This is Destiny's Choice

Meteor Fire Rain is called a forbidden art because the spell lasts an extremely long time—long enough to annihilate every living thing within its range, and even blast the ground three feet deep.

Under normal circumstances, the mental strength of any caster, regardless of race, could hardly sustain such a massive spell's consumption.

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

That colossal sun on the horizon is real!

This terrifying giant sun, named [Wrath of Abomination], was originally a subordinate god of [Chaos] and an envoy of [Disorder]. After being imprisoned by [Order] in some era, it became the supreme power bestowed upon His Elemental Judges.

One only needs to crack open the prison door holding [Wrath of Abomination] for an instant and aim at a certain area, and the fury suppressed for countless ages will pour down.

Until He awakens from the chaos and realizes that His venting only benefits the followers of [Order], then He will grudgingly withdraw, pull the prison door shut, and begin brewing the next cycle of wrath.

Wrath of Abomination, subordinate god of [Chaos], envoy of [Disorder], prisoner of [Order].

All this is just to prove one thing: Meteor Fire Rain cannot be solved by mortals.

Cheng Shi and the others had been charging toward the 3 o'clock direction for only a few minutes before the howling meteors exploded around them one after another.

They didn't even need to be hit directly—the splashing magma and flowing fire already made every step impossible.

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

"Time, rewind!"

The scene was so similar. Time reversed once again.

"One! Run!"

Cao Sansui had just been flung ashore from the river of time when he felt Chen Chong dragging him in a mad dash toward the 1 o'clock direction.

"No, Chen Chong, 5 o'clock direction!"

Chen Chong's steps faltered. Without hesitation, he swung his arms in a full rotation, spinning the two people in his grip like a windmill, and quickly used the momentum to veer back diagonally.

"What's going on?"

Cao Sansui's face was grim: "We've failed twice."

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

He reached out and turned the dice in his pocket to another face.

3.

"This way's no good! The smoke's too thick, can't see the path! Assassin, give directions!"

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

"Time... rewind..."

"7 o'clock direction, Chen Chong, reverse!"

The dice flipped. 4.

"Xia Wan, watch out!"

"Time... rewind!"

"9 o'clock direction, hurry!"

The dice flipped. 5.

"..."

The reason Time Walker can be T0 is that the infinite chance to retry on the [Time Battlefield] is one of its key advantages.

But the divine power of [Time] cannot be enjoyed for free forever. When "time" fails to flow on the battlefield for too long, He, as the master of time, will also lose His temper.

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

By the sixth time rewind, even Cao Sansui, a believer of [Time], began to have his memories blur.

"Time, rewind!!"

"One! Run!"

Cao Sansui jolted with every stride Chen Chong took. He snapped his eyes open, his mind foggy for a moment, then muttered to himself:

"We've restarted..."

Chen Chong's movement faltered, and he asked urgently: "Then what now? Which way?"

Cao Sansui's face was full of despair: "I remember many fragments—the moment of everyone's death—but I've forgotten the number of times... forgotten where we should go."

Chen Chong's heart sank. This could only mean one thing: they had failed many times.

A Time Walker lost in time was no different from a declaration of their failure and death.

But Chen Chong was not one to admit defeat. He roared and led the group charging toward the 3 o'clock direction.

"Pull yourself together! Identify the path! Cross-reference it with the memories in your head—maybe we can find a way out!"

Nangong was equally frantic. Seeing Cao Sansui's eyes still dazed, she gritted her teeth, pulled out her barbed spike, and stabbed herself hard in the stomach.

Then a thick ray of healing light poured down onto Cao Sansui's head, snapping his chaotic mind back to clarity.

He looked at Nangong's hopeful eyes and nodded firmly:

"Alright, I'll try to remember!"

But just then, Cheng Shi suddenly shouted:

"Wrong, this is the sixth time. Eleven o'clock, quick, Chen Chong, turn!"

Chen Chong was fast, his figure far ahead of Xia Wan's. He turned in bewilderment, not even having time to ask a question before he saw Xia Wan obediently change direction and charge toward eleven o'clock.

Cao Sansui was also stunned, his eyes wide. He couldn't figure out how Cheng Shi knew this was the sixth time.

How could a follower of [Birth] stay clear-headed inside the Time Maze?

There was no way.

Cheng Shi was just a player after all. The one unaffected by the Time Maze wasn't him—it was the die in his hand.

Chen Chong looked down and saw Cao Sansui frozen stupid. His face darkened as he answered:

"Fuck it, I'm listening to you!"

He didn't hesitate, or rather, he had no reason to. In Chen Chong's mind, the moment Cheng Shi took over command, he must have figured out a way to break the deadlock.

After all, the guy had 2000 points.

There probably weren't any slackers in that 2000.

Cheng Shi wasn't actually sure that eleven o'clock was the way out, but he knew they'd tried every other direction, and none of them worked.

He rubbed the faces of the die in his arms, silently flipping it to the six.

Six times. This was the sixth.

From now on, counting wouldn't just mean flipping vertically anymore...

Xia Wan ran fast with Cheng Shi on her back. Under the effects of sustained healing and the Hunter Talent, her long legs ate up the ground, leaping over seas of fire as if on flat land.

But the heaviness on her face told Cheng Shi she didn't have faith in this path.

"Cheng Shi, are you sure about this direction?"

Cheng Shi shook his head honestly:

"Not sure."

"Then why..."

Cheng Shi grinned brightly: "This is the choice of destiny!"

Xia Wan's eyes widened, her pupils contracting. She was about to ask something when a meteor blazing with fire came crashing down right on top of them.

"Boom—"

"..."

Just before he closed his eyes, Cheng Shi clutched the die in his hand and cursed bitterly:

"Fuck."

"...Time... rewind!"

Everyone returned to the starting point. Same familiar scene. Chen Chong charged without hesitation toward one o'clock.

Cao Sansui was still dazed, Nangong still tense, Song Yawen still taking the lead.

Only Cheng Shi stared at the six on the die in silence.

There was no way out. They'd tried all six directions. No escape.

A nameless irritation stirred in his heart, but his hands didn't stop. He flicked his thumb, tossing the die high into the air, then quickly reached out and caught it as it fell.

Xia Wan noticed Cheng Shi moving behind her. As she sprinted forward, she asked gravely:

"What's wrong?"

Cheng Shi opened his palm and saw the die showing one face up. He let out a resigned sigh.

"We've failed six times, but what destiny guided me to was indeed one o'clock."

Xia Wan's emotions suddenly churned. For a moment, she didn't know whether to grieve over six failures or be glad about what Cheng Shi called "destiny's guidance."

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

She seemed to be starting to trust Cheng Shi unconditionally.

Cheng Shi clicked his tongue and grumbled:

"But I still feel like destiny is a bitch!"

Xia Wan's eyes flew wide open. She turned her head in disbelief to glance at Cheng Shi.

That phrase, before the Gods descended, would have been fine. But after the Gods descended...

Well, let's just say there was one He whose divine name was [Destiny].

"Fuck that. Trusting destiny is like trusting I'm the First Emperor. Xia Wan, reverse course, seven o'clock!"

Cheng Shi chose the direction that defied destiny.

This shout was loud enough for Chen Chong to hear as well.

Like Xia Wan, Chen Chong had many questions in his mind, but he didn't hesitate for a moment. He turned around and followed Xia Wan, sprinting back the way they came.

After running for a short while, Cao Sansui realized that this path closely resembled a segment from his memory fragments.

This meant they had failed in this direction before.

If nothing unexpected happened, in three seconds, a meteor would land to Xia Wan's right front, blasting a huge hole in the ground.

Both Xia Wan and Cheng Shi would fall into it.

Then, he would rewind time once more.

The flame of hope in Cao Sansui's heart flickered and dimmed. He counted down the seconds, waiting to be lost again in the River of Time.

3.

2.

1.

"Time... rewind... Huh? Huh huh huh???"

It actually...

Nothing happened.

Cao Sansui stared in utter shock as Xia Wan charged ahead through the Sea of Fire and Smoke, fleeing into the distance.

How was this possible?

The meteor that should have fallen in his memory never appeared. Not only that, but none of the meteors in the entire 7 o'clock direction had fallen at all.

The sky ahead suddenly cleared. As far as the eye could see, not a single meteor remained in the heights, and even the flames had avoided this area.

This absurd scene, set against the Doomsday Scroll of fire raining down like a storm, looked as if someone had used an Eraser to wipe a pure White Line along the 7 o'clock position.

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

The group sprinted wildly amidst shock and terror, fleeing along the line of clear sky. After nearly an hour of gritting their teeth and pushing forward, they finally escaped the strike range of the Meteor Fire Rain.

And the moment they escaped with their lives, the fire rain scroll that had been "erased" filled itself back in.

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

The final cycle of rewind was vaguely etched into the River of Time.

Everyone looked back at the path of life they had taken. Meteors fell like rain, flames burst like molten lava, just as before—utterly devoid of any hope!

"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 wide eyes, their faces filled with shock and incomprehension.

"What kind of... item is this? Can this even still be called an item?"

"Brother Cheng, don't tell me you're actually level 2400?"

"You..."

Especially Xia Wan. She alone knew how Cheng Shi had made the decision to choose the 7 o'clock direction and lead them out of the sea of fire.

"Why?" she wondered silently, but never dared to ask aloud. "Just because Cheng Shi called [Destiny] a bitch?"

Cheng Shi stared at the falling meteors on the horizon, his own mind struggling to wrap around what had happened.

"Second time..."

He said silently to himself.

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