Yun Lintian stared at his three other selves, his gaze unwavering.
"My goal has always been clear," he said, his voice steady. "I will save my people. And to do that, the world must still be intact."
"Ahahahaha!"
The old ruler suddenly laughed—a deep, hearty sound that echoed across the desolate wasteland. His laughter carried both bitterness and nostalgia.
"Forgive ," the old ruler said, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye. "Your words just reminded of my past."
He cald down, his expression turning solemn.
"I was the sa as you. That was my goal too." His aged eyes darkened. "But a goal is just a goal. It doesn't an you'll achieve it perfectly. Things... never go as planned."
Yun Lintian frowned. "What happened?"
The old ruler exhaled slowly. Then, he smiled—a sad, knowing smile.
"Let show you."
The world around them shattered.
"Huh?"
Yun Lintian gasped as his consciousness was thrown into another body—another tiline.
He stood atop a shattered mountain, clad in battle-worn armor, his aura radiating the pressure of a supre ruler. Around him, the sky burned. The earth trembled.
And before him—an endless tide of Chaos Beasts, led by a towering figure wreathed in temporal distortions.
Nian Shi, the God of Ti.
"Yun Lintian!" Nian Shi's voice bood across the battlefield. "Your defiance ends today!"
Yun Lintian—no, the old ruler version of himself—gripped his sword tightly. Behind him stood his people—his wives, his disciples, his allies. The Misty Cloud Sect's disciples, clad in silver robes, stood ready.
"Hold the line!" he roared.
The battle erupted.
Millions of cultivators clashed against the Chaos Beasts. Blood painted the earth. The sky itself fractured under the weight of divine techniques.
Yun Lintian watched helplessly from within the old ruler's body, unable to interfere, forced to experience every mont.
His wives fought at his side.
Lin Xinyao, her sword dancing like moonlight, cut through swathes of enemies—until a temporal blade struck her from behind. She fell, her last smile still directed at him.
His friends stood firm.
Yang Chen, his body burning with divine flas, unleashed his strongest technique—only for Nian Shi to reverse ti itself, undoing his attack before crushing him under a mountain of temporal chains.
His disciples fought bravely.
The Misty Cloud Sect's won, led by Yun Chenyu, ford an unbreakable formation—until a Chaos Beast tore through their ranks, its maw dripping with blood.
Yun Lintian's heart pounded.
No...
But the battle raged on.
The old ruler fought desperately, his power shaking the heavens. He struck down countless enemies, his sword severing fate itself.
Yet—
For every beast he killed, ten more took its place.
For every ally he saved, a hundred more fell.
And then...
Nian Shi smiled.
"Enough."
The God of Ti raised his hand—and reversed the battle.
The dead Chaos Beasts revived.
The fallen cultivators remained dead.
Yun Lintian's breath caught.
This... this is cheating!
The old ruler gritted his teeth. "You coward!"
Nian Shi laughed. "Ti favors , not you."
The battle turned.
One by one, Yun Lintian's people perished.
Until only he remained.
Standing alone.
Surrounded by corpses.
The world was saved—the Chaos Beasts defeated, Nian Shi sealed away.
But at what cost?
The old ruler fell to his knees, his hands stained with blood—both his enemies' and his allies'.
"...Was it worth it?" he whispered.
The vision faded…
Yun Lintian staggered, his breath ragged as he returned to the wasteland. The weight of that battle—of that loss—crushed his spirit.
The old ruler watched him quietly.
"Now you understand."
Yun Lintian clenched his fists. "There has to be another way."
The old ruler sighed. "I thought so too. But in the end, I had to choose—let the world perish, or sacrifice everything to save it."
The young disciple and the grieving son remained silent, their gazes heavy with unspoken grief.
Yun Lintian closed his eyes.
Then opened them—burning with defiance.
"No."
The three versions of himself tensed.
"I refuse to accept that future." Yun Lintian's voice was steel. "If ti is the enemy, then I will master it. If fate is cruel, then I will break it."
The old ruler studied him. Then, slowly, he smiled.
"Good."
He paused for a mont and said further. "But if you think it's as easy as drinking water like you have done on those powers, you're totally wrong… Ti… has never been tad. Even Nian Shi himself cannot control it fully."
"What do you an?" Yun Lintian asked with a frown.
The old ruler didn't answer directly but asked a question. "Do you rember the person you had t in the vision back in the Heavenhold Realm? The one who said you were different from the others."
An image of a person whom he couldn't see his face clearly appeared in Yun Lintian's mind.
"Isn't he Senior Yun?" Yun Lintian asked curiously. He always believed that the person was Yun Tian from the past, the Yun Tian before the Beyond Heaven King Yun Tian.
The old ruler shook his head and said. "That person is one of us… He, too, is you, Yun Lintian."
Yun Lintian was stunned for a mont and he seed to understand sothing.
The old ruler explained. "As we all know, the battle between the Creator and the Chasm of Uncreation had created multiple tiline which the Creator didn't wish for but it was unavoidable. This incident gave birth to multiple Nian Shi across the tiline."
"It gave Nian Shi an opportunity to beco what he had never dared to dream of before—the Creator."
Yun Lintian nodded slowly. "And?"
The old ruler's eyes darkened as he continued.
"But Nian Shi wasn't the only abnormality created by the tiline fractures." He pointed at Yun Lintian, then at the young disciple and grieving son, before finally gesturing to himself.
"We are the sa."
Yun Lintian's breath caught.
"There are many of us," the old ruler said quietly. "Countless versions of Yun Lintian, scattered across fractured tilines. All fighting the sa battle. All trying to save their world."
The words hit Yun Lintian like a thunderbolt. His mind reeled, his understanding of reality crumbling in an instant.
Multiple versions of ?
All failed?
Countless questions surged in his mind, but one burned brighter than the rest.
"If that's true," Yun Lintian demanded, "why have I never t another version of myself before?"
The old ruler smiled bitterly.
"Because they're all dead."
A cold silence fell over the wasteland.
"You," the old ruler said, his voice heavy, "are the last one left."
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