The Longevity Family: Starting from the Foundation Establishment Ancestor

"Those who come after, if they wish to gain the right to preserve time, must understand the meaning of preservation and witness the heart of time. Answer my three questions and let time echo their response."

An ancient, weathered voice echoed in Han Mu's mind. He did not hesitate, focusing intently. Time was of the essence; powerful enemies surrounded them, and the temporal tide was approaching. He had to pass through as quickly as possible.

"First question: What is time?" The blurry figure's first question is direct and grand.

After a moment's thought, Han Mu replied in a deep voice, "Time is the warp and weft of the universe, the yardstick of all things. It is both the ever-flowing past and the eternal moment. To me, time is the Way, the power, the reliance for protecting what I cherish, and the measure for my steps forward."

The blurry figure nodded slightly, neither confirming nor denying, and continued to ask: "Second question: Why protect? What are you protecting?"

This question reminded Han Mu of the Han family in the Spirit Realm, the people of Qingzhu Peak, Liu Ruyan, Luo Feng, Zhou Meng, and even the mysterious "Eternal Life Family" system and the cause and effect behind the "Coffin of Origin." He slowly said, "Protection originates from the heart and arises from bonds. It is about protecting the continuation of one's clan's bloodline, protecting fellow cultivators from being bullied, protecting one's own path to enlightenment, and also protecting... a forgotten history and a promise. What is protected is only the heart."

The blurry figure seemed to pause for a moment, its eyes, filled with the weight of time, seemingly able to see into Han Mu's heart. It slowly uttered its third and final question: "Third question: If the river of time were to flow backward, and protection and transcendence were to clash, what would you do?"

This is a hypothetical scenario, yet it hits the nail on the head. Han Mu spoke calmly, almost without hesitation: "If the long river flows backward, I will go upstream to explore its roots. Protection and transcendence are not necessarily in conflict. If they are in conflict... I choose to seek transcendence within protection, rather than abandon protection for transcendence. If my strength falls short, I will strive to be true to myself and do my best."

"Going upstream... seeking transcendence while protecting..." The blurry figure repeated softly. Finally, he slowly nodded, his form becoming transparent and dissipating. "Your Dao heart is still good, though not perfect, but you have already found your path. The power to guard the time is temporarily granted to you. I hope you... will not fail this name."

As the words fell, the blurry figure completely vanished, turning into specks of grayish-white light that merged into Han Mu's body. Han Mu instantly felt a close connection established between himself and the "Time-Guardian Ancient Palace" in the outside world. Countless pieces of information about the ancient palace's structure, restrictions, and functions flooded into his mind. The most important of these was that the ancient palace was the remains of a special spacetime beacon magic artifact, its core being the projection of the "Time-Guardian Coffin." It could control some of the ancient palace's restrictions and briefly open a passage to specific coordinates on the outer perimeter of the "Eye of Return to the Ruins"! However, each opening consumed a huge amount of energy, and the passage was extremely unstable.

At the same time, a pure Daoist essence of time also merged in, further enhancing his understanding of the laws of time and completely loosening his cultivation bottleneck!

He immediately brought up the system panel:

Name: Han Mu

[True Realm: Mid-stage Golden Immortal (Breakthrough!)]

[Surface Realm: Mid-stage True Immortal]

[Time Rule: From 13% to 15% for beginners]

[Status: Minor injuries, immortal power recovering. Temporary control of the "Time-Guarding Ancient Palace" has been granted.]

[Celestial Aura: -15000 points]

[System Quest "Exploring the Time-Space Labyrinth" Progress: Time-Guardian Ancient Palace (2/3). Quest Rewards: +2% Comprehension of the Laws of Time, "Time-Guardian Mark" (Temporary, can withstand one Golden Immortal-level time attack).]

He'd broken through to the mid-stage of the Golden Immortal realm! He'd also gained control of the ancient palace and a life-saving mark! Han Mu's heart leaped with excitement. Before he could fully comprehend it, his mind immediately returned to the outside world.

……

Inside the ancient hall, the situation was already extremely precarious.

The attacks from the gray-clad men outside grew increasingly fierce. The ancient temple's protective barrier flickered violently, and rubble and dust rained down from the roof, threatening to breach it on the verge of collapse. Liu Ruyan, Luo Feng, and the others stood guard before the portal through which Han Mu had entered and the pillar through which Zhou Meng received his inheritance, their faces grave, prepared for a desperate battle.

The pillar of light emanating from Zhou Meng's side had begun to fade, and his aura had become profound and ancient. The mark between his brows had completely stabilized, transforming into a complex gray-white symbol that faintly conveyed a sense of protection. He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze a mixture of vicissitude and confusion, but when he saw Liu Ruyan and the others, he quickly regained his composure, and a touch of calm appeared on his honest face.

"Sister Liu, Luo Feng..." Zhou Meng began, his voice a little hoarse, "I... I think I've remembered something."

Just then—

Boom! The gray-clad man finally forced open a large hole in the barrier of the ancient temple's main gate! The gray-clad man was covered in blood and his breathing was somewhat disordered, but his figure, which was boiling with killing intent, stepped in. His cold gaze instantly locked onto Zhou Meng, who was standing next to the dissipating pillar of light, and Han Mu, who had just opened his eyes and whose aura had changed drastically.

"The inheritance is over? Perfect, saves me the trouble of killing them one by one!" The gray-robed man sneered, raising his hand to grab Han Mu and Zhou Meng, who looked weak. A huge gray handprint descended, unleashing the full pressure of a peak Golden Immortal.

"My lord, be careful!"

"Old Zhou!"

Liu Ruyan and the others exclaimed in alarm and tried to step forward to stop them, but they were suppressed by the oppressive aura and could not move.

At this critical moment, Han Mu's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he shouted in a low voice, "Forbidden!"

Om-!

The entire ancient hall suddenly lit up, with ancient runes on the walls, floor, and dome illuminating one after another. A vast and ancient power of spacetime erupted, instantly freezing the gray handprint that had grabbed them in mid-air, causing it to disintegrate inch by inch! At the same time, a powerful binding force fell on the gray-robed man, causing him to freeze in place.

"You...you've taken control of the ancient palace?!" The gray-robed man was both shocked and furious, struggling frantically. His body shone with a surge of gray light, showing a faint tendency to break free from his restraints. After all, he was a peak Golden Immortal, and the ancient palace was already in ruins. Han Mu had only obtained temporary access, making it difficult to keep him trapped for long.

Han Mu didn't waste any words with him. The moment he gained control, he activated the deepest function of the ancient temple—using the power of the impending spacetime tide to forcibly open a passage to the outer perimeter of the "Eye of the Ruins"! This was the only way to escape the current predicament and possibly find more clues about the "Coffin of Origin" and a chance for recovery!

"Tides of time and space, heed my command! Guided by the beacon, the Gate of Return to Nothingness—open!"

Han Mu formed hand seals, frantically channeling his newly recovered immortal power, along with his control over the ancient palace, into the dissipating phantom of the stone coffin in the center. At the same time, the fragment of the "Coffin of Origin" in his arms flew out automatically, hovering above the phantom of the stone coffin, emitting a wisp of primordial aura.

In an instant, the illusory stone coffin shone brightly, projecting a thick, grayish-white beam of light that shot straight to the top of the hall, tearing open a massive, constantly rotating vortex filled with destructive energy storms and chaotic spacetime turbulence! At the other end of the vortex, an indescribable dark void, seemingly the end of all things, could be vaguely seen, along with a slowly rotating, chilling gray "pupil" phantom—the Eye of the Void!

Almost simultaneously, outside the ancient palace, the vanguard of the spacetime tide finally arrived! An invisible giant wave of spacetime slammed heavily against the outer wall of the ancient palace, causing the entire palace to shake violently and groan under the unbearable pressure, with more cracks spreading out.

"Go!" Han Mu shouted to the crowd, while simultaneously manipulating the last remaining restrictive power of the ancient palace, turning it into a thrust that swept Liu Ruyan, Luo Feng, Zhou Meng, Bai Ling, and the others toward the vortex passage.

"Trying to run?! Leave the fragments of the source coffin and the inheritance behind!" The gray-robed man's eyes were bloodshot. He finally managed to break free from some of the restraints and rushed towards Han Mu and the floating fragments of the ancient coffin, even temporarily ignoring the time-space tides and the chaotic vortex passage.

"You're courting death!" Han Mu's eyes turned cold. In the last instant before sending everyone into the passage, he had a thought and manipulated the last remaining counterattack power in the core of the ancient palace. Mixed with a wisp of the aftershock of the spacetime tide that had just erupted, it transformed into a terrifying torrent of gray-white mixed with chaotic colorful light, which slammed into the gray-clothed man who was rushing towards him!

"No—!" The gray-clad man roared in terror, defending himself with all his might. However, under the combined impact of the power of the ancient palace, the aftershocks of the spacetime tide, and the trace of the "Time Guardian Mark" power secretly activated by Han Mu, his defense shattered like paper. He was violently knocked away, spitting out blood, his aura instantly weakened, and he crashed heavily against the palace wall, his fate unknown.

Without even looking at the result, Han Mu, just as the passage began to fluctuate violently and was about to collapse, grabbed the fragments of the ancient coffin, his figure transformed into a stream of light, and rushed into the vortex leading to the "Eye of the Ruins".

The last thing he saw was the gray-clad man struggling to his feet, his eyes filled with resentment and unwillingness, and the ancient palace beginning to collapse on a large scale under the impact of the tides of time and space.

Suddenly everything went black, time and space shifted, and an immense tearing force, along with an indescribable sense of desolation and impending doom, rushed towards me.