# 1857
Chapter 1857: Vishnu Strikes
"We are approaching the deepest level of the maze."
Lina gripped the hilt of the Sword in the Stone, sensing for a moment before speaking.
Lin Qiye hummed in acknowledgment, his gaze sweeping across their surroundings. The time fragments here had grown increasingly large. If before it was one step equals one moment in time, now they had to walk nearly half a street before entering another temporal layer.
Each time they passed through a time barrier, they felt as if lifetimes had passed between them, as though they had crossed years in a single instant.
According to Lin Qiye's calculations, the remnants of the Gate of Truth were not far from them now.
As they pressed forward, the scenery began to change. Gone was the endless ice field, replaced instead by an ancient ruin standing among mountain peaks.
The mountains were capped with ice and snow, their peaks like blades piercing the clouds. They encircled the area, whose central depression remained snow-free, covered instead by massive rock fragments scattered across the ground—each one larger than the demonic wolf Fenrir.
"We are now over a hundred years away from the time we entered." Lina surveyed their surroundings. "Everything we see here is from a century ago."
"A century ago, when the Gate of Truth was just destroyed..."
Lin Qiye gazed into the distance, but layers of chaotic light barriers obscured his vision.
These barriers differed from those they'd encountered when first entering the maze. Back then, countless time fragments were stacked together, each thin and small, creating a kaleidoscope effect. But here, the time fragments were blocky, separated by years between each layer, large and thick—appearing from afar like frosted glass.
Lin Qiye stepped through a time barrier, a wave of dizziness washing over him, similar to when he had traveled back to the Han Dynasty with Wu Quan, though the sensation was far milder this time.
Lin Qiye shook his head, his consciousness quickly clearing. Among the distant boulders, the vague outline of a portal had begun to materialize.
"It's the Gate of Truth." Lin Qiye's eyes lit up. "We've reached the deepest part of this maze."
As Lin Qiye stepped forward, the ground beneath him suddenly trembled. Several figures emerged from beyond the temporal barrier, and a terrifying aura instantly enveloped the land!
The leader was a man in a kasaya robe, his face caught between laughter and tears—two expressions stitched together on a single visage, eerie and unsettling. Behind him respectfully walked Number 22, and after that, a somewhat familiar Chief God.
"Vishnu?" At the sight of the robed figure, Lin Qiye's heart sank.
Though he had suspected before that Vishnu might not be dead, with so many years of no sign of him, Lin Qiye had assumed he was probably hiding in some forgotten corner... Yet here he was, inside the Temporal Maze.
With the Heavenly Court departed and the gods withering, save for Zhou Ping—an outsider of human origin—and the external deity that had invaded, the Black Goat, Vishnu had transformed into the only orthodox Supreme God actively operating in the world.
The man truly knew how to survive... Lin Qiye thought to himself.
Number 22 stepped out from behind Vishnu, pointing at Lin Qiye with reverent words:
"Father, it's him. He's Lin Qiye!"
"I can recognize the aura of a Seraph." Vishnu's gaze swept over Lin Qiye and Lina, his eyes narrowing slightly. "A Seraph, and the ancient King Arthur... How long it has been."
Father?
Lin Qiye stood frozen.
When he had seen Number 22 emerge alongside Vishnu, he had already guessed the two might be working together, but what was this "Father" business?
Grrr—!
The demonic wolf Fenrir sensed the dangerous aura radiating from Vishnu, letting out a fierce growl as every muscle in its body tensed, its crimson eyes filled with hostility.
Vishnu's gaze locked onto the three of them as his palm slowly rose...
"Run!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Lin Qiye shouted to Lina and charged backward!
Lina was after all the number one among the Ten Prefects, and her reaction speed was no slower than Lin Qiye's. Two afterimages shot toward the time barrier behind them, with the demonic wolf Fenrir close on their heels.
Even with the Seraph Lin Qiye's combat prowess, he was merely a Chief God, separated from the Supreme God realm by an insurmountable chasm.
Just as they turned to flee, a massive golden Buddhist palm materialized overhead, its terrifying divine might gathering in its palm and nearly blotting out the entire sky. It came crashing down, and the boulders scattered across the ground were instantly reduced to powder!
Through the swirling dust, two figures materialized from the void. Lin Qiye gripped the White Slash, six pristine white wings unfurling behind his back.
With a flap of his wings, Lin Qiye grabbed Lina's wrist and vanished through the time barrier in a streak of lightning.
"Father..."
Number 22 started to speak, but Vishnu's voice cut him off.
"Don't worry. They can't escape."
With those words, Vishnu's form pierced through the void and gave chase toward where Lin Qiye and Lina had fled.
Passing through the time barrier, a intense vertigo engulfed Lin Qiye's mind. He forced himself to regain clarity, but at that moment, a cold, sinister presence had already wrapped around his body!
Above the rapidly moving Lin Qiye and Lina, Vishnu's form simultaneously materialized. It was as though he had been split in two, instantly dividing into two entities!
The weeping-face Vishnu formed a seal with one hand and pressed downward through the air. The surrounding space collapsed instantly, slamming the flying Lin Qiye and Lina down into the midst of the boulders. They crashed into the ground, carving a weeping face into the earth, embedding themselves deep underground.
From the cracks in the ground, a golden figure slowly rose. Lin Qiye clutched the Ame-no-Murakumo as his Mortal Divine Realm expanded to its absolute limit.
Surviving under a Supreme God would not be so easy... the opportunity would have to be seized for themselves.
The smiling-face Vishnu descended slowly onto the nearby ground, his hand seals flickering as his body rose skyward. A terrifying golden giant blocked half of their escape route, standing hundreds of meters tall.
This size was not Vishnu's limit, but rather the limit of this particular time fragment. If he grew any larger, his head would enter another temporal layer and be forcibly separated from his body.
As the smiling-face Vishnu raised his hand, a sky-reaching vajra pestle was grasped in his palm. It came whistling down toward Lin Qiye's face!
Golden flames ignited in the depths of Lin Qiye's eyes. His divine power surged to its absolute limit as he spread his wings and rose, brandishing his sword to meet the incoming strike!
Clang—!!
Golden blade light clashed against the edge of the vajra pestle. The two divine powers created a devastating windstorm that ravaged the surface below. Just as Lin Qiye's sword began to be forced downward, a graceful figure shot skyward!