The emerald prison hummed with latent power, its glow unwavering despite Yin’s threats. Ning Yue stood motionless, her jade-green eyes reflecting neither fear nor anger—only the calm certainty of the World Tree itself.
Yin studied her reaction, his abyssal eyes glinting with amusement. When she still refused to speak, he chuckled and leaned back against the barrier.
"I wonder," he mused, "how your precious Big Brother Yun would feel... knowing his beloved younger sister didn’t even protect his women for him."
A flicker passed through Ning Yue’s eyes—so brief it might have been imagined—but her expression remained unchanged.
Nian Shi, sensing an opportunity to unsettle her further, smirked.
"Oh, I have many ways to deal with Yun Lintian’s women," he said casually, as if discussing the weather. "Even trapped here, my influence stretches across time. Take Long Qingxuan, for example..."
Long Yi, who had been silently observing from the edge of the battlefield, stiffened at the mention of the Dragon Princess.
Nian Shi’s smile widened.
"I put her in a timeline where time flows differently. A million years of suffering, her memories slowly being rewritten... By now, she probably doesn’t even remember Yun Lintian’s face."
Long Yi’s roar echoed through the abyss, his draconic aura flaring violently. Golden scales erupted across his skin as primal fury overtook him. He lunged forward—
Only to crash against an invisible barrier. The World Tree’s roots coiled gently around him, restraining his rage without harming him.
Ning Yue didn’t even glance his way.
Nian Shi laughed. "Pathetic. Even your own allies are useless here."
Yin joined in, his laughter colder, more calculated. "Really, little sapling. Are you just going to stand there and let us torment your brother’s loved ones?"
Finally, Ning Yue moved.
She lifted her gaze to meet theirs, and when she spoke, her voice carried the weight of inevitability.
"Everyone has their own destiny to fulfill."
The words hung in the air, simple yet profound.
Yin’s smirk faltered slightly. Nian Shi’s silver eyes narrowed.
What Ning Yue implied was clear—
Yun Lintian’s women were not mere bystanders in this cosmic game. They had their own roles to play, their own fates to meet. Whether they lived or died... it was all part of a greater design.
And she would not interfere.
Yin was the first to recover, his amusement returning tenfold.
"Oh ho? So you’re willing to sacrifice them?" He clapped slowly. "How cold. I thought you cared about your Big Brother Yun’s happiness."
Ning Yue’s response was calm. "I care about his destiny."
A subtle distinction—but a critical one.
Nian Shi, however, wasn’t convinced. "Empty words. If his women die, his heart will break. And without his heart... his destiny means nothing."
Ning Yue didn’t argue.
She simply raised her hand—
And the emerald barrier intensified further, its glow so bright it forced both Nian Shi and Yin to flinch.
What neither of them realized was this—
Ning Yue’s words were not indifference.
Faith that Yun Lintian’s women were stronger than they appeared.
Faith that they, too, could defy fate.
And most importantly...
Faith that Yun Lintian himself would transcend his grief, should the worst come to pass.
Because true strength was not the absence of pain—
But the will to rise despite it.
Yin’s laughter faded, replaced by a cold, calculating stare.
"Fine," he murmured. "If you won’t bend... then let’s see how Yun Lintian reacts when his world starts crumbling."
With that, he closed his eyes—
And a ripple of darkness spread from his form, seeping through the cracks in the World Tree’s prison.
A single wisp of his power, escaping into the wider universe.
For Yun Lintian’s loved ones.
The Divine Realm stretched endlessly before them—a vast expanse of swirling galaxies and glittering stars, where cosmic winds carried whispers of ancient power. Yun Qianxue stood at the forefront, her long white hair cascading like a waterfall of snow, her ice-blue eyes scanning the horizon with cold precision.
Beside her, the three elders of the Misty Cloud Sect maintained their vigilance.
Yun Qingrou, the Third Elder, cradled a delicate jade vial in her hands, her wood-element energy pulsing gently like the heartbeat of a forest. "The creatures of chaos have retreated, but their presence still lingers in the void," she murmured, her voice as soft as rustling leaves.
Yun Ruanyu, the First Elder and chief strategist, plucked an invisible string in the air, sending a ripple of musical energy through space. "They’re regrouping. This isn’t over."
Yun Lingwei, the Fifth Elder, traced intricate runes in the air with her fingertips, reinforcing the defensive formations around them. "I will make sure that they can’t breach the formation again this time."
Yun Qianxue stared at the endless space in front of her as her mind drifted toward Yun Lintian, whom she hadn’t seen for a while.
"Hmm?" Yun Qianxue suddenly felt something.
The others were the same. They raised their heads to look at the space ahead.
Suddenly, the space before them rippled.
At first, it was subtle—a faint distortion in the starlight, like heat haze over desert sands.
A shadow deeper than the void itself congealed, twisting and writhing until it took the shape of a humanoid figure. No features, no discernible form—just an abyss given sentience.
Yun Qianxue’s ice-blue eyes narrowed.
Her instinct screamed at her that the creature in front of them was extremely dangerous. It was even more stronger than the General Class creature of chaos.
The three elders reacted without hesitation, falling into formation—Qingrou at the rear, Ruanyu at the flank, Lingwei reinforcing their barriers.
A soundless, hollow mirth that vibrated through their bones.
Yun Qianxue moved first.
Her palms thrust forward, and chaos energy erupted—a storm of destructive force that could unravel the laws of reality itself.
The attack slammed into the shadow, tearing through its form like a blade through paper.
But the shadow simply reformed, untouched.
Yun Ruanyu’s fingers danced across her guqin, sending razor-sharp soundwaves slicing toward the enemy. The musical blades carved through the shadow’s body, yet it continued advancing, unfazed.
Yun Lingwei’s formations activated—layers of golden runes materializing in the air, attempting to bind the shadow in place. But the moment the runes touched it, they corroded, dissolving into nothingness.
Yun Qingrou’s healing energy surged outward, reinforcing her allies. But even her power couldn’t counteract the sheer wrongness emanating from the shadow.
Unfortunately... this was no ordinary foe.
This was a fragment of Yin’s will.
An existence that rivaled the Creator.