The dawn sky greeted two figures as they slowly descended the rocky path towards the east. Mount Ming Chen, where the Forgotten Temple of Time stood, loomed in the distance, its peak shrouded in swirling silver clouds. As they approached, a strange aura of time began to manifest, as if their own steps were sometimes repeated, sometimes leaping forward without reason.
"This place... has been untouched by humans for hundreds of years," Gu Tian Li murmured. His hand still gripped the time crystal he had taken from the Sunken Temple ruins.
Lian Shu surveyed the surroundings. "Are you sure this is the place? It feels... too quiet."
Gu Tian merely nodded. But deep in his heart, he also sensed something amiss. The air around them carried silent whispers, like sighs of the past unwilling to depart.
After crossing an old, nearly collapsed stone bridge, they arrived at the temple gate hidden behind a thicket of black bamboo. The gate was not large, just two stone pillars with hourglass carvings and time spiral symbols.
As they stepped inside, the world around them suddenly trembled.
All color faded, sound vanished, and time seemed to stand still.
Gu Tian Li turned and was shocked.
Lian Shu was frozen in place, motionless, her eyes wide open. Her body was unresponsive. Moreover, the light from the world disappeared, leaving only a pale gray hue.
"This... a time barrier?" he murmured.
From the shadows of the temple gate, a white-robed figure emerged, faceless, only a vague mist forming the shape of a head. In its hand was a small, endlessly spinning hourglass.
"The 14th successor... you have come too soon."
Gu Tian Li immediately braced himself, but the figure showed no hostility.
"I am the Gatekeeper. Your test is not of strength, but of memory. To proceed further, you must confront the wounds you have most hidden."
Gu Tian Li gritted his teeth. "I need no test. I only seek answers."
"Your answers... lie within," the figure said before fading away, as if swallowed by the mist of time itself.
Suddenly, the world shifted again.
Gu Tian Li stood in the middle of an old village long destroyed in his memory.
And there, he saw himself as a child kneeling before the corpse of a woman who embraced him tightly, though her body was cold.
"Mother..." he whispered.
The memory he had always locked away now surged forth.
A voice echoed from the air, as if from himself:
"If you wish to understand time, you must reconcile with what it has taken from you."
Gu Tian Li closed his eyes. His Soul Sword appeared, not to fight, but to pierce the ground before him, a sign that for the first time, he did not resist the memory.
The sky above him shattered, and the sound of a child's cry turned into a peaceful whisper.
When he opened his eyes again, the world had returned.
Lian Shu stood beside him, looking confused. "What... just happened? It felt like I disappeared for days."
Gu Tian Li did not answer immediately. He merely gazed towards the temple, which began to reveal its own path—large stones slowly moving, creating a passage to the central altar within.
And within that altar, an ancient secret awaited unveiling.
Gu Tian Li and Lian Shu ventured deeper into the Forgotten Temple of Time, where everything felt slowed, despite their swift steps. The temple walls were covered in ancient paintings that shifted with each glance, depicting countless different eras.
At the end of the corridor, the main altar came into view—a circular room with a giant hourglass suspended from the ceiling, slowly spinning against gravity. In the center of the altar stood a half-human, half-time statue with a blank face but radiating an immeasurable aura of depth.
Gu Tian Li stepped closer.
As he approached, the time crystal in his hand suddenly glowed, and the statue reacted. Its eyes opened, emitting a blue light.
Then, a voice echoed directly into Gu Tian's mind:
"The 14th successor... You have opened the gates of knowledge. But every answer comes with a price."
Suddenly, the altar floor cracked, and a beam of light emerged, forming a time vortex. Lian Shu tried to pull Gu Tian away, but Gu Tian's body was drawn into the force.
Gu Tian saw the world spinning rapidly around him—moment after moment, past and future flashing by. He saw himself standing in the midst of an Imperial battlefield, his body riddled with wounds, then the figure of Shen Mu laughing atop a pile of corpses... and a voice calling from afar:
"You should not be here... not yet..."
And instantly, everything vanished.
Gu Tian awoke with a gasp. He was outside the temple, at the foot of Mount Ming Chen.
The sun was high in the sky.
Lian Shu sat nearby, her face anxious. "You've been unconscious for two days. I couldn't bring you back in... it's as if the temple rejects me."
Gu Tian did not reply. He slowly sat up, feeling a change in his body and mind.
His gaze was sharp, but behind his eyes, a great question arose.
He knew... time in the temple was not yet finished.
But he had to return to the Gu Clan. For something in that vision warned him. About the Imperial tournament. About Shen Mu. And about... his sister's fate.
Gu Tian Li stood up slowly.
"We're going back," he said briefly.
Lian Shu paused, then nodded. "To the Gu Clan?"
"Yes. It's time to uncover everything. But before that... I must confirm one thing."
"Perhaps we will part ways at the forest where we first met."
Lian Shu nodded. "Alright, take care of yourself. Thank you for this exciting adventure. I will return to the Leaf Sect."
They began their separate journeys.
As they turned and began to descend the mountain, a faint light still shone from behind the temple ruins. The statue on the altar opened its eyes once more.
Behind it, a shadowy figure stood in the shadows of time. Its face was hidden, but its aura shook space and time.
"You have finally come... Gu Tian Li. But are you ready to become an enemy of your own destiny?"
Then the figure vanished, along with the shadow of an hourglass shattering in the air.
He glanced once more towards the peak of Mount Ming Chen, now shrouded in thick mist. The air around him suddenly turned cold, and for a moment, he felt time slowing down again.
His body felt heavy, as if the temple's shadow still clung to his ankles, trying to pull him back.
"Have I... truly left that place?" he thought.
The time crystal in his hand pulsed again—a pulse different from before. Not a warning, but... a signal. Something, or someone, was marking him.
Suddenly, a faint voice echoed in his head. A voice not from outside, but from within.
"Time has chosen you, not to be kept... but to be tested."
Gu Tian Li frowned. The voice was not that of the gatekeeper statue or the white-robed figure. It was deeper... older. As if from the very roots of the world's existence.
He gripped the crystal tighter.
"If time wishes to test, then I will test time in return," he murmured.
Lian Shu turned to him with a puzzled look. "What did you say?"
Gu Tian shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go."
Their journey down the slopes of Mount Ming Chen continued in silence. Both knew this adventure was not just about finding answers; it was the beginning of something bigger, more dangerous.
As they approached the forest's edge where they first met, Lian Shu stopped.
"Gu Tian Li," she said softly. "Before you go... there's something I must say."
Gu Tian turned. "What is it?"
Lian Shu hesitated, then finally said, "When I was in that temple, though I couldn't go deeper... I saw a vision of you. But not the you now. You... changed. Your eyes were black. The world around you was destroyed, and you laughed... like a demon."
Gu Tian was silent. His eyes narrowed.
"Was that a vision... or a warning?" he asked.
Lian Shu shook her head slowly. "I don't know. But I want you to be careful. Because perhaps... the destiny you fight is yourself."
Gu Tian Li did not reply. He merely nodded once, then turned and continued his steps without another word.
Lian Shu watched his back for the last time, before turning towards the northeast, to the Leaf Sect, her home.
The forest fell silent again, as if their adventure was just a forgotten shadow.
But deep within the temple ruins, now sealed by the mist of time, something began to stir. The half-time statue now had cracks in its chest, and from within those cracks, a dark red glow emerged... like blood frozen in time's dimension.
The mysterious figure reappeared. It stood in a vortex of shadows, and this time, it was not alone. Behind it, another silhouette emerged—a young woman with cold eyes, wearing a black robe with a time spiral symbol on her back.
"Gu Tian Li will return to his Clan," the main figure murmured. "And when he arrives... choices will be made. The world will begin to crack."
The young woman nodded.
"And when those cracks are deep enough," it continued, "the sealed future will spill into the present."
Both slowly vanished, leaving behind the sound of subtle cracks echoing throughout the temple. Like the ticks of a clock gone awry.
And the world... began to prepare for change.