Chapter 572: Black Ancient Pagoda

Translator: Midasthefloof

Under the azure blue sky was a solidly built black, ancient pagoda, its appearance sudden and strange.

He made his way towards and it paused right in front.

He was searching for a safe space, so the appearance of this black ancient pagoda had truly attracted all of his attention.

Yet he knew that with how distinct it looked, it would very likely garner anyone else's attention and would be found even more quickly.

Circling around, Wu Yu closely inspected the pagoda. Its construction was simple. The only thing of note was that it was pitch black in color. There were no spirit designs or engravings upon it.

Of course, it was obvious that the inside of this pagoda contained a secret. Perhaps the entire mystery regarding the skies and the clouds could be due to the very existence of this black, ancient pagoda.

"Regardless of how many pagodas there might be, your luck must be pretty good to even find one. Others may not even have had the chance to encounter it," Ming Long mused.

Her sentence hardened Wu Yu's resolve.

Quickly, he poked around for an entrance, whereby he found an open door. However, it was too dark inside to see anything.

There was a possibility he would discover the reason behind the myriad of changes encountered here.

"To go in, or not?" To Wu Yu, this was an incredibly delicate decision.

"I might miss an opportunity if I don't. I will still have to look for a location to hide, and I don't even know if such a location exists here. If I leave, someone else might discover this location and reap the benefits instead.

"If I were to enter, it would also be a gamble. I've always been a gambler. Why should I be afraid of the stakes?" Wu Yu smiled as he made his decision.

He took his chances and dashed closer.

Before he entered the pagoda, he had already inspected the location and made some preparations.

There was nothing on the exterior of the pagoda, which was hidden beneath the cloud layers. When it came to the area jutting out of the clouds, the tip was not a traditional spire, but was flat. It looked like a small stage. On it was an ancient-looking sundial made of stone.

Wu Yu was very familiar with these sundials. This was a common item utilised by mortals to tell the time. This particular sundial consisted of a copper pointer and a stone disc. The pointer was usually placed vertically in the midst of the disc, and it was placed atop the stone platform.

The stone disc itself was divided into 12 segments, with another segment identifying day and night.

Mortals would use these sundials often.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Ming Long had mentioned that time was inconsistent here, yet the black pagoda's top had a sundial affixed onto it. This made absolutely no sense. It was likely that the pagoda had something to do with time warping!

"Do you see anything special about the shadow casted by the needle of the sundial?" It was through the location of the shadow on the sundial that mortals could identify the passage of time as the sun shifted across the horizon.

Wu Yu with his Eyes of Fire and Gold could even see the minute changes in the shadows projected by the sun.

Since Ming Long had brought it up, he paid even closer attention.

"It seems that the shadows moving amidst the sundial have nothing to do with the sun." It was true that the sun did not move and was always found in the center of the sky. Normally, the sundial's pointer would have the smallest shadow, but the shadow that was being projected did not correlate with expectations. The shadow on the sundial was clearly unrelated to the sun.

"That is the first point." Wu Yu peered closer and yet couldn't understand.

Ming Long finally answered arrogantly, "Hmph. The sundial's movements seem to move twice as quickly as compared to the expected flow of time." The confused Wu Yu was shocked. Now that this had been pointed out, he too noticed that anomaly.

Frankly speaking, the movements of the shadow were slow, and Wu Yu only noticed the movement and not the intervals.

"So... what does that mean?" Wu Yu asked.

Ming Long rolled her eyes. "How would I know? Haven't you decided to go in? Go in and take a look then!" Wu Yu no longer wished to tarry around the sundial. It was clear that before long, everyone would know that he had stolen the ancient crystals from the Yan Huang Ancient Country and he would bear the brunt of everyone's hunt.

Before that happened, he had to at least gain some methods to defend himself.

Perhaps this black, ancient pagoda might be the break he needed.

Thinking till this point, he grasped the Taigu Immortal Talisman in one hand and entered through the door of the pagoda whilst steeling himself.

After stepping through the door, the originally dark world had suddenly been illuminated.

The pagoda wasn't large, the door wasn't large, but what was truly mind-boggling was the fact that the area inside was immeasurably vast.

The space in front of him had a round diameter, approximately 50 km wide. Although he could see walls enclosing the area, such a wide space could allow for several people to battle within.

When looking from the outside, even the widest part of the pagoda was only half a kilometer, nowhere close to this size.

"I can't comment on the flow of time, but space has definitely been warped here. The basis behind the Sumeru Pouches' Na Word Array can be seen here." Wu Yu quickly observed.

The ground was flat and inky dark. There were numerous strange patterns engraved upon it. At the moment, there didn't seem to be any disturbances or strange occurrences happening. He could not determine if there was a spirit design present.

The surrounding walls were the same. There were numerous dark engravings. They looked like the waves one would see at the beach, one after another, intertwined and interconnected. Wu Yu, with his current cultivation level, was completely unable to tell if that too was a spirit design or just some beautiful engravings.

The weirdest thing was the sky. When he raised his head, he saw a blue sky and white clouds, and at the same time, the scorching hot sun.

It was as though the pagoda never existed.

The radiance of the sun bathed his body, and he could feel the gentle embrace of heat. This was something he did not feel outside.

"This is the inside? There's nothing at all?" At this point, Wu Yu could feel that the space behind him had changed. It seemed that at some point, the door which he entered through had magically vanished.

He was trapped.

Although there was a sky above him, it was obvious that he could not escape through it. Perhaps the spirit designs governing this place had already been activated.

He clutched onto his Taigu Immortal Talisman even tighter, scrutinizing the surroundings even more closely than before.

The pagoda didn't betray his expectations and quickly kicked off the party.

Just as the doors vanished, the wall opposite him began to transform. It had the semblance of a cold, human face. A mechanical voice proclaimed, "Number 93. Ancient Pagoda of Time. Flow of time, twice as fast. Conditions: defeat the guardian and you can remain here for 10 days. 10 days later, a challenger may arise. If you are victorious, you may stay for another 10 days. Otherwise, removal. If no one challenges you, you will stand battle with the guardian again." The voice and face were clearly pre-recorded via some means. It sounded extremely ancient whilst speaking with a different tone.

However, this piece of news was extremely important.

"Number 93. Ancient Pagoda of Time? Twice as quick time flow? There are conditions?" It was obvious that this was known as the Ancient Pagoda of Time.

Whoever picked the name and sculpted it was still an enigma.

Based upon his previous observations, he could feel that the voice was speaking the truth and that time was passing twice as fast in this location! This was to say that when 10 days passed outside, he would have had 20 days of time.

He just didn't know if he could stay in here for 10 days of accelerated time, or 10 days of normal time.

"Conditions? Defeating the guardian? Where is this guardian?" Ming Long glanced around furtively. There didn't seem to be anything.

Whilst he tried to make sense of all the words, the face had already vanished.

"This entire location seems to be abandoned. Yet the spirit designs continue to operate and this Ancient Pagoda of Time continues to chug along. I believe I'm the first one who has entered the Ancient Pagoda of Time since eons ago and thus only have to defeat the guardian to stay for 10 days worth of time. I'm also sure that after 10 days, the previously closed door will open, and if anyone enters, I will have to fight with them. Only by maintaining a victory streak will I be able to remain, lest I be replaced. If no one enters, I will then have to fight the guardian. Just once every 10 days!" Although the explanations were previously concise, Wu Yu got the gist of it.

"If I could continuously stay within the Ancient Pagoda of Time, that would truly be heaven-defying. This way I may not have an increase in lifespan, but I would be able to enjoy twice as much time to use! If I were to cultivate for 20 years here, others would only have 10 years of cultivation in the same time period!" It was a pity that remaining here would not be easy as one had to both fight off challengers and the guardian.

Wu Yu didn't even know how strong the guardian was.

Luckily, he didn't have to wait for long, as the guardian would likely appear soon.

At this point, the ground suddenly shone and a spirit design that was approximately 10 zhang large appeared. This spirit design was matchlessly complex and emitted a lustrous light. From its midst, a person's shadow could vaguely be made out. When the spirit design disappeared, a person one zhang tall appeared in front of Wu Yu.

But this was not a human. It was a silver-colored metal puppet. Its entire body was constructed from precious metals and materials that were of the primordial chaos treasure level.

If one did not look closely, it would look as though the body had no spirit designs on it. However, the truth of the matter was that all of the designs were hidden inside the body. With Wu Yu's Eyes of Fire and Gold, he could see that there were tens of thousands of spirit designs secreted within. Without a question, this was the most impressive-looking puppet that he had seen.

The spirit designs upon him were ones that Wu Yu had never encountered before.

The strongest mechanism spirit designer he had met was the Grand Architect Sword Sage. However, he would definitely not possess the skill to craft such an ancient and icy puppet.

At this point, the eyes of the puppet opened. The tens of thousands of spirit designs activated simultaneously. It was like an extremely feral and ferocious creature was staring at Wu Yu.

"How mighty!" Wu Yu could feel that this would be an extraordinarily difficult battle...

The truth was that he had already entered. He had never imagined showing himself out quickly. At the very least, he would get his 10 days and safely refine his Unbeatable Dragon King Buddha Body.