The aged and frail man slowly stood up to tidy the go board filled with black and white pieces. His body trembled as he leaned forward, causing the messy white hair atop his head to sway, revealing golden patterns etched on his aged scalp.

"Is that... a golden lotus? How is this old man related to the Golden Lotus Seed? No, he is the Golden Lotus Seed!!!"

In an instant, Wang Zhifan, observing through his doppelganger, was shocked to see the patterns on the elder’s scalp.

He suddenly realized that the white-haired old man he had always assumed to be a passerby was actually the ninth on the Demon Sealing List, the Buddhist Sect master Golden Lotus Seed, who he had recently complained about for not responding to his messages!

The reason wasn’t just the golden lotus pattern on the old man’s head; when he broke through the chains of his thinking to connect the old man to Golden Lotus Seed, he suddenly found the face of the old man very similar to what he remembered of Golden Lotus Seed. It was only because of the old man’s extremely aged appearance that he hadn’t thought along these lines!

Moreover, the aura of the old man was strangely close to Golden Lotus Seed’s as well. Although perceived as a high-level Innate Realm cultivator, which did not match Wang Zhifan’s memory of the super-innate master Golden Lotus Seed, considering factors like severe injury and falling realm, it was easy to connect the two, discovering they were almost the same person!

"He absolutely is Golden Lotus Seed! I just don’t know why he has suddenly become so old. If I had interacted with him more frequently, I would have recognized him earlier... This unlucky monk has probably fallen victim to some trick of the Demon Venerable... My intuition was not wrong; this Demon Venerable is indeed extremely dangerous!"

At once, Wang Zhifan, who confirmed this fact through his doppelganger, was incredibly astonished.

It was his first time seeing someone suddenly age from being in their prime to being decrepit, realizing that Golden Lotus Seed not responding earlier was not pretentious but because he was already held captive by the Demon Venerable, being barely alive and on the brink of death.

"In this light... the ability of this Demon Venerable might relate to time... turning a young super-innate cultivator directly into an old man is impossible without hundreds of years passing... Time-based divine power... This is probably the toughest type of ability to deal with..."

Having confirmed the old man was indeed Golden Lotus Seed, Wang Zhifan quickly deduced critical information about the enemy, understanding that this bookish Demon Venerable likely possessed time-based divine power, otherwise how could it rapidly age Golden Lotus Seed by hundreds of years?

Then an obvious question arose: How to confront an enemy with time divine power?

Generally, such enemies are exceedingly difficult to handle, sometimes outright impossible.

Because time is a fundamental rule of world operation, to defeat an enemy with time power, one must also possess time-related power to counteract, otherwise, they’ll just be taking a beating.

"I possess certain Time Law abilities, but these completely rely on the Epic Time Blade weapon... It’s hard to tell whether I can contend against this Demon Venerable..."

After contemplating, Wang Zhifan found himself perplexed.

Based on current intel, he couldn’t determine whether he could handle this immensely powerful enemy.

It’s not that he didn’t trust the Epic Time Blade, which had helped him countless times, but he feared that the moment he took action, he would fall victim to the enemy’s moves, preventing him from unleashing the blade’s power and trapping him in a very unfavorable situation.

"It’s still unclear what level of mastery this Demon Venerable has over time abilities...

But in the end, it’s merely a powerful Demon Venerable, not a higher-ranking Demon Lord, and shouldn’t be proficient in time reversal, time stop, or time acceleration...

The current assumption is that it can greatly accelerate the flow of time on enemies, making them ancient with age...

But this tactic is completely countered by me."

Facing an enemy with time-affiliated powers, Wang Zhifan indeed felt some powerlessness, but there was one time-related tactic he needn’t fear: the aging attack was ineffective against him!

The reason is simple, the legendary Perfect Being ability he possesses already grants him immortality and agelessness, as stated in the ability description that Perfect Beings are immune to aging, hence no matter how time power accelerates his personal time, it doesn’t work; he forever remains in his peak condition.

Additionally, the "ageless" trait of the Epic Supreme Blood he also possesses provides a similar effect, granting him immunity to all aging attacks and keeping his body frozen at the age when he fused with the Supreme Blood.

"In this way, I am somewhat suited to tackle this Demon Venerable, but certainly not without risk, as it’s unclear what the upper limit of its abilities is."

After pondering briefly, Wang Zhifan quickly made a decision to further probe this enemy, trying to uncover its powers before the enemy becomes aware of him, then attempt a decisive first strike to solve it completely, lest it leads to endless troubles in the future.

His probing strategy was simple, utilizing his doppelganger for a surprise attack.

However, for safety, he dispatched two ordinary doppelgangers to the target location to restrain the other two Demon Venerables beside the enemy.

The time for battle quickly approached!

In the small inn room, as the aged Golden Lotus Seed organized the chessboard and began another match with the Demon Venerable, two figures suddenly burst through the room’s side walls, heading towards the white-clad scholar Demon Venerable! They were the ordinary doppelgangers dispatched by Wang Zhifan!

"Hehe, sneaky human juniors, finally unable to restrain yourself, huh..."

Faced with the ambush, the Demon Venerable, holding a Jade Fan in one hand and a white piece in the other, showed no surprise.

Its eyes brimmed with indifferent disdain. It made no attempt to evade or counter-attack. Instead, it remained seated calmly on the wooden chair pondering the game, leaving its two Demon Venerable servants to handle the attacking foes.

Just as Wang Zhifan had anticipated, the two Demon Venerable servants moved instantaneously, each intercepting one of the doppelgangers he dispatched.

At this critical juncture, a third powerful doppelganger hidden by Wang Zhifan emerged swiftly, approaching the white-clad scholar Demon Venerable engaged in the game with a speed and explosiveness several times greater.

The powerful doppelganger, wielding an illusory blade condensed from profound mastery, mercilessly and aggressively slashed towards the scholar Demon Venerable’s head.

At this moment, the scholar Demon Venerable, seated on the chair, remained calm and composed, simply making no movements as the world within ten meters around it came to an abrupt halt.

Whether it was the aged Golden Lotus Seed facing it, the two Demon Venerable servants nearby, or the three doppelgangers approaching to attack it, all entered a completely stationary state.

"It indeed possesses the ability to stop time!"

Far outside the city, Wang Zhifan immediately realized this, finding his doppelgangers were in an extremely peculiar state, entirely normal in perception but beyond his control, trapped in a deeply paradoxical situation.

Because the doppelgangers weren’t damaged; they merely lacked the basic requisite for action: time.

Inside the small inn, with everything around it frozen, the scholar Demon Venerable turned to face Wang Zhifan’s doppelganger, who had attacked it, and spoke languidly with a cold grin:

"Inferior human junior... I originally planned to finish this game before seeking you, letting you watch all your cherished ones die before you... Unexpectedly, you seem eager to meet your end, so I’ll just gladly oblige you!"

As the words ended, the scholar Demon Venerable’s figure instantly vanished from the wooden chair, disappearing from the inn’s room, and appeared directly in the small grove outside the city, before Wang Zhifan himself!

"It even mastered space law capabilities..."

Confronted with this scene, Wang Zhifan neither chose to flee nor instantly launched an attack; he simply stood calmly in place, his gaze fixed on the Demon Venerable before him, thinking inwardly that it was indeed out of the ordinary, much stronger than other Demon Venerables.

Seeing Wang Zhifan’s unusually calm demeanor, the Demon Venerable was slightly surprised, staring at him coldly and saying:

"Hehe, you don’t flee... Should it be said you have courage or just sufficient stupidity... Experience the agony! Withered Demonic Light!"

The aura surrounding the Demon Venerable suddenly surged dozens of times, fully displaying the majesty of the Demon Venerable!

Simultaneously, an aura imbued with Time Law enveloped the area around Wang Zhifan, causing several trees nearby to instantly wither and dry up, as if entering the final stage of life.