Time in the secret realm was a fluid concept. To Tianchen, it felt like hours, but his hair grew long, and his frame filled out with lean, corded muscle.
He was standing in the center of the jade pavilion, his eyes closed. He was no longer just absorbing Qi; he was forging himself.
The Ancient Time Immortal Scripture had revealed a path that no one in the Azure Sky Continent had dared to tread: Tri-Cultivation.
Most cultivators chose one path—the Body, the Essence (Qi), or the Soul. Tianchen, driven by the dual laws of Space and Time, was forced to master all three.
The Body: His skin began to take on a faint, metallic luster. Under the pressure of the realm's gravity, he practiced the Thunder-Fire Body tempering, using the ambient energy to burn away every impurity in his marrow. His bones became as dense as divine iron.
The Essence: His Dantian was no longer a stagnant pool. It had become a swirling vortex of silver Qi. He had reached the 9th Layer of Qi Condensation. He didn't just have more Qi than others; he had Space-Time Qi. When he moved, he didn't travel through space; he slipped between it.
The Soul: This was the hardest. He had to split his consciousness to perceive the past, present, and future simultaneously. Guided by the jade scroll, he began to form his Temporal Sea, a mental space where he could simulate battles a thousand times in a single second.
CRACK.
The sound echoed through the silent realm like a lightning strike.
Tianchen turned. The silver-gold egg was shattering. Pieces of the divine shell fell to the floor, dissolving into pure energy. From the wreckage emerged a creature that looked like a serpent made of liquid mercury, with small, feathered wings and eyes that held the depth of an ancient forest.
The creature looked at Tianchen. It didn't growl. It chirped.
A bond, deeper than blood, snapped into place.
"Chronos," Tianchen said. The name was etched in the scripture as the guardian of the Time Emperor. The little dragon flew up, circling Tianchen's head before settling on his shoulder, its tail coiling around his neck like a regal scarf.
Tianchen looked at his hands. He felt a power so immense it felt like he was holding back a hurricane. He picked up the Space Saber and the Time Spear. They no longer felt like heavy tools; they felt like extensions of his own limbs.
He walked to the edge of the secret realm, where the silver mist met the dark void of the exit. He could sense the outside world now. He could feel the vibration of the Thousand Mist Falls.
He closed his eyes and sensed the flow of time outside. In the realm, he had spent what felt like years. Outside, only three months had passed.
Three months. Enough time for the Cui Clan to consolidate their power. Enough time for the Huang Clan to be forgotten.
"Chronos," Tianchen said, his voice echoing with a dual-tone—one mortal, one divine. "It's time to go back."
With a single strike of the Space Saber, he cut the air in front of him. The rift opened, showing the spray of the waterfall and the distant, charred ruins of Green Willow City.
Huang Tianchen stepped through. The "Cripple" was dead. The Space-Time Sovereign had been born.