Jun Anshi approached the parasol tree, her steps light, making soft sounds as she stepped on the water's surface.
At a distance of three zhang from the trunk, she came to a halt.
The parasol tree before her suddenly changed its appearance.
The emerald leaves began to yellow, the color spreading from the tips to the centers.
In just a few breaths, all the leaves on the tree turned golden, shimmering brilliantly under an unknown source of light.
Then, the leaves began to fall—one, two, ten, a hundred. The golden leaves fluttered and danced in the air, spinning and drifting before finally landing on the water, sending out tiny, concentric ripples.
The bark on the trunk began to peel, and the branches withered. In an instant, the entire tree seemed to have gone through the complete journey from midsummer to late autumn.
Just as Jun Anshi thought the tree was about to die, new tender shoots sprouted from the bare branches.
They grew at a visible rate—sprouting, unfurling, turning green, and growing dense.
In a matter of breaths, the dead tree was revitalized, its new leaves even greener and more lush than before.
The alternation of withering and flourishing, the cycle of life and death.
Jun Anshi blinked, and the scene before her returned to normal.
Jun Anshi raised her right hand and gently tapped her fingertips against the trunk of the parasol tree.
There was no reaction whatsoever.
She tried injecting a trace of temporal power, and a light spread outward along the patterns of the bark.
Still, there was no reaction.
Jun Anshi withdrew her hand, her brows furrowing slightly.
What she wanted to do most right now was not to study this parasol tree, nor to explore this space, but to leave.
She sensed an anomaly in her communication artifact.
The originally clear connections had all been severed, leaving not a single one intact.
This meant she was completely isolated from the outside world, and no one could contact her.
The people outside were surely anxiously looking for her now.
The more Jun Anshi thought about it, the more her head ached.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the anxiety in her heart.
It was useless to be anxious now. Figuring out the rules of this space and finding a way to leave was the real priority.
Just as she walked halfway around the parasol tree and carefully observed a hollow in the trunk.
A ripple suddenly spread across the water's surface in the space again.
Jun Anshi looked up and saw a figure appear out of thin air on the water.
The person wore a black cloak and a white mask that covered most of their face, revealing only a pair of eyes.
The cloak was large, completely concealing their figure.
Jun Anshi's eyes lit up for a moment, but in the next second, a trace of vigilance rose in them.
Dressed so tightly, acting as if they could not be seen by others, they did not look like someone easy to get along with.
But right now, there were only the two of them in this space. She could not just stay silent because the other party dressed strangely.
Besides, the person did not seem malicious. After suddenly appearing, they just stood there, sweeping their gaze across the entire space as if observing something, showing absolutely no intention of making a move.
Jun Anshi hesitated for a moment, but still braced herself and stepped forward to strike up a conversation.
Hello, fellow Daoist. I am a disciple of the Heavenly Human Holy Land, and I was accidentally teleported here just now.
She paused, observing the other party's expression.
Although she could only see their eyes, those eyes were very calm, devoid of hostility or greed, and even carried an indescribable... gentleness.
May I ask, fellow Daoist,
Jun Anshi continued.
Were you also accidentally teleported here?
The reason she did not think in the direction of the other party is the master of this place was, of course, because their attire completely clashed with this space.
After Gu Changyuan entered this space, the first thing he saw was Jun Anshi.
She was standing under the parasol tree, having just withdrawn her fingers from the trunk. With a trace of confusion and impatience on her face, her brows slightly furrowed and her lips pouting a bit, she looked like a rabbit that had lost its way.
Alive and kicking.
Completely unharmed.
The stone hanging in Gu Changyuan's heart finally fell to the ground.
He let out a long breath in his heart, but his face showed no change in expression.
He began to examine this space.
The water surface beneath his feet was not ordinary water, but a Mirror of Time condensed from pure temporal power.
Walking on the water was not walking, but swimming upstream in the long river of time.
The reflection overhead was not an illusion, but the lower half of this space.
Symmetrical from top to bottom, with the real and the illusory giving birth to each other, it formed a complete closed loop of time.
In this closed loop, there was no clear boundary between past and future, reality and illusion.
And that parasol tree, Gu Changyuan's gaze slightly condensed.
The power surging within the trunk was not just time.
There was also space, reincarnation, and green wood. Four Great Daos were perfectly fused together in this tree.
The Cangwu Great Dao.
This space was the physical manifestation of the Cangwu Great Dao.
This parasol tree was the carrier of the core inheritance of Immortal Emperor Cangwu.
As for why Jun Anshi was brought here.
Gu Changyuan glanced at Jun Anshi standing to the side, and the answer was already in his heart.
The Temporal Dao Body possessed an innate affinity for the laws of time.
In the inheritance of Immortal Emperor Cangwu, the Dao of Time was the most core of the four Great Daos.
Choosing the Temporal Dao Body as the inheritor was the most logical choice.
It was not a trap, nor a conspiracy, but a serendipitous encounter.
It was just that this Immortal Emperor's method of selecting people was a bit rough.
Directly dragging someone over from far away, without even giving a hint, and even blocking their communication artifacts so they couldn't run even if they wanted to.
Gu Changyuan had originally been somewhat displeased in his heart with Immortal Emperor Cangwu's act of forcible summoning.
But seeing that Jun Anshi was safe and sound, that bit of displeasure mostly dissipated.
Beside him, seeing that he did not answer her question, Jun Anshi was not angry. She quickly followed up and continued to chat:
Fellow Daoist, were you also brought in by a rabbit?
At this moment, Jun Anshi had completely regarded Gu Changyuan as an unlucky person just like herself.
Both had accidentally fallen in, both wanted to get out but couldn't, and both were trapped in this baffling space.
Gu Changyuan gave a slight nod:
Yes.
Though it was by you, this rabbit, that I was brought in.
He silently added a sentence in his heart, his face showing no ripples of emotion.
He did not intend to reveal his true identity to the other party.
Being able to casually convert his cultivation base through the system was one of his greatest trump cards, and he did not want anyone to know about it for the time being.
The system was his greatest secret, and similarly, he would not easily leak a single detail about it.
Furthermore, exploring secret realms inherently required personal experience and growth. It required disciples to face dangers themselves, seek out opportunities, temper their minds in difficult situations, and improve their strength.
If he told the other party his identity, not only would she be confused as to why he could enter this secret realm that only those in the Soul Formation Realm could enter.
She would also lose the true purpose of exploring the secret realm due to his presence.
With him around, their inner concerns would be greatly reduced, and they would act boldly, even recklessly, losing the opportunity to face difficulties alone and break through themselves.
Therefore, Gu Changyuan did not intend to speak.
At least not for now.

end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia

iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.

pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”