The Time Arena was a rather unconventional kind of dungeon where time seemed to completely freeze for the outside world.
In other words, in the eyes of the outside world, it would appear as if a winner was decided as soon as this dungeon activated, so they didn't have to wait at all.
In order to seize the Sand of Time, Gu Nan needed to make some preparations.
Tiluo World.
Gu Nan stepped out of the space passage. The place was already quite lively. The summons from Clockwork Heaven very effectively attracted a group of Void Cutters and even Star Rulers who had yet to acquire their own astral worlds.
Not everyone knew that the Sand of Time could only be used on one's astral world; most people still had a superficial understanding of blessed lands.
"It's open! It's open!" Someone's voice traveled over from the side.
Gu Nan looked up and saw a faintly-glowing blue bead floating in the air.
That was none other than the Time Arena. The true body of this peculiar dungeon was a round bead. The dungeon was hidden inside the bead.
Countless figures started to fly up, scrambling to be the first person to enter the bead. Gu Nan, however, wasn't in a hurry—although the dungeon just opened its doors, they were still a long way off from its official activation.
Gu Nan's gaze swept through the crowd, seemingly looking for someone. As people continued to leave, Tiluo World emptied up significantly. Thus, he heard a voice from behind without even having to search for the person.
"Mr. Gu Nan?" Lou Wanying saw Gu Nan at a glance and led a group of people over.
The group had a total of four people. Besides Lou Wanying himself and Fang Yanqing, his senior martial sister who met Gu Nan before, there were two new companions.
"You came just in time. I was looking for you," Gu Nan immediately said when he saw Lou Wanying.
Lou Wanying was very happy. He thought that Gu Nan had finally come around and decided to enter the Time Arena with him.
It wasn't that he wanted to cling to a powerful teammate. Rather, he was very confident in ultimately winning the treasure due to his family's inheritance and Senior Lu, so he was eager to bring Gu Nan, his former teammate, along for the ride.
"Who are these two?" Gu Nan asked as he pointed to the two new companions beside him.
Lou Wanying originally wanted to invite him to "join the party," but he decided to introduce them first when he heard Gu Nan's question.
His two new companions were also a man and a woman. The woman was petite and had the appearance of a little girl. She was said to be the only daughter of the Star Ruler of White Bones Realm, Bai Qiaozhen.
It was a bit of a coincidence for Gu Nan to meet her here. He'd just left White Bones Realm not long ago and immediately ran into the daughter of the Star Ruler of White Bones Realm.
The other companion was a gorgeously dressed young man whose face was full of arrogance. He looked at Gu Nan the way a young master from a city would look at a country bumpkin.
His name was Luo Ze, and he was indeed a young master. He was from Clockwork Heaven, and his grandfather… was also a Star Ruler.
Star Ruler subordinates existed in exceedingly powerful planes like the Thirteen Heavens, just like how the World of Gods also had subordinate gods in the major gods' Divine Kingdoms.
"Clockwork Heaven?" Gu Nan's gaze fell on Luo Ze, and a cold smile appeared on his face.
He specifically came to Tiluo World just to find Luo Ze. Since he refused Lu Wen's request, this Star Ruler of Clockwork Heaven must've found someone else to help Lou Wanying.
If he wanted to get the Sand of Time, he first had to disrupt Lu Wen's plan.
"That's right. You're Gu Nan? I've heard of you." Luo Ze was tall and quite handsome, so he looked down at Gu Nan condescendingly at this moment.
Gu Nan, however, ignored him and looked up. Now that he found the person from Clockwork Heaven, was Lu Wen watching them right now?
If he was, then Lu Wen should be making his move around now.
The arrogance on Luo Ze's face grew, but his thoughts weren't actually careless in the slightest. Instead, he was already clutching a talisman that his grandfather prepared especially for him.
On the surface, Luo Ze looked like an arrogant young master and even took the trouble to always maintain this image in front of Lou Wanying, but in reality, he was extremely perceptive and coolheaded, or else he wouldn't have been picked to carry out this mission.
In order to send him to Lou Wanying's side, they even arranged a chance encounter before finally managing to get him to join Lou Wanying's party by having Bai Qiaozhen introduce him to Lou Wanying.
As for Gu Nan, grandfather only gave one order: 'Provoke him! Provoke him at all costs, then use grandfather's talisman to kill him!'
'After all, Gu Nan was actually that one's first choice, but he was too brain-dead to agree to it, which is why I got this chance instead. If he suddenly changed his mind, then won't I suffer a complete loss?'
'An opportunity to fulfill that one's orders doesn't come often!'
Lou Wanying saw the atmosphere between the two turn a little tense and hurriedly stood between them while saying to Gu Nan, "Mr. Gu Nan, Luo Ze, he…"
"Get out of the way!" Luo Ze didn't wait for him to finish and had already pushed Lou Wanying aside. He glared at Gu Nan. "I heard you're the reincarnation of a Heavenly Demon or something? Ha, this young master doesn't care what kind of demon you are—"
Before he could finish, he saw a hand suddenly reach over and fall on his face with terrifying force.
When Gu Nan realized Lu Wen didn't seem to be paying attention to them, he seized the opportunity to slap Luo Ze and send him flying far away.
But Gu Nan didn't tarry and immediately went over to that side. This Luo Ze definitely wasn't weak, and he seemed to have refined his body through a secret technique to make his physique much stronger than that of ordinary cultivators.
Lou Wanying seemed stunned by Gu Nan's move and was speechless for a while. Instead, his senior martial sister Fang Yanqing blocked Gu Nan's way.
"What are you doing?!" Fang Yanqing glared at Gu Nan furiously. "Even if Luo Ze's attitude wasn't too good, how can you just casually hit people?"
However, Gu Nan didn't even spare her a glance as his left hand grabbed her by the hair and flung her to the side with great force.
Fang Yanqing shot out like an arrow, precisely piercing the building next to them and turning it into rubble.
During this time, Gu Nan had already arrived in front of Luo Ze and lifted him with one hand. The latter was looking at him with a frightened expression, but the talisman in his hand had fallen to the side.
Even the most powerful talisman took time to activate. The most awkward thing about Luo Ze's current situation was that Gu Nan's movements were so fast that he couldn't react at all.
"W-Wait!" Luo Ze shouted, trying to attract Gu Nan's attention. As long as he used words to stall the other party for a few seconds, he could take a few steps over and try to grab the talisman again.
His physique was far beyond normal, so Gu Nan's earlier slap actually only caused him some minor injuries but didn't affect his movement.
'As long as I can snatch back the talisman and summon grandfather's power, I'll definitely… Ack!'
Luo Ze suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach before he could finish those thoughts and involuntarily coughed up a mouthful of blood. Gu Nan's fist had hit him squarely in the stomach, almost blasting apart his abdomen.
"You… I'll kill you!"
Luo Ze was in so much pain that he couldn't control himself and finally threw all his bullshit rationality aside. He no longer bothered with hiding his true power and frantically activated his laws.
A jade-white light glowed from his body, revealing all the bones in his body. On the contrary, his skin and flesh began to turn transparent.
"Glazed Jade Bones." White Bones Realm's Bai Qiaozhen, the little girl who'd been watching from the side all this time, finally revealed a look of realization.