For the first time in eons, the God of Time felt something unfamiliar.
Nian Shi’s silver eyes flickered as he analyzed his surroundings. The frozen stars, the suspended galaxies—none of it was just stasis.
Space itself has been reforged.
He had been so focused on Yun Lintian’s temporal manipulation that he hadn’t noticed the subtler change. The very fabric of reality around them had been reshaped into an inescapable cage.
A slow smirk curled Nian Shi’s lips. "Impressive." He tilted his head, studying Yun Lintian with renewed interest. "Your mastery over space has become much stronger than before."
Yun Lintian didn’t respond. The God Slaying Sword hummed at his side, its dark edge drinking in the tension.
Nian Shi chuckled, rolling his sleeves up with deliberate slowness. "Fine, fine. If you want to play longer, I’ll indulge you." His voice dripped with amusement, but his silver eyes gleamed with something darker.
—and reappeared behind Yun Lintian, a dagger of condensed time aimed at his spine.
"...beating you here saves me the trouble later."
Unfortunately, the dagger never connected.
Yun Lintian didn’t turn. He didn’t even move.
Space itself bent, warping the trajectory of Nian Shi’s strike. The temporal blade veered off course, slicing through empty air as Yun Lintian remained untouched.
Nian Shi’s smirk didn’t falter. "Oh?"
He vanished again, reappearing at Yun Lintian’s left, then right, then above—each strike faster than the last, each movement defying logic. Blades of frozen time, spatial ruptures, entropy waves—all techniques that had erased gods in the past.
None reached their target.
Space twisted around Yun Lintian like an impenetrable shield, bending Nian Shi’s attacks away effortlessly.
A single step forward.
The ground didn’t shake. The air didn’t tremble.
But Nian Shi’s body jerked backward as if yanked by an invisible force. His ribs cracked audibly, his silver robes tearing as spatial pressure crushed inward.
Blood—divine and shimmering—dripped from his lips.
He coughed, laughing through the pain. "Ah... so this is your true strength?"
Yun Lintian didn’t answer. He simply raised a hand—
—and clenched his fist.
Nian Shi’s body imploded. Bones shattered. Organs collapsed. His form crumpled like paper under the weight of a thousand collapsing stars.
Yet, his laughter continued.
Gasping, his broken body began reforming, golden light stitching flesh back together. "You—hah—you really thought that would work?"
Yun Lintian watched, unimpressed.
Nian Shi wiped blood from his lips, grinning. "I am Time itself. You can’t kill me the same way you killed those other fools."
Then Yun Lintian spoke, his voice colder than the void.
"I don’t need to kill you."
His golden and black eyes gleamed.
"I just need to erase you."
The God Slaying Sword pulsed.
Not with hunger—but with anticipation.
Nian Shi’s smile finally faded as he sensed it—the shift in the air, the way reality itself recoiled from Yun Lintian’s next intent.
This wasn’t just an attack.
Yun Lintian raised the sword.
Nian Shi’s silver eyes widened.
A slash darker than oblivion cut through existence, severing not just flesh, not just soul—but the very concept of Nian Shi’s being.
"ARGH!" The God of Time screamed.
His form flickered—not healing, not fading, but unraveling. The threads of his existence, woven through countless timelines, began snapping one by one.
His voice distorted, fracturing into echoes. His hands clawed at the air, desperate to grasp something, anything to anchor himself.
But there was nothing.
Yun Lintian watched, merciless.
Nian Shi’s silver eyes locked onto his, filled with something no god should ever feel—
Nian Shi’s body was halfway erased from existence when—
A soft sound echoed through the frozen battlefield.
An hourglass materialized in Nian Shi’s outstretched hand.
The sand inside—golden, shimmering with the essence of time itself—suddenly reversed its flow, grains flying upwards against all laws of nature.
Yun Lintian’s eyes narrowed.
The moment the first grain touched the upper chamber, Nian Shi’s unraveling form stitched itself back together. Flesh rewound, divinity rekindled, his silver robes fluttering as if the attack had never happened.
Yun Lintian immediately activated the Seed of Time in his Divine Core, golden light surging through his meridians as he attempted to counter the reversal—
But nothing happened.
The Seed of Time, which had always obeyed his will, now lay dormant. It pulsed weakly, as if recognizing the hourglass but refusing to interfere.
Nian Shi’s laughter rang out, bright and mocking.
"Did you really think you got me?" He twirled the hourglass between his fingers, his smirk widening as Yun Lintian’s expression darkened. "Oh, don’t look so grim. This is a good lesson, isn’t it?"
He held up the hourglass, letting the golden sand catch the frozen starlight. "Guess what this is made of."
Yun Lintian stared at the artifact.
Something about it tugged at his senses—a familiarity that made the Seed of Time in his core tremble. His golden-black eyes flickered as realization dawned.
"Bingo!" Nian Shi clapped his hands together, the hourglass hovering between them.
"You’re right. A fragment of the Seed of Time." His grin turned razor-sharp. "Did you honestly believe I’d let the complete Seed fall into your hands without a backup plan?"
Yun Lintian didn’t answer.
His sword moved before the thought fully formed—a slash aimed not at Nian Shi, but at the hourglass itself.
Nian Shi clicked his tongue, sidestepping effortlessly. "How rude. How could you interrupt when someone was speaking?"
The God Slaying Sword’s edge passed through empty air, severing a dozen frozen stars in the distance. They collapsed silently, their light snuffed out like candles.
Nian Shi examined the hourglass, unaffected. "I’ve had eons to prepare for you, Yun Lintian. Did you think I wouldn’t keep a piece of the Seed for myself?" He tilted his head. "After all... even you can’t unmake time with time."
Yun Lintian’s grip tightened on his sword.
Nian Shi’s smile didn’t waver. "Ah, but don’t worry. This isn’t just an insurance policy." He tapped the hourglass, and the sand swirled violently. "It’s also... a gift."
A pulse of golden light erupted from the artifact.
The frozen battlefield shuddered.
Space ripped open around them, not as a portal, but as a wound—a jagged tear in reality itself. Through it, Yun Lintian glimpsed other timelines, other battles, other versions of himself and Nian Shi locked in endless conflict...