Yang Mei stood silently in a corner of the crowd. Everyone else was caught up in the bustle of Chaos Academy.
Everyone but him.
He watched Shichen slip away without greeting anyone, heading back to the Time Temple alone.
Yang Mei tipped back his flask and drained it in one gulp. Without a word, he folded space over itself countless times and stepped inside.
The Space Willow took root in the void, its branches swaying gently. Yang Mei sat cross-legged beneath it as the Spatial Great Dao Origin Core within him quietly began to turn.
He simply watched the Time Temple.
The old laziness had vanished from his face, and he no longer reached for his wine.
His gaze was calm, but beneath it lay the resolve of someone who had already made his choice.
Inside the Time Temple, Shichen sat cross-legged at the center of the hall, the Eleven-Colored Dao Wheel slowly turning behind him.
He looked up toward the space above the temple and shook his head helplessly.
"You're still such a fool."
"Are you really going to come with me?"
He pushed the thought aside and formed a rapid series of hand seals. Eleven laws of the Great Dao surged from his body and became a thick Barrier that enveloped the entire Time Temple.
He closed his eyes. The Origin of the Great Dao within him began to boil.
Then,
he pressed a finger to his chest again and again.
Shichen's face grew paler with every touch.
At last,
nine hundred and ninety-nine million, one hundred and ninety thousand restrictions had formed upon the Origin Heart of the Dao of Time.
Shichen murmured to himself, determination flashing in his eyes.
"If all these restrictions erupt at once... they should be enough to inflict a serious wound."
He