Chapter 1186

After an unknown length of time, Venerable Tianlan finally heard Lin Yan's voice.

Her spirit instantly relaxed.

Found it at last!

Immediately afterward, Venerable Tianlan felt more flames surging into her divine body.

But these flames had no trace of offensive power.

Venerable Tianlan directed her divine power to make way for them.

The flames rushed in swiftly, then withdrew just as quickly.

Then, she heard Lin Yan's voice again:

"That's enough!"

Venerable Tianlan felt it too.

She felt a sense of complete ease throughout her body.

She opened her eyes and saw Lin Yan standing before her, his eyes bright as starlight, glowing with clarity.

For some reason,

after what had just happened, the moment Venerable Tianlan met his gaze, a strange feeling surged in her heart!

This strange feeling made her heartbeat quicken involuntarily.

It was no exaggeration to say it felt like a fawn darting wildly in her chest!

In Lin Yan's eyes, she saw many things she had never seen before.

Those eyes seemed to hold the secrets of the entire world.

They instantly captivated her!

So much so that Venerable Tianlan and Lin Yan locked gazes for several full seconds.

"Ah…"

Then her startled cry rang out.

Because at this moment, she had not a single stitch of clothing on her.

Although she had, in fact, been thoroughly seen by Lin Yan moments ago, Venerable Tianlan's face still burned crimson.

Her fingers twitched slightly, and the robe woven from Flame Insect silk returned to her body.

Now she looked like a young girl again, yet her face was as red as a ripe apple.

Then she saw a dull, grayish mass appear in Lin Yan's hand.

The mass appeared utterly ordinary.

And on the outside, it was in fact a container formed by Lin Yan's divine power.

Inside it was the true cause of the changes that had afflicted Venerable Tianlan for tens of thousands of years.

It was a single thread of temporal power!

Not two threads—only one!

After Venerable Tianlan had risked touching the temporal rule and been wounded by its backlash, she had not mastered the temporal rule.

But during the backlash, a single thread of temporal power had remained lodged in her body, causing her to occasionally suffer temporal disarray.

On the Divine Continent, time was truly untouchable.

Those who dared to touch time usually met dire fates.

When Venerable Tianlan had touched the temporal rule, she was already a Rule Lord who had mastered two laws—yet merely touching it had left her gravely wounded by the backlash.

Moreover, the stronger the being, the more severe the backlash.

Naturally, under normal circumstances, only powerful Rule Lords, after years of searching, could locate even a trace of the temporal rule.

Weak deities did not even know where time's rule lay or what it was, let alone attempt to touch it.

And though the backlash against weak deities was relatively mild, it was still far beyond their capacity to endure.

After being backlash-wounded, Venerable Tianlan had spent ten thousand years healing with the Life Rule, yet still suffered lingering effects—if a weaker fourth-tier Venerable Lord had suffered the same, they would likely have perished outright.

Just like the former Morning Star Pantheon.

"This is temporal power?"

Venerable Tianlan asked curiously.

Her expression finally returned to normal.

Yet now, her feelings toward Lin Yan…

Were completely different.

It was as if Lin Yan was no longer just a powerful deity with little personal significance.

But a deity of paramount importance in her life.

"Strange… why do I feel as if I've known him for ages?"

Venerable Tianlan couldn't help thinking.

Yes, at this moment, a sudden feeling surged within her—that she had known Lin Yan for an impossibly long time.

And this sense of long familiarity was not like that of an ordinary old friend.

Some people, no matter how long they knew each other, never sparked any chemistry.

But Venerable Tianlan felt as if, from ages past, she had always harbored affection for the Flame Lord.

And this affection had, over time, become unshakable.

Yet she clearly remembered: she had met the Flame Lord for the first time less than a month ago!

"You came out once just now,"

Lin Yan said suddenly.

"Ah..."

Venerable Tianlan suddenly understood where this fondness had come from.

In the past, she had emerged once, and then developed an unusual feeling toward Lin Yan; immediately afterward, Lin Yan drew out the temporal force, and her disordered time returned to normal.

The past version of her naturally returned to the past—what had happened in the past could not be altered—but the past version of her carried a trace of fondness for Lin Yan back with her.

Thus, Venerable Tianlan effectively possessed tens of thousands of years' worth of fondness for Lin Yan.

And because Lin Yan had drawn out the temporal force, the past version of her, after this one emergence, had her time restored to normal; thus, Venerable Tianlan did not know the past version of her had emerged, which was why she had not known at first.

Soon, Venerable Tianlan sensed the immense power of time.

Even though she now understood everything, the inertia of tens of thousands of years of fondness had completely transformed her feelings toward Lin Yan.

Although she had just experienced what happened, her heart had already developed a faint unusual feeling toward Lin Yan.

After all, her body had been seen completely by Lin Yan.

Though embarrassed, her inner self had also developed fondness for Lin Yan.

But this recent fondness belonged only to the initial stage of affection.

As her disordered time returned to normal, the past version of her carried that trace of fondness back to the past, and over tens of thousands of years, this fondness had accumulated into something profoundly steadfast.

Even, through the vast expanse of tens of thousands of years, this trace of fondness had clearly transformed into something that could rightly be called "love"!

If this were an ordinary person, they would never comprehend any of this and would instantly fall hopelessly in love with the Flame Lord.

Venerable Tianlan, as a powerful Master of Laws, even under the influence of temporal force, still fully understood everything.

Moreover, she could even forcibly resist the inertia brought by time.

She could even seal off that trace of fondness.

But then.

For some reason, Venerable Tianlan did not resist that inertia, nor did she choose to seal it.

Instead, she let it surge over her without restraint.

Still, Venerable Tianlan remained curious.

She wondered whether the past version of her had spoken any words to Lin Yan.

But she did not ask.

The two versions of her were, in truth, only one person; now that she had returned to normal, she would eventually regain memories of this matter.

"Your issue has been resolved. Do you still want this trace of temporal force?"

Lin Yan asked.

Venerable Tianlan shook her head: "No. Time is an absolute taboo— I suspect even the Supreme Deities would not dare tamper with it. This trace of temporal force might prove useful—keep it, but be extremely careful."

Lin Yan did not refuse and stowed it away.

On the Continent of Gods, the temporal law was extraordinarily powerful, so powerful that it existed in a realm absolutely forbidden to touch.