# 891
Chapter 892: Lin Qiye's Choice
Lin Qiye was afraid. He was truly afraid, for a fear unlike any he had ever experienced had taken hold of his heart and mind.
The tragic end of the Mask Squad played over and over again in his mind like a broken record. He could already see the moment when the Chrono Outlaw's erasure would descend—those familiar faces, one by one, being wiped from existence.
Jialan, An Qingyu, Jiang Er, Cao Yuan, Baili Pangpang, Shen Qingzhu...
Wang Mian possessed the Chrono Outlaw, so as long as he could escape from here, he would have a chance to travel back through time in the future to save everyone. But Lin Qiye was different.
For him, once something was lost, once someone was gone, it could never be retrieved.
"JIALAN!!!" Lin Qiye gripped her shoulders tightly, his eyes crimson red despite not being corrupted by the red moon's influence. "Are you going to make me live alone?! Are you going to force me to watch you all die?! Do you think I could live with myself after that?!"
His roar echoed through the deep sea, and Lin Qiye's body trembled uncontrollably. Jialan's consciousness had been thrown into Chaos by the red moon's torment, yet she gritted her teeth and persevered, refusing to retract the [Immortality] even as Lin Qiye screamed in her ear.
She simply, silently yet stubbornly, held Lin Qiye's body.
The overwhelming force of erasure pressed against Lin Qiye's heart. He looked up, and in the deep sea, that silver ring was rapidly enlarging in his vision...
BOOM—!!
Just then, the silver ring suddenly shuddered, its expansion suddenly slowing, as if some invisible force was desperately resisting its spread!
The Chrono Outlaw's erasure had been forcibly held back. Though the ring continued to expand, its speed had been drastically reduced.
This had not happened in Wang Mian's closed loop.
Seeing this, Lin Qiye was slightly stunned, a glimmer of hope flickering in his eyes.
The ring's expansion was hindered but not completely stopped—in other words, the force resisting the Chrono Outlaw was not its equal. The Chrono Outlaw erases all; it was only a matter of time... But as long as there was time, there was still room for maneuver.
Lin Qiye didn't know what was happening outside. This was his last chance.
His fists clenched tightly.
Lin Qiye no longer wasted time trying to dissuade Jialan. Instead, he shifted his gaze away from the silver ring and looked toward... the [Mandarin Arrow] longsword embedded in the stomach wall.
An unprecedented madness burned in his eyes!
Before him lay another path,
A path that could save everyone in Night Watch.
...
Fishing Village.
Pitch-black malevolent flames danced savagely, raging toward the heavens as if trying to connect with the sky.
Within this endless sea of black fire, that towering giant figure stood as firm as a mountain, hands pressing desperately against the silver ring formed by the Chrono Outlaw. Flames danced wildly across its body, and its pale face contorted in fury.
Beneath its feet, the earth shattered inch by inch. The land sank. The churning seawater at the shore rushed directly into the fishing village, like a furious beast, rapidly drowning everything.
The sky collapsed, the earth cracked, black fire consumed the heavens, and seawater raged.
It was the apocalypse.
The towering giant pushed against the silver ring with all its might, letting out roars of fury. The black chains binding it clanged loudly, but the river of time flowing through the ring continued its irreversible course.
Then, as if sensing something, its pupilless eyes narrowed slightly, focusing on a particular section of the ring.
In a certain part of the river of time, a narrow crack lay quietly in the corner—like a flaw in a flawless jade bracelet, shimmering with a faint light.
That was the gap Wang Mian had left when he escaped the closed loop.
It let out a low growl. Its left hand still pressed firmly against the silver ring while its right hand reached into the raging sea of malevolent flames, slowly lifting upward!
The dancing black flames intertwined into a hundred-meter-tall blade of darkness, which it gripped in its hand, emanating a chilling pressure that froze the heart. It raised the black blade and thrust it violently toward the location of the ring's gap!
The burning black edge embedded itself into the gap. Cracks spread from the center of the breach like a spider's web. Black flames crawled through the fissures, rapidly corroding the river of time.
As the black blade cut deeper and deeper, the cracks spread along the ring at an astonishing rate. The moment the black blade cleaved the ring from top to bottom, a crisp explosion rang out, and the massive closed loop was shattered at one corner!
That corner was less than one-twentieth of the entire loop, but it meant that the ring had cracked from the center, was no longer complete, and could no longer even be called a "ring."
Its head and tail could no longer connect.
The broken loop meant nothing here could be restarted, but the Chrono Outlaw's erasure force did not stop.
The remaining large portion of the silver ring still slowly yet firmly expanded outward. The towering giant that was single-handedly holding back the silver ring shuddered involuntarily. The chains around its body clanged密集ly, as if reaching its limit.
...
Deep Sea.
Lin Qiye stared at the [Mandarin Arrow] wreathed in flowing rings of light, his eyes filled with struggle and madness.
As long as he pulled out that blade, the loop would end. No one would have to sacrifice. They could all survive... But the same action would cause some extremely terrifying, irreversible consequences.
The fact that the future Wang Mian had gone so far as to travel back in time to set up this closed loop here was enough to show how serious the matter was. Even when trapped in the loop and facing the risk of total annihilation, Wang Mian—influenced by the red moon's mental assault—had controlled himself and chosen not to pull out that blade.
Both the present Wang Mian and the future Wang Mian had prepared to lose everything in defense of Great Xia.
But... Lin Qiye was not Wang Mian.
He was clear-headed. He knew that pulling out that blade might cause irreversible consequences. Perhaps countless people would die because of it... But to make him watch his brothers and comrades die before his eyes right now? That was something he absolutely could not do.
Along this journey, Night Watch had become far more than just a team to him. The others were not merely teammates.
They were brothers, comrades, people in whom he could absolutely trust with his life.
Lin Qiye didn't have many people he treasured in this life, but every member of Night Watch was among them.
The common people, or his brothers...
Lin Qiye chose the latter.
...
At first, it simply didn't think it needed to draw a weapon against such an opponent. But at this moment, it had no choice but to unsheathe its blade—otherwise, it would soon be unable to hold on. No matter how powerful the Rebirth in Fire, it consumed continuously, and once one's bloodline power was overexerted, it would also damage the source.
"I have to say, you have exceeded my expectations. But now, I shall go all out." With those words from Cao Youwei, the Phoenix True Fire seemed to gather like all rivers returning to the sea, as if the Phoenix True Flame Domain was being retracted.
The blazing Phoenix True Fire coalesced around its body, forming a magnificent golden-red armor that covered its entire form. Gripping its battle blade, it resembled a demon god as it stared at Mei Gongzi.
Mei Gongzi did not pursue. She stood in the distance, slightly steadying her somewhat turbulent emotions. Although this battle had not lasted long, her emotions were becoming increasingly亢奋.
Before truly facing a Great Demonic King-level Undying Phoenix, she hadn't known if she could really withstand it. Her confidence came from what Tang San had given her. And as the battle progressed, when she truly began to suppress her opponent and, with the help of七彩天火液, protected herself from the Phoenix True Fire's invasion, she knew— she truly could do it.
Over these hundred years, Tang San had taught her many combat techniques, all best suited for her use. Like the previous 幽冥突刺, 幽冥百爪. And the 剑星寒 that had just severed Cao Youwei's finger for the first time. According to Tang San, these were true divine techniques, slightly modified by him before teaching them to Mei Gongzi, perfectly suited for her to execute.
The more she used these abilities, the more Mei Gongzi couldn't help but feel heartfelt admiration for Tang San. When Tang San first told her these were divine techniques, she had harbored some doubts. But now, she could continuously wound and pressure an opponent while being realms apart in cultivation—if not for divine techniques, how could this be possible?
At this moment, all the monarchs standing on the Heavenly Pillars were seeing this young girl in a completely new light. When the Phoenix True Flame Domain appeared, they had been considering how long Mei Gongzi could last under that domain. White Tiger Great Demonic Monarch and Crystal Phoenix Great Demonic Monarch had even prepared to intervene and rescue her. But as the battle continued, they watched in stunned disbelief as Mei Gongzi actually suppressed a Great Demonic King of the Undying Phoenix Clan—truly suppressed, even forcing out the Rebirth in Fire. How was this possible?