Time Cutting Edge

Shrink time is a rank six killer move used to supplement time cutting edge. After three failures, Fang Yuan grasps it in the dream, then in the second stage practises time cutting edge, which is even more difficult and complex than myriad self had been. Injuries in that dream shave lifespan as well as soul foundation. After four injuries he uses time cutting edge once, which is enough for the dream to advance; the old man says that after six years Fang Yuan has learned it and must test it in battle. The battle starts immediately, and Li Xin calls him a lingering member of Bo clan. Fang Yuan tries to activate time path Immortal Gu, the flames engulf him, and he dies without using time cutting edge. He enters again under a rank six identity, with no other formulated killer moves, and fires a thin flying blade that kills rank seven Li Xin through defensive methods. As Li Xin falls he only asks what the killer move is. ^{ch. 1597}

The old man next imparts the rank seven version, many times more complex than rank six, and Fang Yuan treats it as the most complex killer move he has heard. After Fang Yuan masters rank seven time cutting edge, the old man warns that rank six time cutting edge can kill rank seven, but rank seven time cutting edge cannot kill rank eight Gu Immortals, because rank seven and rank eight are too far apart. Using rank seven time cutting edge at rank six cultivation is quite difficult; the old man tells him to raise cultivation to rank seven or rank eight before learning rank eight time cutting edge. Time cutting edge is an extreme move: it removes memories related to it, the drawback grows with rank, and using it too often can erase the teacher, the enemy, and the killer move itself. ^{ch. 1598}

After modifying time cutting edge, Fang Yuan’s time path clone experiments in an empty area and activates it: a flying blade tears through the sky and vanishes at shocking speed, and blood flows from the clone’s mouth. The power is far lower than the original and the backlash is heavier. The clone is greatly disappointed that he still has only rank seven time path methods suited to him, when the River of Time will require rank eight methods. Fang Yuan infers that the complete time cutting edge is a rank nine killer move, like Spectral Soul Demon Venerable’s orderly well, because even the rank six and rank seven versions he obtained cannot be modified, and forcing changes makes the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. His deductions go past the old man’s account: the memories lost are not only of the move, but everything related to it, including records in information path Gu worms and carvings on stone, erased from the River of Time as the move is used. Fang Yuan infers that Spectral Soul obtained time cutting edge and used it often, so related information was erased from the River of Time and never entered Spectral Soul’s true inheritance; he also considers it possible, though he judges it very unlikely, that the true inheritance is incomplete and Shadow Sect kept a portion. He calls time cutting edge a divine technique and judges that grasping it would raise his chances in the River of Time by twenty percent. Time cutting edge at rank seven cannot kill rank eight experts, but it can harm them. ^{ch. 1599}

Time cutting edge needs specific time path Immortal Gu. Fang Yuan decides to pursue them because the original move has incredible attack power and prospects. ^{ch. 1600} Using great thief ghost hand, Fang Yuan steals Tie Qu Zhong’s rank seven edge Gu. Edge Gu is one of the core Immortal Gu of time cutting edge. ^{ch. 1603} Spring Autumn Cicada returns the will of Fang Yuan’s reborn future clone to his time path clone, resetting that clone onto a timeline where the theft from Tie Qu Zhong has not happened yet. ^{ch. 1749} Fang Yuan has not obtained rank seven edge Gu from Tie Qu Zhong and cannot use time cutting edge. ^{ch. 1751} Edge Gu in Tie Qu Zhong’s hands is one of the core Gu of time cutting edge. In a previous life Fang Yuan obtained it through great thief ghost hand, which depended on luck and was not reliable. ^{ch. 1784}

In the River of Time, Shark Flow Lever and Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform are already far behind; only Eternal Yacht can barely catch up. Fang Yuan activates time cutting edge while it is still rank seven; his time path dao marks amplify it a hundred times, and the environment raises its power to nearly rank eight. The move is faster than five finger fist heart sword: the moment he uses it, it has already reached rank eight Qing Ye. Time cutting edge is thin as paper and penetrates Eternal Yacht’s defenses. Xun Guo Zi jumps in front of Qing Ye, is hit, and falls on the deck. Qing Ye names it Bo clan’s killer move, which had once threatened the whole of Central Continent. Qing Ye tells the remaining Gu Immortals to stop chasing: among the three Immortal Gu Houses, Eternal Yacht is the fastest but has the weakest defense, and time cutting edge could not be blocked. If the other Immortal Gu Houses were around, Qing Ye might pursue. ^{ch. 1633}

Immemorial year beasts, spring scissors, summer fan, and other killer moves were exposed as part of Fang Yuan’s plan, but the reveal of time cutting edge was a shame; without it in that battle, he judges he might have died. ^{ch. 1634} Heavenly Court distributes the River of Time battle intel in treasure yellow heaven. The five regions learn that Fang Yuan has become a rank eight Gu Immortal and holds killer moves including spring scissors, summer fan, and five finger fist heart sword, and most amazingly the long lost method time cutting edge. ^{ch. 1636} The remaining Xunzi occupy Present and Past Pavilion with hatred because Fang Yuan used time cutting edge and killed Xun Guo Zi, causing their revival methods to fail, leaving three. ^{ch. 1694}

After Fang Yuan’s time path attainment reaches quasi-supreme grandmaster, he can completely understand time cutting edge’s essence, change the Gu worms involved, and restore its original might. ^{ch. 1679} Fang Yuan later improves time cutting edge; the new time cutting edge is thirty percent more powerful than in the previous life, because he has more time path Immortal Gu. ^{ch. 1797} Time cutting edge is one step closer to perfection. ^{ch. 1803} Although Fang Yuan does not practise time cutting edge in that stretch, he gains a clearer understanding of its essence: the move is like an eraser, using time path power to erase the enemy while consuming the user. The memory-erasing flaw cannot be removed; that flaw is determined by the structure of time cutting edge, and removing it would overturn the killer move’s framework and make its erasing effect on the enemy disappear completely. Fang Yuan has no choice but to accept the flaw. ^{ch. 1809} Most killer moves are based on a single path, and Gu worms of other paths can only be supplementary even if mixed in; time path’s time cutting edge is given as an example, alongside rule path’s five restriction profound light qi. ^{ch. 2065}

Among unused trump card killer moves, Fang Yuan still has time cutting edge, unlimited qi sea, five finger fist heart sword, lead soul into dream, and others. Against Duke Long and Cang Xuan Zi, he holds back because a failed use would let them prepare against it. ^{ch. 1939} Fang Yuan then activates the immortal killer move time cutting edge. This is the supreme method of Central Continent’s Bo clan, a knife that had once shaken the whole Central Continent with terror. Among Fang Yuan’s methods it is the most complex, with ever-changing steps, and its activation time cannot cross three breaths, so he uses shrink time every time he activates it. Its side-effect is that each use erases a portion of memories related to it, like an eraser that erases the enemy while consuming itself. Cang Xuan Zi is struck: a bloody hole pierces her forehead, filled with dense time path dao marks that a legendary immemorial beast’s self-recovery cannot regenerate. After she is struck, Fang Yuan’s mind turns blank and most of his memories of time cutting edge turn vague; he judges that after attacking Duke Long with it he will completely lose the move. Duke Long needs to concentrate fully to have a chance at blocking time cutting edge amplified by at least fifteen hundred times. Fairy Zi Wei says Fang Yuan used myriad year hunting’s aura to conceal this move, and that used alone its aura would be too grand to hide. ^{ch. 1943} Five finger fist heart sword has a huge advantage compared to time cutting edge: it would not be forgotten. ^{ch. 1945} Duke Long treats Fang Yuan’s time path system as the most comprehensive of Fang Yuan’s combat systems, covering battle and immortal aperture management, with two trump cards: time cutting edge combined with shrink time, and spring autumn success whose core is Spring Autumn Cicada. That system also includes three breaths future vision, year beast summoning, Myriad Year Flying Warship, spring scissors, winter coat, autumn perception, and summer fan. ^{ch. 1946}