The golden light from the young disciple and grieving son swirled around Yun Lintian, rging into his being. mories of their struggles, their failures, their fleeting monts of joy—all flowed into him like a river rging with the sea.
The old ruler was the last to remain, his form already beginning to fade.
"You have our experiences now," he said, his voice growing distant. "Our regrets. Our hopes." A faint smile touched his lips. "Use them well."
Yun Lintian nodded. "I will."
The old ruler's figure flickered, like a candle in the wind. "One last warning—Nian Shi is not just a god of ti. He is ti itself given form. To defeat him, you must do what none of us could."
"What?" Yun Lintian asked.
"Rewrite fate."
With those final words, the old ruler dissolved into golden light, rging with Yun Lintian.
Silence.
Yun Lintian stood alone in the wasteland, the weight of countless lifetis pressing upon his soul. He closed his eyes, absorbing their lessons, their warnings.
Then—
The air trembled.
A storm of silver and gold erupted around him, temporal energy whirling like a hurricane. The final trial had begun.
Yun Lintian braced himself as the temporal storm raged. Fragnts of past and future flashed before his eyes—
Lin Xinyao falling in battle.
The Misty Cloud Sect crumbling under Nian Shi's assault.
The Chasm of Uncreation devouring the world.
Each vision was a blade to his heart, testing his resolve.
"I will not lose!" Yun Lintian roared.
He raised the Seed of Ti, its silver light cutting through the storm. The visions shattered, but the storm only grew fiercer.
A voice echoed through the chaos—
"Will you sacrifice them all to save the world?"
Yun Lintian's grip tightened. "No."
"Then will you let the world burn to save them?"
"Never."
The storm howled, temporal winds tearing at his flesh. Blood trickled from his nose, his ears, his eyes—but he stood firm.
"You cannot have both."
Yun Lintian's galaxy-filled eyes blazed. "Why not?"
He thrust the Seed forward, and ti itself bent around him. The storm recoiled, then condensed into a single point—
A door.
Ancient, carved with runes of a forgotten era.
Yun Lintian didn't hesitate. He stepped forward and pushed it open.
The door led to a realm outside existence—a place of pure silver light, where threads of fate stretched endlessly in every direction.
At the center stood a woman in silver robes, her back turned to him.
"You're late," she said without turning.
Yun Lintian's breath caught. "Who are you?"
The woman finally faced him—and his heart nearly stopped.
She had his mother's eyes.
His father's stubborn jaw.
And a presence that dwarfed even the Creator's.
"The first failure," she said softly. "The one who started it all."
Yun Lintian's mind reeled. "You're... ?"
She shook her head. "I am what you could beco—if you fail."
She gestured, and the threads of fate shifted, revealing a single, fraying strand—his own.
"Ti is not a river," she said. "It is a tapestry. And Nian Shi has been unraveling it for eons."
Yun Lintian stared at the fraying thread—his tiline. "How do I stop him?"
The woman smiled sadly. "By doing what I could not."
She placed a hand on his chest, right over his heart.
"Accept that you will lose. And keep fighting anyway."
Her form dissolved into light, rging with the Seed in his palm.
Power unlike anything he'd ever known surged through him.
And the realm beyond ti shattered.
Yun Lintian gasped as reality snapped back into place.
He stood in the ruins, the temporal storm gone. In his hand, the Seed of Ti pulsed with newfound strength—its silver light now intertwined with gold.
Linlin and Qingqing stared at him in awe.
"Big Brother Yun... your hair!" Qingqing pointed.
A single lock of Yun Lintian's hair had turned silver.
The serpent's silver eyes glead. "So you've passed the final trial."
Yun Lintian's mismatched eyes—one representing life, the other death—now glead with a new authority. Silver temporal energy danced around him like living threads, bending to his will.
Yet he knew this was rely the first step. Against Nian Shi, the true God of Ti, he was still far from equal.
He turned to the massive silver serpent coiled around the stone pillar. "Do you know about the seven Seeds of the World Tree?"
The serpent chuckled, her voice rich with ancient knowledge. "There are no seven Seeds, foolish boy. There are seven Fragnts."
Yun Lintian's brows furrowed. "Fragnts?"
"The Tree of Life inside your body," the serpent said, flicking her tongue, "is one of them. The rest... you must discover yourself. Even I do not know their locations."
A realization struck Yun Lintian. "Then the reason everything in this tiline feels familiar... is because another version of has lived here before?"
The serpent's silver eyes glead with amusent. "Ah, so you've finally pieced it together. Yes. The familiarity you feel with people, places—even enemies—is because your other self once walked this path."
Yun Lintian exhaled slowly. That explained why so faces triggered inexplicable recognition, why certain events felt eerily predictable.
But one question remained.
"Then who," Yun Lintian asked, locking eyes with the serpent, "are you?"
The serpent's massive form shimred, scales dissolving into silver mist. The air trembled as her figure shrank, morphing into a humanoid shape—until a woman stood before him.
Clad in flowing silver robes, her hair like a sliver waterfall, her eyes the sa piercing silver as the serpent's.
The woman smiled, and the ruins themselves seed to bow in her presence.
"I am the Guardian of the First Fragnt," she said, her voice echoing with the weight of eternity. "The one who has watched over every version of you... and buried every failure."
Yun Lintian's mind reeled. "You've been... guiding ?"
The silver woman shook her head. "Not guiding. Testing." She gestured to the Seed in his hand. "That Fragnt chose you. I rely ensured you were worthy of it."
Linlin and Qingqing clung to Yun Lintian's legs, their tiny bodies trembling. Even Yue Zhihe, normally composed, had gone pale.
The woman continued, "The World Tree shattered into seven Fragnts, each embodying a different Authority over existence itself. Ti. Space. Life. Death. Creation. Destruction. And the last—the Heart."
Yun Lintian's grip tightened around the Seed. "What about Nian Shi?"
"Of course, he seeks them all," the woman said grimly. "With even three, he could rewrite reality itself."
A cold silence fell.
Yun Lintian exhaled. "Then I need to find them before him."
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