Chapter 1480: Figment of Time

Rumble rumble rumble!

The surging, winding twisting waves of trees froze for an instant. Then, the forest starting from the point directly below the Ghost Dragon Boat were cleaved in half. They exploded into pieces as soon as they made contact with the forest floor.

This was just the beginning. The rumbling grew louder, the forest fell faster, and the collapse spread out in every direction.

Five hundred meters, five kilometers, fifty kilometers... Wherever they looked, trees fell. Wherever they sensed, limbs and trunks broke into pieces.

In just an instant, not a single tree was left standing within a radius of fifty kilometers. There were only a floor of limbs and bones.

After chopping down an entire forest of trees, Old Man Profound Firmament raised his palm high and straightened his curled thumb and index finger. Then, he slowly rotated all five of his fingers.

The floor of broken limbs and bones shuddered slightly. There was no sound, but it felt like a thunderclap.

Pop!

When he finally clenched his fingers, there was a soft pop that exceeded thunder. At the same time, every broken limb and bone disintegrated into powder at the same time.

“The Sky Opening Axe and the Powderizing Hand?” Feng Qingyou seemed rather astonished. “I’ve heard that you are a master of ten thousand martial arts and Magia. It looks like the rumors are true after all.”

The two Magia Old Man Profound Firmament just used were ancient and powerful ultimate arts that had been lost to time a long time ago. But not only did the Sage know it, he was clearly a master at both of them. Feng Qingyou could tell from the fact that the essence of the Magia were sublime, and the artistic conception was profound.

“Hahaha... you really are quite knowledgeable, Miss Feng.” Old Man Profound Firmament smiled proudly while stroking his beard.

Ye Qing and Danxia Zi weren’t talking though. They were busy observing the forest below.

“Something’s off with the lights.” Ye Qing stared at the colorful, beautiful lights permeating the entire forest thoughtfully.

Old Man Profound Firmament’s Sky Opening Axe and Powderizing Hand were powerful to say the least. Not even the trees could withstand them, much less these lights.

If they were normal lights, they would have been dispelled a long time ago.

And yet, the light remained even though the trees had been powderized. Fantastical and dreamy, they continued to occupy the space above the forest like nothing had happened. It truly was strange.

“Look down there...” A dozen or so breaths later, Danxia Zi pointed downward.

The light on the ground was flowing, converging, transforming. Countless streams of light merged into one body and became even more beautiful and fantastical than before. At the same time, all sorts of phantasms sprung into existence.

For a time, the forest floor shone like a divine kingdom or a celestial realm. It looked so beautiful that even worldly people like them were captivated and entranced in the light show.

A long, long time later, the beautiful scene, profound lights and colorful phantasms finally faded. Then, they realized that the destroyed forest had returned to reality.

“How did these trees pop up?” Danxia Zi asked with a frown.

He wasn’t the only one who was confused. Everyone else was confused as well.

The trees had appeared inexplicably and suddenly. They had neither grown out of the ground nor regenerated back to life. They were definitely not an illusion either. It looked more like the previous forest was... recreated?

The reason they thought this was because this new forest looked exactly identical to the one Old Man Profound Firmament had destroyed earlier. The type and location of each tree, the range of the forest, and the number of the trees, they were all exactly identical.

The next moment, the trees started running, and the arm branches started spreading. They began attacking the group once more.

Even their offense looked exactly identical from before.

“Elder Profound, do it again,” Ye Qing said suddenly.

“Why not?” Old Man Profound firmament instantly figured out his meaning and unleashed a Sky Opening Axe once more.

Boom...

There was a rumble, and the entire forest was cleaved in half.

Then, Old Man Profound Firmament rotated his fingers and clenched.

The collapsed trees instantly disintegrated into powder.

While this was going on, Ye Qing was staring closely at the forest. A white fish and a black fish could be seen swimming inside his pupils, profound and mysterious.

A dozen or so breaths later, the colorful, phantasmal light gathered once more, and the gorgeous scenery and spectacles began anew.

By the time the spectacles faded, the destroyed reappeared just like new.

This time, it was Feng Qingyou who spoke up, “It’s exactly identical.”

She meant it literally. This forest was exactly identical to the one before.

Once again, the revived trees attacked them. This time though, Ye Qing curled a finger and suppressed them with a sheen of heavy profound light. He then looked at the others and said, “It’s the Figment of Time...”

“The Figment of Time? What’s that?” Old Man Profound Firmament and Danxi Zi exchanged confused looks with each other.

Forget seeing it, they hadn’t even heard of it.

“I read it from a book called the ‘Strange Records of Mountains and Rivers’. Legend has it that the Figment of Time is an Ancient-class Stranger born in a bizarre place of inexplicable mysteries and dreams.”

Ye Qing recalled the passage regarding the Figment of Time and began, “The Figment of Time is a bundle of colorful, phantasmal light. Any living being who is caught in its throes will become lost. It can also preserve an object at a certain place and time and merge with it to transform unreality into reality. This ‘figment’ is impossible to destroy.”

“To put it simply, the forest we’re looking at right now is both real and not. It’s real because it’s physically before our eyes right now. It’s also not real because it is a certain scene from the past that is captured by the Figment of Time. It does not belong in the present.”

“So long as one is trapped within the Figment of Time, one will not know left from right and become directionally challenged. They can never escape via conventional means. Just the same, the figment cannot be destroyed or wiped out in any way.”

“This is why we can neither leave this place nor destroy this forest.”

“So, you’re saying that the only way we can leave here is to take out this so-called Figment of Time?” Old Man Profound Firmament asked.

“That’s right.” Ye Qing nodded with a troubled expression. “If the Figment of Time isn’t defeated, then we will forever be trapped in this place. Even death is denied to us.”

“On the other hand, it’s not easy to defeat the Figment of Time. The Figment of Time possesses no form or substance. Its real yet unreal existence also makes it immune to Magia and secret arts. It’s a pain to deal with.” He was understating it. It was mentioned in the book that the Figment of Time once damned an entire country.

The country’s name was Quanrong, and it boasted a population of several million. Every citizen had a dog’s head and a human’s body because they possessed the bloodline of the Heavenly Dog. Physically powerful and warlike, they used to be the undisputed conquerors of the West.

One day, Quanrong was suddenly beset by the Figment of Time. Due to the Stranger’s extraordinary qualities, not a single soul was able to escape. They all perished.

Since then, the realm turned into a death zone, and Quanrong was no more. As if mocking their existence, the Figment of Time would continue to exist for another millennium, undying and seemingly eternal.

The “Strange Records of Mountains and Rivers” even labeled the Figment of Time one of the four unsolvable Strangers together with the Endless Galaxy, the Cycle of Sun and Moon, and the Deep Sea of Nirvana. They remarked that the Figment of Time was impossible to break or destroy. Those who saw it must avoid it; those who encountered it must give it a wide berth. If they were caught in it, then they would die. One must be ever careful.

According to the “Strange Records of Mountains and Rivers”, the Figment of Time was impossible to solve. The only way to deal with it was to avoid it or hide from it. There was no other way.