Chapter 308 - 307: The Ancient Dongtian and the Secret of the Sacred Grounds (5)

Lin Yuan crouched beside the water, and extended his divine sense toward the stream.

At first, he detected nothing unusual. The water contained ordinary spiritual energy, and its flow appeared natural.

But when he extended his perception deeper, he discovered a subtle fluctuation beneath the surface.

It was not a spatial passage in the conventional sense.

Rather, the water seemed to be passing through a region where the spatial structure had been folded in an unusual manner. The distance between two points along the stream did not correspond to the distance that existed between them in the surrounding space.

Lin Yuan withdrew his divine sense.

His expression became thoughtful.

’So that is why the water does not accumulate.’

He stood up and looked toward the waterfall again.

"Qingyue, what do you think would happen if the stream were cut off?"

Bai Qingyue considered the question.

"The pool would eventually dry up, unless there were another source of water feeding it."

"That would be the ordinary result."

Lin Yuan pointed toward the waterfall.

"But look at the amount of water descending from the cliff. If the stream were simply carrying the water away, its volume should gradually increase as it travels downstream, unless the water is being absorbed by the ground or diverted elsewhere."

He turned toward the narrow crevice.

"Yet, the stream appears to remain almost unchanged. There is also a spatial fluctuation beneath the water, which suggests that at least part of it is passing through a different spatial structure."

Bai Qingyue’s expression changed.

"You mean the water is being returned to its source?"

"Possibly."

Lin Yuan nodded.

"Or it is being transferred to another region before eventually returning through a different route. I cannot be certain yet, but the pattern resembles a circulation system rather than an ordinary river."

Ku Ming’s golden eyes widened slightly.

He had known about the strange behavior of the stream for years, but he had never considered the possibility that its movement was connected to a greater circulation system within the Sacred Grounds.

"Almsgiver Lin, are you suggesting that the spiritual Qi, the water, and the spatial fluctuations are all connected?"

Lin Yuan looked toward the surrounding mountains.

"I believe they may be different expressions of the same underlying structure."

He paused.

"Think about it. The spiritual Qi flows through the land in a continuous cycle. The water descends from the waterfall, disappears into the spatial folds beneath the mountain, and may eventually return through another route. Even the ancient stones we encountered along the way appear to guide the movement of energy."

His gaze became increasingly profound.

"If these phenomena are connected, then the Sacred Grounds may not be a collection of isolated regions held together by ancient formations. The entire realm may possess a unified structure that governs the movement of spiritual energy, water, and perhaps even time."

Ku Ming remained silent for several breaths.

Then he slowly nodded.

"This poor monk has spent years cultivating here, yet I have never considered the matter from that perspective."

He looked toward the waterfall.

"However, there is something else you should know. The temporal dilation within the Sacred Grounds is not uniform. Some regions experience time at a much faster rate than the outside world, while others appear to experience a slower flow. There are even places where the difference changes depending on the position of the observer."

Bai Qingyue turned toward him.

"How is that possible?"

"Because the temporal laws here are not entirely stable."

Ku Ming’s expression grew serious.

"At least, that is what I believe. When cultivators first enter the Sacred Grounds, they often assume that the entire realm follows a single temporal ratio. They believe that if ten years pass here, a certain number of days or months must have passed outside. But the truth is more complicated."

He gestured toward the mountains.

"Some regions have ancient formations that regulate the flow of time. Others appear to be influenced by the natural structure of the realm. In certain places, the temporal laws are so unstable that even a powerful cultivator cannot accurately determine how much time has passed without comparing it to an external reference."

Lin Yuan’s eyes narrowed.

"Then the temporal dilation may not be a single effect imposed upon the entire realm. It may be a consequence of the structure of the individual regions."

"That is one possibility."

Ku Ming nodded.

"However, there is another matter. The deeper one travels into the Sacred Grounds, the more frequently one encounters regions where the laws appear to overlap. A mountain may possess one set of temporal properties at its base and another near its peak. A river may flow normally in one section and appear to move differently in another."

He looked toward Lin Yuan.

"Such phenomena are dangerous. A cultivator who enters without sufficient comprehension may become trapped in a region where the passage of time no longer behaves as expected. Some have returned after believing they spent only a few days exploring, only to discover that considerably more time had passed elsewhere. Others have vanished entirely."

Bai Qingyue’s expression became solemn.

"Then the Sacred Grounds are far more dangerous than they appear."

"Indeed."

Ku Ming sighed.

"People come here because they wish to advance their cultivation, but many forget that an opportunity and a danger can be two sides of the same coin. The ancient laws may help a cultivator comprehend the Dao, yet those same laws can become a source of calamity if the cultivator does not understand them."

Lin Yuan looked toward the waterfall once more.

The temporal dilation, the spatial fluctuations, the circulation of spiritual Qi, and the ancient laws all appeared to be connected.

But how?

He allowed his divine sense to spread through the surroundings, following the subtle movements of energy beneath the stone platform.

For a moment, the world seemed to become transparent.

He could see the spiritual Qi gathering around the mountains, flowing through invisible channels, and converging at certain points. He could also perceive faint spatial fluctuations connecting distant locations, although the connections were incomplete and difficult to follow.

Then he noticed something else.

The spatial fluctuations did not merely connect one place to another.

Some of them appeared to connect different states of the same region.

A stream of spiritual Qi would disappear at one point, yet a similar fluctuation would emerge elsewhere with almost identical characteristics. A faint temporal disturbance would gather around a mountain, vanish, and then reappear along a distant ridge.

It was as though the entire realm were attempting to maintain a cycle despite the presence of countless fractures.

Lin Yuan’s pupils contracted.

’Fractures?’