Thinking of the loss as tuition fees, and that I'll definitely earn it back in the future, makes me feel much better, but that's just wishful thinking!
However, upon closer examination, the time difference between the primary and secondary planes can be a treasure trove if used properly.
A dimension with a fast time flow can be used like the Time Chamber in the anime Dragon Ball, making it a good choice to accelerate cultivation or accumulate resources.
But what can a dimension with a slow time flow do?
This is outrageous!
Before they knew it, it was already evening. Xiang Yu said goodbye to his family again, this time without saying when he would be back, so as not to worry them.
At Fangxian Taoist Temple, two grown men—well, three male beings—were looking up at the sky together, gazing at the stars.
“Great God, Xiang Yu, there are far fewer stars tonight than last night. Keep your eyes fixed on a few stars, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see some of them disappear soon,” An Qisheng said, looking up.
Hao Jiu thought to himself, "I'd rather not have this kind of good luck. There are many stars in the sky, but only about 6,000 are visible to the naked eye. If you look at the same place and at the same time like they do, you'll see even fewer stars."
If stars could disappear, it wouldn't be a matter of day or night. If they disappeared at such a rapid pace, this world wouldn't be far from collapse.
Hao Jiu chose the Big Dipper area because he knew it well. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—well, not one less, that's impossible!
Because the Big Dipper doesn't actually have seven stars, but eight, one of which is slightly dimmer, but that star is indeed missing.
Just then, Xiang Yu suddenly spoke up, "I just saw a star disappear."
“I’m also missing one!” An Qisheng exclaimed.
Hao Jiu's right eyelid twitched. "This is bad. We need to set off for the split planes right away."
“The God of Wine is absolutely right, we cannot delay any longer.” Thinking of this, Xiang Yu turned to An Qisheng and said, “Immortal Master, I must go to the split plane immediately, so I will trouble you to look after things here.”
"I will certainly not fail in my mission," An Qisheng said, bowing respectfully.
Hao Jiu and Xiang Yu's original plan was to first observe the speed of the plane's collapse, and then formulate a plan for traversing the remaining sub-planes. It had to be completed within a limited time, and they absolutely could not waste forty days like the first plane.
But now it seems that the plane is collapsing much faster than they imagined. At this rate, it probably won't take more than a few days for all 6,000 stars to fall.
However, Hao Jiu judged that the speed of the plane collapse was related to the absorption of the branch planes. As long as they could quickly resolve a few branch planes, the collapse speed would naturally decrease.
However, time is of the essence now. There needs to be a correct order for completing the remaining five planes, and we can no longer choose arbitrarily.
According to Hao Jiu's analysis, if the time flow rates of the diverging planes are different, and their development is faster or slower, then the planes that develop faster will inevitably absorb more energy from the main plane and should be prioritized for resolution.
The mission message indicates that the difficulty increases from the first to the sixth plane, and the threat to the main plane also increases.
So what Hao Jiu and Xiang Yu need to do now is to reverse the order and start with the most difficult part.
Moreover, after some analysis, Hao Jiu discovered that resolving the dimensional collapse issue as quickly as possible wasn't actually that difficult; the real time-consuming part was killing Liu Ji in the beginner's quest.
But now it is clear that the collapse of the plane is imminent, so killing Liu Ji to complete the novice task will have to be postponed. In other words, we should first complete the emergency measures to prevent the collapse of the plane.
Starting from the sixth plane, after crossing it, quickly place the array plate, and then continue crossing the fifth plane, and so on, crossing continuously.
Once all the array plates in all the planes have been placed, the problem of plane collapse will be solved, and then we can kill those five Liu Ji however we want.
It's a bit of a hassle, but it's safe and reliable. Besides, the stars are starting to disappear frequently, so we can't afford to delay.
Fangxian Taoist Temple, secret chamber.
"Xiang Yu, guess where we'll end up after this time travel?" Hao Jiu suddenly thought of this question. Logically speaking, the overlords of the other five planes must have been dismembered, and there are also rumors that the overlord's head was buried in Dongping, Lu.
If they were to find themselves in a tomb after traveling through time, that would be quite awkward, as it's uncertain whether the corpses or bones could be fused together.
Moreover, according to Hao Jiu's speculation, the remaining five planes have most likely already been unified by Liu Ji, and parading around in armor would easily attract unnecessary trouble.
As a result, Hao Jiu's storage space now contained a shovel for digging, and Xiang Yu was dressed in casual clothes, wearing a bamboo hat and a mask sewn by Yu Ji herself.
This outfit makes him look a bit like a ninja or a chivalrous knight-errant.
At this moment, Xiang Yu put on his mask and bamboo hat, and said, "God of Wine, we may begin."
"Let's go!" Hao Jiu immediately used the teleportation device.
With a flash of white light, Xiang Yu disappeared from the secret chamber.
Snap! Rumble...
The Kingdom of Huainan consisted of six counties, including its capital.
Many people looked toward the direction of the royal palace.
September weather shouldn't be thundering, let alone such a stunning celestial phenomenon with swirling clouds and a sudden flash of white light.
"Alas, have you heard? Because the old emperor cooked and chopped up Liang Wang Peng Yue into mincemeat and sent it to our king, the king was so angry that he decided to rebel."
In the tavern, a playboy nudged his companion and whispered something. He had been sitting by the window, facing the direction of the palace, and had seen the strange phenomenon in the sky clearly.
"Hehe, I've known about this for a long time, and it's not just a plan, it's already happened today. To be honest, my uncle is a general under Your Majesty. Once Your Majesty conquers the world, my uncle will be a loyal subject who has helped you rise to power," another playboy said smugly.
"Well then, I must congratulate you in advance, brother. However, Your Majesty has just rebelled today and has already incurred the wrath of Heaven. I'm afraid your future is bleak. Ah, if it were me, I would have to start thinking about my future a long time from now on."
"Uh, well... I just remembered I need to go home and collect my laundry, so I'll take my leave now."
...
No one noticed that just as the white light flashed, a figure plummeted straight down from the sky.
Bang! Crash!
"Holy crap! This teleportation device is such a rip-off! Xiang Yu, are you alright?"
Chapter 134 The Sixth Dimension
It's bad enough that they make such a big commotion every time they travel through time, but they even play the high-altitude fall trick.
This is why Xiang Yu is now physically extraordinary. If it were Xiang Yu before the Battle of Gaixia, he would definitely have been injured by this fall.
Xiang Yu cleared away the rubble, picked up a straw hat, and put it on his head. "I am unharmed, but I have smashed a big hole in this palace, which makes me feel ashamed of the place's owner."
"Forget it, everyone who lives in the palace is Liu Ji's relative and friend, what's there to feel guilty about? Hmm? It sounds like someone's coming outside, let's hide for a bit." Hao Jiu heard footsteps outside.
"Alright." Xiang Yu looked around and finally chose to climb up a wide beam near the entrance.
The door creaked open.
A tall man in golden armor entered with several guards. He looked up at the hole in the roof and then at the rubble on the ground. "Men," he said, "search around and see what exactly damaged my armory."
"Yes, sir!" Several soldiers responded and went forward to search through the rubble and broken wood.
At this moment, the man in golden armor slowly turned around and faced the direction where Xiang Yu was.
Xiang Yu's eyes widened suddenly. "So it was that traitor Ying Bu!"
"Your Majesty, please don't act rashly. Spare Ying Bu's life for now." Hao Jiu was somewhat surprised. They had actually traveled directly to Ying Bu's palace. Was it a coincidence or inevitable?
"Why?" Xiang Yu naturally had no good feelings towards Ying Bu, so killing him a few more times wouldn't hurt.
"According to historical developments, Ying Bu will eventually turn against Liu Ji. Although Ying Bu was defeated, Liu Ji was also wounded by an arrow in the battle with Ying Bu and eventually died from the worsening of his injuries. If the Overlord kills Ying Bu now, he will be helping Liu Ji. Wouldn't it be better to let them fight like dogs?" Hao Jiu smiled slightly.
Xiang Yu frowned. "In that case, let's spare his life for now. I have important matters to attend to."
"That's right. Once we resolve the plane collapse issue, you'll have plenty of time to kill Ying Bu or whoever you want." Hao Jiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief; he was genuinely afraid that Xiang Yu would act impulsively.
"Your Majesty, we have searched the area thoroughly but found nothing unusual. It seems the craftsman's work was not sturdy enough," the guard said, bowing.
"Not sturdy enough? In my opinion, it must have been struck by lightning! Humph!" Ying Bu never dreamed that someone would fall from the sky, and that it would be Xiang Yu, whom he had once betrayed.
Just then, an old minister rushed in from outside in a panic.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The celestial phenomena just now are unfavorable for launching a military campaign. Your Majesty should stop here. Liu Ji is truly the chosen ruler of the world by Heaven!"
"Bah! Has Heaven chosen such a villain? Of the vassal kings who helped him conquer the world, only I am left! If I hadn't rebelled, I would have been killed by Liu Ji sooner or later! Alas! I only regret that I didn't see Liu Ji's true character back then and helped him kill Xiang Yu, otherwise I wouldn't be in this predicament today!" Ying Bu said angrily.
"But this celestial phenomenon..." The old minister hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.
"This is nothing, just a reminder from heaven to be careful. With Peng Yue and Han Xin dead, who in this world can be my match?" Ying Bu smiled coldly, walked to the box next to him, took out a key, slowly opened it, and took out a sword.
Xiang Yu's pupils contracted. "God of Wine, that looks like my sword!"
Hao Jiu frowned. "So Xiang Yu's sword ended up in Ying Bu's hands? Could it be that our journey here is related to that sword?"
Clang!
Ying Bu drew his sword. "This is the sword that Xiang Yu used to commit suicide. It has been missing for many years, and no one knows that it is in my possession. Now it is just right to use this celestial phenomenon. Issue the order for the army to prepare for battle. Today's celestial phenomenon is that Xiang Yu's spirit in heaven has sent down a divine sword to help me kill Liu Ji and change the world!"
"A complete transformation!"
"A complete transformation!"
...
Yingbu's guards were all like they'd been injected with chicken blood, waving their fists and shouting slogans again and again.
Xiang Yu frowned. "If Ying Bu really changes the world and kills Liu Ji, where will that black dragon go?"
"Yingbu wants to change the world? Heh, there's no hope at all, he doesn't have a system. As for the Black Dragon, it will probably find a new host after Liu Ji dies, but that's impossible. This great battle will last at least two months, and if nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to wrap it up in time."
Hao Jiu shook his head helplessly. Ying Bu wanted to change the world and make his move sooner, but he watched as Liu Ji took down Gong Wei, Zang Tu, Wu Rui, Han Xin, Zhang Ao, Han Wang Xin, Chen Xi, and Peng Yue one by one. Now, only Wu Rui's useless son, Wu Chen, had a slight chance of helping him.
After Ying Bu left with Xiang Yu's sword, Xiang Yu left the hidden armory through the hole in the roof and then dodged and weaved away from the palace at incredible speed.
After inquiring around the six counties, I focused on one key point: what day, month, and year it was. I asked several people, and finally, under the threat of a fist, I finally found out.
This was in September of the eleventh year of the Han Dynasty, the same time that Ying Bu in history rebelled against Liu Ji.
Starting from the Battle of Gaixia, only 4 months have passed in the main plane, but 6 and a half years have passed in this most difficult sub-plane. Considering the leap month, the calculation shows that the time flow rate of this sub-plane has reached about 17 times that of the main plane.
For a moment, Hao Jiu even decided to let Xiang Yu stay in this plane permanently from now on, just to get so many more energy points!
However, Hao Jiu quickly abandoned the idea, realizing that the longer Xiang Yu stayed in this split plane, the faster he would age.
If this dimension is to be truly useful, it will only be possible after Xiang Yu cultivates immortality or uses other methods to extend his lifespan.
To be honest, Xiang Yu was already twenty-nine years old, which is the prime of a man's life in modern times, but in ancient times he was a little older than average.
If this were a cultivation world, starting cultivation at this age wouldn't lead to much achievement.
Therefore, Hao Jiu is thinking of other ways to grant Xiang Yu immortality and allow him to maintain his peak condition.
While Hao Jiu was browsing the God's Shop, Xiang Yu had already left the six counties and headed straight for Jiangcheng.
This was something Xiang Yu and Hao Jiu had discussed before they arrived, and they wanted to try to open all the time portals in Zhongshan, Jiangcheng.
Of course, given the current situation, it is not suitable to build a Taoist temple there and then wait for An Qisheng to come.