expanse of grayish-white extending into the distance.

“Is this the fourth floor?” Zi Linger landed by his side, looking around with eyes full of confusion.

Su Zhiqing, Jiang Yun, and the others appeared one after another, all looking completely dazed.

Lin Fan closed his eyes, expanding his perception to its full extent.

The perception of the Eternal Annihilation Body was greatly suppressed on this floor—he could only sense about a hundred zhang out; any further was nothing but Chaos.

“Something is strange,” he said, opening his eyes. “My perception is being suppressed.”

The others tried as well, and found the same result.

At that moment, a voice echoed from all directions:

“Welcome to the fourth floor of the Sea-Suppressing Pagoda—The Time Cage.”

The voice was aged and raspy, as if it came from ancient times:

“The rules of this floor: You will be trapped in a time loop. Every twelve watches, time will reset. You will return to the starting point and lose all memories of that round, though any injuries to your body and consumed spiritual energy will remain.”

“To pass the trial, you must find the ‘Time Key’ hidden on this floor during one of the rounds.”

“Remember—you only have nine chances.”

“After nine rounds, if the key is still not found, you will be trapped on this floor forever, becoming nourishment for time.”

The voice faded away.

Everyone looked at each other with solemn expressions.

“A time loop?” Jiang Yun sucked in a cold breath. “Losing our memories? Then how are we supposed to find it?”

Zi Linger frowned. “These rules are too malicious. Without memories, we’ll be just like we were when we first entered every single round; we’ll never be able to accumulate experience.”

Lin Fan didn't speak, silently observing his surroundings instead.

The grayish-white space was not entirely empty.

Every hundred zhang or so, there was a grayish-white stone pillar. The pillars were about three zhang tall, their surfaces covered in complex runes that faintly emitted fluctuations of time power.

“Those pillars...” he murmured. Before he could finish his sentence, his vision blurred.

Everyone vanished at the same time and reappeared in another area—likewise grayish-white, likewise with stone pillars, but the layout was completely different.

“Did time reset?” someone cried out in alarm.

Lin Fan looked at the group and found that everyone’s faces were filled with daze—including his own.

His memories from just a moment ago had vanished.

“Where is this?” Zi Linger looked around. “The fourth floor?”

Lin Fan closed his eyes to sense—his perception was suppressed, only reaching a hundred zhang.

A voice echoed from all directions, repeating the same introduction of the rules.

After listening, everyone’s expressions turned solemn.

“A time loop, losing memories...” Jiang Yun gave a bitter smile. “How are we supposed to play this?”

Lin Fan said nothing more, simply walking toward the nearest stone pillar.

He raised his hand and pressed it against the pillar.

Instantly, a surge of information flooded his mind; it was an explanation regarding this stone pillar.

“Time Anchor,” he murmured. “Every stone pillar is an anchor, recording the spatial state of a certain moment. By touching it, one can briefly see fragments of memories from this round.”

The crowd gathered around and began to try it out.

After Zi Linger touched it, a look of confusion flashed in her eyes. “I see us standing in another place just now, surrounded by even more stone pillars...”

Su Zhiqing also said, “I see traces of battle—someone has fought here.”

Lin Fan pondered.

A time loop and memory loss, yet the stone pillars recorded fragments of every round.

This meant that if they could touch as many pillars as possible in each round to collect memory fragments, they might be able to piece together clues for the key in one of the rounds.

“Split up,” he said. “Every time you encounter a pillar, commit the memory fragments you see to heart. Though we’ll lose our memories in the next round, we can use our bodies to remember—for example, by carving words onto our skin.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up.

It was a crude method, but it was currently the only viable one.

The first round, twelve watches.

Lin Fan sprinted through the grayish-white space, touching thirty-seven stone pillars. With each touch, he saw memory fragments—shadowy figures flashing by, afterimages of battles, and blurred images of certain locations.

He carved into his arm: Thirty-seven, North-Northeast.

The second round. When he woke up, the words on his arm were still there.

He remembered ‘Thirty-seven’ and ‘North-Northeast,’ but didn't know what they meant. However, he knew these were clues left by his past self from the previous round.

He explored all the way in the ‘North-Northeast’ direction and indeed discovered more stone pillars. Upon touching them, the memory fragments he saw were more numerous than in the first round—someone had found a glowing object but was quickly killed by some kind of power.

He carved on his other arm: Glowing object, dangerous.

The third round, the fourth round, the fifth round...

In every round, Lin Fan collected fragments and carved clues. His arms, legs, and chest were densely covered in writing.

By the sixth round, he had finally pieced together the complete information.

The Time Key was inside a special stone pillar in the central area. However, that pillar had a guardian, a monster condensed from time power whose strength was extremely great.

In the previous five rounds, people had found it but were all killed.

In the seventh round, Lin Fan headed straight for the central area.

Sure enough, there was a unique stone pillar there—golden all over, emitting a soft light. Crouched before the pillar was a monster shaped like a lion-tiger; it was completely transparent, and ripples of time power surrounded its body.

Seeing him, the monster slowly rose and let out a low growl.

Lin Fan didn't hesitate and drew his sword.

The nirvana sword in hand, he slashed out a gray sword light. The monster opened its mouth and spat, and a ripple of time shot forth.

The sword light and the ripple collided, instantly freezing in mid-air—not blocked, but frozen in time.

Lin Fan frowned, sheathing his sword and switching to his spear.

The reincarnation spear thrust out, but it was likewise frozen by time.

“Physical attacks are ineffective?” He felt a chill in his heart.

The monster pounced, its sharp claws tearing through space.

Lin Fan dodged, and at the same time, gray Qi surged from his palm. This time, the gray Qi was not frozen. On the contrary, it began to erode that time ripple, causing the frozen space to gradually loosen.

“Eternity and Annihilation can counter time?” A flash of realization crossed Lin Fan’s eyes.

He no longer held back, striking with his full power.

The gray Qi surged out like a tide, clashing violently with the power of time.

The entire central area trembled, and the runes on the stone pillars flashed frantically.

The monster let out an angry roar as its time power erupted fully. Lin Fan did not retreat; instead, he took a step forward.

The eternal battle armor shone brilliantly, protecting his entire body. Nirvana True Intent condensed in his palm as he struck out with a palm print.

Wherever the palm print passed, the power of time dissipated one after another.

The monster was struck by the palm print, its transparent body vibrating violently before finally shattering with a bang.

Lin Fan panted heavily as he walked toward the golden stone pillar.

Embedded in the center of the pillar was a golden key.

He reached out and grasped the key.

Instantly, his vision blurred—time reset.

In the eighth round, when Lin Fan woke up, he found himself holding that very key in his hand.

The writing on his arms was still there, but it was no longer needed.

He looked around; the others were staring at him in a daze.

“I’ve got the key,” he said flatly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the voice rang out again: “Congratulations on passing the fourth floor.”

“The gate to the fifth floor will open in thirty breaths.”

The crowd cheered.

Zi Linger leaned in, looking at the key in Lin Fan’s hand with eyes full of curiosity. “How did you do it?”

Lin Fan put away the key and said no more.

Thirty breaths later, a light gate emerged in the grayish-white space.

Lin Fan was the first to step inside.

Behind him, the others followed closely.

The fourth floor was cleared. But the true trial was still ahead.