'It's too fast! Can't I escape?'
The giant claw pressed down.
Yang Xiao had just regained his footing and had no time to tear through the void again before the terrifying aura was upon him.
In a single instant, it would smash Yang Xiao's body to pieces.
Yang Xiao's expression changed drastically.
At that moment, he could even see those ferocious, bloodshot eyes flashing with cruelty and triumph.
'No! I was reborn. How can I die here just like this? That's rightâthe Time Secret Pattern, the Celestial Desolation Swordsmanship!'
A flash of inspiration struck Yang Xiao.
A sword appeared in his handâthe Bloodthirsty Sword.
Nine Hundred Life and Death?
Three Thousand Transformations?
Myriad Lives Extinguished?
No, none of them would work.
These three moves.
None of them could solve his current crisis.
Nine Hundred Life and Deathâultimate speed?
No good.
No matter how fast he was now,
he couldn't block this attack.
Three Thousand Transformationsâultimate variation?
No good.
Even with endless variations, he still couldn't defend against it.
Faced with absolute power, any number of variations was useless.
Myriad Lives Extinguished?
That one might have some effect, but it would only work if he was willing to risk his life, and even then, just barely.
Yang Xiao wasn't ready to die.
What was the point of killing this Barbarian Beast King if it cost him his life?
So, Yang Xiao decided.
He would improvise a new Swordsmanship technique related to the Time Mystical Technique.
'That's right, I still have the Inheritance Sword Order. It can send me to the 2nd Layer. Given the situation, as long as I can't kill this thing, I can't go back. I don't want to bring danger to Ziling and the others. In that case, I might as well leave now.'
Yang Xiao's eyes hardened with resolve.
He swung the Bloodthirsty Sword in his hand.
The three layers of the Time Secret Pattern instantly manifested an unusual rhythm.
With Yang Xiao's position at the center,
the flow of time within a small, one-foot radius suddenly accelerated by a hundredfold.
Immediately after, he activated the Inheritance Sword Order.
His figure flashed.
And disappeared.
PENG!
With a tremendous crash, the Thousand-Winged Serpent Eagle's claw slammed into the ground, gouging out a huge crater surrounded by countless fissures.
It was clear how terrifying that strike had been.
'Hm? A miss? What happened? That brat actually vanished?'
The Thousand-Winged Serpent Eagle's blood-red eyes showed its disbelief.
But it scanned its surroundings.
It waited for a long time.
But it could no longer sense Yang Xiao's aura.
A full half-hour later,
it was finally certain.
Yang Xiao had likely left.
This departure was probably just like that of the human who had deceived it a thousand years ago.
'Damn it! So you were with him all along! No wonder you dared to toy with me. If I, this king, don't kill you and make you regret it, won't I become a laughingstock among the other Beast Kings?'
The Thousand-Winged Serpent Eagle was incandescent with rage.
Suddenly, a plan formed in its head, which, while not brilliant, was certainly not stupid.
'A moment ago, I sensed the auras of several other members of the Human Race on that brat. One of them was rather mysterious. Those people might still be here. I'll just kill them! It would be best if these humans are connected to that brat; then he'll come back for revenge. If they aren't... well, they're just a few insignificant humans. Dead is dead.'
The Thousand-Winged Serpent Eagle let out a harsh, grating laugh.
With a flap of the thousand pairs of wings on its back, its entire body vanished.
It followed the faint trace of Yang Xiao's aura, which currently pointed directly toward the valley where he had stayed before.
Needless to say,
those auras
belonged to Yang Ziling and the others.
And with Yang Xiao having hastily left the 1st Layer of the Northern Wilderness Sword Mansion,
they had no way of leaving.
Worse still, they had no idea
that Yang Xiao had stirred up such a massive problem.
The result?
What would it be?
As for Yang Xiao, he was even more clueless.
At this moment,
he was once again enveloped in Void Power, being transported into another space.
But this time,
his Spiritual Power had undergone a qualitative change.
His understanding of this Void Power was much deeper.
At the same time,
as he passed through the spatial barrier, he also clearly sensed the Power of Time within it.
It was just incredibly profound.
And difficult to grasp.
It was already beyond his scope of understanding.
'But that last sword strike...'
A faint smile suddenly appeared on Yang Xiao's face.
That sword strike,
while it lacked any real killing power,
and could only accelerate the flow of time around himself within a very small area, was something he had created with his own Swordsmanship.
It wasn't a technique from the Northern Wilderness Sword God's Celestial Desolation Swordsmanship.
This meant that soon, Yang Xiao would be able to use his own Swordsmanshipâor perhaps not even Swordsmanship, but his will aloneâto draw out and manifest the power of the Time Secret Pattern.
It was just like his current situation.
His Flame Emperor Divine Fist was, in essence, a Fist Technique of Supreme Yang and Firmness, containing endless explosive power. When he first created it, it had a full eighteen forms.
But later, Yang Xiao deconstructed those eighteen forms, one by one.
This was the "move of no moves."
The so-called "no move" state
meant he didn't need specific forms to fully unleash the power he desired.
When it came to the Time Secret Pattern, Yang Xiao was still far from achieving such a level of mastery.
He couldn't swing his sword
and make time slow down in a certain area.
Nor could he swing his sword
and make time speed up in a certain area.
Even if he could,
it would only be within a very small range.
However,
this sword strike was the beginning.
Yang Xiao had now set foot on this path.
'Normally, the Realm of No Move is reached by first mastering set moves. But the Northern Wilderness Sword God's Swordsmanship truly doesn't suit my path. Trying to comprehend it would only make things more difficult. It's better to pursue the path of no moves from the very beginning. And it doesn't necessarily have to be limited to Swordsmanship, either.'
At this thought, Yang Xiao's heart stirred.
He now had a plan for his future cultivation of the Time Secret Pattern.
But for now...
'It's time to find the 2nd Layer's Inheritance Tower. I wonder if there are any ripe Desolate Divine Fruits out here on the 2nd Layer?'
Yang Xiao was filled with anticipation.
At the same time, he felt much more relaxed than he had on the 1st Layer.
Because upon reaching the 2nd Layer,
he had much more time.
From the seventy days he had before,
it had become seven hundred days.
And with his experience searching on the 1st Layer,
Yang Xiao believed
he should be able to find the Inheritance Tower quickly.
However,
one month passed.
Yang Xiao hadn't found it.
Two months passed.
Yang Xiao still hadn't found it.
Three months passed.
Yang Xiao discovered
that this space was simply immense.
He couldn't help but feel a little panicked.
'Can I really not find it without the Celestial Cyan Snake to guide me?'
Yang Xiao refused to believe it.
He began to frantically use Void Shifting, flying in a single direction.
In that direction,
Yang Xiao could faintly sense
an incredibly terrifying and powerful force.
And so,
he tore through the void hundreds of times in a row.
Each time,
Yang Xiao had to rest for a bit.
He would reconfirm the precise location of the aura.
At the same time, he also had to sense whether there was a powerful Barbarian Beast King at his next destination.
An ordinary Barbarian Beast King,
Yang Xiao wasn't afraid of.
But one on the level of the Thousand-Winged Serpent Eagle...
The slightest carelessness,
and he would be finished.
And the Thousand-Winged Serpent Eagle, which could dominate the 1st Layer, was nothing on the 2nd Layer.
In the first three months alone,
Yang Xiao had sensed no fewer than fifty auras similar to the Thousand-Winged Serpent Eagle's.
Fortunately,
they showed no intention of attacking him.
Otherwise,
Yang Xiao would probably have been forced to flee for his life again.
Of course, this was also why he was being so extremely cautious.
Just as Yang Xiao was performing his six-hundredth Void Shift,
he finally
sensed the powerful aura he had detected before.
But the moment he appeared,
that powerful aura
discovered him.
"ROAR!"
With that monstrous roar,
Yang Xiao's entire body shuddered.
Under the terrifying soundwave,
he couldn't even stand steadily.
His skin began to crack.
If he hadn't immediately activated his Vajra Indestructible Divine Technique,
Yang Xiao's physical body would likely have shattered.
And at that very moment,
a behemoth
appeared.
It held its head high, looking down at Yang Xiao.
"Human Race, where did you come from?"
Seeing this behemoth, Yang Xiao froze.
Damn it.
It was an actual Flood Dragon!