this infinite world

Faced with the battle blade that suddenly stopped above his forehead, Chu Hao blinked in confusion.

He had absolutely no idea what was happening—just as he was about to give up thinking, he found the whole world suddenly frozen in an eerie stillness. Azog's hideous face was frozen inches away, the blood-red sword only inches from his brow; the shattered fragments of Otiluk's magic seal orb had not yet dispersed, reflecting countless fragmented spots of light; even the movements of the countless dwarves and orcs on the surrounding battlefield suddenly stopped as if they had been frozen in place.

--what happened?
In this frozen world, the only thing still functioning seemed to be Chu Hao's thoughts. This absolute silence was as if a god had pressed the pause button on the world, eternally freezing the moment of destruction. And the most fitting description seemed to be...

"Time stopped?!" Chu Hao blurted out in astonishment.

Everything before him did indeed fit the description of time standing still. However, Chu Hao was certain that he had not exchanged the ninth-ring spell from the main god, a spell so expensive that he couldn't afford it even if he were killed. But what he saw before him couldn't lie...

"Could it be...?"

Once all possibilities are eliminated, even the most impossible event becomes the sole truth. Since the time freeze before our eyes is undeniable, and Chu Hao is the only one unaffected, and he has experienced the vampire-filled world of Bloodlust Dawn…

"What are you thinking about... This is my 'Light Breeze'."

Just as Chu Hao began to seriously consider whether he had absorbed the blood of a vampire named "Dio Brando" in the world of Bloodlust Dawn, an utterly speechless voice came from not far away: "Moreover, this isn't time stop, but rather the flow of time has been slowed down by a million times..."

"If you don't believe me, take a closer look at the knife in front of you."

According to the voice, Chu Hao subconsciously looked at the blood-red longsword that was inches away from his forehead. With the eyesight of the third-tier gene lock, he could see some clues at a glance... Even in this stagnant spacetime, the blade of the blood-red longsword was still moving along its previous trajectory at an almost absurdly slow speed.

However, the movement was extremely slight, so slight that an ordinary person could not perceive it at all. If it continued at this speed, it might take hundreds of years for the knife to cross that mere foot and strike Chu Hao's forehead...

"Three hundred and seventy-two years and four months."

Suddenly, the voice caught up with Chu Hao's thoughts and accurately gave him the answer he wanted to know.

"……senior!"

Suddenly, Chu Hao's memories seemed to return. He quickly pulled himself out of the blade and looked at Yang Yun with some surprise. However, amidst his surprise, he was also puzzled as to why he had reacted that way, not immediately thinking that Yang Yun was the one who made the move, but instead conjuring up such an unrealistic possibility...

"Didn't I tell you? You don't need to call me senior."

Yang Yun smiled and said, "Besides, it's just a little trick."

...If this is just a "small trick", then what is the real "big move"?
Chu Hao's pupils trembled slightly. Although he did not speak, his eyes, which reflected the frozen world, revealed his shock and confusion. In that instant, he had quietly raised Yang Yun's strength to the same level as Zheng Zha, or even higher.

However, Yang Yun, having successfully made a grand display, did not continue to show off his "superior demeanor." Instead, like a true senior, he spoke to Chu Hao, "Do you know where you went wrong?"

"...Insufficient intelligence led to a failure to properly assess the disparity in strength between the two sides, resulting in a flawed strategy." Even though he found the conversation somewhat strange, Chu Hao still replied, "This is an irreparable mistake on my part as captain. If it weren't for Yang Yun saving my life, I'm afraid I would be..."

“That’s one of the mistakes.” Suddenly, Yang Yun interrupted Chu Hao: “Anything else?”

……besides?
This time, Chu Hao was truly bewildered. Fortunately, he was generally a "normal person" with common sense and emotional intelligence. When he saw Yang Yun's ambiguous smile, he quickly bowed and said solemnly, "Please teach me, sir."

"Hmm, Xiao Chu, you made three mistakes."

Hearing this title, Yang Yun patted Chu Hao on the shoulder with satisfaction: "You've already mentioned the first one, and the second is the strategic issue you've chosen... You should know that a wise man doesn't stand under a crumbling wall, and a wise man doesn't fall into a collapsed nest. Although I can understand your eagerness to break the deadlock, your behavior is essentially gambling."

"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. As a wise man, you should see through the hidden truth behind all this, rather than acting like a gambler and using yourself as bait to go to the battlefield. After all, figuring out what really happened to this orc is the most important thing you, as a wise man, should do..."

"Ok?"

Hearing the implication in Yang Yun's words, Chu Hao was immediately taken aback. He first looked at the grotesque face of the Blasphemer Asog beside him, and the blood-red battle energy that seemed almost tangible wrapped around him, before tentatively asking, "Could it be... that all of this isn't a conspiracy by the Celestial Squad?"

"You mean enabling a half-orc whose potential has been exhausted, who even lost an arm, and who is driven solely by hatred to break through to the fourth tier?"

Yang Yun asked with a hint of amusement, "This isn't something the Celestial Team can do... Well, maybe Adam's Celestial Team could, but I think the Celestial Team you're facing is far from it. After all, if they had the ability to help others break through to the fourth tier in batches, they could have rushed in and crushed you the moment they entered the arena. Why would they need to bother with all that planning and scheming?"

"However, this leads to the third mistake you made..."

Seeing Chu Hao's increasingly confused eyes, Yang Yun snapped his fingers lightly, as if for some kind of ritual.

In the blink of an eye, Chu Hao felt a blur before his eyes, and the next moment the world had returned to its original state. He had returned from the center of the battlefield to the rear, back to Zhang Heng and Nian Xikong's side...

"As the captain of the Reincarnation Squad, you must trust your teammates at all times."

Seeing Zhang Heng, the comical assassin who rubbed his eyes in disbelief, laughed loudly, threw down his longbow, and tightly hugged Chu Hao, as well as Nian Xikong, whose face was frosty but whose mood was obviously much better, and the other members of the Beibingzhou team who all breathed a sigh of relief, Yang Yun said softly, "After all, you are not only reincarnators in the same team, but also partners who stand shoulder to shoulder with each other."

"...However, this time, I'll lend you a hand. After all, the person behind this guy is someone you shouldn't be able to deal with."

At this point, Yang Yun glanced at the pale orc who was becoming increasingly frantic because he couldn't find Chu Hao, but whose strength had strangely increased again. He casually patted Nian Xikong's shoulder, who was holding his longsword, and then said with a smile, "Go, Nian Xikong..."

"You've been enhanced." (End of Chapter)