Chapter 3069: The Change of Mind (3)
Yun Lintian’s spirit, on the verge of collapse, steadied. The overwhelming grief was pushed back by a surge of defiant hope. He was not alone in this fight!
Nian Shi, forced to halt his attack, looked at the assembled Divine Beasts. A flicker of surprise crossed his features, quickly replaced by a cold, disdainful sneer.
"Divine Beast Souls?" he mocked, his voice laced with contempt. "The remnants of a bygone era. Pathetic guardian spirits. If I had come unprepared, I might have needed to expend some effort. But did you truly think I would invade the potential vessel of the new Creator without accounting for the trash he’s collected?"
He raised his right palm. On it, complex golden patterns began to glow, spinning into existence. They emitted an aura that was utterly alien to Nian Shi’s temporal power—an aura of absolute order, of fundamental law, of pristine... Creation.
Yun Lintian’s pupils constricted violently. He knew that aura! It was the same pure, profound, and overwhelming presence he had felt from the woman in his vision—the Creator!
"These," Nian Shi said flatly, "are a gift. A final contingency from her before her death. The Chains of Primordial Order, woven from her own power. They were meant to bind the unbound, to order the chaotic. Perfect for silencing noisy relics."
Swoosh!
The golden patterns on his palm shot out, transforming into countless ethereal chains made of solid light. They moved with impossible speed, ignoring distance and the mighty auras of the Divine Beasts.
The chains did not attack; they simply appeared, already coiled around each Divine Beast Soul.
The Azure Dragon roared, unleashing a torrent of azure flame that could shatter worlds. The flame struck the golden chains and simply... vanished, absorbed without a trace.
The White Tiger slashed with claws that could tear through space itself. The chains glowed brighter, and the killing intent was neutralized into nothingness.
The Vermilion Bird’s eternal flames and the Golden Crow’s solar fury washed over the chains, but could not even warm them. The Black Turtle’s unparalleled defense meant nothing; the chains phased through its spiritual form and bound its core.
One by one, each Divine Beast was instantly restrained. They struggled, their mighty power causing Yun Lintian’s mental realm to tremble, but it was useless. The chains, imbued with the Creator’s own authority, were their absolute bane. They were designed to suppress all that was born from Creation, and these souls were no exception.
In the blink of an eye, the eight magnificent Divine Beast Souls were completely imprisoned, bound tightly by the glowing golden chains. Their forms dimmed, their auras suppressed into silence. They were rendered utterly powerless, becoming mere statues of light trapped in a net of order.
Yun Lintian could only watch in stunned horror. His last line of defense, his most powerful allies, had been neutralized without Nian Shi even breaking a sweat. The gap between them was not just one of power, but of fundamental authority. Nian Shi had come armed with a key that could lock away the very foundations of Yun Lintian’s strength.
"Now," Nian Shi’s voice cut through the silence, cold and final. "There are no more distractions."
He didn’t lunge this time. He simply pointed his finger.
Clang!
More golden chains, thinner but no less potent, shot towards Yun Lintian.
Yun Lintian roared, rallying his spirit. He pushed the divine energy within his soul sea to its limit. The power of Creation and Destruction, though unraveled, erupted around him in a chaotic storm. He punched forward, a blow that contained the phantom weight of a nascent universe.
However, it was meaningless.
The golden chains passed through his chaotic energy as if it didn’t exist. They wrapped around his wrists, his ankles, his torso, and finally, his neck.
The moment they touched him, all his power vanished. It wasn’t sealed or suppressed; it was ordered into stillness. The chaotic storm within him was instantly calmed, forced into a state of absolute compliance. He was completely cut off from his Profound Vein, from his soul sea, from everything.
He was trapped, bound tighter than any prisoner. He couldn’t move, couldn’t gather energy, couldn’t even struggle. The chains glowed with a soft, relentless light, their power a constant, humiliating reminder of his powerlessness.
Nian Shi walked forward slowly, each step echoing in the silent mental realm. He stopped before the bound Yun Lintian, looking down at him with an expression of ultimate victory.
"Farewell, Yun Lintian," he said, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Your role is over."
He placed his palm on Yun Lintian’s forehead.
An agonizing pain, far worse than any physical injury, erupted as Nian Shi’s overwhelming consciousness began to force its way in, scouring away Yun Lintian’s memories, his will, his very identity. It was a violent, merciless overwrite.
Yun Lintian’s screams were silent, trapped within his own mind as the world he knew dissolved into darkness and silver light. The last thing he felt was the cold, alien presence of Nian Shi settling into the core of his being, claiming it for its own.
***
In the external world, within the ravaged Land of Beyond Heaven, Yun Lintian’s body, which had been sitting in serene meditation, suddenly shuddered.
Then, his eyes snapped open.
But they were not his eyes. One remained its original color, but the other now swirled with a cold, ancient silver light. The expression on his face was no longer one of calm determination or warm compassion. It was a face etched with the cold arrogance of eons, a smirk of ultimate triumph playing on lips that had once smiled with genuine warmth.
The aura radiating from the body underwent a catastrophic shift. Yun Lintian’s unique, vibrant energy that blended creation and destruction was violently suppressed, replaced by the vast, heavy, and oppressive aura of the God of Time—grey, silvery, and humming with the power of countless dead timelines.
He—it—slowly looked down at its hands, flexing the fingers as if testing a new suit of clothes. A low, cold laugh escaped its throat, a sound that was utterly foreign to Yun Lintian.
"It is done," the voice that came out was Yun Lintian’s, but the timbre, the inflection, the cold authority behind it, belonged entirely to Nian Shi. "This vessel... is far more perfect than I imagined. The potential is staggering."
He raised his head, his mismatched eyes sweeping across the devastation—the scorched earth, the fading motes of light that were the remnants of sacrifices, the two powerless swords lying on the ground. There was no grief, no remorse in that gaze, only a cold appraisal.
His silver eye then landed on Yin, who had been watching the entire process with an unreadable smile.
"Thank you for your... assistance," Nian Shi said, his tone dripping with icy sarcasm. "The path is clear. The vessel is mine."