The white light faded, leaving Xiao Lin and Luo Yan lying on the rocky ground. The sky above them was no longer pitch black, but bright blue with two suns shining. The smell of sulfur was pungent—a smell that had never existed in their time. In the distance, a majestic fortress stood, its walls decorated with carvings of dragons that moved as if alive.
"Where are we…?" Xiao Lin muttered, his hand still holding the Jiuyinlong. The black sword was now silent, as if locked by the power of the past.
Luo Yan stood up, her face pale. The blue blood on her clothes had dried into crystals. "The Su Chen Era," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Look."
From the fortress gate, a woman's figure ran—her black hair fluttering, her red sword in her hand. **Su Chen**. Her face was exactly like the shadow that had always haunted Xiao Lin. Behind her, dozens of golden-veiled soldiers gave chase, flaming arrows flying.
"Don't let that traitor get away!" a soldier shouted.
Su Chen turned, his sword sweeping through the air. Nine fire dragons appeared, crushing the pursuers. But one arrow managed to stab his thigh. His blood—crimson mixed with golden shimmer—flowed to the ground.
Xiao Lin gasped. "His blood… is the same as mine!"
Luo Yan pulled him into hiding behind a rock. "We must not be seen. If the past changes, the Tianmo seal may never be created… or it may awaken sooner."
But Jiuyinlong suddenly pulsed. From within the sword, Su Chen's voice came: *"You have finally come, my successor. See the buried truth."*
Their vision shifted. The scene spun—they were now standing in the fortress's basement. Su Chen knelt before a man whose face was similar to his own, but whose eyes were pitch black.
"Why, Brother?" Su Chen whispered, dropping his sword.
The man—**Su Liang**, his older brother—smiled bitterly. His right hand hardened into a black dragon claw. "Because *they* promised us freedom. The Ancient Dragon Worshippers will not allow us to live as ordinary mortals."
The walls of the room collapsed. Ancient Dragon Worshippers in golden robes entered the room, their staffs emitting energy chains. "The time has come, Su Liang. Kill him, and you will be the new Dragon King!"
Su Chen screamed as Su Liang charged. But suddenly, the Jiuyinlong in Xiao Lin's hand reacted. The sword pulled them into the fight, forcing Xiao Lin to copy Su Chen's every move.
"No!" Luo Yan shouted as Xiao Lin was thrown into the middle of the battlefield of the past.
Su Liang stopped. His eyes stared at Xiao Lin. "Who are you? My blood… but also the blood of a traitor?"
Su Chen rose to his feet, his face bright. "He's from the future. Look at that sword—he's the bearer of the Jiuyinlong!"
The Ancient Dragon Worshippers growled. "Exterminate them! Don't let fate be changed!"
Xiao Lin had no choice. The Jiuyinlong was unsheathed, colliding with Su Liang's claws. Each formation released shockwaves that tore through space-time. In the sky, the seal of the Heavenly Demon began to appear—still weak, but already giving off a terrifying aura.
Luo Yan tried to help, but her blue blood triggered a strange reaction. The Dragon Worshippers' energy chains greeted her, pulling her to an altar in the corner of the room. "Su Liang's descendant!" one of the Worshippers shouted. "Your blood will complete the ritual!"
Su Chen, badly injured, threw his sword at Xiao Lin. "Combine our powers!"
As Su Chen's sword and the Jiuyinlong's sword touched, an explosion of light swept across everything. Xiao Lin saw the full truth:
*Su Chen and Su Liang were twin brothers, cursed by the Ancient Dragon Worshippers to have one of them become the vessel for the Heavenly Demon. Su Liang, unable to bear the suffering, chose to sacrifice his younger brother. But Su Chen retaliated by locking the Heavenly Demon within himself—and the Jiuyinlong was the key that split his soul into two: human and demon.*
"You… are the Heavenly Demon," Xiao Lin hissed to Su Chen.
He nodded, golden tears streaming down his face. "And you, my successor, must choose: destroy me, or let the seal break."
Outside the fortress, the sky cracked. The voice of the Tianmo from the present echoed across both eras:
"Return me whole… Xiao Lin…!"***
Luo Yan, bound to the altar, screamed as her blue blood was absorbed into the black crystal. "Xiao Lin! Don't believe them! The Ancient Dragon Worshippers only want—"
A knife stabbed into her chest.
Su Liang, half of his face now a dragon, approached Xiao Lin. "Kill him," he whispered, voice filled with the Dragon Worshippers' incitement. "And you will be free from your curse."
The Jiuyinlong trembled. At the tip of the sword, the images of Su Chen and the Tianmo collided.
Luo Yan's blue blood flooded the altar, opening a portal to the present. The seals of the Tianmo from both eras began to merge. Su Chen smiled sadly at Xiao Lin: "I can't change my destiny… but you can." His sword stabbed into his own heart, and the Jiuyinlong shattered into the Jiuying and Yinglong—one red, one blue.
"Choose, Xiao Lin… which one will you follow?"
Outside, the sky collapsed. Two suns clashed.merge into one—a sign of the end times.