The reason Meteor Fire Rain can be called a forbidden spell is that its duration is incredibly long—long enough to annihilate every life form within its range, and even blast the ground three feet deep.
Under normal circumstances, the mental power of any caster, regardless of race, would likely be unable to sustain such a massive expenditure of mana.
But Meteor Fire Rain is an exception because it is not a creation, but a summoning.
That giant sun on the horizon actually exists!
This terrifying giant sun named [wrath of loathing] was originally a subordinate god of [Primal Chaos] and an Envoy of [chaos]. After being imprisoned by [Order] in a certain era, it became the supreme power He bestowed upon the Element Judges under His command.
One only needs to pull open the cage door of [wrath of loathing] for a split second and aim at a specific area, and the fury suppressed for countless eons will pour down.
Not until He awakens from the chaos and realizes His venting is merely benefiting those followers of [Order] will He sullenly withdraw, tighten the cage door, and begin brewing the next cycle of rage.
wrath of loathing, subordinate god of [Primal Chaos], Envoy of [chaos], Prisoner of [Order]
All this is simply to prove one thing: Meteor Fire Rain is something a Mortal cannot resolve.
Cheng Shi and the others had only charged toward the 3 o'clock direction for a few minutes before the howling meteors began exploding around them one after another.
They didn't even need to be hit directly; the splashing lava and flowing fire already made it impossible to move an inch.
"No, this way won't work! Mage!"
"Time, Retrograde!"
The scene was so similar as Time reversed once again.
"One! Run!"
Cao San Sui had just been tossed ashore from the river of Time when he felt himself being hoisted by Chen Chong and carried in a frantic dash toward the 1 o'clock direction.
"No, Chen Chong, the 5 o'clock direction!"
Chen Chong's footsteps paused, and without hesitation, he swung his arms, spinning the two people he held like a windmill. Using the momentum, he quickly pivoted and sprinted back toward the diagonal rear!
"What's the situation?"
Cao San Sui's expression was grave: "We've failed twice."
Xia Wan followed closely behind, while Cheng Shi frowned inwardly.
He reached out and flipped the dice in his arms to another side.
Three.
"This way is no good! The smoke is too thick, I can't see the path! Assassin, speak up, guide us!"
"Assassin? Song Yawen? Shit, he's dead. Mage, retrograde!"
"Time... Retrograde..."
"7 o'clock direction, Chen Chong, reverse!"
The dice flipped. Four.
"Xia Wan, watch out!"
"Time... Retrograde!"
"9 o'clock direction, hurry!"
The dice flipped. Five.
"..."
One of the keys to Time Walkers being T0 is the infinite opportunities for trial and error within the [Time Battlefield].
But the divine power of [Time] cannot be enjoyed for free forever. When "Time" cannot continue to flow on the battlefield for a long period, He, as the master of Time, will also lose His temper.
A god's sneeze is a Mortal's storm.
By the sixth Time they retrograded, even as a Believer of [Time], Cao San Sui's memory began to blur.
"Time, Retrograde!!"
"One! Run!"
Cao San Sui jolted with Chen Chong's sprint. He snapped his eyes open, and after a moment of mental chaos, he murmured to himself:
"We've started over..."
Chen Chong's figure stiffened, and he asked urgently:
"What do we do now? Which way?"
Cao San Sui looked despairing: "I remember many fragments, I remember the moment everyone died, but I've forgotten the count... I've forgotten where we're supposed to go."
Chen Chong's heart sank. This situation could only mean one thing: they had already failed many Times.
A Time Walker getting lost in Time was as good as announcing their failure and Death.
But Chen Chong was not one to admit defeat. He let out a roar and led the group to turn and charge toward the 3 o'clock direction.
"Pull yourself together! Identify the path and cross-reference it with the memories in your head. Maybe we can find a way out!"
Nangong was equally anxious. Seeing the confusion in Cao San Sui's eyes, she gritted her teeth, pulled out a spike, and stabbed herself hard in the stomach.
Immediately, a thick light of healing poured over Cao San Sui's head, instantly clearing his chaotic mind.
He looked at Nangong's hopeful gaze and nodded firmly:
"Alright! I'll remember!"
However, right at that moment, Cheng Shi suddenly shouted:
"Wrong, this is the sixth Time. 11 o'clock direction, hurry, Chen Chong, turn!"
Chen Chong was fast, his figure far ahead of Xia Wan. He turned his head in shock, but before he could even ask a question, he saw Xia Wan obediently change direction and charge toward 11 o'clock.
Cao San Sui was also bug-eyed with shock. He couldn't figure out at all how Cheng Shi knew this was the sixth Time.
How could a Believer of [birth] stay lucid within a Time maze?
He couldn't.
In the end, Cheng Shi was just a player. The one unaffected by the Time maze wasn't him, but the dice in his hand.
Seeing that even Cao San Sui was stunned, Chen Chong's face darkened as he responded:
"Shit, we'll do it your way!"
He didn't hesitate—or rather, he had no reason to. In Chen Chong's mind, the moment Cheng Shi took over command, he must have had a plan to break the deadlock.
After all, the guy had 2,000 points.
Among those with 2,000 points, there were likely no deadweights.
Cheng Shi actually wasn't sure if they could escape in the 11 o'clock direction, but he knew that all the other directions had been tried and were useless.
He felt the various faces of the dice in his arms and silently flipped it to the number 6.
Six Times. This was the sixth Time.
For the next count, he would have to do more than just flip it vertically... Xia Wan ran incredibly fast with Cheng Shi on her back. Under the influence of continuous healing and her Hunter talent, her long legs moved in great strides, crossing the sea of fire as if it were level ground.
But her grim expression told Cheng Shi that she didn't have high hopes for this path.
"Cheng Shi, are you sure about this direction?"
Cheng Shi shook his head honestly:
"I'm not sure."
"Then you..."
Cheng Shi gave a brilliant smile: "This is Destiny's choice!"
Xia Wan's eyes widened and her pupils shrank. Just as she was about to ask something, a meteor splashing with fire smashed down toward them.
*BOOM—*
"..."
Before Cheng Shi closed his eyes, he clutched the dice and cursed fiercely:
"Shit."
"...Time... Retrograde!"
Everyone returned to the starting point once more. It was that same familiar scene, and Chen Chong charged toward the 1 o'clock direction without hesitation.
Cao San Sui was still dazed, Nangong was still nervous, and Song Yawen was still leading the way.
Only Cheng Shi looked at the 6 on the dice, silent.
There was no way out. All six directions had been tried; there was no path to survival.
His heart felt inexplicably irritable, but his hands didn't stop. He flicked his thumb, tossing the dice high, then quickly reached out to catch it as it fell back.
Xia Wan noticed Cheng Shi's movements on her back. As she strode forward, she asked gravely:
"What's wrong?"
Cheng Shi opened his palm and saw the dice with the 1 facing up. He let out a resigned sigh.
"We've failed six Times, but the guidance Destiny gave me is indeed the 1 o'clock direction."
Xia Wan's emotions suddenly became chaotic. For a moment, she didn't know whether to feel sorrow for the six failures or joy for Cheng Shi's so-called "guidance of Destiny."
"So you're saying the 1 o'clock direction is correct?"
She seemed to be starting to trust Cheng Shi unconditionally.
Cheng Shi clicked his tongue and grumbled:
"But I always feel like Destiny is a bitch!"
Xia Wan's eyes widened, and she glanced back at Cheng Shi in disbelief.
Before the arrival of the gods, there was nothing wrong with that sentence, but after their arrival... put it this way, there was an Existence whose divine name was [Destiny].
"To hell with it. Believing in Destiny is worse than believing I'm Qin Shi Huang. Xia Wan, reverse! 7 o'clock!"
Cheng Shi chose the direction that defied Destiny.
He shouted this very loudly, and Chen Chong heard it too.
Like Xia Wan, Chen Chong had many doubts, but he didn't hesitate for a second. He turned around and followed Xia Wan, running back.
After running for a short while, Cao San Sui discovered that this path was very similar to a segment in his memory fragments.
This meant they had failed in this direction before.
If nothing unexpected happened, three seconds later, a meteor would land to Xia Wan's front-right, blasting a huge hole in the ground.
Xia Wan and Cheng Shi would both lose their footing and fall in.
After that, he would retrograde Time again.
The flame of hope in Cao San Sui's heart flickered toward extinction. He counted down the seconds, waiting to be lost in the river of Time once more.
3.
2.
1.
"Time... Retro... Huh? Wait, what???"
Surprisingly... nothing happened.
Cao San Sui watched as Xia Wan ahead of him strode through the fire and smoke, escaping into the distance. He was completely stunned.
How was this possible?
The meteor that should have fallen in his memory did not appear. Not only that, but all the meteors in the entire 7 o'clock direction had ceased to fall.
The sky ahead suddenly became clear. As far as the eye could see, there wasn't a single meteor in the heights; even the flames seemed to avoid this place.
This absurd scene, set against the apocalyptic scroll of raining fire, looked as if someone had used an eraser to wipe a perfectly clean white line along the 7 o'clock path.
Perhaps this white line was merely a casual stroke by the "painter," but for Cheng Shi and the other five within the scroll, it was a literal lifeline!
The group sprinted at full speed amidst shock and fear, struggling to escape along the line of clear sky. After nearly an hour of gritted-teeth persistence, they finally escaped the strike zone of the Meteor Fire Rain.
And the moment they reached safety, the "erased" portion of the fire rain scroll filled itself back in.
Cao San Sui glanced at the pocket watch in his hand; exactly six hours had passed. He ended the [Time Battlefield] at the next hour mark, and the power of shifting Time dissipated from their bodies.
The process of the final retrograde was vaguely etched upon the river of Time.
The group looked back at the path they had survived; meteors fell like rain and fire splashed like sludge, just as before—devoid of any Vitality!
"This is..."
"How is this possible!?"
"Why was there a path to life??"
"A miracle... this is a miracle..."
Everyone was dumbfounded. They stared at Cheng Shi in open-mouthed shock, their faces filled with awe and incomprehension.
"What kind of... item is this? Can this even be called an item?"
"Brother Cheng, don't tell me you're actually a 2,400-pointer?"
"You..."
Xia Wan especially—she was the only one who knew how Cheng Shi had made the decision to choose the 7 o'clock direction and lead them out of the sea of fire.
"Why?" she wondered silently, yet never dared to ask. "Just because Cheng Shi called [Destiny] a bitch?"
Cheng Shi watched the flowing fire plummeting on the horizon, his mind also somewhat unable to process what had happened.
"The second Time..."
He said silently to himself.
"Could I really have some hidden talent? And the activation phrase is: Destiny is a bitch?"
...