Yun Jin stopped immediately, hugging An Tong with a face full of emotion. "So there's already a solution? An Tong, you really are my precious baby."
An Tong took a moment to compose himself before speaking. "Young Master, there's something I don't know if you're aware of. The flow of time in this pocket dimension is actually different from the real world."
Yun Jin blinked. "Is it? It always felt synchronized to me."
She had entered and exited the Wushuang Sect several times, and the time had always matched up perfectly.
An Tong explained, "At first, yes, the time flow was different. But back in the day, Master obtained an immortal artifact. With that artifact and Master's profound abilities, he was able to adjust the time flow of this dimensional space. Now, the time flow between inside and outside is synchronized.
But... Master also preserved the original flow of time. He sealed fragments of that time within a specific room in this dimension, suppressing them with her divine abilities. Time laws are beyond the reach of cultivators in this world, so Master couldn't fully comprehend them either. He simply left the fragments there. Because of these time fragments, the room has retained the original time flow of this space."
Time fragments.
Yun Jin's brows shifted ever so slightly.
Though they hadn't been comprehended, the fact that her mysterious and terrifying master had managed to capture and suppress something like this... it was honestly a bit terrifying.
She found herself growing curious.
Just how unimaginably powerful was her master?
"So what's the time flow like in that room with the time fragments?" Yun Jin asked.
Let's say...
One hundred years inside equals a single day outside.
Perfect. That would be manageable.
Give her a hundred years in seclusion, and she could come out invincible.
An Tong held up three fingers.
Yun Jin's eyes lit up. "Three hundred years inside, one day outside?"
An Tong's expression twitched.
"Thirty years inside, one day outside?"
An Tong swayed, as if about to fall over. Before Yun Jin could keep guessing, he cut her off.
"It's three hundred days inside, one day outside!"
"Three hundred days?" Yun Jin looked disappointed. She had been hoping for at least three years.
Seeing Yun Jin's face fall, An Tong ground his teeth. "Young Master! What kind of expression is that? Do you know how rare this kind of temporal anomaly is? In this entire world, nowhere else has something like this! Go ask any of the four Holy Lands. Forget possessing it—they've probably never even heard of it!"
"Yes yes, our An Tong is the greatest," Yun Jin said, patting his head. Then she added, "Shan Dian will take another three days to reach the capital. Let's do this—open that room for three days. If I go in now, I can train for about three hundred days."
Three hundred days would be enough to convert all her Emotional Value into actual power.
She didn't know exactly what level of cultivation she'd reach afterward, but it was bound to be significant.
"Three days?" An Tong immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum. "To enter that room safely, the time fragments must first be fed with time-space stones. Only then will they remain calm. Otherwise, if time goes berserk, the consequences could be catastrophic. Master did leave behind a few time-space stones, but even using all of them will only keep the room stable for one day.
In other words, Young Master can train for a maximum of three hundred days. After that, you must exit promptly. Otherwise, you could get swept into a temporal maelstrom. No one can predict what might happen then."
Three hundred days...
Her time had shrunk even further.
But this time, Yun Jin didn't dwell on it. She nodded decisively.
"Let's go with that. An Tong, help me prepare a few more things."
She tossed him a jade slip.
An Tong scanned its contents.
It was a list of ore names.
He immediately understood. "Young Master, you're planning to reforge Tai'a Sword?"
Yun Jin nodded. "My current strength has outgrown Tai'a Sword's grade."
Since she still had Emotional Value to spare, she had already exchanged for all the materials required to upgrade Tai'a Sword to perfect five-star.
She already had a decent stockpile from materials Cang Li had gifted her, plus her own daily collection, and those gathered by her senior brothers—especially Third Senior Brother, who had obtained more from the Yu family.
But even so, the materials needed for a five-star upgrade were considerable, and she was still missing quite a few.
An Tong thought for a moment. "There are some stored in the sect, but not enough. You should ask Shan Dian."
"Shan Dian?" Yun Jin raised an eyebrow.
An Tong chuckled. "Minerals on land are often claimed and mined by humans, so they're harder to find. But out in the boundless ocean, across the endless sea islands, there are plenty of rare resources and no competition. Shan Dian is a lazy one—he doesn't actively search for materials—but over the past thousand years, he's devoured quite a few enemies. He's probably picked up some spoils along the way. I bet among them are items you could use."
Yun Jin immediately reached out to communicate with Shan Dian.
A moment later, Shan Dian's muffled voice rumbled through the air. "Young Master means those pieces of trash?"
Yun Jin froze. "Trash?"
Shan Dian sounded aggrieved. "Yes. Those bad people hid junk on them on purpose. When I swallowed them, I accidentally ate the junk too. Most of it I've worked hard to digest, but some of it just won't break down, no matter what. It's a pain."
Yun Jin asked cautiously, "Why don't you toss that trash in here? Let me take a look?"
"Young Master, that stuff's no fun at all. Some are super tough, some even poisonous. If I throw them over, won't they hurt you? Don't worry about me. I'll manage on my own." Shan Dian sounded touched.
His mistress was just too kind.
She must be worried the junk was too hard for him to digest, so she offered to help.
But Shan Dian was a dependable spiritual beast. He couldn't let his mistress tire herself for his sake.
Yun Jin fell silent for a moment. "It's fine. I think I can handle it."
After she repeatedly reassured him, Lightning finally spat out a piece of purple stone and tossed it into the secret realm.
Yun Jin stared at it, stunned.
This... is the so-called trash???
Wasn't this an eighth-tier ore—Purple Orchid Venomstone?
One of the most valuable materials for poison attributes.
The stone clearly had been partially digested, pitted and uneven from Shan Dian's efforts.
Yun Jin slowly turned to look at An Tong.
An Tong was just as dumbfounded.
He scrambled to explain, "Young Master! I didn't expect him to actually digest the ores! I thought he stored them somewhere!"
If he'd known...
He would have said something!
A thousand years. A whole thousand years!
How much treasure had Shan Dian digested over all that time?
And what made it worse—he hadn't even benefited from it. Each time he tried, he looked like he was in pain.
If they had known earlier...
They would've handled this "trash" themselves.