Divine Emperor of Death

Arriving at the mountain of the Alternating Time Flow Valley, Davis saw the steep slope heading downwards as though it was a roller coaster ride. He couldn't help but blink before turning to look at a warning sign stabbed into the surface of the peak.

[You could find yourself losing lifespan quickly in this training grounds, which is practically a danger zone. When you come out, the time you spend in the Alternating Time Flow Valley would be similar to the time outside, but you would've considerably lost many years in your lifespan that your perception wouldn't even have registered it. Tread with the utmost caution you could muster.

-Heaven Gazing Sect]

Besides that warning sign, there was also a formation to check the bone age.

"…"

Davis pursed his lips, laying down the worry in his heart.

He was afraid that he would lose time outside as the Calamity Light hadn't stopped yet, but if it was just his lifespan that decreased, he didn't have a problem because his lifespan provided by his Body Tempering Cultivation was fifty thousand years. Adding on the Earth Dragon Blood and the Supreme Immortal Crest, he felt that his lifespan could even reach eighty thousand years.

If he lost a few thousand years traveling inside the Alternating Time Flow Valley, he felt that it would be a small price to pay. That said, he couldn't use his Solitary Soul Avatar to come here either, as that would mean comprehending Time Laws for the soul, which he didn't want to.

He strictly wanted to use Death Laws, Life Laws, and its lower-tier Darkness Laws and Light Laws before proceeding onto comprehend Reincarnation Laws. He felt like he couldn't stuff more Laws to his Soul Forging Cultivation, at least not at the moment.

After all, he was not Myria, who had lived for many years.

As for his Essence Gathering Cultivation, it seemed that Space Laws and Time Laws were almost perfectly balanced between the nature of yin and yang and hence, could be used without interference from his unique physique or tempered meridians.

That's why many powerhouses knew how to use Space Laws like he had seen a Burning Phoenix Ridge Elder use it back when he first visited it despite their blood and body being influenced towards Fire Laws.

Since he was just using Fire Laws and Lightning Laws with his Essence Gathering Cultivation and very rarely Illusion Laws, he felt that he could accommodate Space Laws and Time Laws in it.

As for his Body Tempering Cultivation, it was also possible to use it but concentrating these Laws on a single cultivation system was enough for him at the time.

Thinking like this, he descended from the peak and flew downwards into the spacious yet creepy valley that didn't have much light. The only sources of light were unique crystals glowing with a vague gray light, emitting light undulations.

They didn't seem to possess the essence of time, so he kept descending at a slow pace, constantly using his soul sense to feel the surrounding space before moving down. After all, he could sense the undulations of time lurking around him ever so vaguely with the absence of wind blades surging to tear him apart.

However, he couldn't understand what it did to him as his perception remained the same. But, he didn't give up trying to understand what was happening to him, furthering his focus on gaining insights.

Back then, he had a glimpse into Time Laws, gaining the insight that time was equal for everyone and yet not at the same time. That reasoning had to do with his avatar, which allowed him to do multiple things at the same time. However, he still felt that Time, as a whole, although relative, remained the same for everyone, passing in a linear motion.

When this linear motion of time is disrupted, it is corrected by the natural laws of the cosmos, just like how shattered space stitches back itself.

To this vague insight, Davis was fairly sure that he was correct, and now all he had to do was understand and realize it to a deep level, forming a minor resonance to his comprehension of Time Laws. However, like comprehending Space Laws, he was searching for a suitable spot.

Unlike the Distorted Skies of Yonder, he could not sense many people here. Almost all of them did not seem to head deep into this Alternating Time Flow Valley, remaining at the edge as they sat and tried to comprehend the essence of time just from the mysterious undulations lurking around.

'Too difficult and wasteful… Tina said that her Mystic Diviner uncle took five hundred years in the Alternating Time Flow Valley to comprehend Time Laws. He must've been seated in this outer edge, slowly learning...'

Davis couldn't help but shake his head, wondering how he could waste so much time, but he simply forgot that it was extremely normal for ordinary people to spend many years and comprehend nothing and, in most cases, arrive at the wrong conclusion that doesn't invoke the resonance of the heaven and earth!

In any case, he traveled deep down the valley and thoroughly looked for a thick presence of time undulations.

Soon, he found a rock that radiated time undulations. He couldn't help but raise his brows, noticing the spiritual nature of it.

'A Time-Attributed Spirit Stone Vein Fragment…'

He didn't think that he would find a Peak-Level one at that.

Pursing his lips, he looked around and searched for a Peak-Level Time-Attributed Spirit Stone Vein Source. However, he couldn't find anything except a few traces of mining, which could only mean…

'It seems like it was not harvested along with the others...'

Davis figured that the cultivators from the Heaven Mandate Temple had harvested it. After all, it belonged to them.

'Wait… that's not right. It was probably done long ago, but since the space is encased in alternating time, it appears as though it had been recently done...'

He hurriedly communicated with his avatar and learned that time was actually going faster for him on the other side, which meant time was slowing down here. He slightly moved towards the side and saw that his perception changed ever so lightly that he couldn't even pick up traces of the mining conducted here.

He then moved back to that same position, finding that he could sense the mining that occurred 'recently'. A few minutes later, while remaining in the same position, he found that time was speeding up now, and the outside world was becoming slow.

'So this is what they meant by 'alternating' valley and that the time spent inside is equal to the outside...'

Davis blinked, understanding that Time Laws maintained an odd yet unnerving balance here. However, lost lifespan couldn't be regained but only slowed down to nil, which results in being unable to retrieve the loss of lifespan, which makes it so that their perception tells them that they spent ten days in the Alternating Time Flow Valley and ten days had passed in the outside world but in reality, a hundred days or so passage of time could've affected their body in the Alternating Time Flow Valley.

Without his avatar, his perception couldn't even realize the difference in time.

To be able to be subtle enough to not allow him to notice the change in time, Davis felt that the Time Laws were insane if used properly, also making him wonder if it was just terrifying or if the Time Laws here possessed some kind of special property.

Still, his search went on as he tried to search for a more stable and more essenceful location of Time Laws.

His figure strayed around like a shadow, inviting some scares to a few people who were deep in comprehension, but once they learned the most known face of the decade was beside them, they didn't dare say anything and returned to comprehending, sometimes even leaving altogether as they didn't want trouble.

Davis was the least bothered by them. There were many caves in this dark valley that attracted his attention.

He had entered them one by one, hoping to find a good spot. However, he ended up with nothing each time. He had visited a hundred or more caves in a few hours, but all he got was a few Spirit Stone Vein Fragments which were probably forgotten because the harvesters switched positions, and surprise, it was not there anymore, returning to the vein, but if they return to the vein to collect it, it would disappear, which would just want to make them forget about it and leave with the gathered harvest.

Just as Davis was starting to be incensed as he entered his hundredth and thirty-one cave, he abruptly got sucked inside a vortex, causing him to clench his teeth as his connection with the avatar became lost.

*Splash!~*

Davis felt himself be enveloped by water, making him think that he had fallen into a lake of some sort. Just as he noticed the uniqueness of the lake and its lukewarm nature, his eyes went wide as he saw a naked figure underneath the utterly clean water.

"Who!?"

An angered yet humiliated scream rang out as green lotuses surged out, wanting to smack Davis as they hovered above him.

At this moment, Davis had both his hands raised up as he stood up from the shallow lake that only covered his waist. He looked like a drenched menace enough to garner the prey into attacking the predator in retaliation, but his expression then turned into a wry smile as he saw the naked beauty use one of her hands to cover her overflowing bosoms and the other to summon a mist and a few lotuses, ready to kill him.

"Valley Master Jade Aurora. It's rather surprising to see you here..."

"…"

The spinning lotuses froze in mid-air while the mist slightly cleared, revealing the face of a beauty whose pupils became constricted to a deep level.