Chapter 82 – Overwhelm

At this moment, Yun Xiguang didn’t know whether he should worry more about Chi Qiong or himself.

While Chi Qiong was powerful and couldn’t die, the Spirit Beast Codex had managed to trap him twice, proving it was no ordinary item. Zhulong using the Spirit Beast Codex against Chi Qiong indicated that even if Chi Qiong couldn’t die, he could still be sealed by it.

If Chi Qiong had a few Phoenix Feathers, Yun Xiguang wouldn’t be so concerned. Unfortunately, all the Phoenix Feathers were in Yun Xiguang’s possession. Chi Qiong, much like a newly awakened chick, was no different than before; he simply couldn’t rely on his own strength to escape the Spirit Beast Codex.

Yun Xiguang’s situation wasn’t much better. He did indeed have four Phoenix Feathers and the Flame of Law, making him a formidable force. However, he was up against Zhulong, who wielded the power over space and time and also controlled five Phoenix Feathers. Whether it was the number of Phoenix Feathers or his inherent strength, Yun Xiguang was no match for Zhulong.

It seemed impossible for either Yun Xiguang to defeat Zhulong and save Chi Qiong, or for Chi Qiong to escape the Spirit Beast Codex and come to his rescue.

However, Bai Ze and Azure Dragon were still guarding below. Perhaps Yun Xiguang could injure Zhulong’s claw, causing the Spirit Beast Codex to fall, allowing Bai Ze and Azure Dragon to retrieve it. They could then find a way to destroy the codex and release the trapped spirit beasts inside.

With this thought in mind, Yun Xiguang quickly looked down and stole a glance at Bai Ze and Azure Dragon’s positions.

This glance shattered his last hope.

On the ground, in addition to Qin Shu, Bai Ze, and Azure Dragon, there were two more figures: Kong Haoming and Lu Wu.

The last Heaven-grade Spiritbond Master had appeared and intervened to block Yun Xiguang’s reinforcements.

Zhulong and his group truly had a brilliant plan.

They patiently waited for Li Zheng Sect’s fighter jets to bomb Youying Academy, taking advantage of the mushroom creature’s weakened state after its injury. They altered its perception of time, assisting Yun Xiguang.

Once Yun Xiguang retrieved three Phoenix Feathers, Zhulong suddenly struck, sealing Chi Qiong with the Spirit Beast Codex. Kong Haoming and Lu Wu were dispatched to hold off Bai Ze and Azure Dragon, while Zhulong himself seized the three Phoenix Feathers and engaged Yun Xiguang, aiming to obtain the final four feathers.

It was a flawless strategy.

“You remember me, and I find that an honor,” Yun Xiguang said sincerely.

Even though he harbored deep enmity towards Zhulong, he couldn’t deny that being remembered by a legendary divine beast like Zhulong was indeed an honor.

Moreover, after understanding the truth of the world, Yun Xiguang’s hatred had faded.

This didn’t mean he no longer hated; rather, Yun Xiguang had learned to set aside personal grudges and control his impulses for more important matters.

Allowing hatred to consume his rationality would serve no purpose. He needed to remain calm and think about how to overcome Zhulong.

Currently, Yun Xiguang had no one to rely on except himself.

Facing Zhulong, Yun Xiguang believed that he wasn’t entirely without a chance of victory.

Zhulong could manipulate time, but Yun Xiguang possessed the Flame of Law. Zhulong had five Phoenix Feathers, and although Yun Xiguang was outnumbered, he had received permission from Chi Qiong to fully utilize the power within the four Phoenix Feathers. Zhulong might not have the same privilege.

In short, it wasn’t a completely hopeless situation. He still had the strength to fight.

“I didn’t actually remember you originally; you were just a fish that slipped through the net ten years ago.” Zhulong watched Yun Xiguang from the darkness. “It was your encounter with the Supreme Deity Zhuzhao and your continuous disruption of the path this world should take that led me to investigate you again, which brought back my memory of you.”

Seeing that Zhulong seemed interested in communication, Yun Xiguang refrained from launching an immediate attack. He wanted to observe and identify Zhulong’s weaknesses. He said, “There’s never been such a thing as what should or shouldn’t happen. This world isn’t a plaything of the laws. Each of us is merely doing our best to accomplish what we can. You don’t need to preach to me about how everything is for the sake of the world. Just consider me a selfish human, thinking only of myself.”

Yun Xiguang cautiously watched Zhulong, guarding against any manipulation of his own time.

Yun Xiguang excelled in his liberal arts courses. If he hadn’t become a Spiritbond Master, he would have pursued higher education at a social university. Like countless ordinary high school students, he was fascinated by the mysteries of the universe, time, quantum mechanics, various scientific hypotheses, theories, and science fiction stories. He knew long ago that time was a paradox, a human perception of the speed of celestial movements.

He believed that Zhulong’s supposed manipulation of time was actually the disruption of living beings’ perception abilities.

In the myths he heard during his childhood, humans who accidentally wandered into fairy realms found that when they returned home after spending some time there, decades had passed in the outside world, and their families had died. This gave rise to the saying that one day in heaven equaled a year on earth.

In reality, it was due to differing movement speeds in the two places.

The person who mistakenly entered the fairy realm had their perception of speed distorted, mistaking a year for a single day.

When they returned to reality, they once again felt the passage of time, believing it to have been decades. In their perception, they had lived through decades, aging instantly as a result.

What Zhulong could manipulate was limited to this aspect; its power wasn’t as overwhelming as it seemed.

If it truly possessed the ability to control celestial bodies, objective matters, and time itself, why hadn’t it traveled back hundreds of years to eliminate the seeds of the Industrial Revolution? Wouldn’t that have been simpler than bringing about the end of the world?

Therefore, Zhulong couldn’t reverse time or alter objective matters. The only thing it could manipulate was perception.

This wasn’t an illusion but rather humanity’s perception of the real world and the passage of time.

For the world, Earth continued to function normally. However, for individuals affected by Zhulong’s power, it might have already been eons.

If Zhulong applied such power to him, slowing down his time, Yun Xiguang could potentially starve to death without Zhulong needing to make a move, simply because he would go too long without food.

In his perception, a month might have passed, while in reality, it might have been mere seconds.

Just like the mushroom creature earlier, it withered and died in an instant. To the mushroom creature, that moment felt like eons.

Additionally, Zhulong possessed the ability to summon wind and rain, and to invoke the power of heaven and earth. It was in this manner that it had crushed Ling Qingkong and his wife under a mountain, taking their lives.

“You should hand over the Phoenix Feathers,” Zhulong suddenly said. “You won’t be able to defeat me. I can trap you in the crease of time, where no one can save you.”

Yun Xiguang was slightly puzzled. Why didn’t Zhulong directly attack him and take the Phoenix Feathers after killing him? Wouldn’t that be more efficient?

If he were Zhulong, he wouldn’t waste time talking to this insignificant human. What was worth Zhulong’s time?

Unless, Zhulong lacked confidence in a decisive victory.

Could it be that Zhulong couldn’t use its spatiotemporal powers against him?

Yun Xiguang recalled that Zhulong had clearly known the Phoenix Feathers were in the mushroom creature’s possession but waited until they took action before seizing the Feathers. This suggested that Zhulong wasn’t confident in defeating the fake “Zhuzhao” created by Youying and needed to leverage their strength.

Not until the fighter jets bombed the mushroom creature could Zhulong use the rules of time to control it. This indicated that the mushroom creature, due to the presence of the Phoenix Feathers, was immortal and unafraid of the passage of time.

However, humans and mushroom creatures belonged to different species and operated on different principles. Even with the Phoenix Feathers, Yun Xiguang couldn’t live for tens of thousands of years.

Even if the Phoenix Feathers provided energy to prevent him from starving, he would still grow old and eventually die, or succumb to mental collapse due to the relentless passage of time.

Yun Xiguang had only lived eighteen years. If Zhulong forcibly trapped him for several decades, he might lose his sanity.

But Zhulong hadn’t done so.

Was it because of the Phoenix Feathers? Or his contract with Chi Qiong? Or…

Yun Xiguang looked at the back of his hand. When Chi Qiong was sucked away by the Spirit Beast Codex, he had grabbed Yun Xiguang’s hand, leaving a scratch with blood still visible.

His blood contained Heavenly Fire.

This Heavenly Fire was absorbed by Yun Xiguang at Ling Qingkong’s dying request, acting as the executor of the Law.

Zhulong was also an executor of the Law.

Yun Xiguang also remembered that his parents’ deaths were unlike the mushroom creature’s. Their cause of death resembled a disaster, with Zhulong not using temporal powers against them.

Was this because Zhulong didn’t want to reveal its identity, or because his parents, who already knew how to control Heavenly Fire, had Heavenly Fire within them? Did the presence of Heavenly Fire prevent Zhulong from disrupting their perception of time, forcing him to use an accident to kill them?

Yun Xiguang looked up at Zhulong and said, “Then trap me in the crease of time right now. I’d like to see how long I can endure in that gap.”

“It seems you’ve figured it out,” Zhulong’s tone was calm. “Fine, I admit that I was merely threatening you. As fellow executors of the Law, I can’t manipulate your time. But that doesn’t mean I can’t attack you. I just don’t like altering the natural laws.”

With that, Zhulong gently blew.

Yun Xiguang suddenly felt an icy chill.

Zhulong, viewing daytime as night, sleeping as day, blowing as winter, exhaling as summer, breathing as wind.

It was currently summer in the southern province, with temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius, and Yun Xiguang was dressed lightly.

The temperature instantly dropped to around minus 100 degrees Celsius. If not for the protection of the Phoenix Feathers, Yun Xiguang would have felt his bones turning to ice.

Yun Xiguang hastily ignited flames around him, using fire to counteract the cold. But just as he warmed his body, Zhulong opened its mouth and gently exhaled, causing the surroundings to heat up instantly.

The weather around him returned to summer.

No, it was even hotter than summer, with temperatures definitely exceeding 50 degrees Celsius!

Yet Yun Xiguang was still igniting fires to warm himself, causing his body’s surface temperature to skyrocket to over 70 degrees Celsius in an instant, nearly cooking him alive.

Yun Xiguang hurriedly extinguished the flames, but just as he began to feel the temperature was tolerable, Zhulong blew again, dropping the temperature back to minus 100 degrees Celsius.

Within a few breaths, Yun Xiguang experienced multiple cycles between minus 100 degrees and plus 70 degrees. Each change in temperature left his body weakened as if he had endured a serious illness.

Zhulong, remaining hidden in the smoke, emitted a low laugh.

It was telling Yun Xiguang that even if it couldn’t manipulate Yun Xiguang’s personal time, it could still control the changes in his surrounding environment. Within a few breaths, it could easily play with Yun Xiguang’s life.

“Hand over the Phoenix Feathers,” Zhulong said in a commanding tone.

Yun Xiguang’s strength had been drained. He struggled to ask, “If I’m dead, you can take them yourself. Why must I hand them over willingly?”

Zhulong replied, “Because these four Phoenix Feathers were bestowed upon you by the Supreme Deity Zhuzhao. If you voluntarily give them to me and grant me your permission, I can freely utilize the power within the Phoenix Feathers. If I recover the Feathers after your death, it would be troublesome to use the power stored here. It might require another century to erase the mental imprint on them. A century isn’t a long time, but it’s enough of a hassle.”