Chapter 1875: Imprisonment

Are the Ancestors of Time, Fame, and Nuo truly beyond reach?

Not necessarily.

Ancestor Time is one of the three, one of the Ten Ancestors, and naturally, also one of the Ten Throne Holders.

The Demon Ancestor knows about the Wheel of Destiny and Ancestor Time's condition, yet still dares to scheme something so grand, which proves he has a certain level of confidence in dealing with Ancestor Time, Kong Yuhen, and the like.

Even if the latter were to suddenly revert to their ancestral form and unleash their full power from their prime within a short time.

Ba Zun'an's greatest opponents right now are both Hua Changdeng and the three Ancestors—including the Demon Ancestor—who are eyeing him covetously from outside the Time Realm Rift.

One against three?

Although his current realm doesn't seem comparable to that of many Ancestral Gods, what if Ba Zun'an unlocks profound mysteries with his sword and successfully achieves the status of a God-Sealer or Ancestor?

Judging by his direct combat strength, he might not necessarily be inferior to Time, Fame, or Demon, and could even contend with the Lunatic Nuo.

Xu Xiaoshou chose to believe in Ba Zun'an!

Having come this far, he realized the Ten Throne Holders still held significant value.

All the Ancestral Gods of the Heavens are in decline, yet figures like Ba Zun'an, Kui Leihan, and Shen Yi can still hold their heads high and face challenges head-on.

"What do I have to fear?"

The third door was right before him.

To turn around and leave like this would be too demeaning.

And if he thought about it later, he would surely regret it so much he would beat his chest.

Even if there were influences from Ancestors Time and Nuo within, so much time had passed; could the residual influence and guiding power of the two Ancestors still control him?

And if his self-will was so unstable and easily influenced, why would Ancestor Time have chosen him to reverse the fate set by Ancestor Fame?

Furthermore, all of the above were conjectures based on the worst-case scenario.

The situation itself, however, did not seem to have become so extreme.

"Putting other things aside, if Ancestors Time and Nuo wanted to manipulate me,"

"In the world behind the first door, why would Ancestor Time have given me the Source of Time and Space, allowing me to know all this in advance?"

Standing in a world of chaos, Xu Xiaoshou's thoughts became increasingly clear.

In a daze, he again heard the encouragement of the three people in the Ancient and Modern Forget-Worry Pavilion when he decided to comprehend the Dao.

"You can do it."

Mr. Si Ren's simple encouragement.

"Don't worry, I'm watching."

Ba Zun'an's calm demeanor from beginning to end.

"Face time."

Kong Yuhen's words, ambiguous at the time, now seemed to carry a hint of deeper meaning.

Face...

Xu Xiaoshou murmured silently, looking up at the door not far away.

Finally, he stepped forward, reached out, and pushed, calmly stepping into the world behind the door.

The more Ancestral Gods he encountered, the more composed he became in the face of change.

At this moment, he no longer saw himself as being in a low position, but instead began to frequently think about problems from an equal height, even developing the same calm demeanor that Ancestral Gods of the Heavens would have when planning everything.

"Since you're here, be at ease."

There is no Dao that can be achieved overnight; everything is forged through arduous experience.

"Buzz!"

The dizzying, uncomfortable sensation gradually disappeared, and his vision slowly returned; it was a very familiar process.

Xu Xiaoshou calmed himself and waited quietly.

Before long, he saw a dazzling, kaleidoscopic scene before him, vaguely interwoven with white smoke, black mist, and a gray aura, unable to discern if it was mountains, sea, or any other kind of terrain.

Perhaps there wasn't even a concept of "earth" or "sky"; was this a primeval world that couldn't even be called chaos?

"Whoosh!"

He heard the gurgling sound of water from behind him.

It was very familiar; Xu Xiaoshou knew immediately upon hearing it that it was the sound of the River of Time.

He had come because of time, and his difficulties must also be resolved by time.

"If I turn around, I can get the answer!"

His heart resolute, Xu Xiaoshou tried to turn around, but it was incredibly difficult.

Every part of his body, every muscle, from outside to inside, including his soul and will, seemed to be firmly bound by some force, fixed in place.

He could only face away from the River of Time.

He was utterly unable to turn around.

"Let me turn around!"

He roared with all his might internally.

Usually, when he was like this, his will would begin to distort the scene, and everything would yield to his wishes.

At least, the previous two times he found himself in the white smoke scene and the great tribulation scene, he had always been able to do so.

This time, Xu Xiaoshou was powerless to change the situation.

He tried with all his might but was utterly unable to turn his body or even his head slightly.

"Whoosh!"

The gurgling water seemed to be right behind him, raising huge waves that threatened to swallow him.

Or it seemed to be thousands of miles away, pouring down from above the Milky Way, and would soon inundate and destroy everything.

Unknown, tense, anxious…

Because he couldn't see, countless fantasies arose in Xu Xiaoshou's mind.

The more urgent the sound of the River of Time became, the less he could remain calm. Finally, he gritted his teeth, his entire body tensed with veins bulging, yet he still couldn't turn around.

"Go back!"

"I want to go back!"

The world behind the third door was too bizarre; perhaps this was the method of Ancestors Nuo and Time.

Xu Xiaoshou immediately wanted to retreat, but he couldn't even do that. He was eternally trapped in the world behind the door, forever facing away from time.

"Face time!"

In his mind, Kong Yuhen's voice appeared.

Not until this moment did Xu Xiaoshou understand what that sentence truly meant.

"Let me go back..."

He tried with all his might but was still powerless to change the situation.

Suddenly, he recalled the world behind the first door.

There too was the gurgling sound of water, and the River of Time was unseen. Ancestor Time, Kong Yuhen, had faced away from him from beginning to end, seeming to want to turn back at certain moments, but he didn't.

Did he not want to turn around, or was he unable to?

Was Ancestor Time also trapped?

"Hoo!"

Xu Xiaoshou took a deep breath and quietly chuckled.

He began to use subtle strength to resist, trying to slowly wear down the resistance and make himself slightly turn his body to see the River of Time behind him.

An hour passed, and he hadn't moved.

Two hours passed, and he still hadn't moved.

Just like that, he was trapped here for a day. Xu Xiaoshou felt parched, and he hadn't moved at all the entire time.

"Damn it!"

Xu Xiaoshou's composure was slightly unsettled.

Soon, he calmed down again; it was just imprisonment.

In the world behind the first door, Ancestor Time, Kong Yuhen, had slightly tilted his head, which proved that as long as he persevered, he could turn around.

It's just that…

"It will take time!"

Xu Xiaoshou had no idea how long this would take.

He was anxious about Ba Zun'an in the Ancient and Modern Forget-Worry Pavilion, who might have to wait for him for a while, and also anxious about the situation on the Holy Divine Continent. Would the three Ancestors have already succeeded by the time he got out?

"Haste makes waste."

Xu Xiaoshou consoled himself, let go of everything external, and devoted himself entirely to "turning around."

A day passed…

Two days passed…

A week passed…

A month passed…

"Damn it!"

Xu Xiaoshou lost control again.

His eyes were bloodshot, yet he still couldn't complete the turn. He couldn't even twitch a muscle; this was too tormenting.

"Hua Changdeng…"

"Demon Ancestor, Medicine Ancestor, Cui Yin…"

One snarling demon after another turned into towering mountains, weighing heavily on his shoulders.

Behind him, the gurgling sound of water persisted, but he couldn't see what it actually was. Was it truly the River of Time?

Perhaps it was ghosts.

Perhaps ghosts were riding on his neck.

Perhaps they, or the Ancestors, had a firm grip on him from behind, and didn't want him to go back.

"Hoo!"

Xu Xiaoshou took another deep breath and immediately closed his eyes.

His consciousness seemed to retreat to himself on his sickbed in his previous life, and he chuckled again.

"At least, I can endure for three years."

Three years passed…

Five years passed…

Ten years passed…

Just when Xu Xiaoshou felt he had let go, his spirit suddenly erupted, and the long-suppressed anxiety poured out like water bursting through a dam, gushing out all at once.

He realized he had never truly let go.

"Don't let me find out who it is, or I will surely kill them!"

Xu Xiaoshou roared hoarsely, and after that one sentence, he then let out a somewhat morbid chuckle.

Perhaps he could no longer go back.

He did not give up, still slowly attempting to turn around, but he was no longer limited to just trying to turn.

Listening to the gurgling sound of water behind him, he began to practice his renowned sword technique in his mind. Time waited for no one; he had to cultivate the Dao.

Only when the Dao was achieved might he be able to break this situation!

"Supreme Name like Water..."

Water benefits all things without contention; only by not contending can it be free from blame.

Going with the flow, adapting to the circumstances, might be the only thing he could do in his current situation.

In this predicament, he began to cultivate Name and Sword.

He listened to the sound of the water, hearing waves, floods, and tides, and heard the surging within his own heart.

A hundred years passed.

The water of the River of Time behind him seemed to have passed its flood season, returning to the gentle tinkling of a spring; it was a river, a stream, his own tranquility.

Two hundred years passed.

Xu Xiaoshou felt he had completed the cultivation of Supreme Name, and there was nothing more to cultivate.

His attention returned to "turning around." At this moment, although he had been persistent, his body hadn't moved an inch.

"I will get lost…"

When he realized he would, like Ancestor Time and Kong Yuhen, get lost in the predicament of facing away from the River of Time.

At one instant, he didn't know if it was an illusion or if his persistence had paid off, but Xu Xiaoshou felt his eyelid twitch.

"It moved?!"

He was overjoyed, then regained his calm.

The first movement in over two hundred years—even if it was real—meant the outside world must have changed dramatically, with the situation greatly altered.

After all, his past self had only been active for a year or two.

Ba Zun'an's journey from glory to decline, and then to his impending sacrifice, had only taken three to five decades.

For an Ancestral God, the variables possible in two hundred years were far too many!

"Non-action."

"Yet nothing is left undone."

Xu Xiaoshou stopped himself from overthinking.

He continued to cultivate the Dao, listening to the sound of water beginning to surge behind him again, and with a light chuckle, sealed away his past self.

He would not get lost.

He remained firm in his self-will.

If this was a predicament, a scheme orchestrated by Ancestors Time and Nuo, then going with the flow was the only way to break free.

He would temper himself here, temper his will, until one day, he would either turn around or achieve the status of a God-Sealer or Ancestor, defeating the unseen enemy and also himself.

By then, he might have forgotten his past, forgotten his present, and forgotten himself, but as long as the sealed memories opened, he believed he would still remember his "purpose" at the time:

He wanted to get out.

He wanted to leave the Ancient and Modern Forget-Worry Pavilion.

He wanted to go back to find Ba Zun'an and lend him a hand, even if it meant traversing back through the River of Time.

"Justice might be late, but I, Xu Xiaoshou, will not be late."

"No one can twist my will—not sickness, not imprisonment, and neither can Ancestral Gods."

Fortunately, his Will-Dao Dial had already surpassed Daoization.

Xu Xiaoshou sealed away his past self, for fear of truly getting lost.

He listened to the sound of the River of Time again, fell into silence, and began to contemplate the Dao, contemplate Name, and then contemplate "Self."

"Clarify my self…"

A thousand years passed.

In fact, Xu Xiaoshou no longer remembered the time, and was too lazy to calculate.

But he suddenly detached himself from "Self" because he moved again. He could feel it: his seemingly non-existent body—his finger—moved.

"My will can now break through the invisible shackles to touch my soul, my flesh."

"Even though this world severed the connection between myself and my physical being, separating body, spirit, and will, and was constructed by the power of Ancestral Gods, I can now slightly see through it. Success is within reach."

"I have become stronger…"

The twitching of his fingertip did not bring joy.

Xu Xiaoshou had almost forgotten why he was here, why he had come, and whether he even wanted to get out.

The only things he persisted in without questioning the reason were two:

One, to turn around and face time.

Two, to cultivate his will, using this predicament to temper himself by going with the flow.

"Whoosh!"

The gurgling sound of the River of Time brushed past his ears.

Ten thousand years? Thirty thousand years? He didn't know how many tens of thousands of years had passed.

He had moved several more times in between, and the parts of his self he could consciously control had progressed from his eyelids, to his fingers, to his heartbeat, and finally to feeling the existence of his neck…

Xu Xiaoshou finally turned his head sideways.

He had forgotten why he wanted to turn around or turn his head.

But when he completed this action and his gaze followed, it was as if he were seeing the River of Time for the first time, utterly overwhelmed by its grandeur.

"Rumble!"

A silver waterfall poured down from above the mists of the nine heavens, carrying countless planes, countless civilizations, countless histories, rolling away into the unknown distance.

Light and shadow shifted, scenes flickered; contemplating time made him feel empty, gazing at the long river made him feel insignificant. It was dazzling and caused one to lose oneself.

"I…"

Xu Xiaoshou murmured silently.

His body was still young, but his will was ancient.

He just stared blankly at the River of Time, adapting to his own state of mind, and got lost for countless tens of thousands of years.

"Thump!"

At a certain moment, his heart suddenly twitched.

It was as if the past had awakened the future; he had awakened himself.

Xu Xiaoshou blinked sharply, pulled his consciousness back from the River of Time. Unconsciously, he had completely regained control of his body and had also obtained his body.

He twisted with force, and his entire body turned around.

"Face time!"

When he was directly facing the River of Time, for some unknown reason, that voice resonated in his mind.

It was as if it were his self from countless years ago, or his self from countless cycles of reincarnation ago, warning himself.

"What did I forget…"

Xu Xiaoshou frowned in deep thought.

He vaguely remembered that at this moment, there was something important to do.

But he couldn't remember it at all. After tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years of muddle-headedness, he had long been immersed in cultivating Self, Name, and Will, and was lost within them.

Until…

"Oh! You're awake?"

Until a hoarse voice came from afar.

The voice was layered, as if ten thousand people were speaking at once, causing goosebumps to prickle slightly.

Xu Xiaoshou was abruptly startled awake.

He remembered this voice; a very long time ago, he had heard this person speak at night.

"Nuo…"

"Yes! Lunatic Nuo!"

"Fame, Time, Nuo, the Ten Ancestors, the Ten Throne Holders... Yes, I am trapped, I am in the world behind the door, I must get out!"

He finally remembered what he had to do.

He unlocked the memory he had actively sealed away countless years ago, for fear of getting lost.

"Heavenly Sang Spirit Palace, East Heavenly King City, Yujing City, Void Island, Four Symbols Secret Realm, God's Relic…"

All sorts of scenes came flooding in.

"Elder Sang, Junior Sister, Yu Zhiwen, Ba Zun'an, Kong Yuhen…"

All sorts of figures gracefully appeared.

It all came back!

He remembered everything!

The anger and desire for revenge that had been suppressed long ago also ignited. Xu Xiaoshou glared at the River of Time, at the culprit who had trapped him…

The anger, however, lasted only a moment.

The anger stemmed from a portion of his emotions that had been sealed away when he sealed his memories.

But now, after tens of thousands of years of chaos, in the face of time, Xu Xiaoshou had long since let go and no longer felt any anger.

Time, like water, smoothed everything over.

He merely frowned, then his brows relaxed, and he calmly looked ahead, at the River of Time.

The River of Time poured down from the mists beyond the sky, flowed towards an unknown future, separating illusion from reality.

Nuo Ancestor's voice did not come from within it.

Xu Xiaoshou was on this side of the river; the voice came from the opposite bank.

Gazing like this, he couldn't see anything clearly… With a flicker of intent, Xu Xiaoshou effortlessly pierced through the River of Time, projecting his will to the opposite bank.

"Sizzle!"

Sparks flew with sizzling sounds.

A withered galaxy, endless night, decaying forests, barren land—all came into view.

Before the sole flickering campfire in the gloom, a tall figure clad in Nuo robes and wearing a Nuo mask was casually straddling a large rock, holding a large skewer of meat, as big as a roasted lamb leg, sizzling and dripping oil over the campfire.

He didn't even lift his head, still looking down, staring at the campfire's light, staring at the roasted lamb leg in his hand. After a long pause, he finally clicked his tongue and said:

"I have been waiting for you for a full ten eons."