Curse Returns, a gamble from the start, I awaken dual spells

Chapter 138 Decay

The lingering echoes of the bells slowly dissipated in the ruins, but the unease in Li Ren's heart grew stronger.

He stood in the center of the temple ruins, his gaze fixed on the floating dark gold wheel.

The three concentric rings of the roulette wheel continued to rotate slowly, emitting a faint "rustling" sound.

What he cared about even more was Xiaoye.

No, to be precise, it was that "not Xiaoye" from before.

"What happened to me just now?" Xiaoye rubbed her eyes, her voice a little weak.

Her eyes had regained their clarity; the infatuation was gone from her dark eyes, replaced by a hint of bewilderment.

"You seemed to be controlled by that roulette wheel just now."

"Do you remember what happened?" Rito didn't hide anything.

Xiaoye shook her head, her brows furrowed: "I only remember seeing those inscriptions, and then a lot of voices suddenly flooded my mind—what were those voices reciting? I couldn't control myself, so I recited them along with them."

"and then?"

"Then—I saw a scene." Xiaoye's voice became somewhat ethereal.

"A huge city, but it has been reduced to ruins. The sky is dark red, and the ground is full of cracks from which black mist rises—the wheel floats in the center of the city, as if it is suppressing something."

Rin's pupils contracted slightly.

The scene sounded like something out of a disaster.

But he didn't have time to think about the problem in depth, because at that moment, a powerful surge of magical energy emanated from the depths of the temple ruins.

A chilling aura, like air rising from an endless abyss, instantly enveloped the entire area.

Rito suddenly turned around, his gaze fixed on the deepest shadows of the temple ruins.

A figure slowly walked out.

He was a tall, thin man.

The man wore a dark gray robe embroidered with the same ancient incantations as those on the stone tablet.

His face was aged, his eyes were sunken, but his pupils did not have the cloudiness common in the elderly; instead, they shone with a sharp light.

What's most eye-catching is the staff he's holding.

The staff is about the height of a person and is carved entirely from some kind of dark blue stone.

The staff head is inlaid with a fist-sized dark gemstone, inside which some kind of liquid seems to be slowly swirling, emitting an unsettling aura.

"You have disturbed the slumber of the Wheel of Time," the old man said in a hoarse voice.

Rito squinted, warily scrutinizing the suddenly appearing old man.

He could sense that the magical energy emanating from the other party had far exceeded the level of level one.

"Are you the guardian of the South?" Rihito asked.

The old man did not answer directly, but slowly raised his staff and pointed to the dark gold wheel floating on the platform.

"The Core of the Wheel of Time is the heart of this barrier. Your actions just now have disrupted its operation."

"Disruption? We only touched the stone tablet." Rito frowned.

Upon hearing this, the old man's lips curled into a cold smile.

"The girl just recited the incantation to awaken the Kalachakra. Did you think it was just ordinary words?"

Li Ren's heart sank.

He subconsciously looked at Xiaoye and found that she was also looking at the roulette wheel with a complicated expression in her eyes.

"That incantation is part of the seal," the old man continued.

"A thousand years ago, sorcerers used this incantation to seal all the Seeds of Time within a barrier. And you, you have just opened a crack."

"Seed of Time?" Rito repeated the unfamiliar term.

"You don't need to know what it is. All you need to know is that the price for breaking the seal is to pay with your lives." The old man's voice suddenly turned cold.

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man suddenly raised his staff, and the dark gem at the top of the staff burst out with a dazzling light.

The next instant, Rito felt the spacetime around him begin to distort violently.

The sense of time disorder I had just experienced on the road was amplified several times over at this moment.

The cursed power within his body surged through his meridians like boiling magma, and his heartbeat became erratic, sometimes as fast as a drumbeat, and sometimes almost stopped.

"Saya, step back!" Rito shouted in a low voice, while simultaneously circulating his magical power in an attempt to stabilize his condition.

But his efforts soon failed.

Within this region, the disorder of the flow of time had completely exceeded his control.

His right hand rose several times faster than normal, while his left leg moved as slowly as if struggling in a swamp.

This misalignment between his body and his senses made his movements extremely awkward; every exertion of force felt like hitting cotton, completely unable to unleash his full potential.

"Is this your technique?" Rito gritted his teeth, his gaze fixed on the old man.

"That's right." The old man's voice was calm and even.

"My technique is called Time Domain. With the blessing of a barrier, it can cover an area of 500 meters in radius. Within this area, I can freely manipulate the flow of time."

He raised his staff and pointed it in the direction of Rihito.

"Your magical power circulation should be completely chaotic by now, right?"

Li Ren didn't answer, but his body had already given the answer.

He tried to take a step forward, but as soon as his right foot lifted, an accelerated flow of time suddenly propelled his body forward, causing him to lose his balance and stumble a few steps before regaining his footing.

But when he tried to stop, time suddenly froze around him, and his body seemed to be frozen in amber, unable to move.

"Is this the true strength of the Southern Guardians?" Rito murmured, cold sweat already beading on his forehead.

But at that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

Manipulating the flow of time —

The essence of this technique seems to have some similarity with his "decay".

Decay is achieved by accelerating the decay process of a target, causing it to undergo the changes of a long period of time in a very short period of time.

The guardian's time domain influences the target's actions and spellcasting by accelerating or slowing down local time.

At their core, both are about "time".

Li Ren's eyes lit up slightly.

Is there some kind of connection between these two techniques?

If his decay can accelerate the decay of the target, then theoretically, he could also try to counteract the effects of this time disorder.

But this requires him to have a deeper understanding of his own techniques.

Rihito closed his eyes, feeling the power of his own internal techniques.

That power had always lurked in his blood, like a sleeping beast, only to be awakened when needed.

But at this moment, what he needs to do is not to awaken it, but to feel its essence.

time----

What is time?

For a tree, time is the growth of its annual rings.