Chapter 6 — The Wheel of Time
The Chen Clan's grand hall burned with rage.
Crimson lanterns trembled as violent qi surged through the pillars, cracking ancient stone that had stood for centuries. At the center of the hall, Chen Aotian stood with both hands gripping the armrests of his throne, his expression twisted with fury.
"Send word to Chen Xue," he thundered.
His voice rolled like thunder through the hall, making elders and guards bow instinctively.
"I want Luo Xiao Tian's head delivered to me within three months."
The hall fell deathly silent.
If Chen Hao was considered a genius, then Chen Xue—his elder sister—was a monster.
At the age of five, she had stepped into the Renegade Lord realm.
Now, she stood firmly at the mid-stage Renegade King realm, a senior disciple of Gold Coast Academy, her name feared even among inner elders. Her talent had once shaken the Qing Kingdom, and her future was considered limitless.
Since Luo Xiao Tian wanted to enter Gold Coast Academy…
Chen Aotian's eyes glinted coldly.
"Then I will let him understand," he said slowly, each word filled with killing intent, "that the Chen Clan is not something he can toy with."
The competition ended before dusk.
Five jade tokens floated in the air, glowing faintly with academy insignia. One of the academy messengers spoke indifferently.
"You have one week. Report to Gold Coast Academy with these tokens."
No congratulations.
No encouragement.
The messengers mounted their gourd and sword once more, disappearing beyond the horizon.
Luo Xiao Tian returned home before nightfall.
He recounted everything calmly—Chen Hao, the duel, the Chen Clan's hostility—and warned his mother not to cross paths with them for the time being.
Luo Xin'er listened quietly.
There was no fear in her eyes.
Only relief… and pride.
"Tian'er," she said softly. "Come here."
She led him into the inner room and handed him a storage ring.
"Inside are spirit crystals, a few gold bars… and this."
She hesitated briefly, then added, "The only picture of your grandparents."
"A picture?" Xiao Tian asked, confused.
"I mean… a small painting from Earth," she corrected.
Curiosity stirred in his heart.
He sent his spiritual sense into the ring and soon found it—a thin, flat object unlike any scroll or jade slip he had ever seen.
The image startled him.
Two figures stood side by side, smiling strangely. The lines were sharp, unreal, as though reality had been captured and pressed flat.
"This doesn't look hand-drawn," Xiao Tian muttered.
His gaze shifted to the strange object beside them.
"What is that they're standing next to?"
"A car," Luo Xin'er said. "A means of transportation on Earth."
Xiao Tian fell silent.
A world without cultivation… yet with such wonders.
I must rise faster, he thought. Strong enough to split the heavens… strong enough to see that world with my own eyes.
"Take this as well," Luo Xin'er said, placing an old, worn book into his hands.
"This is the Law of Time. I believe it will help you."
Xiao Tian froze.
The cover was ancient, its aura faint yet profound.
Confusion flickered in his eyes.
Mother isn't a cultivator… how does she know this contains the Law of Time?
He pushed the thought aside.
"Thank you, Mom," he said sincerely.
He returned to his room.
The moment the door closed, he took out the picture again, staring at it intently. The woman in the image resembled his mother unmistakably—only younger, freer.
After a long while, he put it away and opened the book.
The characters inside were strange—unlike any script of the Great Thousand World. They twisted subtly, shifting as though alive. He tried to comprehend them, guiding his spiritual sense along the lines.
Nothing.
Again.
Failure.
His brows knit together.
"I must understand at least a fragment," he murmured. "Before the academy admission."
That same night, within the Chen Clan—
The messengers returned.
"Clan Head," a servant said respectfully, kneeling. "The message has been delivered to Chen Xue."
Chen Aotian's lips curled into a cold smile.
"Luo Xiao Tian… let's see how long you survive inside Gold Coast Academy."
His voice was filled with malice.
Then—
"Oh?"
A calm, authoritative female voice echoed through the void.
The heavens above the Chen Clan twisted violently.
Clouds parted.
A gigantic wheel—ancient and boundless—manifested in the sky. Countless runes rotated upon its surface, each one radiating the aura of time . The wheel expanded, forming a colossal formation that enveloped the entire Chen Clan.
Time… slowed.
Lantern flames froze mid-flicker.
Almost everyone rushed out in panic, including Chen Hao, whose face drained of color.
"Which senior dares provoke my Chen Clan?!" Chen Aotian roared, his heart pounding.
Fear crept into his chest.
Since stepping into the Renegade Saint realm, he had not felt such oppressive danger.
The wheel turned.
A figure descended slowly.
A woman.
Dressed simply, her gaze cold and unfathomable.
"Luo… Xin'er?" Chen Aotian exclaimed, disbelief flooding his face.
The prodigy of the Luo Clan.
The woman he had once trained relentlessly to surpass.
This woman, rumored to have married into the Xiao Clan and vanished from the martial world.
"You want to kill my son," Luo Xin'er said calmly. "Do you dare?"
Her words carried no anger.
Only judgment.
An invisible pressure crashed down.
The elders fell to their knees.
Guards trembled violently.
Even Chen Aotian felt his bones creak under the weight.
"Can the entire Chen Clan," she continued coldly, "bear the consequences?"
Chen Aotian clenched his teeth.
Damn it…
He could not believe it.
Years ago, he had barely been able to see through her cultivation. Now… he couldn't see through her at all.
"If Luo Xiao Tian suffers even the slightest harm," Luo Xin'er said, her voice sharp as a blade, "the Chen Clan will be buried alive."
The wheel began to close.
Time resumed.
She vanished.
The formation dissolved as if it had never existed.
Silence reigned.
Chen Aotian stood frozen, fists clenched, veins bulging.
"Impossible…" he cursed softly.
High above, unseen by all—
Time continued to turn.
Two days passed.
The courtyard remained silent, its gates sealed, its formation barriers unbroken. No one entered. No one disturbed him.
Inside his room, Luo Xiao Tian sat motionless, legs crossed, the ancient book of time laid open before him. Candlelight flickered weakly, casting distorted shadows across the walls. His eyes were bloodshot, his breath uneven.
Failure.
Again.
And again.
The characters in the book twisted mockingly before his eyes. Every line carried profundity, yet none yielded meaning. He could feel it—the Law of Time was close, close enough to touch, yet separated from him by an abyss he could not cross.
"So this is the difference…" he muttered hoarsely. "Between talent… and law."
Cultivation realms could be forced through resources, battles, or sheer will.
But laws?
They devoured arrogance.
They crushed the unworthy.
Just as despair crept into his heart, a faint flutter echoed in his consciousness.
"Why are you struggling like this?"
The tiny elf appeared, floating lazily before him, her wings shimmering faintly in the dimness.
"Because I don't understand," Xiao Tian replied coldly. "And time doesn't wait."
The elf tilted her head, then smiled faintly.
"Then why don't you use the essence of the Dao Seed?"
His eyes narrowed.
"The Dao Seed?"
She nodded, circling him slowly. "Every living thing has a Dao. Mountains. Rivers. Stars. Even the laws of the universe. Time itself has a Dao. Only by resonating with Dao… can laws be grasped."
Her gaze sharpened.
"You are trying to read time. That will never work."
"You must enter it."
Silence followed.
Xiao Tian exhaled slowly.
Then he closed his eyes.
Deep within his consciousness, the Dao Seed trembled.
Golden light burst forth.
The white soul stirred.
In the next instant, Xiao Tian felt his soul tear free.
Not gently.
Not willingly.
It was ripped into another dimension.
A realm without sky or earth.
Only time.
Endless, suffocating, absolute.
Runes filled the void—ancient symbols rotating endlessly, each one carrying immeasurable weight. Beneath his feet, the ground split open, revealing a colossal wheel rising slowly from the abyss.
The Wheel of Time.
Two giant hands emerged from beneath it, forged from pure law, their surfaces burning with temporal flames. The wheel spanned the cosmos, its rotation sending ripples across the realm like waves through water.
Then—
The firmament shattered.
Another wheel descended from above.
Identical.
Merciless.
The two wheels hovered, one above, one below, leaving only a narrow gap between them.
And Xiao Tian's soul was dragged directly into that space.
CRACK—
The pressure descended.
His physical body convulsed violently.
Blood poured from the corners of his eyes and mouth, staining the floor. His muscles twisted unnaturally as his bones screamed under invisible weight.
Time did not crush him all at once.
It ground him.
The book before him burst apart, its pages dissolving into golden rivers of text that surged into his body. The moment they entered—
BOOM!
His blood boiled.
Meridians shattered like glass.
A mouthful of blood sprayed across the room.
His breathing turned ragged, shallow, desperate.
"So this is it…" he thought dimly. "No wonder those who chased laws either went mad… or died."
The wheels spun faster.
Lightning erupted from nowhere, crashing down upon the upper wheel. Pillars of runes descended from the void, wrapped in chains forged of law, slamming into the wheel with thunderous force.
Each impact sent fresh agony tearing through his soul.
Bones snapped.
Not cracked.
Shattered.
His body collapsed onto the floor, limp, twisted, unmoving.
Darkness crept into his vision.
"I can't believe… I end here."
But then—
His eyes flashed open.
"No."
A cold smile formed through bloodstained lips.
"My Dao… is different."
"My path… is against the heavens."
"I cannot die here."
The ancient scroll deep within his consciousness trembled violently.
Essence poured forth.
Natural, primordial, unforgiving.
His broken meridians began to reform, rebuilt strand by strand, stronger than before. His shattered bones dissolved into white radiance, then reassembled, denser, purer, emitting an oppressive aura.
His body lifted into the air.
Time runes swirled around him like a storm.
Hours passed.
Or seconds.
Time had no meaning there.
His soul absorbed, rejected, shattered, and absorbed again—until—
CRACK!
His soul exploded.
Fragments scattered across the realm.
For a brief moment—
There was nothing.
Then, slowly, naturally, inevitably—
A new soul condensed.
Brighter.
Sharper.
Engraved with intricate time-law patterns.
It radiated authority.
The wheels halted.
The realm fell silent.
His soul slipped back into his body.
Xiao Tian crashed onto the floor, gasping for breath.
The pain was gone.
His body felt heavy… yet unshakably solid.
Within his consciousness, the world had changed.
Pillars of time-law floated silently at one side, ancient and profound.
He closed his eyes.
Then opened them.
A faint ripple passed through the air.
"I broke through…"
Eighth level of the Renegade Warrior Realm.
His lips curved slightly.
"Even if I face a Renegade Lord now…"
"I can fight."
Outside, the night wind howled softly.