Silence reclaimed the battlefield.
Yun Lintian lowered his sword, golden-black eyes scanning the void where Nian Shi had stood. His breathing remained steady, but his mind churned.
Even with the combined power of thirty-seven Primordial Gods... I couldn't kill him.
The question burned—How?
Nian Shi's strength wasn't just superior—it felt fundamentally different. Not just mastery over time, but something more primal. Something that shouldn't exist.
Like he had drawn power from beyond the system of cultivation itself.
Yun Lintian exhaled slowly. This battle had revealed three truths.
First, Nian Shi was still holding back. That final dimensional technique wasn't a desperate escape, but a calculated withdrawal.
Second, the gap wasn't just in power, but in understanding. Nian Shi operated on rules Yun Lintian couldn't yet perceive.
Third, each Nian Shi had different strength. Clearly, the one he faced earlier was entirely different from the other Nian Shis he had met before.
