Age of Evolution

Chapter 526: Chapter 527: 3 Years Later

“Ye Hua, I’m very pleased with your recent hard work. Your progress is impressive, and I believe it won’t be long before you advance to the World King level,”

His voice sounded like the grating of metal, extremely harsh to the ear.

Ye Hua raised his head, looking at his father, the Mechanical World King.

The Mechanical World King only had one son, Ye Hua, who he fathered over eighty years ago. In his quest to reach the ultimate in battle prowess, the Mechanical World King had abandoned his original body and replaced it with a mechanical one.

At first, it was only an ultimate-quality Artifact metal fist, but when he found the metal fist very useful, he replaced both his hands with high-quality Artifacts.

Later, unsatisfied with the lethality of his feet, he replaced them with metal Artifact replacements.

Not long after, feeling that his body’s protective defenses were lacking, he began a major transformation. His skeleton, veins, skin, and internals were all replaced with the best materials.

Finally, even his teeth and skull were replaced. Now, only his brain, Spiritual Consciousness Sea, and Dantian were truly his; the rest of him was machine.

As a result, he even lost his ability to reproduce, and so Ye Hua remained his only child.

However, due to his superior physical form, he surpassed most other World Kings to rank among the powerful ones.

His body was practically a mechanical construct, and while he looked human on the outside, he was essentially a robot with only a brain consciousness.

Although he ranks among the powerful ones as a World King, he realized that while this imposing body afforded him immense combat power, it also lost him the opportunity to continue advancing.

Hence, the Mechanical World King poured all his energy into Ye Hua, giving him the best training and resources from a young age.

If a World King-level expert devoted all effort to a single person, it would be extremely terrifying. No other World Kings could do this, for in the vast universe, each World King has a long life, many wives, and a large family.

They had so many sons they could hardly remember them all. Only the ones who stood out were worth their attention. The rest of their sons weren’t much different from ordinary children.

As for grandchildren and great-grandchildren, they were lucky if they could remember their names. Once a family had many branches, it could easily comprise tens or hundreds of thousands of people, given their long lives.

In this context, Ye Hua was extraordinarily lucky!

Ye Hua looked respectfully at the Mechanical World King. “Father, it’s only right that I work hard. Otherwise, I would be letting your efforts go to waste.”

The Mechanical World King laughed, his voice grating. “Hehe! Don’t try to flatter me. I know all about you. Isn’t it just that you’re feeling pressured by your romantic rival and sensed a crisis? But I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing. Under my care, you’ve never faced any setbacks from a young age. Although you’re smart, you lack experience. This is not good for your growth.”

“Yes, Father. This Lin Zhen… is putting a lot of pressure on me. I find him incredibly threatening. I mean, he hasn’t even reached the Black Hole Device yet, but his combat power is already near the Star System Middle Stage. Deep down, I’m somewhat intimidated by him… I’m afraid that if he breaks through this time, he’ll certainly come back for his revenge.”

The Mechanical World King nodded. “This Lin Zhen you speak of is indeed impressive. He must have some secret, otherwise it would be impossible for a Constant Star Stage to challenge a Star System Stage, let alone the middle stage.”

“But you must not be overly self-deprecating. You are only eighty years old, yet you’ve already reached the Tier Nine Star System. Under my guidance, you definitely have a chance to advance to the World King level before you turn one hundred. This would be unprecedented in the history of our Fire Kirin family.”

“As for Lin Zhen, consider him your first real opponent. You had feelings for Feng Qingluan, but Lin Zhen defeated you in that aspect, which left a shadow in your heart. If you want to resolve this, you must defeat Lin Zhen in future battles. Then, I’m sure you’ll soar to new heights.”

Ye Hua nodded. “Yes, Father, I feel that whether I can advance to the Star Domain Realm or not depends on Lin Zhen. I have a strong desire to kill him in my heart. But I don’t know if he can survive this bout with the Insect Clan?”

“If you feel like doing it, then do it. If he can’t get past the Insect Clan, then he isn’t worthy of being your opponent. Always remember, you have your father with you. As my only son, there is no one in the entire Empire that your father wouldn’t dare to provoke. This is your advantage, and you should be aware of it!”

Ye Hua nodded, feeling his heart pulse with strength. With a father like this, he need not fear anyone!

It had almost been four years since he entered the Suspended Island.

Lin Zhen hadn’t expected comprehending the Time Law to be so challenging.

This was particularly noticeable when he entered the ninth row. Lin Zhen experienced firsthand the difficulty of comprehending the Time Law.

Time acceleration, Time Deceleration, Time Stillness, and Time Retrogradation were the four stages of the Time Law.

Previously, Lin Zhen had seen a fair number of people passing the Time Law Heaven Stele, leading him to think initially that it wasn’t particularly difficult. However, upon reaching the ninth row, Lin Zhen understood the reality.

Those who had passed within a year definitely hadn’t grasped the true essence of Time Stillness!

To harness Time Stillness, one first needed to comprehend the essence of Time Deceleration by a hundredfold!

In order to understand Time Deceleration by a hundredfold, one first needs to understand Time Acceleration by a hundredfold. Without meeting these preliminary conditions, you can still ascend to the tenth row, but the Time Stillness you’d command wouldn’t be truly still, but a super slow-motion effect that is less than a hundredfold decelerated time.

When a second of time stretches to a minute, human movements approach a standstill. It’s like watching a movie in slow motion, eight times slower, sixteen times slower; it’s super slow.

But sixty to seventy times, even eighty to ninety times slower, would bring you almost to a standstill.

In such a situation, nimble individuals could easily catch bullets, and the rest of the environment would be almost at a standstill.

However, this is still a deceleration of time, not a true standstill.

Once you do this, you will never have the possibility to comprehend standstill, meaning, you won’t be able to make time flow backwards later.

It could be said that the successes of predecessors were mostly false. To truly master time standstill is undoubtedly not something that can be achieved in a year or two of pondering.

Lin Zhen entered the ninth row in ten months, but after two years, he was still in the ninth row.

He even forgot about night and day, pouring all his body and mind into understanding the Time Law. Accelerating time a hundred times is not an easy task, and to meet this goal, Lin Zhen spent a year and a half!

This is under the condition of being aided by the Time Stone, without it, this goal would probably take eight or ten years to complete.

It took Lin Zhen a solid year and a half to achieve this goal.

To accelerate and decelerate time, you need the support of Star Power. Star Power is like the engine of a Martial Artist, the source of all means.

Currently, Lin Zhen’s Star Power level is barely able to achieve a hundredfold acceleration in a small space. This is, of course, a severely energy-draining skill. A hundredfold acceleration requires the support of a thousand Star Power, so it can’t be used lightly unless it’s a critical moment.

The comprehension of time deceleration consumed another year and a half. Merely fully understanding the hundredfold deceleration did not mean he could easily execute it.

Compared with time acceleration, the Star Power consumption of deceleration is double. Lin Zhen’s current strength is not even enough to decelerate time a hundredfold. After several years of ascetic practice, his Star Power has improved, reaching one thousand five hundred, but it can only slow time down seventy-fivefold at most.

A hundredfold deceleration would consume two thousand Star Power at once!

In regular battles, achieving a twenty to thirty times deceleration is already very useful.

Having comprehended the essence of hundredfold acceleration and hundredfold deceleration, Lin Zhen’s understanding of time standstill has finally reached a flawless achievement.

“I understand!”

Lin Zhen gently closed his eyes.

“The so-called standstill of time is to accelerate time a hundredfold first and then suddenly decelerate, by one hundred and onefold!”

“After applying these two laws one after another, a short-term force field is formed within your domain of Star Power, specifically within your sphere of influence. Since the deceleration effect is one more time than acceleration, time flow ceases, creating a field of standstill.”

“Within this range, time is at a standstill!”

“So having mastered a hundredfold deceleration is not enough, you need to master one hundred and onefold!”

Lin Zhen showed a relieved smile. He finally understood. Now, he had two things to do: one was to continue pondering to comprehend the essence of one hundred and onefold deceleration; the other was to ensure his Star Power was at least sufficient.

To stop time, you must first accelerate and then decelerate, requiring a Martial Artist’s Star Power level to at least reach three thousand.

And three thousand is just enough, after using time standstill, there wouldn’t be enough power left to unleash other deadly moves.

So, it must at least be over three thousand to make this move effective.

Lin Zhen’s current Star Power level is one thousand five hundred and one, and he needs to double it.

Leaving the stone pillar of the ninth row, Lin Zhen ascended the final pillar.

He would stand here to comprehend the one hundred and onefold time acceleration, and try to make further breakthroughs to increase his Star Power nature.

As for his realm, it has already reached the Peak of Level Nine at the Constant Star stage; there is hardly any room for improvement. Dark Star is still in the middle phase of the Mesozoic Era, even if it enters the late phase, it won’t give him three thousand Star Power.

The only way is to try breaking through to the Black Hole Stage!

Black Hole Stage is a major realm leap, and only this could allow Lin Zhen’s Star Power to have a significant increase. Lin Zhen has always been reluctant to attempt the breakthrough because he felt his strength was insufficient.

However, now, Lin Zhen feels it’s about time to give it a shot.