The Era of Gods

Chapter 665: Chapter 665: Returning to the Original World

If someone else were in his place, Neola’s threat might have worked, but unfortunately for her, she encountered Lin Xiao, who didn’t need any acknowledgment or inheritance; he just needed to catch you.

The Creation Rubik’s Cube slowly rotated, and with each turn, Lin Xiao felt a surge of pure Soul Power mixed with an unknown fluctuation pouring into his Sea of Soul Consciousness. At the same time, the Soul Power was laced with an enigmatic oscillation of the Time Law within the soul sea formed by his Origin of the Crystal Wall System shell, causing his thoughts to be incredibly chaotic as they flowed with time.

He did not refine it in the usual manner but instead directly refined and absorbed all of Neola’s Power of Time that she wielded, in a single swoop.

Let’s not speak of the Soul Power for now; he had absorbed plenty of that. Though Neola’s accumulated Soul Power was strong, it wasn’t particularly exaggerated for him, so he went ahead and refined and absorbed it directly.

The most critical Power of Time, even with the Creation Rubik’s Cube capable of thoroughly separating it from Neola’s soul, was not easy to capture.

Fortunately, his soul shell was an Origin Core shell from the Crystal Wall System, which once housed the original will of a vast Crystal Wall Universe. Only then could it accommodate this strand of the Power of Time, as another warrior of his own strength would likely not even be able to sense it.

The Power of Time is intangible and without substance; one cannot sense it without reaching a certain level of strength.

Ordinarily, Lin Xiao’s own strength wasn’t even close to making contact, but with the Creation Rubik’s Cube and the Origin shell of the Crystal Wall System, everything became possible.

He didn’t need to refine it deliberately; there was no need for that. All he had to do was bind it within his soul, and over time it would naturally merge into the soul shell formed by the Origin of the Crystal Wall System, becoming one with his soul, naturally allowing him to comprehend and master the Power of Time.

The Power of Time!

A rule sought after in their dreams by countless mighty beings in the Chaotic Void Sea, was now laid before him, an exhilarating thought.

As the last trace of soul was refined completely, that cluster within the Creation Rubik’s Cube, made up of who knows how many intertwined souls, was emptied of everything but a glimmer of light, which was the collective memory of Neola.

With this, the number one fugitive who had been wanted by the Sea King Empire for hundreds of years was thoroughly eradicated, forever gone.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on Ɲ0νǤᴑ.ᴄο

Because he wielded the Power of Time without full mastery, the moment he fell, everything about him was stripped away by time and completely vanished, making it impossible for even a powerful entity willing to reverse the current of the River of Time to save him.

Ah, except for the great divine power that fully grasps the Time Law!

However, it’s unlikely that any formidable being capable of mastering the Time Law would come to his rescue, if one even existed.

Out at sea, Lin Xiao’s figure turned into a shadow that swiftly shuttled across the surface. He did not dive into the sea to hide; the Sea Emperor’s lock could penetrate space and matter, pinpointing with precision as long as he was in this world. This confirmed to him that the Sea Emperor definitely relied on the original will of this world, and the odds were eight or nine out of ten that it was the founder of the Sea King Empire, the Dragon Whale at Rank 7.

Clearly, that Empire’s founder, not willing to perish toward the end of his life, undertook a nation’s might to metamorphose, merged his body with the Dao, and replaced the world’s original will in one fell swoop.

The strength of the Sea King World was incomparable to that of the Grey Crow World. Even though both essentially merged with the Dao to replace the world’s will, the spirit of the Sea King World was far more powerful than the will of the Grey Crow deity. Lin Xiao felt that staying in this world was too dangerous. It was opportune that he had now acquired the Power of Time, and his own strength was considerable. Having no desires left in this world, it was time to leave.

The direction he was headed in was the same area of the sea he first arrived at in the Sea King World; he intended to find the original space crack he had passed through to return to the world he first descended upon.

Compared to the universally hostile Sea King World, the first world he descended upon was inhabited solely by Children of the Spirit Realm, whom he could now easily handle with his current strength.

Perhaps there may be top-tier powerhouses among the Children of the Spirit Realm, but the likelihood of their presence in that world was low. Moreover, if the situation turned dire, he could always run away. After advancing to Rank 7, he would no longer need a space crack to tear through the World Crystal Wall and escape into the Void. As long as he didn’t play with death, the sky was vast and the sea boundless for his taking.

As for the grudges with the Sea King Empire…

Did they have grudges?

No.

There were no grudges between them. Rather, it was he who benefitted right from the start, from his arrival in this world to his joining the Empire, being entrusted with important tasks and wielding real power to acquire various resources. Later, his display of strength, which led to others viewing him with caution, was a normal human reaction. For an emperor, his actions were entirely normal.

Even when later stripped of power and status, they did nothing against him.

Now, the enmity arose because he had taken what someone else had chased for hundreds of years. The Sea Emperor’s current reaction was completely within reason, and to be honest, he was the one at fault.

From beginning to end, Lin Xiao, having taken great advantage, naturally couldn’t brazenly claim to be wronged. Without being pushed into a corner, he wasn’t likely to counterattack, as he wasn’t the kind of unreasonable main character who resembles a villain more than a hero.

Of course, being at fault is one thing, but definitely, he was not going to return what he had taken. It was simply a case of the Sea Emperor not having that fortune.

He had spent merely two days locating the space rift he had used to first arrive, and his speed was so fast that the Sea Emperor hadn’t even had time to react. It was only two days; there hadn’t been time to mobilize the Empire’s strongholds and make preparations, and even if orders were given at maximum speed, it would take more than two days for the stationed forces around the Empire to assemble.

Lin Xiao arrived at the space rift that led to the Sea King World, placing a hand on it to prevent the Sea Emperor from destroying it, he turned his head and shouted loudly,

“Your Majesty, I am grateful for your care over these years. Consider this as owing Your Majesty a favor—if there is a chance and I am capable, I shall surely repay it!”

Having said that, without waiting for the Sea Emperor to react, he plunged headfirst into the space rift. With a ‘boom’, the space rift exploded open, the turbulent energy blasted out to form a huge bubble in the sea, which then quickly contracted inward with a muffled sound, knocking unconscious or killing an unknown number of sea creatures around it.

A little while later, an invisible force pressed down the swelling waves that were about to form, and a gigantic face slowly emerged in the sky, staring down below. A surge of repressed and angry energy covered dozens of kilometers, but it did not descend for a long time.

After who knows how long, the inexplicable anger slowly dissipated, and a dull voice echoed in the void,

“Remember your promise; you owe the Sea King Empire a favor!”

Lin Xiao, who was shuttling through space, heard the Sea Emperor’s words forcefully transmitted via his own strength and was momentarily stunned for a second, before shaking his head with a smile.

It had to be said that this Sea Emperor was a capable ruler. Whether it was in generosity or mentality, he was extraordinary, able to adapt and know when to cut his losses, decisively aiming to maximize his benefits. One moment he was full of bitter hatred, and the next, he was able to let go.

Passing through this space rift once again, compared to the last time’s disheveled state, he was now much more composed. For him now, the oppressive force generated while shuttling through the space rift felt like a gentle breeze brushing past his face.

Although this space rift was relatively stable, it was not easy for strong beings below the Level 4 Dawn Wizard rank to cross it.

As his space-traveling journey was nearing its end, a point of starlight appeared at the end of the dark spacious tunnel, which rapidly expanded into an eye-blindingly bright opening. He reached out and touched the constantly morphing and incredibly sharp edges of the opening and leaped out.

“Bang!”

A tall figure appeared out of thin air from the sky and landed on ground several meters high, kicking up a faint ring of dust.

“I’m back!”

Lin Xiao looked up and took a deep breath, surveying his surroundings. The air filled with the scent of grass was notably different from the unique sea-stench of the air in the Sea King World—much fresher and more comfortable.

At this moment, Lin Xiao saw numerous hidden space rifts scattered in the sky. He could vaguely sense that there were peering eyes within some rifts. He abruptly turned his head toward a certain direction, and an eye within a rift, hanging dozens of meters in the sky, swiftly disappeared.

“Ha ha ha…”

He grinned and let out a hearty laugh, then strode out of this ancient battlefield.

Having left the ancient battlefield, he didn’t depart from the wasteland but rather found a secluded spot in a remote and uninhabited stretch of it. He prepared himself to thoroughly study and refine the Power of Time, and to make himself ascend to Rank 7.

In a cave hundreds of meters above the ground, Lin Xiao set up a simple witchcraft formation to conceal his presence, a simplified version of the formation he had found in the Sea King Empire.

He had departed from this world too hurriedly, having not learned much about witchcraft formations. Since advancing to Level 3 Wizard, he hadn’t learned any new witchcraft; subsequent advancements had all been based on the continuous enhancement of his innate witchcraft, Wind Spirit Moon Shadow. After six enhancements, the Talent Witchcraft Wind Spirit Moon Shadow had been exaggeratedly amplified by him.

Originally, Wind Spirit Moon Shadow was merely a fusion of several buffs, but after several enhancements, especially the later special ones, and amalgamating all the powers of his True Body, the various attributes merged into one. Now, Wind Spirit Moon Shadow had become a super buff witchcraft that boosted all aspects in an alarmingly significant manner, still very potent even as he ascended to Rank 6.

After becoming a Rank 6 Wizard, Lin Xiao found that the path of a wizard who repeatedly enhanced a single core of spiritual power also suited him pretty well and might be even more suitable for him than the traditional wizardry method which involved a new core of spiritual power at each level.

Traditional Rank 6 Wizards would have six Gifted Spells, offering greater flexibility and abundance in usage, but certainly, none could rival the power of his specialized and six times enhanced witchcraft.

Since he had chosen the path of condensing his True Body, he didn’t need many flashy but underpowered spells; one super-enhanced spell that still significantly boosted his current level was more useful than a hundred low-level spells.

Of course, this didn’t mean he would stop learning new witchcraft in the future. If possible, he would still like to learn some, to re-derive several functional witchcraft to compensate for his weaknesses. For instance, the teleportation spell characteristic of wizards could be very handy.

Hundreds of years passed, and the vast wasteland remained as desolate as always. The area Lin Xiao chose was so secluded that no one disturbed his closed-door cultivation.

He sat quietly in the cave, his will sinking into the Sea of Soul Consciousness, constantly in touch with the sliver of the Power of Time!