Beneath the deep starry sky, Lin Qiye slowly carved "-97" into the ground.
Looking back, he saw that the surrounding ice was almost covered in all sorts of numbers. These numbers crisscrossed one another, each leading to a different point in time.
The "incurable" property of Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi made every mark it carved nearly eternal. These numbers were the "anchors" Lin Qiye had left behind in the maze. With these "anchors," he would never lose his way.
And if nothing unexpected happened, No. 22 and the others had already become completely lost within the Time Maze...
"I was counting on them to be a little more useful... What a pity." Lin Qiye sighed.
Lin Qiye glanced at the numerical markings around him and chose a direction to continue forward.
With the groundwork laid by these thousands of numerical marks, Lin Qiye had already vaguely grasped the rules of this maze. The order of time here was not entirely chaotic. All paths leading into the "past" were actually converging in the same direction.
For example, there were currently three numerical markings around Lin Qiye: "-97," "-41," and "-50.5," each leading in a different direction. According to the fixed rule Lin Qiye had discovered, the larger the number after the "-," the farther back in time it led. The more ancient the direction he chose, the more precisely the subsequent points in time would point toward the "past."
Lin Qiye chose the direction marked "-97." As expected, he arrived at the oldest point in time so far. When he looked back, all the numerical markings had vanished.
He carved "-98" into the ice beneath his feet.
Then came "-99," "-100," "-101"... In other words, Lin Qiye had found the path through the Time Maze that led into the "past."
At the very beginning,