Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

If this continues, even without external enemies, the legion will be slowly "digested" by the heavens and earth!
"No...we must break this deadlock!"

Mingyue's divine senses raced, and within her golden eyes, billions of puppet runes hung like an inverted galaxy, frantically deducing and recombining, as if countless gears were meshing and turning deep within her sea of ​​consciousness, emitting a silent roar.

The Chaos Puppet Path is the Path of Order and the Path of Control.

The law of time is the foundation of all things and the basis of all transformations.

How can we use order to manage this chaotic change?
Mingyue's gaze swept over the suppressed yet still existing Time Ghosts in the domain, and then over the puppets with rusted bodies and dim runes. Her thoughts raced, and in an instant, a flash of inspiration cleaved through the fog like thunder!

"I understand... What fights against time is never stillness, but rather—the anchor point!"

The danger of this realm lies in the absence of a unified "present." All things can be cast into the past or future, like duckweed adrift on the waves, rootless and adrift. The Chaotic Puppet Realm of the Bright Moon is merely a pool of "present" forcibly created, yet this pool still floats on the chaotic sea of ​​time, ready to be swallowed by giant waves at any moment.

To avoid being corroded by seawater, an anchor must be dropped—an anchor that can firmly hold all ships in place "at this moment"!
This indestructible chaotic seed, which merges with the essence of nightmares, is the most stable foundation and the most powerful anchor in this world!

"With me as the foundation and the Way as the lock, I will secure your present moment!"

Mingyue suddenly clasped her hands together, and an unprecedentedly powerful divine thought erupted from within her body, like the beginning of chaos, sweeping across the eight directions. Within that divine thought, the ultimate principles of order, the will to control, and the nightmare power deep within her Dao Seed intertwined, transforming into a torrent of laws that pierced through reality and illusion.

"Chaotic Puppet Path, Secret Technique—Time Anchor!"

Om-!
Centered on the bright moon, an invisible ripple of law swept out, instantly enveloping nearly 100,000 Ash Puppets within the domain. The ripple was silent yet seemed to possess immense power, firmly locking onto the existence of each puppet.

In an instant, runes shimmering with chaotic light appeared on the bodies of the three thousand dark gold ember puppets and the more than ninety thousand survivors, spreading like wildfire and rapidly imprinting themselves deep within their cores. These runes were profound and unfathomable; one end was deeply embedded in the puppet's core, while the other end, through a causal thread transcending time and space, was tightly connected to the chaotic Dao Seed in Mingyue's sea of ​​consciousness, like roots embedded in the earth, bloodlines connected to the mother body!
At this moment, all the puppets were forcibly bound to the "present" of the bright moon!
No matter how time flows in the outside world, whether it accelerates like lightning or recedes like the tide, as long as the Bright Moon Dao Seed remains, and this "anchor point" still exists, their existence will be as solid as a rock, and they will be difficult to be easily eroded!

"Crack!"

A soft crack, like rotten wood breaking.

A dark gold ember puppet, on the verge of turning to ashes, abruptly stopped disintegrating. Its corroded body miraculously regained its dark gold luster, runes began to flow again, and its fighting spirit was rekindled. The ordinary ember puppet, paralyzed on the ground, saw its core circuits stop aging, energy surged again, and its eyes rekindled their crimson gold light.

For the first time, the entire legion finally gained a firm foothold in this despairing realm of time and space!

The bright moon slowly raised its head, its golden eyes like knives, scanning the time ghosts still wandering in the domain. For the first time, a truly chilling killing intent appeared in those eyes, like ancient ice that had frozen the soul.

"Now, it's my turn to fight back."

The moment the words fell, two ancient, undying chaotic suns seemed to burst into flames within Mingyue's dark golden pupils, transforming into tangible laws.

An absolute will called "order" swept out with the moon's gaze, like a thunderbolt of divine punishment, splitting the chaotic void of time!
"Legion, heed my command!"

The divine thought, like thunder from the heavens, reverberated and was clearly imprinted on the core of each Ember Puppet, awakening the dormant battle spirit.

"With me as the anchor, with my body as the battle array, I will purge this world and annihilate falsehood!"

"Follow the law!"

Three thousand dark gold ember puppets and over ninety thousand ordinary ember puppets seemed to awaken from an endless nightmare at this moment. The chaotic runes on their bodies, connected to the Bright Moon Dao Seed, were no longer merely time anchors, but bridges of will and nexus of power, transforming one hundred thousand puppets into one person and one hundred thousand battle souls into a single thought!
boom! boom! boom!
Nearly one hundred thousand Ember Puppets moved in perfect unison, as if they were a single entity. The dark gold and black iron sheen on their bodies flowed ceaselessly, and the roar of their core engines coalesced into a torrent of steel, causing this shattered spacetime to tremble. They no longer passively endured the erosion, but actively hammered their own "present" laws into every inch of the void of the Time Ruins like iron nails!
A Time Ghost, formed from countless distorted fragments of time, its illusory shadows darting about in an instant. With each flash, it takes away a part of a puppet's "existence," accelerating its decay.

However, at this moment, as it pounced on a dark gold ember puppet again, just as its claws were about to touch it, it emitted a sharp "hiss" sound, like a branding iron touching ice!

On the Ember Puppet's body, chaotic runes suddenly lit up, and a supreme "order" power originating from the Bright Moon Dao Seed instantly transmitted along the causal lines. This power, like an invisible barrier, firmly fixed the puppet in "this moment."

The Time Ghost's claws contained a terrifying law that could pull the "present" into the "past," but at the moment they touched the wall, they were obliterated by the absolute power of order!
"Roar!"

The ghost let out a silent roar, an annihilation at the level of laws. It lunged forward unwillingly, only to be met by the massive blade of chaos fire raised by the smoldering puppet.

This strike does not cut the physical form, but directly strikes the "point in time" where the ghost stands!
Click!

A crisp sound, like shattering glass, resounded throughout the divine consciousness.

The ghostly figure suddenly froze, and the countless fragments of time that made up its body lost their connection, collapsing like a broken puppet, turning into countless specks of light and disappearing into nothingness.

One hit kill!

This is the true application of "time anchors"! It's not just about defense; it's the sharpest spear!

When the entire legion is unified under the "present" of the bright moon, they gain the ability to identify and attack other "time streams." Those time ghosts leaping in the chaos become as clear as fireflies in the night!

"kill!"

At Mingyue's command, the steel torrent composed of 100,000 Ash Puppets surged forward with unstoppable force.

Each of these smoldering puppets wielded swords, spears, halberds, and other implements, their blades and spears imbued with a faint, chaotic glow. Each strike was not merely a physical attack, but a forceful slam of their own "present" order against the chaotic temporal juncture!

puff!puff!puff!
In an instant, the time ghosts that had once appeared and disappeared mysteriously in this realm of time were cut out from the cracks of time like raindrops, and then completely torn apart by the violent torrent of energy.

This is no longer a battle, but a... purge!
It is through order that chaos is cleansed!
The bright moon hovered in the center of the legion, its golden eyes as still as an ancient well. Its immense divine sense enveloped the entire battlefield, acting as a highly sophisticated command center, mobilizing every ounce of power. Yet, the bright moon's gaze pierced through the battlefield, looking into the depths beyond.

These time ghosts are merely ripples in a turbulent current. What truly stirs the river of time is the vortex hidden at the source of chaos!
As the legion advanced and purged, the flow of time ahead began to exhibit a bizarre pattern. All the chaos seemed to be drawn to a core, from which it erupted.

"found it."

With a thought, Mingyue's Ember Puppet Legion changed its formation abruptly, becoming like an indestructible spear of chaos, fiercely chiseling towards the source it sensed!

Passing through layers of time rifts, and over the "past" scenes frozen like amber, a sudden and clear view unfolds before your eyes.

An indescribable, colossal rift stretched across time itself. At its edges, countless shattered laws of time shimmered like crystals, dangerous and enigmatic.

In the center of the crack, a temple floats silently.

It was a temple that defied definition by any known material; its walls resembled a frozen dawn, its beams and pillars an eternal twilight, and the eaves flowed with the light of stars rising and falling. The entire temple was forged from the pure, highly compressed, and solidified laws of time—a miracle of time itself!

"Temple of Time..."

Mingyue whispered unconsciously, as if the name was imprinted into her consciousness from the depths of the laws.

The temple exuded an ancient and boundless aura; merely gazing upon it made one feel their own "time" being stripped away and assimilated. If not for the protection of the "time anchor," the entire legion would have been decomposed into the basic particles of time the moment they saw it.

Several figures stood at the entrance of the temple.

They were clad in ancient armor, with nebula-like light flowing through the gaps. Their faces were blurred, as if shrouded in an ever-present mist of time, standing there as if they had stood for billions of years, becoming one with the temple and the ruins of time.

"Guardians of Time!"

Mingyue's golden eyes narrowed slightly. The threat posed by these figures was entirely different from that of the Time Ghosts. Ghosts were products of chaos, while these guardians were the extreme of order—a rigid, eternally cyclical, and unchangeable order!

“Outsider…” A vast and hollow thought resonated directly in the river of time and entered Mingyue’s sea of ​​consciousness.

"...Back to your timeline."

"...This place is off-limits."

Thoughts are cold and mechanical, like a declaration of the laws of heaven and earth.

The moon remained silent, its gaze piercing through the guards, through the temple gates, and landing in the deepest part of the temple—the core that radiated boundless light.

A handful of golden sand, constantly swirling, scattering, and then gathering again, floats silently.

Each grain of sand seems to contain the birth, aging, sickness, and death of a world, a complete timeline. Countless grains of sand gather to form a small ocean of sand, yet it seems to encompass all the time of all the heavens and myriad worlds...
The Sands of Time!
The core of this realm, the source of the laws of time!

The moment Mingyue gazed at the "Sands of Time," the Chaos Seed deep within her sea of ​​consciousness trembled slightly, conveying an unprecedented yearning!
Mingyue instantly understood.

The master's Chaotic Dao is all-encompassing and infinitely evolving. Time is one of the cornerstones of the universe. Although the master's Dao Fruit is nearing perfection, if this "Sands of Time" could be integrated into it, it would surely allow his Dao to advance further, evolving into a truly complete... Law of Time!
This is the best gift for its owner!

It is a treasure that Mingyue, as the sharpest spear and the strongest shield, must seize!

"For the Master."

The last trace of hesitation in Mingyue's golden eyes vanished, replaced by a will as firm as the primordial iron of chaos.

"Anyone who stands in my way will die!"

"boom!"

Driven by the will of the bright moon, the torrent of the Ember Legion launched a resolute charge toward the Temple of Time!
"……warn."

"...Clear mode, start."

Several Time Guardians remained standing still, but beneath their blurred faces, two points of light suddenly shone.

hum-

An invisible wave spread out from the temple.

The charging Ember Legion, upon reaching a thousand feet from the temple, mysteriously vanished.

No, it didn't disappear!
In Mingyue's perception, their timelines were forcibly severed, and then—reset!
The next instant, the legion appeared unharmed at the starting point of the charge, in the same posture as before.

Charge, disappear, reset, charge again...

Once, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times...

The entire legion was trapped in an eternal, imperceptible time loop!

They forge ahead in their own time, but stagnate in the time of the temple.

"A foolish struggle."

The Guardian's will resounded once more, carrying an unchanging indifference.

"In the face of eternity, all progress is futile."

However, that indifferent thought showed a barely perceptible fluctuation the next moment.

Because among this 100,000-strong army in this cycle, there was one figure that was not reset.

Bright moon!

The moon was surrounded by chaotic light, its power of the time anchor pushed to its limit. The laws of the closed time loop collided with it, like a stream hitting a divine mountain, forcibly diverted and unable to budge it in the slightest.

The bright moon hovered alone in the center of the battlefield, coldly watching the legion "replay" before its eyes again and again.

Within the golden eyes, countless puppet patterns flashed wildly, deducing the law structure of this closed-loop time.

"I see... It's not a simple reset, but rather a forced 'recording' of time in a certain area, and then 'playing' it indefinitely."

"As long as you are in this area, you will be drawn into that recorded 'past'."

“Ordinary power is useless. Because what you attack is always just the ‘image’ that has already happened.” Mingyue took a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, in the deepest part of Mingyue's sea of ​​consciousness, the chaotic Dao seed that had merged with the origin of the Nightmare began to spin wildly!
A powerful surge of chaotic energy burst forth from his body!

"The Chaos Puppet Path is neither static nor dynamic, but... unique!"

"Where I am is reality! My 'present' is eternity!"

"With my present, I will slay your past!"

Mingyue extended a slender finger and gently touched the ever-repeating battlefield.

"break!"

A point of chaotic light blooms at the fingertips, containing a domineering will to sever cause and effect and reshape order.

Wherever the light reached, the "recorded" time fragments, as if dripped with concentrated acid, made a "sizzling" sound and quickly dissolved and disintegrated!
Click!

A shattering sound, as if from the very beginning of the world's creation, rang out.

The closed loop of time was forcibly torn open.

The 100,000-strong Ember Puppet Legion, which was "replaying" the data stream, suddenly stopped. Then, the data stream in their eyes returned to normal, and they broke free from the loop in an instant. With overwhelming killing intent, they appeared a thousand feet away from the temple!

"……alarm."

"...the laws have been eroded."

"...Activate, high-level erasure protocol."

The Guardians of Time seemed to finally realize that the enemy before them was unlike any intruder they had faced before. (End of Chapter)