time

Her consciousness fluctuated violently. She immediately cut off all her thoughts, but she still couldn't help vomiting blood.

"Senior Sister!" Nan Yi turned around and saw his senior sister vomiting blood. He panicked and quickly took out several pills from his spatial storage to give to his senior sister.

But Chu Li raised her hand to block it, and then wiped the blood from her lips. "I'm fine, but I need to meditate for a quarter of an hour. You keep watch over me."

The tremors in her consciousness subsided under her calming and recuperation, but the turmoil in her heart did not stop. She tried to stop thinking about those similar scenes and instead pondered what was wrong. She tried hard to see the scenes clearly, but this caused her consciousness to become unstable.

That scene... really resembled something she had personally experienced. Since she had previously suffered from memory loss, was this scene precisely within those missing memories?

It's very likely that something is inside her, suppressing her memories and preventing them from reviving—once this matter is over, go back and ask the sect leader; she should know something then.

When she opened her eyes again, Nan Yi immediately leaned over and rubbed his cheek against hers: "Senior sister, are you alright?"

"Hmm, it's nothing serious."

"That's good. We're almost at the whirlpool the boatman mentioned. We'll be a quarter of an hour away from the island."

Chu Li slowly walked out of the room and came to the front of the ship.

Many of the monks had lost their initial excitement and instead sat down by the side of the boat, chatting idly.

She gazed at the somewhat calm sea, but a sense of unease gradually arose in her heart.

Nan Yi stood to the side, gazing at the sea just like Chu Li. Then, his eyes widened slightly: "Senior Sister, is that it?"

As the ship approached, the previously blurry dot instantly expanded, revealing a small whirlpool in the path the ship was destined to take. The whirlpool wasn't large, but it was just big enough to completely envelop the ship.

The boatman was used to this. He had tried to go around the whirlpool before, but no matter how he changed his course, the whirlpool would always appear directly in front of the boat. He eventually gave up, since it didn't cause him any damage, and the boat itself wasn't damaged at all.

He drove through the vortex as usual, and after he did, he subconsciously looked back. Sure enough, all the cultivators on this trip had also felt something to varying degrees.

"Do you even know how to sail a boat?! You managed to make such a mess of such a tiny whirlpool!"

One of the cultivators, who had a fiery temper, spoke up directly, his hand constantly rubbing his forehead. It was strange, as he had never been seasick before, but this time he felt it so badly.

The boatman simply ignored the man's complaints. He had been sailing for many years and had seen a lot of the world, so how could he be intimidated by a few simple words?

Instead, he turned his gaze to the two people standing at the bow of the boat. The two had been standing there since the beginning, without moving an inch or making any other movements, as if they were simply admiring the sea.

But he didn't think so. He still remembered the young man who was standing next to him when the vortex was mentioned earlier.

Chu Li felt as if she was enveloped in a white expanse, and her consciousness sank into it in an instant. But in the blink of an eye, her vision cleared, and she was back in that familiar sea. The whirlpool she had seen earlier had disappeared.

"Junior brother, how do you feel?"

Compared to her, it took Nan Yi a few more seconds to recover. He carefully recalled the situation just now and said thoughtfully, "It felt a bit like seasickness, but the dizziness lasted only a few seconds. To be honest, it was also a bit like losing consciousness for those few seconds and not being able to perceive my surroundings."

Chu Li nodded. This situation was similar to hers, only the duration was different, but the duration might be related to one's cultivation level or physique.

Fifteen minutes later, the ship arrived at the island, which was an isolated island with no other islands in sight.

Meanwhile, in the sky to the east of the island, a halo appeared. The halo changed size with each breath, and anyone who saw it would immediately understand that it was the entrance to the Time Rift Realm.

Judging from the fluctuations at the entrance, the secret realm will likely open in the next couple of days.

Thinking of this, Chu Li suddenly paused. When she was in the sect, the sect leader had mentioned that the secret realm would not open for another month, but because he asked her to come as soon as possible, she only spent a little over ten days on the road.

Based on this calculation, there should still be at least half a month before the secret realm opens.

Could it be that this secret realm is showing signs of opening ahead of schedule?

This situation is not uncommon.

At this moment, Nan Yi tugged at Chu Li's sleeve, "Senior sister, look, isn't that the guy we met at the port? He said he wanted to wander around Time City some more, but he actually arrived earlier than us."

Chu Li's gaze followed the direction her junior brother pointed. She paused for a moment, realizing it really was the same person she had met before. However, she didn't want to delve into whether what the other person had said to her was true or false. In any case, it had little to do with her.

After Nan Yi finished speaking, he secretly glanced at his senior sister's expression. When he found that she didn't have any special expression, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his senior sister didn't treat these kinds of flirtings in any special way.

Time passed slowly, and whenever the halo in the sky fluctuated slightly, some cultivators would think that the secret realm was about to open and would stand up. But after a breath or two, they would realize that this was just a normal change.

As the day drew closer, some people became visibly anxious. The predicted three days had long passed, so why hadn't the secret realm opened yet?

If it had disappeared, that would have been fine, but the halo still hung high, leaving a glimmer of hope for everyone on the island.

The sun rose in the east and set in the west as usual, but even Nan Yi began to feel uncertain. He subconsciously looked at Chu Li, who gently shook her head at him, indicating that he should wait a little longer.

At one point, the sun reached its highest point, and invisible waves spread out from the sky, quietly enveloping everyone on the island.

Chu Li suddenly opened her eyes.

Nan Yi leaned against a low tree, rubbing her eyes: "Senior sister, what's wrong? Is the secret realm about to open? Didn't you say there were still three days left?"

The surrounding noise completely woke Chu Li up. She composed herself and asked, "Three more days?"

"Yes, didn't we just get off the ship? You just said that yourself."

Chu Li subconsciously looked up at the halo in the sky. The halo was flashing, and it did seem that it would take a few more days before it could be fully opened.

"Senior sister, isn't that the one we met at the port a few days ago?"

Chu Li glanced up indifferently, not taking it to heart, but for some reason, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. This inexplicable feeling prompted her to look at the person a few more times.

Seeing his senior sister's expression, Nan Yi vaguely sensed that something was wrong. He asked in a low voice, "Senior sister, is there a problem?"

Chu Li pursed her lips and shook her head. She did have a strange feeling in her heart, but she couldn't put her finger on what was strange. However, she did not ignore this rather strong feeling. The sixth sense of a cultivator is often not just a simple feeling.

This only shows that there is indeed something strange about this place.

But where exactly is it...?

"Junior brother, please protect me for a while, I'll give it a try."

Chu Li did not specify what she wanted to try, but Nan Yi agreed without hesitation.

Chu Li sat cross-legged and began to absorb the surrounding spiritual energy, which quickly circulated through the spiritual meridians in her body.

After a long while, she finally opened her eyes. Everything had gone smoothly, and she hadn't noticed any obstacles, but this only deepened her doubts.

She closed her eyes again, recalling the feeling of the spiritual energy passing through her just now, and then suddenly opened her eyes. Success was the biggest flaw!

The concentration of spiritual energy here is too high!

Because she spent most of her time within the sect, she had long been accustomed to the high concentration of spiritual energy. But this was the wilderness, surrounded by an endless ocean; how could spiritual energy possibly condense at such a high concentration?

Moreover, she had experienced the spiritual energy in Time City for a short while. Although the spiritual energy there was not exactly barren, it was certainly not abundant either.

Could this be another separate space?

If that's true, is it possible that they're already inside the secret realm?

"Junior brother, something's not right here." Chu Li didn't tell Nan Yi her guess yet. She wanted to hear how Nan Yi felt, worried that telling him her guess would affect his judgment.

"Senior sister, you also feel something's off?" Nan Yi hesitated for a moment, looked up at the sun hanging high in the sky, and then continued, "I feel that this sun... it looks a bit fake—"

As for what was wrong with it, Nan Yi couldn't quite put his finger on it. As someone who usually loved to sunbathe his foxes, he felt that the sunlight wasn't very comfortable on his skin. But he couldn't be sure if it was just his imagination or if the sunlight had changed because he was in a different place.

Nan Yi felt that his reasoning was still somewhat far-fetched, so he smiled gently at the woman.

"Could this be another dimension?" Chu Li murmured softly.

"Space? But Senior Sister, didn't we come to the Time Rift Realm? Shouldn't it be time?"

Upon hearing this last sentence, Chu Li almost instantly connected everything together.

Time, time, so that's how it is.

No wonder she always felt it was similar to space, yet at other times it didn't quite feel the same.

Time is a deeper dimension than space. More importantly, space is the foundation of time. When time changes, space also changes to some extent. Moreover, what they have come to this time is the Secret Realm of Time Rift, which is most related to the laws of time.

But she only realized it now.

Looking back now, it's possible that they entered the influence of the Time Rift Realm while passing through the whirlpools in the sea, which is why the realm opened earlier than expected. Meanwhile, those they thought would arrive late were already waiting on the island...

This is all because the secret realm altered time, causing those who arrived at the island at different times to enter the same time period, close to the opening of the secret realm, the moment they arrived.

The moment she understood everything, everything around her seemed to freeze for a moment. When she tried to speak to Nan Yi again, she found that he had turned to another place.

And in that place stood a phantom that looked exactly like her.

Chu Li was slightly taken aback, subconsciously looked around, and then her gaze was drawn to a shimmering grass.

The grass was growing quietly at the very bottom of the halo, but Chu Li clearly remembered that there was no such bright grass below the halo before.

The reason for her appearance at this moment is now obvious.

Chu Li first glanced back at Nan Yi before heading towards the grass.

Just a few steps away from the grass, several lines of text appeared above it with a "whoosh".

Chu Li glanced at it and fell silent for a few seconds.

The message above reads: "Ding ding ding! Congratulations on successfully entering the true Time Rift Realm! As long as you pass one, two, three... at the end, a surprising inheritance gift awaits you!"

Finally, a rather flamboyant red heart was drawn on top.

Chu Li: She deeply doubted that she had come to the wrong place.

A girl, about the size of a palm, with wings on her back, was perched above the words, her eyes shining as she looked at the woman in front of her.

She has amber! I can smell it!

However, Chu Li was different from the others before her. She did not step forward to enter the real secret realm, but instead took another step back.

The girl couldn't help but feel a little anxious. This was the holder of the Time Amber, and she absolutely had to enter the secret realm.

"Hey, aren't you coming in?"

Chu Li glanced around and saw no one speaking, so she guessed that the other party was hiding. Since the other cultivators did not react at all, the words were meant for her.

She vaguely sensed something from his somewhat urgent words: "I'll go later—there shouldn't be a time limit, right?"

"It's not that there's no chance, this is already the second round... If you're any later, you really won't be able to get in!"

The second round? Is that voice referring to the selection round outside?

Indeed, in Chu Li's view, this outermost time distortion is a large-scale screening process. Those who can sense the strangeness and discover that it is a time issue can truly enter the secret realm, while those who cannot discover it will probably be left outside in the end.

Thinking of this, she calmly continued to probe, saying, "I'll wait for my junior brother."

"Hey, what are you waiting for... Is the law of time not as powerful as your junior brother's?" The voice became somewhat exasperated. "Besides, there's no danger for him here."

Chu Li ignored him, instead turning around and walking towards her junior brother with her back to the grass.

"Hey, hey, don't be in such a hurry, really, what's going on?" the voice muttered to itself again, finally seeming to lose its temper, and said, "Didn't you all come together? Won't we still be linked together in the end..."

Chu Li raised an eyebrow, finally managing to spare a bit of attention to ask, "When can we be teleported together?"

The voice seemed to realize she had let something slip and quickly covered her mouth, making two "mmm" sounds. This was the content of the later levels, and she couldn't tell anyone in advance.

However, it didn't matter whether she answered the last question or not. Chu Li already knew the most important thing: once they arrived, she and Nan Yi could still be teleported together.

She thought for a moment and took out a small treasure from her space—Nan Yi hadn't brought much with him when he left in a hurry, so she wanted to give him one for self-defense.

The voice, as if unable to hold back, began to speak again: "You can't give it to him, you're in different times..."

But before she could finish speaking, her mouth slowly opened wide in shock—what had she seen? How could she have stuffed something into her mouth in the blink of an eye?

She sensed her surroundings again, somewhat incredulously—the area was indeed divided into two time zones, so how did she manage to do that?

She seemed to be thinking of something terrifying, and hurriedly shook her head, trying to shake the thought off, but the more she did so, the clearer the thought became.

This owner... can't really...

Just as Chu Li turned and walked towards the grass, at another moment, Nan Yi's expression gradually turned cold—a look he had never shown in front of his senior sister.

His dark eyes stared at the woman in front of him who looked exactly like Chu Li, and he said, "You are not my senior sister."