Yue Yun stood supported between Lin Xinyao and Yang Ningchang, her moon-white robes stained with blood but her golden-tinged black eyes burning with defiant clarity. Though her body trembled from exhaustion, her gaze remained steady as it locked onto Nian Shi.
"You're so desperate to erase this timeline," she continued, her voice calm but carrying an edge sharper than any blade, "that you'd even use that sword?"
Nian Shi studied Yue Yun for a long moment before his lips curved into a faint smile. "This is our first encounter," he remarked casually, as if commenting on the weather.
When puzzled looks appeared on the faces of Yun Qianxue and the others, he tapped his chest with his free hand. "I mean, it's my first time meeting you."
The revelation struck Yun Qianxue like lightning. Her ice-blue eyes sharpened as she scrutinized Nian Shi's every detail—the slight variance in his temporal aura, the way his silver hair shimmered with subtly different hues.
This isn't our timeline's Nian Shi.
Lin Xinyao came to the same realization, her silver eyes widening. "You're—"
"From another branch of time," Nian Shi finished smoothly. "The original me has already met you, little moon."
His gaze returned to Yue Yun, curiosity gleaming in those ancient silver eyes. "I'd heard about Yun Lintian's daughter from my other self. Unfortunately, I missed your performance against Yin's will."
He tilted his head slightly. "Now, about what you said earlier—what makes you think I'm desperate?"
Yue Yun straightened fully, her breathing steadier now. "This timeline is the Prime Origin," she stated, her voice carrying an unshakable certainty. "For the God of Time, it should be the ultimate anchor point. Destroying it would be your last resort—unless something forced your hand."
A flicker of genuine appreciation crossed Nian Shi's face. "Clever deduction with so little information."
He spun the Blade of Eternity lazily, its edge distorting the air around it. "Tell me, do you still have strength left? I'd like to see just how powerful the daughter of Yun Lintian truly is—the one who inherited both the Seed of Fate and the Moon Princess's legacy."
Yue Yun didn't respond with words. Instead, she took a deep breath—and the Moon Staff materialized in her grasp with a resonant hum.
The moment her fingers closed around it, an otherworldly transformation occurred.
The staff's surface, normally silver-white, now pulsed with six distinct colors—azure, crimson, gold, scarlet, black, and white—representing the six divine beast bloodlines within her. But more strikingly, a seventh energy emerged—a deep silver-red radiance that hadn't been present during her battle with Yin's will.
Nian Shi's eyebrows rose. "Ah... You've awakened your father's power completely."
Yue Yun leveled the staff at him. "Enough talk."
The pocket dimension trembled as their auras collided. Where Nian Shi's presence made time itself waver like heat haze, Yue Yun's energy solidified reality—each pulse from her staff reinforcing the crumbling barrier behind her.
Nian Shi observed this with quiet fascination. "Remarkable. You're not just resisting temporal erosion—you're creating temporal anchors... No wonder my other self warned me about you."
He raised the Blade of Eternity in a casual salute. "But first, let me break this barrier."
Nian Shi raised the Blade of Eternity, its edge shimmering with the weight of countless erased epochs. The fractured barrier groaned under its impending strike—until Yue Yun moved.
Her command carried the weight of absolute certainty. Before anyone could react, she stepped through the barrier, her Moon Staff blazing with seven-colored radiance.
The moment her foot touched the void beyond, reality itself bent.
Stars winked out. Galaxies trembled. The very fabric of space-time warped around her presence, unable to withstand the convergence of her awakened power.
Nian Shi's smile widened. "At last—a worthy opponent."
Their battle began not with clashing blades, but with a glance.
Yue Yun's golden-tinged black eyes met Nian Shi's silver ones—and the universe rewrote itself.
Yue Yun's staff pulsed. Azure Dragon. Vermilion Bird. Black Turtle. White Tiger. Golden Crow. Divine Phoenix. Six divine beast projections manifested simultaneously, their roars shaking existence. But it was the seventh energy—the silver-red radiance of her mother's lineage—that truly mattered. Where it spread, time solidified. Entire star systems froze mid-collapse, their destruction halted by her will alone.
Nian Shi responded by flicking his blade.
A single, casual motion—and every anchored point shattered. Not just broken, but unmade, erased from chronological record as if they'd never existed. The divine beast projections howled as they dissolved into temporal oblivion.
Yet Yue Yun remained untouched.
She stood amidst the unraveling cosmos, her staff now glowing brighter. "You can't erase me," she stated calmly. "I'm written into fate itself."
The Moon Staff came down.
Where its tip pointed, dead stars reignited. Collapsed nebulae reformed. The silver-red light spread like dawn across a barren world—creation in its purest form.
Nian Shi watched with genuine interest before raising his free hand.
The command carried the finality of entropy itself. The reborn stars darkened mid-ignition, their light sucked into a vortex of absolute temporal decay. Space itself wrinkled and aged, eons passing in eyeblinks.
Yue Yun countered by stepping forward.
Each footfall birthed new constellations. Each exhale nurtured nascent realities. She wasn't just resisting decay—she was outpacing it, creating faster than Nian Shi could destroy.
For the first time in eternity, the Blade of Eternity's edge dulled slightly.
"Oh?" Nian Shi's smile finally faded.
He grasped his blade with both hands and thrust—not at Yue Yun, but at the concept of her existence. The strike bypassed physicality entirely, aiming to sever her from time's flow.
Yue Yun met it by twisting her staff.
The six divine beast energies fused with her father's silver-red radiance, forming a shield of absolute defiance—a will that rejected all temporal manipulation.
The collision didn't produce sound. It unmade sound. For three heartbeats, the universe fell utterly silent as two primordial forces warred.
When the silence broke, both combatants stood unchanged—yet the pocket dimension around them had vanished, replaced by a featureless void where even time hesitated to flow.
Nian Shi examined his blade, then Yue Yun. "You've forced me to use 3% of my power," he remarked, as if commenting on the weather.
Yue Yun's staff didn't waver. "And you've seen 5% of mine."
The God of Time laughed, a sound like collapsing timelines. "Magnificent! Truly, Yun Lintian's blood runs strong!" His silver eyes gleamed with something almost like... pride. "But let's end this properly."
He raised the Blade of Eternity vertically before him—
And the universe held its breath…