Space suddenly rippled with a soft whoosh, and a scarlet figure stepped straight onto the third floor of the Everlasting Pagoda.
"Lord Crimson Rift."
Li Yun was a little surprised by his sudden arrival. The Verdant Sword Sage, however, showed no surprise at all, as if he had fully expected the island’s guardian to show up.
Crimson Rift’s scarlet eyes turned to him at once.
"Gu Cangjian!" His youthful face was full of annoyance. "Why didn’t you tell me sooner that Li Yun had already reached the third floor?"
The Verdant Sword Sage, whose real name was Gu Cangjian, laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! You’re the one who keeps telling me not to bother you unless something important happens." He seemed completely untroubled by Crimson Rift’s irritation. "Before today, the little fellow hadn’t actually cleared my trial. Why would I call you over just because another challenger made it to the third floor?"
"You..."
Crimson Rift glared at him. Unfortunately, with the face of a young child and three curved crimson horns growing from his head, his furious look was far less intimidating than he probably meant it to be.
Gu Cangjian laughed again, and then his expression turned serious.
"All right, enough joking. Crimson Rift, there’s something you need to know." He glanced at Li Yun. "This little fellow didn’t just force me to activate my Temporal Domain. He broke through it."
Crimson Rift’s expression changed, and Gu Cangjian went on.
"And his sword drove me back."
"What?" Crimson Rift stared at him in disbelief. "You’re saying Li Yun actually forced you to retreat?"
"That’s exactly what I’m saying," Gu Cangjian replied with a calm nod. "I wouldn’t lie about something like that."
Crimson Rift fell silent, and all of his earlier irritation vanished. He slowly turned to Li Yun and looked him over from head to toe, as if he were seeing him for the first time.
"To reach this stage in about a year..." He shook his head. "I never expected someone with talent like this to turn up on the Chronospace Island under my control."
His eyes grew more serious. "With the aptitude you’ve shown, you’re already qualified to become a Formal Disciple of the Chronospace Lineage."
Then his expression turned somewhat regretful.
"Unfortunately..."
Li Yun noticed the change at once. "Unfortunately?"
Crimson Rift sighed. "This Chronospace Island has been effectively abandoned."
Li Yun’s expression changed, and Crimson Rift continued.
"Normally, an expert from the Chronospace Lineage is supposed to come down once every ten thousand years to inspect this inheritance ground and take away any qualified cultivators. But nobody has come for more than one hundred thousand years, and there’s only one reasonable explanation for that. The higher-ups no longer pay any attention to this place."
Li Yun frowned. "Then does that mean two of the three ways to leave Chronospace Island have become useless?"
"Not entirely," Crimson Rift said, shaking his head. "The first way still works. If someone truly comprehends even a trace of the Chronospace Dao, my Master will sense it through the karmic connection of his inheritance, and someone powerful enough will naturally be sent to collect that person."
He paused. "The second way, however, really is useless now. Even if someone reaches the Life and Death Realm, no expert will come to take them away, and they’ll stay trapped here."
Li Yun’s expression turned grave. "In other words, unless someone clears the Everlasting Pagoda or comprehends the Chronospace Dao, almost everyone here has no way out."
Crimson Rift nodded. It was a cruel truth. Among the thousands of cultivators trapped on Chronospace Island, only Yuan Zhenhai had any realistic chance of eventually clearing all three floors. Most of the others had pinned their hopes elsewhere.
They believed that if they obtained stronger secret arts and kept cultivating, they could someday reach the Life and Death Realm, which under the old rules would have let them leave. But those rules were no longer being enforced.
Even if they struggled for another ten thousand years and succeeded in reaching the Life and Death Realm, nobody would come to take them away, and all their effort on that path would amount to nothing.
Crimson Rift noticed Li Yun’s expression.
"There’s still one other possibility."
Li Yun looked at him.
"If you someday comprehend a trace of the Chronospace Dao, you’ll become my Master’s Direct Disciple," Crimson Rift said, his voice growing serious. "The status of a Direct Disciple is completely different. With that authority, freeing every cultivator trapped on this island would take little more than a request."
He paused briefly. "As for your current status, your performance is already enough to make you a Formal Disciple of the Chronospace Lineage, and a Formal Disciple has permission to take five people away from Chronospace Island."
Li Yun’s eyes lit up immediately. "Five people?"
"Yes," Crimson Rift said with a nod. "But having the authority and being able to use it are two different things. You’ll still have to pass another trial before you can take anyone with you."
He glanced at Li Yun. "You’re nowhere near ready for that trial. At the very least, you’ll first need to comprehend either the Spatial Dao or the Temporal Dao. Without one of those two foundations, you aren’t even qualified to attempt it."
He raised his hand, and scarlet light gathered in his palm. A moment later, it condensed into an ancient token and flew toward Li Yun.
Li Yun caught it. At first glance, the token seemed strangely cool and lifeless, yet the moment it touched his palm, intense heat surged into his hand, almost hot enough to burn through his flesh.
"What is this?"
"This is the Chronospace Return Token," Crimson Rift explained. "It will let you come back to Chronospace Island once. When you eventually comprehend the Spatial Dao or the Temporal Dao, you can use it to return and attempt the trial you need to pass in order to take people away."
His expression grew stern. "Remember, it can only be used once."
Li Yun carefully put away the Chronospace Return Token. "Understood."
If he truly gained the ability to return, there were naturally people he wanted to bring with him, and the first two names that came to mind were Feng Xuan and Yuan Zhenhai.
Crimson Rift nodded. "Good. Now that that’s settled, we can talk about your rewards."
Li Yun’s eyes brightened slightly, and Crimson Rift went on.
"Since this island has been abandoned, I can’t contact the senior experts of the Chronospace Lineage and have them come for you in person. So I’ll make up for it by increasing the rewards you get for clearing the Everlasting Pagoda."
He looked at the Profound Origin Sword in Li Yun’s hand.
"Your path clearly centers on the sword. So rather than simply handing you one of the nine high-level secret arts, I’ll first give you something far more useful."
He waved his hand, and an ancient book appeared and floated toward Li Yun.
"This is the Primordial Sword Codex."
Li Yun received it carefully as Crimson Rift explained.
"My Master, the Chronospace Sovereign, mainly walks the path of time and space. But someone at his level can’t be judged by ordinary standards. Across endless worlds and different eras, he has manifested countless incarnations and studied many branches of the Martial Dao. The Primordial Sword Codex holds part of his understanding of the Sword Dao. He wrote it fairly early in his cultivation journey, so it doesn’t contain his highest insights. Even so, what’s recorded inside should be enough to guide you well beyond the Life and Death Realm."
Li Yun’s face lit up with excitement. A supreme expert who could create inheritance grounds like Chronospace Island existed at a level he could not yet imagine. Even if the Primordial Sword Codex held only the Chronospace Sovereign’s early insights into the Sword Dao, its value to Li Yun was immeasurable.
A powerful inheritance was not valuable just because it contained stronger attacks. Sometimes a single sentence from someone who had already walked far enough down the same path could save a cultivator decades of blind searching.
"Thank you, Lord Crimson Rift."
Li Yun took a quick look at the Primordial Sword Codex, and even that brief glance told him it was worth more than several ordinary high-level secret arts put together.

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