Xiao Family Village, Xiao Ye's Home
In the main hall, Xiao Yang and Luo Meilan sat with worried gazes fixed on the tightly closed door. It had been two hours since Xiao Ye returned from the village chief's home, and he had barricaded himself in his room.
"Sigh… Ye'er may appear strong, but this blow has wounded him too deeply," Xiao Yang murmured.
His son's feelings for Liu Yiyi were clear to him.
"Brother Yang, our son will recover," Luo Meilan comforted, her voice steady.
Inside the room, Xiao Ye sat on the bed, his mind in turmoil. Memories of Liu Yiyi pierced his heart like shards. Years of devotion, crushed by reality. Could a childhood bond fade so easily?
Her face flashed in his mind—first tender and affectionate, then cold and unyielding.
*Pain. Relentless, suffocating pain.*
He had held it together at the village chief's home, but now, alone, the dam broke. He clenched his teeth to stifle a groan, even as blood seeped from the corners of his mouth. His fingers dug into his chest, as if physical agony could drown the emotional torment.
*Slurp.*
A glob of blood dripped to the floor.
Xiao Ye's face contorted. The humiliation, the forced kneeling—vengeance burned hotter than his wounds. He wanted to crush Zhao Qian, the arrogant youth who had humiliated him. To make all who looked down on him kneel in turn!
"But my strength…" His hands trembled.
Zhao Qian was a *Xiantian* Realm cultivator, groomed by the Chongyang Sect. Xiao Ye was a nobody, barely scraping into the *Houtian* Realm. The chasm between them was impassable.
*Unbearable.*
Fury flared. He hurled himself into a series of *Fierce Tiger Fist* strikes, each blow echoing like a thunderclap. The more he fought, the faster his heart raced—until it thundered, erratic and violent.
*No… not again!*
The strange illness that had plagued him before—its warning signs were here. His heart felt like it might burst.
*Let it come.* If the illness accelerated his cultivation, so be it. Desperation fed his resolve.
But this time, the pain eclipsed all else. His body convulsed, and darkness swallowed him.
*
In the void, a spire of radiant light erupted from his chest.
*"I am the Lord of Time, worshipped by billions… yet even I fall to the cycles of heaven."*
A voice, ancient and mournful, echoed through the emptiness.
Who—?
Xiao Ye tried to look, but saw only shadows.
*"The Tower of Time bears fragments of my temporal laws. Mortal, your fortune is rare."* A mist-shrouded figure emerged, merging into Xiao Ye's body.
*
Memories flooded him.
The *Tower of Time*, forged by the Lord of Time, had five tiers:
- First Tier: Time flowed ten times slower.
- Second Tier: Twenty times slower.
…
- Fifth Tier: Fifty times slower.
But the Lord's origins remained a mystery.
*The Myriad Treasures Continent… such a treasure exists?* Xiao Ye marveled.
A *Xiantian* cultivator, the Tower's creator—this was beyond anything he'd ever imagined.
Yet hope blazed brighter. If he trained for ten days in the First Tier, only a single day would pass outside. With such an advantage, even Zhao Qian's lead could be overtaken.
*But the higher tiers require strength.* The Second Tier demanded the *Xiantian* Realm.
"Unthinkable," Xiao Ye growled. "But if this illness was caused by the Tower… then it's no curse."
He clenched his fists. *Zhao Qian, wait for me.*
*
Meanwhile, in Xiao Family Village…
The village chief, Xiao Tianxiong, stood motionless before Xiao Ye's bed. A month had passed since Xiao Ye's scream echoed through the village.
"He still doesn't wake?" Xiao Tianxiong's voice was grim.
"No. The physician says his injuries are minor, but his mind… it's as if he's trapped in a deep slumber," Xiao Yang replied, his face gaunt with exhaustion.
The village mourned its fallen prodigy. At fourteen, Xiao Ye had reached the Ninth Tier of Body Refining—a feat unheard of. Now, he lay motionless, a shell of his former self.
"Damn that Xiao Ba!" Xiao Tianxiong muttered.
But the true threat loomed closer. Xiao Ba, the village's hunting chief, had returned from the Beast Forest with a gift: *Serpent's Blood*, a rare elixir to boost a Body Refiner's breakthrough.
"Useless now," Xiao Ba sneered, his eyes lingering on Xiao Ye's motionless form. "The blood is mine."
Xiao Yang's rage boiled over. "You'll never take it from my son!"
"Hmph. My son, Xiao Teng, has also reached the Ninth Tier. He deserves this blood far more than a corpse," Xiao Ba retorted.
The village chief's fist clenched. "A month. If Ye'er wakes not by then, the blood goes to Xiao Teng."
As the door slammed shut, Xiao Yang sank to his knees.
*Wake up, Ye'er…*
*
On Xiao Ye's chest, a faint glow pulsed—a miniature spire, ancient and inscrutable.