“This is… completely unfair,” Cha Ming said. “I understand that despite being primarily body cultivators, the Sea God royal family can practice qi. But it’s invariably water qi. They should not have to deal with five-element puzzles.” He looked around. “And light and darkness, it seems. Seven elements. Great.”
“And you should not have brought soul-bound treasures here,” a voice said. A glowing figure appeared just in front of the clock on the wall. The transparent woman, who looked every bit an immortal fairy, scowled at them and tapped her foot. “Rest assured, I’ve determined your capabilities. Whether you can live up to my expectations is another matter.”
Cha Ming coughed lightly. “Isn’t the purpose of the Sea God Trial to test descendants?”
“Yes, but because of your presence, we can’t even test her,” the fairy said. “Therefore, we can only evaluate the worthiness of her friends. Any other questions?” Her smile was neither encouraging nor reassuring. He had no doubt that she’d be happy to dance around the subject until they ran out of time.
“None, esteemed guardian of the second stage,” Gong Shuren said, pulling Cha Ming back. “Arguing with her will do us no good, so let’s just try and solve this. I’m less concerned about the five elements and more about light and darkness.”
Cha Ming nodded. “Luckily, Huxian can help out with that. Though it seems we’ll have to pull out all the stops for this. Are you ready?”
She nodded.
“Then let’s get to work.” Cha Ming grabbed his brush and began solving some of the smaller puzzles, sliding them into position. The clock’s constant ticking and moving made this especially difficult. As Gong Shuren focused on water-based runes, Cha Ming focused on the other four, as well as light and shadow, with Huxian’s help.
Every piece of the puzzle they solved allowed them to shift one of the gears. They soon realized the eventual goal: an exposed gear just above the main clock. Only by using the turning gears to energize the clock could they open the door.
But how to get there? Cha Ming thought. They moved gear after gear, but whenever they moved one component, the others would move to compensate, undoing any progress they made toward the clock.
Soon, three weeks had passed. They’d activated all the formations in the gear box, but no matter how they moved the gears, they couldn’t reach the clock near the wall. To make matters worse, the incessant ticking was making it difficult to concentrate. Huxian’s friends had come out to play for only a short while before being forced to return to his tail space. They were running out of time.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
“Huxian, can you look at the pieces again?” Cha Ming asked.
The small fox sighed and slipped on his goggles. He used it to survey the strings of karma in the room as he attempted to figure out an optimal order in which to manipulate the gears. He’d repeated the process every day since they’d come.
Nothing, Huxian said. Like I said, it only takes half of these gears to open the door, but the problem is they keep rearranging themselves. One gear moving over is fine, but it moves some key ones out of position. They get affected a few moves down the road, undoing our progress.
“Can’t you stop them with that time trap of yours?” Cha Ming asked.
I could, Huxian said. For a few seconds. But that won’t buy us enough time.
Time. It was always about time and how he didn’t have enough of it. In the first trial, he’d used a talisman to free them from the shackles of time, and in this one, he needed a way to do the opposite.
Let’s go over our assets again, Cha Ming thought. Flow Talisman—I can’t make another one anytime soon. The last time practically killed me. Other poetic talismans don’t align very well with time, though I suppose I could try making a Shape Talisman and try to destroy the clock. He shook his head. Not a good idea, and it’ll waste too much time if it fails.
I’ve used all the formation flags and sigils I have at my disposal. My pills have no effect here, and the transcendent talisman Gong Shuren has is meant to speed someone up underwater. It would probably work in the air to some extent, but that’s not exactly helpful. Cauldron? Not useful. Hammer focus? Not useful. Clear Sky Staff? Been using it all along, and I suppose I can try to smash the puzzle if all things fail. Hm… wait, what about this thing?
He summoned the Space-Time Camera.
“What’s that?” Gong Shuren asked, floating over.
“A repository of memories,” Cha Ming said, his voice laced with emotion. “It contains images that are very dear to me. When it seems too hard to keep going, I take it out and look at the pictures inside, and I find the strength to move on.” Aside from its ability to take pictures, he’d mostly ignored the mystical artifact. But it was a soul-bound treasure, wasn’t it? It should have other uses. Besides, he remembered Yu Wen using it to hold off a devil emperor outside Jade Moon Garden. The small camera had taken a picture of those black spikes threatening to break apart the shield and frozen them in space-time. Could he do the same here?
Yes, he could, he realized as his spirit exchanged information with the camera. While it would be very difficult to use it on animate objects or living beings, he could use his qi, spirit stones, and other energy sources to power a time-stilling shot. It would last as long as the camera still contained energy.
“I’ve figured it out,” Cha Ming said. “But I need some help. Sister Shuren, how many top-grade spirit stones do you have?”
“I brought quite a few in case we needed them,” Gon Shuren said, tossing a bag to him. His eyes widened when
