Chapter 161 – Space Traversal and Time Freeze

Qian Renxue couldn't figure it out, so she stopped thinking about it. Instead, she focused on analyzing Ning Fengzhi's next move.

The first step—spreading the truth about her identity—was already in motion. What came next would be confirmation of that identity. When that happened, Xue Xing and the greedy nobles would undoubtedly rise in rebellion to oppose her rule.

Qian Renxue wasn't afraid of people like Xue Xing. Right now, there were thirteen Titled Douluo stationed in Heaven Dou City from Spirit Hall alone. Among them, six were elder enshrined protectors who had watched her grow up, all with cultivation levels over Rank 96. If Xue Xing dared make a move, he'd be reduced to ashes in seconds.

What really worried her was the lack of control over the military. Once her true identity was confirmed, the entire Heaven Dou Empire would descend into chaos—and without control of the military, she wouldn't be able to suppress the unrest.

At that point, the four kingdoms subordinate to Heaven Dou would definitely take action, seizing the opportunity to try and take over. Especially the Balak Kingdom, with its powerful military—there was no chance they would sit this out.

And then there was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Their overall strength was simply too great. Chen Xin had definitely reached Rank 99, Gu Rong was at Rank 98, and Ning Fengzhi was the continent's first auxiliary-type Titled Douluo. With him supporting them, Qian Renxue didn't even want to imagine just how terrifying Chen Xin and Gu Rong's full strength might be.

"Grandpa Golden Crocodile, what should we do next?" she asked after a long pause, her eyes turning to the elderly man sitting nearby.

Golden Crocodile Douluo had lived longer than Qian Daoliu—he was the oldest living member of Spirit Hall, with immense experience and life wisdom. Surely, he had a solution for this crisis.

Hearing Qian Renxue's voice, Golden Crocodile slowly opened his eyes, a trace of helplessness in them. Even he found her current situation baffling. Who would have thought that a Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, who had played the role of Crown Prince for more than ten years, barely held any military power? Nearly all of it was in the hands of Marshal Ge Long.

He truly wanted to ask: "What were you doing all these years?!"

Enduring is fine, but this was too cautious—so afraid of taking risks, so obsessed with playing it safe, that now they were facing an even bigger crisis.

"Sigh…" Golden Crocodile let out a soft sigh and looked at Qian Renxue. "First, you have to control the flow of public opinion. Delay the confirmation of your identity as long as possible. After that, you must seize control of the military. Send someone to kill Ge Long and the key generals, then replace them with our own people."

"Grandpa Golden Crocodile, isn't that a bit risky?"

"We're already at this point—not taking the risk is the greater risk! Your top priority is to take control of the army. Even if your identity is confirmed and the entire empire falls into chaos, you can suppress it by force if you have the military on your side.

"To do that, Ge Long and the generals loyal to him are the biggest obstacles. They have to be eliminated. Once they're gone, the now leaderless troops—even if they're loyal to the empire—will weigh their personal interests. With Spirit Hall's overwhelming strength, they'll submit to the new order.

"As for the commoners—they don't care who's emperor. All they care about is whether they can eat and live well."

Golden Crocodile calmly laid out the current political situation, making it clear that Qian Renxue needed to act decisively.

With centuries of experience, he could see straight to the core of the problem: an emperor's throne is secured by strength—everything else is meaningless.

Qian Renxue had never been softhearted. She only favored caution. But in a true life-or-death moment, she understood what needed to be done.

So after hearing his analysis, her tone turned icy. "In that case, kill them all—Xue Xing, Xue Beng, and Xue Ke. Wipe out the Heaven Dou royal bloodline completely."

Golden Crocodile nodded in satisfaction. Now that's more like it. Only by severing the royal line can the throne be secured.

Inside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, Xu Yang paid little attention to what was happening in the Heaven Dou Empire. His overwhelming strength gave him unwavering confidence. At this point, he believed he could face anything head-on.

In his private training room, Xu Yang sat cross-legged. He held two golden-red leg bones—the left and right leg bones dropped by the Golden Crow—and placed them across his legs. He began drawing in soul power to refine them.

With his current cultivation level and body strength, the two soul bones wouldn't offer much in terms of raw improvement. But the skills they granted were extremely valuable, making his combat arsenal much more versatile.

He was eager to see what kind of soul skills these bones would give him.

Thanks to his high-quality soul power and formidable spiritual strength, the refinement process was unusually smooth. In less than half a day, both soul bones were completely absorbed, and their inner soul skills revealed themselves.

Even with Xu Yang's calm demeanor, he couldn't help the grin tugging at the corners of his lips—one that was even harder to suppress than the recoil of an AK.

Both bones shared the same soul skill: Rainbow Transformation Technique. The ability was simple—envelop the entire body in rainbow-hued soul power, greatly boosting speed. If his soul power reached a high enough level, he could even approach the speed of light.

Of course, achieving light speed would likely require a God-level cultivation realm. But even so, Rainbow Transformation Technique was already one of the fastest movement skills on the continent.

But what really made Xu Yang's smile uncontrollable were the two additional soul skills granted by the bones:

Space Traversal and Time Freeze.

He decided to name them accordingly:

Left Leg Bone of Space Traversal,

Right Leg Bone of Time Freeze.

These abilities were exactly what their names implied—teleportation across space and freezing time within a certain area.

Xu Yang had never expected to gain soul skills related to space and time. After all, the Golden Crow hadn't shown any signs of these powers during the battle.

But in his past life, legends of the Golden Crow did mention it having abilities tied to space and time.

In any system of power, the moment space and time come into play, things become extraordinary.

"Space reigns supreme. Time is sovereign."

That wasn't just a saying—against the forces of space and time, few could remain unbeaten.

Of course, Xu Yang couldn't use either skill recklessly. The energy cost was immense.

Space Traversal was manageable. Back when he was researching soul cores and the Golden Core, he had already sensed spatial fluctuations. He'd even used space to enhance some of his soul skills. With that background, he figured he could use it around a dozen times.

But Time Freeze was a different matter entirely. Without a true grasp of the laws of time, he could only use it twice with his current soul power — a limitation that alone demonstrated just how terrifying its energy consumption really was.

Even so, these two skills massively boosted his overall power.

Most importantly, they gave him access to the doorways of understanding time and space—offering him the chance to comprehend and master two of the most powerful forces in existence.

Xu Yang rose to his feet. The soul bones on his legs transformed into crimson-gold armor, wrapping around his limbs.

The moment the left leg lit up with golden-red brilliance—

Xu Yang vanished from the room.