The flow of time within 30 meters of Chen Xia came to a halt.
He alone could walk within it.
The woman's expression was extremely distorted as she struggled within the boundary of frozen time, her eyes already beginning to drift about in great alarm as she looked at Chen Xia.
How could a cultivator who hadn't even reached the Yuan Ying stage comprehend time, this supreme Grand Dao?!
She absolutely did not want to believe it.
Chen Xia had already walked up to her and said, "When it comes to discussing matters, I still hope that we can be on equal footing."
The temporal lock on the woman's face was undone. She frowned at Chen Xia, and her previously arrogantly tone took on a rare solemnity as she praised,
"To gain insight into the Grand Dao of time before even forming your Yuan Ying, you really are a genius. It's a pity you're a person without fortune, otherwise even my Ninth Mountain would have come to snatch you away."
Chen Xia smiled lightly in response, "I don't actually need you to snatch me away. I just want to know how you can guarantee that you'll treat Qingyue well."
The woman didn't answer his question. Instead, she changed the subject and said, "You've all cultivated the Profound Chaos Dao Chapters, which my Ninth Mountain has spread through the immortal realm. What's more, only the first volume has been openly distributed outside."
"The purpose is to find extraordinary talents in the various Heavens who are compatible with the Profound Chaos Dao Chapters. And this young lady happens to be one."
"To be able to form her golden core and condense over a thousand strands of profound chaos qi in such a small world lacking in spiritual energy and fortune, this young lady's aptitude has already reached the level of a quasi-sage."
"Although not comparable to the Great Emperor's, if she's allowed to grow, she could also become a figure capable of suppressing an entire region. Therefore, my Ninth Mountain wants to bring her away. It would be far too wasteful of her talent for her to remain in a tiny place like this."
Chen Xia's transparent pupils flickered as he shook his head and said, "You still haven't been able to prove your sincerity."
Although the woman had said so much, who knew whether it was true or false?
This concerned Qingyue's future path, so Chen Xia absolutely could not let his guard down.
The upper half of the woman's body had already broken through the temporal confinement. Stroking her chin, she also seemed vexed as she pondered how she might prove herself. Suddenly, she laughed again.
"But you're all going to ascend eventually right? And by ascending to the immortal realm, you're destined to have to choose a sect. Otherwise, with your current strength, you would only be hunted by extraterritorial celestial demons."
"You and this young lady probably can't ascend together right? At most, you can suppress your cultivation for three hundred years before facing the Tribulation of the Infant Stage and ascending to the immortal realm."
"But it's hard to say for this young lady. She's cultivating my Ninth Mountain's Profound Chaos Dao Chapters. Her progress was slow to begin with. If she remains in this small world lacking in spiritual energy and fortune, it would take at least five hundred years for her to form her Yuan Ying."
The woman paused, as if a thought had occurred to her. The corners of her veiled mouth pulled back in a mysterious smile as she continued.
"If you've already ascended, this small world's fortune wouldn't be able to support another Yuan Ying ascension. So what would become of this young lady?"
"She might just live out her life and die of old age. That sounds like a decent outcome, but whether it's truly good or not, only she herself would know."
If Chen Xia ascended, then Qingyue might never see him again.
This would not be a good outcome for either of them.
Chen Xia's toes pressed against the ground, sending rippling waves through the pale surroundings. The frozen flow of time around them actually exhibited the shocking phenomenon of reversing!
The woman's eyes lit up as she exclaimed in a much more solemn tone, "If not for your lack of fortune, my Ninth Mountain would definitely want you. What a pity, such a pity. Your current insights into the Grand Dao of time have already reached the entry level. Your future accomplishments would be at least at the level of a quasi-sage."
Chen Xia frowned. "What exactly does it mean to be a person without fortune?"
The woman spread her hands and smiled. "There's nothing that can be done about it. You simply lack fortune and opportunity. You cannot be calculated by the Heavenly Dao. Everything depends on yourself."
Listening to this, Chen Xia's frown only deepened. The reversed flow of time began to slow. "From how you describe it, being without fortune doesn't seem like a bad thing."
"No." The woman held up a hand in front of her and swayed it as she corrected him with a smile.
"To be without fortune is a bad thing. Because you're not recognized by the Heavenly Dao, you cannot become a quasi-sage, much less walk the path to become an Emperor. At most, you can cultivate to the Firmament realm your whole life."
"It's like a cup. Other people's limit is a full bucket, but because of various reasons, they are unable to completely fill it."
"But your limit is only half a bucket. No matter how you try to fill it, no matter what methods you use, you can only reach half full."
"You're on a dead-end path."
Now Chen Xia understood why all those immortal sects didn't want a person without fortune like him.
But for Chen Xia, this shortcoming didn't matter. His strength didn't come from cultivation anyway. Cultivation level was just a bonus. Having a higher level was better, but lacking it didn't impact anything.
The woman raised two more fingers and continued, "Secondly, a person without fortune will influence the fortune of those around them, and this influence is mostly negative. In my thirty thousand years of life, I've never seen it have a positive impact."
"Therefore, the various sects dislike people without fortune and won't accept them as disciples."
Chen Xia already knew this bit of information, so he wasn't too surprised to hear it now. If it came down to it, he could just add points to his cultivation by himself. This wasn't a big deal.
But right now they were discussing Qingyue's matters.
So he asked another question.
"What treatment would Qingyue receive after going to your Ninth Mountain?"
The woman had completely broken through the temporal confinement. Her jade-like soles stepped down from the backs of the two young attendants as she smiled and replied,
"With the aptitude of a quasi-sage, she would certainly become the mountain lord's closed-door disciple. In the future after becoming a quasi-sage herself, she could become a mountain lord like me."
"You're a quasi-sage?" Chen Xia was a bit surprised.
The woman's feet landed on the ground. Her finger gently tapped at the air in front of her, and the reversed flow of time suddenly froze, even showing signs of resisting Chen Xia.
"I'm not a quasi-sage yet, just at the peak of the Firmament realm. I could also be called half a step into quasi-sagehood. But because my own combat power is so formidable, I was able to become a mountain lord early."
The woman explained as she slowly walked toward Chen Xia and continued,
"I'm actually very interested in you. How about you suppress yourself to the Golden Core realm and exchange a few moves with me, so you can see what real, heaven-born divine abilities look like."
Chen Xia raised a brow. He wasn't about to stand on ceremony either, directly rolling up his sleeves to retort,
"Even Yuan Ying isn't enough for me to look at, much less Golden Core?"
The corners of the woman's mouth curled up in arrogant amusement. "This is a peerless Golden Core you know."
She took a heavy step forward. Time flowed swiftly, blurring the surroundings as if entering a chaotic domain.
"Additionally, I'll use some divine abilities that don't belong at the Golden Core level, but their might is absolutely within the Golden Core realm."
Chen Xia had rolled up both sleeves, looking at the woman with an odd expression as he kindly advised,
"I think it would be better if you used your Yuan Ying abilities."
"Why?" The woman frowned, extending a hand to tap in front of her. Time flowed forward and gathered around her in a defensive spell formation.
With this formation, Chen Xia could no longer reach her current self. He could only strike her future or past selves.
But that was irrelevant to the present situation. It would merely dissipate into the non-existent space-time.
Chen Xia's left foot stepped forward, shattering the ground. His fists rose up, radiating ostensible punching intent wrapped in flickering cyan-green light - the power of heaven and earth drawn upon.
He replied,
"Because I'm a Colored Core."