Loved the update. Wasn't surprised about Layla death. Any Xianxia reader knows it's a common trope for at least one of the harem to "die". Hell, the update even went ahead and pulled the bandaid off of which trope she fell under. That being the clone of a higher level being. Thus her "death" was solely meant to drive the MC's emotions for a self destructive power up and motivate him to get even stronger in the future. Since she's a clone, essentially. Sword Goddess is the "true" love interest and she'll fuse with her memories of Layla. This is just speculation for now, of course.
As far as the time skip is concerned, it's the same as above, really. It's your typical thing that happens. Everyone gets a power bump, it saves time on explaining certain events and you can get the MC power to a specific level you need him to be for the story without it feeling like it was cheap. If I had to guess, MC will probably land around the middle of Qi Fusion. Depending on how the dev wants to take it.
Anyway, that's my quick thoughts on the update. It might fluctuate some since it's the first playthrough of the update. Also, it's official. Vanny my favorite. Still love Astrid, but Vanny does the Medusa/Cai Lin thing well. The BTTH fans know what I'm talking about. I wasn't completely sold when she first appeared last update, but this one sealed the deal for me.
