The workshop was silent.
Not the lifeless silence of an abandoned ruin, but the peaceful stillness of a place where every sound had its proper time.
**Tick.**
**Tick.**
**Tick.**
Thousands of clocks filled the shelves, each keeping a different rhythm.
Some were no larger than a coin.
Others were taller than houses.
Yet none of them ever fell out of sync.
The elderly man continued polishing the tiny pocket watch resting on his workbench.
Only after carefully closing its silver cover did he look at Lin Mo.
His gaze was gentle.
"You've grown."
Lin Mo blinked.
"We've... never met."
The old man smiled.
"No."
"But I've known you since before you were born."
The room fell silent.
Chen Yu leaned toward Han Qiu and whispered,
"I have a feeling this place is even stranger than the tomb."
Han Qiu nodded.
"For the first time..."
"...I can't sense spiritual energy."
Lin Mo realized he was right.
The workshop contained no spiritual pressure.
No cultivation aura.
No formations.
Yet every object here felt more profound than anything he had encountered before.
Orion stood and walked toward a large window.
Beyond it was not a landscape...
But a river of stars flowing through endless darkness.
"This is the **Workshop Between Moments**," he said.
"It exists outside ordinary time."
"No war can reach it."
"No emperor can rule it."
"Even the Void Sovereigns cannot enter without invitation."
Lin Mo finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.
"Are you the one who created the Chrono Heart?"
Orion chuckled.
"I created its shell."
He pointed toward Lin Mo's silver watch.
"But the Heart itself..."
"...was created by sacrifice."
With a wave of his hand, twelve empty teacups appeared on a wooden table.
A thirteenth cup appeared moments later.
Orion poured tea into all of them.
Then he quietly removed the thirteenth cup.
"The Keepers believed Time could be protected."
"The Thirteenth believed Time should be controlled."
"The rest..."
"...you already know."
Lin Mo frowned.
"No."
"I don't."
"Everyone tells me different stories."
"The Keepers say he betrayed them."
"The Void Sovereign says they misunderstood him."
"So..."
"Who's telling the truth?"
For the first time, Orion became completely serious.
He looked directly into Lin Mo's eyes.
"They all are."
Chen Yu frowned.
"That doesn't make sense."
Orion smiled sadly.
"History is rarely a battle between truth and lies."
"More often..."
"...it is a battle between different truths."
The room became quiet once more.
Orion picked up an unfinished clock from the table.
"If you look at this clock from the front..."
"...you see its face."
"If you look from behind..."
"...you see its gears."
"Neither view is false."
"But neither is complete."
He gently placed the clock into Lin Mo's hands.
"Never judge an age by listening to only one survivor."
Lin Mo lowered his head.
The old man's words settled heavily in his heart.
For the first time, he realized that the story of the Keepers might be far more complicated than he had imagined.
Suddenly—
A tiny bell rang somewhere in the workshop.
Ting.
Orion's smile disappeared.
"So soon..."
He looked toward the star-filled river beyond the window.
"They've begun searching."
The Guardian's figure slowly materialized beside the doorway.
Unlike before, he appeared weaker.
Cracks of silver light spread across his translucent body.
Lin Mo hurried toward him.
"Master!"
The Guardian smiled faintly.
"It seems..."
"...you've grown stronger."
Orion looked at him.
"We don't have much time."
The Guardian nodded.
"They've found the Workshop's location."
Chen Yu's eyes widened.
"I thought you said no one could enter."
"They can't," Orion replied.
"But they can..."
He looked toward the ceiling.
"...destroy everything around it."
A violent tremor shook the workshop.
Several clocks fell from their shelves.
Outside, the peaceful river of stars began to darken.
Crimson cracks spread across the void.
The Void Sovereigns were attacking from beyond reality itself.
Orion calmly walked to the center of the workshop.
He opened a large wooden chest.
Inside lay twelve beautifully crafted pocket watches.
Each bore a different symbol.
Only one space remained empty.
He looked at Lin Mo's watch.
"The thirteenth."
He smiled.
"It has finally come home."
The twelve watches floated into the air.
Lin Mo's watch joined them.
For a brief moment...
All thirteen watches revolved together.
The entire workshop glowed with golden light.
A deep, resonant chime echoed across the endless void.
**DONG...**
Not from a bell.
But from Time itself.
Orion looked at Lin Mo with quiet satisfaction.
"You've reached the point where I can finally tell you the next truth."
He pointed toward the thirteen watches.
"The Chrono Heart..."
"...was never meant to choose one successor."
Lin Mo frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Orion's expression became solemn.
"There were supposed to be..."
"...thirteen heirs."
At that exact moment, one of the remaining twelve watches suddenly lit up on its own.
Not Lin Mo's.
Another.
Somewhere...
Far beyond the Workshop Between Moments...
Another successor had awakened.