Even though night had draped its cloak over the outer world, the "Hall of Seven Heavens" knew neither night nor day. Inside, the ceiling teemed with suspended spiritual orbs, slowly swimming in the upper space, glowing with celestial lights that shifted between violet-blue and faint gold, as if representing the rotation of the Seven Realms. Every wall in the hall spoke of a long history... inscriptions carved with unparalleled precision, mirroring a thousand years of rule, lineage, and power. It was as if every stone breathed the legacy of past generations.
In the heart of the hall, a wide, circular platform rose, smooth as if polished by the breath of time itself. Around its edges, seven stone thrones ascended, each distinct from the other in form and symbol. They seemed to belong to different worlds, yet converged in this single spot.
Today, the hall was not as quiet as it used to be. Instead, it was filled with a heavy energy; silent and chilling. Six rulers sat upon their thrones, their faces concealing what even spirits could not read, their eyes following the main entrance, awaiting one person: The Seventh. The Strongest. The man who once made everyone bow their heads, and who was never late in arriving.
Xuan Lin, the Ruler of Time, entered with slow steps. Yet, every step he took sent a subtle tremor through the hall's floor, as if the very air recoiled in deference. The silence that followed him was not ordinary; it was a suffocating hush, like the calm before a storm. Even the spiritual orbs in the ceiling seemed to pause their rotation the moment he entered. His long black robe flowed behind him like a shadow that dared not rebel, and his sharp gaze pierced every corner of the hall. In his features, majesty was clearly evident. That majesty that silenced even the greedy, and prevented words from leaving mouths.
As he crossed the middle of the hall, Zhang Yuzhou – his disciple, his adopted son – lowered his head quietly, not daring to look into his eyes.
Xuan stopped at the platform, cast a fleeting glance at the six thrones around him, then spoke in his deep, calm voice: "All this gathering... for an urgent matter?"
One of the rulers replied, in a tone he tried to conceal his tension: "There is an imbalance of power... your recent actions frighten many."
Everyone fell silent for a moment, then another. Suddenly, Xuan Lin felt something subtle, something unseen. It was as if the air had changed, as if the very earth pulsed with a sickly beat. A very delicate energy, felt only by those who had touched time with their own hands.
He slowly raised his head, his dark eyes burning with a cold gleam, like a flash of lightning on a still night. "This restraint... none of you alone crafted it." He said it in a calm voice, but it pierced through the walls of chests.
Silence reigned. Then... Zhang moved.
He took two steps forward, his hands behind his back, his voice trembling despite his attempt to control it: "I... I'm sorry, Master."
Xuan raised an eyebrow, a brief look that mingled reproach with understanding. "Even you...?" Xuan Lin said in a faint voice, closer to a sigh that broke in his chest.
Zhang Yuzhou's body trembled, and his eyes lowered further, as if the ground had suddenly become too heavy to stare at: "They said you... crossed the line. They said you want to overturn the cycle of time, and that your presence is a danger to us all..." He then continued in a hesitant voice, mixed with a tremor of sadness and regret: "I wanted to protect you, I swear... but they... convinced me that... this was the only solution."
Silence.
Xuan raised his gaze to him, staring for a long time... a look holding thousands of memories, from the first training session to the last smile. Then he smiled, a broken calm, a smile like nothing but a sunset that forgot to rise again. "My protection?" Xuan whispered in a faint voice, as if his heart couldn't find the strength to scream. "Is this... what they call it now?"
In the next moment, before anyone could speak, the air around them trembled. Ancient symbols glowed on the floor. Six seals shot forth from the surrounding rulers' positions, like invisible swords of light, circling, twisting, and converging at one point. All these seals gathered to form a "Heavenly Restraint Circle," forbidden rituals activated only when the grand laws were broken.
Then the seventh seal launched. From Zhang's hand. The hand that Xuan's own hand had once nurtured.
With the circle's completion, the heart of the hall shuddered, and Xuan suddenly collapsed to his knees. A moment... no one had ever witnessed before. For the first time... he lost his balance.
But what appeared in his eyes was not anger, but something far deeper and slower... sorrow.
He whispered, his gaze still fixed on his disciple: "I only wanted... to see you grow. You were the last one left to me... in this polluted time."
On the other side, Zhang was as if battling a hurricane within his body. Every cell in him screamed, every part of him crumbled. But he didn't move. He didn't utter a word. He didn't raise his hand to stop what had begun. The moment had been chosen beforehand... everything had been prepared. And there was no turning back.
Six seals... six energy pathways, pulsating with the same power that once shaped a continent, converged like a merciless spiritual dagger. Then they pierced Xuan Lin's heart.
He didn't scream. He didn't writhe. He didn't roar like warriors in their final moments.
He simply... closed his eyes. And whispered with lips barely moving, in a voice no one heard but time itself: "May my inner time shatter... so my will may be reborn where no one expects."
Then he fell.