Myriad Transformations

Constructing a river conduit connecting to the phantom worlds. And one capable of rewinding memories. It sounded extraordinarily difficult, but to the current Li Hao, it was not beyond reach. Within Li Hao's River of the Great Dao, the Time Star manifested, followed by several minor worlds and the Sword Venerable's three spirits. These three were now lingering within the river and showed no sign of leaving. None of them had attained the Dao, yet while they were not Sovereigns, strangely enough, they seemed to have merged into Li Hao's river. They had not attained the Dao within it, but rather, much like Zhang An, had temporarily entrusted their Daos to it. Consequently, though not Sovereigns, their Great Daos were exceptionally pure, and they had become tightly intertwined with the river. Those three were truly intriguing. Even when the Sword Venerable had arrived, they never showed themselves, nor had they mentioned wanting to depart with him. The Sword Venerable had never brought them up either—whether he had forgotten about them entirely or felt there was no need to take them along, given how weak they were, was anyone's guess. Taking them back to Xinwu might have been even more perilous. Li Hao paid them little mind. This time, he intended to temporarily use the power of his River of the Great Dao to condense a true River of Time—a Dao river centered around the Time Star. Then, from within this amalgamation of myriad Daos that was the Time Star, he would locate the Dao corresponding to this minor world and link it to his phantom world. Naturally, doing it all at once was far too difficult. For now, Li Hao merely planned to forge the river, draw forth the Dao of this minor world, and connect it to the corresponding rat Dao within the Time Star for concealment. The Time Star swiftly rose into the air. At this moment, Er Mao, who had just sunk to the riverbed, floated back to the surface. It looked at the star, then at Li Hao, and spoke: "Are you going to separate the Daos inside it?" Li Hao nodded. "I'm not dismantling them just yet, merely finding the corresponding Dao to establish a connection. Think of it as finding an interface for the Dao within the Time Star so it can link to this minor world." Er Mao understood and said nothing more. It merely glanced at the star and suddenly asked, "Can you find the corresponding Dao?" "I should be able to, provided it exists within the Time Star. If not... I'll have to find a similar Dao. The rat monster's Dao isn't particularly unique; the Daos cultivated by Chaos Beasts are all part of the Chaos Great Dao. Anyone with a bit of research into the Chaos Great Dao should be able to perceive it." It wasn't an extraordinary Dao like Hu Qingfeng's, which was exceedingly rare and might not even exist within the Time Star. For basic Great Daos, Li Hao doubted the Time Star would lack them. The hard part lay in teasing that single Dao out bit by bit. That was slightly troublesome, as Li Hao had not yet thoroughly deciphered the Time Star. Originally, this task was not overly difficult; he could have searched for it himself. Yet at this moment, something crossed his mind. Li Hao reached out, and in an instant, a figure appeared—not Director Zhao, but Yuan Shuo. Yuan Shuo was taken aback. "What is it?" Rubbing his chin, Li Hao looked at the Time Star before him, then at his teacher, and said, "Nothing much. The Time Star is packed with myriad Daos, so finding the corresponding one is a slight hassle. Because I need to keep the star from collapsing, I remembered that back then, Teacher was able to project your divine sense into the Great Dao Universe—the very first cultivator in Silver Moon to enter it. Teacher, go inside and take a look for me. Search for the corresponding rat Dao while I support you from the outside... The Time Star is essentially a miniature Great Dao Universe!" Yuan Shuo was startled. A miniature Great Dao Universe! Only now did he seem to grasp what the Time Star truly was and understand its nature. "You want me to go inside and search?" "Yes!" Li Hao nodded. "Teacher, although this Time Star is small, its Daos are far more comprehensive—even more so than the Silver Moon Great Dao Universe. There are countless Daos, and the internal conditions are extremely intricate. If you're not careful, you might even get lost in time!" "Be careful, Teacher. Because you're weak, I can pull you out in time... and precisely because you're weak, I feel more at ease..." Yuan Shuo's face darkened. Who are you taking a jab at? Good grief. A moment ago, he had been thinking that this disciple of his was always creating opportunities for him, never saying it aloud, but doing it in practice. Yet... dammit, hearing those last words left an utterly foul taste in his mouth. *Because you're weak, if you get lost in time, I can still pull you back.* *Everyone else... is simply too strong.* Yuan Shuo kept his mouth shut, his expression gloomy. Li Hao added, "By the way, Teacher, don't you plan to build a Five Elements Domain? That's a type of Dao domain as well. You should observe carefully and see how the Emperor of Battle Heaven constructed it. He was a pinnacle figure capable of deconstructing and reassembling a Dao—even I can hardly hold a candle to him. Teacher... you should learn from him." Yuan Shuo was speechless. He said nothing more. There was nothing left to say anyway. He glanced at the Time Star, let out a breath, and asked, "Once I find the corresponding Great Dao... what do I need to do?" "Simple... Once you find it, grab onto it and shout for me!" Dammit! The more he spoke, the more helpless Yuan Shuo felt. Yuan Shuo ignored him. He looked at the Time Star, sensed the Dao of the rat realm, and took in the faint aura of the rat monster that Li Hao had captured. A moment later, he took a deep breath as though his soul were detaching... and a monster materialized above his head. A monster forged from the fusion of five forces! It possessed the traits of five creatures: tiger, bear, deer, bird, and ape. It had wings and a bird's beak, sharp tiger claws, an ape's head, the body of a deer, and the sturdy build of a bear. This was the spirit Yuan Shuo had forged himself! A spirit of force! By fusing forces, it formed a spirit, and using this spirit to open a domain served as an embryonic form of Heaven's Will, though at present, it remained fragile. The fusion of five animals, the fusion of five elements. It had to be said that when it came to the Dao of the Five Animals and the Dao of the Five Elements, Yuan Shuo had never wavered just because his disciple fused myriad Daos. He had always focused on the Five Elements; to him, knowing many things without mastering them was useless. What he excelled at most was still the Five Elements, an understanding ingrained in his very bones. After all, this technique had been his own creation. Li Hao observed for a while, somewhat surprised. Using force to fuse the spirit, using the spirit to nurture the domain, and using the domain to open the Dao... Though his teacher was weak... well, weak he was, and Li Hao wasn't afraid of hurting his pride, his teacher's research into the Five Elements and the Five Animals had truly reached a pinnacle. Calling it the absolute peak would not be an exaggeration! Li Hao watched in silence. Yuan Shuo needed no further instructions. Back then, he had been the very first to discover and step into the Silver Moon Universe. Although Li Hao had ultimately seized the initiative with the Dao of divine characters, for Yuan Shuo to enter the Silver Moon Great Dao Universe entirely on his own without guidance was already incredible. At this moment, Yuan Shuo left his physical body behind while his spirit of force plunged directly into the Time Star. Er Mao also peered over with curiosity. "Can he find it if you send him in?" This star was no ordinary object. With myriad Daos converging, it had genuinely formed a vast net of myriad Daos that materialized into a star. Although the Time Star was small and merely embryonic, its complexity might far exceed that of the Silver Moon Universe. Li Hao said softly, "If he unravels the threads, he might find it. And if he does... it means my teacher's comprehension of the Dao has reached a deeper level. When he creates his own Dao domain later, it will be far more complete! In the past, as the foremost of the Thirty-Six Heroes, he cultivated force and achieved the five-force fusion without any energy... I refuse to believe he is genuinely inferior to anyone!" In that era, Silver Moon had no energy. Relying purely on physical strength, force, and nourishment from food, he had attained the five-force fusion, becoming the sole martial master to fuse multiple forces. Li Hao had always firmly believed that his teacher could walk much further. A domain was the embryonic form of a Dao domain, and Li Hao's own domain had been learned from Yuan Shuo. Long ago, before Li Hao even grasped what a domain was, his teacher was already treading the path of domains. Back then, Li Hao didn't even understand what a domain meant. As for Yuan Shuo... one could only say he had terrible luck. He was always one step ahead, but the process was agonizingly complex. He pursued the five-force fusion when there was no energy, making it thousands of times harder than for anyone else. He walked the path of domains before Li Hao and the others had ever seen a Dao domain—let alone Sovereigns, they weren't even at the Mountain-Sea stage when Yuan Shuo pursued domains. Being one step ahead made one a genius; being ten steps ahead made one appear useless. Thus, while others crossed realms with ease, Yuan Shuo's path was fraught with difficulty. A Dao domain was something seventh-rank Sovereigns sought to comprehend; for Yuan Shuo, a weakling who didn't even count as a Saint at the time, attempting to comprehend a domain back then made it a wonder he progressed at all! Er Mao nodded its colossal head. "Your teacher is quite talented... it's just..." It paused, unsure how to phrase it, before finally saying, "It's just... he always overestimates himself." "Hm?" Li Hao looked at Er Mao, somewhat displeased. Er Mao looked innocent. "It's not an insult... I just mean he does things unsuited to his current cultivation level. Take domains, for example: normally, even for middle-rank Sovereigns, attempting to comprehend them is considered early, yet he was doing it so long ago... The gap is too vast! Like a child swinging a massive sledgehammer... Even now, he wants to construct a Dao domain first before attaining the Dao, reaching the Sovereign realm through a Dao domain... That's overestimating himself too!" When others attained the Dao through a Dao domain, they were becoming seventh-rank Sovereigns! You, Yuan Shuo, are a Heavenly King expert—at best a half-step Sovereign. You, a mere half-step Sovereign, want to attain the Sovereign realm with a Dao domain... Where does that leave those peak sixth-rank rogue cultivators? The Five Elements Dao Domain was no small feat, either. The Five Elements formed a grand cycle, a grand circulation of the Dao. Attaining the Sovereign realm with a Five Elements Dao Domain to become a Five Elements Sovereign would make him no ordinary Sovereign. But... you're only at the Heavenly King level; isn't that overreaching? Li Hao frowned slightly. "No one decreed that Dao domains belong exclusively to the seventh rank. I can do it, Kongji can do it, the Sword Venerable can do it, Senior Li Zhu can do it... Many people can. Why can't my teacher?" "But he isn't even a Sovereign!" "He will be sooner or later!" Er Mao was speechless. *You're already a fifth-rank Sovereign with vast knowledge, having even comprehended ninth-rank Daos. Don't you understand the situation?* *Must you place such blind faith in your teacher? The fact that your teacher still hasn't become a Sovereign is entirely your fault.* *If he had taken it steady and grounded, with Yuan Shuo's talent and his bond with Li Hao, he could have easily reached the third-rank Sovereign level by now, if not the fourth rank.* Now, Silver Moon had dozens of Sovereigns, and Yuan Shuo had become the sole non-Sovereign of the older generation. Er Mao couldn't be bothered to argue further. It rarely meddled in other people's affairs anyway. It simply felt that Li Hao, as a disciple, indulged his teacher too much, risking that Yuan Shuo might truly remain stuck at the Heavenly King level, unable to step into the Sovereign realm for the rest of his life. Take Zhang An, for instance: he had been stuck at the Heavenly King level due to orthodoxy issues. Had Li Hao not persuaded him, he might still be a Heavenly King. Yet now, Zhang An was on the verge of reaching the third rank. ... Inside the Time Star. A monster merged into the space, wandering through it. From the inside, the Time Star looked entirely different than it did from the outside. Dense web-like strands stretched across every direction. The power of myriad Daos converged, giving birth to a single drop of liquid. The instant the droplet fell, it seemed to transform into time itself. Amidst these myriad Daos, Yuan Shuo's current objective was to locate that single rat Dao. It seemed simple enough... but as the monster roamed, the Great Dao suddenly rippled, unleashing a peculiar Dao power that nearly slew the monster on the spot! The power of the Great Dao permeated this place. It had even birthed droplets of time water. As Yuan Shuo watched the droplet flow, astonishment filled his heart. When that drop landed in the center of the myriad Daos, time seemed to reverse in an utterly wondrous display! The entire internal space was turned upside down. In an instant, the myriad Daos vanished, and when they reappeared, their positions seemed entirely different from before. "Dammit!" Yuan Shuo was stunned and muttered, "The myriad Daos... are shifting!" Heavens! Whether in a Dao net or a Great Dao Universe, the positions of Daos were usually fixed. Therefore, the combinations of a fixed set of myriad Daos were ultimately limited, no matter how astronomically vast the number might be! However... if the myriad Daos could shift positions at any moment, that was... truly infinite. Because there were already countless combinations, and with them shifting at any second, one couldn't possibly capture the variations of a single moment. Yuan Shuo stood dazed. How was he supposed to find it? Time was not static at all! "Time... was never fixed... It is precisely because of change that reversal and forward flow are born..." He began to understand. Different applications of time might yield different combinations of the myriad Daos. Li Hao was wrong! He had underestimated the complexity of time. Time was not a fixed combination. If Li Hao believed it to be so, he was sorely mistaken, and reconstructing time would prove impossible. "Incredible!" Perhaps only by delving deep within could one glimpse its true essence. Li Hao seemed never to have entered, or perhaps, as the one wielding time, he couldn't perceive the changes at all. "Thank goodness I came in and saw this..." Yuan Shuo muttered. Otherwise, that foolish disciple of his might never have noticed. If Li Hao attempted to dismantle time with his methods, everything would be ruined. Once taken apart, even if he tried to reassemble it by copying the original form, it could never be restored. As he was thinking, the monster started in alarm. Around him, the positions of the Daos shifted again, and suddenly, a droplet of water plummeted from above, striking his body. In that split second, Yuan Shuo felt as though he had traversed space-time, living through millions of years! It was the feeling of oceans turning into mulberry fields! The next moment, the water droplet vanished, and the monster emerged, Yuan Shuo panting frantically. "This... I'm done for..." Li Hao didn't seem to notice anything amiss and hadn't pulled him back. Just now, he had felt time rushing away wildly. In an instant, he seemed to have burned through tens of thousands of years of lifespan... A powerhouse at the Heavenly King level, even if sealed, could only live a little over a hundred thousand years. Back then, Silver Moon had been sealed for a hundred thousand years, nearly grinding Saints to death from old age. A few more drops like that, and he might die of old age right here! This time-liquid formed from the convergence of myriad Daos truly stripped away one's life force. Yuan Shuo was thoroughly alarmed. The crucial problem was that the little brat Li Hao didn't seem to notice at all... *Dammit, is your control over time really this pathetic?* ... Outside. Li Hao looked at the Time Star, his brow furrowing slightly. For a split second just now, the Time Star seemed to flicker. However, regarding the internal conditions, Li Hao could only detect the dense net of the Great Dao; he couldn't see further unless he projected his divine sense inside. But with his current immense strength, entering with his divine sense might cause the Dao net to collapse. "He should be fine, right?" He glanced at Yuan Shuo's physical body beside him. The body was intact, showing no signs of change. Then nothing should be wrong. Still... logically speaking, although the Dao net within the Time Star was complex, finding a single Dao shouldn't be too difficult. It was also an opportunity to grasp some of the subtleties of the Time Dao Domain, which was why he had sent his teacher in—to give him an edge. Yet now, had his teacher gotten lost? Why hadn't he come out yet? *Did I overestimate Teacher?* *Did he fail to understand the combination of the Dao net?* Er Mao was also watching. Staring at the star, it suddenly thought of something and spoke up: "Inside the Time Star, it might... be considered another space altogether, perhaps even another space-time. Could your teacher be lost?" "Surely not?" Li Hao was puzzled. "Back then, Teacher roamed the Silver Moon Universe all on his own. That could have been considered another space-time as well." Er Mao offered no rebuttal. *Fine, be as confident as you like.* Li Hao frowned slightly and said nothing more, merely watching the Time Star in silence. The Dao of Time seemed complex, but once one grasped the method, it was merely a combination of myriad Daos—not excessively difficult. The hard part was comprehending those myriad Daos... He figured his teacher had probably gained some insights. He was likely deep in comprehension. Then he would wait; there was no need to rush. ... Just like that, Li Hao waited outside for three days. Meanwhile, inside the Time Star, the monster that was Yuan Shuo was already cursing up a storm. "Dammit!" Twice! He had been struck by those water droplets twice already! Each strike cost him tens of thousands of years of lifespan. If this continued, one more hit and he might die right here, perishing of old age. His physical body remained outside, but his spirit would die! Once the spirit perished, he would become a vegetable. The crux of the issue was that he wasn't even cultivating Great Dao stars anymore. If he died here, even that brat Li Hao would find it hard to revive him, unless Li Hao entered this place himself and used time reversal to resurrect him—assuming time could even be used in here! "You treacherous disciple!" Yuan Shuo cursed furiously. *I thought this was an opportunity, but you can't wait for your teacher to die! You look down on my weak cultivation and want to trick me to death just to be happy, don't you?* Naturally, he knew his disciple harbored no such intention, yet at this moment, cursing was his only outlet! It was infuriating! Soon, he calmed down and looked around at the shifting order of the myriad Daos. Each shift represented a capability of time: rewinding, flowing forward, or freezing—the three most fundamental abilities of time. He had been struck twice by forward-flowing water, which stripped away his lifespan. If he were struck by rewinding water, could he recover? Of course, he had no way of distinguishing whether a droplet was flowing forward or rewinding. If he took another hit, he might just drop dead. "No... I can't take such a risk. I must find that rat Dao and use it to stimulate the rat Dao on the outside, letting that brat Li Hao know that I'm trapped here!" Otherwise, that fellow would assume he was having some profound enlightenment and lingering here intentionally. "The myriad Daos are constantly shifting..." He locked onto the rat Dao once more. It was hidden deep within the dense Dao net; he could sense it faintly, but before he could draw near, it would shift positions, making its exact location nearly impossible to pin down. Searching blindly like this was out of the question. Yuan Shuo fell into deep thought. If this continued, he would truly die here. Not on a battlefield, not on the path of attaining the Dao, but inside an "opportunity" his disciple thought he was giving him... It was enough to make him weep. Moreover, if he couldn't get out, that foolish disciple of his might never know that the Time Dao net shifted constantly. Once he dismantled the Time Star and couldn't restore it, he might lose the power of time forever. Time would become a lost relic in the chaos! "There must be a pattern. No matter how monstrous the Emperor of Battle Heaven was, he couldn't have derived time without any order... Without order, it wouldn't be a Dao comprehensible to mortals..." And during his life, at his peak, the Emperor of Battle Heaven had only been a rank six. In truth, he hadn't reached an utterly unattainable realm. *What I need to do is not deduce his Dao, but glimpse some of the patterns within it so I can lock onto that rat Dao and get out of here first.* Yuan Shuo suppressed the panic in his heart and began to analyze, perceive, and comprehend... Great Daos flickered with faint light one after another, all of them relatively weak. Yet here, they combined into terrifying time. "The Daos are very weak; perhaps... I could force my way through." However, breaking a single Dao might shatter the Time Star. While he would survive, without the Time Star as a reference, could that fool Li Hao reassemble time? Most likely not! "The shifting must follow a pattern... Is it the Eight Trigrams method, the distinction between virtual and real, the division of Qian and Kun, the harmony of the Five Elements... or a sequential arrangement?" He recalled everything he had cultivated in his life. Normally, many things could be arranged according to the methods he just named. He quietly tracked various Daos, sensing their variations. A moment later, the myriad Daos shifted again. "A change roughly every 360 seconds... a minor heavenly cycle?" The Daos shifted once more, the Dao net becoming distinct from before. He locked onto several Daos again, discerning their positional shifts and differences. Why was balance maintained after the Daos changed? Li Hao had shown everyone the construction of the Dao net many times. If an error occurred—even if a single sequence was off—the Dao net could collapse. Why was the Time Star consistently stable? "The prerequisite for stability must be an unchanging core key... It's impossible for everything to be shifting..." Yuan Shuo continued to probe, the combinations of various Daos constantly forming three-dimensional models in his mind. ... Outside. Li Hao frowned. "Four days!" Four days was not a short time. No matter how complex the combination of myriad Daos was, with his teacher's intellect, he should have discerned some clues within four days. Why hadn't he come out? Although the Dragon World's patrol wouldn't arrive for half a year at the latest, at the earliest, it might not be long at all. He still had a great many things to do. He needed to construct a false world, merge it into this minor world, set up concealments, and handle countless other matters... This was merely the starting point, and his teacher had already delayed things by four days... Only because it was his teacher did Li Hao hold back; anyone else, and he would have started cursing. His teacher wouldn't fail to understand the urgency either, unless... he was trapped? Surely not? Li Hao stroked his chin and looked at his teacher's body. The physical form was as before, but completely devoid of divine consciousness! At this moment, he turned his gaze back to the Time Star. He hadn't stared at it continuously before, but observing it closely over the past few days, he noticed a certain pulsation—a rhythmic pulsation. Every few minutes, it seemed to beat once, like a heart. It looked as if it were alive. Yet this was merely a star; even if formed from myriad Daos, even if an embryonic Great Dao Universe, it shouldn't possess life. That pulsing certainly wasn't a heartbeat. A faint ripple every few minutes... Where did this fluctuation come from? In the past, he had wondered whether the star had birthed a consciousness. Now, he no longer thought so. A star like this would not birth a consciousness. Back in the Great Dao Universe, when the star displayed curiosity and seemed capable of chasing and fleeing, that had merely been the Dao net's self-defense mechanism. With a stir of his mind, a wisp of his consciousness landed upon the Time Star. He did not penetrate deeply, merely sensing it quietly. A few minutes passed, and Li Hao's brow twitched. He remained silent. A few more minutes passed... Li Hao's eyes flickered. "A fluctuation every six minutes. Each fluctuation seems slightly different, as if... there is a faint variation in time... Different Daos are taking the lead in this Dao net..." Hm? Li Hao was startled. Could it be that every single Dao in the net took turns playing the primary role? How strange! According to this order, with ten Daos an hour and 240 a day, for myriad Daos to cycle through, it would take at least forty-odd days to complete a single basic cycle. Thoughts raced through his mind. Why would such subtle differences arise? He fell silent for a moment, sensing it further, only to realize once more that his understanding of time was still far too shallow compared to space. The composition of the Space Great Dao could be glimpsed somewhat through the arrangement of Dao Chess, difficult as it was. Yet time remained an enigma to him even now. After a long while, seeing that Yuan Shuo still hadn't emerged, Li Hao suddenly spoke: "Senior Er Mao, let me ask you something." Er Mao looked sluggish and somewhat dazed as it raised its head toward Li Hao. Li Hao thought for a moment and asked, "Before, everyone seemed reluctant to mention this star... Today, I'd like to ask: was this assembled by the Emperor of Battle Heaven?" Er Mao looked at him for a while before answering, "Probably." "Probably?" "I didn't see it with my own eyes... but... for a period of time, he displayed a star like this..." Li Hao nodded. That confirmed it. *You and your 'probably'—truly rigorous.* "Did you ever see the Emperor of Battle Heaven use this star?" "Yes... I was born from the use of this star... by severing the past!" Li Hao nodded and asked again, "Anything else?" "Anything else?" Er Mao searched its memories. So many years had passed; although its recollections were fairly clear, some parts had grown hazy. After a long pause, it added, "Back when he was teaching, he rarely used this because it wasn't complete enough... But I remember him saying once that time is not a single Dao." Li Hao nodded. *I know that. It's not a single Dao, but the convergence of myriad Daos.* *It certainly isn't just one!* There was no single Dao that directly manifested as time; it was a composite Dao. He was well aware of that. Seeing Li Hao nod as if he understood, Er Mao repeated, "The teacher said it is not a single Dao!" Li Hao nodded. "I know, a composite Dao..." Er Mao felt exasperated. "That's not what he meant." "Then what did he mean?" Li Hao was taken aback. Er Mao thought for a moment and said, "He meant... exactly that..." "..." *What does 'exactly that' mean?* Li Hao fell into deep thought, his brow furrowed as he looked at Er Mao again. Not a single Dao... If not one Dao, did it mean two Daos, three Daos... A moment later, Li Hao froze. Not a single one... Did it mean that time was not a single timeline? It was complicated! Recalling the fluctuations from earlier—a pulse every few minutes, each slightly different—could it be... that time itself was inherently non-uniform? He stood dazed for a moment, his expression changing slightly. Time itself was different... Could it be that the Dao of Time was neither stable nor fixed? No way! Could this actually be a self-altering Dao? He frowned and pondered, continuing to sense the shifts of the Time Star, while his teacher still had not returned. Suddenly... Li Hao realized something, his expression shifting as he asked, "Senior Er Mao, is time unique?" Er Mao was startled and shook its head. "The past might be unique, but the future holds tens of millions of paths... Of course it's not unique! The future has countless possibilities because we are all in the present. The past and the present are unique; only the future... is ever-changing!" "The future is ever-changing!" Li Hao drew a sharp breath, his expression warping. "This seems... rather bad. If... the future is ever-changing, does that mean time is not a single entity, but something that constantly shifts?" "Time has always been shifting. It's not as if time stands still." Er Mao was puzzled. Wasn't that perfectly normal? "We're done for!" Li Hao's face drained of color. "I may have underestimated time." Underestimating time wasn't the main issue; the problem was... he had sent his teacher inside! Nearly five days had passed, and the man hadn't come out. It wasn't that he didn't want to—he was trapped! The Dao net composed of time was likely an ever-shifting cipher, a password ten thousand digits long. They were utterly screwed! A password formed of ten thousand distinct characters was terrifying enough, but if it kept constantly changing... Good grief, no matter how brilliant one was, how could anyone deduce the answer? Only now did Li Hao notice the anomaly. *No wonder!* Why hadn't his teacher emerged? Could he... could he be trapped to the point of dying? He didn't dare hesitate! Li Hao swiftly stirred the Great Dao. This time, instead of the rat Dao, he stirred his own Five Elements Dao. Around him, five minor worlds materialized, five Great Daos surging forth and extending straight into time! Gradually, the five minor worlds seemed to merge into one with time. Li Hao barked a low shout: "Lock!" The Five Elements Dao Domain manifested! Five Daos locking time! Though time was formidable, it was not yet at its peak and remained under his control. He would lock it down, suppress it, secure the Five Elements Dao, and temporarily halt all variations within time! Simultaneously, he slapped a hand onto Yuan Shuo's physical body! Five distinct powers surfaced upon the body—the power of the Five Animals surged forth instantly, plunging directly into the Time Star! ... At that exact moment. Inside the Time Star. Yuan Shuo's eyes flickered, his brow tightly knit. He had gained some insights, but a problem remained: the myriad Daos changed constantly, and he couldn't keep pace. He needed the shifting to stop, or at least a coordinate to anchor himself against the outside world for comparison. Right then... his wish came true! Suddenly, the myriad Daos that should have shifted according to schedule were pierced by five massive Great Daos directly connecting to the Five Elements within them, locking down the entire Time Dao net! At the same time, an immensely powerful Five Elements force spilled into the space—one utterly familiar to him, belonging to his very own cultivation! "Hm?" Yuan Shuo froze, and the next moment, delight washed over him. That brat had finally noticed the anomaly? Dammit! About time you figured it out. A great development! In an instant, he thoroughly locked onto the positions of the Five Elements Dao. His eyes lit up with joy; the Five Elements Dao truly served as a shifting coordinate. He swiftly surveyed the surrounding Daos. Taking advantage of the Time Star being locked, he quickly perceived numerous details. The next instant, he locked onto the rat Dao. He shot toward the rat Dao immediately! The entire Time Star began to tremble violently, as though on the verge of shattering. Having had its shifts halted, the star was becoming unstable. Yuan Shuo dared not delay, swiftly locating the Dao he had come to find. In no time, he wrapped his arms around that Great Dao, his aura erupting as he strummed it! ... Outside. The trace of Chaos aura left behind by the rat monster suddenly rippled. Li Hao's eyes flickered with joy. Without a word, he extracted the entire minor world's Chaos Dao in an instant. A siphoning force emanated from the Chaos Dao, and in a single breath, a figure was drawn out from the Time Star. With a heavy splash, a translucent figure tumbled into the river, landing hard. Yuan Shuo's spirit of force emerged, looking utterly battered and disheveled. Before Yuan Shuo could speak, Li Hao reached out to stabilize his spirit of force, instantly shoving it back into his physical body. The moment it entered... the body abruptly began to age. In the blink of an eye, an immense amount of lifespan seemed to drain away! Li Hao frowned slightly, and the Realm of Quiescence materialized instantly, enveloping him. He drew a large amount of Dao power from the River of the Great Dao. Gradually, a blade of grass sprouted within the Realm of Quiescence, growing at a frantic pace before settling onto Yuan Shuo's body. The rapidly aging physical body was restored to youthful vigor in mere moments. Only then did Li Hao let out a breath. He dismissed the Realm of Quiescence and withdrew the Five Elements worlds. The Time Star began to fluctuate once more, the earlier tremors fading away. Yuan Shuo snapped his eyes open! Sensing his condition, a grin spread across his face. "Good boy, not bad at all. You can instantly restore my losses..." "Teacher is too weak!" Li Hao said bluntly, "Restoring a Heavenly King is child's play for me." Dammit! Yuan Shuo cursed internally and snapped, "Do you have any idea that this—" "The myriad Daos are constantly shifting!" Li Hao interrupted his teacher, frowning. "It's harder than I anticipated. The myriad Daos actually shift—truly unbelievable! If I had dismantled the star recklessly, it might have collapsed entirely, and I wouldn't have been able to restore it." "..." Yuan Shuo was struck speechless. After a pause, he muttered, "I already figured out some patterns of the shifts..." "There is a pattern: a change every six minutes... every 360 seconds. Each time, a different Dao takes charge of time! So time isn't just one thing, but ten thousand variations of time..." "..." Yuan Shuo stared at him in silence. After a long pause, he sneered, "What a clever boy you are!" Dammit! You've said everything I was about to say. What the hell am I supposed to say now? Li Hao looked at his teacher and said after a moment, "I must thank Teacher for testing the waters with your own body. Otherwise, I almost overlooked it. Thank you, Teacher, for the practical demonstration!" Yuan Shuo was left entirely speechless! What a... cursed ordeal! Li Hao suddenly broke into a chuckle. "Alright, I admit it: I only noticed the clues because Teacher went missing for days. But as for the specifics, I'm truly in the dark. Teacher, tell me about it..." Yuan Shuo rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Didn't you say it all already? What else is there to say?" "Did Teacher not discover anything else?" Yuan Shuo glared at him, then finally said, "I did! The other Daos are constantly shifting, but certain Daos can be locked down. Even if they move, their corresponding relative positions can still be tracked. Take the Five Elements: there is an interval of two thousand Daos between them... As long as you find one, you can definitely find the other four! The same goes for Yin and Yang—they are always diametrically opposed. Quiescence and Recovery follow the same principle! Therefore, based on the positions of these Daos, as long as you locate one, you can find its counterparts. Then, through comparative analysis, you can determine the overall shifting trend of the myriad Daos... You'll need to observe multiple cycles to uncover specific patterns. A full cycle takes over forty days; I didn't have time to experience it, but you can certainly give it a try." Li Hao nodded repeatedly. He understood. The Daos of duality served a crucial purpose here. Yuan Shuo added, "Furthermore, the convergence of myriad Daos birthed droplets of time-water... If you can figure out a way to extract them and use them to kill enemies, I reckon it'll be far simpler and easier than your current methods..." Li Hao frowned slightly. That would be extraordinarily difficult. "Enough about that. Did Teacher gain anything?" "Of course!" Yuan Shuo grinned. "Constructing the Five Elements Dao Domain can draw inspiration from the methods of the Time Star. A fixed Dao is too easily broken through. I want to... attempt something new: change! Myriad transformations! What you see is only what appears on the surface, while in truth, it is shifting endlessly. I want to forge an ever-changing Five Elements Dao Domain that leaves opponents utterly baffled..." Li Hao smiled and nodded. "Go ahead and try it, Teacher! Right now, I need to merge the phantom world!" He said no more. Utilizing the rat Dao that Yuan Shuo had pulled forth, he instantly linked the Great Dao to the phantom world. A minor world began to spin continuously. Gradually, the minor world expanded. Simultaneously, this minor world began to descend toward the physical world below. Like an ethereal phantom, it enveloped the entire world. Gradually... the phantom world and the minor world merged into one. Nurturing worlds with worlds! At this moment, Li Hao waved his hand, and Director Zhao appeared. Without wasting words, Li Hao brought him straight to the center of the minor world and waved his arm, conjuring what appeared to be a Chaos Dao. Before Director Zhao could get a clear look, Li Hao summoned the Time Star once more and said, "Go. Walk backward along this Chaos Dao... Not forward, but backward!" The River of the Great Dao manifested, surging incessantly! Director Zhao's vision blurred, and he suddenly plummeted into the river. In that instant, he felt as though he had transformed into the rat monster, plunging into another river entirely as waves crashed over him. He tumbled into one of the waves, and memories began to surface—the memories of that slain rat monster! For a moment, Director Zhao was disoriented, feeling as if he were truly inside those memories, living as that rat. His heart shuddered! *Is this the River of Memory?* *This... is a divine tool for comprehending the Dao!* One could comprehend the Daos of different cultivators by immersing oneself in their experiences. This was... unbelievable! Li Hao's voice echoed again, reverberating within his mind: "Be quick... After all, this involves time. The more violent the waves, the more unforgettable the memory! Do not immerse yourself too deeply, lest you be assimilated into the next giant rat... It's fine to observe another's Dao, but there's no need to comprehend it to the core..." "Moreover, viewing these requires a price, primarily the expenditure of lifespan... Also, do not peer into the future without good reason. The future you see might not be real, and it will only affect your own mindset!" Director Zhao etched the words into his heart and said nothing. He continued to immerse himself in those vivid memories. This was the chronicle of a rat's struggle. Every Sovereign possessed their own journey. Even if it seemed negligible to powerful beings, watching a rat monster rise to become a Sovereign and lord of a realm across countless years—even through flickering fragments of memory—brought Director Zhao immense gains! After an indeterminate amount of time, Director Zhao suddenly tumbled out of the river. His eyes were slightly vacant, and for a fleeting moment, a trace of cunning and ferocity flashed through them. A while later, he gradually regained his calm, looked at Li Hao beside him, and said, "This method had better not be spread lightly... There is a fatal danger: once you merge into it, it's very easy to lose yourself completely, or even... be replaced!" Lurking fear lingered in his tone. "I was fortunate. This Chaos Beast's memories weren't overly intricate, and it hadn't experienced much—far less than what I went through in Silver Moon. That's why I managed to discard those influences quickly. Otherwise, I might have truly become a second rat monster!" Li Hao nodded. "This is called the River of Memory. It's not as simple as watching a projection; you are immersing your very self to perceive it... Naturally, ordinary people shouldn't attempt it, nor could they!" With that, he looked at Director Zhao. "Director Zhao, do you think you can impersonate it?" "I can!" Director Zhao nodded, deeply shaken. "Unless an expert probes deep into my essence... it will be very hard for anyone to see through the disguise. Tone, mannerisms, and aura can all be mimicked! Under that immersive experience, it's almost impossible to distinguish the fake from the real... The only risk is if an expert forcibly inspects my true nature, which would expose me." "That shouldn't happen!" Li Hao shook his head. "Doing so is a provocation to a Sovereign, effectively an act of war. In this place, the Dragon Lord's deterrence holds weight. This will do!" At this point, he smiled. "This means my plan of nurturing worlds with worlds can officially proceed!" A broad smile spread across his face. Looking back at the river fused with time, it was now connected to the first phantom world. The only minor inconvenience was that the Time Star would have to temporarily detach from him to stabilize this illusory river. As a result, he might not be able to call upon the power of time on short notice. Naturally, that was no great issue. Temporarily stepping away from time and walking the world without it could serve as a test for himself. He then glanced at his teacher nearby... At this moment, his teacher seemed to have grasped new insights. He wondered if Yuan Shuo could construct a complete Dao domain this time. If he did construct a complete Dao domain, would that mean the path to the seventh rank was paved? Of course, things were never that simple. At the very least, Li Hao lacked the resources to support a seventh-rank expert. One step at a time would suffice! At this moment, his illusory minor world was also absorbing energy from this physical world, perfecting itself. Li Hao let out a soft chuckle; he now commanded the power of yet another minor world.