The monarch of stars made time a river; Suiyue, an hourglass. Their perception of time was different, and the technique they received was likewise different.

For Zhang Lie, time was a clock. His past life was the night; his current life, the day. A clock displayed only twelve hours of time—when the clock hands pointed at '12', it could refer either to midday or midnight.

Zhou Ying had already finished sketching out all twelve stelae, and she was trying to piece together her revelation by putting the twelve stelae in certain orientations.

As he looked at what Zhou Ying was doing, Zhang Lie suddenly had a thought. He walked...