Ye Liuyun would never let such an opportunity slip through his fingers.

He immediately steadied himself and, together with his doppelganger, unleashed his divine consciousness to invade the Purple Kylin Snake’s mind. The beast instantly sensed the danger—the overwhelming spiritual power of Ye Liuyun and his clone was too formidable. In desperation, it activated its time-reversal ability. But since Ye Liuyun remained firmly seated on its back, the reversal dragged him along for the ride.

Worse yet, the spiritual projections of Ye Liuyun and his doppelganger had already penetrated its consciousness, relentlessly pursuing it. Before long, they successfully imprinted a slave seal upon the creature, forcing it into submission.

"Relax," Ye Liuyun reassured, giving its back a comforting pat. "Teach me what I need to know, and I promise you won’t regret it."

With the beast now under his control, Ye Liuyun focused intently on experiencing firsthand how it wielded the power of time. This direct, unfiltered immersion offered the most comprehensive understanding possible—from the way the Purple Kylin Snake gathered energy, manipulated spatial forces, warped the void, and concentrated everything into a single point to trigger temporal distortion, right down to the shifts in its own perception.

Once wasn’t enough. He repeated the process twice, thrice, until every intricate step was seared into his memory. Only then did he allow the creature a brief respite, turning instead to practice the technique himself.

Lei Ming and the others, lacking sufficient mastery over spatial forces, could only watch from the sidelines, serving as reference points for Ye Liuyun’s experiments. Yet no matter how many times he attempted it, he couldn’t even manage to condense energy into that critical point to activate time manipulation.

"What’s going on here?" he muttered, frowning. "Is my advance energy not potent enough?"

After a moment’s contemplation, he decided to borrow additional power from his spatial realm.

This time, he felt something—a faint glimmer of multicolored light seeping from the point he struck, but it sealed shut almost instantly.

"Something’s off. This power is already stronger than the Purple Kylin Snake’s!"

Ye Liuyun frowned, puzzled. He had the Purple Kylin Snake demonstrate the technique repeatedly, but the result remained the same. He simply couldn’t enter that state, not even managing to pry open the slightest gap.

After exhausting himself for hours, he had drained the entire reserve of primal energy he’d given the Purple Kylin Snake—yet still, he found no solution.

The Book Demon, unable to watch any longer, finally spoke up. "Kid, you’ve got luck in spades, but you’re as dense as a brick! The Purple Kylin Snake’s mastery over temporal energy is an innate gift—it has a natural advantage. If you try to mimic it exactly, where’s your edge?"

The moment Ye Liuyun heard the Book Demon’s voice, his spirits lifted. "I knew you’d have the answers! Even if you don’t spell it out for me, just a hint would do!"

He immediately laid on the flattery, heaping praise on the Book Demon. Though it couldn’t directly guide his cultivation, its occasional nudges had solved countless problems for him. In Ye Liuyun’s mind, the Book Demon was practically omnipotent.

And in moments like these, he knew a little ego-stroking went a long way in keeping the Book Demon cooperative.

Sure enough, the Book Demon basked in the admiration before indulging him. "The Purple Kylin Snake uses its true essence to open temporal pathways—that’s its birthright. You’re human; your path is different. Think about what power you used to manipulate the temporal halo."

The realization struck Ye Liuyun instantly—he should be using his soul force.

Yet doubt lingered. "But why did I feel like I was onto something when I tapped into spatial energy?"

The Book Demon explained, "That’s because your grasp of temporal power is still unrefined. Once you master it and grow strong enough, you’ll be able to open pathways using either your mystic essence or borrowed spatial energy. Even your power of bloodline could do it. The methods vary from person to person, but the underlying principles are similar."

"Got it! I’ll try right away!" Ye Liuyun said eagerly.

But the Book Demon fell silent again, retreating into its usual quiet.

Ye Liuyun immediately channeled his spiritual energy to perceive the spatial fabric, focusing on a single point while recalling the sensation of the Purple Kylin Snake entering the temporal passage.

When he unleashed the full force of his spiritual power, a finger-sized rift suddenly tore open in the void, revealing a dazzling spectrum of multicolored light within.

"Success!" Ye Liuyun exclaimed in exhilaration.

But the moment his concentration wavered, the rift snapped shut.

Still, he had already memorized the process—next time, he could replicate it at will.

"Can you let me go now?" the Purple Kylin Snake grumbled resentfully from the side.

Clearly, it was displeased with Ye Liuyun’s forceful imitation of its technique. The moment it was freed, it planned to demand the promised resources from him before bolting as far away as possible.

At least the creature was pragmatic—it hadn’t even considered killing Ye Liuyun and his companions.

Seeing its straightforward nature, Ye Liuyun communicated telepathically, *"I wasn’t stealing your technique. Look at how I achieved it—I only referenced your method of entering the temporal passage."*

*"Using spiritual energy?"* The Purple Kylin Snake was taken aback. It hadn’t expected Ye Liuyun to forge his own path.

This proved that Ye Liuyun hadn’t outright copied its method—their approaches were fundamentally different. At best, it was inspiration. Besides, Ye Liuyun had only managed to open a tiny rift, still far from matching its own mastery.

That realization eased some of its frustration. Still, it had no intention of remaining under Ye Liuyun’s control.

So Ye Liuyun had no choice but to coax it. *"Here’s the deal—I won’t deliberately restrain you. As long as you keep sparring with us like before, I’ll continue supplying you with resources, just as I always have."*

*"You won’t need to demonstrate your temporal control anymore. Once our time here is up, we’ll leave, and I’ll release you from the bond. Fair enough?"*

The Purple Kylin Snake mulled it over. It didn’t have much choice—even if it refused, it was still under Ye Liuyun’s control.

*"Fine,"* it conceded reluctantly.

Thus, an unspoken agreement was reached—Ye Liuyun continued to supply resources, while they carried on with their battles, as if nothing had changed.

Ye Liuyun and his doppelgänger took turns fighting and honing their mastery over temporal power. The doppelgänger’s spatial realm operated at ten times the normal flow of time, allowing Ye Liuyun and the others to progress at an astonishing pace.

Through relentless effort, Ye Liuyun had managed to open a palm-sized rift in the time channel. Once the method was grasped, all that remained was practice to perfect it. He was confident that before the war against the alien race began, he would be able to fully step into the time channel.

Meanwhile, he continued battling the Violet Kylin while subtly guiding it back toward the sacred land.

Lei Ming and the others understood Ye Liuyun’s intentions but chose not to voice them. The Violet Kylin, oblivious to the scheme, unwittingly followed Ye Liuyun back to the sacred land.

Still, its strength had grown significantly during this time—far more than if it had wandered the cosmos alone. Moreover, staying with the group meant greater safety in numbers.

True to his word, Ye Liuyun refrained from controlling it under normal circumstances, so the arrangement had little real impact on the beast.