A jellyfish was making its way up through the azure waters, crawling up a giant tree.

After going through the most important transformation in its life, it now had four thick and powerful limbs, and its semi-transparent light blue body had become tough and solid.

It appeared like some unidentified blue-skinned creature. Its limited intelligence meant that it had not developed a sense of self. Its instinct was driving it to climb up to the sky.

It could sense that there was something there that could perfect its form.

If it could reach the summit, it would become a new and mighty species.

It persistently ascended, climbing out of the sea and toward the top of the giant tree.

There was still a long way to go. The giant tree was like a heaven-scraping tower, seemingly with no end.

The jellyfish tirelessly climbed, experiencing spring and autumn, winter and summer.

It grew older and older, weaker and weaker, but it still did not give up.

Finally, it reached the top of the tree, standing atop the head of a giant.

It excitedly roared. I am finally standing at the apex of the world!

But when it looked down, it saw the azure waters.

The jellyfish froze.

It didn’t understand how it had been able to climb for so many years and still be so close to the surface of the water.

There was a gust of wind, and the aged jellyfish saw its body turn to dust.

At that moment, the jellyfish finally understood.

It wasn’t that I didn’t climb high enough. My life was just too short.

Its life had been this journey!

The rabbit fiend backed up a few steps to avoid the disintegrating jellyfish, at the same time avoiding the timestream around Tang Jie.

There was worry in its eyes as it looked at Tang Jie sitting atop the tree.

It had already been a day.

The flow of time was such that it felt like Tang Jie had used up thirty years.

His hair extended all the way to the ground, and his face was more mature and seemed weathered by hardship. As a cultivator, he should have been able to maintain a youthful appearance, but not while the flow of time was rapidly draining away his life force.

His weathered face left Tutu very concerned. It shouted, “Tang Jie, hurry and get up! You can’t keep this up! You’ll die!”

Even the life of a cultivator had its limits. Although Tang Jie was still young and could last for a few more days, entering old age early would have a huge effect on his later cultivation. And the last tier of the Mortal Shedding Realm, the Three Withering Tribulations, devoured one’s life force and made one rapidly age. Thus, a cultivator needed large amounts of life force to support them throughout.

If he failed to push through, Tang Jie’s life would end there.

But Tang Jie seemed completely unaware.

The winds of time blew on his body, lifting up a few strands of long, gray hair.

He quietly sat in thought, like a stone statue.

Tutu didn’t know when he would finally wake up, but it knew that if this went on, Tang Jie would truly be doomed.

It finally decided to toss aside its apprehensions and wake Tang Jie up. But as it walked over to push Tang Jie, Tang Jie suddenly said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

“You…” Tutu looked at Tang Jie in shock.

Tang Jie was still motionless, as if someone else had spoken.

He was still comprehending and had yet to leave that mystical state.

Then… how did he know what it was going to do?

Tutu didn’t understand, but Tang Jie’s words gave it a little confidence.

It backed away a few steps and sat back down.

Twelve hours passed.

In terms of lost lifespan, Tang Jie was currently an old man approaching seventy.

His hair had all gone white.

For a cultivator who had yet to experience the Three Withering Tribulations, this age wasn’t young. The vast majority of cultivators who reached this age would no longer be able to overcome those three tribulations.

By now, Tutu had decided that there was no point in stopping Tang Jie now, so he was no longer worried about Tang Jie’s condition.

Since his fate was set, it really didn’t matter if he lived or died here.

A howling wind came through.

The vortex of clouds overhead gradually dispersed.

This wind carried the bitter chill of autumn and the warmth of spring, and Tutu couldn’t help but shiver.

He looked around, his sharp senses telling him that something had changed, but he didn’t know exactly what had changed.

In front of him, Tang Jie slowly opened his eyes.

Old, but full of wisdom.

“Tutu,” he said.

“You’re finally awake.” Tutu excitedly hopped to its feet.

Tang Jie squeezed out a smile from his bark-like face, mottled with liver spots. “Yes, I’m awake. I made you worry.”

“Did you succeed in comprehending the Dao?”

“Of course.” Tang Jie nodded. “I benefited greatly!”

Tutu suddenly sensed something and pointed at Tang Jie in shock. “Eh? Your cultivation level…”

Tang Jie indifferently said, “Mm, while I was cultivating the Dao, I decided to cultivate my body on the side. Using the flow of time, I cultivated to the fourth revolution.”

While comprehending the Dao, Tang Jie decided to improve himself, and since he was doing it on the side, he hadn’t improved by much—only by two revolutions. But for Tang Jie, that had still saved him time.

Tutu looked at him in a daze before saying, “What about it? What does it matter that after 36 hours, 41 years of your time, you finally comprehended a Dao? What does it matter that you achieved more revolutions? You can’t get back the life that you’ve lost. In your current situation, unless you can find a natural treasure that can restore your lifespan, you won’t survive the Three Withering Tribulations! 41 years for only two revolutions is far from worth it! This sort of speed will only get you a speedy death!”

Tang Jie chuckled. “What does death matter when it comes to seeking the Great Dao? You take some things too seriously.”

For Tang Jie, this body was only an avatar, so even if it turned to dust, it was fine. After all, the Dao Will his avatar comprehended would also be comprehended by the original. Moreover, the Nine Executions Immortal Formation had many natural treasures, and there could be one that could restore lifespan among them.

But he couldn’t say any of this to Tutu. He waved his hand, cutting his long hair and turning it black, changing his face back to its original appearance. He then took out a change of clothes from his Mustard Seed Bag to replace the clothes that had grown shabby from the ravages of time. Like this, he returned to his original appearance.

Tutu was flabbergasted. It was about to ask how he had restored his lifespan when it realized and asked, “You can use transformation spells?”

Tang Jie smiled and nodded.

Tutu angrily stomped its feet. “What’s the point? It’s like covering your ears when trying to steal a bell!”

Tang Jie was now using the fiend fox’s transformation spell to hide his appearance, and while it concealed his feeble lifespan, it did not change the reality.

Tang Jie replied, “It’s only to save the trouble of explaining. Tutu, remember to not tell anyone about this.”

Tutu sighed and nodded.

It then asked, “Right, what did you comprehend?”

After paying such an enormous price, he had to at least have recovered some of his capital.

While Time was a Great Dao, unlike the other Great Daos, it had countless branches, like the ability of Prophecy, which allowed one to see into the future; the ability of Reformation that allowed a return to the original state; Lightning Time, the ability to instantly accelerate one’s speed; and countless other abilities. When Shi Wunian had restored the booklet that Nan Baicheng had torn apart, he had been using Reformation.

Beneath the Great Dao were countless minor Daos.

Tutu was sure that Tang Jie wasn’t capable enough to comprehend a complete Great Dao, so he should have only comprehended a small part.

Just as Tang Jie was about to answer, his face suddenly turned serious, and he cocked his head and listened. “Someone is coming toward us.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know, but no matter who it is, in this Beast hidden realm, we have more enemies than friends. Let’s go over and take a look. If it’s an enemy, we can take care of them and I can test out my new Dao Will.” Tang Jie grabbed Tutu and flew off.

Tutu shouted, “Hey, hey, don’t just randomly start flying. This place’s space is all jumbled up. Tell me where they are and I can lead you there.”

“Oh, that’s no longer a problem,” Tang Jie casually replied.

A small blessing from his comprehension of the Great Dao was that this place’s disordered spacetime no longer affected him.

He soon arrived at another part of the ocean.

Ahead of him, two Beast Refining Gate disciples were mindlessly moving forward like headless flies.

Tang Jie could tell that they were both at the Cognitive Creation Tier.

In the past, without the Heavenbane Lightning Pearls, he wouldn’t have been certain about his chances of taking on two Cognitive Creation cultivators, even if he used the golden dagger and the Mindseizers.

But this time, things were different.

When Tang Jie saw the two of them, he flew over while laughing, “Senior brothers, have you been well?”

The two of them were scared out of their wits at this person suddenly charging at them, shouting, “Tang Jie!”

They both simultaneously used wind spells, their bodies becoming light and nimble. This was clearly a precaution against any incoming Heavenbane Lightning Pearls.

It was understandable. Tang Jie’s use of the Heavenbane Lightning Pearls in that battle on the sea had left far too deep of an impression.

Tang Jie shook his head. “Relax. I don’t need to use Heavenbane Lightning Pearls to deal with the two of you.”

The two Beast Refining Gate disciples scowled in anger.

While Heavenbane Lightning Pearls were expensive, they were ultimately just items that could be bought for some tens of thousands of spirit coins.

Raising a proper disciple took far more resources than that.

By saying that these two Cognitive Creation Tier cultivators weren’t worth a Heavenbane Lightning Pearl, Tang Jie was essentially ridiculing them.

But he truly did have that right.

Even though he was facing two foes of a higher tier than him, Tang Jie was completely unconcerned. On the contrary, it was the two Beast Refining Gate disciples who seemed nervous.

The two of them shared a look and nodded.

One of them savagely shouted, “Tang Jie, we know all your tricks. Don’t even think about using any of your schemes today!”

As he spoke, the two of them summoned six refined beasts: an eagle, a tiger, a shark, a turtle, a crane, and a snake.

As this was an ocean world, refined beasts that could swim or fly were more suitable for combat here. Thus, of the six refined beasts the pair had summoned, five could swim or fly. The only landbound beast was that tiger. This beast had been released because the Beast Garden’s effect on fiends had always favored tigers.

For this reason, the Beast Refining Gate’s strongest fiends had always been tigers.

The six beasts appeared and lunged at Tang Jie, howling and shrieking.

Two Beast Refining Gate disciples have come to offer themselves as target dummies! Time to see if it was worth it for Tang Jie to become an old man!