The Lake of Life lay still as a mist-blurred blue mirror.
A fish leapt, rippling the surface.
Li Zhexian sat alone on the icy lakeshore, his white robes trailing.
Ever since glimpsing the shape of time—
He had been sitting in meditation for three days.
Beside him, the Qinglian Sword rested across his knees, its scabbard crusted in frost.
The Sword Intent of Time—
more elusive than wind,
more ethereal than death,
more distant than the stars.
Time leaves no trace to follow, yet marks everything.
Visible everywhere, yet never truly seen.
Li Zhexian closed his eyes.
Chasing after that invisible, formless flow.
He tried to grasp it—
his fingertips met only cold air.
He tried to listen—
but all he heard was everlasting silence.
Frustration began to rise.
On the fourth day of meditation—
The last snowfall of the winter arrived.
Snowflakes spiraled down, settling on the lake, coating branches, dusting his brows and shoulders.
Li Zhexian did not move.
Letting the snow gather—
Until he became a sculpture of ice and white.
In the distance—
Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu watched anxiously as the boy gradually turned into a "snowman."
They wanted to approach.
But feared disturbing his sword comprehension.
Da Ming and Er Ming exchanged a glance—
both sighing quietly, both even more awed by him.
If it had been them—
Given such a difficult path of enlightenment,
they would have given up long ago.
"...Roar…"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger let out a low growl, the mockery in its blood-red eyes slowly fading.
The dedicated… should never be mocked.
It remembered itself—
Alone in the vast Star Dou Forest,
the last of its kind,
despised by man and beast,
surviving on carrion as a cub.
But dedication or not—
It still did not believe Li Zhexian could comprehend the power of time.
Some things cannot be touched by effort alone.
...
Within the spiritual sea—
In Li Zhexian's spiritual sea—
The round face of the Skydream Ice Worm showed humanlike shock.
"If I, back then…"
"Had even half of Brother Zhexian's drive to grow stronger…"
"If I hadn't been so lazy and slept all day instead of cultivating offensive abilities—would I have been imprisoned by the Star Dou Spirit Beasts?"
"Maybe I'd already have a kid with the Ice Empress by now!"
...
While others were lost in their own thoughts—
Li Zhexian remained unaware.
He was immersed in a special state.
Though his eyes were shut and his body buried in snow—
his spirit drifted with the falling flakes.
At that moment—
A six-petaled snowflake drifted out from among the countless others, descending toward the top of his head.
And in his perception—
Its descent suddenly became extremely slow.
Slow enough that he could see every refraction of its icy facets.
Slow enough that he could hear the faint tremor of the air being cut.
Slow enough that he felt he could see its entire life—
Condensing in clouds, growing in the wind,
falling while witnessing the vastness of heaven and earth,
and finally heading toward a silent end.
And that end—
Was about to occur upon his forehead.
In that instant—
A clear comprehension struck him, like lightning breaking open his mind.
"Time is the eternal—
All living things scramble helplessly across its boundless mirror."
He murmured:
"The first snow touching plum branches…
the dusk snows drowning deserted walls…
Such sword dao—merely sand slipping between fingers."
Not far away—
The meditating Dark Demon Evil God Tiger suddenly lifted its head.
Its blood eyes surged with disbelief as it stared at the snow-buried youth.
"This aura… impossible!"
Da Ming and Er Ming, though less sensitive to the power of time than the Evil God Tiger,
still stared wide-eyed at the snow-covered figure—
whose presence was suddenly hazy, as if he no longer belonged to this timeline.
...
Within the spiritual sea—
Skydream Ice Worm shrank back in terror from the Qinglian Sword that pulsed with destructive, annihilating power.
"Oh my heavens—he's going to tear the place apart!"
"Your Martial Soul True Body is sealed inside the sword shrine, yet it's still leaking power this terrifying?!"
"Brother Zhexian—did you really comprehend the power of time?!"
Amid the drifting curtain of snow—
Li Zhexian slowly opened his eyes.
There was no white nor black in them—
only the vast reflection of an ancient frozen river,
within which the rise and fall of the world played out with the passing of ages.
At almost the same instant—
The falling snowflake finally touched his hair.
Li Zhexian raised two fingers.
The snow on his body shattered away, and with a motion so light—so gentle—he flicked toward the empty air before him…
No sword qi erupted.
No wind roared.
Only the snowflake—
As if lifted by an invisible hand—
rose upward along the exact path it had descended, reversing its fall step by step.
It ascended through the frozen wind, through the dancing snow, past the branches and the frozen lake—
rising and rising—
until it disappeared into the lead-gray clouds,
as though it had never existed.
It was as if an unseen string had been plucked—
reversing the flow of time for an instant.
Wind and snow continued at the lakeside.
Li Zhexian lowered his hand.
He gazed at the Qinglian Sword before his knees, his fingers brushing its icy carvings.
His voice echoed clear like sword-song, cutting through the late-winter stillness:
"A sword can cleave mountains—
but cannot sever the mark of flowing time."
"Only when the heart transcends all things
can it reverse a feather of time's passage."
"Qinglian Sword Song, Ninth Form—"
"A Thousand Autumns Depart."
"Complete."
After four months, Li Zhexian had finally succeeded in comprehending the sword.
Da Ming and Er Ming brought out their treasured delicacies, setting up a grand feast rarely seen in the outside world.
"Heh, Brother Zhexian—try this spirit-flower honey!"
Er Ming carefully held up a wooden stump, proudly saying:
"There's a ten-thousand-year old bear on the east side of the forest that just woke from hibernation!"
"I asked to borrow some honey, but it wouldn't share. So I gave it a couple punches to make it honest!"
Li Zhexian peeked inside the stump.
It was filled with viscous, golden liquid that gleamed like molten amber.
A sweet floral fragrance lingered at his nose, making his mouth water.
He tasted a drop—his mouth filled with rich sweetness.
Li Zhexian nodded repeatedly, giving a thumbs-up:
"A delicacy beyond the mortal world!"
"Rrhh…"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger approached.
Er Ming's beast eyes widened instantly.
"You want some too? Get lost!"
Li Zhexian chuckled and ladled a bowl of mountain-treasure soup for the tiger.
Now that he had mastered the Sword Intent of Time—
He no longer had need for the tiger.
But truthfully…
The tiger's Spirit Ring and the Evil God Pearl were of little use to him.
"Better to treat it as a mount for now.
If war breaks out with the Spirit Empire, it's still a Title Douluo-level combatant."
"If it refuses…"
"Then I'll kill it and take the pear."
...
The meal was joyous and carefree.
And just as they finished eating, Er Ming suddenly proposed something that even Li Zhexian found amusing.
"Brother Zhexian, since you've mastered Time Sword Intent—
whose time power is stronger, yours or the Evil God Tiger's?"
The moment he spoke—
Da Ming's deep blue eyes lit up, then hesitated.
"Power with a time attribute is far too rare."
"What happens when time clashes with time… no one can predict."
Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu quietly listened, sensibly refraining from interrupting.
Li Zhexian stroked his chin and looked toward the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
The tiger happened to be looking at him too.
Their gazes collided—
within those blood-red eyes, he read two simple words:
Not convinced.
At his waist, the Qinglian Sword buzzed with excitement.
Li Zhexian's lips curved upward.
"Well, shall we clash?"