The feeling of disorientation passed, and the sensation of solid ground returned.

Jeming steadied himself and quickly surveyed his surroundings.

The light was dim, the air dry, carrying the peculiar coolness unique to ancient stone.

Towering stone pillars supported the arched dome, and the walls were covered with... Wait?

His eyes suddenly narrowed, memories surged like a tidal wave.

This environment, he had seen it before!

In the second reincarnation’s record crystal image, it was the temple that hid the Eighth Level Reaper Race Leader’s ambush!

It was here that he was forced to use the Light Transformation Escape Technique of the Five Elements Rainbow Transformation Mirror to narrowly escape.

The intelligence of the past ambush made Jeming’s vigilance instantly reach its peak!

The Spiritual Power and Spirit within Jeming operated simultaneously, as scouting witchcraft and Divine Sense expanded outward, searching for possible enemies.

However, the anticipated ambush did not appear, the temple was eerily quiet.

Something wasn’t right.

He forced himself to stay calm and observe more closely.

Yes, the overall structure was similar, that rough and non-human architectural style was identical.

But the details... were entirely different.

Information from the record crystal in the second reincarnation showed the temple walls were covered with unreadable twisted, bizarre symbols, full of primitive wildness.

Yet here, those "symbols" had transformed into precise and complex energy conductors, faintly glowing blue.

These energy conductors were neatly embedded into the stone walls like integrated circuits, exuding a cold sense of order.

More crucially, in the memory, the central altar of the temple was empty, whereas now, a large Energy Ball the size of a building was steadily emitting soft blue light.

This Energy Ball quietly rotated amidst many altars, surprisingly not leaking powerful energy, yet giving off a sense akin to the "heart" of the whole space. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"This isn’t the same temple," Jeming immediately concluded.

Without hesitation, he activated the All-Purpose Eye.

In an instant, a massive amount of information about the surrounding environment flooded into his consciousness.

Material composition, energy spectrum, space curvature, residual law fluctuations, and so on.

Jeming utilized the Five Elements Rainbow Transformation Mirror to rapidly process this chaotic information, while he quickly removed distractions from the processed data, comparing it to benchmark data...

A few seconds later, Jeming’s expression changed slightly.

From the data, the issue wasn’t with the temple itself but with... the entire world!

Energy inertia anomaly, subtle system shifts in fundamental physical constants, the space-time structure showing an unnatural "encapsulation" feel...

All these data pointed to one conclusion: this was no longer the "Reincarnation Plane" he was familiar with!

Thankfully, with the prior hint from Artarius, Jeming had recently supplemented his knowledge about time-related concealment techniques.

Though this knowledge couldn’t enhance his understanding of the Time Law, he now had a concept regarding certain situations.

So after synthesizing all the data, a possibility emerged.

"Is this... a ’gap’ in another timeline?" Jeming murmured, the recently learned information surging in his mind.

The Phase Shift he utilized involved creating a subsidiary dimension alongside the stable main space and relying on the phase space formed between the two spaces for concealment.

Similarly, time also had a comparable concealment technique, with principles quite similar—not involving "space" but "time."

By temporarily creating or anchoring a miniature parallel "timeline branch" outside the mainstream timeline and projecting or shifting one’s existence into this tributary world.

Due to this temporary tributary world "not existing" on the mainstream timeline, from the mainstream timeline’s perspective, the concealer appeared to have completely vanished.

"No wonder... No wonder the Wizard Legion conducted fifteen rounds of research, dug deep, yet found no traces," Jeming’s mind suddenly cleared, "because the so-called hidden entity wasn’t ’there’ at all. It hides in a ’layer’ woven from timelines that belongs solely to itself."

And the nature of timeline branches determines that by making extremely slight disturbances to parameters during creation, it can generate nearly endless variant branches.

Just like during Phase Shift, even if precise coordinates deviate by nanometers, it might enter a completely different phase space.

Trying to accurately locate the opponent’s actual "stronghold" amidst countless timeline layers is as challenging as finding a specific grain of sand in the universe.

"So, this place is... or rather, it’s not!" Jeming examined the bizarre "temple," "shouldn’t be its core location either, just randomly selected, a ’temporary cage’ or ’processing room’ used to trap or handle me?"

Then, what was the purpose of dragging him into this timeline gap, exploiting the chaos in the camp’s temporal protective fluctuations with meticulous effort?

Just to trap him?

Or was there a deeper plot?

Suppressing his doubts, Jeming began to move around the area.

He first conducted a rapid patrol around this world and quickly confirmed two pieces of information.

Firstly, according to detection, the effective range of this world appeared limited to a region centered on the temple, extending thousands of kilometers.

Secondly, other than desolate land and disintegrated buildings uniformly covered with energy conductors, he found nothing else in this branch world.

No life, no resources, only the blue Energy Ball suspended above the altar, the single anomaly in this dead world.

He returned to the temple, cautiously approaching the altar.

The All-Purpose Eye fully operational, attempting to analyze the structure and nature of that Energy Ball.

Just as he was about ten meters from the altar, preparing for a deep scan...

Buzz!!!

An indescribable will, causing one’s Soul to tremble, descended without warning!

This will had no specific "appearance" and seemed more like an "existence proclamation" directly acting on the laws of the world itself.

It was cold, indifferent, devoid of any emotion.

Jeming could clearly "feel" that this will, like a searchlight, centered on the temple, conducted multiple rapid and thorough "scans" of this timeline rift world.

Every time the scan swept over his body, he felt a shiver born from instincts of Life.

But strangely, the will seemed not to "see" him.

"It’s the mark left by Lord Artarius..." Jeming immediately understood.

That mark was not only a signal, but it also possessed extremely high concealment characteristics, temporarily obscuring the perception of this "world."

Thus, he did not immediately encounter an attack upon entering this world; the will was likely projected over because the presence behind the scenes noticed a change in the situation.

Yet, just as he breathed a sigh of relief, the invisible "barrier" surrounding him as if reaching its limit, shattered silently like a soap bubble.

The next moment, that immense and cold will instantly focused on Jeming!

Discovered!

Jeming’s hairs stood on end, survival instinct erupted instantly.

The brilliance of multiple instant-cast Protective Magic layers lit up around him, physical defense, energy deflection, and Soul guardian instantly stacked!

At the same time, he applied his Calculation Power to the extreme, his hands moving swiftly...

Phase Space, activate!

His form blurred, about to escape into that safe parallel phase space, avoiding this lock-on.

However, this time, the infallible life-saving trump card failed.

In this world constructed from timeline tributaries, the rules of space seemed to be covered by some higher authority.

The Phase Space entrance Jeming just constructed wavered violently like a candle in the wind, then collapsed and dissipated under the invisible pressure of that immense will!

Forcefully bounced out of space transition, Jeming grunted, his Spiritual Power in chaos.

Fortunately, the strong body resistance provided by the Body Refining Technique helped him withstand the damage without receiving serious injuries, but he could no longer care about those now...

The will locking onto him had transformed into a substantive attack!

Invisible twisting forces surged from all directions, the data collected by Jeming’s ever-active All-Purpose Eye allowing him to instantly determine that this was a negation and erasure applied directly from the level of "existence"!

The space around Jeming began to become "unreal," colors faded, textures blurred.

It was as if he and the small area he occupied were being forcibly erased from the "picture" of the world!

All the Protective Magic he released seemed like paper in the face of this force, the light quickly dimming, unable to provide any blocking effect.

The resilient body brought by the Body Refining Technique at this moment couldn’t feel any point of resistance, but a terrifying feeling of the most fundamental "self" being stripped and diluted was clearly transmitted to the depths of the Soul.

Unable to resist!

Unable to comprehend!

This was a crushing at the level of power!

Just as Jeming’s consciousness began to blur, seemingly about to completely disperse under this invisible annihilation force in the next second...

A hand suddenly appeared before his eyes.

It was an ordinary-looking hand, with starlike points of light vaguely flowing beneath the skin.

It appeared without warning, as if it had always been there.

Then, the hand moved serenely, like brushing away cobwebs or dust, gently waving twice at the invisible annihilation force around Jeming.

The movements were understated, not even causing much stir.

But Jeming instantly felt the terrifying pressure that had almost dissolved his entire existence disappear.

The faded world around quickly returned to its original state, the "realness" of space re-engulfing him.

Before the post-crisis exhaustion engulfed him, Jeming abruptly turned his head.

Beside him, a pitch-black, narrow spatial rift with silver starry edges had quietly opened at some point.

Inside the rift was not the void of traditional spatial rifts, but dotted with starlight, like the cosmic sky.

And the owner of that hand was stepping out calmly from the rift.

A gray robe plain, a peaceful countenance, an eye as deep as the starry sky.

Starforger, Eighth Level Grand Mage, Artarius, true form... has descended here!