Chapter 38: Turning Back Time
Lin Bai boosted his elbow with telekinesis, but still missed the strike. The moment Caesar grinned, the entire world was engulfed in a flash of white light — and time shifted.
Hope Town, once again.
Lin Bai kept his telekinesis restrained, flying toward Hope Town. He stopped outside its gates and casually chatted with the two guards.
Same lines. Same faces.
But something felt wrong.
Lin Bai's expression turned grim. Without hesitation, he gathered the town's defenders and launched a preemptive strike.
The difference was clear this time: the soldiers were braver, more crazed, and utterly unafraid of death. Their eyes burned with hatred as they stared up at Lin Bai, their gunpowder barrels already lit. They swarmed toward him like madmen.
"TMD, where did this lunatic come from? How much hatred do you have for me!?"
Lin Bai burst out of Hope Town in utter embarrassment. Though the crazed soldiers couldn't catch up to him, they still hurled attacks after him like the relentless Kuafu chasing the sun, refusing to give up.
His soul power depleted, Lin Bai sought a place to recover. He flew to a mountain ridge outside the town, throwing off his pursuers and resting against a red stone slab.
"What the hell's going on? Those soldiers… it's like they've seen my moves before — rushing up with suicide attacks right away."
Lin Bai's thoughts raced chaotically. He opened his system panel and saw four familiar characters: 'End of Time and Space.'
It clicked.
"As I suspected… a damn kobold got its paws on the Godhead of the God of Time and Space. If this is what qualifies as the 'gold content' of an SSS-grade dungeon… it's impressive. But it still won't save you."
Lin Bai lay on the stone for a while longer. Turning back time repeatedly like this — it had to come with restrictions. Even a godhead couldn't cheat reality indefinitely without cost.
"There's no way it can endlessly rewind time. The energy consumption must be immense. Even if it converts void energy, it still takes time. And time, my friend, is the one thing you can't have an endless supply of."
Destroying the entire dungeon? Unlikely. No obvious bugs or exploitable flaws.
Killing Caesar in a conventional fight? Also difficult. The delay before a time-reversal cast was short, and in that window, even a gunpowder explosion would barely scratch him.
Lin Bai chuckled coldly.
"Well then… I'll just grind you down. You want to turn back time? Good. I'll break you a hundred times if I have to."
It was the simplest, stupidest, and most reliable method. Lin Bai finally regretted not advancing faster — if his cultivation was a little stronger, he wouldn't have to waste time with these tricks.
"Each rewind lets you learn my moves, sure. But I'll also learn how to counter your rewinds. In the end, it comes down to who's stronger."
Lin Bai straightened, shook off the dust with telekinesis, and flew toward Hope Town again.
This time, he didn't even bother with the soldiers on the ground. He summoned the Ruyi Qiankun Spear, hurled it into the sky with all his might, and then boosted it with telekinesis.
The golden spear shot through the air like a rattlesnake missile, piercing toward the mountainside cave where Caesar was hiding.
An explosion rocked the mountains. Inside, Caesar's energy accumulation was cut off mid-spell. The kobold suffered a violent backlash, its confused expression reflecting its disbelief.
"Why… why didn't this happen last time!?"
Realizing defeat in direct battle was inevitable, Caesar quickly sent a mental message to the outside soldiers, ordering them to exhaust Lin Bai by any means necessary.
Lin Bai felt the backlash too. That gravity-assisted throw pushed his Martial Soul to its limits — a Ruyi Qiankun Spearshattered from the force, but the devastation it caused was worth it.
He coughed, wiping away the blood at the corner of his mouth. The pain in his meridians was sharp, but his grin was sharper.
If you can turn back time, then I can go insane. Let's see how long you last.
Another Ruyi Qiankun Spear appeared in his hand. Then another.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three consecutive throws broke apart Caesar's magic protection, creating a gaping hole in the cave entrance. Caesar crawled out like a drowned rat — the proud kobold leader now a hairless, bedraggled wreck.
Seeing the damage, Caesar's face twisted in fury. "Human! You've angered me!"
Lin Bai didn't even flinch. He smirked, knowing Caesar could see him clearly through his Eagle Eye Technique.
Sure enough, it worked like adding oil to a flame.
Furious, but not reckless, Caesar knew he couldn't close the distance. Past memories of being beaten within fifty meters of Lin Bai kept him cautious. Seventy meters was the absolute minimum safety range — but it made most of his spells useless.
Lin Bai raised a hand. Another Ruyi Qiankun Spear.
The golden light shot out, tearing through the air, breaking through Caesar's magic shields as though they were made of paper. Three layers down, the spear pinned Caesar to the ground, its shaft burying deep into the earth.
But Caesar wasn't dead. A look of hatred burned in its eyes as its chest erupted with white light.
Time Reversal.
The injuries vanished in an instant, his body restored.
Lin Bai didn't even frown. In fact, he smiled wider.
White light flashed. The world rewound an hour.
When Lin Bai reappeared at Hope Town's entrance, the familiar guards approached.
This time though, three fireballs fell from the sky before they could speak — arranged in a tight "pin" formation.
It was Caesar.
Learning from past loops, it was trying to preemptively obliterate Lin Bai before he even got a chance to act.
Lin Bai's eyes narrowed but his hands were fast. He raised a telekinetic barrier, though he knew it wasn't enough. He swiftly pulled out the Mountain God Seal and a jade bottle.
With a thought, he crushed the bottle. Dark gray earth vein energy erupted outward, and Lin Bai used the Mountain God Seal's power to condense the evil energy into a defensive wall.
The fireballs slammed into the barrier, white-gray light clashing against blazing red. The earth vein energy rapidly depleted.
Without hesitation, Lin Bai produced three more jade bottles. Under Caesar's enraged glare, he crushed them one by one, reinforcing the shield again.
The tension sharpened Lin Bai's mind.
He quickly grasped that the time loop had already happened at least once since the last reset.
Smirking, he crooked a finger toward the sky.
"Come down here, you coward."
Even kobolds had tempers.
Caesar began chanting a dominating spell.
But Lin Bai wasn't playing around anymore. He stomped the ground with the Mountain God Seal's power, sending a scatter of gravel shooting skyward like meteor fragments.
Under Lin Bai's terrifying strength, even with a magic shield, those stones packed enough force to interrupt Caesar's casting.
And then — the white light came again.
Another rewind.
Lin Bai sighed.
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