Chapter Fourteen
1199 Words
The festival vanished.
The laughter.
The lanterns.
The falling stars.
Everything remained frozen beneath a sky that no longer moved.
Only three figures stood within the silent world.
Bai Lingxi.
Mo Xuanyuan.
And the little girl who called herself…
Time.
Lingxi swallowed.
“…You’re Time?”
The little girl nodded as though it were the most ordinary thing in existence.
“I have many names.”
“The Keeper of Ages.”
“The Child Between Moments.”
“The Last Witness.”
She smiled innocently.
“But I like ‘Time’ the most.”
Lingxi frowned.
“You don’t look very old.”
Time giggled.
“I am older than Heaven.”
The smile on Lingxi’s face slowly disappeared.
Mo Xuanyuan stepped forward.
“You broke the Heavenly Laws.”
Time shrugged.
“They’ve been breaking themselves.”
“You shouldn’t interfere.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
For the first time…
The little girl’s cheerful expression vanished.
She looked…
Afraid.
“I’ve seen tomorrow.”
Silence.
“I’ve seen ten thousand tomorrows.”
“None of them end well.”
Lingxi looked between them.
“Can someone please explain what’s happening?”
Time looked directly into her eyes.
“Do you remember your dream?”
Lingxi’s breathing stopped.
“…How do you know about it?”
“The peach blossoms.”
“The blood.”
“The chains.”
“The man in white.”
“You saw all of it.”
Lingxi’s heart pounded.
Every word was correct.
Every detail.
She had told no one.
Not even Mo Xuanyuan.
“You…”
“Were you inside my dream?”
Time shook her head.
“No.”
“I was inside your memory.”
Those words echoed endlessly.
Memory.
Not dream.
Memory.
Lingxi’s knees weakened.
“No…”
“It couldn’t have been real.”
“It was.”
“I’ve never worn white phoenix robes.”
“You did.”
“I’ve never seen that valley.”
“You lived there.”
“I’ve never—”
“You loved him there.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Painful.
Lingxi slowly turned toward Mo Xuanyuan.
He wasn’t looking at her.
He was staring at Time.
As though silently begging her to stop.
Time sighed.
“You still haven’t told her.”
Mo Xuanyuan’s voice became colder.
“I will.”
“When?”
“When she can survive it.”
Time looked disappointed.
“You’ve been saying that for one hundred thousand years.”
Lingxi froze.
“What?”
She looked at Mo Xuanyuan.
Then back at Time.
“One…”
“…hundred thousand years?”
Time nodded.
“He always says the same thing.”
‘Not yet.’
‘She’s not ready.’
‘Tomorrow.’
“There is always another tomorrow.”
Her small voice became quiet.
“But tomorrow…”
“…is running out.”
A sudden c***k echoed across the frozen sky.
Time looked upward.
Her expression changed instantly.
“They found me.”
Mo Xuanyuan drew his black sword.
“Already?”
“They’re getting stronger.”
Another c***k.
Then another.
Golden chains appeared high above the heavens.
They stretched endlessly across the sky.
Each chain was thicker than a mountain.
They wrapped around the frozen stars.
One by one…
The stars shattered.
Lingxi stared upward in horror.
“What are those?”
Time whispered.
“The Heavenly Laws.”
A voice echoed through eternity.
Not the crimson eye.
Something far greater.
Something colder.
“TIME.”
The little girl’s body trembled.
“RETURN.”
She took an unconscious step backward.
“No.”
“YOU HAVE INTERFERED.”
“I had to.”
“YOU HAVE CHANGED THE CURRENT.”
“I only warned them.”
“THAT IS ENOUGH.”
The golden chains descended.
Not toward Lingxi.
Not toward Mo Xuanyuan.
Toward Time.
Mo Xuanyuan stepped in front of the child.
“You will not take her.”
Time looked up at him.
“Why?”
“You know what happens if you interfere.”
“I know.”
“You could lose everything.”
His answer came without hesitation.
“I already did.”
The chains struck.
BOOM!
Mo Xuanyuan raised his sword.
The collision shook all existence.
For the first time…
Lingxi witnessed him fighting something she couldn’t even understand.
He wasn’t battling an immortal.
Or a demon.
He was battling…
The laws that governed reality itself.
Each swing of his sword split the heavens.
Each golden chain he severed immediately regenerated.
It was endless.
Time looked at him sadly.
“You can’t win.”
“I don’t need to.”
“Then why fight?”
He smiled.
A small…
Gentle smile Lingxi had never seen before.
“Because…”
“I promised someone.”
CRACK!
One chain slipped past his defense.
It wrapped around his right arm.
Golden symbols burned into his skin.
Lingxi heard flesh sizzle.
He didn’t even flinch.
Another chain.
Then another.
Soon…
His black robes were stained with blood.
“Stop!”
Lingxi screamed.
“You’ll die!”
He looked back at her.
His smile remained calm.
“If dying…”
“…buys you one more day.”
“It is worth it.”
Her heart stopped.
Those words…
Why…
Did they hurt so much?
Without thinking…
She ran.
Straight toward him.
Mo Xuanyuan’s eyes widened.
“Lingxi!”
Too late.
She grabbed his hand.
The instant their skin touched—
Everything exploded.
A blinding crimson light erupted between them.
The invisible Thread of Eternal Fate appeared once more.
But it was no longer a thin string.
It had become a magnificent crimson ribbon woven with golden runes.
It wrapped itself around both of their wrists.
The Heavenly Laws fell silent.
Time gasped.
“It awakened…”
“No…”
“It remembered.”
Within the crimson light…
Images flashed before Lingxi’s eyes.
A little boy laughing beneath peach blossoms.
A little girl chasing butterflies.
Two teenagers practicing swordsmanship together.
A young man placing a jade pendant around her neck.
A wedding beneath a sky of stars.
Then—
Fire.
War.
Blood.
Countless bodies.
Mo Xuanyuan kneeling in ruined white robes.
Holding a lifeless woman.
Holding…
Her.
His voice echoed through the vision.
Broken.
Shattered.
“I don’t accept this fate.”
“I’ll find you.”
“Even if it takes…”
“…every lifetime.”
The vision ended.
Lingxi collapsed to her knees.
Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
She didn’t understand why she was crying.
She couldn’t remember clearly.
Yet…
Her heart recognized him.
She slowly looked up.
Mo Xuanyuan was staring at her.
Not as a master.
Not as a god.
But as someone terrified of losing the most precious person in his world.
For the first time…
Neither of them spoke.
Words…
Were no longer enough.
Far beyond the Nine Heavens…
In a palace built from endless darkness…
A lone figure opened his crimson eyes.
Ye Wushang smiled.
“So…”
“The First Seal has broken.”
He rose from his throne.
His crimson robes flowed behind him like blood.
“It is finally time…”
“…to bring the past back to life.”
- Writer
