Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The Dao of Temporal Stagnation and the Dao of Temporal Swiftness were two sides of the same coin. As time was relative, slowing down time for one thing meant increasing it for something else. As such, the Daos were named after the effect they created, rather than what they did.

The Dao of Temporal Stagnation in fact sped up someone's time, and in doing so, it slowed down the world around them.

Liz employed this very Dao to move as quickly as she could to try and kill all the soldiers that came flying down toward her.

There was a problem with using her Dao, however. It was a problem with most Time dao in general. Time Dao in general heavily relied on Space to apply their effect.

Whether it be the Dao of Temporal Stagnation or the Dao of Temporal Swiftness, the user needed to specify a certain area of space where said dao would be applied.

It was a simple thing to deal with when doing some regular task like cultivation or something stationary. However, when the user started moving with the Dao active, they had a whole heap of problems to deal with suddenly.

As Time Dao was based on space, one had to constantly move the entire space around with them so they could keep the effect of the Dao on them.

Or else, they would end up leaving the field where the Time Dao was active.

While it all sounded complicated, it was in fact much simpler in use. As the Heavens helped someone when they employed a Dao, Liz could simply just Intend for the Dao to be used in the way she wanted, and it would.

The problem that came along with that was that she would have to constantly use a lot of Intent to keep it going. The Intent she had to use generated an enormous amount of mental pain that simply could not be generated by anything that was still.

So, when fighting with her Dao actively, Liz had to make sure she finished it quickly, or else she would be in a world of pain very soon.

Another problem that came with using her Dao, not related to the Dao itself, was physical resistance from the world around her.

While she moved quickly, the world moved at the same pace. So to move through something as fast as she was moving, she had to introduce a layer of space around her where the air could enter her area of Dao and not introduce a lot of resistance for her.

Liz did have the Fluctuating Friction dance that she had received from Alex quite some time ago, and while she could use it on air, the air wasn't the only thing that she had to worry about.

Human bodies became as sturdy as a rock when she hit them while slowing down the time around her. Similarly, attacks and barriers became much more problematic to deal with as well.

To overcome this problem, Liz needed to extend the area of her Dao more than just herself by a fair amount. In doing so, however, she allowed her enemies to enter her Dao and start moving at the same rate as her.

While that worked quite well for catching people off guard, if they had fast reflexes, her Dao became quite useless.

Liz needed to fight at close range as any attack she threw out would escape the range of her Dao and return to normal time. So, she flew right next to the other person who had flown down to attack her.

Liz could see the eyes of the woman on her long before she was close. Time may have slowed down for her enemies from her perspective, but they were still cultivators.

The reflex and reaction speed these people had were simply unimaginable.

As Liz arrived close, the female soldier, who was already beginning her attack, moved quickly as if with new life and stabbed her Metal-Qi-infused spear forward to attack Liz. Twilight moved in a sinuous line, moving past the stab and digging into the woman's chest only to be met with a harsh clang.

The woman wore some sort of metal armor underneath her robes that completely negated Liz's attacks.

'Shit!' Liz thought as she quickly moved back away from the woman who returned to stagnation once again. She then flew back toward the woman and aimed for her head.

As she arrived, the woman returned to speed once more. However, that was only for a split second as the woman's spear slowed down to a crawl.

Liz felt her head burn with pain as if being split right open as she employed the Dao of Temporal Swiftness on the woman while still within the Dao of Temporal Stagnation.

Liz put all her energy into Twilight, which glowed with bright white light thanks to her Sword Qi, as she plunged it deep into the woman's head.

As she did, she let go of the Dao of Temporal Swiftness on the woman so that her sword did not suddenly slow down when it came into contact with the woman.

As she did, the woman returned to speed, only to see a sword going straight into her head.

Twilight exploded with energy as it ripped apart the woman's head while making its way back out. As the woman died, a blue illusory soul appeared back out, which Liz dispatched with haste.

She took the woman's body and stored it into her storage for her nephew, and went on to fight the other people that had come down to fight her.

The rest of the people were similarly strong as the other two she fought, so after a few moments of battle, they all died as well.

Having killed everyone, Liz moved back down toward Hao Ya to help her, only to notice more people flying toward them.

Only, these ones were in the Saint Transformation realm and much stronger than the ones she fought before.

The first group was sent to deal with annoyances on the battlefield. The second group was being sent to deal with a problem.

Liz's cultivation base was stronger than most people here at Saint Soul 7th realm. With her battle prowess, she could fight someone in Saint Transformation 1st realm. Using her Dao, she could even push that up to Saint Transformation 2nd or 3rd realm.

However, of the people coming down, she could see that one of them was in the Saint Transformation 5th realm. He was a complete monster when compared to anyone else she could fight with, and there were people behind him as well.

The man came barreling down through the sky, slowed down only to Liz and Hao Ya thanks to Liz's dao.

"There are more coming, and they're strong. What do we do?" Liz asked.

"I'm so close," Hao Ya said. "I just need a couple of minutes at best."

Liz felt troubled and quickly slowed down time as slowly as she possibly could. This would help Hao Ya gain enough time to finish her thing for certain.

As for what happened once they finished, Liz had no idea at all. She could only hope that Hao Ya had some ways to save her.