Douluo Continent: The Ruler of Time, Reigning Supreme

Chapter 109 Istaru Wants to Slack Off
Yin Chen even took this opportunity to fully verify his self-created Qi-fluid technique.

By skillfully manipulating airflow, he enhances the sharpness of his attacks, creates unique defenses and restrictions, and improves his speed and mobility... This is the airflow technique he created based on his own circumstances.

After all, his situation is special. Time-based soul skills are powerful enough, but they consume too much energy. Before condensing a soul core, he needs to conserve his soul power and cannot use them multiple times.

This set of physical techniques almost made up for his lack of sustained combat ability in the early stages of acquiring powerful time-type soul skills due to insufficient soul power, and its effect was comparable to the blessing of a top-tier support-type soul master.

"Senior Sister is joking."

Yin Chen's face showed a hint of helplessness.

Do I look reckless?

"hehe."

Zhang Lexuan couldn't help but laugh and raised her hand to cover her mouth.

"That's hard to say. Challenging a top-tier ten-thousand-year-old soul beast with the physique of a Soul Master, no matter how you look at it, it's hard not to suspect that you're an overconfident 'idiot'."

Seeing Yin Chen's even more helpless expression, Zhang Lexuan put away her joking expression and regained the composure and reliability of the inner courtyard's senior sister.

She pointed to the black spirit ring floating in the air, radiating an alluring yet dangerous aura, and said seriously:
"Alright, I'll stop teasing you. Hurry up and absorb the spirit ring. This place is not safe to stay for long. The battle just now was quite loud and may attract other troubles. I will protect you. Just focus on absorbing."

Yin Chen nodded, said no more, and sat cross-legged on the icy ice, his eyes slightly closed, concentrating his mind and calming his spirit.

With a thought, the mysterious and noble phantom of the Time Ruler, Ishtar, slowly emerged behind him. Though indistinct, it exuded a sacred aura.

He guided his soul power, carefully wrapping it around the black ten-thousand-year soul ring that floated on the corpse of the Ice Prison Ape Crocodile, radiating immense energy and soul pressure.

The spirit ring was drawn in and trembled slightly before transforming into a deep black stream of light that poured down towards Yin Chen's head.

"boom--!"

It was as if an iceberg had crashed into his sea of ​​consciousness, and a violent energy shock and an even more ferocious soul tremor instantly struck.

A ten-thousand-year soul ring contains not only enormous energy, but also the resentment, grievances, and remaining wild instincts of a soul beast before its death.

The Ice Prison Ape Crocodile's violent will was like countless ice spikes, piercing fiercely at Yin Chen's spiritual core. The extreme coldness seemed to freeze his entire soul.

Yin Chen let out a muffled groan, his face instantly turning deathly pale. His body began to tremble uncontrollably, and fine frost even began to condense on his skin.

This is a necessary test for absorbing a ten-thousand-year-old soul ring; the risk lies precisely in absorbing one that transcends level.

Seeing this, Zhang Lexuan's heart immediately jumped into her throat.

She stepped forward, her moon-white soul power flowing in her palm, ready to forcibly interrupt the absorption process if Yin Chen couldn't hold on any longer—although that would cause a backlash to Yin Chen, it was better than his soul being impacted into an idiot or even exploding and dying.

She was completely focused on sensing Yin Chen's condition, like the most vigilant guard, while also scanning the surroundings to ensure that nothing could disturb this crucial moment.

Just as Yin Chen's consciousness was fighting against the violent energy and soul impact from the soul ring, deep within his spiritual world, in that strange space constructed by the laws of time...

The Ruler of Time - Istaru did not lazily curl up and doze off in the stream of time as usual.

She hovered above the sea of ​​consciousness, her form more solid than when she appeared in the outside world.

Her eyes, which were usually languid, were now watching everything happening in the outside world with utmost seriousness.

More accurately, it was "watching" the fourth spirit ring that was taking shape, woven from the energy of the spirit ring and the rules of the Douluo world.

"Sigh...troublesome." A barely audible sigh echoed in Yin Chen's spiritual sea.

She sensed that, following the predetermined trajectory, this Ice Prison Ape Crocodile Soul Ring would grant Yin Chen a decent time-based Soul Skill.

But, not enough.

She had been observing Yin Chen all along, so she knew what he was thinking.

Yin Chen wants to profit from the impending chaos in the far north, but his current fourth soul skill is useless in that situation.

As an existence from another universe, she is bound by the rules of that world and cannot easily intervene in reality directly from the outside.

Frequent attacks not only consume enormous resources, but may also provoke the world's instinctive rejection, or even... be detected by certain powerful beings.

"Fighting is the most boring thing...it's tiring and troublesome."

Istaru had no motivation.

Rather than personally intervening, she prefers to be a quiet observer, watching the river of time flow by and recording those moments, whether brilliant or ordinary.

Let her go out and fight to the death? It's better to let her sleep in this mental space until the end of time.

Therefore, the best way is for Yin Chen to become strong enough to do what he wants, so that he won't come looking for her.

After all, she and Yin Chen are now bound together; their fates are intertwined, and they could rise and fall together. She is lazy, but she doesn't want to die.

"It's too much trouble for me to do it myself, so... I'll offer you some assistance instead."

Istaru made up her mind.

Her gaze pierced through the barriers of Yin Chen's spiritual world, casting its light upon the vast and ethereal river of time in the Douluo world.

This long river is completely different from the river in her hometown.

The rules are becoming more "rigid," or rather, the underlying logic differs.

In her original world, time was like a thread in her palm, which could be woven, retraced, or even cut relatively easily.

But here, she is more like a "visitor" with special privileges. Every time she tries to significantly alter the river, she feels the invisible and heavy "resistance" from the entire world.

The past is solidified, as firm as a rock, and cannot be changed.

Fortunately, the future is still uncertain, like the countless tributaries rushing forward in a river, full of infinite possibilities.

As long as a future has not been "observed" and "anchored"—that is, not clearly foreseen and determined by any entity with relevant powers—it remains in a quantum superposition-like uncertain state, with the slight possibility of being guided or replaced.

"found it……"

Istaru's concentration reached its peak.

She ignored the storms stirred up by the remnant soul of the Ice Prison Ape-crocodile in Yin Chen's sea of ​​consciousness, a test that Yin Chen himself had to face. Her hand slowly reached into the surging river of time.

She doesn't want to stir up the whole river; she can't afford the cost of doing so right now.

What she did was more like a delicate micro-sculpting procedure.

(End of this chapter)