Time Path

Ba Gui defines the two foundational paths since the immemorial era: space path for up, down, left, and right, and time path for past, present, and future. Blessed land size and time flow are measured against that framework, including against the river of time. ^{ch. 383}

Spring Autumn Cicada is one of the Gu worms of the time path, its aura is that of a rank six Immortal Gu, and its historical master was Demon Venerable Hong Lian, the Red Lotus Demon Venerable. ^{ch. 383} The Spring Autumn Cicada later gets a chapter under its own name. ^{ch. 399}

The path’s central Gu stops being only a last-resort escape in this stretch. It is sealed rather than spent, ^{ch. 671} which turns it into an asset that has to be managed.

Clues to the Red Lotus inheritance surface here, including that the inheritance sits in the river of time and that Spring Autumn Cicada is a first condition for seeking it. ^{ch. 830}

Tu Shi Cheng places space path and time path in Ren Zu’s time during the Immemorial Antiquity Era, as the two paths that researched time and space. ^{ch. 1323} The novel does not name a founder of time path as a whole in that account. Red Lotus Demon Venerable remains the historical master of Spring Autumn Cicada, not a stated creator of the path. ^{ch. 383}

Named examples include Mountain as Before and River as Before. ^{ch. 524} Further named examples include the rank two Rewind Gu. ^{ch. 679} The rank six Immortal Gu Instant Pause freezes the target’s time for six moments. ^{ch. 688} Named examples in this band include Time Anchor, Looking Back, and Vivid Recollection. ^{ch. 746} Inch of Time is a time path Gu used in Gu refinement to accelerate refinement rather than to heal a person. Landscape as Before and Man as Before are the time path healing Immortal Gu named in the same stretch. ^{ch. 750} Later named examples include Year Gu, After, and the rank eight Years Flow Like Water. These are cited examples, not a complete catalogue. The River of Time is described as holding vast numbers of wild time path Gu worms. ^{ch. 1129}

Time Luck, a luck path and time path Immortal Gu, consumes immortal essence and time to raise the user’s luck. Ordinary Gu Immortals who use it expend their own lifespan for that boost. ^{ch. 767} Chapter 767’s title pairs Time Luck with a luck path and time path Immortal Gu, ^{ch. 767} and two later titles name time assisting luck outright. ^{ch. 815 ch. 823} The luck path page reads the same three titles from the other side. Methods that stall time carry a rising maintenance cost. The user cannot stay in paused time for too long without paying even higher costs to keep the stall going. ^{ch. 1007}

A rank three day Gu holds three days of time that a refiner can spend to shorten a Gu refinement by three days. ^{ch. 1400} The time path becomes a named speciality with a measured attainment level late in the book. Chapter 1597 is titled “Time Path Grandmaster”, ^{ch. 1597} which places the path on the ladder described at dao marks and attainment, and chapter 1629 is titled for the great power of the time path. ^{ch. 1629} A chapter shortly before the grandmaster title is named for time cutting edge, ^{ch. 1596} an immortal killer move practiced in that stretch.

The Spring Autumn Cicada is worked on rather than merely used in the same stretch. It is refined in parallel, ^{ch. 1479} and it is eventually raised to rank seven. ^{ch. 1645}