Chapter 1779: One Day in Heaven, One Year on Earth
Inside the Guanghan Divine Palace, Zhang Ruochen took out the Sundial and placed it at the center of the hall.
Holding the divine decree left by Xumi Saint Monk, Zhang Ruochen watched as the Sundial emitted a layer of cyan light, flickering and shimmering, extraordinarily beautiful.
“It is said that the Sundial’s owner was Xumi Saint Monk?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The Moon God gently nodded, then added, “Yes and no. Xumi Saint Monk was merely one of the Sundial’s owners. In truth, the Sundial has existed since extremely ancient times, traceable back to the dawn of civilization.”
The Moon God’s delicate jade hand pushed toward the Sundial.
Vast divine power surged into the Sundial.
“Whoosh!”
From within the Sundial, countless specks of light flew out, enveloping the entire divine hall.
“Time Imprints—retreat!”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression shifted. Like lightning, he swiftly flew backward.
When he first encountered the Sundial in the Ice Fire Phoenix’s nest, just three Time Imprint light specks had struck him, cutting away fifty years of his lifespan.
He retreated all the way to one hundred and twenty zhang away before stopping.
In contrast, the Moon God did not evade at all, standing motionless in place.
The Time Imprint light specks, before they could even approach her, extinguished like sparks.
“Truly formidable—she ignores the power of time,” Zhang Ruochen marveled inwardly.
The Moon God’s strength was indeed unfathomable, her divine abilities vast and all-encompassing. What force in the world could possibly harm her?
As if reading his thoughts, the Moon God said, “It’s not that time power cannot affect me, but rather that the Sundial’s current form emits too weak a time force.”
“This is still weak? Even a Nine-Step Saint King, entering within one hundred and twenty zhang of the Sundial, probably couldn’t last more than a few breaths before their lifespan dried up,” Zhang Ruochen said.
The Moon God replied, “If the Sundial’s full power were unleashed, it wouldn’t just affect a mere one hundred and twenty zhang area—the time flow of an entire great world would become chaotic. The destructive force it would create is beyond your current cultivation realm to imagine.”
“I’ve tried injecting Saint Qi into the Sundial before, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea—no reaction at all. Does it require divine power to activate?” Zhang Ruochen wondered inwardly.
“Rustle, rustle.”
Perhaps due to the rapid flow of time, a sound like flowing water emerged from within the Sundial.
The Moon God gazed at the Sundial and said, “Try embedding Xumi Saint Monk’s divine decree into the groove at the center of the stone platform.”
Zhang Ruochen observed closely and noticed that the stone platform indeed had three grooves.
The size and shape of the middle groove matched the round jade divine decree in his hand quite closely.
Then, he made another discovery: as long as he held the divine decree in his hand, the Time Imprint light specks floating around him automatically avoided him.
“Interesting. Very interesting. What material is this jade made of, that it can cross the River of Time, passing from one hundred thousand years ago to one hundred thousand years later? Could it be that this jade was once part of the Sundial itself?”
Holding the jade, Zhang Ruochen re-entered the Guanghan Divine Palace and placed it into the middle of the three circular grooves.
Nothing changed.
What was going on? Did the jade and the Sundial have no connection at all?
Suddenly, the Time Imprint light specks floating in the air vanished, and the flow of time underwent a dramatic transformation, growing slower and slower.
Zhang Ruochen calculated carefully, and then his face showed shock. He muttered to himself, “How is this possible? How is this possible… The time ratio has reached such a terrifying level?”
The Moon God said calmly, “No need to be so surprised. There was once a saying in the Kunlun Realm: one day in heaven, one year on earth. This was because, in the middle and late stages of the divine war one hundred thousand years ago, Xumi Saint Monk pushed the Sundial’s power to its limit, covering the entire Kunlun Realm. Cultivating for one year in the Kunlun Realm meant only one day had passed in the Heavenly Court Realm and other great worlds.”
“In just a few hundred years, the Kunlun Realm produced a large number of top-tier powerhouses. By the time the Hell Realm noticed, it was already too late. At that point, the Kunlun Realm had become the most powerful great world in the universe, possessing enough strength to decide the outcome of the final battle. If not for…”
At this point, the Moon God paused, a hint of regret flashing in her eyes, and she spoke a meaningful sentence: “The human heart is too complicated.”
Indeed.
Within the one hundred and twenty zhang range of the Sundial, the time flow ratio had reached an astonishing 1:365.
Cultivating for one year beneath the Sundial meant only one day had passed outside.
Zhang Ruochen was deeply shaken. “The Kunlun Realm had such a glorious period one hundred thousand years ago?”
“A fleeting bloom. Power expanded rapidly through time force always has fatal flaws. For example, the Black Heart Demon Lord—wasn’t he a god nurtured by the Kunlun Realm during that most glorious period? And what was the final outcome?” the Moon God said.
Zhang Ruochen felt that the Moon God was not only referring to the Kunlun Realm of one hundred thousand years ago but also seemed to be warning him.
“Regardless, that period was indeed the most brilliant chapter in Kunlun Realm history. Unfortunately, it was erased by an invisible force. No one knows about it except for those cultivators who lived through that era,” the Moon God said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Who covered up history? And why did they do it?”
The Moon God shook her head. “I want to know the answer too.”
After a long silence, Zhang Ruochen let out a deep sigh. The glory was in the past. Now, the Kunlun Realm was like a dying dragon trapped in a swamp. Whether it could survive the current calamity was still unknown.
Zhang Ruochen said, “I found the Sundial in the Ice Fire Phoenix’s nest. It might hide the God Star Soul of the Hunter God, the only god of the Ancestral Spirit Realm. Moon God, you possess great wisdom and divine power—can you help me unlock its secrets?”
“The Hunter God’s God Star Soul is not inside the Sundial. However…”
The Moon God, as graceful as a willow in the wind, walked to the front of the Sundial and stared at it. “Perhaps the answer lies here.”
Zhang Ruochen looked and saw that, at some point, the stone platform beneath the Sundial had become covered in countless strange patterns and light specks.
There were hundreds of thousands of light specks, and the pattern lines were densely packed. When connected, they resembled a Buddha statue diagram or a complex starry sky route.
This was not the first time Zhang Ruochen had seen these patterns and light specks. Fearing they might disappear again like last time, he took out a spirit paper and traced them all down.
“What is this?”
Zhang Ruochen stared at the patterns and light specks, thinking deeply. He had some guesses but dismissed them one by one.
The Moon God gazed for a long time and said, “That is a stretch of starry sky outside the Kunlun Realm. Each light speck is a star.”
“Are those pattern lines routes in the starry sky?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The Moon God extended two snow-white, jade-like fingers and gestured in the air, then smiled slightly. “You will naturally learn the secrets of those lines in the future. However, I believe I have already solved the mystery of the Hunter God’s God Star Soul.”
Zhang Ruochen listened intently, but then heard the Moon God say, “In the Guanghan Divine Palace, only the Sundial itself emits light. So how can there be a shadow?”
“A shadow? What shadow?”
Just as Zhang Ruochen was puzzled, he suddenly realized something. He looked up sharply at the stone needle at the center of the Sundial.
The shadow cast by the stone needle indicated the current hour.
But at this moment, the shadow of the stone needle on the stone disk was clearly not created by light.
Zhang Ruochen leaped onto the stone platform and turned the Sundial’s stone disk, discovering that the shadow on the disk always pointed in the same direction.
“Haha! So that’s it. So that’s it.” Zhang Ruochen laughed loudly.
The shadow of the stone needle did not represent time. The direction it pointed to was very likely the location of the Hunter God’s God Star Soul.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen only knew the direction now. He had no idea how far he would have to travel along that path to find the God Star Soul.
One hundred thousand li? One million li? Or would he have to cross an entire star river?
Smiling, Zhang Ruochen looked at the Moon God.
The Moon God stopped injecting divine power into the Sundial and said, “Don’t look at me. Your own opportunity, you must seek yourself. Your own path, you must walk yourself.”
If the Moon God were willing to help, with her supreme divine abilities, she could easily cross billions of li and retrieve the God Star Soul.
Zhang Ruochen was not disappointed, because he understood that the Moon God was right—his own path, he had to walk himself.
After the Moon God withdrew her divine power, the Sundial’s time power disappeared, and the time flow in the Guanghan Divine Palace returned to normal.
“How is this possible? Does it really require divine power to activate the Sundial?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The Moon God said, “That’s right.”
Zhang Ruochen felt like spitting blood. Just moments ago, he had been ecstatic, thinking that with the Sundial, his cultivation speed would skyrocket, and he could even use it to train a large number of experts in a short time.
But if it required divine power to activate, how was he supposed to use it?
Even if the Moon God were willing to use her divine power to help him cultivate, given the current critical situation, Zhang Ruochen could not afford to stay peacefully on Moon God Mountain.
Going to the Kunlun Realm was an urgent matter.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen’s dumbfounded expression, a hint of slyness flashed in the Moon God’s eyes. “Have you heard of Divine Stones?”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes lit up. “Can Divine Stones also activate the Sundial?”
“That’s right. See the two grooves beside the round jade? Place two Divine Stones into those grooves, and you can activate the Sundial,” the Moon God said.
Zhang Ruochen showed a joyful expression, but then frowned deeply. “Divine Stones are priceless treasures, supreme gems that only gods can use. They can’t be bought in the saint market. Moon God, you must have Divine Stones, right? Could you give me some?”
“No.”
The Moon God replied bluntly.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart sank again.
But then the Moon God added, “Other great worlds might not be able to produce Divine Stones. However, the Kunlun Realm is one of the few eternal great worlds in the universe. It can certainly produce Divine Stones. Go search some of the ancient mines in the Kunlun Realm, and you should find some.”
…
Wishing all readers a Happy New Year. Did everyone grab the red envelopes on the WeChat public account today? I saw someone grabbed sixty or seventy—I’m so envious I coughed up blood.