Moonlight spilled across the boundless ice field. In this snow-white world, several figures advanced cautiously.
Kubera was about to carve a number into the ice beneath his feet when, halfway through, No. 22 suddenly spoke.
"Wait."
"What is it, Holy Lord?" Kubera looked up in confusion.
No. 22 scraped out the half-written number with the King's Treasure Sword and said gravely,
"We can't use symbols that others can understand at a glance. Otherwise, after carving so many, we might end up benefiting someone else... We need to use symbols that only we can understand to mark the time."
The others suddenly understood.
"Then what symbols should we use?"
No. 22 pondered for a moment, then began drawing on the ground. "Let's agree on this. This symbol represents 1, this one represents 2, this one represents..."
The people from Divine Lust Heaven gathered around and diligently learned No. 22's self-created symbols. Once they had committed them all to memory, they could not help but clap in praise.
"As expected of the Holy Lord. He truly plans far ahead!"
"Exactly! Now we can understand his symbols, but he can't understand ours! And there are more of us—we have every advantage!"
Great Xia's Commander Lin was nothing special after all.
"..."
Amid their flattery, No. 22 forcefully carved a self-created symbol for "0" into the ice with his sword, then said calmly,
"Let's go."
The group took a step. When they arrived at another point in time and looked back, the symbol they had just carved had already vanished.
"I know! It's because the time we're in now is earlier than before." Kubera clapped his hands and eagerly answered first.
"Do you really need to point out something so simple?" another Chief God said, rolling his eyes at him.
No. 22 carved a