Chapter 1117: Time's Master

"Sin One Hall, here I come!"

Passing through the special hall gate, which was blurry and disorienting, like a spacetime tunnel, Xu Xiaoshou's vision swam. The next second, he found himself inside Sin One Hall.

Everything he saw had an ancient and aged feel. Unlike the exterior of Sin One Hall, the interior boasted a noble dark gold, exuding a sense of understated luxury that was both simple yet sophisticated, modest yet subtly regal.

Contrary to his expectations, the interior style and furnishings of Sin One Hall were remarkably unique. The place wasn't very large... no, it was actually quite small! To the left of the entrance stood a table, cluttered with dusty wooden figurines. In the center, there was only a small tea table.

The tea table was also small, knee-high, with a small wooden chair on each of its four sides. It felt as if it were meant for children, or perhaps for casual gatherings of the host's friends. The only other feature was a wooden staircase on the right wall, winding upwards and disappearing into a second-floor loft.

"This..." Xu Xiaoshou stared in astonishment.

The minuscule size of Sin One Hall's interior was truly beyond his expectations. He recalled what Xiao Kongtong had mentioned on the way: the Sin One Hall that the Dean had experienced was a vast, dark, enclosed, and eerie labyrinth filled with strange mist. But compared to what he was seeing now...

"Hello?" Xu Xiaoshou instinctively called out softly, but to his surprise, the wooden loft inside Sin One Hall had excellent sound absorption, producing only a faint echo.

What nonsense! How could this be Sin One Hall? It was so small that even a soft call created an echo. This was clearly not Sin One Hall; it was somewhere else entirely!

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly grew tense. His "Perception" showed that Mr. Jiren, Xiao Kongtong, and his junior sister, who had entered Sin One Hall ahead of him, were all gone.

"Random teleportation?" "This is ridiculous, not this again?" Xu Xiaoshou suspected he had been randomly teleported into a small room within Sin One Hall.

His heartbeat subtly quickened, and his palms grew a little sweaty. Xu Xiaoshou instinctively pulled out the Holy Emperor Dragon Scale, finding that it, too, only emitted a faint pulse.

"The danger isn't great..." He put the Holy Emperor Dragon Scale away, turned, and was about to push the door open to leave. If he could enter through the door, surely he could leave through it as well?

He thought this was obvious, but the moment his hand pressed against the ancient wooden door, which bore no resemblance to the interior of Sin One Hall's main entrance...

"Ohm..." An invisible ripple spread from where his palm touched, extending throughout the entire space.

Immediately after. "Thump!" His already rapid heartbeat thumped heavily once and then seemed to hang suspended within his chest. At the same time, everything in the loft seemed to slow down by countless times, almost coming to a complete halt.

After Xu Xiaoshou sharply turned his head, his movements slowed. The terror in his pupils, which had magnified in an instant, also seemed to be delayed and lingered. At this moment, the physical enhancements bestowed by the Dragon Apricot proved their worth. Even with his thoughts delayed, Xu Xiaoshou, possessing excellent eyesight, could still, with the aid of "Perception," clearly discern every detail of the dusty, cluttered wooden carvings on the table to the left of the wooden door, behind him.

What he hadn't noticed during his initial tense glance was a familiar feeling emanating from some of these wooden figurines. Even though their craftsmanship was quite crude, as his gaze swept over the faces of the wooden figurines, Xu Xiaoshou still recognized several extremely familiar visages. It wasn't that the figurines were carved to resemble specific people, but rather that the residual aura on their faces was strikingly similar—almost ninety-nine percent identical—to certain individuals he had met before.

"Oh..." As these delayed thoughts flickered, Xu Xiaoshou instinctively turned his gaze to the tea table. Among the dusty tea table and four small wooden chairs, the main seat, facing the entrance, was surprisingly clean and dust-free! Moreover, there was water in the teapot, emitting faint steam, and one of the teacups had clearly been washed, bearing traces of recent use.

All of this undeniably pointed to one fact...

"Bazun An! Dao Qiongcang! Gou Wuyue! Ai Cangsheng!"

"Nine small wooden figures, four of them with faces... no, auras I recognize. Is there a connection between them?"

Xu Xiaoshou no longer had time to think; a great terror welled up in his heart, and the noise in his ears grew louder and increasingly unbearable. He finally couldn't help but shift his gaze again, searching for the source of the noise. When his gaze settled once more, this time it was on the wooden wall opposite the door.

There, several strange, aged wooden carvings hung. They were all ancient in appearance, but exuded an extraordinary aura. Aside from some background-like decorations, prominently displayed were: on the left, a peculiar-looking, slowly meshing gear; in the center, a wooden clock with its pendulum swinging rhythmically from side to side; and on the far right, a seemingly ethereal, translucent handmade scepter.

What *was* that sound! What *exactly* was that sound! Xu Xiaoshou struggled to identify the nature of these noises, but his mind was entirely consumed by an even more terrifying thought.

"Someone's here!" "This tea table clearly shows signs of someone having lived here!" "And that person left not long ago, because the water in the teapot is still warm... Is it the owner of this place?"

With great difficulty, Xu Xiaoshou's eyes shifted, glancing towards the wooden staircase winding upwards on the far right. At this point, the infinitely magnified noises he had been struggling to distinguish finally became clear.

"Clack, clack, clack..." The sound of gears meshing! "Tick-tock... tick-tock... tick-tock..." The sound of the wooden clock's pendulum swinging! "Hum, hum, hum..." The sound of the wooden scepter repeatedly shifting between solid and ethereal, emitting temporal fluctuations!

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils dilated. A sudden, bent, shadow-like figure falling down the wooden staircase also magnified in the depths of his pupils. He finally realized something.

"Damn it, my thoughts and what my eyes are seeing are no longer on the same channel; my thoughts are more than twice as slow!" "There really *is* someone here!" "If he tries to attack me..."

Xu Xiaoshou could hardly believe how easily he would die if someone were to attack him in his current state, completely devoid of any ability to resist. Yet, even then, he hadn't given up.

"I can do it, I can break free from this predicament, as long as 'Mental Awakening'..." Xu Xiaoshou desperately tried to focus on the information bar, but aside from repeated "Startled" notifications, accompanied by the "clack," "tick-tock," and "hum" of temporal noise in his ears, he couldn't discern any other messages.

"It's not control..." "Not hallucination..." "Nor is it any attack method that would trigger my passive skills..." "This is simply temporal displacement, as if I'm in a normal space, but the timeline my mind operates on and the timeline my vision perceives have been perfectly split into two separate parts." "Or perhaps, to put it another way, my body itself is normal, but due to temporal displacement, my current situation is far from normal. This abnormality is interfering with my normalcy, making everything feel bizarre!" "And against this bizarre phenomenon... I'm powerless!"

The manipulation of such terrifying temporal power drove Xu Xiaoshou to the brink of madness. Yet, his body was already trembling with fear, while the madness in his mind had only just begun to brew, not yet erupting!

"No, don't be afraid. Even in this extreme situation, I won't die." "My Second True Body is hidden within the Yuanfu World. I've already tested it. The functions of this awakened skill include 'Synesthesia' and 'Ability Inheritance'... and 'Synesthesia' partly involves 'Will Transfer'." "Even though it's in the Yuanfu World, it's still half of me. As long as I wish, my main body's will can instantly transfer to it, allowing it to appear here and bear the risk of death instead." "As long as... that thought can manifest in time."

Xu Xiaoshou's consciousness was almost split into two. As one half, concerned with his safety, reached this conclusion, the "tap-tap" of footsteps on the staircase began to descend. The other half of his consciousness, which had been monitoring the commotion, was also stirred, and finally, through the time delay of seeing the human shadow on the staircase, an idea emerged.

"Who... are... you...!" Xu Xiaoshou bellowed, but felt his shout disassemble, each word being spoken extraordinarily slowly.

Simultaneously, the half of his consciousness concerned with his safety continued: "It doesn't matter. Even if the thought of 'Will Transfer' can't manifest under this temporal power, I still won't die." "As long as my Second True Body exists, how can my main body truly die? Even if my main body were utterly destroyed, my thoughts and will would surely revive in the Second True Body!" "After all, this Second True Body used half of my body, spirit, and soul; it *is* me!" "At that time, I could use this ability to split again, creating yet another Second True Body... an endless lineage." "As long as this guy can't instantly kill both me and my Second True Body simultaneously, I won't die instantly, just like Half-Saint Jiang Buyi!"

A crisp step on the staircase shattered all of Xu Xiaoshou's fantasies. The next second, a soft "Eh?" accompanied it.

"Oh, someone's here?" The voice was warm and gentle, instantly soothing the unease and panic in one's heart, as if possessing immense magic, bringing a sense of peace to the mind. After the soft exclamation, quick footsteps continued.

A young man, dressed like a wealthy scholar, descended from the staircase on the second floor of the loft. He had neatly combed, clean black hair, not a single strand out of place. His complexion was as smooth as jade, his eyes sparkled like stars, and his demeanor was elegant, like a spring breeze after rain.

"My apologies, I didn't expect anyone to arrive so quickly. The environment here must have startled you." The young man, dressed as a wealthy scholar, quickly descended the stairs, completely unaffected by the dense temporal power permeating the entire first-floor environment, as if walking in another dimension.

Under Xu Xiaoshou's gaze, which remained shocked and terrified, the young man stopped, raised his right hand, and lightly tapped the air.

"Stop." With that single word.

The meshing gears on the wooden wall ceased their rotation, the pendulum inside the wooden clock froze at its highest point, swung to the left, and the scepter, which had been shifting between solid and ethereal, became stuck in its solid form.

Time stopped!

"Ohm..." The invisible ripple spread again.

Xu Xiaoshou finally felt his body could move. He instinctively lowered the hand he had pressed against the wooden door, clearly feeling the soreness in his muscles... A thought flashed, and he startled himself again.

"It felt like an eternity, but everything that just happened occurred in the single instant my hand touched the wooden door?" All the chaotic thoughts returned at this moment. The jumbled ideas that had sparked after he was "controlled" now burst forth in his mind like fireworks. Xu Xiaoshou took a moment, about a breath, to align all the disjointed realities with his thoughts before his gaze settled on the newcomer's face.

"You..." He had only just begun to speak.

The scholar smiled brightly, as if the entire world had faded, leaving only his warm words to command everything: "I sincerely apologize. I'm accustomed to this environment and hadn't anticipated that the dense temporal power here would impede a visitor, so I preemptively stopped them... I must have frightened you, didn't I?"

Xu Xiaoshou's lips and teeth struggled to close; it felt as though when this scholar opened his mouth, everything in the world, including time itself, had to wait for him to finish speaking. Only then could anyone else interject.

But... as long as there was no malice. The Holy Emperor Dragon Scale truly doesn't lie. Damn it, I was scared to death just now! Who exactly was this person? Oh, right, I'm not controlled anymore, I can ask him directly.

"You..."

"Hello." Seeing that the person before him was still speechless for a moment, the scholar kindly took the initiative to speak, "Greetings, traveler from another world. My name is Kong Yuhen. May I know your name?"

After only a brief moment of rigidity, with a "boom," Xu Xiaoshou's thoughts exploded like thunder in his mind once more, and he found himself unable to utter another word.

Traveler from another world... what did he mean by that? And... Kong Yuhen? Was he Kong Yuhen? The most mysterious of the Ten Honored Ones, the one who completely vanished from the world after the War of the Ten Honored Ones? Was he truly that person? Or was the name just a coincidence? The temporal power here had already negated all coincidences!

"Please speak." Kong Yuhen, dressed as a young scholar, realized he had inadvertently interrupted, and politely extended his hand, awaiting the visitor's self-introduction.

"Gulp." Xu Xiaoshou's Adam's apple bobbed. At this moment, his mind flashed with images of Bazun An, Dao Qiongcang, and other figures who, at their peak, carried the same formidable weight as the name Kong Yuhen. After his conscious mind also registered that this was a Spirit Cultivator with the most unique time attribute, Xu Xiaoshou found himself unable to connect the name, lost to legend, with the young scholar before him who didn't look much older than himself. What he had just faced was like the master of time itself! But now that he had appeared, he was so young and gentle...

Xu Xiaoshou remained silent for a long moment, suppressing all the "whys" along with his tension and fear. He decided to trust the Holy Emperor Dragon Scale's judgment and replied with utmost honesty:

"Hello, my name is Wen Ming."