Myth Beyond Heaven

Chapter 2980: Lost (2)

The wind howled across the shattered battlefield, carrying with it the scent of blood and burnt earth. Yun Lintian remained kneeling, his hands pressed against the broken ground, fingers digging deep into the soil as if trying to claw his way back to a reality that no longer existed.

“I should have been there…” His voice was raw, broken. “I should have protected them.”

Long Qingxuan tightened her arms around him, her tears soaking into his torn robes. “It’s not your fault,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “You couldn’t have known—”

“I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!”

His roar sent another shockwave of power rippling outward, forcing even Linlin and Qingqing to stumble back. The earth beneath him cracked further, veins of golden and black energy pulsing erratically from his body—Creation and Destruction spiraling out of control.

Long Qingxuan didn’t let go. Even as his unstable aura lashed at her, leaving faint burns across her arms, she held on.

“Lintian, listen to me,” she pleaded, pressing her forehead against his back. “We will find a way. Even if the timeline was erased, there must be something—”

“There is nothing!” Yun Lintian snarled, his voice cracking. “Don’t you understand? They’re gone. Not just dead. Erased. There’s no trace left to even mourn!”

His fists slammed into the ground again, sending debris flying. “I was supposed to protect them… I promised…”

Linlin’s ears flattened against her head, her golden eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Big Brother Yun…”

“Big Brother Yun… It’s not your fault.” Qingqing said pitifully.

But Yun Lintian didn’t hear them. His mind was trapped in memories—Yun Qianxue’s smile, Lin Xinyao’s laughter, the warmth of their home. All of it, gone in an instant.

“I failed them.”

The words were barely a whisper, but they carried the weight of a collapsing star.

Long Qingxuan shook her head violently, her hair whipping around her face. “No! You didn’t fail anyone! This was Nian Shi’s doing, not yours!”

Yun Lintian didn’t respond. His breathing was ragged, his body trembling with suppressed power.

For a long moment, silence reigned.

At this moment, Yun Lintian’s fingers slowly unclenched from the broken earth. His breathing steadied—too steady. The chaotic storm of his aura suddenly stilled, as if frozen in time.

Long Qingxuan felt the change immediately. His back, which had been trembling with rage and grief, went rigid. Cold.

“Lintian…?”

Before she could react, Yun Lintian stood.

A gentle but firm force pushed her away. Qingqing and Linlin stumbled back as well, their eyes widening.

Yun Lintian didn’t look at them. His golden and dark eyes were empty—no grief, no fury, nothing.

“Stay away.”

One command. Flat. Final.

He bent down, picking up the Heaven Sunderer Greatsword. The blade, once humming with power, now seemed dull in his grip.

Then—without another word—he swung.

RIP—!

The sword tore through space itself, ripping open a black rift. Without hesitation, Yun Lintian stepped into the void.

“LINTIAN!”

Long Qingxuan lunged forward, but an invisible barrier slammed into place, blocking her path. She crashed against it, pounding with her fists.

“LET ME FOLLOW YOU!”

Yun Lintian didn’t turn back.

The rift sealed behind him, leaving no trace.

Silence.

Long Qingxuan’s hands pressed against empty air where the rift had been. Her knees buckled.

Qingqing bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. “Big Brother Yun… he…”

She couldn’t finish.

As a True Spirit born from Yun Lintian’s storm, she felt what the others couldn’t.

His emotions—all of them—had vanished.

Not suppressed.

Gone.

Linlin, in her small white tiger form, curled into a ball, her tail wrapping around herself. “He… He left us…”

Long Chen, Qian Jinglei, and Yue Zhihe stood frozen, unsure what to do.

Then—

“Qingxuan!”

A familiar voice.

From the distance, figures emerged—Long Xi, the Dragon Queen of Light, leading the group. Behind her came Long Niu, Nantian Fengyu, Yue Chuntao with Mumu perched on her shoulder, Yun Xia, and Zhang Yu carrying the sleepy Gui Xuan.

Long Xi’s face lit up with joy when she saw her daughter. “Qingxuan! You’re—”

She stopped mid-sentence.

The battlefield. The devastation. The hollow look in her daughter’s eyes.

Something was terribly wrong.

Nantian Fengyu landed first, scanning the group. “Where’s my junior brother?”

No one answered.

Linlin perked up suddenly, hope flashing in her golden eyes. “Where’s Yun Qianxue and the others? Are they… Are they okay?”

Nantian Fengyu blinked. “What? Of course they are. They stayed behind in Nine Firmament City.”

Long Qingxuan’s head snapped up. “What?”

She grabbed Nantian Fengyu’s shoulders, her grip desperate. “They’re alive? You’re sure?”

Nantian Fengyu frowned. “Why wouldn’t they be? I left—”

Long Xi stepped forward, her draconic gaze sharp. “Qingxuan. Explain. What happened?”

Long Qingxuan’s hope shattered as quickly as it had flared.

She swallowed hard.

“Mo Ling… the Abyssal Ghost Knight… he said Nian Shi erased them. The entire timeline. Yun Qianxue, Lin Xinyao, everyone… gone.”

Silence.

Nantian Fengyu’s face paled. “That’s impossible. I just saw them before coming here!”

Long Xi’s expression darkened. “Erased timeline?”

Long Xi’s hand immediately went to the jade pendant at her waist—a temporal anchor painstakingly crafted by Yue Yun before their departure. The jade pulsed faintly with residual time energy, their only lifeline back to their original timeline.

Her fingers tightened around the jade as she channeled her draconic energy into it. Golden light swirled around her, forming intricate temporal runes in the air. The others watched with bated breath as space before them began to distort—

Then nothing happened.

The runes flickered and died.

Long Xi’s eyes widened slightly. She tried again, pouring more power into the jade. The runes formed once more, shimmering violently before collapsing like shattered glass.

“Impossible…”

The jade in her hand grew cold. The temporal anchor—their connection to home—was gone. Not blocked. Not hidden.

Erased.

Nantian Fengyu stumbled back as if struck. “No… That can’t…”

Yue Chuntao clutched Mumu tighter, her usual playfulness gone. “Does this mean… the first princess and the others really…”

“The timeline… severed completely?” Long Niu murmured in a daze.

Long Qingxuan’s knees buckled. She caught herself at the last moment, her nails digging into her palms until blood dripped onto the scorched earth.

“It’s true then,” she whispered hoarsely. “Nian Shi didn’t just kill them. He wiped their entire existence from reality.”

A suffocating silence fell over the group.

Linlin’s small white tiger form trembled. “But… but Big Brother Yun was the Seed of Time! Can’t he…?”

“Not if there’s nothing left to restore,” Long Xi interrupted grimly. “This isn’t death. This is complete annihilation. Like burning the roots of a tree so no sapling can ever grow again.”