This Is Destiny's Choice

The reason Meteor Fire Rain could be called a forbidden art was that the spell lasted an incredibly long time—long enough to exterminate every living thing within its range. It could even blast the ground three feet deep.

Under normal circumstances, no caster's mental power, regardless of their race, could sustain such a massive expenditure of magic.

But Meteor Fire Rain was an exception, because it was not creation, but summoning.

That enormous sun at the edge of the sky truly existed!

This terrifying giant sun, known as Wrath of Abomination, was originally Chaos's subordinate god and the envoy of disorder. After Order imprisoned it in a certain era, it became the ultimate power bestowed upon the Elemental Judge beneath its throne.

All one needed to do was open the prison door containing Wrath of Abomination for an instant and aim at a certain area. The fury suppressed for countless ages would then pour down.

Only after it awakened from Chaos and realized that its outburst was merely benefiting the followers of Order would it sullenly stop, tighten the prison door, and begin brewing the next cycle of rage.

Wrath of Abomination, subordinate god of Chaos, envoy of disorder, prisoner of Order.

After saying all that, he merely wanted to prove one thing: Meteor Fire Rain was impossible for mortals to counter.

Cheng Shi and the others had been charging toward one o'clock for only a few minutes when the howling meteors began exploding around them one after another.

They did not even need to hit them. The splashing lava and flames had already made it impossible for them to take another step.

"No, this route won't work! Mage!"

"Time, rewind!"

The scene was so similar. Time turned back once again.

"One! Run!"

Cao Sansui had only just been flung ashore from the River of Time when he felt Chen Chong grab him and sprint madly toward one o'clock.

"No, Chen Chong! Five o'clock!"

Chen Chong halted without hesitation, swung both arms around, and sent the two people in his hands spinning like windmills. Borrowing their momentum, he swiftly turned and ran diagonally backward!

"What's going on?"

Cao Sansui's expression grew solemn. "We failed twice."

Xia Wan followed closely behind, while Cheng Shi frowned inwardly.

He reached out and once again turned the Dice in his arms to another face.

Three o'clock.

"This way won't work! The smoke is too thick; we can't see the road! Assassin, speak up and guide us!"

"Assassin? Song Yawen? Damn, he's dead. Mage, rewind!"

"Time... rewind..."

"Seven o'clock! Chen Chong, reverse!"

The Dice flipped over. Four o'clock.

"Xia Wan, watch out!"

"Time... rewind!"

"Nine o'clock, quickly!"

The Dice flipped over. Five o'clock.

"..."

Time Walker could become T0 because its infinite opportunities for trial and error on the Time Battlefield were one of the key reasons.

But the divine power of time could not be enjoyed for free forever. When "time" was unable to continue flowing on the battlefield for too long, it, as the master of time, would lose its temper as well.

A god's sneeze was a mortal's storm.

By the sixth rewind, even Cao Sansui, a believer of time, was beginning to lose the clarity of his memories.

"Time, rewind!!"

"One! Run!"

Cao Sansui was jolted all over as he sprinted with Chen Chong. He suddenly opened his eyes, muttered in a daze for a moment, then murmured, "We've started over..."

Chen Chong froze and hurriedly asked, "Then what do we do now? Which way do we go?"

Cao Sansui looked desperate. "I remember many fragments. I remember the moment each person died, but I've forgotten the number of times... I've forgotten where we're supposed to go."

Chen Chong's heart jolted. This could only mean one thing: they had already failed countless times.

For Time Walker to become lost within time was no different from announcing their failure and death.

But Chen Chong was not someone willing to admit defeat. With a roar, he turned and charged toward three o'clock with everyone.

"Pull yourself together! Identify the route and compare it with the memories in your head. Maybe we can find a way out!"

Nangong was just as anxious. Seeing Cao Sansui's eyes remain unfocused, she gritted her teeth, drew the Eraser, and viciously stabbed herself in the stomach.

Immediately afterward, a dense Ray of Healing poured over Cao Sansui's head, instantly clearing his muddled mind.

Looking at the hope in Nangong's eyes, he nodded fiercely.

"Good! I'll remember!"

But at that moment, Cheng Shi suddenly shouted, "Wrong! This is the sixth time! Eleven o'clock, hurry! Chen Chong, turn!"

Chen Chong was moving fast, far ahead of Xia Wan. He turned around in astonishment, but before he could ask anything, he saw Xia Wan obediently change direction and charge toward eleven o'clock.

Cao Sansui was equally dumbfounded. He could not understand how Cheng Shi had known this was the sixth time.

How could a believer of Birth remain clear-headed within the Time Maze?

He could not.

Cheng Shi was ultimately only a player. The one unaffected by the Time Maze was not him, but the Dice in his hand.

Seeing that Cao Sansui had gone stupid, Chen Chong lowered his expression and shouted, "Damn it, we'll listen to you!"

He did not hesitate. Or rather, he had no reason to hesitate. In Chen Chong's mind, the moment Cheng Shi took over command, he must already have had an idea for breaking through the situation.

After all, the man had 2,000 points.

There probably weren't any deadweights among people with 2,000 points.

Cheng Shi was actually not at all certain that eleven o'clock would lead them out. But he knew that they had tried every other direction, and none had worked.

He rubbed the various faces of the Dice in his arms and silently flipped it to six.

Six times. This was the sixth time.

If they continued counting from here, he would not merely be flipping it vertically anymore...

Xia Wan carried Cheng Shi and ran at full speed. Under the effects of continuous healing and Hunter Talent, her long legs moved in wide strides, crossing the sea of fire as though it were level ground.

But her heavy expression told Cheng Shi that she did not have much faith in this route.

"Cheng Shi, are you sure this is the way?"

Cheng Shi honestly shook his head.

"Not sure."

"Then you..."

Cheng Shi smiled brilliantly. "This is Destiny's choice!"

Xia Wan's eyes widened and her pupils contracted. She was just about to ask something when a flaming meteor came crashing down at them.

"Boom—"

"..."

Before closing his eyes, Cheng Shi gripped the Dice in his hand and cursed viciously.

"Damn."

"...Time... rewind!"

The group returned to the starting point once more. It was the same familiar scene, and Chen Chong charged toward one o'clock without hesitation.

Cao Sansui was still dazed, Nangong was still tense, and Song Yawen was still leading the way.

Only Cheng Shi silently stared at the six showing on the Dice.

They could not get out. They had tried all six directions, and none offered a path to survival.

A nameless irritation welled up in his heart, but his hand never stopped moving. He flicked the Dice high into the air with his thumb, then swiftly reached out and caught it as it fell behind him.

Xia Wan noticed Cheng Shi's movement behind her. As she charged forward, she asked solemnly, "What's wrong?"

Cheng Shi opened his palm and saw one facing upward on the Dice. He sighed as though resigned to his fate.

"We failed six times, but Destiny's guidance for me really is one o'clock."

Xia Wan's emotions suddenly became a mess. For a moment, she did not know whether to grieve over their six failures or rejoice over the so-called "guidance of Destiny" Cheng Shi had mentioned.

"So one o'clock is the right way?"

She seemed to have begun trusting Cheng Shi unconditionally.

Cheng Shi smacked his lips and cursed irritably, "But I always feel like Destiny is a bitch!"

Xia Wan's eyes widened. She turned back toward Cheng Shi in disbelief.

Before the descent of the gods, there was nothing wrong with saying that. But after the descent of the gods...

Let's put it this way: one of them was actually named Destiny.

"To hell with it. Trusting Destiny is worse than trusting that I'm the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang! Xia Wan, reverse course! Seven o'clock!"

Cheng Shi chose to defy Destiny's direction.

He shouted the words loudly enough that Chen Chong heard them too.

Like Xia Wan, Chen Chong had plenty of questions in his heart, but he did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately turned around and followed Xia Wan back.

They had not run for long when Cao Sansui discovered that this route resembled a section of his memory fragments.

That meant they had failed in this direction before.

If nothing went wrong, three seconds later a meteor would fall in front of Xia Wan to the right, blasting a huge hole in the ground.

Xia Wan and Cheng Shi would both lose their footing and fall inside.

Then he would rewind time again.

The Hope's Flame in Cao Sansui's heart began to die. He counted down the seconds, waiting to lose himself in the River of Time once more.

3.

2.

1.

"Time... re... huh? Huh huh huh???"

It actually...

Nothing happened.

Cao Sansui stared in astonishment as Xia Wan charged through the sea of fire and smoke and fled into the distance.

How was this possible?

The meteor that should have fallen according to his memories had not appeared. Not only that, none of the meteors in the entire seven o'clock direction had fallen.

The sky ahead suddenly cleared. Not a single meteor could be seen high above with the naked eye. Even the flames avoided this place.

This absurd scene, set within the Doomsday Scroll where flames fell like rain, was as if someone had used an Eraser to wipe along the seven o'clock position, creating an incomparably pure White Line.

Perhaps to the "painter," this White Line had been nothing more than a casual stroke. But to Cheng Shi and the other five people within the scroll, it was a genuine Life-Saving Passage!

The group fled at full speed in shock and fear, following the strip of clear sky as they desperately escaped. After nearly an hour of gritting their teeth and persevering, they finally escaped the range of the Meteor Fire Rain.

And the instant they escaped alive, the fire-rain scroll that had originally been "erased" filled itself in once more.

Cao Sansui glanced at the Pocket Watch in his hand. Exactly six hours had passed. At the next full hour, he ended the Time Battlefield, and a force of time flowed away from their bodies.

The process of the final rewind was faintly carved into the River of Time.

The group looked back at the path of survival they had taken. Meteors fell like rain, flames splashed like molten lava, and everything was just as before—utterly devoid of life!

"This is..."

"How is this possible?!"

"Why is there a path to survival?!"

"A miracle... This is a miracle..."

Everyone was dumbfounded. They stared at Cheng Shi with their eyes wide and their faces filled with shock and incomprehension.

"What is this, too... an item? Can this even be called an item anymore?"

"Brother Cheng, don't tell me you're actually at 2,400?"

"You..."

Xia Wan was especially affected. She alone knew how Cheng Shi had made his decision, chosen seven o'clock, and led them away from the sea of fire.

"Why?" she wondered secretly, but she never dared to ask aloud. "Was it just because Cheng Shi cursed Destiny as a bitch?"

Cheng Shi watched the flames falling from the sky, his own mind equally unable to process what had happened.

"That's twice now..."

he said silently to himself.

"Could I really have some hidden talent? And is its activation phrase: Destiny is a Bitch?"