The True Identity of the Carefree God

【God Xiaoyao barely managed to struggle through a few exchanges before you knocked him unconscious with the Seven Divine Steps of the Starry Sky.】

【You condensed chains out of divine power, bound him, and carried him away—you were only a projection and couldn’t come into direct contact with physical entities, but you could interact with them indirectly through divine power.】

【The people from Sacred Land Xiaoyao below shouted and made a huge commotion, as though someone had carried off their own father.】

【You ignored them and flew with God Xiaoyao to an uninhabited island, where you casually tossed him onto the ground.】

【With a slap from a distance, you physically woke God Xiaoyao up.】

【God Xiaoyao slowly regained consciousness. He rubbed his aching cheek, looked around, and then fixed his eyes on you.】

【“I don’t know what kind of madness has come over you. There’s no way I’m giving you the Time House. If you want to kill me, then kill me. If you want to torture me, then torture me!”】

【You let out a cold laugh.】

【“There’s no one else here, so stop putting on an act.”】

【You folded your arms and paced around him.】

【“I clearly sealed every breach, yet the Dragonkin still opened new ones in no time. That means someone on this side was helping them.

The moment the Dragonkin attacked, you died. As a Martial God, you died rather too conveniently.

When the Ancient Desolate Secret Realm was attacked, every Martial God and Martial Saint in the human realm was there—except you. Oh, right. You were in the Time House.

Now, when I ask you to take out the Time House, you refuse. How am I not supposed to suspect you?”】

【“What are you talking about? Dragonkin? Breaches? I don’t understand a word…”】

【“I don’t give a damn whether you understand! Take out the Time House and prove your innocence!”】

【“Why should I hand over my treasure to you?”】

【“I’ve told you, damn it! I just want to take a look! Who wants your turtle shell? Are you deaf?! Besides, did you create the Time House? Didn’t you get it from somewhere else too?”】

【Your booming voice finally brought God Xiaoyao back to his senses.】

【“What exactly are you suspecting me of?”】

【“If you’re innocent, then you won’t understand even if I explain it. And if my suspicion is correct, then you don’t need to ask.”】

【“So long as I prove that the Time House exists, I’ll be what you call ‘innocent’?”】

【“Not necessarily. Prove this much first! To be honest, I don’t have time to waste here with you. If you can’t prove it, I’ll send you on your way!”】

【Seeing the Samadhi True Fire swirling in your hand, God Xiaoyao sighed as if he had made some sort of decision.】

【“Fine. Take me to the Ascension Road.”】

【“What are you going there for?”】

【“You’ll know when we get there.”】

【As the Guardian, you could go anywhere in the human realm whenever you wished.】

【You linked yourself and God Xiaoyao together with divine power, then, with a single thought, brought him to the far end of the Northern Sea.】

【This year’s Ascension Road had already appeared. Since no one had used it yet, it was still in its visible state.】

【On the nearby islands, a contingent of cultivators was stationed there to prevent anyone from using the Ascension Road without approval.】

【This was arranged by Chen Six.】

【You concealed your aura and traces, so the troops failed to notice your arrival.】

【“We’re here.”】

【God Xiaoyao pointed toward the Ascension Road.】

【“This is my Time House.”】

【“What?”】

【“The Ascension Road is the Time House!”】

【“Nonsense. How could the flow of time inside the Ascension Road differ from that of the outside world…”】

【Your words abruptly died in your throat.】

【During the sixth simulation, the first time you entered the Ascension Road, you discovered that you couldn’t draw any traits while inside it.】

【That was the first time you had ever seen the message: “Extraction failed.”】

【The explanation given by the trait system was:】

【The current environment has a flow of time that is inconsistent with the River of Time. Traits cannot be extracted.】 (See Chapter 342.)

【“That still doesn’t add up. Since when can people enter and leave the Ascension Road at will?

I believe that with your abilities, you could cross this stretch of the entrance and enter the Ascension Road with ease, but how were you able to come back out?

Besides, the Ascension Road used to be inside the Ancient Desolate Secret Realm, and it was controlled by the Ancient Desolate survivors. So you…”】

【God Xiaoyao finished your sentence for you.】

【“That’s right. I’m one of the Ancient Desolate survivors! I’m one of the spies the Ancient Desolate Secret Realm planted in the human realm!”】

【God Xiaoyao admitted it openly. He stood with his hands behind his back, his face already set with the resolve to die.】

【“You people have no way to enter or leave the Ascension Road freely, but the Ancient Desolate survivors have controlled it for countless ages. They have their own method, though certain innate conditions are required.

Any Ancient Desolate survivor who meets those conditions can use the Ascension Road to extend their lifespan by indirect means.

Every time I entered the Time House, I was actually returning to the Ancient Desolate Secret Realm to deliver information for them.

After that, I would spend some time inside the Ascension Road, allowing me to exist in the real world for a longer span of time.”】

【You were speechless at what these Ancient Desolate survivors had done.】

【They had actually made a Martial God serve as their informant?】

【“So if someone spends a year walking through the Ascension Road, a hundred years pass in the outside world? No, that can’t be right. I’ve been inside before. I spent several years there, but the outside world didn’t advance by several centuries.”】

【“You’ve been inside? How did you get back out?”】

【“That’s none of your business.”】

【“That’s because time can be divided into subjective time and objective time.

A year of subjective time may pass for you inside the Ascension Road, but objectively speaking, it may not be a year.

From the perspective of objective time alone, one year inside the Ascension Road is equivalent to one hundred years in the outside world.

But from the perspective of your subjective experience, if one hundred years pass in the outside world, then it will also feel like one hundred years to you.”】

【“Oh…”】

【You nodded, seeming to understand.】

【“You don’t understand?”】

【“Bullshit! Of course I understand! Relativity, quantum mechanics—I get it, I get it!”】

【In truth, you didn’t completely understand.】

【The theory sounded perfectly reasonable, but after actually experiencing it, it still felt rather abstract.】

【God Xiaoyao added:】

【“It’s like dreaming. In a dream, you might experience an entire lifetime, while in reality, only one night has passed. But to the version of you inside the dream, that really was a lifetime—not one night.”】

【You suddenly understood.】

【“Oh—an stream of consciousness thing? I get it, I get it!”】

【God Xiaoyao told you that a person’s theoretical lifespan was calculated according to the passage of objective time, not subjective time.】

【Therefore, in theory, anyone could use a special existence like the Ascension Road to extend the length of time they remained alive in the objective world.】

【The problem was that not everyone could travel back and forth through the Ascension Road.】

【Even the Ancient Desolate survivors had to select candidates from among countless people, then use specialized training methods and vast resources to create cultivators capable of doing so.】

【Now that the Ancient Desolate Secret Realm no longer existed, this method could no longer be replicated.】

【God Xiaoyao let out a sigh.】

【“I know everything the Ancient Desolate survivors have done to the human realm. What I did indeed makes me their accomplice. Now that you’ve discovered my identity, kill me if you wish.”】