Chapter 1153: Wasted Effort

　　Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations

　　Since he thought of it, he would do it. Mo Wuji sent a single darkness-type dao ripple into the Time Plate.

　　Immediately, Mo Wuji almost cried out in shock. Usually, the methods he used would end up as wasted efforts. The only thing that managed to penetrate into the Time Plate was his Mortal Dao Laws. However, the speed at which it did so was incredibly slow.

　　At this moment, his darkness-type dao ripple had actually entered the Time Plate easily without facing any obstacles. Soon, Mo Wuji went blank. When his spiritual will entered the Time Plate, it wasn’t able to detect anything.

　　In other words, there was no difference whether his spiritual will entered the Time Plate or not.

　　He then tried his spirit storage channel’s spiritual will but it was still pitch blackness. After which, he opened his spiritual eye…

　　Mo Wuji suddenly heaved a sigh of relief. After he sent a darkness-type dao ripple into the Time Plate, his spiritual eye could clearly see everything within the Time Plate.

　　With his spiritual eye, all the dao laws within the Time Plate became clear. It was as though a huge incandescent light had lit up within the darkness; all had become apparent.

　　Dense runes formed from darkness-type dao ripples appeared in front of Mo Wuji.

　　In this instant, Mo Wuji discovered why he almost went crazy. Not only did Dao Monarch Darkness leave behind dao laws with could transpire inner demons within the Time Plate, he also prepared countless traps.

　　If Dao Monarch Darkness decided to malicious intentions, he could cause time errors to occur during Mo Wuji’s cultivation. Even if these time errors didn’t kill him, it would ruin his cultivation.

　　Until now, Dao Monarch Darkness still didn’t act against him. The only reason for that was that Dao Monarch Darkness still hadn’t fully recovered.

　　Mo Wuji didn’t believe that Dao Monarch Darkness was a compassionate person that would allow him to use the Time Plate.

　　Now that he knew all this, how could Mo Wuji still dare to waste any time? He hurriedly began to remove all the darkness-type dao ripples left behind by Dao Monarch Darkness. At the same time, he started to clean up all the traps and inner demons within the Time Plate.

　　Time passed slowly. In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. Mo Wuji had finally removed all the traces left behind by Dao Monarch Darkness.

　　Although he hadn’t started to refine the Time Plate, the Time Plate no longer belonged to Dao Monarch Darkness. At the very least, Dao Monarch Darkness can forget about recalling the Time Plate. By now, all the imprints that Dao Monarch Darkness left behind had been erased by Mo Wuji.

　　After destroying the traces left behind by Dao Monarch Darkness, Mo Wuji no longer needed to use his spiritual eye and darkness-type laws to interact with the Time Plate; his spiritual eye was easily able to communicate with the Time Plate.

　　Mo Wuji finally understood was no one was able to refine the Time Plate. It wasn’t due to the Time Plate itself, but Dao Monarch Darkness Ku Xinren.

　　Now, he was going to use his Mortal Dao to refine the Time Plate. By the time the Time Plate was fully connected with his Mortal Dao Laws, those that didn’t cultivate the Mortal Dao would similarly be unable to snatch the Time Plate away.

　　Mortal Dao ripples continuously flowed into the Time Plate. With every breath that passes, the Time Plate’s connection with Mo Wuji becomes closer.

　　…

　　A bamboo house in the Resting Land of the Gods.

　　After Mo Wuji removed all the darkness-type imprints and dao ripples in the Time Plate, Ku Xinren suddenly stood up. He lifted his head and faced the sky. All of a sudden, he released a terrifying roar.

　　His fleshly body had already been fully recovered and his cultivation had been restored to approximately 70-80%. But at this moment, a sense of worry and fear brooded within Ku Xinren’s eyes.

　　“It’s impossible. It’s definitely impossible.” Ku Xinren continuously muttered to himself.

　　After ten whole breaths of time, he finally awoke from his disbelief. He threw out multiple god spiritual veins. Following which, he spit out several drops of vital blood and started to form enigmatic hand seals.

　　Following his hand seals, the spiritual energy within the god spiritual veins started to form a spiritual whirlpool.

　　But soon, Ku Xinren’s face turned pale. He was completely unable to connect with the Time Plate.

　　He suddenly stood up. His entire body was shaking and he no longer had the mood to continue cultivating.

　　Most experts were filled with fear and trepidation towards the upcoming Cataclysm. However, Ku Xinren was definitely a unique person. On the surface, he seemed worried about the upcoming Cataclysm. But in reality, he was actually hoping that the Cataclysm could come earlier.

　　This was because he had the Time Plate.

　　He had great certainty that when the Cataclysm arrives, he could make use of the Time Plate to step over all life forms and enter the ranks of Sages.

　　The moment Mo Wuji took his Time Plate away, he already had intentions of taking it back. Although Mo Wuji’s actions had left him slightly shocked, he still wasn’t worried that he couldn’t retrieve his Time Plate.

　　What kind of thing was the Time Plate? Only he, Ku Xinren, knew it clearly.

　　No one else could snatch the Time Plate because once the Time Plate was refined, it would belong to that person. Moreover, he cultivated the rare darkness-type cultivation technique.

　　Unless the person also cultivated a darkness-type cultivation technique, it was impossible to refine the Time Plate. Moreover, he knew that Mo Wuji didn’t cultivate a darkness-type technique. Even if he took 10,000 steps back and assumed that Mo Wuji really cultivated a darkness-type technique, it was still impossible for Mo Wuji to have stolen his Time Plate.

　　This was because spiritual will wouldn’t be able to observe anything within the Time Plate. If one forcefully tried to use spiritual will to probe what was within the Time Plate, he might eventually suffer a rebound and damage his sea of consciousness.

　　According to theory, his Time Plate couldn’t be communicated with anyone else but him. He really couldn’t understand how Mo Wuji was able to destroy the dao ripples he left behind with the Time Plate.

　　“Pff!” He coughed out a mouthful of blood. This time, Ku Xinren was truly injured. His dao aura started to get erratic.

　　No one knew what the Time Plate meant to him.

　　With the Time Plate, he could become Dao Monarch Darkness Ku Xinren. When the next Cataclysm comes, he could possibly use the Time Plate to step into the Sage Stage. If he didn’t have the Time Plate, then he was nothing special among the four Dao Monarchs.

　　Darkness-type techniques were indeed very strong, but that was only against those that didn’t have experience with such techniques. However, among those experts that stand at the very peak, which one of them hadn’t had experience with darkness-type attacks?

　　Intense regret filled Dao Monarch Darkness’s entirety. He regretted allowing his Time Plate to leave him for such a long period of time. The reason why he didn’t retrieve the Time Plate till now wasn’t because he was kind and he wanted Mo Wuji to cultivate.

　　Instead, it was because he eyed the treasures on Mo Wuji. Mo Wuji was able to casually bring out the Breath of Hongmeng and the Extreme Ice Heavenly Bamboo. In fact, he couldn’t even sense the aura of the Breath of Hongmeng from Mo Wuji. Clearly, Mo Wuji still had many other treasures on him.

　　He intended to wait till he recovered his fleshly body and his cultivation before he went to find Mo Wuji. Through the Time Plate, he could easily locate Mo Wuji. After he found Mo Wuji, he had confidence that he could take all of Mo Wuji’s belongings.

　　Now, all his plans had gone to waste. At the same time, he also lost his Time Plate.”

　　“Even if you hide at the corners of the earth, I, Ku Xinren, will find you, destroy your world and reclaim my Time Plate.” His anger, regret and fear were all concealed. Ku Xinren had finally regained his calm.

　　Even if he had to search the skies or dive into the earth, he would reclaim his Time Plate. No one could snatch his Time Plate away from him. There was no need to talk about Mo Wuji, even Sages wouldn;’t be able to do so.

　　…

　　Following Mo Wuji’s refinement of the Time Plate, his understanding towards the Laws of Time became more profound.

　　At this point, he knew that stopping time was the most simple and elementary move among the Laws of Time. The moment he fully grasped the Laws of Time, accelerating and reversing the flow wouldn’t be impossible.

　　Months passed. When Mo Wuji finally reached the core of the Time Plate, he was met with shock and delight. The Time Plate was indeed a flying treasure. What left him excited was that there was actually a sacred art within the Time Plate. The first move of this sacred art was called Rising Time.

　　Within his space, he could control time and allow time to rise and start again.

　　This was an extremely terrifying sacred art. If he could control Rising Time, then he wouldn’t only be able to stall his opponent’s space, he could also stall his opponent’s sacred art.

　　Experts could do countless things within a single breath of time. If his opponent’s sacred art was stalled because of his Rising Time, then half of his opponent’s fate was already in his hands.

　　Just as Mo Wuji was refining the Time Plate and perceiving Rising Time, he heard a sharp cry from Ji Li.

　　Mo Wuji immediately charged out his Mortal World and he saw Ji Li staring blankly into the distance.

　　“What’s the matter Senior Sister Ji Li?” Mo Wuji asked anxiously. Within this short time, he already felt that something was amiss.

　　Originally, they were trapped within a void barrier. However, a huge hole had actually appeared within the void barrier.

　　Ji Li pointed at the huge hole with a trembling hand, “Dragon… I saw a black dragon…”

　　Mo Wuji asked quizzically, “Senior Sister Ji Li, dragons are very common. Within this vast universe, the Dragon Race is a huge race. Countless experts emerge from the Dragon Race. It’s not a big deal that a black dragon was cultivating here in seclusion.

　　Ji Li’s pale face eased slightly. She shook her head and said, “No, that black dragon wasn’t an ordinary member of the Dragon Race. Just its aura alone was enough to force me to the ground. It was more than 100 times stronger than when I met Senior Huan Ti at his strongest…”

　　In other words, the black dragon didn’t even need to do anything to kill Ji Li. This strength could only belong to a Sage, right?

　　When Mo Wuji heard this, his face changed. Although Huan Ti wasn’t a Sage when Ji Li saw him, he was still at the peak of the Quasi-Sage Stage. Moreover, Huan Ti had the threatening aura of a Sage. This black dragon was more than a 100 times stronger than Huan Ti. What kind of terrifying existence was that?

　　He was sure that if he faced against that black dragon, there was only one path for him – death.

　　“Senior Sister, although I don’t know why that black dragon didn’t do anything to you, I know that we can no longer stay here. If that black dragon suddenly returns, we would only be courting death by staying here,” Mo Wuji immediately said.