Chapter 809: The Frozen Time River.
Shi Lang did not take out his battle suit as soon as he set off to his journey, but he moved with a black cloak around him. His speed was fast, he did not fly but maintained the ground approach. Since he was moving through unfamiliar surroundings, he wanted to avoid catching any eyes of the strangers.
His speed was not a problem, but the lack of cover made him understand the cruelty of cold weather. The north was frozen land, Shi Lang was circulating his spiritual energy to keep the temperature in check. He knew that the Parent sects have deployed arrays around the cities to regulate temperature for the people to live in but this place was really too cold.
The ground seemed to have frozen, Shi Lang did not mind it, but he could tell how hard this exploration was going to be. It took him two days to arrive at the frozen time lake. On the way, he did not find even a single high level spirit beast. The ones he found were Beast Lords and Beast soldiers. The leader of the area would be a Spirit Beast king. Not a threat for the humans, unless they provoke it.
Shi Lang looked at the river before him and he realized that the situation was indeed as the people named it to be. The time here did seem to have frozen up. The place trees in this region were bare of leaves, but they were glistening.
He approached a tree carefully and tried to scrap of some of its bark to analyze with the technological equipment Shi Tao bought over, however, his attempts did not bear any result. He tried many methods to scrap at the bark of the tree, but none of them worked at all. The Terran was astounded, he thought of something and moved away from the place.
He took out a fruit from his space ring, and placed it on the ground.
Shi Lang planned to observe the changes in the situation here. He watched it calmly a recorded the progress with a nano cam. The rapid cold caused the fruit to shrivel up and the water content inside it froze. The Terran nodded and then he placed another fruit next to the bare tree.
Something surprising happened, the fruit stayed the same even after seven hours. Shi Lang was surprised, he recorded the situation of the fruit before he placed it on the ground. The data scan showed that the result was the same.
He took out his mundane communicator and dialed for Amelia instantly. The lady picked up and asked, "What happened Lang? Are you okay, you are communicating on the federal communicator."
Shi Lang nodded and said, "Yes, I am fine, but something with this place is wrong, definitely wrong. Here, take a look."
He showed her the scenery through his camera, and told her what he found. His answer made Amelia surprised too. She said, "You do not worry, I will ask Master about it. She might be aware of what is going on in that place."
Shi Lang nodded and waited for her to come back with some knowledge. The reason the Terran was so concerned about this place was because it was related to Time. This was an element that not many knew much about. If space was the king, then Time was the emperor. If someone managed to comprehend Time laws, then he could be invincible.
Shi Lang was also concerned if he will meet any trouble when crossing this river. He wanted to be sure, because this trip was not for him. On the other hand, if this place was a location where he could have a chance to comprehend the laws of time, he did not mind trying his luck.
Whilst he was waiting he did not stay simply in the place, but observed the surroundings and collected the data by spending over his probes. He sat on the ground watching the telemetry data and he was in a daze.
The time for the probes placed next to or over the trees and the stones on the riverbank was hundred times slower than the normal time flow. The Dao Laws could effect the entire world, because they resonate with the smallest shred of spiritual energy embedded in existence.
The probes were made up of from natural and man-made elements. They were a part of the natural no matter how synthetic. The Dao Laws of time were effecting the probes. Shi Lang was amused and he began to think what time was in the first place. It was not an easy question to solve.
But what other things did he have to do? After two hours of clueless pondering, Amelia called back. Shi Lang saw her put on the grand elder on the screen who smiled genially at him.
The Terran greeted her and the lady said, "It was said that in the ancient times, a phoenix bird ruled the northern mountains. This bird was not a beast that represented fire, but it represented, life and reincarnation. Many people worshipped the beast, but one day someone set out to hunt the beast and almost bested it.
However, that nameless expert triggered the phoenix's rage, and the holy beast self destructed."
Shi Lang nodded and said, "So, if I am correct, the connection of life and reincarnation is directly related to the laws of time, and thus this place is effected by them."
The Grand Elder nodded and said, "Yes, that is how it is supposed to be. However, the source of these laws is not yet detected. None of the people who went to find the source have ever been able to locate it, and half of them did not come back."
Shi Lang nodded and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Grand Elder."
Amelia told him to not dwell on the issue for too long and get in to trouble. Shi Lang agreed but as soon as the call was disconnected, he took a quick scan of the area and took out his battle suit. He made a few eye movements and the detection system triggered the thermal imaging.
The technology level was so sophisticated that it could peer into the souls of people. Shi Lang began to look around. His motive was to scale the lengths of the river bank and find if he could find the source of origin. It was not going to be an easy task, but if he managed to reach the source then he might have a chance to comprehend something.
...
Shi Lang knew that the river divided the northern mountains into two regions by flowing from east to west. He guessed that since Phoenix was a beast with fire affinity then proceeding in the east gave him a better chance. His battle suit increased his speed by two times. His Immortal Emperor strength was boosted by the battle suit perfectly.
Shi Lang was a little worried about the input damage, but Amelia had made adjustments to some parts. The war maiden sect had a lot of skilled forgers there and they replaced the parts with the material from the immortal realm.
The ingenuity of this artifact was the design schematic. The Terran enjoyed pushing this machine to the limit as he advanced on his journey. He found that the biodiversity of this place was limited, and as he proceeded further it even became scarce. He could not even find a twig closer to the source.
After half a day of travel, he suddenly came to a stop. His sensors picked up something. Shi Lang found on the thermal monitor, a bunch of human heat signatures sitting on the ground. He frowned and decided to check the situation with a drone.
He patted on his right tight, and a drone cam popped up from his shoulder blade and flew forward. The connection of a spiritual neural link was amazing. Shi Lang looked around and the drone followed his thoughts while the live footage was broadcasted directly to his eyes in the suit.
Shi Lang was surprised to see that the heat signature was not a mistake, but there was indeed a person who was sitting crossed leg by the river. His posture was that of a cultivator, but the camera turned on the night vision and Shi Lang was surprised. The man did not close his eyes.
Shi Lang thought for a bit and decided to call back the drone. Then he tied a fruit under it, he was going to check the data for degradation and changes. If the data did not change in such a freezing cold then it was possible for the fruit to be in the range of the time laws. Shi Lang did not want to go near those spots and invite trouble for him.
He corrected the course of the drone many times and marked the regions where the time laws were in action. The river bank was not a walk in the park, the time law zones here were not just a few inches of them blanketing the dead trees and stones. The radius of the effective range was fluctuating and Shi Lang had to move through the maze.
On the way he found a lot of humans, sitting on the ground with their eyes open.
A sense of dread surfaced in Shi Lang's eyes, but he could not stop now.