NOVPUB```
Here, there had been couples growing old together in love and affection, generals feasting and drinking in high spirits with warriors from all quarters, scholars studying by lamplight through ten years of hardships, and cultivators meditating on Daoist scriptures and enduring a hundred years of arduous cultivation...
Many images flashed by increasingly rapidly, as if in the passing of time, everything lost its meaning.
Eventually, the scenes came to a halt, returning to the present lavish Lang Huan Garden.
In the courtyard, countless years of history, now turned into droplets in the river of time, presented themselves before Shen Yuan, embodying the Divine Capacity Seed of the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power.
The droplet fell into Shen Yuan’s eyes, and with that, the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power was restored to its place.
Feeling the changes within, Shen Yuan’s gaze again swept the surroundings, where under the influence of the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power, everything began to look different.
He could clearly see the traces of time in the growth of the trees within the courtyard, the change and replacement of things, extending into the future.
Because the Darkness-Light Sword had remnants of the Time Major Path, and coupled with having crossed thousands of years in time to return to the past, Shen Yuan was exceptionally attuned to the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power.
Even though he had just begun to refine the Divine Capacity Seed, Shen Yuan faintly sensed a trace of enlightenment.
In the courtyard, a breeze blew through, and a green leaf from the jujube tree slowly fluttered down in the wind.
Shen Yuan’s gaze focused, and he applied the nascent power of the Time Major Path that he had just begun to comprehend.
In the next moment, time reversed, and the leaf that had fallen to the ground flew back up to its original branch on the jujube tree, the broken rifts healing themselves, even the breeze that had just passed was returned to its starting point.
The reversal of time ceased, and then the returned breeze blew past, the leaf swayed as if it were about to fall to the ground again.
Shen Yuan lifted his right hand, a wave of mana protected the leaf to prevent it from being blown off.
But at that moment, the branches swayed gently in the breeze, causing the teetering leaf to fall to the ground once more.
Shen Yuan’s brow rose slightly, observing the traces of passing time, he expressed his surprise:
"Is this the inertia brought about by the causality of time?"
Shen Yuan used mana to stop the leaf from being blown by the breeze, but the inertia of reversing time still caused the leaf to fall in another way.
In this process, Shen Yuan perceived a hint of causal interference.
If Shen Yuan expended some effort, he could undoubtedly resist such a faint causal interference, as the falling of a leaf was inconsequential to both him and the entire world.
But on a larger scale, Shen Yuan could imagine the terrifying power of causal interference if one were to modify key historical moments by reversing time.
"Perhaps only as the master of the Heavenly General Great Divine Power, anchoring oneself as the sole entity through the worlds, could one ignore the force of causal interference.
Otherwise, even with peerless Divine Skills, one would still be unable to withstand the dreadful inertia of causality."
With this thought, Shen Yuan no longer used the comprehended Time Major Path and directly employed the newly mastered Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power.
Time flowed backward, and the leaf returned to the jujube tree once more.
The breeze blew as before, but this time it did not dislodge the leaf. Shen Yuan could feel that the inertia of time and causality had been neutralized by the unique trait of the Heavenly General Great Divine Power.
No matter what had happened before, with oneself anchored as the only entity through the worlds, everything experienced at this moment was the truth.
Without the unique trait of being the only entity, even with the control of the Time Great Divine Power, one would have to endure the counterblow of time’s causal inertia.
Taking a deep breath, Shen Yuan spoke softly with a trace of awe in his eyes:
"Such is the majesty of the Heavenly General Method!"
With just an initial encounter, Shen Yuan had already felt the formidable might of the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power.
Yet, he was still far from mastering this Great Divine Power, and the step into its first realm was even more out of reach.
One could imagine the changes that would come once the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power advanced to the next level.
With these thoughts, Shen Yuan slowly rose from the stone table.
Extending his right index finger, the Pot’s Heaven Divine Power operated, slowly tearing through space, as a spatial passage gradually took shape before him.
While operating the Pot’s Heaven Divine Power, Shen Yuan’s expression changed, sensing a connection between the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power and the Pot’s Heaven Divine Power.
It seemed that if Shen Yuan wished, he could imbue the spatial passage before him with the power of time, turning it into a space-time passage.
However, even Shen Yuan himself was unsure where such a crafted space-time passage would lead.
"The space-time Major Path?"
```
Shen Yuan’s eyes lit with a trace of curiosity, but he did not attempt to try it out randomly, instead slowly stepping into the space channel that had been opened.
Not long after Shen Yuan left, a crisp sound of footsteps echoed from outside Lang Huan Garden.
Walking in front was Xue Mingzhi, his demeanor respectful as he guided the person following behind him.
At this moment, Xue Mingzhi’s heart was also filled with doubts; the one who had just ascended the throne was not in the Imperial City hosting a banquet for the ministers, but had instead secretly come to the Xue family’s Manor.
The object of Xue Mingzhi’s puzzlement was none other than Xia Yunqiu, who had recently ascended to become the Female Emperor of Great Xia.
The current Xia Yunqiu had changed out of her imperial robes into a set of simple everyday clothes, concealing her own aura.
However, even so, an occasional burst of divine imperial majesty would emanate from her, instilling a sense of awe in others.
Arriving at the entrance of Lang Huan Garden, Xue Mingzhi whispered softly,
"The master has been resting in Lang Huan Garden these days. Please make yourself at home, Your Majesty."
Xia Yunqiu nodded, took a deep breath, and strode into Lang Huan Garden.
In this exquisitely adorned courtyard, Xia Yunqiu did not see the figure she had been longing for, only the lingering aura that proved he had just departed.
"Taoist Master, do you still not wish to see me?"
A hint of dejection flashed across Xia Yunqiu’s face.
The Female Emperor of Great Xia, with all the power in the world, had a look of bewilderment in her eyes.
In her most perilous moments, Shen Yuan had rescued her from danger and even planned and strategized to overturn the existing order of Great Xia on her behalf.
When she had successfully ascended as the Mortal Emperor and gained almost everything, Shen Yuan chose to drift away without a trace of attachment.
Shen Yuan had granted her everything and made her the Female Emperor of Great Xia, yet he did not give her a chance to repay him, leaving Xia Yunqiu somewhat at a loss.
"To him, what do I truly mean?"
Xia Yunqiu slowly walked to the stone table, reaching out to brush her hand over the still-warm teacup on it.
Just then, Xia Yunqiu’s expression subtly changed.
She sat down in the spot where Shen Yuan had been sitting, and her gaze shifted to the front, where the direction faced directly towards the Imperial City.
Gazing across the multiple layers of space, Xia Yunqiu could even clearly see the scene atop the Sacrificial Heavenly Platform.
"The Taoist Master stayed in the Imperial Capital for such a long time just to witness my ascension!"
Xia Yunqiu’s previous dejection was instantly replaced with joy, and rising from her stone seat, her eyes no longer showed the listlessness of before.
She moved her slender legs to walk out of the garden, when suddenly Xia Yunqiu’s steps faltered, and with an inconspicuous motion of her right hand, she brushed over the still-warm teacup; the Storage Ring flickered, and the teacup quietly disappeared.
Afterward, Xia Yunqiu, as if nothing was amiss, walked out of the Lang Huan Garden.
Catching a glimpse of Xue Mingzhi standing guard outside, Xia Yunqiu, still wearing a hint of happiness, spoke,
"The Taoist Master has already left."
"From this day forward, you are appointed to Imperial Astronomical Bureau’s Deputy Superintendent, overseeing Southern Three Provinces, in charge of the Bureau’s affairs."
...
Two months hastily passed, and the entirety of Great Xia seemed to have returned to the state before the change in imperial power.
In Wenn City, within the cultivation chamber of the Courtyard Secret Realm, Shen Yuan slowly awoke from his contemplation.
Two months had given Shen Yuan a preliminary grasp on the Rebounding Wind Returning Fire Great Divine Power.
As a Heavenly General Great Divine Power, if one were to contemplate and further advance it, it would require at least years of time. Shen Yuan clearly did not have so much time to spend on this.
With less than ten years left, that faux Clarity Void Exalted One would descend, and Shen Yuan did not have much time to waste.
"The Yang God has matured, and I could have broken through to the Refining Spirit to Return-to-Void Stage long ago.
But it will take at least a year before the rules of the world of Primal Chaos Realm can recover enough for a breakthrough beyond the Refining Spirit Realm’s limits. In this period, my cultivation will not advance an inch."
"Rather than sit and contemplate Divine Skills, there is actually a better choice available."
With this thought, Shen Yuan reached his right hand into the void, and the Heaven’s Decree Secret Order appeared in his hand.
