The Eternal Night Time Falcon's First Soul Skill

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Qingfeng's voice had taken on a hollow note.

"Give up. Just sink into time like this, and you can experience your once-cherished memories countless times over. Wouldn't that be nice?"

The ethereal voice had grown gentler.

"You're just an ordinary girl from the countryside. In the future, you could never be the one standing by his side. Wouldn't it be nice to hide away in your happiest memories like this?"

Qingfeng's eyes opened slightly, silver light flowing through them.

"Did you forget something?"

"?"

"From beginning to end, I've always believed in my brother. Always, always."

Rumble!

The surrounding darkness scattered in an instant. She looked at the tall silver figure before her, her eyes showing not the slightest wavering.

"You're me, so you understand too. My dream is very simple: to be by my brother's side and make him a bowl of noodles in clear broth. That's enough.

"Dreams really are beautiful, but they aren't real.

"Maybe I'll become you in the future, but right now, I'm not you.

"Thank you for choosing this Soul Ring and letting me get a little closer to him. But now I'm going to find him and make him a bowl of noodles, with his favorite fried egg on top. If I'm late, he'll go hungry."

Xu Qingfeng slowly walked past the silver figure.

"Aren't you afraid he won't eat your noodles anymore?"

Xu Qingfeng paused.

"So?"

A puzzled look appeared in her eyes.

"When you like someone, why must you expect something from them in return? Besides, if you've lost confidence in yourself, you've already lost. Just as I said, I believe in him. That's all."

Silver light scattered in every direction, and Xu Qingfeng stepped into it without hesitation.

"Thank you. I'm very satisfied with this Soul Ring."

The light faded. The silver figure was silent for a long while before finally bursting into laughter.

"That's right. From beginning to end, I've always believed in him. When did I start getting a little scared too? Do your best, past me. Use everything you have to get a little closer to him."

The silver figure slowly dispersed.

"Brother, I'm back."

"Brother, I'm back."

Wei Lin looked at the smiling girl before him and gently patted her little head.

"Welcome back."

Qingfeng withdrew her Soul Ring and buried herself in Wei Lin's embrace.

She had escaped death by a hair this time, so it was fine to act a little spoiled, right?

*Ehehe~ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ*

This girl.

Wei Lin held her gently in his arms, and soon she fell asleep.

"Thanks for your hard work."

He glanced at the clock before him.

Six days had passed.

It was time to go back.

"Sister Xuanyin, are you coming with us?"

A flicker of interest flashed through Xuanyin's eyes.

"No. I still need to sort out the division of territory among the clans. Now that an Eternal Night Time Falcon is suddenly gone, others will surely have their eyes on the territory that belonged to him. Once I've dealt with it, I'll visit Tianshu."

Wei Lin nodded.

"Take care."

"Be careful on the road."

Xuanyin left the aircraft and watched them depart the region of disordered time.

"Sigh, now that we're parting, who knows when we'll meet again? I'd better finish up as soon as possible. Hopefully, I can make it to the Continental Soul Master Tournament. Watching Little Scumbag get utterly crushed will definitely be fun."

Xuanyin paused mid-step. Or... should I go have some fun in other spacetime? See if I can coax some interesting things back with me?

If nothing else, I could go thrash Little Scumbag a few times after he's become a god.

I'm over five hundred thousand years old now, but that might not be the case in the future~

You never know how many versions of the one who plays with time, from how many timelines, are watching their past self.

Only after leaving the Temporal Ice Crevice did the Snow Empress and her companion breathe a sigh of relief.

In all the years they had lived, it was the first time either of them had been so ill at ease.

But... Far North, you feel unfamiliar to me.

"Is this little one all right?"

"She's fine, just tired."

Wei Lin hadn't expected the Eternal Night Time Falcon's Soul Ring to be so overbearing, but the gains had been tremendous as well.

Xu Qingfeng

Age: 6(?)

Martial Soul: Past Shadow

Soul Ring: purple

Soul Spirit: Eternal Night Time Falcon (thousand-year)

Soul Skills:

First Soul Skill:

Time Fluctuation: plucks the user's own timeline or another target's timeline, anchoring it to the present moment, up to three seconds forward or backward. The user may choose to retain their own or another's "remembrance" of that time.

The Soul Skill's name was simple, and so was its description: it simply plucked time, three seconds into the future or three seconds into the past.

At first glance, that was a short time. What could three seconds do? But... the sentence at the end was a little overpowered.

Retaining remembrance, in a person's case, meant retaining memories. It gave the other side's team an extra layer of insurance.

The last one this overpowered was a certain little green fatty from the seven parallel universes.

And he ended up getting put in the salad position soon enough.

"If none of you mind, you can rest at my place for a while."

"Sorry for the trouble, Sister Snow."

"Young Master, you're too kind. Then I won't stand on ceremony and will call you Little Brother Lin."

There was a little more admiration in the Snow Empress's eyes as she looked at Wei Lin.

He was strong, had a powerful background, yet wasn't arrogant and treated others courteously.

A person like that really was perfect.

Watching from the side as the two seemed on the verge of taking a liking to each other, the Ice Empress suddenly felt a heavy weight atop her head.

Although she was green to begin with, she didn't want any more green.

Our tsundere little loli was struck hard. She was clearly the Far North's second-in-command, yet now anyone could steal her "wife," and there was nothing she could do about it.

This hurts~~~

Soon, the group arrived at the Ice God Hall.

This was where the Snow Empress lived. It was said to have once been the home of the Far North's god, the Ice God.

The group made a few simple preparations, chose a relatively flat spot, and brought out their portable travel house.

As for why they didn't stay in the Snow Empress's home-

Wei Lin's response was: did you expect an ice-type Soul Beast to have anything warm in her room?

It was all ice inside. Even the bed was made of ice.

He, Wei Lin, wasn't some masochist. Why live in an ice cave when he had a warm house?

After putting Qingfeng in her room, Wei Lin prepared to start cooking.

Inside the spacetime rift, they either couldn't feel hungry at all or were hungry all the time.

Downstairs, Huang Tianyi and the other six sat at the dining table, gazing eagerly at Wei Lin in the kitchen.

"Little Sister Snow, you're in for a treat. The young master's cooking is really delicious."

"Really?"

The Snow Empress was an ice and snow spirit of nature and didn't have much need for food. Seeing Huang Tianyi's nearly drooling expression, however, she began to look forward to it too.

"Chicken soup's here~"

Wei Lin brought out his signature dishes, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Sweet Flower Chicken, and so on.

Aside from his specialty Sweet Flower Chicken, the others were all golden dishes.

"Have a taste."

The Snow Empress took an elegant bite, and her eyes lit up slightly. By the time she reached out with her chopsticks again, everyone at the table had already begun fighting over the food.

The Ice Empress in particular had an entire chicken hanging from her tail.

"Hey! Save some for me!"

(A certain girl who was still sleeping: I feel like I've missed something. What was it?

Her future self: Still sleeping?! Sleep yourself to death, then! That was a rare feast! You chirp chirp chirp chirp...)