A silk scroll, densely covered with intricate markings, was spread across the ground. Lu Yuan sat cross-legged beside it, having entered the Diagram of Time.

Seeing Lu Yao enter his meditative state, Jian Ruhai also got busy.

He drew from his sleeve an instrument resembling a compass and placed it near Lu Yuan. The device whirred and changed ceaselessly. Jian Rudun asked, "Father, what is that?"

"You haven't had the chance to encounter it yet. This is a magical artifact of our Hidden Sword Sect, called the Chronometer, also known as the Clock of Time. It can measure precisely how many times the acceleration of time is needed for someone to impact the Third Heaven of the World Realm." Jian Ruhai explained, "Now, I will measure exactly how many times time acceleration Lu Yuan requires to attempt the Temporal Realm of the World Realm Third Heaven."

Jian Rudun watched from the side and couldn't help but sigh again. His father truly possessed quite an arsenal of magical treasures, all sorts of strange and varied items.

Jian Ruhai immediately began the measurement. After a long while, he finally sighed, "Not good."

"How is it not good?" Jian Rudun immediately inquired.

"One thousand times!" Jian Ruhai stated. "I just tested it. To attempt the World Realm Third Heaven, Lu Yuan needs to accelerate time by at least a thousand times. However, the highest recorded time acceleration within the Diagram of Time is four hundred times. It has never reached a thousand times. It seems we might fail this time."

Jian Rudun pressed further, "Is there any other method?"

"If we could leave Earth Dragon Star, we would have other options. If we can't leave, then there's nothing we can do," Jian Ruhai shook his head. "It seems our only recourse is the Turtle Breath Sword Shrink Grand Technique—hiding in some corner of Earth Dragon Star and hoping the ancestor of the Desolate Beast Gate doesn't notice us when he arrives. But that's relying purely on luck."

"As for the people from the Sword Gate, the Thousand Water Gate, and the Fire Control Gate—we cannot save them."

"Never mind. We still have ten days." Jian Ruhai said, "Let's hide in eight days. Whether we survive will depend on our karma."

Jian Ruhai shook his head helplessly, though he wasn't overly anxious.

What was the worst that could happen? Death? As the Sect Master of the Hidden Sword Sect, he had faced countless desperate situations. If he died, he died. Regardless, upon his death, the Hidden Sword Sect Master's token would fly to Zhou Qingxuan, designating the next Sect Master. He felt no fear whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan was deep within the Diagram of Time.

Lu Yuan, of course, was unaware that he needed a thousandfold time acceleration to impact the World Realm. The reason Jian Ruhai hadn't told him beforehand was likely to prevent Lu Yuan from feeling excessive pressure.

In the Diagram of Time, Lu Yuan's consciousness perceived the surroundings as densely packed with Chrono-Particles, colliding and surging forward.

Lu Yuan was lost in thought: How could he possibly accelerate time? This was clearly a major issue, yet no matter how hard he pondered, he couldn't figure it out.

After agonizing over this for a long time, Lu Yuan suddenly slapped his forehead—he was being an idiot.

Could he try observing how time slows down? He currently possessed the ability to delay time. Observing deceleration would make researching acceleration much simpler.

Lu Yuan immediately deployed the Iron Law of Time, causing time to slow. As the Iron Law of Time struck out, the Chrono-Particles around him became chaotic, bumping and crashing into each other. As a result, the flow of time naturally slowed significantly, and he finally understood how deceleration worked.

Simply put, if the Chrono-Particles were likened to carriages, and there were too many carriages in a confined passage, collisions would prevent forward movement, naturally slowing the pace. Time, therefore, slowed down.

This meant that to speed up time, one needed unobstructed traffic—carriages that didn't collide.

However, preventing carriages from colliding was simple; preventing millions of Chrono-Particles from colliding was far too difficult. Conversely, causing massive collisions among the particles to slow time was easier, because destruction is always simpler than construction, and chaos is easier to create than order.

Perhaps, he could disperse his consciousness, using it to drive these countless Chrono-Particles, causing them to collide less. Fewer particle collisions meant time would naturally accelerate. It was that simple. Immediately, Lu Yuan began to disperse his consciousness, driving the Chrono-Particles.

His consciousness spread across the Chrono-Particles, and time accelerated one-fold. This was achieved with effortless ease.

His consciousness spread across the Chrono-Particles, and time accelerated ten-fold. This was also easily managed.

Lu Yuan knew the task wasn't finished. This time, he needed to accelerate time by one hundred times. Urging the Chrono-Particles with his consciousness, he succeeded this time too, successfully achieving a hundred-fold time acceleration. However, he was already sweating profusely; a hundredfold acceleration was proving difficult.

Continuing on, Lu Yuan began his practice again, aiming for two hundred times acceleration. After exerting considerable effort, he finally succeeded. In truth, a normal Sword Dao genius mastering time acceleration via the Diagram of Time could only reach around one hundred or two hundred times. Achieving higher multiples was immensely, immensely difficult.

Next was three hundred times acceleration. Since Lu Yuan’s consciousness was already several times stronger than others at his level, he succeeded.

Four hundred times acceleration. Lu Yuan again began urging the Chrono-Particles to speed up time. This time, it took the strength of nine bulls and two tigers, but he managed it. Lu Yuan didn't realize this was the highest record ever achieved using the Diagram of Time; he had just reached the existing ceiling.

But it wasn't enough. Lu Yuan resumed his practice. Five hundred times acceleration—achieved! While sweat beaded on his forehead, Lu Yuan knew he had succeeded. He remained oblivious to the fact that he had just set a new record.

Six hundred times acceleration—successful again!

Seven hundred times acceleration—successful!

Eight hundred times acceleration—success.

But eight hundred times seemed to be his limit. Upon reaching this point, he could make no further progress.

Damn it!

Could he not advance further? Could he not achieve nine hundred times acceleration?

Damn it! Lu Yuan roared, but no matter how hard he urged his consciousness, he could not reach nine hundred times acceleration. Was this truly his limit? No, he couldn't accept defeat like this. Lu Yuan roared again, but immediately followed it with repeated failures.

Wait, it seemed this really was his limit. Unless he changed his method, he couldn't improve.

After resting briefly, Lu Yuan began devising a new approach. Driving the Chrono-Particles with consciousness was the limit, but what about an alternative method? As Lu Yuan pondered this, a new idea suddenly struck him. If this involved sword control, it might be easier for him. If he imagined the Chrono-Particles as sword energy, controlling them would be much simpler.

Chrono-Particles were naturally not sword energy.

But, if he believed they were sword energy, then they were sword energy.

All things under heaven and earth could be swords.

Bamboo, silk, stones, and streams—all could become swords.

Therefore, Chrono-Particles could certainly become sword energy.

With this deep consideration, a shift in perspective, and a sudden movement, the Chrono-Particles surrounding Lu Yuan seemed to transform.

"Ten thousand swords vibrate, ten thousand swords submit, all turn to my use!" Lu Yuan shouted, and after this transformation, he immediately used the method he had just devised to drive the Chrono-Particles that now seemed to have become sword energy.

Nine hundred times time acceleration—success.

One thousand times time acceleration—success, and it was simple, much easier than before.

One thousand five hundred times time acceleration—success.

Two thousand times time acceleration—success. Only upon reaching two thousand times did Lu Yuan begin to feel a noticeable difficulty, demanding considerable power.

Two thousand five hundred times time acceleration—success. This required intense mental focus.

Two thousand nine hundred times time acceleration—success!

Three thousand times time acceleration—success!

Upon reaching three thousand times acceleration, Lu Yuan felt his entire body turn weak and soft. He tried desperately to push for three thousand one hundred times, but failed repeatedly. Three thousand one hundred times acceleration seemed an impossibly difficult hurdle.

This must be his limit.

Lu Yuan also felt his body go limp. After a long pause, his consciousness rested for quite some time before gradually recovering. Only then did he allow himself to exit the Diagram of Time.

In the outside world, time had already reached the ninth day. Jian Ruhai commented, "It’s the ninth day. We probably need to wake Lu Yuan up. After all, the ancestor of the Desolate Beast Gate arrives in one day, and he needs half a day to practice the Turtle Breath Sword Shrink Grand Technique."

"However, the main target of the Desolate Beast Gate's ancestor is likely Lu Yuan. Even practicing the Turtle Breath Sword Shrink Grand Technique will be useless. The ancestor will surely hunt him across the entire world."

"Lu Yuan seems to have failed too," Jian Rudun said with regret. He had assumed someone of Lu Yuan's caliber wouldn't fail so easily, but it seemed they would lose this time as well.

Just as Jian Ruhai was about to reach out and call Lu Yuan, Lu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes.

"How many days?" Lu Yuan asked immediately upon opening his eyes.

"The ninth day," Jian Ruhai replied. "How many times can you accelerate time?"

"Three thousand times," Lu Yuan answered.

"What, three thousand times!" Jian Ruhai was nearly stunned speechless. "Say that again, three thousand times."

"Yes, three thousand times," Lu Yuan nodded.

Both Jian Ruhai and Jian Rudun were left speechless. The highest record held by anyone in the Hidden Sword Sect previously was four hundred times. Lu Yuan had just jumped straight to three thousand—about eight times the previous highest record. This completely eclipsed the old record with casual ease.

Is this even human? Jian Ruhai was truly at a loss for words.

"It seems I don't need to teach you the Turtle Breath Sword Shrink Grand Technique," Jian Ruhai finally said.

Lu Yuan knew time was pressing; the moment to impact the World Realm Third Heaven had arrived. In reality, breaking through to the World Realm Third Heaven was simple: one only needed to accelerate time to a thousand times within one's own dimension. Simultaneously, their own dimension would begin to possess the element of time, and their magical power could reach the level of the World Realm Third Heaven.