Chapter 4034: Album Of Time

The droplet creature waited quietly. Jiang Feng finally arrived, his sword raised up high before releasing multiple slashes.

The creature’s antennae twitched, and everything was repelled.

Whoosh.

The golden meteorite brushed past the Immortal. Jiang Feng opened his eyes. There was a wisp of blue that trailed from the edge of his sword.

Behind him, the immortal bug glanced down at its body. A gash had opened up along its side.

How was that even possible?

Shan Xiao saw the wound and froze.

How is that possible?

Luo Chan also saw the wound, as did many of the human experts.

Everyone knew that Jiang Feng was very powerful. He had transformed after breaking free from the seal that Master Qing Cao had placed on him, to the point where he had even blocked an attack from Master Qing Cao at the Immemorial Citadel. Still, injuring an Immortal defied all belief.

Ancient God understood better than anyone just how terrifying Immortals were. All of his own strength had been nothing more than a joke in the face of an Immortal’s repelling force. Ancient God was unable to even touch an Immortal.

And yet Jiang Feng had actually just wounded an Immortal.

How had he done it?

Jiang Feng smiled, spat out more blood, and turned to look back. So what if he was up against an Immortal? He still had ways to hurt his enemy.

Master Qing Cao had sealed away everything from Jiang Feng. His senses, his strength, even his very awareness. Through darkness, he rediscovered himself and grasped the rhythm of the cosmos. Everything beneath the stars possessed life.

You may divide, but I can make whole again. Even Immortals are not absolutely invincible.

The battlefield fell silent.

The droplet creature turned to face Jiang Feng. The Immortal’s eyes were no longer cold, and it instead held both admiration and a tacit recognition. “Human, what is your name?”

For the first time, it showed interest in a human’s name. Even when Jiang Feng had blocked an attack and the Immortal had decided to recruit the man, it had not asked for his name.

Jiang Feng stared at it. “How badly did that attack damage you?”

The creature smiled. “I admire that a creature that has not yet become an Immortal can injure me. However, you are going to be disappointed to learn that you caused almost no damage to me.”

Jiang Feng let out a breath, but showed no surprise. “That is already my limit.”

“This is also the limit of your life. Human, tell me your name and your decision. I can change your destiny,” the creature stated. After a moment, it added, “I am the Nest civilization’s Immortal Lord. I can decide everything for my civilization. If you join us, you will stand beneath me alone, and your human civilization will be allowed to continue on.”

Jiang Feng gave a wry smile. “Continue? You think too highly of me. If I join you, will you spare this megaverse?”

The creature did not hesitate even a moment before refusing. “No.”

“Why must you destroy the Tianyuan?”

“Because of the cosmos’s law of survival.”

“Who made that law?”

“The Laws are simply the Laws. Darkness, light, pain, and survival are all manifestations of the Laws, needing no creator. Only by abiding by them can one continue to exist. This is the struggle between civilizations.”

“Then why do you say that you will allow my civilization to continue?”

“So long as you live, your civilization continues. You can have descendants.”

Jiang Feng sighed. “I’m sorry, but I like a lively crowd. Also, my name is Jiang Feng.”

The droplet creature stared at the man. “I see. That’s a pity. There are humans among the Verdant Sages. You are one of the few outsiders I have ever wanted to recruit. Unfortunately, you need to be exterminated.”

With that, the river of droplets split again and again, spreading out in all directions. Endless streams of water surrounded Jiang Feng to attack him.

His eyes narrowed.

Is this the end? Then take one more of my swords.

Lightning raged across his body as he lunged at the creature. The droplet creature regretfully muttered, “Your brilliance is finished.”

The streams surged towards the man from every side. Jiang Feng’s eyes grew increasingly focused as he charged forward.

In the Aevum Inch, Lu Yin clenched a fist. Uncle Jiang had done everything he already could. Not even Lu Yin had wounded an Immortal before. Still, the gap between the two was far too great. There was also nothing that Lu Yin could do from his current location. The karmic wall had been shattered, and he needed time to form another one. Even then, it would not be able to block the attacks aimed at Jiang Feng.

Uncle Jiang, if only you were an Immortal

.

The surging waters overshadowed the golden glow.

Shan Xiao slowly smiled. Finally, it was all over. That human was too terrifyingly strong.

Still, before reaching the Immortal realm, all were mere ants.

Lu Yuan and the others wanted to save Jiang Feng, but they were unable to even get close.

Countless people raged in grief. This was the first time that an Immortal had openly demonstrated their dreadful power in the Tianyuan for all to see, and it brought many people to despair.

Beneath the flood, the golden glow vanished.

The droplet creature watched calmly.

Hm? Not dead yet?

Its antennae twitched, and the streams shifted like countless blades. Suddenly, the streams split apart, and another stream burst forward, carrying a small boat as it flowed. Jiang Feng lay on that boat.

That stream was the River of Aeons.

“The River of Aeons?” The Immortal was startled by the sight, but Lu Yuan and the others were overjoyed. The River of Aeons!

The River of Aeons smashed through the torrents to carry Jiang Feng away. Atop the flowing river, from within the little boat, Zhao Ran stared at the Immortal with a grave expression.

Jiang Feng coughed a few times. “Thank you.”

In the Mirari Realm, Wei Nu stood on the edge of the River of Aeons with an extremely grim expression on her face.

In the end, Zhao Ran had intervened in the war. Wei Nu had wanted to stop her, but Zhao Ran was currently the ferryman of the River of Aeons, and she could not be stopped.

Damn it! She’s still thinking about those people.

What use was it? Against an Immortal, even a ferryman of the River of Aeons would die. An Immortal surpassed all that Wei Nu could imagine.

The droplet creature directed a cold stare at Zhao Ran. “A ferryman of the River of Aeons? You are courting death.”

Zhao Ran’s expression remained calm. She dipped her oar to guide the River of Aeons away from the creature.

“Hold it off for as long as possible. Lu Yin is on his way,” Zhao Ran’s voice reached Jiang Feng’s ears.

The man instantly brightened. “How long?”

“I don’t know. I only caught a glimpse of him in a time still, but I couldn’t determine where he was.”

“Eh, this will be difficult. It looks like that thing is already quite irritated.”

“Do your best,” Zhao Ran ordered. She then maneuvered the River of Aeons in a circle around the creature, taunting it by neither fleeing nor attacking.

A ferryman might not be capable of launching any intimidating attacks, but when it came to mastery over the power of time, they were unique.

The Great Master’s mastery of time did not fall behind even a creature like Unbroken Time, and Zhao Ran also had her own methods of using time.

The River of Aeons collided with the river of droplets. The universe shattered in multiple layers, leaving both the humans and insects feeling dizzy.

They all felt as if the universe had just been completely scattered.

However, it was not the universe that had fractured, but rather time.

“An album of time. I can divide each moment into its smallest frame, slice it apart, invert it, and set it adrift, so that it struggles to find us. With luck, that should buy us a little more time,” Zhao Ran said.

From his position in the small boat, Jiang Feng watched as the scenery around him changed. There was no continuity to what he saw. It was as though he was in one place one instant, a distant location the next, and then back in his original position again.

He was unable to clearly determine even his own position.

An album of time? An impressive technique.

In the droplet creature’s perspective, no matter how much time and space shifted, it was always able to see clearly. But at this moment, its perception of reality was the same as Jiang Feng’s. This was not because Zhao Ran’s mastery of time surpassed the Immortal’s, but rather that, with the River of Aeons, Zhao Ran was the master of the megaverse’s time, which gave her a natural advantage.

In the distance, Shan Xiao warily watched everything. Even this megaverse’s ferryman of the River of Aeons had emerged to join the war.

How did this battle matter to her? Whether the megaverse was destroyed or reset, the River of Aeons would not be affected. Time would always continue to exist, and new creatures would appear in the ages to come. In some ways, the destruction of the megaverse might even benefit the ferryman, as she would at least be able to witness a megaverse’s reset.

So why was she intervening?

Shan Xiao looked over at the insect Immortal. Their master had only recently broken through to the Immortal realm and had not cultivated at that level for very long. In the face of the pressure of a ferryman of the River of Aeons, the droplet creature might struggle.

If it were a true master, a ferryman would not even qualify to take action against the Immortal.

Luo Chan appeared beside the droplet creature. “Master, I will lead you out of this broken time.”

The creature replied in a cold voice, “There’s no need. It’s laughable that a mere ferryman of the River of Aeons believes that they can trap me.”

With that, the streams stopped moving and turned back into countless droplets. They shot out in every direction, penetrating the pieces of the album of time before reappearing in countless locations.

The creature was surprised. This was not an attack, nor was it a defensive technique. It was merely a shifting of time. All that had been altered was time itself.

It was no wonder the ferryman was confident that she could stall the Immortal.

If a defensive technique had been used, it would never be able to endure an attack from an Immortal.

This was a clever way to take a step back in order to continue forward, but it was too naive to expect it to stall an Immortal.

As far as the droplet creature was concerned, neither Jiang Feng nor Zhao Ran were a problem by themselves, but increasing its karmic chain by eliminating them was a problem.

Every creature the Immortal struck, its karmic chain would increase. Some were not worth paying such a price for, though there were others for whom it had no choice but to accept such a cost.

Zhao Ran was clearly one who was worth the cost to eliminate.

Unless Zhao Ran was eliminated, Jiang Feng could not be dealt with. The war would then simply drag on without end, and reinforcements from the other human megaverse would eventually arrive.

While the Nest civilization did want to lure the other human megaverse to send out aid, the premise was that they would deal with this megaverse and obtain the Primordial card. Being delayed had never been part of the plan.

In the Aevum Inch, Lu Yin’s eyes flared with excitement.

Zhao Ran has intervened. Excellent!

A ferryman of the River of Aeons might not be particularly strong, but no one would dare to underestimate their ability to direct the River of Aeons.

Back when the High Seraph had slaughtered the Tianyuan’s elites, Zhao Ran’s awakening was what had guided the branch of the River of Aeons back into the main stream, reverting time as a consequence.

Even a peak Dukkhan like the High Seraph had been unable to stop it.

While the Immortal bug was certainly more powerful than the High Seraph, Zhao Ran was only trying to buy a bit of time, not defeat the bug.

Delay, she just had to delay for a bit. It would not be long. Lu Yin only needed four more days to arrive.

The droplet creature was surrounded by fragments of time. Luo Chan wanted to take the droplet creature away, as Luo Chan could ignore any sort of distance, but it did not know where it would emerge in the album of time. The only option would be to carry the Immortal completely outside of the Tianyuan Megaverse, but an Immortal’s dignity would never allow it to retreat. Retreat meant admitting defeat.

How could the droplet creature lose to beings beneath the Immortal realm?

In the blink of an eye, a day had passed, and the droplet creature still had not moved.

Zhao Ran released a breath. Hopefully, she could delay the creature for a bit longer.

However, Jiang Feng was growing uneasy. Could it really be that easy to deal with an Immortal?