Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

Time.

It was the most profound and elusive thing.

Time flowed like water. It was omnipresent, surrounding us at every moment.

But no one could truly capture time.

This was a Dao of profound mystery.

This was the supreme, immutable Law governing the operation of all things in the world!

The cultivation of a Martial Artist was an act of defying the heavens. It was a process of comprehending the supreme Laws of heaven and earth, mastering them to achieve a state of longevity equal to the world itself, or even to surpass it.

What Jiang Chen was doing now was comprehending Time Sword Intent!

He tried to perceive the three statues of the Three Historical Buddhas sitting before him, but the fluctuations of the Secrets of Time emanating from the Past Buddha and Future Buddha were far too profound. It left Jiang Chen utterly baffled.

’Past? What is the past...?’

’Future? Is the future just what comes later?’

’Then what about the present? Is the place we are in truly the present?’

These questions echoed endlessly in Jiang Chen’s mind.

He had never considered these questions before.

Now that he had truly quieted his mind to think, he found it was a profound, labyrinthine world, one in which it was all too easy to become lost.

’No, no, this direction of comprehension is completely wrong.’

Jiang Chen shook his head and sighed.

In the comprehension of the Martial Dao, the greatest taboo was going astray.

Once one took the wrong path, changing course later would be incredibly difficult. Therefore, the initial stage of comprehending a Dao was the most critical!

’It seems that at my current level, trying to comprehend Time Sword Intent from the directions of the past and future is too difficult. I can only go from simple to complex. I’ll start by comprehending the Time Sword Intent of this Present Buddha!’ Jiang Chen took a deep breath. A cerulean-gold light, full of wisdom and profundity, bloomed in his Eyes of the Heavens.

As he comprehended the Present Buddha, he also ran constant deductions in his mind, but the results were not obvious.

’It’s still a problem with my direction of comprehension. If the direction were correct, it should be like sailing with the current, smooth and unimpeded! Not like this, where difficult problems keep stumping me. Ai, if only the Present Buddha were mine, I could get closer to the essence of Time Sword Intent...’

While muttering to himself, Jiang Chen’s eyes suddenly widened.

A flash of Spiritual Light suddenly streaked through his mind.

’That’s right, the Present Buddha... Wouldn’t it be even better if I could take the statues of the Three Historical Buddhas back with me to study slowly?’ A thought struck Jiang Chen, and he immediately walked toward the statues of the Three Historical Buddhas.

His hands formed a series of Hand Seals.

A profound Magic Formula was activated.

It was none other than the Celestial Demon Emperor Venerable’s Secret Technique, Celestial Demon Refining. Streaks of profound runes erupted from his hands, flowing rapidly across the surface of the enormous Buddha statue.

Before long...

The black runes had already enveloped the statue of the Present Buddha.

He began to refine it!

The refining process took a full day and night before Jiang Chen finally finished refining the statue of the Present Buddha.

"Shrink!"

Jiang Chen roared, raising both hands high above his head. The giant Buddha statue began to rotate in the void, continuously shrinking as it flew toward him.

It finally transformed into a palm-sized Buddha statue.

It landed in Jiang Chen’s palm.

Before refining the statue, it had been towering and immense. Jiang Chen could only see a small part of it, like peering at a leopard through a tube.

But now...

The statue had been refined by him, and he could observe it in its entirety.

Every single detail could be seen with perfect clarity.

Jiang Chen’s gaze fell upon the statue. His Eyes of the Heavens could perceive the most subtle of things.

Jiang Chen watched, mesmerized, and gradually became completely absorbed!

His gaze followed every carving, every detail on the statue. Bit by bit, he could actually feel a profound energy enveloping the entire statue.

Jiang Chen subconsciously followed the traces on the statue.

His Divine Thought moved slowly along the statue’s patterns, and his comprehension of the Dao of Time grew clearer and deeper.

An entire day passed in this state of immersive cultivation!

Jiang Chen’s tightly shut eyes suddenly snapped open, two blinding glints of light bursting from them. In an instant, the Spirit-Slaying Sword in his hand thrust forward. This strike seemed slow, yet at other times, incomparably swift. With a RUMBLE, the thrust landed, and the flowing seawater in front of him abruptly froze, followed by a thunderous BOOM.

The Sword Aura directly split apart the stagnant Vast Sea.

A channel of seawater appeared upon the great ocean.

"Tier One Time Sword Intent. I’ve finally made some progress!"

An excited smile spread across Jiang Chen’s face. "I never expected that just by refining the statue, I would make a breakthrough in my Time Sword Intent and comprehend Tier One Time Sword Intent. Although my understanding of the Time Sword Dao is still very shallow, it’s enough to use the Present Form of the Three Lives Technique!"

’I wonder if refining the other two statues will allow my Dao of Time to advance even further?’

His gaze turned to the Past Buddha and the Future Buddha.

The two statues, however, trembled slightly and began to grow blurry.

A vortex suddenly appeared above his head.

RUMBLE...

The vortex spun rapidly.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

Jiang Chen was speechless as he was devoured by the vortex’s pull. Watching the two statues grow more and more distant, his face was filled with regret and unwillingness. "My Past Buddha and Future Buddha..."

BOOM!

Amid a flash of light,

Jiang Chen was teleported out of that mystical space.

His surroundings returned to the Celestial Burial Demon Mausoleum. Tombs were everywhere, and dark, oppressive clouds hung in the Celestial Vault.

Jiang Chen froze for a moment, then hastily looked around.

His sudden movement startled Zhao Hongluan and Gai Shi beside him. Zhao Hongluan looked at him with concern. "Jiang Chen, what’s wrong?"

Gai Shi also asked, "Did you find something?"

"Huh? Why are you guys here?" Jiang Chen was stunned. He remembered having been separated from them!

Zhao Hongluan gave him a strange look. "We’ve been together the whole time!"

Gai Shi said sullenly, "Don’t tell me you were possessed by one of these Evil Ghosts? We entered the Celestial Burial Demon Mausoleum together and have just been wandering around here!"

Jiang Chen was stunned. ’Was everything I experienced before just an illusion?’

His palm tightened slightly, and Jiang Chen discovered that he was holding a palm-sized Buddha statue!

It was the statue of the Present Buddha!

It wasn’t a dream!

Nor was it an illusion!

The nameless tombstone was real, the Three Lives Technique was real, and even the Buddha statue was real...

However, it seemed that he was the only one who knew what had happened.

Jiang Chen discreetly put the statue away. Just as he was about to speak, a wild, arrogant laugh suddenly echoed from not far away...

"Zifeng Jun, I am going to dig up these tombs and take the treasures buried within. Who the hell do you think you are? Do you think you’re worthy of stopping me?"

[Second update!]