# 1670
Chapter 1670
【Key to the Gate】 Strikes
The severed finger of 【Chaos】 streaked across the sky, covering hundreds of miles in mere seconds.
Chang'an City had already vanished from the edge of the earth. Seeing that neither Lin Qiye nor Ame-no-Murakumo had given chase, the severed finger's voice slowly drifted out:
"Another Asylum of the Gods, and he possesses a causality-type Forbidden Ruins... What kind of person is this kid?"
"If we don't deal with him promptly, he might actually pose a threat to us..."
"However, I've already outsmarted him twice in a row—he won't be so easy to fool again..."
As the severed finger mused, the wind howled around it. Suddenly, the landscape below transformed, and that collapsed city wall reappeared!
"What's going on? Back again??" Its confused voice rang out.
Within the swirling dust, a young man stood in the heart of the ruins, Ame-no-Murakumo in hand, looking up at it with eyes calm as an abyss.
"How did you do that? There wasn't a single temporal fluctuation along the way." Seeing Lin Qiye again, the severed finger had already guessed it must have fallen into some ability of his. Since escape was essentially impossible, it asked in a low voice.
"Two people destined to meet will always find each other, no matter how far apart... Isn't that right?" Lin Qiye replied calmly.
If this severed finger could perceive causality, it would see that its strands of fate had become tightly entangled with Lin Qiye's through 【Established Fruit】. Their causal connection was a thousand times stronger than "destined love."
With such a tight bond, no matter which direction it fled or how hard it tried to escape, it would ultimately return to Lin Qiye's side.
Lin Qiye flicked his sword arm, and a blade of sword light pierced through the severed finger's fingertip, pinning it directly against a thick city wall. Drops of blood seeped from the finger, emitting a nauseating stench.
He stepped forward, slowly walking toward the severed finger pinned by Ame-no-Murakumo.
"Lin Qiye, do you think killing me will end all of this?" The severed finger's voice rang out again. 【Chaos】 seemed to have no fear at all. "Even if you kill me, the main body only loses a finger... This changes nothing.
You still exist in this era, and 【Key to the Gate】 will never let you go. Once I fail, He will personally strike across time and space...
Do you really think you can survive His hands?"
Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed slightly. He stared at the severed finger without speaking.
He knew 【Chaos】 was right. Since 【Key to the Gate】 possessed omniscience and omnipotence, everything Lin Qiye was doing now was under its observation... With 【Causeless Cause】 and 【Established Fruit】, he would only draw even greater attention from 【Key to the Gate】, provoking more powerful methods to eliminate him!
BOOM——!!!
Just as the severed finger finished speaking, a thunderous roar echoed from the sky, causing even the earth of Chang'an to tremble violently.
Lin Qiye looked up to see that above the split clouds, a temporal vortex was gradually forming. Dense black lightning danced within the vortex, and a vast, terrifying aura began emanating from it!
Lin Qiye was no stranger to this aura. Not long ago, when he fought against An Qingyu, he had sensed this presence from the crack in the Gate of Truth... It belonged to truth, to 【Key to the Gate】.
And that temporal vortex hung directly above his head!
"Hahaha..." Seeing this, the severed finger couldn't help but laugh. "See? I told you, didn't I? He has made His move!"
Lin Qiye frowned as he gazed at the black lightning erupting from the temporal vortex, his expression grave.
He had just escaped death and reclaimed his own Forbidden Ruins. If he were now killed by 【Key to the Gate】 across the river of time, everything would be meaningless... He absolutely could not die here!
Lin Qiye's mind raced. He glanced at Chang'an City behind the wall, transformed into a streak of light, and dove back toward the wilderness far from the city!
As his form moved, the temporal vortex churning with lightning in the sky shifted simultaneously, like a abyssal eye that had locked onto Lin Qiye. The world-destroying aura spread madly!
Lin Qiye ran through the uninhabited wilderness for a full several hundred miles before finally stopping.
By this time, the temporal vortex that had been locked onto Lin Qiye had fully formed. Surging lightning poured into the vortex's center, and as the final arc of electricity vanished, the world suddenly fell into dead silence.
This sudden stillness did not relax Lin Qiye's vigilance. The calm before a storm is always eerily quiet. Every muscle in his body was tense, as if facing a great enemy.
In the silent world, a roaring pillar of lightning descended from the temporal vortex and crashed down!
.
Calling it a pillar of lightning was generous—it was more like a domain of thunder. The pillar's radius stretched several miles. Even Chang'an, hundreds of miles away, could see that beam of light piercing through heaven and earth, instantly illuminating the entire night sky!
At the center of where this thunder domain fell, Lin Qiye's pupils constricted sharply. His figure was instantly engulfed by the domain!
The thick earth melted like ice and snow in the thunder domain. Shocking arcs of lightning spread in all directions, flattening mountains and hills alike. From a distant vantage point, one could see a blinding explosion light expanding like a sphere, rapidly enlarging at the edge of the horizon!
Seconds later, a deafening explosion that would have ruptured eardrums rang through the clouds!
BOOM——!!!
...
"What's that?!"
Within the prismatic mist, Chloe, who had been battling her own counterfeit,脸色突变. She turned toward the direction of the thunderous roar. Through the sword mark at the center of the mist, she could see a blazing thunder sphere rapidly expanding across the distant earth. A world-ending aura emanated from it, and even the electric arcs leaking outward could easily erase an entire city.
"Who's out there?" Chloe's pupils contracted slightly.
She had no idea where that thunder domain had come from, but from the aura it radiated, even ten of her combined couldn't survive that explosion... That was simply something no human could withstand!
Just as she was distracted, the counterfeit that had been fighting her suddenly changed direction, darting into the prismatic mist and vanishing in an instant.
Upon seeing this, Chloe was about to give chase, but after a moment's thought, she changed direction instead, heading straight toward the direction of the willow tree. The two figures gradually disappeared into the surging mist.
...
Chang'an City wall.
Under the battering of the thunder domain's shockwaves, dust carrying electrical charges danced through the air. Static crackled everywhere. On the devastated ruins, Huo Qubing, covered in blood, slowly opened his eyes.
He gazed at the apocalyptic blazing thunder sphere in the distance, his expression grave. Using his spear to support his body, he stumbled to his feet and began shuffling step by step toward the direction of the lightning.
"Lin Qiye..." he murmured weakly between faint coughs.