“Huxian, find out which gears we need to freeze to make sure everything is in position,” Cha Ming said.
On it, Huxian said. He slipped his goggles on and ran through the air, inspecting the various components as he saw what they couldn’t. I have a plan. Are you ready?
“Born ready,” Cha Ming said.
All right, freeze this gear and activate these two in succession, Huxian said. Cha Ming did so, and two gears moved—save the one he’d taken a picture of. Now immobilize these two and activate these five as I tell you.
Snap. Snap. They moved as he directed. The more pictures he snapped, Cha Ming realized that, like his Clear Sky Brush, the Space-Time Camera was a glutton. It burned through top-grade spirit stones as though they were simple firewood. He hoped they had enough.
Now immobilize that big gear, Huxian said.
Cha Ming snapped a picture, and suddenly he heard a screeching noise that threatened to pierce his eardrums. The ticking of the clock slowed.
Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick…
Um, it should be fine? Huxian said.
Worry began to mount in Cha Ming’s heart as they continued their work. The gears moved from the center of the room toward the clock on the wall, and the further they went, the slower the clock ticked. Finally, as they put the last gear in place, the clock ticked its last. What should have been a simple turn of the massive central gear to open the door didn’t happen.
Well, fudge nuggets, Huxian said. I did not see that coming.
“What happened?” Gong Shuren asked.
“It seems we killed the clock,” Cha Ming said. “It’s not turning like it should.”
“Should we remove the time locks on the other gears?” Gong Shuren asked Huxian, who nodded.
They’ll move about, but the others are locked in place, Huxian said. Cha Ming erased one of the pictures he’d taken, and the moment he did, a small gear flew across the room and crashed into a wall. It fell on the floor, useless. Seeing that it didn’t affect their chain of gears, Cha Ming released them one after another. Soon, they were left with a pile of broken gears above the main one. It stood still like before, not ticking in the slightest.
“Could it be stuck?” Cha Ming asked. “Do we need to wind it somehow?”
With what? Huxian said. Everything’s connected, and even if we used all our strength, we wouldn’t be able to move that gear. He shook his head. Besides, it hasn’t exactly stopped, you know. It’s still ticking, just very slowly.
“Oh? You mean if we wait long enough, it’ll tick?” Cha Ming asked.
It could take a month or two, but yes, it’ll tick, Huxian said.
“That’s not quick enough,” Cha Ming said. “By then, they’ll have attuned the Sea God Artifacts.”
“What if we had these?” Gong Shuren asked. She summoned a few golden discs that Cha Ming recognized. They were time-essence discs. “Could we use these to speed up the process?”
Cha Ming thought for a bit and even consulted with Sun Wukong. “I don’t have any way to use them,” he said finally. “How about you?”
Huxian, to whom he’d just spoken, had his eyes glued on the time discs. A dribble of saliva was dripping down on the stone floor.
“Huxian…” he warned, but it was too late. The fox zipped toward the discs and crunched down on them like a child would candy. Before they could even scold him, he became a blur in the room. To their surprise, this blur extended around him as a field, and Gua, Lei Jiang, Silverwing, and even Mr. Mountain came out from his tail space. The fourth point, to which Mr. Mountain had yet to be connected, suddenly snapped into place. The space between them shuddered.
They flew up around the central gear, keeping the formation active at all times, but the occasional flicker hinted at instability. For the most part, however, they seemed to be standing still in the air, unmoving. Cha Ming soon realized that it wasn’t that they weren’t moving, but they were moving too fast. The small mountain stood still, which was expected, but Silverwing seemed like he had four pairs of wings, and Lei Jiang’s paws were a blurred mess. Gua held three mirrors in his three pairs of hands, and Huxian no longer had three tails but nine.
Little by little, the gear started to move. It creaked slowly at first as it fought against the initial friction, but soon it moved a little, and the clock ticked with it. Then another. And another. The ticking sped up, and soon, the gear was turning along with the other gears, spinning against the lone gear above the clock.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
The ticking wasn’t maddening like before; it was more like music to their ears. The turning gear didn’t seem to have any effect, but they could feel some sort of potential building behind the ticking clock. It continued this way for a full minute until finally, it stopped. Then the central gear split in two and fell to the ground, and as it did, the clock sounded.
Gong. Cha Ming felt his bones vibrate as the chime rang through his body.
Gong. He felt his soul tremble as the chime resonated with his spirit.
Gong. His qi fluctuated as the chime caused his cultivation to quicken.
After three gongs, the door opened. Everyone sighed in relief as the small fox flew down to them, panting.
Did I do good? Huxian asked.
Cha Ming smiled and scratched between his ears. “You did good, my friend. Very good.” He turned to Gong Shuren, whose face had now turned solemn. “Well?”
“Let’s go,” Gong Shuren said. “We have no time to waste.”
The woman, the man, and the fox walked through the small doors. The Sea God’s Puzzle disappeared behind them as another room appeared in front. There, they saw a large clock and three daises. On each platform was a single youngster. Four other youngsters stood guard in front of them, along with seven other champions.
Zhou Li stood
