"You... just... who are you... what are you?!" Yun Che's voice trembled, his words caught between disbelief and dread, the weight of them crashing through the air like a brittle prayer.
His heart was pounding wildly, not from exertion, but from a fear he hadn't felt in years.
True fear.
The kind that pierced deeper than swords and colder than death itself.
Fear—a word that had long vanished from his soul since the day he rose as the Devil Master. Since he stood above all creation, since he faced the wrath of the heavens, the betrayal of gods, and the abyss itself—he had walked alone, fearless, unwavering.
He had forged ahead through death, betrayal, and annihilation, never once letting dread take root in his heart.
But now... now he stood still. Shaken. Unmoored. His body refused to move, his soul refused to calm.
The future he had fought for, the plan he so carefully crafted— a future filled with hope, redemption, and peace—was almost within reach. He had begun to believe again. To dream again. The path forward was finally illuminated... a path where he could protect those he loved, where he could carve out his peace.
Yet, this moment... this being—this thing wearing the skin and soul of Fen Juechen—had shattered that light. Everything about him was the same.
The soul… the aura… it all pointed to Fen Juechen. And yet, every fiber of Yun Che's existence screamed otherwise.
"You're not him..." Yun Che whispered, his voice hoarse, dry as dust. "You can't be... you can't be Fen Juechen..."
The overwhelming sense of dread that weighed down on Yun Che was beyond anything he had ever experienced. His instincts, sharpened through endless trials, now screamed in warning. And the source of it... stood calmly before him, cloaked in the form of someone long dead.
This wasn't just power—it was dominion.
The kind of presence that warped space, crushed time, and bent reality not through effort, but by mere existence.
Yun Che had spent days fleeing, pouring every ounce of power into escaping—traversing distances so vast that even the strongest Ancient True Gods might lose his trace. But this being… with just a single motion, had compressed all of that distance, dragging him back as if none of it ever happened.
All of it—his movement, his escape, his will—rendered pointless.
His breath caught in his chest as despair slowly bled into his veins.
"Who am I, huh..." the figure replied softly, his voice neither cold nor cruel, but... somber. He tilted his head slightly, and a smile crept up his pale face. But it wasn't mockery—it was a weary, distant smile that knew pain far deeper than words could carry.
His gaze, deep as the void, settled on Yun Che.
"I am... someone who shouldn't exist."
The voice trembled not with rage or madness, but with unbearable sorrow. A sorrow so ancient, so immense, that it pierced straight through Yun Che's soul like a needle of frozen fate.
Yun Che felt his heart lurch.
The moment those words were spoken, the space around them turned silent—not just quiet, but lifeless.
"Even this skin and soul..." the being whispered again, raising a pale hand and glancing at it with hollow reverence, "were merely something I picked out of my own fancy."
Yun Che's eyes widened as his soul violently trembled.
This… this wasn't Fen Juechen. The aura, the soul imprint—it was so perfectly identical that no technique in the world could have faked it. But the way this being spoke, the weight of his presence, the casual command over space and fate itself—
"Someone… who shouldn't exist…?"
His voice was barely audible, choked with disbelief. The implications twisted his stomach, and his mind reeled in a whirlwind of questions.
!!!
Suddenly, without warning, a brilliant surge of sacred light erupted from deep within Yun Che's soul.
The holy presence—the divine life force long dormant within him—had awakened.
Like a sudden sunrise piercing through an eternal night, the divine radiance of Light Profound Energy surged across his inner world, wrapping his battered soul in a comforting warmth. The withering weight of dread that had consumed Yun Che for hours seemed, for a brief moment, to lift.
But that moment shattered almost instantly.
The light… froze.The surge of divine power halted mid-flow, as if seized by an unseen force.
"What… is… this… Where are we, Yun Che?!"
A trembling voice, filled with confusion, terror, and disbelief, echoed within his soul.
It was Li Suo—the Goddess of Life—the one who had lain in deep slumber within him ever since she entrusted him with her divine power. Her gentle and calming presence had always been a bastion of serenity, a sacred force that guided him like sunlight in the dark.
But now…
Her voice was trembling.
Not with exhaustion. Not with surprise.
But with pure fear.
A kind of fear Yun Che had never once heard from her—not even in her dying memories, not even when faced with the end of the Primal Chaos.
Since Yun Che's continuous breakthroughs and ascension into ever-higher realms of power, Li Suo's recovery had accelerated, fragment by fragment, until she had become increasingly aware of her surroundings. Just recently, she had expended a portion of her divine strength to protect Yun Che's soul during the violent backlash of Othershore Asura. It had taken its toll, yet she had endured it calmly.
But now… now that she had regained enough consciousness to truly sense the world around them—this place they had entered— all calm vanished.
Every fiber of her being recoiled in dread.
As the Goddess of Life, Li Suo's mastery over the Laws of Life was unparalleled—the first, even before all other Creation Gods and Devil Emperors. Her understanding of vitality, rebirth, and creation itself was absolute, etched into her soul since the dawn of the Primal Chaos. That was precisely why, the moment her divine senses made contact with the existence before Yun Che—an existence that seemed to defy every law she knew—her sense of dread didn't merely rise…
It detonated.
"What…"Her voice, which moments ago still carried a thread of clarity, suddenly grew hoarse, quivering as if something inside her had snapped. A tremor rippled through her divine soul—one of instinct, not reason. And then, her voice cracked again in a whisper not meant for Yun Che, but for herself:
"That thing… it shouldn't be…"
And then, she saw him.
"Fen Juechen." Or what wore his shape.
The instant her divine awareness fully locked onto the figure standing before Yun Che, Li Suo's soul convulsed. Her radiant essence recoiled like a butterfly scorched by flame, and without a second thought, without a word of warning—
She retreated.
Her divine power collapsed inward. Her senses vanished from Yun Che's consciousness. The comforting presence that had flared so brightly only moments before was now gone—hidden, buried in the deepest, innermost layer of Yun Che's soul, like a wounded animal scrambling for shelter in the face of extinction.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yun Che's pupils shook violently.
The Goddess of Life—the first-born among the Primordial Era Gods, the one who had shaped worlds with her breath and birthed life with her will, the woman who had faced the end of the Era of Gods with defiant grace—ran.
And she didn't just flee… She hid. She hid from him.
From the thing standing in front of Yun Che.
"…"All sound seemed to vanish. Even the whispering wind of this desolate world stood still.
And in the silence that followed, the last hope Yun Che clung to in his heart cracked and fell away, piece by piece, as his lips parted—yet no words came. Only the unbearable weight of the unknown pressed against him…
Fen Juechen slowly shook his head, and a faint sigh slipped from his lips. His next words came not with coldness or indifference—but with something entirely alien to everything Yun Che had just experienced.
"There's no need to be afraid of me, Little Sister Li Suo. I won't harm you."
His voice was soft. Gentle. Warm.
Yet the moment those words fell—Yun Che's entire soul spasmed.
"What...?"
It wasn't just the content of those words that crushed the breath from his lungs—it was the way they were spoken. The tone was unlike the one Fen Juechen had used when addressing Yun Che moments before. It wasn't detached or eerie, but familial. Almost tender.
That single sentence made Yun Che's thoughts explode into chaos. His soul trembled more violently than it ever had, far more than when faced with Mo Su or even the Abyss itself. Because—
Even Mo Su, the Abyssal Monarch and ruler of the Abyss… could not pierce into Yun Che's soul. He could not sense Li Suo, the Goddess of Life, who had long since hidden herself deep in the most protected part of Yun Che's being.Her divine essence was sealed in a sanctuary of void and abyssal dust that not even the mightiest True Gods had ever been able to perceive.
Yet this being—this... this thing that wore the face of Fen Juechen—not only sensed her presence instantly... but addressed her.By name.
And worse… He called her... "Little Sister."
A coldness unlike anything Yun Che had ever known wrapped around his spine. Every implication that stemmed from those three words was more horrifying than the last.
He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it.
But his voice shook anyway as he whispered inwardly, as if afraid of what the answer might be.
"Li Suo… do… do you… know who this person is…?"
Silence. The silence dragged on.
No whisper. No echo. No breath of divine thought.
Just when Yun Che thought she had completely vanished—
"NO!!!!!"
The scream that rang out in his mind was not just filled with fear—it was filled with complete, unfiltered terror, unfiltered dread.
The voice of the Goddess of Life—the most radiant of the Creation Gods, the beacon of existence itself—was screaming.
For a being like her, who had witnessed countless eras, this was not just rare—it was terrifying.
Throughout her cycles of slumber and awakening, the fragments of her divine soul slowly returned to her. And with each return, more of her ancient memories—of the Primal Chaos, of the Era of Gods, of the True Beginning—came flowing back. Normally, she welcomed this process with serenity.
But now, in this moment... she wished nothing more than to fall back into that slumber.
To forget. To escape. To vanish.
As the Goddess of Life, even if she was the gentlest and weakest among the four Creation Gods, she had once stood at the pinnacle of existence, equal in name to the Heaven Smithing Devil Emperor and the Heretic God. Even when clashing with the Devil Emperors or facing the calamitous destruction of the gods, she had never once felt fear.
Not until now.
The instant her divine soul had locked onto the figure draped in black standing before Yun Che—her will cracked.Her power began to shudder, her sense of self—the very foundation of her divinity—began to collapse.
It was not just pressure. It was not just strength.
It was an instinctive annihilation of everything she was.
And in that overwhelming collapse, Li Suo realized something that Yun Che had yet to grasp in full:
This being… was not meant to exist.
The laws of life, the cycle of samsara, the foundations of the Primal Chaos itself—all trembled before him. Even gazing upon him was to tempt the unraveling of her own divine essence.
Not even Yun Che's protective void was enough—she had retreated deeper still, deeper than the dust, deeper than the soul.
And Yun Che, for all his power and boldness, knew exactly what that meant.
Her fear… was even greater than his own.
And that…was what terrified him the most.
Gazing at the scene before him, Yun Che watched as "Fen Juechen" slowly shook his head, a faint, bitter curve tugging at the corners of his mouth. His lifeless eyes, for the briefest of moments, flickered with something raw—a sorrow so deep it seemed to stretch across countless eras, and a loneliness that no existence, no god, no devil could ever fully comprehend.
"Her reaction is quite normal," Fen Juechen spoke softly, almost as if he were trying to comfort Yun Che—or perhaps, himself."You don't need to overthink it. After all... I am her opposite."
His voice was calm, gentle even. But in Yun Che's ears, each word was like a silent thunderclap that shook his heart and soul.
The opposite of the Goddess of Life.
Those words echoed louder than any roar or explosion. The implications—what that meant, what that was—they clawed at Yun Che's mind like a nightmare that refused to end.
Creation and Destruction. Light and Void. Life and...
Yun Che didn't dare finish the thought.
And yet, the man before him—if he could even be called a man—spoke of it as if it were simply fact, long accepted and no longer worth mourning. That unshakable serenity made it all the more terrifying.
Seeing that nothing more was to be said, Fen Juechen slowly turned, his black robes rippling in the lifeless air as he rose silently, like a shadow being drawn upward by some unseen force. And then, his voice—low and certain—rippled through the space.
"Follow me."
And Yun Che...did.
Not because he trusted the command.Not because he wanted to.
But because something far greater than fear compelled him—a weight that pressed upon every fiber of his being, a command so absolute it could not be disobeyed.
His body moved without his will. Like a duckling caught in the gravitational pull of something infinitely vaster than himself, he rose into the sky after the man in black.
And then, without flourish, without sound—the space ahead cracked open.
Like paper splitting under divine fingers, the world was torn apart before them.
With a final glance at the lifeless land behind, they stepped into the void... and vanished.
-------
The two moved in silence, piercing through layers of space and time as though they were mere curtains in the wind. They passed through one world after another—vast starfields, broken realms, barren planes, and shattered heavens—all swept aside beneath the quiet steps of the man ahead. Yun Che followed close behind, the oppressive presence of the being before him refusing to leave his skin, his bones, his very soul.
As they traveled, Yun Che began to notice a strange consistency. In each plane they passed, whether fractured or whole, the air was heavy—not just with silence, but with traces of something deeper. In some, he could sense the lingering breath of Life Essence, faint and withered like embers in ash. In others, fragmented souls drifted like scattered petals, nameless and forgotten.
Yun Che's mind was spinning. Questions surged one after another, forming a tide that threatened to drown his clarity.
Yet for all the turmoil in his thoughts, the raw terror that once gripped him had begun to fade. Not because the danger had lessened—but because his instincts, sharpened by countless life-and-death encounters, whispered that the being before him had no intention of harming him... not yet.
Even so, Yun Che did not dare to relax.
He remained hyper-aware, his divine sense constantly sweeping every inch of space, his every nerve taut like a drawn string. But the bitter truth settled in his chest like ice: if this "Fen Juechen" truly desired his death, there would be nothing—nothing—he could do. Not the power of his infinite worlds, not the Great Way of Buddha, not even the Ancestral Sword or the Void Body. Nothing.
So, he could only follow. With clenched fists hidden beneath his robe, and a bitter heart that refused to submit, he moved forward.
"BOOM!"
With a thunderous crack, the final layer of space split apart like brittle glass, and the void scattered away to reveal a new realm.
They stepped into an ancient dominion, vast and majestic beyond reason. The air shimmered with divine remnants, and an endless land stretched before them—its mountains sculpted like dragon spines, its valleys veiled in gentle mist. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of resplendent palaces floated across the sky like silent sentinels, each gleaming with an ethereal light, their spires reaching toward the heavens.
At the very heart of this divine realm stood a single, colossal palace—so high above the others it felt as though it ruled them all. It was suspended in the sky like a forgotten crown of the gods, regal and domineering, yet...
Lifeless.
Despite its beauty, despite the magnificence of this world, Yun Che felt it immediately.
There was no life here. No presence. No breath. No heartbeats.Only silence, ancient and eternal.
Just like all the other planes they had passed through.
This was a graveyard dressed in gold.
Yet, as Yun Che standing in awe and confusion, Fen Juechen voice rang out.
"I'll be waiting. Do what you must, Yun Che,"Fen Juechen said softly, his voice echoing faintly through the ageless air. Without waiting for a response, he turned away and began to ascend the long, ancient staircase that led toward the sky-piercing palace above.
Each step he took seemed to ripple through the space, and with every breath, the distance between them widened until finally—his figure disappeared completely into the mist-veiled summit.
"?????"
Looking at the sky with confusion, Yun Che want to ask what he meant by that, yet... suddenly he turns toward certain direction. Then, like a thunderclap in the heart, a voice—a voice Yun Che had not heard in what felt like forever—pierced through the stillness of the world and shattered everything.
"YUN CHE?!!!"
His entire body froze. That voice... It wasn't possible. He spun toward the distant cluster of floating palaces.
There—a figure burst forth, her silhouette blazing across the horizon like a comet against a dead sky. Her speed, her presence, the overwhelming aura of familiarity that clung to her every motion—
Yun Che's eyes trembled.
His heart throbbed violently in his chest.
"SHEN XI!"