# 2022
Chapter 2022
The God of Time and the God of Time
Boom——!!
A meteor streaked across space and crashed into the center of an uninhabited landmass. The earth shattered beneath the immense impact force, and endless dust rose into the sky!
Within the swirling dust, Lin Qiye's hand死死 gripped that head, pressing it against the shattered earth.
"You cannot defeat me." Lin Qiye's pupils radiated golden and black divine might like twin scorching suns. "If 【Chaos】 were here, the outcome might have been uncertain... but you, are still lacking."
The 【Key to the Gate】 pinprick-like eyes gazed at the invincible Lin Qiye. After a moment, a cold sneer appeared at the corner of its mouth...
"You're right, in a frontal assault, I am no match for you... but what I can do extends far beyond that."
"However strong you are, Lin Qiye, you can only match me in this moment of spacetime. You've concealed all your own karma—I cannot trace back through time to kill you... but what about Great Xia?"
Hearing these words, Lin Qiye's eyes slightly contracted, and a chilling killing intent radiated outward:
"What did you say?!"
"I can't do anything to you, Lin Qiye, but I can directly trace back through time to when the Mist descended over a hundred years ago. What if I changed history? What if instead of dispersing the Mist across Earth, I concentrated it in Great Xia alone... do you think the Gods of Great Xia could withstand that?"
"You're courting death?!"
Lin Qiye materialized Ame-no-Murakumo from the void. The brilliant golden sword light blazed like a burning sun, hovering above the 【Key to the Gate】. The scorching heat melted the sky and earth around it!
"I told you, you cannot kill me!" The 【Key to the Gate】 sneered. "Even if you destroy this body, only An Qingyu will die... my soul exists in no spacetime at all—it rests upon the Gate of Truth! As long as truth does not perish, I am eternal!
Otherwise, do you think the ancestral gods and Yaldabaoth failed to kill me back then? They could only trap me in eternal slumber! Even if you kill me here, in a few hundred years, I will return!
But before that... I will return to a hundred years ago and destroy Great Xia first, then let 【Chaos】 and 【Black Goat】 in subsequent timelines annihilate the other divine nations.
When everything on Earth is destroyed and only you, Lin Qiye, remain alone... was this chess game truly won or lost?"
Lin Qiye's killing intent solidified into something almost tangible. He stared死死 at the 【Key to the Gate】's eyes, wishing to kill it on the spot... but he couldn't.
If the 【Key to the Gate】 was telling the truth, it was truly an immortal existence. No matter how invincible Lin Qiye was in this era, he couldn't traverse spacetime. He couldn't chase the 【Key to the Gate】 back through time to a hundred years ago to prevent that disaster aimed at Great Xia!
Seeing Lin Qiye's furious gaze, the 【Key to the Gate】's smile grew more radiant. It lay in the center of the scarred earth and slowly spoke:
"Lin Qiye... I'll see you again in a few hundred years."
The words fell, and a phantom of the river of time materialized above the two of them, directly washing the 【Key to the Gate】's soul into its current!
Lin Qiye swung his sword, attempting to obstruct its departure, but when his attack touched the river of time, it simply passed through lightly, unable to touch even a fragment of time...
The 【Key to the Gate】 stood upon the river of time, glanced down at Lin Qiye below, then turned and walked toward the upstream of the river.
"Dammit..."
Lin Qiye gripped the hilt of Ame-no-Murakumo tightly. The flames of rage burned furiously in his heart... He knew he absolutely couldn't let the 【Key to the Gate】 trace back to the past, but he had no way to stop it. Time itself was a subject he understood nothing about.
At that moment, a hoarse voice rang in his ear:
"Don't worry... He can't return."
Lin Qiye's body shuddered violently. He turned to look, and saw that the black-robed corpse lying on the shattered earth had, at some point, opened its eyes again. A pair of gray eyes gazed calmly toward the direction of the river of time.
"An Qingyu?!" Lin Qiye's heart skipped.
Just as he was about to help him up, a flash of light suddenly blazed within the surging river of time!
The 【Key to the Gate】 that had been sailing upstream along the river of time let out a soft exclamation and stopped in place.
At the upstream of the surging river of time, a gray-robed figure stood on a dugout canoe, materializing into view... One hand gripped the hilt of 【Mandarin Arrow】, the other clutching a white chess piece. Silver-white hair swayed without wind.
"Wang Mian?!" Upon seeing that figure, Lin Qiye froze in place.
"Hm?" The 【Key to the Gate】 beheld the newcomer, confusion flickering in its eyes. "When did you enter the river of time? Why didn't I sense you?"
The 【Key to the Gate】 was the master of time and space. Anything related to the river of time, it could perceive the moment it occurred, just like how the future An Qingyu had instantly sensed Wang Mian's attempt to alter An Qingyu's timeline.
But this time, even the 【Key to the Gate】 hadn't sensed even a trace of a person hiding upstream in the river of time.
"...Of course you couldn't sense it, because his body is wrapped in my aura."
In the ruins of the earth, An Qingyu, covered in dust, stood up with difficulty. "Both you and I are part of the Gate of Truth. A portion of your authority is also mine... He entered the river of time carrying my aura. How could you possibly have detected him in advance?"
The 【Key to the Gate】 glanced back at An Qingyu, brow furrowing slightly... Its soul had been in constant battle ever since descending. This human's soul had yet to be fully erased.
"So what? Do you think this mere Chief God can stop me?" The 【Key to the Gate】 scoffed.
"With just me alone, indeed I cannot stop you..." Wang Mian spoke slowly. "But this place doesn't have only one person."
As Wang Mian spoke, another figure emerged from behind the dugout canoe...
It was an elderly man in black robes, hands resting on a cane, appearing as if even moving was difficult for him. But the moment he appeared, the pressure of a supreme Supreme God erupted outward. Even the churning river of time beneath their feet automatically parted to make way!
The moment they saw that figure, both the 【Key to the Gate】 and Lin Qiye stood frozen in place.
The God of Time, Kronos!!
"How is this possible? Didn't Kronos die long ago?" Lin Qiye asked in confusion.
As the most powerful time Supreme God in Olympian mythology, Kronos's power ranked among the very top in Earth's history. He was even the only one the Seraph Michael trusted completely with entrusting the entire Moon Sealing to...
But this God of Time should have died long ago under the combined assault of Zeus, Lucifer, and the 【Black Goat】. Otherwise, Wang Mian wouldn't have been able to inherit the divine law and become the God of Time.
"Dead?" An Qingyu smiled faintly.
"Then... have any of you seen his body?"