Myth Beyond Heaven

Tantai Lanling jolted at the command. Her eyes widened slightly. What he asked was immensely difficult—to create a barrier that could potentially separate two Primordial Gods from a third, even for a short time. It would drain her severely.

She didn’t question. She didn’t hesitate. Her hands flew up, weaving complex patterns in the air. Golden chains of cosmic law, far more intricate and powerful than those she had used to bind Long Chen and Qian Jinglei, erupted from the void around the central battlefield.

“By the Mandate of Order,” she intoned, her voice strained but firm. “I decree separation! Reality, heed my will! Forbidden Zone—Celestial Isolation!”

The golden chains did not attack. They shot into the ground, the sky, and the very fabric of space around Nian Shi, Yue Bingyao, and the meditating Yun Lintian. They began to spin, creating a shimmering, dome-like barrier of pure golden light, etched with countless runes of binding and separation.

The barrier solidified with a deep, resonant THUMM that vibrated through everyone’s bones. It closed, sealing the three figures inside their own pocket of reality, completely cutting off the area from the outside.

Yin, who had been watching with amusement, found himself on the outside of the golden dome. His eyebrows rose in genuine surprise, then his surprise melted into a deeper, more intrigued smile. He hadn’t expected this.

Inside the dome, the sounds of the outside battle—the roars of the dragons, the clashes of energy—became muffled, distant. It was just the three of them now.

Nian Shi finally turned his full attention back to Yue Bingyao, a cold, determined light in his eyes. The Hourglass of Beginnings in his hand glowed with terrifying intensity.

“The distractions are removed, Moon God,” he said, his voice low and deadly serious. “Now, let us end this without an audience.”

Nian Shi’s cold gaze swept over the remaining temporal copies still fending off the Moon God’s serene but unyielding defense. A flicker of impatience, rare for him, finally showed in his silver eyes. This had gone on long enough.

“Enough,” he stated, his voice flat and final. “Return.”

The command was not shouted, but it resonated through the sealed space with absolute authority.

Immediately, the Nian Shi copies broke off their attacks. They stepped back from Yue Bingyao, their forms becoming less distinct, their aggressive postures relaxing into waiting stillness.

Yue Bingyao did not press the attack. She held her ground, the God Slaying Sword still poised, her moonlit eyes watching him warily. She knew a fundamental shift was coming.

Nian Shi looked at her, a hint of cold grandeur entering his expression. “You have held on admirably, remnant. You have proven worthy of witnessing something few have ever seen. You should consider it an honor.”

As he spoke, the Hourglass of Beginnings in his left hand began to hum, a low, deep vibration that seemed to sync with the very heartbeat of time. The shimmering sands within swirled violently.

Then, the process began.

The Nian Shi copies surrounding them did not simply vanish. They let go of their Blades of Eternity. The terrifying weapons did not clatter to the ground; they hung in the air for a moment, humming with latent power. Then, as one, they shot towards the prime Nian Shi like iron filings drawn to a magnet.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

They streamed into the Blade of Eternity held in his right hand. Each fusion caused the prime blade to glow brighter, its aura growing denser, heavier, more absolute. It was no longer just a blade; it was becoming a convergence point for the power of endings from across countless timelines.

But that was only the beginning.

The copies themselves, now weaponless, began to glow with a soft silver light. Their forms became translucent, then dissolved entirely, transforming into pure rays of silver energy. These rays did not shoot towards Nian Shi’s body; they streamed into the Hourglass of Beginnings.

The Hourglass glowed with an blinding, incandescent light as it absorbed them. Each ray represented a different Nian Shi, from a different timeline, with different experiences, different specializations in the law of time. The Hourglass wasn’t just storing their power; it was processing it, integrating it, making it his own.

The grey-silvery aura around the prime Nian Shi intensified exponentially. It wasn’t just an increase in volume; it was an increase in depth and complexity.

The air around him warped and twisted, not with chaotic energy, but with the terrifying weight of consolidated epochs. His presence became overwhelming, pressing down on the sealed space with the force of a million histories converging into one.

Outside the golden dome, the scene was one of desperation and fascination.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Long Qingxuan and Long Niu, having lost their primary target, turned their fury on the barrier itself. Torrents of azure fire and focused beams of destructive light slammed against the golden dome, but the God of Order’s ultimate technique held firm.

The runes on the barrier glowed brighter with each impact, absorbing and dispersing the energy. Their attacks were powerful, but against a barrier designed to separate primordial entities, they were futile. They could only watch in horror as Nian Shi underwent his terrifying transformation inside.

Yin, meanwhile, watched with rapt attention, his earlier amusement replaced by genuine intellectual curiosity.

“So this is it,” Yin murmured, a slow smile spreading across his face. “The famous ‘Convergence of Timelines’ technique. I had heard whispers, theories… but to see it in practice…” He chuckled, impressed despite himself. “I always knew you were ambitious, Timekeeper, but this is truly audacious.”

He spoke as if analyzing a fascinating experiment. “Each version of you, across the endless branches of time, accumulates unique power and understanding. Different experiences, different focuses… and you found a way to call them all back, to make their power your own. You weren’t just waiting idly; you were building an army within yourself.”

His dark eyes gleamed with understanding. “This was your original plan, wasn’t it? Before Yun Lintian appeared. You weren’t going to wait for a new Creator to be born. You were going to force your way into that realm by sheer, accumulated might.”

“You would become the Creator not by understanding creation, but by becoming the absolute master of time itself, so powerful that even the laws of creation would have to bow to you.”

He shook his head in mock admiration. “A magnificent, arrogant plan. And it might have even worked, given enough time. But then… he appeared.”

Yin gestured with his chin towards the meditating Yun Lintian inside the dome. “A better vessel. A perfect key. Why force the lock when you can simply steal the key?”

His gaze returned to the transforming Nian Shi. “And now, to deal with a stubborn little Moon God, you’re forced to show your hand early. How… inconvenient for you.”