Yin's laughter echoed through the void, rich and unrestrained. The sound grated against Nian Shi's nerves like sandpaper.
"Hahahaha! Oh, this is priceless!" Yin wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, his abyssal gaze gleaming with amusement. "The mighty God of Time, outmaneuvered by a sapling!"
Nian Shi's silver eyes darkened. "This isn't amusing. If we can't find the World Tree, it affects you too."
Yin's laughter faded into a smirk. He tilted his head, studying Nian Shi with mock curiosity. "Oh? But it affects you more, doesn't it?" He tapped his chin playfully. "Your grand plan is crumbling. The World Tree slipped through your fingers. And now... Yun Lintian will have a chance to get up again."
"Desperate moves, Nian Shi. Very desperate."
Nian Shi's fingers twitched, but his expression remained cold.
Yin chuckled. "Let me guess... those women weren't just casualties. They were keys. Keys to defeating you in the final battle. Am I wrong?"
Nian Shi didn't deny it.
Yin's smirk widened. "Ah. So you had to kill them first. Because if they lived... if they stood with him at the end..." He shook his head, clicking his tongue. "What a pity. The great Creator died at the hands of someone so weak."
"Shut up," Nian Shi hissed.
Yin ignored him. "You know what's truly ironic? If you hadn't tortured Long Qingxuan... if you'd just let her be... Yun Lintian might have actually joined you against me." He laughed again, the sound dripping with mockery. "But no. Your ego couldn't allow it. The great God of Time, bowing to a mortal's terms? Unthinkable!"
Nian Shi's jaw tightened.
Yin leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Your weakness, Nian Shi, is that you trust yourself too much. You think because you see all of time, you control it." He smirked. "But you never saw Yun Lintian as an equal. That's why you keep making stupid mistakes."
With that, Yin straightened, dusting off his black robes. "I'm done here. You figure out your own mess."
"Oh, one last thing." Yin glanced over his shoulder, his abyssal eyes glinting. "Don't forget... Yun Lintian may be weak, but he's the Seed of Fate. The true successor. Everyone—from mortals to the Creator herself—supports him."
"What about you, Nian Shi? Who supports you?" He grinned. "Your other selves?"
And Yin vanished, leaving Nian Shi alone in the void.
The outer Nian Shi stood frozen, his silver eyes burning with suppressed fury.
His counterpart inside the barrier was no better.
For the first time in eternity—
Only the echo of Yin's mocking question:
Nian Shi clenched his fists.
"It doesn't matter," he muttered. "I don't need support."
But even as he said it—
A sliver of doubt crept in.
Because Yin was right.
Yun Lintian had everything.
His women. His allies. The World Tree. The Creator's blessing.
And now, even that wasn't enough…
The void stretched endlessly, a realm untouched by time or space. No stars, no light, no sound—only an infinite, silent expanse.
Then, without warning, a ripple disturbed the emptiness.
Ning Yue emerged, clad in white robes, her jade-green eyes glowing faintly in the dark. Beside her stood a towering tree, its roots weaving through the nothingness, its branches rustling with unseen winds. Long Yi slumped at its base, his golden eyes fluttering open as consciousness returned.
"Where… is this?" Long Yi asked in a confusion. He didn't expect to be able to escape in such a situation.
Ning Yue turned to him, her expression calm. "This is the Land of Nowhere," she said softly. "A pocket space born from the collision of countless universes."
Long Yi's breath hitched. His gaze darted around, searching for something—anything—familiar. But there was nothing. Only emptiness.
His fists clenched. "Then… it's true?" His voice was rough, strained. "Yun Lintian's women… the others… they're really…?"
Ning Yue met his eyes, her own filled with quiet sorrow. "Yes."
A shudder ran through Long Yi's body. His jaw tightened, veins bulging along his arms as his fingers dug into his palms hard enough to draw blood. The Dragon God Clan, the Misty Cloud Sect, the Primal Chaos—all gone. Erased in an instant.
For a long moment, he said nothing. The weight of loss pressed down on him, threatening to crush his spirit. But then—
Slowly, deliberately, he unclenched his fists. His breathing steadied. His golden eyes, once turbulent with grief, hardened into resolve.
He was the First Dragon God Ancestor. He had lived through eras of war and ruin. If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was endure.
"What now?" he asked, his voice steady.
Ning Yue placed a hand against the World Tree's trunk, her fingers brushing its ancient bark. "Now… we wait."
"Wait for Big Brother Yun to awaken." She turned her gaze upward, as if peering through the branches into some distant future. "Wait for him to fulfill his destiny."
Long Yi opened his mouth—then closed it. He wanted to ask how, when, if there was even a chance. But in the end, he swallowed his words.
Because what else was there to do?
He had no power to change fate. No means to challenge the God of Time. All he could do was stand beside this ancient tree and this enigmatic woman, clinging to the faint hope that Yun Lintian would return.
Endless, suffocating darkness.
Yun Lintian floated in the void, his consciousness adrift like a leaf on a black ocean. Memories flickered—explosions, golden dust, Long Qingxuan's desperate cry. The Temporal Palace collapsing. Then… nothing.
A voice. Soft. Familiar.
His fingers twitched.
His eyelids fluttered.
Yun Lintian's eyes snapped open.
Not the passive dark of a moonless night, but an oppressive, devouring blackness that seemed to press against his skin. He lay on something cold and smooth—stone? Metal?—his body aching as if he'd been trampled by a herd of divine beasts.
"Where… is this?" His voice was hoarse, his throat dry.
The last thing he remembered was the Temporal Palace exploding, Gu Tianyi's final words ringing in his ears. "You will stay here."
Had he been imprisoned?