Li Hao had wondered before if the star of time had given birth to a consciousness. But now, he didn’t think so.

This kind of star would not produce a consciousness. The curiosity it’d displayed in the dao universe on previous occasions, its inclination to chase and run, had been a function of the dao net’s protective mechanism.

When that thought occurred to him, Li Hao extended his mind and rested a trace of his consciousness on the star of time. He didn’t enter it—he simply quietly took stock of it.

The young man raised an eyebrow after a few moments. He didn’t say a word.

A few minutes later...

“It pulses once every six minutes, but there’s differences in each pulse.” Li Hao looked intently at the star. “There seems to be some faint differences when it comes to time. Different daos are directing the net of dao...”

Eh? Wait...

Li Hao blinked. Did that mean that each dao in the net could be the primary dao?

That’s weird.

Based on this order, that’s ten daos every hour and 240 in a day. If all ten thousand daos are to take their turn at the helm, that means forty-some days before a basic circulation can be completed...

Various ideas popped into his mind. Why was there such a small difference?

Li Hao fell silent and assessed the star of time some more. He was realizing that he knew too little about time. It was different compared to space. If the daos of space were arranged according to the dao chess configuration... he would be able to peer into it, despite the difficulties it posed.

But when it came to time, he was yet to wrap his mind around it.

After another long while in which Yuan Shuo failed to come out, Li Hao suddenly asked, “Senior Number Two, I’d like to ask you something.”

The cat stretched lazily, with some bleariness, and lifted its head to look at Li Hao.

“People didn’t seem willing to mention this star before,” said the young man after some thought. “I’d like to ask today if this was formed by the War Sovereign?”

“Probably,” Number Two said after a beat.

“Probably?”

“I didn’t see it with my own eyes... but he did materialize something like this star... for a while...”

Li Hao nodded. Then he had. Your ‘probably’ is seriously a conservative response.

“Have you ever seen the War Sovereign use this star?”

“Yep... I was born through its use. He cut off a portion of the past!”

Li Hao nodded. “Anything else?”

“Anything... else?” Number Two rummaged through its memories. It’d been so many years that while it had a good memory, they were starting to become a bit hazy now. “The one who taught didn’t utilize the star much because it wasn’t that complete. But I remember that he said once that time isn’t one dao.”

Li Hao nodded. I know it isn’t, it’s the combination of ten thousand daos. It’s definitely not just one dao! There is no such thing as the dao of time. It’s a dao of combination. I know that much.

“The one who taught says it’s not one dao!” Number Two added when it saw Li Hao nod with understanding.

“I know, it’s the combination of many...” Li Hao nodded.

“That’s not it either,” Number Two said wearily.

“Then what do you mean?” Li Hao blinked.

“That is what I mean...” the cat trailed off.

“......” Well? What exactly do you mean?

A frowning Li Hao sank into deep thought before looking at Number Two again. If not the same dao... then was it two or three daos...

The young man blinked. It’s not one dao... so is time not just one time?

That’s a bit complicated then!

He thought of the pulses that occurred every few minutes, of the varying differences between them. Could it be... they were different because time itself was different?

Li Hao stared blankly, his expression shifting minutely. If time itself was different... then did that mean the dao of time wasn’t a stable, fixed dao?

Surely not!

Was it a dao that could change?

The young man frowned and began thinking over this hypothesis. He continued to sense the changes in the star of time and his teacher still did not return.

Suddenly...

Li Hao understood something. “Senior Number Two, is there only one time in existence?”

The cat paused, then shook its head. “There might have been only one time in the past, but there are millions of potential futures, so it is not the only one anymore! There are endless possibilities of the future, whereas there is only one present and past for us.”

“The future is endless!” Li Hao took a deep breath. “That... doesn’t seem to be good. If... the future is variable, then doesn’t that mean there is more than one kind of time and that it is constantly changing?”

“Time is naturally constantly changing. It’s not like it stays in one place and stagnates.” Number Two was confused. Wasn’t that very normal?

“We’re screwed!” Li Hao’s eyes widened. “I think I’ve underestimated time.”

That itself wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he’d thrown his teacher inside and it’d been almost five days. It now seemed more like his teacher was trapped inside and not simply refusing to emerge!

The net of dao formed by time was possibly a password that could change, one that was ten thousand digits long.

Shit, we’re definitely screwed now!

A password that was ten thousand digits long was terrifying enough already. One that constantly kept changing... Who the hell was able to crack the code??

It wasn’t until now that Li Hao realized something was off. And here I was wondering why his teacher wasn’t coming out! He can’t... be on the verge of dying... because he’s been trapped... right?

The idea didn’t bear further scrutiny. Li Hao quickly agitated the great dao—his own of the five elements instead of the rat’s. Five minor worlds materialized around him as did five types of great dao. The great dao stretched forward and entered time!

The five minor worlds gradually became one with time.

“Lock!” Li Hao grunted. Five dao domains appeared as five daos locked onto time!

As strong as time might be, it wasn’t strong now and was under his control. Li Hao could lock onto it and suppress it with the five elements so that it couldn’t keep changing. He slammed his other palm at Yuan Shuo’s body!

The unique power of the five elements appeared over it, as did the strength of the Five Styles. It instantly became part of the star of time!

......

At the same time, within the star of time.

Yuan Shuo’s eyes darted around as his brows knitted together. He’d come to more of an understanding than before, but there was another problem at the moment. He could not keep up with the continuously shifting daos. They needed to stop for a moment, or he needed to be able to lock onto a set of coordinates. He needed to be able to compare his position to the outside world.

His wish was granted in this moment!

Based on the amount of time that’d passed, five massive avenues of dao suddenly appeared amid the shifting myriad of dao. They connected to the five elements within the dao net and locked down the entire net!

At the same time, an immense surge of power from the five elements appeared. It was very familiar as it belonged to his own five elements!

“Hmm?” Yuan Shuo blinked, then grinned with delight. Had that brat finally realized something was off?

Fucking hell! About time! This is good!

Yuan Shuo was suddenly able to fully locate the daos of the five elements. Joy blossomed in his eyes as he realized he could use them as a set of shifting coordinates. The old man quickly probed the surroundings, taking in the lay of the land before the daos shifted again.

He immediately found the rat’s dao and flew toward it!

The star of time shuddered madly, on the verge of collapse. It was actually unstable when it couldn’t change.

Yuan Shuo moved as quickly as he could and located the dao he was here for. He hugged it to himself, erupted with his auras, and shook the great dao!

......

In the outside world.

The chaos presence that the rat had left behind abruptly shook. Li Hao’s eyes widened and he smiled, extracting chaos dao from a minor world. A suction force sprang from it and it was only a moment before a shadow emerged from the star of time.

The shadow landed into the river with a thud. Yuan Shuo’s spirit reappeared, immensely bedraggled.

Li Hao reached out with a hand and stabilized his teacher’s spirit before he had a chance to say anything. He casually shoved the spirit back into Yuan Shuo’s physical body, but the body began to grow old as soon as the spirit returned.

Endless longevity dispersed in the blink of an eye!

Li Hao furrowed his brows; a world of emptiness appeared and enveloped Yuan Shuo. He then collected a great deal of dao strength from the river of dao and gradually formed a blade of grass. The grass grew furiously before landing on Yuan Shuo.

The old man’s body spontaneously returned to a young state.

Only then did Li Hao breathe out in relief and withdraw the world of emptiness, then the world of the five elements. The star of time began to pulse once more and the earlier trembling vanished.

Yuan Shuo opened his eyes! He smiled after assessing his condition. “Not bad, kid, you can instantly return what I’ve depleted to me...”

“You’re too weak, teacher!” Li Hao said bluntly. “Helping an Empyrean King recover is too easy for me!”

Oh shut up! Yuan Shuo cursed. “Kid, do you know that—”

“The daos inside change! The young man interrupted his teacher. “This is more difficult than I thought because the daos inside change. It’s incredible! The star might fully collapse if I brashly dismantle it. I won’t be able to reconstruct it.”

“.......” Yuan Shuo didn’t know what to say. “I’ve... discovered some of the patterns behind the changes...”

“It pulses once every six minutes, which means it changes once every 360 seconds. Each instance of change means a new main dao is in charge! Therefore, time is not a singular dao, but one of many daos...”

“......” Yuan Shuo looked silently at Li Hao and sneered, “What a smart child!”

Fucking hell! You’ve said everything I want to say, so what’s left for me to reveal?!

“But it’s all thanks to teacher giving this a try yourself to verify this. Otherwise, I almost overlooked this. Thank you for the field lesson, teacher!”

Yuan Shuo was truly rendered speechless! His student... was such bad luck!