Since the power of Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena could enhance gravity, theoretically it should also be able to influence time.
However, just as with the first time he influenced gravity, he needed a medium—or rather, an object that could symbolize time—to achieve his objective indirectly through it.
The first time he amplified gravity, he had actually amplified the gravity exerted upon that small pebble.
With that first experience behind him, things became much simpler going forward.
The same held true now.
When the hands on the pocket watch stopped dead in their tracks, Lu Bu halted instantly. Everything across the entire ring froze in place; only Yu Xian could still move.
*What a massive drain!*
Yu Xian could feel the power of Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena rapidly draining from his body.
The primary reason was that Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena alone could not freeze time; at best, it could only accelerate its flow. Only by employing Against the Flow from With and Against the Flow could he bring time to a standstill.
Yet as noted before, Against the Flow consumed far more energy than With the Flow—to say nothing of the fact that Yu Xian was now freezing time itself.
In truth, using Against the Flow wasn't limited to stopping time. If he continued ramping up his output, he could even rewind time. But given his current reserves of Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena, he could likely reverse it by a few dozen seconds at most.
*I can only maintain time stop for twenty seconds at most. I need to make this quick!*
Yu Xian glanced at the frozen Lu Bu and immediately drove his Forward Light Shield crashing straight toward him. Trapped in stasis, Lu Bu had no means of resistance whatsoever.
The moment time resumed its flow, Lu Bu disintegrated into white light and vanished.
Yu Xian reappeared in the very spot Lu Bu had just occupied, looking down at his pocket watch, whose hands were ticking once more.
After a second of stunned silence in the stands, a tremendous uproar erupted. Lu Bu had been dealing damage just an instant earlier—how could he be utterly defeated in the very next second?
They couldn't even tell which of Yu Xian's moves had taken Lu Bu down.
"That was definitely a time stop!"
"To think that besides Shenshang Chai, Yu Xian commands the power of time as well!"
"The top three untouchable contenders are practically set in stone now. First place without question is Shi Bao, while second and third are Shenshang Chai and Yu Xian. As for which of them takes second and which takes third, that'll depend on their performances from here on out."
In the front rows of the audience, a player excitedly typed out a post.
In reality, not every player took part in the tournament. Many knew their limits and understood that even if they competed, they wouldn't win any rewards because they couldn't beat a single soul.
Still, these players had their own ways: spectating the matches, recording the footage, and making eye-catching posts to build an audience, which they then monetized by advertising for certain factions in the Zhen Realm.
After fermenting overnight, two individuals had shot to fame.
One was Shi Bao, mainly because his skill was so utterly revolting while making him essentially invincible. So far, not a single player had figured out how to counter him.
The other was his victim, Zhang Shou.
In truth, Shi Bao had fought countless players and left plenty of victims in his wake, so why had Zhang Shou alone become famous?
The answer was simple: because Zhang Shou had defeated Bafang Dao!
Most players watched the first-place contender's highlights first, followed by second place, and so on.
Yu Xian was the perfect example: he had watched Shenshang Chai's footage first, then moved on to Bafang Dao's.
Even without knowing Zhang Shou beforehand, anyone who watched Zhang Shou versus Bafang Dao would naturally grow curious about him and would very likely jump straight to watching Zhang Shou's matches to see why he wasn't ranked in the top ten.
In the end, those exceptionally curious players invariably shared Yu Xian's experience, watching Zhang Shou's plight with deep sympathy.
Now Shi Bao had earned a nickname: the Grand Historian of Shit. Furthermore, with the forfeit option now available, most players simply surrendered upon encountering him. Some, however, deliberately dragged out their matches, so Shi Bao's score wasn't climbing very quickly.
Meanwhile, Zhang Shou had gained a nickname of his own: the Drowned-in-Shit Hero.
After all, he was effectively the first top-tier powerhouse to get wrecked by Shi Bao, and anyone with eyes could see that his Dao heart had shattered into pieces.
Truth be told, most players would have preferred to record footage of Shi Bao battling other contenders. The problem was that no one was willing to fight him; every encounter ended in a surrender.
Consequently, although Shi Bao and Zhang Shou were wildly famous, one had matches entirely devoid of entertainment value, while the other had stopped competing altogether.
Thus, these players stuck to documenting the top ten's performances. Yu Xian's display of time manipulation was sure to draw enormous attention.
Many felt certain their posts would hit the trending page.
***
Yu Xian didn't mind his information leaking out.
After all, even if these spectators couldn't deduce it, countless other players were analyzing the matches; someone would arrive at the correct answer eventually.
Besides, time stop was inherently an unfair ability. Players with a way to counter it wouldn't care, and those without one couldn't resist it even if they knew about it in advance.
On top of that, this was merely one application of the Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena combined with With and Against the Flow.
The tournament carried on.
Yet the subsequent matches offered little worth talking about.
A challenger stepped up, time froze, and the Forward Light Shield rammed them to death.
In short, ever since mastering the time stop, the footage recorded from Yu Xian's battles looked virtually identical to Shenshang Chai's.
The match began, an instant kill followed, and on to the next.
While this fighting style scored zero points in entertainment value, it was undeniably a perfect score when it came to racking up points.
Yu Xian's score surged rapidly. By around one in the afternoon, it had already reached three hundred.
Naturally, the price was a steadily thinning crowd in the stands; even his loyal fans were nodding off in their seats.
Yu Xian couldn't care less about the dwindling audience. His eyes were set solely on his opponents—or rather, on the points they provided.
***
Time flew by.
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
The number of participating players dwindled continuously as many who fell into negative scores from losing streaks dropped out one after another.
The rankings on the Powerhouse Leaderboard shifted every day. One moment Shenshang Chai held first place; the next, Yu Xian claimed the top spot. Most people had already come to accept that the champion would almost certainly be decided between the two of them.
Naturally, alongside the Powerhouse Leaderboard, some idle players had created a Beauty Leaderboard.
The criterion for making the list was a blend of beauty and strength. On this ranking, Niman surprisingly seized first place, while Zhang Buyao could only settle for fifth.
In truth, Yu Xian felt that if Niman hadn't been constrained by her class, she would likely have had a solid shot at the Powerhouse Leaderboard's top ten as well. Unfortunately, her class wasn't geared for high burst damage.
Although Niman maintained an undefeated record to this day, her kill speed was simply too slow.
Even so, everyone knew that Niman's strength was by no means inferior to Yu Xian's or Shenshang Chai's. If they truly clashed, the outcome remained anyone's guess.
Many eagerly looked forward to the day Niman was matched against Shenshang Chai or Yu Xian to settle things once and for all.
Chapter 596