Myth Beyond Heaven

Yun Lintian’s divine sense swept through the streets, but Nian Shi’s presence had already vanished like mist in sunlight. He frowned slightly but didn’t dwell on it. After all, he hadn’t concealed his arrival in this timeline precisely to draw out the God of Time.

“Let’s go,” he said to Yue Zhihe and the others, continuing his stroll through the bustling night market.

At a dimly lit street corner, an old fortune teller sat behind a rickety wooden table. His milky eyes tracked Yun Lintian as he passed.

“The man who walks against fate’s current,” the old man suddenly croaked.

Yun Lintian stopped.

Qingqing tilted her head. “Big Brother Yun, this grandpa can see you?”

Linlin sniffed the air. “He’s just a mortal.”

Curious, Yun Lintian approached. The fortune teller’s wrinkled face split into a toothless grin. “One gold coin for your fortune, young master.”

Yun Lintian tossed a coin onto the table and sat. “Speak.”

The old man’s fingers trembled as he shuffled moon-shaped cards. “Your fate… pitiful indeed. Power to defy heaven itself, yet bound by your own choice.”

Yun Lintian raised his brow slightly. “What do you mean?”

The old fortune teller’s milky eyes seemed to peer into Yun Lintian’s very soul. His gnarled fingers spread the moon-shaped cards across the table, revealing a pattern that made Yun Lintian’s breath catch.

“You have the power to defy your fate,” the old man whispered, his voice like dry leaves rustling. “But instead of changing your own destiny, you choose to change the fate of the world.”

Yun Lintian’s fingers twitched slightly. “Is there a difference?”

The fortune teller chuckled, a sound like cracking ice. “Ah, young master, you ask profound questions. If you change the world’s fate, does that not also change your own?”

He tapped a card depicting a scale with one pan overflowing while the other lay empty. “But remember this—someone’s loss is another’s gain. The universe demands balance. You cannot take everything without paying a price.”

Yun Lintian fell silent for a long moment. The sounds of the night market faded around them, leaving only the whisper of the cards as the old man gathered them again.

Finally, Yun Lintian spoke. “Then what should I do?”

The fortune teller smiled sadly. “You’ve already chosen your path long ago, young master. There’s nothing this old man can tell you that you don’t already know in your heart.”

He placed one final card face-up between them—a lone figure standing at a crossroads, one path leading to a shining city, the other descending into darkness.

“Follow your heart,” the old man said gently. “The future is uncertain. Perhaps… something will change.”

Yun Lintian stared at the card, his mismatched eyes reflecting its imagery. After a long moment, he stood, leaving another gold coin on the table.

“Thank you for your wisdom.”

As Yun Lintian turned to leave, the old man called out one last time. “Beware the eclipse, young master. When light and darkness become one, that is when your true trial will begin.”

Yun Lintian paused but didn’t look back. Then he continued walking, disappearing into the bustling night market with Qingqing and Linlin at his side, and Yue Zhihe following quietly behind.

The fortune teller watched them go, his milky eyes suddenly clearing to reveal twin pools of starry darkness. He gathered his cards with hands that no longer trembled.

“Farewell, Seed of Fate,” he murmured to the empty air. “We will meet again at the end of all things.”

Then the old man and his rickety table vanished like morning mist, leaving no trace that he had ever been there at all…

Yun Lintian walked silently through the bustling night market, the words of the fortune teller lingering in his mind like an unsolved riddle.

Linlin, perched on his shoulder, tilted her head. “Big Brother Yun, are you okay?”

Yun Lintian smiled faintly. “I’m fine. That fortune teller was just… strange.”

Yue Zhihe, walking beside him, frowned slightly. “No matter how I look at him, he was definitely a mortal. But… he gave off a strange feeling, as if he didn’t exist at all.”

Yun Lintian nodded. “I don’t know who or what he was, but he likely meant no harm—for now.”

The fortune teller’s words echoed in his mind—”You can defy fate, but changing the world comes at a price.”

A price that might be his own life.

Yun Lintian remained calm.

If protecting my people requires my life… then so be it.

His eyes turned toward the east, where the Eastern Sea’s abyss lay.

“Let’s go.”

With a single step, space warped around them, and they vanished from the city.

Far behind, the seven rulers of God Ascension Divine City finally exhaled in relief.

Lei Kuang wiped the sweat from his brow. “He’s finally gone.”

Xing Po’s wrinkled face twitched. “That man… he could erase us with a thought.”

Jiang Wuji, the Heavenly Sword Sovereign, clenched his fists. “We barely escaped with our lives.”

Then, Mu Lian—the Lotus Death Envoy—spoke in a trembling voice.

“You don’t think… he’ll come back to kill us if he can’t find the Storm God’s inheritor, right?”

Silence.

The seven rulers shuddered at the same time.

It was entirely possible.

***

**

*

The Eastern Sea was a vast expanse of churning waves, its depths hiding ancient secrets. Legends spoke of a divine storm buried beneath the abyss—the last remnant of the Storm God’s power.

Yun Lintian stood at the edge of the sea, the salty wind brushing against his face.

“This is the place,” Yue Zhihe said softly.

Qingqing pouted. “The water smells weird.”

Linlin’s ears twitched as she stared at the distant horizon. “Big Brother Yun, there’s something over there.”

Yun Lintian’s divine sense stretched across the vast ocean, piercing through the rolling waves. At the edge of his perception, a massive ship appeared—its black sails tattered, its hull reinforced with dark metal. Corpses were being thrown overboard one after another, their lifeless bodies sinking into the abyss.

Yue Zhihe’s expression darkened. “The Black Sea Pirates.”

Qingqing wrinkled her nose. “They stink!”

Yue Zhihe nodded grimly. “They traffic slaves, kidnapping cultivators and mortals alike. Their leader is the Black Sea God—a True God who rules these waters with an iron fist. There are many ships like this, raiding coastal villages and selling their captives.”

Yun Lintian listened calmly, seemingly unbothered. His focus remained on locating the Storm God’s inheritor beneath the sea.

But then—

BOOM!