# Chapter 2057: Dark Tides
Absolutely... still... space!?
This was a concept entirely outside of Yun Che's understanding.
According to Hua Caili, although she had been born over ten thousand years ago, the time that had actually flowed through her was only nineteen years. The remaining years had been spent in a sealed state?
No! "Sealed" and "absolutely still" were two completely different concepts.
The latter... when he thought deeply about it, it seemed to transcend time, to transcend everything in the world, existing in a "nothingness" world that floated outside of all things.
Seeing Yun Che's rare expression of shock, Hua Caili found it rather endearing: "This is one of the greatest secrets of the Pure Land. Even in our Zhe Tian Divine Kingdom, only Father God, Auntie, and I know of it. The explanation given to outsiders is always that Grandma Lingxian sealed my body with special divine path ice in her temple, never mentioning the existence of the 'cradle.'"
Hua Qingying raised her hand to touch her brow... She knew this was such a huge secret, yet she had just directly told it to an outsider.
Yun Che stared fixedly at Hua Caili for a very long time. Just as she thought he was shocked by the "absolutely still space," he squeezed out a few words with some difficulty: "You're only... nineteen years old?"
Even younger than Yun Wuxin...
"That's right."
The young girl raised her hand to touch her cheek, showing a playful expression: "You were the one who called me 'sister' first. I didn't force you, hehehe."
Nineteen years old...
Half-step Divine Destruction Realm...
Cough...
Even with Yun Che's transcendent saintly body that surpassed all beings, he couldn't help but be secretly startled.
With such an appearance and temperament, this was such an unimaginably peerless monstrous genius. Even before this moment, he had never dared to put the concepts of "nineteen years old" and "Half-step Divine Destruction Realm" together.
Based on his current understanding of the Abyss's power level, it was likely that no one in the entire Abyss could compare to her.
Her future achievements were unimaginable.
The person he had managed to snatch this time was not just a divine kingdom's divine daughter, but a woman who would surely shake the history of the Abyss.
However, amidst his shock, many of his previous confusions were also resolved.
He finally understood why her nature was so pure and naive, and why her life experience was so shallow... It turned out she was only nineteen years old.
Not minding her teasing, he asked with concern: "Why did you need such a long 'slumber'? Was it because of the fatal calamity you mentioned... that you encountered at birth?"
"Mm." Hua Caili nodded. The first thing he asked about was not the cradle that anyone would be amazed by, but her safety, and the urgency in his eyes was almost overflowing—this made her heart very happy: "On the day I was born, my mother passed away. 'Qu' was my mother's surname."
"How did she die?" Yun Che asked.
Hua Caili's eyes dimmed a little, and she lowered her voice: "Father God said it was due to a serious illness... but I actually know it wasn't. But no matter how much I asked, Father God and Auntie wouldn't tell me."
Hua Qingying: "..."
"Father God said that because of my mother's 'serious illness,' all my meridians were damaged at birth, my congenital profound veins were completely severed, and even my soul was shattered... If not for the Prayer Heaven Jade that Father God and Auntie carried with them, I would have died that very day."
"But the Prayer Heaven Jade could only protect me temporarily. To keep me alive and heal my meridians, profound veins, and soul, there was only one method."
"The tempering and healing of True God power and True God soul."
"And this True God power and True God soul had to come from the closest direct blood relative. That is, biological parents or siblings from the same father and mother."
Hua Qingying slowly closed her eyes, suppressing the images from that year from surfacing.
"..." Yun Che's brows moved almost imperceptibly.
"My mother 'died of illness,' and I had no siblings from the same parents. The only one who could save me was my father... and he had to be a father who had achieved True God status."
"And this 'tempering' was not something that could be accomplished overnight. Its essence was actually a sacrifice made with one's own vitality and soul. Even for a True God's body and soul, if the sacrifice was too much at once, it would cause irreversible eternal damage, and the one being sacrificed would also find it hard to bear."
Hearing this, Yun Che already had a rough understanding.
"So Father God took me to the Pure Land and requested to place me in the 'cradle'... After finally receiving Uncle Yuan Huang's permission, Father God returned to Zhe Tian Divine Kingdom, inherited the divine source, and became the new Divine Venerable."
"After fusing with the Zhe Tian Divine Source and achieving True God, Father God brought me out of the cradle to temper me. Each time he tempered me, it would keep me safe for a year, with my meridians, profound veins, and soul all as intact as when complete. And he would need at least five hundred years to recover."
"Thus, every five hundred years or so, Father God would come to the Pure Land to temper me, then take me back to Zhe Tian Divine Kingdom for a year before sending me back again... And so, unknowingly, over ten thousand years had passed."
"But in my world, it only felt like nineteen years had gone by."
"I see." Yun Che wrapped his arms around her slender waist, his face full of pity: "You have suffered so many calamities since birth, and I was not by your side to protect you then."
He let out a soft sigh, his voice carrying a hint of emptiness: "That means, in at most a few months, you will have to return to the 'cradle' in the Pure Land, and then... we won't be able to see each other for over five hundred years?"
"That won't happen." Seeing the sadness that Yun Che was clearly struggling to suppress, she leaned into his embrace, her lips against his cheek: "Just nine months ago, Father God completed his final tempering for me, making my meridians, profound veins, and soul completely whole, no longer needing his sacrifice."
"The last time I left the Pure Land, Grandma Lingxian even gave me a sea of colorful cloud flowers to celebrate my recovery. So I met you, Brother Yun, at the very best time."
This soft call, her jade lips against his ear, was soft and bone-melting.
She had called various people "brother" quite a few times in her life—after all, although she was born early, she was very young. But even though it was the exact same word, an ordinary common address, when she called it now, she suddenly felt her heartbeat quicken and her cheeks warm... She buried her head deep in Yun Che's neck, not daring to look into his eyes for a long time.
Hua Caili, lying against Yun Che's chest, clearly felt him relax all at once, and his voice no longer carried that emptiness: "You scared me... It really seems like heaven blessed me to meet you at this time."
"Although I am alone, without power or influence, and my cultivation is very weak, but..." He held the young girl close, lifting his head slightly, his words resolute and firm: "In the life that lies ahead of you, I will give everything to protect you."
"Mm." Hua Caili closed her eyes and gently responded, saying in her heart words similar to his: I will also give everything to protect you... no matter what I have to face.
"Hm? You trust me that much?" Yun Che smiled. "You are the most noble divine daughter of a divine kingdom, while I don't even have a background. Aren't you afraid that I've been a scheming liar all along?"
"A liar? Hmm..." She put on a serious thinking expression: "A liar who repeatedly risks his life to save me... what exactly does he want to trick me into?"
"Right now, I am yours, my heart is yours, and my life is yours." Her voice was playful yet earnest: "What else do you want to trick me into? Tell me, and I can give you anything."
"..." Yun Che's gaze was briefly dazed.
Then he asked again: "And if one day... I were to do something that hurts you?"
The young girl in his arms caught her breath. She suddenly lifted her head from his neck, wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, looked straight into his eyes, and pouted unhappily: "You... you're not going to run away again, are you? You've already promised me so many times."
"No, no." Yun Che quickly shook his head in denial: "I'm just worried... that maybe one day I'll do something very excessive, something that hurts you..."
Hua Caili relaxed and regained her bright smile: "As long as you don't leave, no matter what you do, I won't really blame you... And I don't believe you would hurt me."
"Besides..." Her voice suddenly grew smaller, soft and weak: "You've already done the most excessive thing to me."
As she spoke, her lips pressed forward and gently bit his neck, leaving a shallow tooth mark.
Yun Che said nothing more, only his chest rose and fell a few times more heavily. His arms tightened around the young girl slightly, then loosened a little after a moment.
Although she was already awake, Hua Caili still clung to him, unwilling to get up. Yun Che let her stay like this, lazy and boneless.
After another good while of being affectionate, Yun Che asked: "That cradle in the Pure Land—is it an especially miraculous, unimaginable place?"
Although this clearly touched on sensitive secrets, anyone would be curious to ask about something beyond their cognition, so it wasn't strange.
Hua Caili, however, said: "Actually, I don't know what the 'cradle' looks like."
Yun Che: "...?"
"Every time before entering the 'cradle,' I would face a sealed barrier. Then Uncle Yuan Huang would tell me to close my eyes... at most one breath, and Uncle Yuan Huang would tell me to open my eyes again."
"For me, it was just a brief closing and opening of my eyes, but when I opened them again, I was already facing a world that was over five hundred years later."
Because of the "absolute stillness," she had no awareness of the time spent in the "cradle."
"So you really... have no sensation at all?" Yun Che murmured. Because only "no sensation" would prove that it was indeed "absolute stillness."
But... does the concept of "time stillness" really exist?
"Mm, completely no sensation." Hua Caili explained without reservation: "Once, I secretly held a colorful cloud petal in my palm. Still, I only blinked, and when I turned around, I was already facing Father God from over five hundred years later."
"And the colorful cloud petal in my hand hadn't changed at all—even the position and size of the dew droplets on it were exactly the same."
Yun Che sighed in admiration: "It's amazing that such a miraculous place actually exists in this world."
Then, he asked very naturally: "How could such an 'absolutely still space' be created? Even my master has never mentioned such an astonishing existence."
Hua Caili thought for a moment, then said: "Of course, I don't know either. But Father God seemed to have said..."
"Caili, the secrets of the Pure Land are not to be spoken of lightly."
Hua Qingying could no longer hold back, sending a thread of cold sound directly into Hua Caili's ear.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
Hua Caili stuck out her tongue and whispered: "Auntie is being stingy; she won't let me say."
Hua Qingying: "..."
Yun Che quickly straightened his sitting posture and said seriously: "Auntie... Senior's lesson is well taken. There are no legends or records of the 'cradle' in the Abyss; it must be a secret of the Pure Land. I should not have asked."
"Mm-hmm, I always listen to Auntie." Hua Caili nodded in assurance, then pressed her lips to Yun Che's ear and said in what she thought was a voice too soft for her aunt to hear: "Next time Auntie isn't around, I'll secretly tell you."
Hua Qingying: "~!@#$%..."
"Uh..." Yun Che wisely shut up and didn't press further for a long time.
But the turmoil in his heart continued to churn.
After pondering for a long time, he asked via soul voice: "Li Suo, how much understanding do you retain of the Zhou Tian Pearl?"
Li Suo knew what he wanted to ask and said directly: "Fragmentary and incomplete. But I am certain that the Zhou Tian Pearl could never achieve absolute stillness of time."
Yun Che frowned slightly: "Absolutely certain?"
Li Suo said: "The Zhou Tian Pearl's interference with time is limited to its unique space, the 'Zhou Tian Divine Realm.' Within the Zhou Tian Divine Realm, it can compress or expand time laws, making the flow of time faster or slower than the outside world."
"But no matter what, even if the time laws are compressed to the extreme, causing the flow of time to be extremely slow, it is still continuous flow. It cannot be stopped, let alone reversed."
"Because neither 'time stillness' nor 'time reversal' are phenomena that follow the order of time laws. They should not exist, and cannot possibly exist."
Yun Che thought for a moment, then said: "But the world's time has indeed reversed before..."
"I know." Li Suo did not show surprise: "I listened to your entire conversation with the Primordial Divine. She once reversed time to save you and to create the 'Vessel of Fate' for you. But... that was the Primordial Divine, the enactor of all laws of chaos."
"But even the Primordial Divine could not violate many established rules. She paid a great price when she reversed time."
Yun Che knew what that price was.
"And under the Primordial Divine, 'time stillness' cannot exist."
Based on her understanding of time laws, Li Suo's words were resolute.
"But the Pure Land truly has a 'cradle' with an 'absolutely still space,'" Yun Che mused. "Do you think Hua Caili's words sounded like lies or exaggerations?"
Li Suo could not answer, remaining silent for a long time.
The turmoil in Yun Che's heart grew even more intense.
Because this "cradle" that Hua Caili spoke of actually surpassed the cognition of a Creation God (half-amnesiac).
If even the strongest time artifact, the Zhou Tian Pearl, could not achieve this, how could the Pure Land...
Wait... time artifact?
"What are you thinking?" Li Suo sensed the agitation in his soul.
Yun Che pondered as he spoke: "Do you still remember the 'Mirror of Ming' and the 'Demon Pearl' that the Demon Empress learned from the ancient memories of the Nirvana Wheel Demon Soul before I fell into the Abyss?"
"I have some vague knowledge." Li Suo said softly: "But I cannot recall their names. After all, they are demon clan's demon artifacts."
"Their names are not important." Yun Che's voice gradually grew heavy: "The Demon Empress glimpsed a flash of mirror light in Mo Beichen's memories. She suspected that the 'Mirror of Ming,' which was lost by the ancient demon clan, was used by Yuan Huang to open the Abyss passage. And the 'Demon Pearl,' which was lost together with the 'Mirror of Ming,' is likely also in the Abyss."
"At the same time, based on the balance between divine clan artifacts and demon clan artifacts, the Demon Empress judged that the 'Demon Pearl' was probably a time demon artifact."
Li Suo understood his meaning: "So you think that the lost 'Demon Pearl' is also in Yuan Huang's hands, and he used it to create the 'cradle'?"
After a long silence, Yun Che slowly answered: "This is the only possibility I can think of at present."
However...
The Zhou Tian Pearl was ranked fourth among the Mystic Heaven Supreme Treasures.
Even if the "Demon Pearl" were a time artifact on the same level as the Zhou Tian Pearl, since it did not make it into the seven supreme treasures, it meant its overall time power must be weaker than the Zhou Tian Pearl.
What the Zhou Tian Pearl could not achieve—"time stillness"—how could it accomplish this?
At that moment, Li Suo suddenly spoke leisurely: "If 'time stillness' has truly been achieved, then it must be a method outside time laws and heavenly dao rules."
"Acting against heaven, tearing through taboos... it would surely require an extremely great price."
"Price?" Yun Che sneered faintly: "That Yuan Huang created the Abyss world and has survived until now. His power, status, and reputation are all at the pinnacle of the current era, his might unparalleled throughout Abyss history. The Pure Land is the 'fairyland' of this world. What price could there be to..."
His voice suddenly cut off.
Four simple words thundered like a thunderclap in his soulsea...
The Time Black Tide that had appeared since ancient times, fluctuating more and more violently, heralding the imminent collapse of the Abyss's time wheel and the impending collapse of the entire Abyss...
—***—