Chapter 57: Temporal Doppelganger!
Jiang Zhe was astonished.
"The Mechanical Race is so extravagant? Just this one Lei-Li Source Core is enough to nurture ten lightning-element law geniuses?"
"Master, so what if there are ten? Most of them would be incredible already if they could reach the immortal level. In the eyes of the Mechanical Race, they're just cannon fodder."
"But if the one receiving the bribe is a Marquis-level immortal, even a small amount of aid can yield the Mechanical Race far more in return."
"Besides, they didn't say this whole core was to be given to a single person."
Oriana pointed at the ten exquisite crystal vials inside the metal box.
"That's true." Jiang Zhe nodded, using his mental power to lift one vial, drawing out one-tenth of the liquid from the Lei-Li sphere.
It was sour, with a drunken aroma, seemingly volatile.
A light purple, viscous fluid, mixed with specks of light. When gently shaken, it looked as if starlight was flowing inside.
About ten milliliters of it — Jiang Zhe raised his head and drank it all.
It felt as if electric arcs burst on his tongue. The sourness shot straight into his mind, while a tingling spread across his whole body.
Before it even reached his throat, the liquid dissipated entirely, transforming into threads of electricity that surged throughout his body. His temperature rose, steam billowed out, yet there was an indescribably comfortable sensation.
Jiang Zhe felt as if layers of veils before his eyes were being lifted. The lightning-elemental law appeared before him clearer than ever.
Many confusions he had previously while comprehending the laws melted away like snow in spring.
He thoroughly enjoyed this feeling, pulling out a law comprehension slate, ready to dive into intensive study.
Unfortunately, a wave of intoxication struck his head. His consciousness gradually blurred, and before he blacked out, he only managed to circulate the "Dormant Dragon Technique."
His mind soared into oblivion, memories once again sealed off, as he began living a new life within a dream.
Perhaps due to the intense influence of comprehending the lightning-element laws, in this dream Jiang Zhe became a special lifeform with extremely high affinity for the lightning laws.
A 50-fold life gene baseline, innately at domain lord level, bear-like — but he didn't dominate the universe for long before being captured by a human Marquis-level immortal, brought home for a family genius to seize his body.
As a result, Jiang Zhe's sealed memories suddenly reawakened, his will and consciousness surged, dragging the would-be possessor down with him.
The dream ended.
Jiang Zhe climbed off the sofa, shaking his slightly swollen head, wearing a strange expression as he savored the lingering feelings of the dream.
"To even experience what it feels like to be possessed by someone else? Interesting."
"And this sensation..."
Jiang Zhe touched between his brows, feeling as if something inside was swelling outward — he knew this was merely an illusion caused by a vigorous consciousness.
He examined his inner core space.
There at the center, the star blazed brilliantly, no longer the dim, sickly thing it once was.
"Good. The trauma from splitting off the second nascent spirit is now more or less healed."
Ji Ning had the "Nuwa Diagram" to restore his soul. Jiang Zhe had the "Dormant Dragon Technique," strengthening his consciousness and will through dreams.
Yes, they both had a bright future.
Jiang Zhe willed it, and in the spacious hall electric arcs crackled — a lightning domain descended.
"A six-fold domain? After I digest it a bit more, it should reach seven-fold."
He was fairly satisfied with this progress. He turned to ask his partner nearby:
"Oriana, what time is it?"
"Master, it is now March 19, 2050. It has been four months and nine days since you drank the Lei-Li Source Essence."
"Please also note, this December is the once-every-three-years Qianwu Auction. Please reserve ten or so days in your cultivation schedule to not miss it."
Jiang Zhe nodded. He planned to go to the auction to procure special life body tissues for the Silver-Robed Nascent Spirit — a very important matter.
But what they needed wasn't law affinity.
That, the Silver-Robed Nascent Spirit already had, and likely no less than those special lifeforms.
What they needed were innate secret techniques, similar to the "Time Stop" of a Huirsha Behemoth.
They wanted to find innate secret arts close to the three spatial profundities of "Teleportation," "Constrict," and "Seal," to help the Silver-Robed Nascent Spirit step into the threshold of spatial laws.
He walked to his workbench and sat on the high-backed metal chair that Oriana had modified to fit his physique.
Jiang Zhe took out a lightning law comprehension slate. Combining it with his recent insights, he studied the 72 raised nodes on the slate.
Ten or so hours later.
Jiang Zhe laid a brand-new circuit board on the workbench, holding a soldering iron and began experimenting, drawing circuit diagrams.
In about three to five minutes, he inscribed the first profound mystery of the lightning-elemental law onto it, then used his mind force to float the completed circuit board over for testing.
Oriana stood by a machine like a large photocopier. She took the board, slotted it in, pressed the start button, and tossed in a block of A9 black copper.
Zzzap—
A gorgeous laser burst out, slicing the copper in two.
"First profound mystery, ten out of ten, fully comprehended!"
Oriana announced the result.
A smile crept onto Jiang Zhe's face as he placed a second board on the table, continuing to solder out another completely different circuit pattern.
Another three to five minutes later, finished, sent for testing.
"Second profound mystery, ten out of ten, fully comprehended!"
…
"Fifth profound mystery, ten out of ten, fully comprehended!"
…
"Eighth profound mystery, ten out of ten, fully comprehended!"
…
"Eleventh profound mystery, six out of ten, passable!"
Hearing Oriana's report, Jiang Zhe put down the soldering iron and flexed his wrist, not continuing.
"From reaching planetary level and grasping a lightning domain, to the insights from the dreams of the tiger, thunder dragon, and bear forms, and finally drinking the Lei-Li Source Essence… all these accumulations manifested here — eleven profound mysteries. My comprehension of the lightning law is quite deep."
Jiang Zhe calculated in his heart:
"They say some Chaos Tablets start from the lower laws, like the Heart Scar Chaos Tablet that dissects the gold-elemental law."
"If I fully grasp the 72 profound mysteries of the lower law, I could probably break through to the 6th, 7th, or even 8th level of the Heaven-Reaching Bridge, though I'm not sure. It should at least correspond to a domain lord's level of comprehension."
"Still a long road ahead!"
"And as for the time law, I can't just chew on lower laws — that goes nowhere."
There was a pecking order even among law comprehension.
And the power one could wield proved that hierarchy correct.
Mediocrities studied lower laws;
Geniuses studied higher laws;
Once-in-a-billion-year prodigies played with fusion laws.
Jiang Zhe naturally had ambitions. He first set himself a small goal of conquering the time law, and later would learn the fusion laws of the beast gods.
Of course, the highest tier was the secret pattern school — even Sitting Mountain Guest revered that path.
Everything would have to progress step by step.
"Oriana, what time is it now?"
"April 2nd. The day after tomorrow is Qingming. Your grandfather asked if you can come out of seclusion to attend the ancestral rites."
"Nothing pressing now. I'll join the ancestral rites the day after tomorrow."
Jiang Zhe rose from the chair, stretching lazily, then suddenly blinked in surprise.
"Eh? When did I break through to star level?"
Ever since waking from drinking the essence, he had dived straight into law comprehension. Only now did he notice the eight planets in his dantian had fused into a blazing star.
"It must be the effect of the Lei-Li Source Essence," Jiang Zhe realized.
"Yes, Master, its effects are similar to that Purple Fire Ape Wine in your memories."
Reminded by this, Jiang Zhe recalled that item worth several hundred billion, nearly a trillion — a true luxury.
Drink one cup, and an ordinary person would directly ascend to universe level.
Drink a bit more, and they'd become a universe-level genius with extremely high fire law talent.
But what it was most prized for was that even universe venerables would get drunk from a cup. Few paid attention to the boost in fire law affinity.
Of course, those who could afford it didn't care; those who cared couldn't afford it.
"Oriana, if I take another serving of Lei-Li Source Essence, will it still have an effect?"
"It would only elevate your life level further, but your law affinity has already reached the maximum it can enhance."
"Nine servings left… Oriana, have my cousins broken through to planetary level yet?"
"They have, Master. The latest was your cousin SiSi, just over two months ago during the New Year."
"Oh… right, what are their gene original energies?"
"Mr. Jiang Wen is earth-element; Mr. Jiang Wu is ice-element; Miss Jiang Sisi is water-element."
Jiang Zhe pinched his nose — only he was lightning-element, looking rather out of place in this time-path family like a husky among wolves.
Suddenly he remembered that his sea of consciousness' mental sphere had once been dark gold, then became purple-gold.
"Er… was I originally supposed to have a gold-element gene energy? But after cultivating the 'Life Blueprint,' my genetic code was rewritten, becoming a new human, and even the gene energy attribute changed?"
Jiang Zhe clicked his tongue, finding this little episode interesting but didn't bother to dig deeper.
"Oriana, can these remaining nine servings be given to them? Any rejection issues?"
"They can, but it would consume more of the essence's energy to transform their bodily attributes, so in the end, their cultivation level won't rise as dramatically."
"That's not a problem. As long as it guarantees law affinity, the slight loss in energy accumulation can be easily compensated by countless other methods."
…
April 4th.
After the ancestral rites, Jiang Zhe chatted with his grandfather in the front courtyard's reception hall.
They discussed how to distribute the Lei-Li Source Essence, then moved on to oddities from across the universe…
Now the Jiang family had mostly mastered the common language of the universe, preparing to log into the virtual universe later this year.
Jiang Zhe had already rented a massive villa spanning thousands of square meters on Black Dragon Island long ago as the Jiang family's base.
While they were chatting, a cold, beautiful woman knocked and entered the reception hall.
"Uncle Jiang, you were looking for me?"
It was Lei Lei. She had grown into a graceful young lady, no longer the timid girl from two or three years ago. She wasn't afraid of Jiang Zhe anymore, even nodding to greet him.
Jiang Zhe nodded back, while using telepathy to gossip with Oriana.
For example, whether she was in puppy love, if her unfortunate boyfriend had been killed by Thunder God…
But Oriana told him Lei Lei had spent the past three years cultivating in the Jiang family, rarely interacting with outsiders.
By now she was a high-level war god, with 8.2 times force output, having reached the level of artistic conception — quite gifted even on the still-intact Yunmo Planet.
Jiang Zhe understood. It was the artistic conception level that earned her some extra points.
After all, on Yunmo Planet, student-level warriors averaged around 10 times force output.
"Little Zhe, Thunder God came to me. He said Xiao Lei's mental cultivation isn't bad, plus she inherited his talent and is good at exerting physical power. He hopes that you, the strongest on Earth, could guide her a bit — see if she could catch up to that great opportunity in a dozen years."
"Of course, this guidance should not delay your own cultivation."
"Hong and Thunder God both said, the further you advance in that future opportunity, the more benefits it will bring to us Earthlings."
Jiang Zhe inwardly shook his head — even if she seized a Huirsha Behemoth body, she couldn't catch that once-in-five-thousand-years "express train."
But he didn't refuse, agreeing to give some guidance.
In the eight months before the auction, Jiang Zhe moved into the Martial Hall.
It was that nine-story tower of the Jiang family rebuilt with C-grade alloy, not the virtual world managed by Alpha.
He simultaneously studied the time law comprehension slate.
And guided various warriors including Lei Lei, his second brother Jiang Wu, cousin Sisi, and younger aunt…
Occasionally, his grandfather, father, and two uncles also came to listen.
But they no longer focused on force skills. Once they reached around 10 times output, they paused and turned their full attention to domains and secret techniques tied to the origin laws.
Jiang Zhe didn't try to correct this.
Let them bash their heads against the wall of domain comprehension for a decade or so — they'd then understand their own limits.
Jiang Zhe knew clearly that even with hidden talents, Earthlings at this stage couldn't all form domains at planetary level.
If someone could manage a domain at universe level, Jiang Zhe already thought his father and two uncles were impressive!
As for his grandfather, after careful polishing, he had a decent chance of grasping a domain at star level — after all, he was the same kind of person as Hong and Thunder God.
Well… a knockoff, A-grade imitation.
Given enough resources, with his own aptitude, grandfather would absolutely have no problem reaching immortal.
Eight months passed without hindering Jiang Zhe's cultivation.
He exhausted his earlier accumulation, finally stepping into the threshold of the time law, though still far from fully grasping the first temporal profound mystery.
Virtual Universe, Killing Field.
Jiang Zhe stood on a Sky-Stepping Shuttle, clashing fiercely with an ape-like secondary starspace behemoth.
Suddenly—
Space-time rippled slightly. Without warning, two identical figures appeared.
Both were Jiang Zhe!
The ape's eyes turned vacant, consciousness dazed for a brief instant, not knowing which target to strike.
One of those figures seized the opening. A dark purple "swimming fish" shot out, piercing through the ape's brain in a flash.
The battle ended.
The ape's corpse vanished, and the figure on the left also dissipated.
That was — Temporal Doppelganger.
This move came from "Domain of Mixed Shadows," a flight secret art for spiritual masters that surpassed "Ten Thousand Threads Flow."
A treasure from Yunmo Planet, designed to aid comprehension of the time law.
Both books were incomplete, missing the final layer, but even so, the former ranked a tier above the latter.
The spatial doppelganger relied on affecting space, creating mirror-like projections that appeared as multiple clones.
The temporal doppelganger, naturally, played with time.
It split a segment of time into countless time points, then manifested Jiang Zhe from each time node slightly later into reality.
These past figures could even follow Jiang Zhe's movements, reacting correspondingly — perfectly real.
Even mental sweeps couldn't tell them apart.
When thousands of such doppelgangers gathered in one region, they could influence the flow of time there.
If he could guide the temporal flow in that region to speed up or slow down, even by a tiny margin, he wouldn't be far from comprehending the two great profundities of the time law.
That was the true intent of "Domain of Mixed Shadows"!
Even as a fragment, it still offered a somewhat blurry but potentially direct path to the two great temporal profundities, which is why it ranked above "Ten Thousand Threads Flow."
(End of Chapter}