Myth Beyond Heaven

"Yes, yes," Fan Shen said absently. "Though I still don't understand your obsession with that ant. He's nothing compared to what I'll become."

Tantai Xue's fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword, but her voice remained calm. "Just don't underestimate him. That 'ant' has survived encounters with multiple Primordial Gods."

Fan Shen finally turned to look at her, his golden eyes gleaming with arrogance. "And how many of those encounters were orchestrated? How many victories were allowed?" He smirked. "Nian Shi has been playing the long game with Yun Lintian. The boy is nothing more than a carefully cultivated harvest."

Tantai Xue didn't respond. She simply watched as Fan Shen stepped toward the temporal gate, his robes fluttering in the energy winds.

"Wait," she said suddenly.

Fan Shen paused, glancing back irritably. "What now?"

Tantai Xue tossed him a small jade token. "This will mask your presence in foreign timelines. Use it wisely—unless you want every version of Nian Shi hunting you down."

Fan Shen caught the token with a scoff but tucked it into his sleeve nonetheless. "I won't need it for long."

With that, he stepped into the gate—and vanished in a ripple of distorted space.

The moment Fan Shen disappeared, Tantai Xue's polite mask shattered.

Her crimson eyes darkened with contempt as she stared at the empty gate.

"Fool," she whispered. "You think yourself a player in this game?"

A cold laugh escaped her lips.

"The inheritor of the God of Mortals... how fitting. Just like your predecessor, you're nothing but a pawn."

She turned away, her black hair swaying with the movement.

"And pawns... are always sacrificed first."

***

Yun Lintian returned to the Nine Firmament City and headed straight to Xia Nongyue, who was leisurely enjoying the sunset at the jade canal.

"You're back," Xia Nongyue looked at Yun Lintian with a smile as she beckoned him to sit down and poured him a cup of tea.

Qingqing and Linlin jumped onto the table and picked up pastries.

Yun Lintian accepted the tea cup from Xia Nongyue, savoring its fragrance before speaking. "How have you been recently?"

Xia Nongyue's fingers paused around her own cup. A trace of sadness flickered through her eyes as she thought of Yun Tian, but she quickly masked it with a gentle smile.

"Aside from training, I've been enjoying life here," she said softly. "The city is beautiful, and the children often come to play by the canals."

Yun Lintian noticed her momentary melancholy but chose not to press. Instead, he set down his cup and went straight to the point.

"I need to find the Ruins of the First Dynasty—the Ancient Xia Dynasty."

Xia Nongyue's teacup clinked against the saucer as her hand jerked slightly. "The Ancient Xia Dynasty? The First Dynasty?"

"The God of Death's left leg is hidden in the Abyss of Eternal Silence," Yun Lintian explained. "To reach it, I need the Mirror of Forgotten Eternity, which is located in those ruins."

Xia Nongyue's brows knitted together. "The Mirror of Forgotten Eternity?... The name sounds familiar."

Yun Lintian leaned forward. "You know of it?"

"Not the mirror itself," she admitted. "But my grandfather told me our Xia Clan were once royals of the Ancient Xia Dynasty. Though... I never realized just how ancient that lineage was."

Linlin, her cheeks stuffed with pastry, mumbled, "How ancient are we talking?"

Xia Nongyue's gaze grew distant. "According to Grandfather, the Xia Clan existed before recorded history—before even the concept of cultivation realms as we know them. It was an era when gods still walked among mortals."

"That should be the early period of the Primordial Era," Yun Lintian said. "Did your grandfather mention anything about the ruins' location?"

Xia Nongyue hesitated. "He said... the Xia Clan's territory now lies beneath the Eternal Frost Desert in the Northern Divine Region."

Yun Lintian's eyes sharpened.

"There's more," Xia Nongyue continued. "The ruins are protected by a formation that only descendants of the royal bloodline can bypass."

A heavy silence fell over the table.

Xia Nongyue met Yun Lintian's gaze steadily. "Which means... I'll have to go with you."

Yun Lintian thought for a moment and nodded slightly. "Alright. However, I will enter the Abyss of Eternal Silence alone."

"Understood," Xia Nongyue replied calmly.

Yun Lintian wasn't in a hurry to leave. He spent the night with his wives before heading out with Xia Nongyue.

He used the Gate of Beyond Heaven and went straight to the Northern Expanse.

The Gate of Beyond Heaven deposited Yun Lintian and Xia Nongyue into a vast, star-filled void—the Northern Expanse. Countless celestial bodies floated in the darkness.

"Do you know which direction to go?" Yun Lintian asked.

Xia Nongyue thought for a moment and pointed northeast. "That way. I can... feel something calling."

Yun Lintian nodded. "Then we go that way."

Without hesitation, they set off.

Yun Lintian and Xia Nongyue traversed the void for a long time, their figures small against the cosmic grandeur.

Then, through the swirling cosmic mist, it appeared.

A star realm encased in eternal ice.

Massive glacial structures jutted from its surface like the ribs of a frozen titan, their crystalline surfaces reflecting the light of distant stars. The entire realm hummed with a strange, dormant energy.

"It should be this place." Xia Nongyue said uncertainly.

"Let's take a look." Yun Lintian said.

They descended toward the frozen star realm, their feet touching down on ice so clear it revealed entire cities preserved beneath—towering spires and grand palaces frozen mid-collapse, their inhabitants long turned to statues of frost.

A howl echoed through the glacial canyons.

From behind an ice ridge emerged a pack of Voidfang Wolves—beasts whose fur shimmered like the night sky, their eyes burning with blue fire. These were no ordinary divine beasts; these were Star Predators, creatures said to hunt fallen gods.

The alpha wolf bared fangs capable of rending space itself—

—then froze when it saw Yun Lintian.

The beast's ears flattened. Its tail tucked between its legs. Without a sound, it turned and fled, its pack scrambling after it in terror.

Xia Nongyue blinked. "They didn't even growl..."

Yun Lintian's lips quirked. "Smart beasts."

They pressed forward, their path now clear. Snowfeather Drakes nesting atop glacial spires took wing at their approach, their massive forms blotting out the stars as they fled.

As they ventured deeper, Xia Nongyue's feeling grew stronger. Soon, they stopped before a towering ice wall—its surface unnaturally smooth.

"This is the place," she whispered.