Myth Beyond Heaven

The void trembled as the combined might of the cultivators descended upon Nian Shi.

Yun Qianxue’s Chaos Goddess Sutra erupted first, nine celestial heavens manifesting behind her as every Misty Cloud Sect disciple channeled their power into the formation. Space itself groaned under the collective pressure of centuries of cultivation focused into a single strike.

Nian Shi observed their assault with the quiet patience of eternity itself.

The Blade of Eternity moved.

A single, effortless arc.

BOOM!

The celestial heavens shattered like fragile glass. Disciples collapsed across the battlefield, blood spraying from their mouths as the formation’s backlash tore through them. Yun Qianxue’s sword arm trembled violently, her veins turning black with reversed temporal energy.

Lin Xinyao didn’t hesitate. Her moon blades flashed like silver comets, each strike carrying the weight of dying stars as she targeted the threads of temporal energy surrounding Nian Shi.

“Fast enough,” Nian Shi acknowledged, his voice calm as still water.

His blade didn’t even move this time. The moon blades simply ceased existing mid-flight, unraveling into nothingness before they could reach him.

Han Bingling and Mu Qiuxue struck next. The former Frozen Moon Palace Master’s glacial aura met Mu Qiuxue’s wild ice storms in perfect harmony, their combined assault carrying the absolute finality of winter’s end.

Nian Shi exhaled softly.

The ice simply… stopped. Frozen in place before evaporating into mist.

Hei Yue’s abyssal darkness surged forward like a living tide, while Shen Liqiu’s deathly leaves rained down from above. Yang Ningchang and Lynn twisted space itself into crushing gravitational vortices.

The Blade of Eternity pulsed once.

All attacks dissolved like sandcastles before the tide.

Hongyue’s crimson moon pulsed ominously as she unleashed the very concept of slaughter itself. Lan Hanyu descended with the absolute zero of the void.

Nian Shi finally showed the barest hint of reaction—a slight narrowing of his silver eyes.

The Blade of Eternity rose.

Fell.

The crimson moon dimmed to pale pink. The absolute zero warmed to merely freezing.

Yue Yun moved last, her Moon Staff blazing with desperate radiance as she aimed for the threads of fate binding Nian Shi to existence itself.

For the first time, Nian Shi’s brow furrowed slightly.

CRACK

The staff’s light guttered out as Yue Yun collapsed to her knees, blood streaming from her nose. A thin red line appeared on Nian Shi’s cheek.

He touched the wound, examining the blood on his fingertips with detached curiosity.

A chuckle escaped his lips—soft, mocking, devoid of any true mirth.

“How interesting,” he mused, his voice smooth as frozen silk. “It’s been… centuries, perhaps, since I last bled.”

His gaze swept over the battered cultivators before him, lingering on Yue Yun’s collapsed form. “Congratulations. You’ve accomplished what few in existence ever could.”

The words dripped with venomous praise, each syllable laced with cruel sarcasm.

At that moment, Jiang Yinyue, Murong Xue, Long Feiyan, and Wu Qingchen struck.

Jiang Yinyue’s thousand celestial swords rained down like silver comets. Murong Xue’s brush painted reality-altering sigils midair. Long Feiyan’s golden dragon form roared as it descended, claws capable of rending worlds. Wu Qingchen’s twin daggers gleamed with fortune-severing intent.

Nian Shi curled his lips.

“Heh.”

The Blade of Eternity moved—

Not in a slash. Not in a thrust.

But in a single, contemptuous flick.

BOOM!

Space itself ruptured. Jiang Yinyue’s swords shattered into stardust before they could descend. Murong Xue’s brush snapped in half, its ink evaporating mid-stroke. Long Feiyan’s draconic form was sent hurtling backward, golden scales peeling away like autumn leaves. Wu Qingchen’s daggers crumbled to rust in her hands.

All four cultivators crashed to the ground, bones fracturing from the sheer force of the rebuff. Blood pooled beneath them, their cultivation bases trembling on the verge of collapse.

Nian Shi stepped forward, his silver robes fluttering despite the absence of wind. “Since you’re all so eager to die…” His lips curled into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Let me grant your wishes.”

His figure suddenly blurred and disappeared from the place.

Murong Xue had barely pushed herself up when Nian Shi appeared before her—not teleporting, but simply existing there, as if he had always been present.

“Your art once changed fate,” he remarked idly, tilting his head. “How poetic that it ends like this.”

The Blade of Eternity touched her forehead—

And Murong Xue’s existence began unraveling.

Not just her body.

But her memories.

Her past.

Her very identity.

Her hands, once skilled enough to rewrite reality with a stroke, dissolved into golden motes. Her eyes, filled with defiance, widened as she realized—she was forgetting.

Her name.

Her master.

Her friends.

“Lin… tian… I…” Her voice faded as her lips turned to dust.

By the time the last wisp of her soul dispersed, she couldn’t even remember why she had been fighting.

“Second sister!” Jiang Yinyue, Long Feiyan, and Wu Qingchen cried out in shock.

At that moment, Mu Qiuxue, who stood closest to Murong Xue, made a move despite her injuries, her frost-laden palms aiming for Nian Shi’s heart.

However, Nian Shi didn’t even bother blocking.

Instead, he let her strike land—

And watched as her hands froze.

Not with her own ice.

But with time itself.

Mu Qiuxue gasped as the frost crept up her arms, turning flesh and bone into brittle, ancient relics.

“You always fought with passion,” Nian Shi observed dispassionately. “How fitting that your end is… slow.”

The temporal frost spread to her chest, her neck, her face—

Until she stood frozen, a statue of ice and regret.

Then Nian Shi exhaled.

BANG!

Mu Qiuxue shattered into a million glittering fragments directly.

“Qiuxue!” Han Bingling and the others shouted in grief.

“DIE!” Jiang Yingyue made her move as she poured everything she had into the attack. Thousands of swords rained down from the void towards Nian Shi.

Nian Shi revealed a cruel smile as he swung the Blade of Eternity upward to meet Jiang Yinyue’s attack.

BOOOOM!!

The recoil immediately tore through Jian Yingyue’s meridians, divine energy erupting from her pores in golden flames. She did not cry out. She stood, straight-backed, as the fire consumed her—her final act to channel every last spark into a single, blinding thrust.

The blade never reached its mark.

But the light of her defiance lingered in the air long after her body had turned to embers.

“GO TO HELL!!”

Long Feiyan roared as her claws raked toward Nian Shi’s throat—

Only for her arm to disintegrate mid-swing, scales peeling away like autumn leaves.

Nian Shi chuckled. “That’s it?”

He didn’t even use much of his power to stop her.

Long Feyan did not falter.

With her remaining hand, she struck again.

And again.

And again.

Until there was nothing left but her will, still driving a body that had long since turned to dust…