Chapter 22: Fire Crystal Lava Turtle

Aside from the Zero Domain, his strength was not worth mentioning.

He kept his eyes tightly shut, tears streaming down his face continuously.

Having been on the brink of despair, he gazed into his own soul space—a realm constructed of clocks, each twisted to varying degrees. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope rose within Mo Xuan’s heart. This space had allowed him to be reborn; perhaps it could also...

"I will bear everything!" Mo Xuan did not know why he felt this way; he only wanted to shoulder that responsibility.

He rushed forward recklessly. At the critical threshold between life and death, the gears of time began to turn once more. This time, it seemed different from the last; his time did not reset.

Instead, a distorted clock slowly manifested behind him and swept through his body. His frame, which had been on the verge of shattering, was restored to its original state.

Mo Xuan did not notice these changes; he simply pressed forward until the moment the clock vanished, arriving at the deepest part of the realm.

This was a world composed entirely of red crystal ore and magma. In the center, a massive demonic beast, three stories tall, lay coiled. Its body was encased in layers of thick rock, resembling a turtle. Within it pulsed a red crystal the size of a small hill, emitting the intense glow of burning red phosphorus.

This was a Magma Crystal Tortoise, a creature that survived by devouring fire-attribute rocks. It was extremely rare, and judging by its appearance, it had reached nearly the Seventh Rank! It even appeared to be in the later stages of that rank.

Yet, there seemed to have been a fierce struggle here. At first, Mo Xuan did not see Lin Mengyao. "What is happening?"

But there were clear traces of blood. Mo Xuan followed the trail and looked up. At an angle where the Magma Crystal Tortoise’s body was slightly tilted, he saw a familiar figure.

That was...

Mo Xuan saw a familiar face, yet he was taken aback. Unlike the human form he knew, this figure was in a half-demonic state. This was Mengyao’s true form: a Fire-Heart Spirit Fox in her half-demonic state.

Mo Xuan did not recognize this type of beast, but he could sense that it was indeed Lin Mengyao trapped within the cage of fire. She lay there, breathing her last, though she remained conscious.

The Magma Crystal Tortoise shifted its orientation, spitting streams of fire from its maw, all aimed directly at Lin Mengyao’s delicate form.

"Ahhh!" The flames were intense. With Lin Mengyao’s cultivation, she had no power to resist. She groaned in agony, but it was to no avail.

This was a Heavenly Third Realm beast, while she was merely at the Spirit Sealing Realm—a mere Second Rank beast by comparison. Even with an extraordinary background or heaven-defying artifacts, she was powerless now. This was, by all accounts, a death trap.

Mo Xuan would have had no chance to save her, but at that moment, the barrier surrounding the mine was torn apart by the white-haired woman. The Magma Crystal Tortoise inside seemed to sense the disturbance outside and paused, its massive body floating upward.

A perfect chance!

Mo Xuan, who had been hiding nearby for some time, tore through the cage of fire. He scooped up the injured Mengyao with all the speed he could muster and fled into the distance.

This action infuriated the Magma Crystal Tortoise. It roared, causing the red crystals to collapse, blocking the path of escape.

The clocks surrounding Mo Xuan spun rapidly once more. In that instant, time accelerated, and they narrowly escaped the scene.

The Magma Crystal Tortoise was confused and even more enraged. As a fire-type beast, Mengyao was highly beneficial to it, and having her slip through its fingers—especially at the hands of someone as weak as Mo Xuan—was infuriating.

Just then, the clocks around Mo Xuan suddenly vanished. His speed dropped, and the magma behind them began to close in. "How can this be!"

"You are such a fool!" Lin Mengyao, who had been unconscious, seemed to have been startled awake. She was still very weak, speaking with no strength, "Why did you come in?"

"I agreed to let you come; no matter what, I must see it through to the end!" Mo Xuan kept moving toward the outer region.

"You will die too!"

Just as the magma closed in and Mo Xuan felt despair, a passage appeared, seemingly leading to the other side.

"We won't die!" Mo Xuan felt a sudden flicker of joy. He moved into the other passage, summoned a pair of blades, and channeled his remaining spiritual power to strike backward. The surrounding rubble shattered, sealing the path behind them.

He quickly laid Mengyao down and piled up more rocks to block the encroaching lava. After this ordeal, Mo Xuan understood that he could use that space, though he still did not know how to trigger it at will. Moreover, the space could not be used limitlessly; there were constraints of time and degree.

But for now, they were safe.

Though Mengyao was in poor condition, she held onto the wall and slowly sat up. "You saved me again. Thank you."

"Why are you getting up? Your injuries are severe; you need to rest!" Mo Xuan reached out, intending to check her wounds.

But Mengyao cried out, "Don't come over..."

"I was just..."

"Just what? You’ve seen my true form, what more do you want!" Mengyao seemed unusually agitated.

Was she truly injured? Her voice was certainly loud enough. Mo Xuan felt a sense of helplessness. "If that is the case, then resolve it yourself!"

Mo Xuan was also nearly exhausted. He found an empty patch of ground and sat down to regulate his breath. But as he closed his eyes and relaxed, a sharp, stabbing pain erupted in his mind. He spat out a mouthful of blood and clutched his chest.

The next moment, his head grew heavy and his vision blurred. Something was wrong.

"Could it be..." Mo Xuan entered his soul space and saw the clocks in ruins; few remained intact. "It seems there won't be another chance."

Sometimes he asked himself if this was truly worth it, but no matter how many times he asked, the answer was always the same: it was.

He now realized that the time within that space was limited. It was not just a matter of usage, but of power levels. Those too strong could still kill him. The Seventh Rank beast alone had left his space shattered; if faced with a stronger entity, he would still die.

While his soul was in this space, his physical body lay on the ground. This was not his fault; the exhaustion of the Time Space’s power had caused him, the master of the realm, to suffer a backlash, leading to a brief loss of consciousness.

When he would wake up depended entirely on the recovery of this space.

Outside, seeing this, Mengyao panicked. She crawled to Mo Xuan’s side and touched him gently, only to be terrified by what she felt.

His hands were deathly cold, no different from a corpse. She wept in sorrow, "Everything I said before, I was only joking. I just... I just don't like others seeing me like this."

Mo Xuan, who had just tried to leave the soul space, found himself unable to do so, as if trapped by a powerful force. "How? Am I to be imprisoned here?"

He had no other options and could only leave his fate to the heavens. But he was not one to sit idle; he began to attempt to repair the clocks before him.

Yet, it was no easy task. The clocks were shattered into countless tiny fragments. With so many pieces, he feared he could never finish the task in a lifetime.

However, it seemed to be his only way out.

Fortunately, there were a few complete clocks left as a reference. Although the shapes of these clocks were twisted differently, aside from that, they were quite similar. He began to piece together the first clock, searching for fragments and joining them one by one.

He felt as though a very long time had passed.

The flow of time in that space seemed to differ from the outside world.

Outside!

Mengyao remained persistent, constantly attempting to warm Mo Xuan’s cold body with her own flames, but it had no effect. This continued for three hours, yet Mo Xuan’s condition remained unchanged—he stayed deathly cold.

"We were just strangers, why do so much for me... I..." Facing Mo Xuan, who could at most be called a friend, and seeing him risk everything to save her, Mengyao knew she could never repay such devotion.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "Right, my inner core might be able to..."

Mengyao was a Fire-Heart Spirit Fox, and from a very noble lineage at that. Even the Sixth Rank Lava Beast could not resist that temptation, which proved her constitution was special—and her demonic core even more so.

A demonic beast’s inner core was a precious treasure. Once expelled, the beast would fall into a period of extreme weakness. To reform it would require a vast amount of energy, and without it, one’s strength would be reduced by more than half.

For a demonic beast, this was undoubtedly fatal.

Yet, it was the only possible solution Mengyao could think of, and even then, she wasn't sure it would work.

"No matter what, I owe you this!" If Mo Xuan hadn't rushed there, Mengyao would have been devoured by that beast long ago; she wouldn't even be here to speak. Seeing Mo Xuan in such a state, she could not sit idly by.

Time Space!

Just as Mo Xuan finished repairing the first clock, he suddenly felt a surge of warmth.

Under the influence of this power, the fragments of the other clocks in the space began to move, repairing themselves automatically at a rapid pace.

Soon, half of the clocks were restored, and the others were slowly shifting into place.

From somewhere unknown, a light appeared. The once cold and dim Time Space suddenly brightened.

It was no longer cold or silent.

It was no longer dark.

It was as if a gentle flame had merged into it, flowing with light, shimmering and bright. It was like cracks breaking through the night, yet these cracks merged with the darkness so naturally that they formed a dreamlike realm where blackness and the light of fire converged.