Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 59 Breaking Free from the Cocoon and Becoming a Butterfly

Having just emerged from the virtual universe, the person who was most incredulous was none other than Hunzhen himself.

After frowning for a long time, he suddenly reached out and grabbed.

A leaf appears and, bound by gravity, begins its free fall.

Hunzhen stared intently at the fluttering fallen leaves, his gaze never wavering for a moment.

He didn't use his mental power or the power of the wind to influence the falling leaves; he simply watched them fall silently until they hit the ground.

"11.53 seconds."

Hunzhen silently recited the number in his mind, his pupils slightly contracting.

Based on the gravitational acceleration of the planet Tianlan, his initial estimate of the landing time was less than half of that.

"Slow down? Or did I inadvertently use the power of the Law of Wind?"

Do not!

A look of certainty flashed in Hunzhen's eyes: "It's time slowing down!"

The laws of wind, light, and lightning can all do similar things, but with his abilities, it would be impossible for him to make such a subtle change with almost no energy dissipation on such a thin fallen leaf!

Only the law of time, which is even more elusive and formless than the law of space among the ten fundamental laws, can achieve this!

Hunzhen was overjoyed.

So excited that he completely forgot about the "failure to complete the challenge".

It wasn't a defeat in a life-or-death battle.

It was precisely because of the setbacks encountered in the simulation that he had such great motivation to take on the challenge in order to vent his pent-up emotions.

The initial purpose was to test the gap between himself and geniuses of Berlan's caliber, and to vent his anger for the simulated humans who had suffered setbacks dozens of times.

Compared to the pleasant surprise, that little bit of regret is nothing.

But then came boundless confusion.

Having a simulation system that allows one to inherit the insights of simulated humans for the next ten years, this power, which at first glance seems to be related to "time," has made Hunzhen wonder if he could have something special beyond the "laws of time."

However, after attempting to practice the secret arts of the Time series, he realized that he didn't seem to have the talent for it.

If cultivating spatial techniques and attempting to study and comprehend space is like a primary school student trying to study advanced mathematics, then cultivating time techniques is like a monkey trying to read a book that even a university professor can't understand.

It wasn't until the Hunjing Stone gave him a clear answer that Hunzhen finally gave up on the path of time.

"Has my talent changed now?"

Looking back on his past experiences, Hunzhen's eyes lit up.

He took out the Hunjing Stone from his spatial ring and tested it; the time value was still a pathetic three points.

"..."

"What's going on?"

Looking at the Hunjing Stone in his hand, Hunzhen couldn't help but wonder if it was broken.

"It's broken..."

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Hunzhen's mind.

"No! Is it possible that this thing is simply unable to detect my special ability in the Path of Time!?"

A crazy idea suddenly arose, and like a spark that ignited a wildfire, it exploded completely in Hunzhen's mind.

"There's nothing in this universe that can be detected!?"

This idea sparked a collision of countless inspirations, giving rise to new ideas.

Hunzhen suddenly recalled all the details of his battle with Bolan, even the thoughts and ideas that had crossed his mind during that time.

Suddenly, he seemed to have grasped the key point.

Hunzhen frowned: "In that instant, just as Bolan's illusory sword was about to pierce me first, my thinking speed was faster than ever before, so fast that time seemed to stand still. In that brief moment, I tried to find a way to be one step ahead of him, to draw upon the sliver of victory from countless battle experiences in thousands of simulations..."

With a soft murmur, Hunzhen slowly closed his eyes.

Countless insights rushed through my mind.

At that moment, he seemed like a god looking down upon the river of time.

Each simulation, which takes anywhere from a few years to a decade, becomes a fleeting thought in his mind.

Thousands of thoughts collided and stirred, darting out and sinking like fish in the long river of time.

Hunzhen suddenly opened his eyes and, as if struck by inspiration, drew his sword and slashed.

The speed of this strike seemed to be slowed down as if captured by a high-speed camera, then suddenly accelerated. Despite the fluctuating speed, the final speed of this strike was comparable to that of a normal strike from Hunzhen.

Hunzhen sheathed his sword, his eyes sparkling with wonder.

The latest novel is first published here!

"Double acceleration, half deceleration—that's my current understanding of the laws of time!"

Influencing an ordinary fallen leaf and incorporating the laws of time into swordsmanship—the difference in difficulty is more than tenfold!

Hunzhen was still savoring the memory of the last strike, deep in thought.

"It's already so difficult to affect my own casual slash, let alone truly integrate it into my swordsmanship and even influence my opponent. The fact that I was able to use it successfully in the fight against Bolan was mostly due to the right timing, location, and people. It was the result of the breakthrough of my accumulated understanding on the spot, with a lot of luck involved. With my current level of understanding of time, if I were to do it again, I probably wouldn't be able to slow down Bolan's sword while speeding up my own."

Hunzhen surmised that what he accomplished during that burst of inspiration had likely reached the threshold of the laws. But right now, he had only just begun his journey into the cultivation of the laws of time, and was still far from that moment.

"Besides, reviewing that battle again, Berlan clearly had the upper hand, playing cat and mouse with confidence. Only that silly kid, the simulator, thought he almost succeeded, which misled me! Even if he had chosen the real body correctly, Berlan would have had plenty of time to move before I stabbed him!"

What he didn't know was that if he had used his time-deceleration technique on a larger area, it would have affected Berlan himself.

With a bit of luck, it was truly a case of blind cat catching a dead mouse and choosing the right Berlan's true form. So even if Berlan wanted to temporarily switch between his true and illusionary forms, it would be too late because the Force's circulation speed had slowed down!

Even though Hunzhen believed that the gap between himself and Bolan was insurmountable at this stage, even with so many people helping him and his own good luck, he still couldn't harm Bolan.

But he no longer felt disappointed.

"The benefits of inheriting the soul go far beyond the insights into the laws and the experience I've accumulated over the past ten years. Or rather, I thought I had completely absorbed it the moment of inheritance, but the facts prove otherwise!"

Being able to organize the experiences gained from the soul's inheritance from a bird's-eye view, compressing them into individual thoughts in an extraordinary way, turning ten years into a moment, is like an extremely terrifying amplifier, making Hunzhen's sense of time so clear, almost within easy reach.

Since Hunjing Stone could not measure the specific effects of the simulation system, Hunzhen was also unclear about the level of his actual value in terms of the efficiency of his understanding of the laws of time.

But without a doubt, one of them is "exceptionally talented".

In just a short period of time, after digesting the simulation experience, it successfully achieved twice the time acceleration and half the time deceleration.

Give him more time, and he'll reach a full tenfold acceleration and a tenth-fold deceleration, easily touching the threshold of the law.

The simulation system gave Hunzhen the ability to catch up with geniuses by relying on thousands of times more time.

But he was also aware of the limits of his efforts.

Don't you see, the offspring of a certain Lord Luo, after countless years and possessing the resources of the offspring of Lord Hunyuan, is still just an "ordinary Void God".

Resources and effort can only determine a person's lower limit; only talent can define their upper limit. The lower limit can always be reached through accumulation, but breaking through the upper limit is extremely difficult.

At this moment, he truly emerged from his cocoon and became a butterfly.

(End of this chapter)