Nian Shi's voice cut through the air like a blade of frozen time, his silver eyes burning with a cold fury that made the very fabric of reality tremble.
"No matter what pretty words you spin," he said, his tone deathly calm, "it changes nothing. Yun Lintian will be mine. I will win this game of fate. Not even Yin can stop me now."
His aura wasn't fierce—it was heavy.
An unbearable weight of epochs pressed down, the accumulated power of a being who had manipulated time itself for eons. Long Yi's knees buckled instantly, his draconic bones creaking under the pressure. Golden blood trickled from his nose as he fought to remain conscious, his vision blurring at the edges.
Ning Yue waved her hand.
A surge of emerald light erupted from the World Tree, wrapping around Long Yi like a protective cocoon. The pressure lifted immediately, allowing the First Dragon to gasp for air, his golden eyes wide with disbelief.
Ning Yue didn't even glance at him. Her gaze remained fixed on Nian Shi, calm and unyielding.
"As I said before," she murmured, "a mistake is a mistake in the end. No matter how hard you try, you will never become someone important. Your grand plans are destined to fail."
Nian Shi's expression darkened.
The space around them screamed.
Time fractured like glass, reality bending and warping as Nian Shi fully unleashed his power. The ground beneath them dissolved into a swirling vortex of temporal energy, the air itself splitting into countless mirrored fragments—each reflecting a different era, a different possibility.
Long Yi, even shielded by the World Tree's power, felt his mind threatening to unravel at the sight. This was the true might of the God of Time—not mere manipulation, but dominion over the very flow of existence.
Yet Ning Yue stood firm.
The World Tree's roots surged from the earth, forming an impenetrable barrier of emerald light around her. Where Nian Shi's temporal storms crashed against it, the energy dissipated harmlessly, absorbed by the ancient power of creation itself.
Nian Shi laughed coldly.
"How long can you last, little tree spirit?"
His fingers twitched—
And time accelerated.
The World Tree's barrier began to age at a visible rate, its luminous glow dimming as centuries passed in seconds. The leaves withered, the roots cracked—
Then she pushed back.
A pulse of emerald energy rippled outward, reversing the decay. The barrier rejuvenated, its glow intensifying until it burned like a newborn star.
Nian Shi's smirk faltered.
"The World Tree remembers all of time," Ning Yue said softly. "Not just the past... but the future too."
And the vortex of fractured time shattered.
The mirrored realities collapsed inward, the distorted space snapping back into place with a thunderous boom. Nian Shi staggered, his silver hair whipping wildly as the backlash of his own power rebounded against him.
For the first time in countless millennia, the God of Time looked... strained.
Ning Yue didn't press the attack. She simply watched him, her jade-green eyes filled with something almost like pity.
"You still don't understand, do you?"
Nian Shi's fingers clenched. "Understand what?"
"That you were never fighting me," Ning Yue said. "Or Yun Lintian. Or even the Creator."
"You were fighting fate itself."
The words landed like a death sentence.
Nian Shi's face twisted—
Then, abruptly, he stilled.
A slow, chilling smile spread across his lips.
"Then let me show you... what happens when fate breaks."
The moment Nian Shi raised his hands, the universe held its breath.
The very laws of existence screamed as two primordial forces clashed—the World Tree's creation against the God of Time's dominion.
Ning Yue reacted instantly.
Her emerald barrier exploded outward, countless branches of luminous energy piercing through the fractured reality. Each one carried the weight of epochs, the essence of life itself hardening into indestructible spears aimed at Nian Shi's heart.
The branches reversed mid-flight, their trajectories unraveling like threads pulled backward. The attack dissolved before it could reach him.
Ning Yue's eyes narrowed.
Nian Shi smirked. "Predictable."
He flicked his wrist.
A temporal blade materialized—a sliver of condensed eternity sharper than any weapon. It sliced through dimensions, aiming to sever Ning Yue's connection to the World Tree at its root.
She countered by stepping sideways.
The blade passed through empty air as Ning Yue reappeared an instant before it struck, her palm already pressing against Nian Shi's chest.
Nian Shi's silver robes bloomed.
The fabric erupted into vines, the threads transforming into living roots that coiled around his body with terrifying speed. They burrowed into his flesh, seeking to fuse with his very essence—to turn the God of Time into part of the Tree.
For the first time, genuine surprise flickered across Nian Shi's face.
His body dissolved into shimmering dust—not retreating, but dispersing across time itself. The roots clutched empty air as Nian Shi's voice echoed from every direction at once:
"But I am everywhen, little sapling."
The ground beneath Ning Yue's feet turned to quicksand—not of earth, but of eras. Ancient epochs swallowed her ankles, dragging her down through layers of forgotten time.
The World Tree's roots surged from her body, anchoring her not in place—but in all places at once. Wherever time tried to banish her, the Tree's presence followed, its emerald light burning through the mists of dead ages.
The abyss around them groaned.
Reality itself split like rotten wood, the sheer force of their clash exceeding what the Endless Abyss could contain. The void shattered, then mended, then shattered again—each collapse sending shockwaves that would have vaporized lesser beings.
Long Yi could only watch in mute horror, his draconic instincts screaming at him to flee. But even the First Dragon Ancestor knew—there was nowhere to run from this.
Nian Shi reappeared high above, his silver hair whipping in a nonexistent wind. His fingers danced like a conductor's, weaving strands of stolen power:
The Primordial War God's fury.
The Shadow Monarch's deceit.
The Heavenly Smith's forging will.
All the stolen authorities he'd absorbed over eons now surged forth, merging with his temporal dominion into something new. Something monstrous.
"Let's see how your precious Tree withstands this," he murmured.
A snap of his fingers—
And the world broke properly.