Ling Han wanted to kill him, yet Xie Donglai comprehended dao beside the ancient coffin all day long. Moreover, he was also accompanied by Great General Xie, an Eternal River Tier elite, so how could Ling Han have the opportunity to kill him?
‘I refuse to believe that you’ll stay beside the coffin forever!’
Ling Han was becoming a little impatient. Everything would be fine if Xie Donglai only broke through to the pinnacle level. After all, he had already advanced to the middle stage of the low extreme of the pinnacle level. With his current battle prowess, he would be able to suppress Xie Donglai with a wave of his hand. However, what if Xie Donglai broke through to the Heavenly Body Tier?
In any case, Xie Donglai was also a prodigy. Thus, he would still possess a battle prowess of at least three stars if he advanced to the Heavenly Body Tier. That being the case, there was no guarantee that Ling Han could suppress him, even if he were at the peak stage of the pinnacle level.
‘With Xie Donglai’s talent, it’s more likely that he’ll advance to the Heavenly Body Tier if he really does break through,’ Ling Han speculated. ‘I must advance to the peak stage of the pinnacle level. If Xie Donglai breaks through, he’ll definitely have to face heavenly tribulation. I’ll seize that opportunity to kill him!’
For the Sun Moon Tier, Ling Han genuinely didn’t need to cultivate to acc.u.mulate Origin Power. The Berserk Blood Spirit Pill could flawlessly elevate his cultivation level. Moreover, while others could only ingest one Berserk Blood Spirit Pill every few years, he could ingest one every three months.
Thus, Ling Han’s days simply comprised of refining pills, refining golden sand, and comprehending the symbols on the ancient coffin.
He lugged a huge amount of dirt into the Black Tower. He was more powerful in the Black Tower, so he could refine the golden sand with much more ease.
“Huh?” Small Tower suddenly appeared and exclaimed in surprise, saying, “This contains celestial level martial intent.”
“A Celestial might have died here, and his blood and flesh might have affected this piece of land,” Ling Han replied with a nod.
Small Tower swayed slightly, not replying immediately. It was as if it were carefully examining the golden sand. After a while, it said, “If you can obtain a large amount of this sand, I can extract a celestial technique from within them.”
Ling Han’s heart quivered, and he asked, “What celestial technique?”
“It’s got to do with time. As for the specifics, I’ll only know after I extract the technique,” Small Tower replied.
‘Gasp! Isn’t this the Ding Clan’s untaught secret technique, Tide of the Ages?’
Ling Han couldn’t help but feel invigorated with excitement. This was the bloodline secret technique of the Ding Clan, which members of the Ding Clan would naturally grasp if their bloodline was powerful enough or after their cultivation reached a certain level. Perhaps it was because of this reason that this secret technique was etched into the body of Ding Zizhen. Even though his soul had already vanished, this secret technique was still etched in his blood, which had become one with this expanse of land. As such, this secret technique was also etched in this land.
Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to do anything even if they knew this fact. Take, for example, the Notionless Saint, who could only receive some inspiration from this golden sand. Perhaps he could advance from a Small Saint to a Medium Saint or Great Saint. However, there was definitely no way that he could extract a secret technique from it.
Only the Black Tower could do this as it was a supreme precious treasure even in the Celestial Realm.
Ling Han was instantly filled with motivation. While most people spent their time comprehending the symbols on the ancient coffin, he spent his time collecting as much dirt as he could. Meanwhile, speck after speck of golden sand appeared in the Black Tower, eventually building up to become a small mountain.
“Is that enough?” he asked.
“No,” Small Tower replied.
***
“Is there enough now?”
“No!”
***
Just like this, Ling Han continued to collect and refine dirt. After three entire months, Small Tower finally nodded hesitantly, saying that it could give it a try. After all, these specks of golden sand had only been dyed with a little celestial blood. Moreover, countless years had already pa.s.sed since Ding Zizhen’s death. Thus, the martial intent that was contained within the specks of golden sand was already starting to vanish.
If it weren’t for the fact that this celestial technique was coincidentally related to time, perhaps this martial intent wouldn’t have even survived until now.
Ling Han went to temper his body in the immortal flames. Meanwhile, Small Tower extracted a secret technique from the specks of golden sand, the Tide of the Ages.
Three days pa.s.sed, and Ling Han had transformed into a 10-year-old youth. He was already close to grasping the initial concepts of Rising From The Ashes. Now, it was naturally time for him to ingest another Berserk Blood Spirit Pill so that he could elevate his cultivation by another level.
Late stage of the pinnacle level!
“Take it!” Small Tower said. A speck of light flew toward Ling Han, radiating with a glow that was even brighter than the sun. However, this glow wasn’t painfully blinding in its brightness.
“You’ve extracted it?” Ling Han asked.
“There was too little martial intent, so I was only able to extract a portion of the secret technique. If you can’t comprehend it from this, you’ll have to bring me another small mountain of golden sand,” Small Tower answered.
That would be another three months of hard work.
Ling Han nodded in understanding. He wanted to grasp this secret technique in one attempt.
Taking with him the speck of light, Ling Han arrived beneath the Reincarnation Tree. He then placed the speck of light onto his forehead and started to comprehend its profoundness.
Weng!
A loud rumble instantly echoed through his mind. It was as if a tsunami had formed, yearning to blast through his forehead.
Meanwhile, the speck of light evolved in his mind, growing to an indescribably large size. Ling Han studied it carefully, observing countless swirls within the orb of light. As these swirls spun, Ling Han felt as if he were observing the life cycle of numerous planets, from birth to death. Billions of years pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye.
This was the evolution of time, the revealing of heaven and earth’s secret.
Ling Han reached out and tried to touch these swirls. The orb of light instantly disintegrated and spread throughout his mind. It then started to dim and disappear.
It vanished without a trace. He couldn’t examine it any further.
Ling Han hurriedly started to comprehend what he had just experienced. Under the Reincarnation Tree, he had almost 400 times the amount of time of other people.
He refused to believe that he couldn’t grasp this secret technique with 400 times more time. He would be satisfied as long as he could swallow all the information and comprehend the general outline of the secret technique. He could slowly digest it and comprehend the finer details later.
Time slowly crept by. After a month or so, Ling Han suddenly opened his eyes.
“Age,” he said softly. He teleported to a corner of the Black Tower and tapped his finger on a large tree. The leaves of this large tree instantly became yellow and fell. In just 30 minutes, the large tree had completely withered to death.
‘I guess I’ve got a basic grasp of this secret technique. With a tap of my finger, I can cause a person to lose thousands of years of their lifespan in 30 minutes.
‘However, this is purely aging a being, and not maturing them. Otherwise, the tree should have blossomed and born fruits. However, this didn’t happen, and the tree simply aged until it died.
‘Although I can wield the power of time, my control over it is far too weak right now. Even if I want to age a cultivator at the low extreme of the Mountain River Tier to death, it will take me an entire day of work. With my current cultivation level, there’s no way I can unleash this secret technique for so long.
‘What a shame. It would great if I could pause time like Chi Huangji.’
Ling Han couldn’t help but sigh in emotion. Although they were both secret techniques related to time, aging and pausing time were completely different concepts. If he could pause time, even for just a short moment, it would give him incredible advantages during battle.
On the other hand, if he wanted to unleash the full power of Tide of the Ages, he would need to obtain the ability to age time by at least billions of years with a snap of his fingers. Otherwise, if he merely severed the lifespan of Eternal River Tier elites or Genesis Tier Saints by a few hundred or a few thousand years, it would be like giving them a harmless tickle.
‘Hang on!
‘Can the aging of time be viewed as a curse? To those under the Immortal level, even Shattering Void Tier cultivators only have a lifespan of 1000 years. If they’re affected by Tide of the Ages, decreasing their lifespan by 100 years would already be a very good result. If they’re affected by Tide of the Ages 10 times, they’ll be as good as dead!’
Ling Han’s imagination ran wild, and he thought of many, many possibilities.
“Ling Han!” the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Maiden suddenly called. “I’m about to break through!”
Ling Han faltered for a moment before hurriedly taking her out of the Black Tower.
Rumble…
Dark clouds gathered in the sky as heavenly tribulation prepared to descend.
“We’ll face it together,” he said with a smile.
This was a good chance for him to improve the power of heaven’s might.
The Heavenly Phoenix Divine Maiden was touched yet anxious. “Don’t do it,” she said. “The power of heavenly tribulation is far too terrifying. However, I’m confident that I can overcome it by myself. There’s no need for you to help me.” She was afraid that Ling Han would be wounded.