198: Chapter 198 [The World] Directional Time Stop

"Create a contract that does not require beast companions to die for their masters."

"And give them the qualification to evolve again."

Su Bai's voice fell.

The Song family's central altar fell into silence.

Gu Tianheng watched Su Bai's receding figure and remained silent for a long time.

Beast companions do not need to die for their masters?

These words sound wonderful.

However, the meaning of a contract's existence is inherently to connect two independent lives together.

Since they share power, they naturally must bear the cost together.

When disaster truly arrives, sacrificing the party with lower value and preserving the party with higher value is the most realistic choice.

Over the past few centuries, the entire beast-taming system has operated this way.

Now, Su Bai actually wants to use forty-eight hours to redefine the meaning of the beast-taming contract.

"Young people always feel that there can be a third answer to everything."

Gu Tianheng said in a low voice.

Li Qingyue stood at the edge of the altar without even turning her head.

"He can usually find it."

Gu Tianheng looked at her.

"Does the Supreme have a lot of confidence?"

"No."

Li Qingyue answered very calmly.

"Then why do you..."

"I am his master."

The rest of Gu Tianheng's words stopped at his lips.

These simple five words were enough to express Li Qingyue's attitude.

Whether Su Bai's plan can succeed is a card-making and theoretical problem.

But before the result appears, no one can declare failure for him.

Gu Tianheng was silent for a moment and did not continue arguing.

He looked again at Obsidian in the center of the altar.

The silver space-time seal applied by Li Qingyue remained stable.

The cracks on the surface of Obsidian's body stopped spreading.

The seven evolutionary structures were also fixed at different time nodes separately, unable to continue fighting for this body.

The wound on Song Qingli's chest no longer deepened.

The symbiotic contract between the two, which was on the verge of breaking, similarly stayed at the last moment before collapse.

But this does not mean the crisis is over.

Li Qingyue made it very clear.

What she paused was death.

It was not curing Obsidian.

And the entire secret realm has not truly fallen into absolute time standstill.

If all life activities were to completely stop, the souls of hundreds of beast companions and beast masters would gradually lose their attachment to their physical bodies.

Li Qingyue must maintain an extremely precise balance.

Let their hearts continue to beat.

Let their blood keep flowing.

Let their souls maintain a minimum level of activity.

At the same time, freeze injuries, backlash, and contract collapse.

This kind of control is a hundred times more difficult than simply stopping time in the entire secret realm.

The reason Li Qingyue can maintain it for seventy-two hours is because she has already concentrated the vast majority of the Law of Time on the central altar and Obsidian.

As for the runaway beast companions and injured beast masters on the outer periphery of the secret realm, she can only temporarily lock down the most dangerous backlash nodes.

The remaining injuries must be handled by the Song family themselves.

"Transfer the first batch of injured people to the eastern treatment area!"

"Do not cut off the contract directly!"

"Inject spiritual stability potions into the beast companions first, then lift the outer space-time seal!"

The Song family's Great Elder's orders were continuously transmitted to the entire secret realm through the communication array.

Hundreds of Song family members began to act.

They carried unconscious beast masters away from their spots.

Smaller beast companions were placed directly on spatial stretchers.

As for those huge beast companions, specialized spatial-type professionals opened temporary channels to transfer them to different areas in batches.

Every step must be carried out with caution.

Li Qingyue's space-time freeze can only prevent the backlash from continuing to expand, but it will not make the injuries that have already occurred disappear.

Once rescuers rudely move the beast companions, the mental distance between the two ends of the contract changes, and the nodes that were originally frozen may break again.

Outside the central altar.

Qin Ye stood on a suspended platform, overlooking the entire secret realm.

[ World ] floated quietly behind her.

Its dark golden eyes continuously swept across different areas.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the chaos within the secret realm had stopped.

Hundreds of beast companions all stayed in place.

Those contract patterns suspended in the air only flashed occasionally.

However, in [ World ]'s mental perception, the entire secret realm still looked like a net that had been torn and then barely pieced back together.

Li Qingyue fixed all the most dangerous tears with the Law of Time.

But between those tears, a large number of tiny cracks still existed.

Whenever rescue personnel moved a beast master or used a healing card on a beast companion, this net would vibrate slightly.

The vibration would not trigger a collapse temporarily.

However, as more and more lives were transferred, the original balance of the contract network was constantly changing.

Qin Ye looked toward the central altar.

Li Qingyue stood in place, her expression still cold and aloof, showing no sign of strain.

But Qin Ye could feel that the Law of Time surrounding Obsidian and Song Qingli was becoming heavier and heavier.

The seven evolutionary structures inside Obsidian's body were not simply static.

They were trying to break through the space-time seal at every moment.

If any of those structures resumed operation, it would instantly tear apart Obsidian's soul and physical body.

Li Qingyue must always keep the vast majority of her attention on them.

"Master."

Before walking into the card-making room temporarily cleared out by the Song family, Su Bai suddenly stopped his footsteps.

Li Qingyue raised her eyes to look at him.

"What's wrong?"

"How much longer can the outer space-time freeze be maintained?"

"As long as no new contract collapses occur, seventy-two hours is not a problem."

Su Bai caught the premise in her words.

"What if they do occur?"

"I will handle it."

Li Qingyue's answer had no hesitation at all.

Su Bai did not enter the card-making room immediately.

He knew this master of his very well.

When Li Qingyue said "no impact", it usually meant there was an impact, but she believed she could afford to bear it.

When she said "I will handle it", it also did not mean this matter was really easy to handle.

Qi Yuan stood at the door of the card-making room, glancing at the dense time nodes above the central altar.

"Su Bai."

"The Space-Time Supreme has already stabilized the core area."

"You can't help by staying outside."

"The most important thing now is to find a complete card-making direction as soon as possible."

Su Bai naturally understood.

He turned his head to look at Qin Ye.

Qin Ye seemed to have been waiting for his gaze long ago.

"Leave the outer periphery to me."

She said.

"Can you see those contract nodes?"

"[ World ] can."

"Can you stop them?"

"I'll know after trying."

After Qin Ye finished speaking, [ World ] behind her slowly raised its head.

Dark golden mental fluctuations spread along the suspended platform toward the entire secret realm.

Those contract nodes frozen by Li Qingyue's laws presented different colors in [ World ]'s eyes.

Complete contracts were silver-white.

Eroded contracts were dark red.

Dangerous nodes that had already been frozen by Li Qingyue were wrapped in a layer of silver time light.

Qin Ye closed her eyes.

A large amount of information poured into her mental sea simultaneously.

Hundreds of beast companions.

Dozens of beast masters.

Tens of thousands of contract patterns.

The state of each target was different.

Some beast companions only had their bodies out of control.

Some beast companions' minds had already fallen into madness.

Some beast masters still remained sober.

Some people's mental seas only had a fragile outer shell left.

If time in the entire region was directly stopped like during the National Competition, it could indeed make everything quiet down.

But that was meaningless.

Rescue personnel would also be stopped.

Healing cards could not take effect.

Potions could not enter the injured's bodies.

The breathing, blood, and magic power circulation of the beast companions would also fall into a standstill.

More importantly, Li Qingyue had already applied complex space-time seals on these targets.

A large-scale overlap of the two time powers might instead destroy the balance she had established.

What Qin Ye needed to do was not to stop the entire secret realm again.

But rather, without touching Li Qingyue's core seal, to only stop those parts that were truly dangerous.

For [ World ], this was also an attempt that had never been made before.

"How long can it be stopped at most?"

Su Bai asked.

"I don't know yet."

Qin Ye opened her eyes.

"But before I can't hold on anymore, I will tell you."

Su Bai nodded.

"Don't push yourself."

Qin Ye glanced at him.

"These words coming from your mouth have very little persuasiveness."

Recalling his recent act of piercing his soul with a Tier 9 Stand Arrow, Su Bai rarely did not retort.

"Then at least don't push yourself harder than me."

"Go in and make cards."

Qin Ye waved her hand impatiently.

Su Bai did not stay any longer.

He entered the card-making room together with Qi Yuan and Researcher Yun Zhi.

All of the Song family's data regarding Obsidian had already filled dozens of detection screens inside.

The door of the card-making room slowly closed.

Almost at the very instant the door completely closed, a muffled roar suddenly came from the southwest direction of the secret realm.

Boom!

A blood-red beam of light with a diameter exceeding one hundred meters shot straight into the sky.

The contract network that was originally frozen in the sky vibrated violently.

Hundreds of dark red patterns lit up simultaneously.

"The Southwest Third Breeding Area has a problem!"

A Song family deacon shouted in panic.

"Contract deviation occurred during the transfer process!"

"Seven beast companions recovered their actions at the same time!"

Gu Tianheng abruptly turned around.

The golden lizard leaped from his shoulder, quickly transforming into a giant dragon phantom.

Through the giant dragon's mental vision, he immediately saw the situation in the southwest area clearly.

A rescue team was transferring three injured beast masters.

In order to increase speed, one of the spatial-type professionals sent the beast masters and their beast companions into two different spatial channels respectively.

Under normal circumstances, doing this would not cause problems.

Beast-taming contracts are not affected by physical distance.

But now, all contracts had already been connected to the evolutionary network in the center of the secret realm.

The spatial channels caused a time deviation of a fraction of a second between the two ends of the contract.

The space-time laws that Li Qingyue had originally fixed on it also lost balance because of this.

One contract resumed collapsing.

Immediately after, the backlash spread to the surroundings along the shared network.

Seven beast companions that were originally static opened their eyes at the same time.

A three-headed flame giant hound recovered its actions first.

The blood inside its body was still in a slow-flowing state, but its body movements instantly recovered to normal speed.

The time difference caused its muscles and bones to be torn apart simultaneously.

The severe pain further stimulated its mental sea.

Three heads roared simultaneously.

"Roar!"

Flames swept across the entire breeding area.

The Song family members responsible for transferring the injured had no time to escape at all.

Gu Tianheng raised his hand.

Just as the golden lizard on his shoulder was about to pounce out, a dark golden figure had already disappeared from the suspended platform.

"[ World ]."

Qin Ye's voice resounded through the secret realm.

"Stop."

Hum!

There was no time fluctuation covering the entire heaven and earth.

Nor was there absolute silence making all things static at the same time.

There was only a circle of dark golden ripples almost imperceptible to the naked eye, precisely falling on the limbs and three heads of the flame giant hound.

The sharp claws swung down by the giant hound suddenly stopped in mid-air.

The three mouths that had already opened also solidified at the same time.

But the flames spewed from its mouth did not stop.

The flames had already left the giant hound's body and no longer belonged to the attack action that needed to be paused.

Qin Ye's eyes flickered slightly.

[ World ] instantly appeared in front of the sea of fire.

It did not stop the flames.

But instead threw a punch.

Boom!

The terrifying fist pressure forcefully tore the sea of fire apart from the center.

The flames on both sides brushed past the bodies of the rescue personnel, but did not hurt anyone.

A Song family beast master stood frozen in place.

He was less than ten meters away from the flame giant hound.

He could clearly see the beating blood vessels at the neck of the giant hound.

Wait.

The blood vessels were still beating?

The beast master instinctively looked at the giant hound's chest.

The heart was still rising and falling normally.

Hot white steam was constantly exhaled from its nostrils.

Its body was not completely stopped.

The only thing stopped was the attack action.

"Everyone leave your spot!"

Qin Ye's voice woke him up.

The Song family rescuers quickly retreated with the wounded.

Meanwhile, the remaining six beast companions also successively broke through the outer seal.

A Tier 6 [ Split-Wind Eagle ] flapped its wings.

Hundreds of wind blades condensed around its wings.

[World] raised its hand and pointed.

The dark golden time fluctuation did not envelop the entire Wind-Ripping Eagle, only covering the trajectory of its wings flapping downward.

The wings stopped.

The Wind-Ripping Eagle could still roll its eyes.

It could breathe.

It could even let out an angry cry.

But it could not complete the action of flapping its wings.

Those wind blades that had not yet fully formed lost their subsequent mana and quickly dissipated.

On the other side, a Rock-Armored Great Rhinoceros had already lowered its head, preparing to charge at the rescue team.

The muscles in its front limbs suddenly tensed.

Its massive body had just moved half a step forward when all four of its legs fell into stillness simultaneously.

Momentum still existed.

The upper body of the Rock-Armored Great Rhinoceros continued to lean forward.

Seeing that its huge body was about to crash into the ground, [World] appeared beside it, one hand supporting the rhinoceros's lower jaw.

The body weighing hundreds of tons was forcefully held suspended in mid-air.

It did not crash down.

Nor did it cause an impact on its internal organs.

"This..."

The First Elder of the Song family looked at the footage of the southwest region, his gaze gradually changing.

He had seen Qin Ye use Time Stop at the National Competition.

At that time, [World] was powerful, overbearing, and almost unstoppable.

It could plunge the entire arena into stillness.

And then end the battle in a time when no one could react.

But that kind of Time Stop could, at most, prove that [World] possessed extremely powerful rule-based power.

Some high-tier Space-Time professionals could also do similar things.

At least on the surface, they could all make all targets within a certain range stop moving.

Now, however, it was completely different.

Qin Ye did not stop an entire region.

Nor did she completely stop any single pet.

What she stopped was the "attack" itself.

The giant dog's heart continued to beat, but its sharp claws could not fall.

The Wind-Ripping Eagle's consciousness remained clear, but its wings could not complete the action of creating wind blades.

The body of the Rock-Armored Great Rhinoceros was still enduring inertia, but [World] only froze the power for it to continue charging.

This kind of control precision was far more terrifying than large-scale Time Stop.

"How does she know what things should stop and what things shouldn't?"

A Song family Beastmaster muttered.

No one answered.

Because this was not even the most startling part.

[World]'s dark golden eyes locked onto the sky once more.

The reason the seven pets recovered their movement was not rooted in their physical bodies.

What truly went out of control were the contract nodes connecting them to their Beastmasters.

Those contracts were hidden within the blood-red evolutionary network.

Any erroneous touch could cause the backlash to continue spreading.

Qin Ye raised her right hand.

[World] made the same motion.

Its five fingers slowly spread open.

Dark golden Mental Power fluctuations extended forward along the contracts of the seven pets.

The first.

The second.

The third.

More and more contract nodes on the verge of snapping appeared within Qin Ye's mental perception.

She did not freeze the entire contract.

The contract must continue to transmit the most basic life fluctuations of both parties.

Complete freezing would only cause the Beastmaster and the pet to lose perception, ultimately leading to new mental rejection.

What Qin Ye needed to stop was the process of the cracks expanding.

Just like precisely freezing a single drop of water about to burst within a rushing river.

The first contract node stopped.

Then the second.

The third.

In just a few seconds, a total of forty-six collapsing nodes across the seven contracts were fixed at different moments respectively.

The mental fluctuations inside the contracts could still bypass the nodes and maintain a bare-minimum flow.

The blood-red pillar of light that had originally soared into the sky finally began to slowly dissipate.

"The contract backlash has stopped spreading!"

exclaimed a Song family healer.

"It's not the Supreme's Law of Time."

"It's Qin Ye!"

"She has stopped forty-six nodes individually!"

Everyone in the Song family raised their heads simultaneously.

Qin Ye was still standing on the hovering platform.

As for [World], it split into streaks of dark golden afterimages, appearing beside the seven pets simultaneously.

She did not throw punches to destroy everything like she did at the National Competition.

She didn't even truly harm any of the berserk pets.

Yet all attacks from the seven Tier 6 pets were precisely stopped at the very last moment.

Rescue personnel could still move freely.

Healing cards could still take effect normally.

The pets' breathing and blood circulation were not interrupted.

The mental connection at the most basic level was also retained in the contracts between the Beastmasters and their pets.

Only the attacking motions and the collapsing contract nodes were individually cut out from normally flowing time.

The golden lizard on Gu Tianheng's shoulder narrowed its eyes.

With his Mental Power, he naturally saw things much more clearly than others.

Qin Ye was not maintaining a single Time Stop domain simultaneously.

She was maintaining hundreds of independent miniature Time Stops.

Every single sharp claw of the giant dog.

Every single wing flap of the Wind-Ripping Eagle.

The muscles in different parts of the rhinoceros.

The forty-six collapsing contract nodes.

They were all at different Time Stop coordinates.

Some needed to be completely still.

Some could only be slowed down.

Some must allow Mental Power to pass through.

Qin Ye needed to re-evaluate these targets at every single instant.

This kind of mental control ability could no longer be summarized by a simple "Time Stop".

At the National Competition, Qin Ye proved just how strong [World] could be.

Now, for the first time, she proved just to what degree she could make this power precise.

Li Qingyue looked at those dark golden time nodes and nodded slightly.

"Relatively stable."

Hearing this evaluation, the First Elder of the Song family had a subtle expression.

Maintaining hundreds of directional Time Stops simultaneously could only get a "Relatively stable"?

He instinctively looked at Li Qingyue.

But soon found it reasonable.

After all, the person evaluating Qin Ye's Time Stop was a Tier 9 [Space-Time Supreme].

Qin Ye obviously heard it too.

"Only relatively?"

she asked.

"The thirty-seventh node was stopped 0.02 seconds too long."

Li Qingyue said.

Qin Ye immediately looked at the thirty-seventh contract node.

Sure enough, the speed of the mental flow there was slightly slower than the surrounding ones.

She adjusted [World]'s power to restore balance to the node.

"How about now?"

"Acceptable."

Qin Ye did not continue asking.

She already knew that even if she controlled all the nodes to be completely identical, she would probably only get an "Overall acceptable" from Li Qingyue's lips.

But the fact that Li Qingyue didn't take over those nodes was already enough to prove that she approved of Qin Ye's control.

"Space-Time Supreme."

The First Elder of the Song family asked tentatively:

"These pets on the outer perimeter..."

"Leave them to her."

Li Qingyue said.

"Qin Ye is responsible for freezing the attacks and new contract cracks."

"You are responsible for transferring the wounded out."

"Do not let both parties of the contract enter different spatial channels again."

"Understood."

The First Elder of the Song family immediately gave the order.

The rescue started anew.

This time, all the Song family members became even more cautious.

As for Qin Ye, she stood in the center of the mystic realm, covering the outer perimeter with [World]'s mental perception.

Whenever a pet was about to break free from control, the dark golden time fluctuations would fall in advance.

Their attacks would stop.

Yet the basic life activities of their bodies were unaffected.

Whenever a new crack appeared in a contract, [World] would freeze the process of the crack's expansion individually.

Li Qingyue's large amount of Law of Time originally dispersed in the outer perimeter began to gradually withdraw.

More power was concentrated by her onto Obsidian and Song Qingli.

The 72-hour core space-time freeze also became more stable because of this.

Gu Tianheng's gaze toward Qin Ye finally gained a bit of seriousness.

"How long has it been since the National Competition ended?"

"Her control over time has already improved to this extent?"

Li Qingyue did not answer.

Because she knew very well that Qin Ye's current progress was not just an increase in Mental Power.

The [Golden Spirit] allowed her to truly gain a stable and clear self.

In the past, when Qin Ye used [World], she always subconsciously pursued the strongest power and the most absolute suppression.

It was as if only by shattering all obstacles with a single punch could she prove that she wouldn't lose anything again.

Now, she no longer needed to use arrogance to cover up her fear.

Nor did she need to push [World]'s power to its limit every single time.

She began to learn control.

To learn to choose what things needed to stop.

And what things must continue moving forward.

This was the true beginning of [World]'s maturity.

Half an hour later.

The seven pets in the southwest third breeding area were transferred separately.

One hour later.

Thirty-six Song family members in the northern ice field broke away from the dangerous area.

Two hours later.

The berserk pets on the outer perimeter of the entire mystic realm were basically brought under control.

Not a single rescue worker died during the operation.

Nor did any pet suffer new fatal injuries due to violent suppression.

Qin Ye's complexion gradually turned somewhat pale.

Maintaining hundreds of directional Time Stops simultaneously consumed a terrifying amount of Mental Power.

Yet her figure remained straight.

[World] hovered above the mystic realm, resembling a dark golden deity.

Those Song family Beastmasters who had previously only regarded Qin Ye as a "National Champion" now had a clear sense of awe in their gazes when they looked at her.

A champion only meant she had defeated her peers.

Everything before their eyes proved that she truly possessed the ability to intervene in high-tier disasters.

"The last batch of wounded has been sent to the eastern treatment zone!"

News came from the communication formation.

The First Elder of the Song family finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Start repairing the contracts immediately."

"Give priority to treating those whose spiritual sea integrity is below thirty percent!"

Inside the eastern treatment zone, dozens of healing-type professionals acted simultaneously.

A large number of mental stabilization cards were activated.

Complex contract repair formations unfolded one by one.

But just a few minutes later, a Song family physician in charge of coordinating treatment rushed out of the formation.

There was not a shred of post-catastrophe relief on his face.

Only panic.

"First Elder!"

"There's a problem!"

The First Elder of the Song family's heart sank.

"Are there more berserk pets?"

"No."

"Champion Qin Ye has already controlled all the berserk pets and contract cracks."

the physician's voice trembled.

"But those contracts were already broken to begin with."

"Stopping the collapse doesn't mean they can be reconnected."

"We checked all the wounded."

"A total of forty-one Beastmasters and fifty-three contracted pets."

"Among them, the mental structures of thirty-eight sets of contracts have been severely misaligned."

"Existing contract repair cards simply cannot handle so many people at the same time!"

The First Elder of the Song family asked sternly:

"How many can be saved?"

The physician's lips moved.

Seeming not to dare say that number.

Gu Tianheng looked up toward the eastern treatment zone.

Within the mental vision of the golden dragon, he had already seen the contract status between those Beastmasters and their pets.

Forty-one contracts were like ropes severed by a sharp blade.

Both ends still existed.

But the connection in the middle was already lost.

[World] could prevent the breaks from expanding further.

But it couldn't make them heal back together out of thin air.

If Qin Ye released the directional Time Stop, the mental backlash accumulated at both ends of the breaks would erupt instantly.

Those Beastmasters and pets would still die.

The First Elder of the Song family asked once more:

"With the current healing strength, exactly how many can be saved?"

The physician lowered his head, his voice filled with despair.

"At most, three."

"What about the rest of the people?"

No one answered.

Inside the eastern treatment zone, thirty-eight sets of already broken beast-taming contracts floated quietly.

Qin Ye had frozen their death.

But the current Song family simply did not have enough power to reconnect all of them.