All the heavens, starting as the ruler of the universe

"Could you grant me the power to take revenge?"

Wanda stood in the corridor, her gray-green eyes looking at Lin Yan.

"Okay." Lin Yan agreed, after all, this was too easy for him, especially since Wanda herself possessed chaos magic.

Wanda bit her lip, then lowered her head, grabbed the hem of the old sweater with both hands, and began to lift it up.

The movements were slow, and the hands were trembling.

Then her hand stopped, and she was frozen in place, unable to move.

Lin Yan leaned against the window, a hint of helplessness in his eyes. "You've misunderstood."

The hem of her sweater fell back down, and Wanda's ears turned bright red as if they were about to burn. She didn't know where to look, and in the end, she could only stare at the tips of her shoes.

"I'm interested in you because there's an energy within you," Lin Yan said. "Chaos magic. This ability is very powerful and rare, and that's what interests me."

Wanda didn't hear what Lin Yan said next at all.

Her face was so red it looked like it was about to bleed, and her mind was a complete mess.

"Come find me again after you've thought it through." Lin Yan sighed; this girl seemed a bit silly.

Upon hearing Lin Yan's words, Wanda, like a caught thief, ran out without looking back after receiving her master's permission.

Lin Yan didn't call out to her, but stretched out his hand, palm up.

The starlight spun slowly in his palm, like a compressed starry sky.

There were flashes of light and golden threads moving about; each rotation was like the opening and closing of a door deep in the universe.

That was the ability he gained after analyzing the Time Stone.

Lin Yan poured the starlight in his hand into the flowerpot on the windowsill.

The plants in the flowerpot began to grow.

It's not a slow sprouting; the stem rises upwards at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The leaves unfold one by one, turning from light green to dark green.

The flower buds emerge from the leaf axils, bloom, and the petals open fully in the morning light.

Then, as a result, the fruit turns from green to dark red, and a thin layer of white frost covers its skin.

Finally, it withered, its leaves curled, its stems drooped, and the entire plant completed its journey from birth to death in just a few breaths.

All that remained in the flowerpot were withered branches and leaves and a bright red fruit.

Lin Yan picked the fruit and placed it in his palm.

This is not time acceleration. Time acceleration makes a river flow to the sea faster. The river is still the same river, only the flow rate has changed.

What he did was something else entirely: he chose the best timeline from all the possible timelines.

Within that line, the plant grows in the most suitable temperature, the most appropriate humidity, and the most precise nutrient ratio, with every cell following the optimal path.

Then he brought this line into reality.

Lin Yan placed the fruit on the windowsill, next to the withered plants.

The fruit lay quietly on the dusty windowsill, its white frost gleaming a faint silver in the morning light.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, soft and hesitant.

Wanda stood at the door, her face no longer red. Her gray-green eyes first fell on Lin Yan, then on the withered plant, and finally on the dark red fruit on the windowsill.

"What is that?"

"Want to try some?" Lin Yan had already tasted the fruit in other timelines.

After gaining control over time, Lin Yan's greatest benefit was that from then on, no branch on any timeline could produce a parallel counterpart to him.

He, in the past, present, and future, encompasses all possibilities and ultimately converges into the same person.

"It's delicious, the best fruit I've ever eaten." Wanda actually rarely gets to eat fruit.

In fact, this fruit is not only delicious, it also has some special effects.

"Have you thought it through?" Lin Yan watched Wanda eat the last bite of fruit.

Wanda didn't speak, but stared at Lin Yan and nodded vigorously.

Lin Yan stretched out his hand, palm facing up.

The starlight shone again, but unlike the one he had poured into the flowerpot earlier, this time the light was deeper and the rotation was slower, like a collapsing nebula held in his hand.

Wanda stared at the ball of light, her fingers unconsciously clenching the hem of her sweater until her knuckles turned slightly white.

"Close your eyes."

She closed her eyes.

The starlight detached from Lin Yan's palm, like a drop of water falling into the water's surface, and disappeared into Wanda's chest.

Her body jolted, not from pain, but from something deeper being touched.

Chaos magic lies dormant within her.

Now it has woken up again.

Lin Yan stood in front of her, starlight guiding his fingertips.

He has seen every possible scenario of Wanda's awakening across countless timelines.

In some storylines, she loses control due to anger; in others, she retreats due to fear; and in still others, she is consumed by chaotic magic and torn to pieces.

He sifted through them one by one, leaving only that one.

In that line, the chaos magic wasn't awakened by violence, but rather something she gradually absorbed herself.

Starlight danced within her body, and wherever it passed, chaotic magic began to flow.

Wanda's breathing became heavier.

She felt something surging up from the depths of her bones.

"Don't suppress it," Lin Yan's voice came from nearby. "Let it out."

She loosened her clenched teeth.

Chaos magic rose from the base of her spine, traveled up her spine, through her chest and throat, and gathered into a very faint red halo at the center of her brow.

She had her eyes closed, but she could see the red river inside her body, see it carving out a new channel beside her blood vessels, and see every cell glowing faintly where it flowed.

The red halo between Wanda's eyebrows grew brighter and brighter.

Wanda's body went limp, and she fainted.

When she woke up again, she found herself lying in bed.

The ceiling was gray, and there was a water stain in the corner of the wall, shaped like a cat with its tail curled up.

She stared at the water stain for a long time, then tried to move her finger.

My body felt heavy, as if I were being bound.

The door opened.

Pietro walked in carrying a glass of water. Seeing that she had her eyes open, he paused for a moment. "You're awake."

"How long did I sleep?"

"One afternoon."

Pietro placed the water glass on the bedside table, squatted down, and let his silver-gray hair fall in front of his eyes.

He stared at Wanda's face for several seconds.

"You were glowing just now." He paused. "Red. Your whole body."

Wanda didn't answer; she pulled her hand out from under the covers and held it up to her eyes.

My fingers are still the same ten fingers, but there are a few small scars on the joints, left from climbing ruins when I was a child.

But a very faint red halo remained on her fingertips, slowly receding into her skin, like twilight sinking into the horizon.

She clenched her fingers into a fist, and the halo completely disappeared.

But she knew it was still there.

"Can you stand up?"

Wanda propped herself up on her arms to sit up, then stood up. Her knees wobbled, but she steadied herself.

"..." She opened her mouth, wanting to ask where Lin Yan had gone, but she realized that she never knew the man's name.

Pietro saw through his sister's thoughts. "Mr. Lin has gone out. He asked me to tell you that starting tomorrow he will teach you how to control chaos magic."

"Mr. Lin...?"

Wanda repeated the word "Lin" in her mind.