Chapter 527 - 368: Sand of Space-Time

Deep within the Kunlun Mountain Range, the purple Rift slowly closed.

Ian stood before the Rift, a thoughtful look in his eyes as his fingertips gently brushed against the spatial barrier.

He keenly sensed that this trip between the two worlds was different from his arrival.

The first time he came, he had to forcibly tear open a passage and rely on the Gravity Rule to stabilize the path.

Now, in his Perception, this Rift was like a clear address marker.

Just a moment ago, the Soul Link deep within his consciousness, connecting him to Wei Song, had acted like an invisible thread, piercing straight through the world barrier and linking the two worlds.

’So that’s how it is. Once I’m back, I’ll have Wei Song get rid of this rift.’

The soul-locating ability of the Phase Soul Weaving Technique, combined with a Morning Star Wizard’s mastery over space, meant Ian no longer needed this Rift as a "fixed channel."

He only needed to follow this Soul Link and lock onto the coordinates of the Profound Yellow World where Wei Song was located.

Then, he could directly tear open space and descend, as naturally as walking from one room into the next.

’Time to go back.’

He took a step forward, his entire body sinking into space. A moment later, the scene before him changed abruptly.

The familiar alloy walls, the familiar Energy fluctuations, the familiar scorching aura.

The underground secret chamber of the Jiangzhou Management Bureau.

Ian casually waved away the residual spatial ripples, walked over to a stone chair in the chamber, sat down, and cut straight to the chase.

"Report on the arrangements and progress on this side."

Wei Song sat down across from him. With a light tap of his finger in the Void, a pale golden Light Curtain unfurled, densely packed with recent data.

"The Global Defense Alliance was formally established last month. Great Yan took the lead, and one hundred forty-seven countries signed the accord."

"Nations are allocated resource quotas based on their contributions—Source Crystals, rare metals, technical data..."

"So far, we’ve collected one thousand two hundred complete Source Crystals and over three thousand fragments."

"Additionally, several newly discovered rare mineral veins in the country are similar to the metals you specifically marked. Once the surveys are complete, we will immediately begin the extraction phase."

As Wei Song reported one item after another, the light in Ian’s eyes grew brighter with each number mentioned.

"Not bad." Ian nodded slightly. Every minor world possessed its own unique resources.

"And what about your side?" Wei Song retracted his gaze and looked at Ian.

Ian was silent for a moment. "That world... it’s more complex than I anticipated."

He didn’t speak. Instead, he transmitted the memories directly through their Soul Link.

Ruins, corruption, struggling humans, and... the faint plea for help from the World Will.

All the information was exchanged in an instant. Wei Song’s pupils contracted slightly.

"The World Will is still resisting? You want to complete the Rules as quickly as possible, then go back and pull out those Anchor Points."

"There’s more to it than that." A sharp glint flashed in Ian’s eyes.

"Pulling out those ’nails’ is also the perfect opportunity to collect Star Realm Refined Gold and knowledge. And in the end... we might receive an even greater reward."

Wei Song nodded slowly, his expression growing solemn. A mandate from two worlds required careful handling.

"Oh, there’s one more thing." Wei Song suddenly recalled something and turned to walk to a corner of the secret chamber.

He opened a special safe and took out a fist-sized Crystal Box.

Wei Song placed the box on the table and gently pushed open the lid. Inside, it was lined with a layer of soft, black velvet.

On the velvet lay three transparent stones, smaller than grains of rice, in the shape of irregular polyhedrons.

If not for the light in the secret chamber reflecting off them, creating an extremely faint, prism-like, seven-colored halo, their presence would have gone completely unnoticed.

What was most peculiar was that although the stones were clearly inside the box, they gave off a strange, untouchable feeling.

It was as if they existed in multiple places at once, yet also as if they didn’t exist in this world at all.

"What is this?" Ian raised a slight eyebrow.

Even with his Perception as a Morning Star Wizard, he couldn’t immediately determine the nature of these stones.

"They were turned in three days ago by a Level Two Superpower User with a ’Space-Time Perception’ type ability." Wei Song’s tone was tinged with complexity.

"The kid was originally an archaeology undergraduate. After his superpower Awakened, he could vaguely perceive the ’Time Trajectory’ of objects."

"Last month, he went to the Northwest Desert for fieldwork. While in a dry, ancient riverbed, he accidentally ’sensed’ something ’flashing’ underground."

"He dug for three days and found these three stones deep underground."

Ian reached out, his fingertips hovering over the box. In his Sea of Spirit, the Star Orbit representing the Time Rule trembled slightly.

These transparent stones actually contained extremely pure Space-Time Attribute Rule Fragments.

’No, not fragments. They’re more like solidified "Space-Time Nodes."’

Wei Song added, "The kid said that every time his finger was about to touch the stones, they would ’flash’ to the side, as if deliberately dodging him."

"In the end, he had to use his superpower to create a miniature space-time trap to barely ’trap’ them in the box."

Ian’s gaze sharpened. His fingertips slowly descended. When they were less than a centimeter from the stones, with a HUM, the three transparent stones flickered simultaneously.

The next second, they vanished completely.

Ian clearly "saw" that they hadn’t truly disappeared. They had simply "jumped" to the position they occupied half a second ago.

It was like rewinding a videotape by a single frame and then returning to the original spot. The process was so brief that an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to perceive it at all.

If he continued to try and touch them, they would just keep flickering away.

"A little interesting..." A faint smile touched the corners of Ian’s mouth.

He mobilized the Time Rule. The space around his right hand began to grow "viscous" as the flow of time was forcibly slowed by a factor of ten.