Chapter 3067: The Change of Mind (1)
Nian Shi’s sneer deepened. "And why would you do that? And why would I believe you? We both know the words between us are emptier than the void you call home. This is a pathetic attempt at deception."
"Deception?" Yin laughed, a genuine sound of amusement. "No, no. This is simple pragmatism. That barrier is a masterpiece of stubbornness. It is fueled by sacrifices that resonate with the fundamental laws of this land. Your power over endings is potent, but it is blunt against something that has already embraced its end for a purpose."
He pointed a single, elegant finger at the barrier. "My power, however... Uncreation is not blunt. It is precise. It does not break; it dissolves. It unweaves. I can find the seams in that defense, the points where the different sacrificial energies are woven together, and I can unravel them from the inside."
As he spoke, a thin, almost invisible tendril of absolute void, darker than the space around it, shot from his fingertip. It did not strike the barrier with force. Instead, it touched the surface where the draconic energy of Long Qingxuan and Long Niu met the lingering moonlight of Yue Bingyao.
The moment it made contact, the barrier... shuddered.
It wasn’t a violent shake from an impact. It was an internal tremor, a sudden instability. The brilliant, harmonious light of the dome flickered erratically. The crossed swords behind it, the World’s Ender and the God Slaying Sword, vibrated in their place, their auras suddenly discordant.
Nian Shi’s composed facade cracked. His eyebrows raised a fraction of a millimeter. The Blade of Eternity in his hand lowered slightly. He had hammered against that barrier with the force of dead universes and achieved nothing. Yet, with a mere touch, Yin had made it tremble from within.
His mind, the mind of the God of Time who calculated countless possibilities, raced. It was a trap, it had to be. But the effect was undeniable. Yin’s power was uniquely suited to this task.
He watched, his silver eyes sharp and calculating, as Yin maintained the tendril of void, not trying to force its way in, but simply allowing its corrosive, unmaking nature to seep into the junctions of the barrier’s power. He wanted to see how far Yin could go. He wanted to understand the method.
For the first time, a crack was appearing in the impregnable defense. And it was being made by the most unlikely of allies.
"Heh."
Yin’s chuckle was a dry, rustling sound, like dead leaves skittering across stone. The terrifying pressure emanating from him and Nian Shi seemed to recede just a fraction, not out of weakness, but as a conscious withdrawal.
"Look at us," Yin began, his tone almost conversational, a stark contrast to the world-ending confrontation of moments before. "Two primordial forces, clashing like mindless beasts over a morsel. It is... undignified, don’t you think?"
Nian Shi’s silver eyes narrowed, his grip on the Blade of Eternity unwavering. He did not respond, his expression one of cold suspicion. He knew Yin’s words were never merely words; they were daggers or snares, always serving a deeper purpose.
Yin spread his hands in a gesture of mock placation. "This fight is meaningless. Truly, think about it. Our goals, in the end, are Yun Lintian. They are the same. You wish to take over his body, to become the vessel for the new Creator. I wish to see him ascend, to break his limits and truly become the new Creator. We both require him to reach that pinnacle."
He took a leisurely step to the side, his dark gaze flicking towards Yun Lintian’s meditating form, still encased within the magnificent, shimmering barrier of moonlight and draconic sacrifice. "Where, then, is the conflict of interest? There is none. You get what you want. I get what I want. Our paths are parallel, not opposed."
Nian Shi remained silent, but a flicker of cold calculation passed behind his eyes. He was listening, dissecting every syllable.
"The conflict between us," Yin continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur, "it never stemmed from Yun Lintian. It stemmed from you."
He pointed a slender, pale finger at Nian Shi. "You, Nian Shi, wish to be the undisputed number one in this new universe. The sole supreme being. And I..." Yin’s lips curled into a faint, arrogant smile. "...aside from the Creator herself, I am a natural number one. I am Uncreation. I am the end of all things. My very nature is supremacy. You would never allow me to recover my full strength easily, for you know once I do, your dream of being the absolute ruler would vanish like smoke. And I... I simply find your ambition tedious."
Nian Shi’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. It was indeed the truth.
Seeing his silence as acknowledgment, Yin chuckled again. "So, let us dispense with this pointless posturing." He turned fully towards the layered barrier protecting Yun Lintian. "You want the body? Take it."
With that, he simply raised a hand towards the magnificent dome. There was no grand gathering of power, no shouted technique. A wisp of absolute void, darker than the deepest abyss, coalesced at his fingertips. It was not a force of impact, but of dissolution.
The wisp touched the barrier where the azure-silver light of the dragons’ sacrifice met the serene moonlight of Yue Bingyao’s last stand.
The effect was instantaneous and profound. The barrier didn’t shake or crack under force. Instead, it flickered, like a faulty illusion. The harmonious blend of energies suddenly became discordant, the different wills woven into it beginning to unravel and repel each other. The brilliant light dimmed, not all at once, but in patches, like a tapestry whose threads were being individually pulled apart.
The crossed swords behind it, the World’s Ender and the God Slaying Sword, shuddered in their place, their mighty auras groaning in protest against this subtle, insidious corrosion.
Rip— Bang!
With a sound that was both a tear and a shatter, the magnificent barrier disintegrated. It didn’t explode outward; it simply came undone, dissolving into motes of fading light that winked out of existence before they could even hit the ground.
The two legendary swords clattered to the stone, their light extinguished, looking like nothing more than ordinary, albeit finely crafted, pieces of metal.
The path to Yun Lintian was now completely clear...