Yan Zaizen was briefly astonished at the sight. In the far off distance, beneath the dusky skies, were tens of thousands of skyships of varying sizes. Some of the skyships exceeded hundreds of kilometers in size. They were breathtaking to behold, all of them emitting various forms of light like a kaleidoscope of colors. In this region of gloomy dusk, it was very attractive.
Pondering, Yan Zaizen sent outwards his heavenly sense to take in the situation. As he got a grasp of what was happening ahead, Yri stopped beside him and looked towards the myriad of ships that seemed berthed in the skies. Even her brows furrowed slightly.
She looked at Yan Zaizen cautiously sending out his heavenly sense and shook her head slightly. This method of reconnaissance was too noticeable and inefficient. Even if his heavenly sense can't be noticed by others, it'll only be happenstance if he could get a full picture of the situation.
Yan Zaizen also felt that, but he didn't wish to wildly approach a fleet of ships without firstly figuring out their purpose. After all, if they were a type of 'shot-first-ask-questions-never' type of group, then wouldn't he be getting himself in unnecessary conflict? However, this didn't mean he was confident in his heavenly sense remaining unhindered.
In fact, the moment it reached a kilometer away from his range, it collided with a forceful barrier. This barrier was ethereal but seemed to be projected by the ships or a ship to prevent the reckless spread of one's heavenly sense.
He grimaced slightly. The recoil from the collision with the barrier was like a bird recklessly flying into a bullet proof glass.
As if expecting this, Yri revealed a slight smile filled with a hint of mockery. She calmly explained, "each ship has concealment and protection arrays and formations set up to prevent spying or infiltration. Not just heavenly sense, but all sorts of detection or intelligence-gathering methods. For...obvious reasons."
Her words caused Yan Zaizen to briefly ruminate on the implications of her words, then he searched his memory and figured out why his heavenly sense was blocked so far away. Each ship had a similar method and they were unintentionally linking together causing it to expand and create a zone where normal sensory methods were hindered or altogether prevented.
A formation like that was absolutely necessary in the Fortune Cemetery. If one met a group with stronger individuals on a skyship and that group could perceive through the skyship and understand their strength, this would put them in obvious danger. To prevent this, skyships were fitted with the highest grade concealment and sensory-prevention formations and arrays.
Yri continued, "Therefore, it's best to be a little...creative." With a beautiful smile, she closed her eyes. A ripple of time seemed to emanate from her body. This ripple silently hit Yan Zaizen. The ripple didn't induce any physical effects, but Yan Zaizen's eyes lit up with a grey color. The world swirled endlessly in a rapid flowing cycle.
Before long, he realized he hadn't moved. His location was still the same as earlier. However, his physical body and Yri's weren't here, just their senses. In fact, the skyships seemed to only be a few hundred and not tens of thousands.
"Time is ever-present. Where time exists, so can I." Yri's words seemed to contain a powerful, vastly profound meaning with the concept of time as its quintessence.
"..." Remaining silent, Yan Zaizen felt that her words were astounding. Even to this day, he was still learning various profound usages of time. It only reinforced his belief that laws were truly powerful beyond imagination.
"Now, let's see the past!" Yri's voice echoed and he felt his vision shift away towards the skyships in the distance. This 'vision' wasn't actually him, but a remnant of time. It was as if the world was sent into rewind and he was nothing more than a drop of water in the ocean of time. It wasn't long before they arrived on the skyships that were now no more than a few hundred in numbers.
On board the ships were all experts at least at the Fifth-Floor of the Heavenly Genesis or higher. This caused Yan Zaizen to be somewhat startled. Such a strong force in such a dense numbers were incredible. These must be elites of some upper-tier force in the region.
BOOM!!!
"You DARE?!" A rough, thunderous voice exploded in the temporal timeline. Yan Zaizen's 'vision' shifted involuntarily to a single ship. Obviously his 'vision' wasn't controlled by him but by Yri. This skyship wasn't like the other skyships. Its design was more like a bird, having two wings protruding from its sides. These wings realistically flapped about as if it was maintaining the flight of the skyship on its own power.
When Yan Zaizen saw these wings, he felt breathless. Etched on the wings were profound formations that he couldn't even hope to comprehend. They seemed to be manipulating the laws in a way that left him feeling a little inferior, even with his power.
Atop this ship was a handsome, middle-aged man dressed in white. His black hair flowed like a cascading waterfall, profound intent surging from every follicle. He looked domineering as the heavens, his eyes containing a deep sense of pride, and his upright posture as if he could carry the world on his shoulders highlighted his appearance. With an aura that seemed like a raging ocean about to collapse a tiny boat, Yan Zaizen couldn't help but feel a sense of respect.
However, his eyes illuminated with an amber-gold color and that bit of respect vanished. What remained was a fierceness that was unyielding, and a sovereign's demeanor. Even his eyes revealed a look of absolute superiority, even in the face of this grand aura.
Despite this, the time remnant only glowed with a trace of amber-gold. Just this glowing caused the middle-aged man's expression to change slightly.
However, with a cold snort, he waved his long-sleeves as if shooing away a fly.
Yan Zaizen heard a thunderous boom resounding in his head. He grimaced in pain. Suddenly, he returned to his body in his original current 'present.'
"Cough...cough!!" Yri immediately burst into a vicious coughing fit that was growing incredibly violent by the second. Before long, blood started to seep out of her mouth, nose, ears and eyes as she bent over and held her heart area and abdomen.
"You!" Yri's voice was contorted with anger, but also a hint of fear.
Yan Zaizen directly ignored Yri, his eyes focused on the thousands of skyships ahead. His eyes revealed a profound light, immediately deducing what happened. "Such a cultivation base truly is heaven-equalling! To actually be able to interact with the temporal flow retroactively."
Yri had been bested, not by someone with profound time laws, but simply an outstanding cultivation level. This person definitely created their own law or path! To be at the very least in the Heavenly Creation Realm at the Third Phase - the Original Law Phase!
He couldn't glimpse into what the law was, but it was definitely equal or even greater than time laws! If it wasn't for his Dao's strength, it's likely he would've been in a severe state like Yri from that simple waving gesture.
However, there didn't seem to be any reaction from the other side as he'd expected. Whoever that man was, he didn't feel the need to come to them. In that case, Yan Zaizen felt a hint of relief. An expert of that level was still not something he could or wanted to face.
Even Yri gave him trouble, and she was barely capable of facing a Heavenly Creation Realm expert at the first phase, the Minor Heaven Phase. The difference between each phase was truly heaven and earth, quite literally.
That being said, his curiosity was most definitely peaked.
"I...gah...I'll get my revenge!" Yri clenched her bloody teeth, her eyes revealing a deep sense of obsession and killing intent. Yan Zaizen slightly furrowed his brows.
"On your own time," carelessly saying, Yan Zaizen waved his hand. A burst of pure lifeforce was birthed and flowed through the void like slithering tongues of flames. They integrated into Yri's body like burrowing parasites. Before long, her body surged with a rejuvenating force that seemed to contain an essence of rebirth in all things physical.
In the time it takes for a spark to fly, her wounds, both internal and external, had been healed.
Yri started, but then she recalled Yan Zaizen surviving her sword strike. This was likely how. How profound!
"Let's go," Yan Zaizen said before a flow of heavenly force once more surged within his body and he took off. His new course intended to avoid the mass of skyships altogether. Yri disgruntledly followed, her eyes looking at those ships with deep animosity.
Just as he was about to leave this bundle of curiosity behind, a light from one of the skyships shot towards the two of them with lightning-like speed.