Chapter 637: Time
Translator: Yukidaruma Translations Editor: Yukidaruma Translations
As Tiandao sent his palm slapping down, time accelerated, and the feeling that everything in the universe was changing at a rapid rate encompassed the Astral Ancestor.
This was the level 10 black magic—Withering of Time.
It was impossible even for one's martial will to exist for eternity. The martial will would also age as time passed. However, it would be at a much slower rate compared to the ageing of the physical body.
The Withering of Time could accelerate the ageing of the martial will, depleting the other party's lifespan. It would instantly turn one's consciousness into dust, leaving no damage on the physical body.
Tiandao was going to destroy the opponent's will and the use the Time Resurgence Technique to snatch his physical body.
Under this palm, the Astral Ancestor's will seemed to age through several years or several decades, as if it would disintegrate at any moment.
However, at the next moment, his eyes opened abruptly, and a myriad of starlight flashed in his eyes. It was like the movements of the universe, the life and death of the stars.
Earlier, the Astral Ancestor was regenerating his will which had been dealt a great damage by Fang Xingjian. However, as he had been pestered by the messed up memories from when he entered a state of chaos, his regeneration speed was very slow.
Despite Tiandao's Withering of Time dealing a great damage to the Astral Ancestor, it also indirectly helped him to clear up those messed up memories in his mind.
After those memories cleared away, the Astral Ancestor was able to instantly reassemble his martial will. He opened his eyes and struck out with his Astral River Smash, smashing toward Tiandao with an endless amount of gravitational force and darkness.
"What audacity. Who dares to rob my body?"
A vast and majestic power gushed out. Having condensed the Astral Spiritual Physique, the Astral Ancestor who was at the second tier of the Divine level was far too powerful.
As his palm struck out, 1% of his power turned into repercussion waves, lashing out into the air. However, they were still able to bash the buildings within a range of several hundred meters into smithereens.
The remaining power turned into a distorted black hole, encompassing toward Tiandao.
"It's useless."
A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of Tiandao's lips. Golden martial will gushed out from his body, and golden flames were shot out from a piece of crystal that hung around his neck under his clothes.
In that instant, the entire world seemed to have come to a standstill; the Crystal of Time was activated.
This treasure that the Gold Mage King had depleted countless materials and powers to forge for his direct disciple now displayed a terrifying prowess.
In this moment that it was activated, the entire world that Tiandao was seeing seemed to slow down to an extreme. It was as if the entire world was at a standstill.
Be it the Lonestar Knight and his two martial juniors, who were regenerating, or the Astral Ancestor, who had struck out his palm and had his martial will condensed in midair...
The entire world seemed to have come to a standstill at this moment.
This was the power of the Crystal of Time. It could accelerate the user's time, causing the entire world to seem as if the time had stopped.
This state, in which time had come to a stop, could be maintained for one second. Then there was a cooling time for one second before it could be performed once again.
This meant that, with the Crystal of Time, Tian Yi could enter a second of standstill between each second. In battle, Tiandao could have double the time as compared to his opponents.
The standstill of one second was like the twinkling of an eye, disappearing in a flash. However, to a Divine level expert like Tian Yi, one second was a lot.
Golden martial will started burning on his body and then turned into countless golden fist shadows that smashed out toward the Astral Ancestor like a myriad of meteors. They went smashing toward the weakness of the Astral Ancestor's power.
Dong dong dong dong dong dong dong dong!
Sound could not be transmitted in this space that had come to a standstill. However, as the many golden fists smashed onto the Astral Ancestor's body, it seemed as if endless attacking sounds could be heard.
While the fist shadows covered his entire body, a myriad of fists attacked his defenseless body.
At the next second, time regained its flow, and the martial will within and outside of the Astral Ancestor's body was shattered. It turned into an endless number of light spots, scattering into the air. His physical body was unscathed, but he was stiff like a walking corpse.
'Thankfully, the strength of his will is still insufficient to receive one second worth of attacks from me while being unguarded. Otherwise, it would be a little troublesome.' Tiandao looked at the scattering light spots in the sky and broke into a savage grin.
It was as expected of an expert who had tried to strive for the third tier of the Divine level. The Astral Ancestor repeatedly suffered serious injuries due to having entered a state of chaos, Fang Xingjian's attack, as well as Tiandao's Withering of Time. However, after his martial will was smashed into smithereens, the bits of martial will turned into an image of the Milky Way in the sky, with each light spot jumping and trembling. Then at the next moment, all of them pierced out toward Tiandao like many light needles.
A gravitational singularity had appeared on his body.
Each light needle brought along layers of gravitational force, and with Tiandao's body as the center, it attracted all the light needles to pierce down like meteors.
Wherever the light needles passed by, the space would distort and the light rays would bend. They brought about great power, striking directly onto and violently smashing Tiandao's protective golden will, gaining the upper hand once again.
The Astral Ancestor's cultivation was after all above that of Tiandao's. With the next attack, he snatched back the upper hand in just an instant, causing Tiandao to be capable of only defending and not retaliating.
Time then once again came to a standstill. When it started to regain its flow, the endless number of light needles formed by the Astral Ancestor's martial will were smashed into dust, and he was once again dealt a serious injury.
This cycle went on for a few times consecutively. Each time the Astral Ancestor needed to condense his martial will to attack or defend, he could only sustain it for one second. After one second, he would be completely shattered by Tiandao.
The Astral Ancestor seemed to realize this after several failures, and he looked at Tiandao, feeling both anxious and doubtful.
'What's going on? I should be stronger than him.
'Why is he able to instantly break through my attacks every time, striking the flaws in my power and then shattering my martial will?
'How on earth did he do it?'
Many thoughts and guesses flashed in the Astral Ancestor's mind. However, there was too little time, and before he could start to figure it out, his martial will was once again blasted into smithereens by the myriad of golden fist light.
"It's useless." At the moment, Tiandao did not appear to be as shy and pure like he usually was. Once he started fighting, the corner of his lips would maintain a savage grin like a killing maniac. He carried waves of blatant killing intent and looked at the Astral Ancestor as if he was looking at his prey.
"Before the long river of time, everything is merely dust. You're no exception."
Titan watched the battle between Tiandao and the Astral Ancestor from the side. Both of them were Divine level experts, but there was not much leakage of power although the power utilized in the process of their battle was so powerful that it could distort space. Aside from turning the houses within the range of several hundred meters into dust, there were no explosions in the mountains.
Moreover Tiandao's attacks were completely directed toward the Astral Ancestor's will. He almost did not deal any physical damage at all.
Tiandao, who was a tier one Divine level expert, was now putting pressure on the Astral Ancestor. Although the Astral Ancestor had powers that surpassed Tiandao's, he was completely unable to retaliate at this moment. Upon seeing this, hints of astonishment flashed in Titan's eyes.
'This is the gold faction's black magic. This power to control time is truly terrifying. The gold faction's magic prints Warriors probably don't have many people who are a match for them amongst those of the same level.'
Striking out with the Astral River Smash once again, darkness came gushing forth, and the mountains within a range of 100 meters tremored like they were going to be sucked up and sent floating into the air. However, just as the Astral Ancestor smashed a part of Tiandao's will, his own will was once against shattered.
'This can't go on.
'I must find a chance, or at least, I must find out what his ability is.'
Suddenly, the Astral Ancestor remembered the memories from before he fainted, and Fang Xingjian's silhouette appeared in his mind.
'Look for Fang Xingjian! He'll probably help out! At the least, he'll be able to help me stall for time.'
After having his will shattered consecutively for several times, his massive power had also weakened. The Astral Ancestor's body broke down into fragments, and he instantly reappeared several kilometers away.
This was a second tier Divine level expert's movement at light speed.
In front of him was Fang Xingjian who had his eyes closed while sitting cross-legged, as well as Lan Yue who was standing guard for him.
Tiandao had caught up with the Astral Ancestor through the still time. A second tier Divine level expert's light speed movements were still insufficient to throw him off when he had one second more than everyone else.
He looked at Fang Xingjian, whose eyes were closed while he sat cross-legged on the ground. There was a brilliant golden light shining from Fang Xingjian's eyes.
"Hmmm? His martial will is out, and he is challenging the Nine-Tiered Heavens?"
At the next moment, Tiandao's martial will swept across Fang Xingjian's body, and his expression immediately became extremely vicious and fervent.
"Excellent, excellent, excellent. What powerful vital energy and blood, what rare bones. This is ten or even 100 times better than the Astral Ancestor's body.
"Great body, it's really a great body. I'm taking it!"
In an instant, he passed by the Astral Ancestor's body and dashed out fiercely toward Fang Xingjian's body.