Myth Beyond Heaven

On the ground, Linlin and Qingqing’s life force extinguished, They struggled for one final breath. Their milky, aged eyes struggled to focus, turning not toward their killer, but toward the serene, unmoving form of Yun Lintian.

Their voices were barely a whisper, a dry rustle of leaves, carrying the entirety of their devotion and despair.

“Big Brother Yun… wake up…”

The plea hung in the air for a fraction of a second. Then, the last spark of life left them.

Qingqing’s body dissolved, not into ash, but into a final, mournful gust of wind that stirred the dust around her before fading into nothingness.

Linlin’s form shrunk rapidly, reverting not to her powerful White Tiger God form, but into a small, lifeless, white tiger cub, lying motionless on the ground, a symbol of extinguished might and innocence.

Nian Shi didn’t even glance at their remains. His eyes were locked on Yun Lintian. His hand continued its reach, fingers curling like the claws of fate itself to seize the meditating man.

But the girls’ sacrifice had bought a single, crucial heartbeat.

“YOU MONSTER!”

Twin roars of draconic fury shook the heavens. Long Xi and Long Qinxuan, ignoring their shattered bones and crumbling spirits, forced themselves to their absolute limit.

A bright white light erupted from Long Xi as she summoned the very essence of her Dragon God Soul—a colossal, ethereal projection of the Light Dragon, her ultimate, soul-consuming technique. It shone with the power of pure creation, a desperate counter to the aura of time.

Simultaneously, Long Qinxuan unleashed her Azure Dragon God Soul, overlaying it with a brilliant, protective light. The azure and white dragon souls intertwined, creating a magnificent, shimmering barrier of draconic will between Nian Shi and Yun Lintian.

It was their last stand. The final, desperate gamble of the Dragon God Clan to protect their hope.

Nian Shi’s sneer returned, colder and more cruel than before. “More flies. You never learn.”

He didn’t bother with the Blade of Eternity this time. He simply pointed his free hand at the magnificent dragon soul barrier.

“Time,” he stated, his voice flat and absolute, “withers all.”

A beam of gray energy, the color of dust and forgotten epochs, shot from his fingertip. It wasn’t an attack of force, but of decay.

Where the beam touched the brilliant dragon souls, their vibrant light dimmed instantly. The majestic, ethereal scales cracked and flaked away like ancient parchment. The powerful draconic aura, capable of shaking worlds, crumbled into nothingness, its energy devoured by relentless entropy.

The barrier lasted less than a second before shattering into motes of dying light.

“AH!”

The backlash was immediate and devastating. Long Xi and Long Qinxuan screamed in unison as their Dragon God Souls were violently shattered.

Blood erupted from their mouths and wounds, their bodies thrown backward like broken dolls, their auras extinguishing completely.

They landed in a heap, unmoving, whether dead or merely broken was unknown.

Nian She didn’t waste his time as he reached out towards Yun Lintian. His fingers, cold and tipped with the power to end epochs, were mere inches from Yun Lintian’s throat. The final obstacle was removed. The prize was within his grasp.

But just as his fingertips were about to make contact, a sound tore through the dead air—a screeching cry that was both a lament and a battle cry, filled with boundless grief and incinerating fury.

Screeeech!

A torrent of Divine Phoenix flames, brighter and more violent than any Nantian Fengyu had ever produced, erupted from the distance. It wasn’t just flames; it was pure, unadulterated rage given form.

Within the heart of the inferno, a magnificent phoenix silhouette could be seen, its wings spread wide, but it was not the form of a beast. It was Nantian Fengyu herself, her body wreathed in the raging fire, her eyes burning with tears of flame.

The deaths of Linlin and Qingqing, the fall of Long Xi and Long Qinxuan, had ignited something primordial within her, pushing her beyond her limits. She wasn’t just using her power; she had, in this moment of absolute despair, become the Divine Phoenix.

She shot toward Nian Shi like a crimson comet, moving faster than thought itself.

Nian Shi’s face, usually a mask of cold calculation, finally darkened with genuine annoyance.

“Endless pests!” he snarled, his patience worn thin.

He didn’t even turn fully, simply swinging the Blade of Eternity backward in a wide, contemptuous arc to swat her out of the air. The blade hummed, ready to impose millennia of decay upon her in an instant.

But the unexpected happened.

Clang!

A sound like a million shattering crystals echoed. Instead of withering under the touch of eternity, Nantian Fengyu’s flame-enshrouded fist met the blade directly.

A shockwave of temporal energy and phoenix fire exploded outward. To Nian Shi’s utter astonishment, the Blade of Eternity was actually knocked aside, its edge shimmering with unspent power. Her flames, fueled by a will that defied even time itself, had momentarily resisted its entropic effect.

Seizing the opening, Nantian Fengyu didn’t halt.

“PHOENIX DESCENT!” she roared, her voice layered with the cry of a divine bird.

Her body became a meteor of concentrated fury and fire, slamming directly toward Nian Shi.

For the first time, Nian Shi was forced to act defensively. His eyes widened a fraction. He couldn’t simply nullify this attack; the raw, emotional power behind it was too potent, too alive. He brought the Blade of Eternity up in a cross guard, but the impact was tremendous.

BOOM!

The force of the Phoenix Descent, amplified by her complete self-sacrifice, actually drove him back. His feet skidded through the dead dust, creating furrows in the barren ground. He was forced back several steps, away from Yun Lintian.

“Heh.”

From the sidelines, a low, amused chuckle sounded. Yin, who had been watching the entire exchange with detached interest, finally spoke.

“Well, well,” he mused, his voice dripping with mockery. “It seems the great God of Time miscalculated. It appears even the most meticulous plans can be burned away by a sufficiently motivated insect.”

Nian Shi’s face turned thunderous, a storm of fury and humiliation. He glared at Yin but said nothing, his silver eyes burning with cold rage. He then turned his deadly gaze to Nantian Fengyu, who now stood firmly between him and Yun Lintian, her body still wreathed in fluctuating but intense divine flames.

She was panting, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth from the recoil of striking the primordial weapon, but her stance was unyielding. She was the final, flickering line of defense.

But Nantian Fengyu didn’t seem to care about Nian Shi’s fury or Yin’s taunts. Her focus was entirely on the man behind her.

She knew she had only bought a moment. She could not win this fight. Her only hope was to break the meditation…