Chapter 70: Myriad Things Spacetime

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves; the young Daoist's entire body was mired in mud underground, leaving only his head hanging on the ground, transparent saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, while not far away, by the iron shovel leaning against a tree, Feng Baobao held her phone and gazed into the distance.

"Buzz, the sun's out, hey..." the phone vibrated; Zhou Shuo sat upright on the protruding branch, opened his half‑squinting eyes, listened to the phone ring that suddenly cut off, looked at Feng Baobao holding the phone, her phone transmitting an urgent shout.

"Hey, Baojie, I've finished here, hurry over."

"All right." The girl hung up, turned and ran straight back to the arena.

"Wait a moment." Zhou Shuo, seeing the girl about to take the eleventh road, involuntarily spoke to detain her; the girl instantly halted at the sound, turned her body halfway back, her eyes full of inquiry.

"There's still some distance to the arena; I'll take you there directly!" After saying that, Zhou Shuo didn't wait for a reply; his soul instantly left his body, turning into a gust of yin wind.

"Huh, what's this?" Feng Baobao stared at the airflow flying out from Zhou Shuo's body and rushing toward her, eyes widening in disbelief—could qi be used like this?

Like a human‑shaped giant kite, the girl was swept up into the sky by the invisible current; then the yin wind surged, the current carrying her toward the arena, and within a few breaths the arena, resembling a colosseum, came into view.

"I'll just drop you down!" Zhou Shuo, looking down at the arena, couldn't help asking.

"All right." The girl's reply showed no emotion, and Zhou Shuo, without hesitation, supported her as they descended.

"Feng Baobao, where is Feng Baobao?" the Daoist in charge of refereeing for the Heavenly Master's Mansion scanned the field and shouted loudly.

"Look up!" a sharp‑eyed spectator pointed at the sky and called out; the referee Daoist slightly raised his head, instinctively opened his mouth, his gaze following the girl descending from heaven, not knowing what to say—truly a descent from heaven, not relying on any device or external force.

"What's going on?" Xu San, standing on the viewing platform, gripped the rail, his eyes showing disbelief.

"Damn, when did Baobao get this ability, Xu San?" the ruffian Xu Si was equally startled, asking his brother.

"No, this is an external force; an invisible current is supporting Baobao, not her own power." Xu Si watched the girl being lowered like a giant kite, his glasses flashing briefly as he shook his head.

"But this could be…" Zhang Chulan watched the girl descend straight from the sky onto the field, finding it hard to accept—this woman's body hid an unimaginable secret.

"Then I'll leave first." After setting the girl down and giving a warning, Zhou Shuo turned into a gust of yin wind and shot away, there being too many strange gazes here.

"Oh." Feng Baobao stared at the opponent whose eyes were locked on her, not even glancing at the yin wind that had darted away.

Having tossed aside the astonished crowd, Zhou Shuo's soul shot back into his body; instantly he looked toward the ground, where the Daoist Wang Ye, no longer asleep but eyes wide open, fixed his gaze firmly on him.

"Priest Wang Ye, sorry about last night—I'll let you out now." Zhou Shuo looked at the yellow‑faced Daoist glaring at him, leapt down from the branch where he'd been perched, walked to the Daoist whose whole body was buried underground, pulled away some dirt from around his neck, then grabbed his collar and hauled him out.

"Bajik!" a strange sound rang out; the Daoist buried most of the night, seized by his collar by Zhou Shuo, was pulled out like a radish, his robe's sleeves still smeared with wet mud; seeing his filthy appearance, Wang Ye gave a wry smile.

"Well..." Zhou Shuo looked at the smiling Daoist, also feeling a bit embarrassed.

"It's fine." Wang Ye looked at the embarrassed Zhou Shuo, shook the mud from his Daoist robe, lightly tapped his right foot, and formed a sword finger with his right hand.

Zhou Shuo felt the qi field suddenly ripple; his gaze narrowed slightly, as if he and the world had been split apart, his body seeming to congeal like jelly, yet within his line of sight Wang Ye's brows and eyes kept twitching, as if straining to maintain some state.

"So this is your doing, right!" Zhou Shuo instantly projected his soul out of his body, looking down at the yellow‑faced Daoist struggling to hold the state.

"Indeed! I can't hold it..." Wang Ye watched the light‑like figure, like a ghost, drift out of his body; he immediately abandoned his hand seal, his yellow face showing a dejected expression.

"Not bad a skill—this must be Wind God's Qimen!" Zhou Shuo sensed the surrounding qi field, a little surprised; the space around them seemed cut off from the outside world, carrying the aura of a Four‑Tribulations Ghost Immortal powerful enough to will a world into being—just as Yunxiangxiang once relied on this trick to come and go freely at Ru Ting Residence, and the Dao of the Supreme Unity also concerns spacetime.

"Not bad; just now I used Wind God's Qimen's Chaotic Gold Clopper to immobilize the opponent, in the sense of time." Wang Ye nodded slightly, without hiding anything.

"Oh, time?" Zhou Shuo looked at the explaining Daoist, his soul returning to his body, his face lighting up with interest—time is something only a Seven‑Tribulations Ghost Immortal master can play with.

"Well, my Wind God's Method Qimen differs from other Qimen in that the practitioner can control time and space within this formation—sigh, it's annoying; I just finished explaining this to that guy Zhuge Qing, and now here we go again, might as well lay it out." Wang Ye scratched his messy hair, feeling helpless but still picked up a clod of earth from the ground.

"This clod of earth would hit the ground in an instant for him, but I can make it land after a minute, because gravity here differs from the outside." Wang Ye released the clod; it hovered motionless in the air, drifting down at an extremely slow speed.

"Alter gravity to affect time?" Zhou Shuo raised his eyebrows.

"Exactly; the so‑called Heaven‑Responding Star and Earth‑Responding Tide—these solar‑lunar cycles are merely an illusion from celestial motion; the sequence of all things' changes is what matters. By altering the internal air and humidity, I change gravity, thus changing the stone's fall time; to alter time, one need only master the order of all things." Wang Ye nodded slightly.

"Interesting—then altering space would be manipulating the mutability of all things." Zhou Shuo slightly lifted his head to the sky; since changing time controls the order of all things, changing space would control their mutability.

"Exactly." Wang Ye nodded; time is the order of all things, space is their positional disparity; mastering both order and change means mastering spacetime.

"Thanks, Priest Wang Ye." Zhou Shuo looked at the nodding yellow‑faced Daoist and couldn't help smiling—this guy was interesting.

"No need; if I couldn't beat you I'd surely thrash you, but it's unexpected to meet an anomaly like you—no grudge involved, yet you suddenly appear; still, since I've finished what I needed to do, what comes next is up to them." Wang Ye flicked his sleeves, speaking frankly: he'd wanted to fight Zhou Shuo, but the grudge that would arise from the outcome is something he absolutely does not want to see.

"What's the point of saying sorry now? It's probably too late. Priest Wang Ye, if anything comes up, find me—I'll take my leave." Zhou Shuo looked at the dejected young Daoist, feeling a bit embarrassed, but sensing an aura quickly approaching, he waved his hand and darted into the woods.

"That's it." The words in a Sichuan accent carried over; Wang Ye turned his head and saw, on the opposite mountain plain, Feng Baobao in a ubiquitous brown work uniform leading Xu Si, Xu San, and Zhang Chulan hurrying over.

"Wang, Priest Wang Ye!" Zhang Chulan followed behind Xu Si, looking at the mud‑covered yellow‑faced Daoist standing in the woods, not quite sure.

"Zhang Chulan, you little brat, winning feels great, huh?" Wang Ye didn't even glance at Feng Baobao or Xu Si and Xu San; he fixed his gaze on Zhang Chulan, likewise clad in the ubiquitous brown work uniform, his eyes instantly turning venomous—everything traces back to this kid; if it weren't for him, Wang Ye would never have come to Dragon Tiger Mountain.

"Priest Wang Ye, please calm down; I'd like to ask—have you seen a thin, small‑framed fellow with prominent cheekbones?" Xu San looked at the Daoist with a hostile gaze, feeling a bit guilty; Feng Baobao had targeted Wang Ye to help Zhang Chulan become the Heavenly Master, and they too were the planners of that scheme.

"He ran off that way, but before that we need to talk about last night's sneak attack on me—you two must know about it, right?" Wang Ye narrowed his sleepy eyes, pointed toward the direction Zhou Shuo fled, and fixed his stare on Xu San and Xu Si.

"Uh… well, Priest Wang Ye, we had no choice; here's what we'll do—Zhang Chulan, you stay and make amends to the Daoist; Baobao, Xu San, I'll go after them." The ruffian Xu Si, seeing Wang Ye's ill expression, laughed nervously, shoved Zhang Chulan forward, gave a glance, and the three set off along the path Wang Ye had indicated.

"Fourth Brother, Baojie." Zhang Chulan, suddenly shoved forward by Xu Si, also feeling unprepared, gazed anxiously at the unfriendly Priest Wang Ye and swallowed nervously.

"What are we waiting for? The arena bout isn't over—let's settle this here, are you a man or not?" Wang Ye assumed a taiji starting pose; losing in the arena didn't matter, his purpose in coming here was already fulfilled, but this origin still needed a lesson.

"I..." Zhang Chulan watched the three who had rushed off to chase the enemy without noticing him, and the yellow‑faced Daoist already in a fighting stance; cold sweat burst from his forehead, his eyes turned white—what to do, he couldn't beat this Daoist.