Chapter 109 - 108: Time Reversal

Chapter 109: Chapter 108: Time Reversal

"These are chaotic times, Yang Zian. If it weren’t for your impulsiveness, we’d still have our physical bodies. What would we have to fear from a mere Ninth Elder then? Now, the Ghost and Demon Sects have merged into one, while the Upper Three Sects are leaderless. I fear we’re doomed to lose."

"You damned monk, blaming me again? You were clearly the one who suggested we move against the Alliance Leader."

"Can you two cut the crap for a second? Who says the Upper Three Sects are leaderless? If the Ninth Elder can unite the Ghost and Demon Sects, the Alliance Leader can do the same for the Upper Three Sects."

In the blink of an eye, the Nascent Souls of the Upper Three Sects’ leaders started bickering again.

Ignoring the three Sect Leaders’ argument, Lei Wenjie smiled and said, "Alliance Leader, and you still say you’re not a Great Power reborn in this world. Look, the calamity is upon us. The Ghost and Demon Sects have united, the leaders of the Upper Three Sects have fallen—in this time of crisis, only you, Alliance Leader, can turn the tide!"

Meng Mingzhe stroked his beard and smiled. "Wenjie is right. After this battle, the cultivation world will likely be truly unified. Then, there will be no more distinction between good and evil, and we can all work together to run the Wenda Alliance and achieve Wish Power Ascension as one."

Qiu Ming added, "I was worried that before the Alliance Leader’s Ascension, he wouldn’t manage to conquer the Three Evil Sects, and the Wenda Alliance would be destroyed. I never expected the Ghost and Demon Sects to unite first. The Alliance Leader truly has come to answer this crisis..."

"Exactly! If the Alliance Leader weren’t a reincarnated Great Power, how could the Puppet Silk have been exposed ahead of time? No matter how strong the Puppet Silk is, it’s just a Dharma Artifact. Once you know how it works, dealing with it is easy, right?"

"No matter how strong the Puppet Silk is, it can only control some people. The Alliance Leader’s Star Shifting, on the other hand, can genuinely help us raise our Skill Levels and cultivation realms..."

"What’s this about a reincarnated Great Power?" the Daoist Sect Leader asked, confused.

"Master, the Alliance Leader went from Foundation Establishment all the way to the Void Refinement Realm in three months. He also pioneered the Desire Power Ascension Method. We all believe he’s a Great Power from the Immortal Realm, reincarnated and sent down specifically to guide us to salvation..." Qu Hao explained with a smile. "And now this sudden calamity fits perfectly with the legends of a Great Power descending to save the world."

...

The Ghost and Demon Sects had united, and the Ghost Sect Leader had died before everyone’s eyes.

Yet everyone in the Wenda Alliance remained relaxed, not taking it seriously at all. They were even enthusiastically discussing the Great Power’s descent to face this trial.

This was normal, as they didn’t understand the terror of Demon Qi.

Besides, Li Ye had single-handedly suppressed the leaders of the Upper Three Sects. With his prestige at an all-time high, why would they care about some minor elder from the Ghost Sect?

Even if the Ghost Sect’s elder was a genius on par with the Alliance Leader, in their minds, he was just here to serve as a foil.

Evil had never triumphed over good, to say nothing of a chosen one like the Alliance Leader.

...

Watching his optimistic team members enthusiastically discuss the descent of a Great Power, Li Ye kept a faint smile on his face, maintaining a calm and composed demeanor. Inwardly, however, he was crushed by a sense of urgency.

’In the last world, the black dragon was busy with its transformation, which gave me several months to grow. In the end, I only managed to kill it by a fluke because my Derived Skills gave me an advantage.’

’But the Demon Qi in this world isn’t from a demon; it’s from a demonic artifact in someone else’s hands.’

’Not only has the Ninth Elder had more time to grow than me, but he also used that demonic artifact to get one step ahead and control three major powers...’

’What’s more, the Ghost Sect’s elder followed me and captured Lv Jun and the others I sent out. I’m afraid that so-called Ninth Elder now knows all about my abilities.’

’Meanwhile, all I know is that his demonic artifact is the Puppet Silk. I know nothing about its Derived Skills or anything else...’

’The enemy is in the shadows while I’m out in the open.’

’Overall, I’m at a disadvantage!’

’The most critical part is that the Ghost Sect Leader’s attempt to go undercover failed. I exposed him, so we’ve completely dropped the facade. His next move will definitely be to force a final battle with me. He won’t give me any more time to grow.’

’Stars Surrounding the Moon seemed to help me deal with the traitor, but at the same time, it also cut into my time for normal development...’

’Sigh!’

Li Ye sighed to himself. Looking at the watch on his wrist, he thought, ’What’s meant to be will be.’

"It’s finally here, Li Ye. Are you confident you can beat it? I really, really don’t want to be devoured by it. Can’t you think of another way to activate my Demon Qi? I feel like I still have a lot of untapped potential..."

The wristwatch chattered endlessly in Li Ye’s mind, its lack of confidence obvious.

The chatter gave Li Ye a headache. Using the excuse of going into seclusion, he set up a ward for himself with the Eight Gates Locking Array. Only then did he communicate with the watch, immediately playing the victim:

"Cuz, the situation doesn’t look good! We’ve only been here for four months. The Puppet Silk has been active here for over four years. No matter how hard I try, there’s no way I can close the gap in Demon Qi in just a few days!"

"No matter how strong the Ninth Elder is, he can’t be stronger than the three Sect Leaders, can he?" the watch said. "You beat all three of them."

"Cuz, Demon Qi can help increase one’s Skill Level. The Ninth Elder is an elder of the Ghost Sect; his cultivation base must be at least in the Void Refinement Realm. After getting the Puppet Silk and having the help of Demon Qi for four years, his Skill Level is at least at the peak of the Harmonization Realm."

Li Ye continued, "Those controlled by the Puppet Silk are under a direct threat to their lives, so they’ll fight to the death to help the Ninth Elder. Our people, on the other hand, are bound together by mutual interests."

"When we clash, one side will die if they don’t fight with everything they have, while the other side might live if they run away. In terms of morale alone, we’ve already lost."

"So you’re saying... we can’t win?" the watch asked, its voice trembling. "How about... we kill people? Killing people can help me power up quickly."

"The final battle is imminent. How many could we possibly kill? Besides, if we can kill, what’s stopping them from doing the same?" Li Ye shook his head. "Cuz, our current achievements are all thanks to the Derived Skills the Team Emblem gave me."

"Cuz, you’ve got to pull your weight here! At the very least, help me awaken a combat-oriented Derived Skill. It’s our only chance of winning..."

"..." The watch was silent for a moment before saying, "I want to help you awaken a Derived Skill too, but I don’t know how to develop myself! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even known that creating a Wenda Alliance and getting more people to wear watches could increase my Demon Qi."

"Can’t you just push yourself a little? String the cooldowns together or something?" Li Ye asked, settling for the next best option.

"Not enough Demon Qi," the watch replied. "Controlling time isn’t my primary function to begin with. Every use consumes a massive amount. If you multiplied my current Demon Qi by a thousand, I might be able to shorten the cooldown to under two seconds."

’A thousand times? In your dreams!’

’That would only be possible if everyone wore a watch, or if the watches became a common commodity...’

’Circulation?’

Li Ye suddenly froze.

All along, he had been branding the watches as luxury items. The Stars Surrounding the Moon Derived Skill was probably born from that Attribute.

But the watch’s main functions, timekeeping and circulation, hadn’t been realized.

Before the advent of mobile phones, almost everyone had a watch to tell time. He could totally create a batch of low-end watches and sell them on the market!

And timekeeping!

He had almost completely ignored the watch’s timekeeping function.

Li Ye looked down at his watch, at its motionless hands, and asked, "Cuz, can your hands still move?"

"Yeah, they can!" the watch replied.

"Then why aren’t they moving?" Li Ye asked.

"Too lazy," the watch said.

"..." Li Ye was speechless. "Start them moving. Let’s see if we can activate a new Derived Skill."

TICK!

TOCK!

The watch’s hands, which had been still for nearly four months, began to move again.

Just as the watch had said, its second hand was broken. It was as if it were stuck; it would tick forward one space, only to fall back to its original position.

It just swung back and forth, TICK-TOCK, within the space of a single second, but this didn’t affect the movement of the hour and minute hands.

"Cuz, why couldn’t you have broken for a few more seconds?" Li Ye said regretfully, looking at the watch face.

"It’s not like I got to decide how it broke," the watch said irritably. "You should be glad I possessed a broken watch in the first place. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even have the ability to control time."

"If the second hand were fixed, would the time-control ability be lost?" Li Ye’s perception penetrated the watch, examining its internal structure. The second hand was stuck because one of the gears was slightly misaligned. Adjusting it would be incredibly easy.

"You can’t fix it. Once an item is infused with Demon Qi, its form becomes permanently fixed," the watch said.

"Permanently fixed, huh!" Li Ye sighed. He glanced at the incorrect time, then up at the sky, and subconsciously pulled out the crown to adjust the watch to the correct time.

The moment he turned the crown and the hour hand began to spin backward, the scene before his eyes began to change at a dizzying speed.

The Eight Gates Locking Talisman flew back from the sky into his Storage Pouch, the facial muscles of the Wenda Alliance members twitched in reverse, their voices became a cacophony of reversed speech, and a bird that had just flown across the sky flapped its wings and flew backward...

The watch shrieked in terror in Li Ye’s mind, "Stop! Stop it! My Demon Qi is almost gone...!"

CLICK!

The watch’s hour hand spun back four minutes’ worth and then abruptly got stuck. No matter how hard Li Ye turned the crown, it wouldn’t budge.

Time began to flow forward again.

"...otic times, Yang Zian. If it weren’t for your impulsiveness..." The Buddhist Sect Leader managed only a few words before the expression on his face froze.

"Damned monk, stop talking! What just happened?" The Sword Sect Leader’s voice was trembling. "Did... did everything just go backward...?"

"W-Weren’t we just talking about the Alliance Leader being a reincarnated Great Power?" the Daoist Sect Leader stammered.

"I saw the bird fly backward," said a member of the Wenda Alliance.

"It wasn’t just the bird! The Spirit Stone I just absorbed while cultivating has been restored..." someone else said.

...

"What did you do?" the watch asked weakly in Li Ye’s mind. "You used up all my Demon Qi."

GULP.

Li Ye swallowed hard. He had turned back time by four minutes. And everyone had come back with him, retaining their memories of what had just happened.

’The time stutter caused by the second hand was something only I remembered; my own body was the one traveling through time.’

’Does turning the minute hand backward rewind time for everyone?’

’Doesn’t that mean that as long as I turn the minute hand back, I can redo things that have already happened...?’

’As expected. No demonic artifact is truly useless.’

’What would happen if I turned the hour hand forward?’

’A group fast-forward? Would we all jump four minutes into the future?’

’And what would happen after the minute hand makes a full circle, causing the hour hand to move?’

’With enough Demon Qi, could I rewind all the way back to when I first transmigrated? And would everyone retain their memories of these past four months?’

...