Chapter 245: Stepping Into the River of Time

The royal family of Great Zhou had a strict process for studying the Dao of Time: first, study theory, then try observing the past, then the future. Once one could view both past and future proficiently, they’d be taught the incantation for entering the River of Time.
Entering the River of Time must be done under the supervision of an elder. For novice cultivators, going in alone was extremely dangerous—one misstep, and not even bones would remain.
The incantation was the key to accessing the River of Time. In all of history, no one had ever entered without mastering it.
Ji Kongkong was the first.
Even Ji Zhi, with his Double Pupils, hadn’t done it!
It wasn’t just Ji Huayu who hadn’t expected this—even Jiang Li himself was stunned.
He felt the flow of time slowing down, then halting entirely. Eventually, only he and Ji Kongkong could move.
A rift appeared before them. Ji Kongkong, in her white fish form, dove in. Jiang Li followed.
The long river flowed—through the ancient past, the present, and into the future. Chaos mist shrouded its surface, the sound of waves echoed and crashed against the banks with a thunderous roar. The sky was dim and gray, as if it had always been so and would never change.
“This is… the River of Time?” Jiang Li was shocked. He had only heard Ji Zhi describe it boastfully, never seen it for himself.
Ji Zhi had said once Jiang Li reached the Tribulation Stage, he could bring him here. Jiang Li had always joked it was better to count on Ji Zhi’s daughter instead.
And now he actually had—and far sooner than expected.
Ji Kongkong wasn’t even at the Foundation Establishment Stage, yet she had brought him into the River of Time. It was absurdly defiant of the heavens.
Jiang Li stood on the bank and saw Ji Kongkong about to leap into the river. Alarmed, he quickly grabbed her.
“Do you have a death wish? This is the River of Time! With your tiny body, you’ll be torn to shreds in there!” Jiang Li scolded seriously. If anything happened to Ji Kongkong, Ji Zhi would definitely come after him.
“Oh.” Ji Kongkong obediently remained in his palm.
Both were first-timers, inexperienced, and had to be cautious.
“Who the h*ll is it, interrupting our private moment!” a rude voice called from the river.
Oddly, despite the roar of rushing water, the voice rang out clearly.
Jiang Li saw two white fish in the river. One swam away, startled by his arrival. The other, unfamiliar but somehow familiar, leapt out and glared at him.
“Let me see which jerk ruined my moment—we were this close to kissing… f**k, it’s the Human Sovereign!”
The furious white fish was so scared upon seeing Jiang Li, its soul nearly fled.
“You can even find me in the River of Time?! And you scared off my girlfriend on purpose—trying to break us up! How vicious can you be!”
“???” Jiang Li was full of question marks.
“You’re the Ancient and Modern Sword?” Jiang Li suddenly recalled the box left behind by Emperor Shun and realized this grumpy fish was Shun himself—aka the Ancient and Modern Sword.
He still didn’t know how it had turned from a fishbone sword into a literal fish.
So Emperor Shun left the box telling him not to look for him because he had interrupted a romantic moment?
Jiang Li felt a bit inexplicably guilty for splitting up a couple.
As he pondered, he reached toward the Ancient and Modern Sword—not to capture him, since if he did, who would go back in time to become Emperor Shun? He just wanted to ask a few questions.
But the Ancient and Modern Sword thought Jiang Li was trying to catch him and quickly swam downstream—toward the future. His girlfriend had also fled in that direction after being startled.
He didn’t get far before looking up and seeing another Jiang Li standing on the bank ahead.
There were two Jiang Lis in the River of Time!
“Why are you even in the future?!” The Ancient and Modern Sword turned and fled upstream, back toward the past.
With Jiang Li ahead, he couldn’t go any further without losing sight of his girlfriend forever.
“If Jiang Li hadn’t shown up, none of this would’ve happened!” he shouted bitterly.
Jiang Li paused.
There’s a future version of me?
So I’ll also enter the River of Time in the future?
He looked downstream, but the river was shrouded in chaotic mist—neither the past nor the future was clearly visible.
“How do you disperse the mist?” Jiang Li asked.
“Only those who’ve mastered the Dao of Time can do that—then they can see into past and future.”
“Uncle Jiang doesn’t specialize in the Dao of Time, so it’ll be difficult for you to clear the mist.”
“Ancestor once said the River of Time originally had no mist—this chaotic fog is caused by ‘observers’ from outside. Beings born within the river don’t see any mist.”
Ji Kongkong explained. She not only knew more about the Dao of Time than Jiang Li, she also had deeper knowledge of how it worked.
“I see.”
“How far can you see?”
“Back nine hours into the past, three minutes into the future.”
The River of Time was unique—there were no units like meters or kilometers. Distances were measured in time.
Every drop of the river’s water represented an event that occurred in a specific place and time.
Jiang Li crouched to observe a droplet, curious. He saw the “present” scene: Ji Zhi arguing with ministers, Bai Hongtu playing cards while using One Qi Splits into Three Pure Ones, Commander Mu dating the Gu Clan Leader Ayisu, and Zhang Konghu snoring away…
“Only things in the Nine Provinces?”
“Because this is the Nine Provinces’ River of Time.” Ji Kongkong flicked her tail toward a blurry wall behind Jiang Li. “Beyond that wall is the River of Time for other worlds.”
“But I don’t know how to pass through it—Father never taught me.”
Jiang Li walked over and gave it a push—it seemed like he could push through.
Just as he tried, Ji Kongkong stopped him. “Uncle Jiang, don’t do that! Father said we know too little about the River of Time. Any reckless action could lead to spatial chaos and the collapse of yin and yang!”
Jiang Li quickly dropped the idea of crossing into another world’s time river.
Instead, he took Ji Kongkong nine hours into the past. He crouched down again to observe: Ji Zhi visiting the Tianyuan Dynasty, Bai Hongtu playing kickball by scattering beans into soldiers, Commander Mu arresting demonic cultivators in the Great and Lesser Wu Nations, Zhang Konghu snoring again…
“Why do some scenes never change?”
“Can we see eighteen hours back?”
Ji Kongkong shook her head. “Even if we change locations, I can only see the stretch from ‘nine hours ago’ to now, and from now to ‘three minutes into the future.’ If moving spots let us see further back, wouldn’t Father be able to observe events from a thousand or ten thousand years ago?”
Jiang Li nodded in agreement but suddenly questioned, “Wait—if you can see nine hours into the past because you know the Dao of Time, how come I can too, when I don’t know anything?”
Ji Kongkong paused, then muttered, “Right… Father said the distance you can see equals the distance you can walk. If you try to move beyond your limit, you can’t take a single step. Since Uncle Jiang doesn’t know the Dao of Time, you shouldn’t be able to move—you’d be stuck at the entry point.”
As she spoke, she leapt further back in time but was blocked by an invisible force and bounced back into Jiang Li’s palm. “Just like that.”
Jiang Li left her where she was and tried walking further back himself. Sure enough, he felt an invisible force—weak, like air resistance. If Ji Kongkong hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t have even noticed it.
He walked into the past, seeing events from ten and eleven hours ago.