Swallowed Star: Primordial Artifact

Chapter 308 Time Stands Still
“Even if this human rushed into the Three Extremes Abyss, that was after the spacetime rift had disappeared and the Time Cocoon had fully formed.” Venerable Liqiong shook his head repeatedly, his face full of confusion and resentment, as if trying to shake this unacceptable fact out of his mind.

"How could it break? How could it break?" Venerable Liqiong's voice was filled with anger and resentment, like a wild beast roaring in anger.

"Ho~~~"

With this furious, ear-piercing roar, Venerable Liqiong's powerful divine force erupted, bursting forth like a surging torrent from the caverns of the mansion. In an instant, the suspended cone-shaped mountain resembled an enraged beast, with countless openings spewing out dazzling pillars of divine power in accompaniment to Venerable Liqiong's roar.

……

At this moment, Jiang Ye had no time to care about Venerable Li Qiong's reaction; he was in a good mood.

Whoosh!
The moment Jiang Ye entered the cyan pool, he felt the flow of time around him become abnormally chaotic, clearly indicating that he had stepped into an abyss passage. An incomparably powerful aura of wind divine force filled the surroundings as if it were tangible. Jiang Ye knew that this was a mysterious passage leading directly to the origin of the universe—the "Ocean of the Laws of Wind." Jiang Ye traveled rapidly through the passage, seemingly getting closer and closer to the origin of the universe.

"boom!"

Just as they were about to reach the origin of the universe, an irresistible and immense force from the depths of the universe suddenly descended, pressing down on Jiang Ye like a mountain, and then mercilessly "kicked" him out of the passage.

……

Jiang Ye rolled in the void, standing steadily suspended in mid-air. Before him stretched a vast expanse of void, with irregular celestial bodies scattered in the distance, including desolate and enormous meteorites, and shattered fragments of continents.

"Where is this?" Jiang Ye immediately checked the cosmic coordinates, and upon checking, he immediately showed a hint of surprise, "It's only a few dozen light-years away from the Morning Sand Starfield."

Although we were forcibly kicked back from our journey to the origin of the universe, the coordinates of our return were only a few light-years off from the place where the Time Chrysalis was conceived.

"We need to leave quickly; this place is still too close to the Morning Sands Starfield."

Although Jiang Ye was certain that Venerable Li Qiong would not dare to openly appear on the battlefield outside the domain, no one could predict what a crazy cosmic overlord would do.

Buzz,
A spatial vortex slowly rose, radiating a mysterious light.

Jiang Ye stepped inside without hesitation, entering the divine kingdom of Dark Thunder King.

"What a pity, I didn't get the complete Time Chrysalis!" Jiang Ye sighed, looking at the dissipating spatial passage behind him.

For Jiang Ye, the top-tier treasure he hadn't yet obtained was secondary.

The only pity is that Jiang Ye did not obtain the complete Time Cocoon.

It should be noted that Jiang Ye's Qiankun Cauldron can refine the quality of some treasures and transform acquired into innate qualities. If a high-grade primordial treasure material were refined, who knows what level it would reach.

……

"Forget it, it's time to experience this transformation." Jiang Ye shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and began to carefully experience the changes in himself.

Jiang Ye clenched his fists, and the surging power instantly caused the void to tremble, producing a muffled sound.

"break!"

Jiang Ye casually waved his right hand, his five fingers like hooks, transforming into a sharp claw shape, directly tearing open the void and revealing a series of dark spatial cracks, as if he wanted to completely shatter this void.

"As expected, it only increased fiftyfold." A knowing glint flashed in Jiang Ye's eyes.

The strong have an incredibly precise sense of their own power. Jiang Ye clearly knew that his current power had reached 8050 times that of the main force of the realm, an increase of fifty times compared to before. This extra part was only a small fraction.

Jiang Ye was quite satisfied with this.

It should be understood that among the billions of races in the normal universe, even those possessing the twelve peak bloodlines of the Starry Sky Beasts are only 10 times stronger than the power of a World Lord. Some ordinary special life forms are only a hundred times stronger than the power of a World Lord.

However, Jiang Ye increased his power by fifty times, based on his own eight thousand times the level of life genes.

If it were a life form with a lower genetic level, a single Time Pupa would likely grant it power comparable to that of a special life form.

Of course, Jiang Ye's improvement is inseparable from his unique internal structure. The Time Cocoon, as a primordial treasure material, contains the power of the four laws of wind, lightning, light, and time, which perfectly matches the Chaos Abyss within Jiang Ye's body, greatly promoting the Chaos Abyss's absorption of energy.

"As far as I know, it is extremely difficult to improve the genetic level of life."

"Even for the strongest members of the human race, it's already remarkable that they can increase their strength tenfold by using all sorts of rare treasures," Jiang Ye thought to himself. "My foundation was already very high, and with some of the Time Cocoon's energy used to expand my inner world, it's already quite good that I can increase it tenfold. I didn't expect it to increase it fiftyfold. Well, that makes sense, after all, this is the core of a primordial treasure—the Time Cocoon."

……

After fully experiencing the powerful energy brought about by the elevation of his life level, Jiang Ye turned his attention to the secret patterns he had inscribed on the Chaos Stone after absorbing the Time Cocoon.

The secret patterns on the Chaos Stone resembled a mysterious cosmic star map, radiating a soft yet strange light.

The intricate patterns seem to engrave all the mysteries of the fundamental laws of time in the universe.

Jiang Ye gazed at these secret patterns, a strange sense of familiarity welling up inside him, as if they had long been connected to his soul.

Just as Jiang Ye was focused on the Chaos Stone runes, the gray-colored Chaos Origin Core, which had just returned to Jiang Ye's embrace, suddenly flickered with a faint light.

At first, the light was extremely faint, but as the light from the secret patterns on the Chaos Stone shone, the light on the gray-colored Chaos Origin Core gradually brightened.

On the gray-colored chaotic primordial core, an extremely fine line was added. This line, seemingly simple, contained an indescribable power. Its illumination seemed to awaken the long-dormant chaotic primordial core.

"The Chaos Core is finally reacting!" Jiang Ye looked at this scene in surprise. When he was absorbing the Time Chrysalis in the Three Extremes Abyss, only the Chaos Core in the Dark Thunder King's Divine Kingdom did not react at all.

……

As time passed, the illuminated patterns began to tremble slightly, as if engaging in some kind of mysterious communication with the secret patterns on the Chaos Stone.

Immediately afterwards, several more lines lit up around this line, their lights intertwining to form a wondrous pattern.

Jiang Ye watched all this with delight. He could feel an unprecedented connection being established between the Chaos Core and the Chaos Stone.

This connection seems to be more than just an exchange of energy; it's more like a deep resonance.

As the pattern gradually took shape, the light emitted by the primordial chaos core grew stronger, and one or two lines shimmering with white light appeared on the originally dim gray surface. Jiang Ye slowly closed his eyes, trying to feel this wondrous connection more deeply.

In an instant, he felt as if he were in a vast, boundless sea of ​​time, with everything around him enveloped by its torrent. He could feel the power of time flowing around him, every fluctuation crystal clear.

"Rumble~~~" The surrounding space trembled slightly, as if echoing Jiang Ye's inner exploration.

A silver droplet, sparkling like a star, appeared out of thin air above Jiang Ye's head and then fell straight down.

Tick ​​tock!

A drop of silver water landed directly on Jiang Ye's head, easily penetrating his body as if piercing through an illusory object. Then, the drop of silver water landed on Jiang Ye's "Chaotic Core".

The Chaos Core, as the unique core of Jiang Ye's power and soul, was now like an incredibly dry sponge, greedily absorbing the power contained in the silver droplets.

"Hiss~~" In the blink of an eye, the silver droplet was completely absorbed by the Chaos Core. The surface of the Chaos Core shone brightly, and the patterns that were originally flashing white light became even more dazzling. More mysterious lines also appeared, intertwining into a more complex pattern.

now--

An hourglass mark slowly appeared between Jiang Ye's eyebrows. This mark faintly emitted a heart-palpitating fluctuation of law, a sign that he had been recognized by the fundamental law of time!
At the same time, within Jiang Ye's inner world, a huge hourglass phantom appeared above the Chaos Stone, echoing the mark between Jiang Ye's eyebrows and radiating a powerful and mysterious aura.

"I never imagined that my understanding of the laws of time would reach the point where the fundamental laws acknowledge it." Jiang Ye revealed a slight smile.
The origin of the universe is extremely mysterious.

Because of the "Power of the World," the consciousness of a World Lord can merge into the boundless earth. When a drop of the water of the origin of the law merged into Jiang Ye's soul, it caused a slight transformation in Jiang Ye's soul consciousness. At this moment, Jiang Ye felt a soul-shaking call.

It's like a mother calling her children.

"Whoosh!"

Jiang Ye separated half of his consciousness and quickly detached it from the boundless earth, directly drawn to the "call".

"Boom~~~"

A white ocean, boundless and endless.

This is the origin of the Law of Time, the very source of the "Law of Time" in the entire primordial universe. Endless aura of this law permeates the entire ocean, its immense pressure far surpassing that of any powerful being Jiang Ye has ever encountered. Fortunately… Jiang Ye has already gained the recognition of this ocean of laws and is now merging into a single drop of water within it.

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom endlessly.

Jiang Ye's consciousness merged into a drop of water, drifting with the sea, constantly exploring and comprehending the laws of time.

Part of his consciousness merged with the boundless earth, and part of his consciousness merged with the ocean of the laws of time.

"My consciousness has been acknowledged by the fundamental law of time. My progress in the law of time is now no less than that in the law of space." Jiang Ye opened his eyes, feeling a surge of joy. Being acknowledged by the fundamental law meant that he had reached a very high level in his understanding of the laws.

"Whoosh!"

Jiang Ye pointed ahead.

In an instant, everything around seemed to be paused, and the flow of time came to an abrupt halt. The twinkling of the stars froze, the light hung in the air like solidified threads, the breeze ceased, and the entire divine kingdom fell into an absolute state of stillness, as if the river of time had been abruptly severed here.

"Hahaha, I can actually freeze time now, hahaha..." Jiang Ye looked around at everything and couldn't help but laugh heartily in the void.

It should be noted that his original understanding of the laws of time was always one crucial step away from truly mastering the powerful ability of stopping time.

Now, due to a slight change in the Chaos Core, Jiang Ye's understanding of the Law of Time has advanced by leaps and bounds, and he has directly comprehended one of the three great divine powers of the Law of Time—Time Freeze. This is undoubtedly an unexpected joy.

……

There is a fundamental difference between immortal gods and cosmic sovereigns when they cast the spell of time stop.

When an immortal god casts a time-stopping spell, it's like forcibly disrupting the normal flow of time, creating enormous waves in the river of time.

This blatant interference with time will cause a special disorder in time, and other powerful individuals can easily detect this abnormal change through their own perception.

This would allow those people to anticipate and dodge, just like Jiang Ye dodged the time stop of the invincible special life form Star Wing King.

The Cosmic Sovereigns, however, are entirely different. After fully mastering the complete laws of time, they are able to merge into the flow of time in an incredibly subtle way.

When they use time-stop, it's like a highly skilled swimmer, swimming freely on the river of time without causing any abnormal fluctuations in time.

Whether it's the moment of pause or after the pause ends, time flows smoothly and naturally, as if it has never been disturbed.

Therefore, when Venerable Liqiong used Time Stop before, Jiang Ye did not notice anything unusual and could not dodge. He could only let the Ancestral Dragon clone withstand the attack.

This is the significant difference between the time-pause abilities of powerful individuals at different levels.

When a cosmic sovereign casts a time-stop spell, it can cover a range of thousands of light-years without causing any abnormal fluctuations in time. However, when an immortal deity casts a time-stop spell, the range is usually only about one light-year, but it will cause obvious and special disturbances in cosmic time.

"My time-stopping technique doesn't cause any time fluctuations." Jiang Ye was extremely pleased. "Even with the cleansing effect of the Creation Jade Disc before, I didn't feel the intimacy of time as I do now. I felt it in the belly of that cone-shaped mountain, as if I were a part of time. Now, with the time-stopping technique, the feeling is even clearer."

If Jiang Ye's relationship with time before was like that of a beloved child with the elder time, then Jiang Ye now has truly become "a part of time," with a compatibility with time far exceeding that of before, increasing a thousandfold or even ten thousandfold.

"I can't sense any fluctuations in time." Jiang Ye was overjoyed and couldn't help but exclaim, "This is simply incredible!"

The ability to pause time without causing any disturbance means that those powerful individuals who have not yet mastered all the laws of time are completely unaware of it and therefore have no way to defend against this move.

This is the time stillness that Jiang Ye comprehended through the changing chaotic primordial core.

"Hahaha..." Jiang Ye was overjoyed. After all, once time-stop is applied to a certain area, all life in that area will be affected. Except for the soul consciousness, all others will be bound and unable to move.

It generally takes time for a creature to break free, and that time is enough for a powerful individual to kill or slaughter their opponent.

(End of this chapter)