The Twisted Time Domain was equivalent to extra cultivation time, and was extremely precious.
For those students who wanted to contend for the [True Spirit of Phoenix Egg] and increase the strength of their talents, these two days were especially important.
When they realized the Twisted Time Domain was in effect, they immediately took action and rushed straight toward the teaching halls.
Chi Zhilei, Shaojun, Du Lingwei and the others did the same.
They greeted Jiang He briefly, then hurriedly left to find suitable classrooms.
Instead, Yunyang was a step slower. He deliberately waited until the others left, then blocked Jiang He's path.
He threw down a line: "Jiang He, you won this round. The next one, I will take back!" Then, turning on his heel, he left with his head held high.
This left Jiang He feeling rather awkward.
"Understand it, kids are like this."
Old Jiang stood to the side, smiling as he said: "Decades later, after the collapse of the Council system, when humanity's survivors barely clung to life under the Exotic Beast Rampages… in that kind of environment, there were even villains who attacked their own kind."
"Compared to them, this kid is still quite cute."
"..."
Jiang He truly could not understand Old Jiang's definition of cute.
Maybe this was just how centenarians thought.
That aside.
"Isn't this the Twisted Time Domain? How did you get in too?!"
The Twisted Time Domain released by Zhong Honglian clearly had a specific screening mechanism, which was why it could be maintained.
Yet Old Jiang had not been forcibly excluded. Instead, he stayed inside the Twisted Time Domain, and even the distortion of time still worked for him.
This was obviously unreasonable.
At this, Old Jiang smiled happily.
"I am the 'Observer.'"
In other words: I'm cheating.
These X-rank Heroic Spirits were all more abnormal than the last.
That raised the question—would there be Super X-rank Heroic Spirits in the future?
Suppressing the urge to complain, Jiang He wandered around the school once.
Clearly, when people rebuilt Central State First High, they had not intended it as a training camp. It had only been requisitioned for that purpose today.
Thus, the ordinary class teaching buildings still stood within the school.
Carrying an indescribable feeling, Jiang He returned to his old reconstructed classroom, sat down at his former seat, reminisced for a few seconds, then pulled out a jade bottle from his pocket.
[True Spirit of Phoenix Egg]
The S-rank resource everyone dreamed of, that could increase the strength of one's talent, had already fallen into his hands!
Though Jiang He was not sure whether it would work on the [Ferryman of Time]…
But since it was already his, could he possibly hand it over to someone else?
Jiang He pulled open the stopper. Tilting the jade bottle, a speck of golden light slipped out of the mouth and instantly merged into his palm.
The next moment, an invisible power surged into his body, like a golden phoenix charging straight toward his consciousness.
Struck by the golden phoenix, Jiang He's consciousness suddenly soared up, leaving his body.
In that instant, it was as though he had crossed the boundaries of time and space, standing in an unknowable place, before his eyes countless beams of light gathered together, forming a towering great tree.
No—not as though.
His consciousness truly had crossed the boundaries, arriving here!
At this moment, the great tree composed of endless time resembled a giant willow, lowering two fine branches before him.
Jiang He felt that he could move, so out of curiosity, he extended his consciousness to touch one of them.
In an instant, he seemed to cross time and space, seeing a death-withered planet shrouded in gray mist, seeing endless people kneeling, seeing giant stones like tombstones.
And before one such stone, stood a white-haired youth, eyes lowered.
Sensing something, the white-haired youth lifted his gaze, as though meeting Jiang He's eyes.
"..."
The next instant, Jiang He's consciousness was bounced away, returning before the great tree.
Was he kicked offline, or had the time run out?
Jiang He was confused.
He felt he still had energy left, so he touched the other willow branch.
This time, once again crossing time and space, he saw a near-declining planet, saw a colossal beast like a mountain, saw Old Jiang battling the beast, and countless scenes of him leading people in search of a new home.
Clearly, Old Jiang had not been lying.
But as countless time scenes flashed by, Jiang He's consciousness slightly paused.
In many of those scenes, Old Jiang was not in the form of a slovenly middle-aged man. He looked mature, handsome, and was extremely close with a woman.
Together, they fought beasts shoulder to shoulder, fled side by side, she dragged him to cut his hair and shave, they tried on clothes in ruined streets, watched broken-screen films in half-collapsed cinemas, and scurried through camps amidst others' laughter…
In those scenes, Old Jiang's expressions were rich—smiling, angry, teasing, complaining. Far more than just smiling.
Until, in one blood-soaked scene of a survivor camp trampled by beasts, amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, lay a body fallen in the pool of red.
Old Jiang buried the people, put on her scarf, and erected a stone stele.
[Leaving my past behind here.]
After that scene, Old Jiang's face wore only a smile.
The next moment, Jiang He's consciousness was bounced off again, detached from the great tree.
When he opened his eyes, he was still sitting in the classroom. Everything he had just seen was like a dream.
Could that have been… Old Jiang's lost memories?
"Not bad. I thought it might be useless, but unexpectedly the [True Spirit of Phoenix Egg] really strengthened your talent."
"Looks like this wasn't a 'change,' but truly absorbed nourishment and grew…"
Old Jiang's face was full of smiles as he curiously asked: "Sense your talent. What's changed?"
"..."
Change?
I just peeked into your past—does that count as change?
Jiang He hesitated, but did not speak of what he had just experienced.
Even though those were Old Jiang's lost memories…
Since he had chosen to forget, helping him recall them might not be a good thing.
After all, Jiang He could not change anything. To say it aloud would only stab Old Jiang's heart.
But then again…
That woman, who had been so close with Old Jiang, why did she look a little like Chi Zhilei?
Jiang He, however, had no strange thoughts about it.
After experiencing both White Crane and Old Jiang, he had gradually realized that wives in future timelines did not mean much in relation to the present him.
If anything, since the future held infinite possibilities, then his future wives were also infinite… who could bear that?
So the faint fancy he had once harbored toward Du Lingwei because of White Crane had already faded considerably.
When Jiang He recalled this matter, he only worried whether Old Jiang, upon seeing Chi Zhilei, might be triggered into regaining memories.
That would be too tragic.
Jiang He cast Old Jiang a sympathetic look, then felt out his own talent—and his expression lit up.
There really was a change!
The golden card representing White Crane was shining much brighter, as though more than halfway charged.
It wouldn't be long before he could perform a second summoning!
Moreover, the cards of both White Crane and Old Jiang now revealed more information.
[White Crane: Energy-level X, Talent: Excellent, Profession: Excellent, Skill: Medium, Endurance: Medium, Equipment: Poor.]
[Old Jiang: Energy-level X, Talent: Extremely Poor, Profession: Excellent, Skill: Extremely Excellent, Endurance: Excellent, Equipment: Medium.]
This was the [Ferryman of Time]'s comprehensive assessment of different Heroic Spirits.
The ratings ranged from Extremely Excellent, Excellent, Medium, Poor, to Extremely Poor.
Among them, White Crane's evaluation was rather average—not even a single "Extremely."
Unlike Old Jiang, who had "Extremely Poor" in Talent, but "Extremely Excellent" in Skill—definitely a technical-type Heroic Spirit.
As for the Equipment column, it seemed that due to Jiang He's insufficient strength, the Heroic Spirits he summoned could not materialize the transcendent items they had owned in the future, and could only appear as bare Heroic Spirits.
There was still a lot of room for his talent to grow.
"White Crane's Word-Spirit talent is an S-rank universal talent, yet it was only rated Excellent?"
"Then just how powerful would the truly Extremely Excellent talents in various future timelines be?"
Jiang He marveled, his face glowing with joy.
After consuming the S-rank resource, the strength of his talent had indeed increased greatly.
Next time he revealed the future, he might not even need to summon a Heroic Spirit—he could directly know the overall situation of the future!