Myth Beyond Heaven

Yue Chuntao hovered in the air, her clothes replaced by robes of woven moonlight. A crown of silver crescents rested on her head. Her eyes glowed with the full power of the moon, and in her hand, she held a staff topped with a glowing purple jade—Mumu's essence.

She radiated an aura of ancient, divine power. She looked exactly like the Moon Goddess reborn.

Nian Shi's eyes narrowed as he stared at Yue Chuntao. "So what if you brought the Moon God back? I could erase her once. It will be the same this time."

The transformed Yue Chuntao met his gaze, her expression calm and terrifyingly powerful.

"It's been a long time, Nian Shi," Yue Chuntao spoke, her voice was ancient and indifferent unlike the former Yue Chuntao.

Nian Shi's sneer faltered. The voice was different. The aura was different. This wasn't just Yue Chuntao wielding the Moon God's power. This was something deeper, more fundamental.

The silver light around her didn't just radiate power; it seemed to contain the very essence of the lunar domain, the quiet authority of the night itself.

Nian Shi was surprised slightly. "Yue Bingyao?"

The transformed figure before him slowly descended to the ground. Her movements were no longer Yue Chuntao's; they were regal, ancient, filled with a grace that spoke of eons past. She didn't look at Nian Shi immediately. Instead, she turned and walked calmly towards the still-meditating Yun Lintian.

She stood before him, a silent guardian. Her gaze, filled with an infinite sadness and a flicker of profound understanding, rested on his serene face. A faint, bittersweet smile touched lips that were both Yue Chuntao's and yet not.

"Now I understand," she whispered, her voice so soft it was almost carried away by the chaotic energies still swirling around them. It was a voice layered with memory and pain. "Tianming... now I understand why you rejected my feelings back then. You had to. For him. For this."

The name 'Tianming'—Yun Tianming, the God of Fate—hung in the air. She spoke of a love unrequited not out of coldness, but out of a duty so vast it eclipsed personal desire. Her sorrow was not for herself, but for the burden he had carried alone.

She did not linger in the past. The moment of vulnerability passed, replaced by an immovable resolve.

She turned to face Nian Shi fully. Her expression was now utterly indifferent, a mask of divine detachment. Though she wore Yue Chuntao's face, it was unmistakably Yue Bingyao, the original Moon God, who now looked upon the God of Time.

"Your ambition ends here, Nian Shi," she stated, her voice calm, flat, and absolute. "It will never be fulfilled."

Nian Shi's initial surprise gave way to derisive laughter. It was a harsh, mocking sound.

"Because of you?" he spat, gesturing at her with the Blade of Eternity. "You think you can stop me? You, who I so easily manipulated? You and the other so-called 'gods' were nothing but pawns! I made you fight amongst yourselves! I made you destroy each other! The God of Darkness, the God of Heaven—they all fell by your hand, and you perished with them! You were a useful tool then, and you are a minor inconvenience now!"

He spoke of her greatest tragedy, the event that had led to her original demise, as if it were a mere footnote in his grand scheme.

Yue Bingyao did not react to his taunts. Her indifferent expression did not change. She simply raised her hand slightly, palm open.

A response came from Yun Lintian's direction.

CLANG!

A sword shot out from beside the meditating man. It was not a physical sword he carried, but one that had been hidden within his soul, a weapon of legacy and vengeance. It flew through the air and slapped neatly into Yue Bingyao's waiting hand.

The moment her fingers closed around the hilt, the weapon awakened.

It hummed with a terrifying, hungry aura.

The God Slaying Sword, the very weapon Yue Bingyao had wielded in her final, catastrophic battle millennia ago. The weapon that had ended the God of Darkness and the God of Heaven, and had consumed her own life in the process.

The sight of the sword in her hand finally wiped the smirk from Nian Shi's face. His expression changed to one of sharp recognition and genuine wariness.

Nian Shu furrowed his brow as he didn't expect Yue Bingyao to be able to use the newly forged God Slaying Sword as well.

Yue Bingyao held the God Slaying Sword aloft. Its aura merged with her lunar power, creating a dissonant, terrifying harmony of serene moonlight and absolute destruction.

"You used me once, Nian Shi," she said, her voice still calm, but now carrying the weight of impending judgment. "You used this sword once. That mistake will not be repeated."

She settled into a battle stance, the sword pointed toward him. "This time, the Moon does not fall. This time, you will."

Nian Shi's wariness shattered, replaced by a burst of cold, mocking laughter.

"Hah! You think wielding that sword again changes anything?" he sneered, the Blade of Eternity humming louder in his grip as if echoing his contempt. "You are nothing but a remnant, a ghost wearing a mortal's skin! The true Yue Bingyao died with that sword in her hands! Don't pretend to talk big if you can't afford the price!"

As the last word left his lips, he moved. There was no warning, no gathering of power. He simply appeared before her, the Blade of Eternity cutting a silent, gray swath through reality aimed directly at her neck. It was an attack meant to end the fight before it began, to unmake her as he had unmade Long Xi.

Yue Bingyao, however, was prepared. Her movements were fluid and precise. With one hand, she made a gentle pushing gesture towards Long Qingxuan and Long Niu.

A soft wave of moonlight enveloped the two grieving daughters, safely depositing them far from the immediate area of conflict, away from the terrifying aura of the two primordial weapons.

With her other hand, she raised the God Slaying Sword.

The moment the obsidian blade met the silvery light of her lunar power, it transformed. The dark blade became sheathed in concentrated moonlight, glowing with a cold, terrifying radiance.

An aura erupted from it—an aura of absolute termination for divine beings, a power that felt ancient, hungry, and every bit as formidable as the Blade of Eternity's promise of endless decay.

BOOM!