The edge of the void trembled.
A fractured sky yawned open like a wounded god, dripping galaxies as starlight bled from its torn seams. In that endless expanse—where dimensions crossed and time bent backwards—Yi Zhen stood. His white robes, stitched with samsaric glyphs, fluttered like banners of judgment. Each step he took across the spatial lattice resounded like the toll of a divine bell.
Opposite him, sealed Sun Wukong floated. Shackles made from celestial bronze and sealed Buddhist mantras spun around his limbs and tail like a thousand chained suns. But his golden eyes, even from beneath the thickest bindings, held something—an ember of rebellion, a cosmic fire.
Yi Zhen narrowed his gaze. "Even sealed, your defiance has weight, Great Sage. But now... I carry the wheel itself. You are but a cycle I shall end."
---
The Arena of Cycles
In an instant, Yi Zhen raised his palm. The void warped. Beneath them appeared a battlefield of reincarnated worlds: mountains made of forgotten dreams, rivers flowing with soul fragments, floating islands of karma-bound spirits.
Sun Wukong smiled. "A fitting stage... for one who claims to master Nirvana."
He flexed. Cracks shattered the shackles.
[Sealed Sun Wukong has entered Temporary Ascendant State: "Golden Sovereign Pressure"]
---
The Battle Begins
Yi Zhen opened the battle with a cosmic mudra—the Mudra of Inversion, reversing gravity and causality in the battlefield. Sun Wukong's initial strike—a golden rod swing faster than light—hit air as Yi Zhen shifted probability, stepping where he had not stood.
But Wukong's adaptability was myth itself. With a grin, he duplicated himself tenfold using the Clone of Cosmic Truth, each clone imbued with fragments of historical continuity from myth across realms.
Yi Zhen answered with a chant from the Wheel:
> "Let karma spiral, let ego fracture. I name thee unbound, I mark thee as dust."
The chant shattered two clones instantly.
---
Advanced Technique Clash
Sun Wukong's Technique: Primal Ancestral Leap
Utilizing the leap that once carried him from Earth to Heaven, Wukong shattered the battlefield, sending shockwaves through the reincarnation realms.
Yi Zhen's Counter: Samsaric Bloom
A lotus bloomed under Wukong's leap, turning inertia into stillness. The moment Wukong landed, the lotus absorbed the kinetic energy and unleashed it in a ripple of soul-severing energy.
They clashed. Fists met palms. Techniques collided:
Inverse Dao Sphere vs Ruyi Pole Cyclone Cannon
Reality Deconstruction Field vs Infinite Cloud-Step Mirage
Brahmic Soul Severance vs Primal Qi Resurrection
The fabric of the battle warped. Entire continents in the soul plane shattered. Time hiccupped. Two gods fought as if reality itself was a chessboard.
Yi Zhen extended both hands:
> "From the Wheel I gained wisdom. From Nirvana, peace. But from pain... I earned wrath."
He unleashed his new technique: Samsara Entropy Pulse.
A tidal wave of collapsing timelines surged across the battlefield. Each wave carried reincarnations of Wukong—some evil, some saintly—all screaming, all begging, all vanishing.
Wukong roared. His shackles broke.
---
True Sun Wukong Unleashed: First Monkey of the Mythic Tapestry
His body burned golden-white. His crown reshaped into a halo of all mythic pantheons. His fur flickered between realities.
He shouted: "Let all stories converge!"
[Mythic Fusion: Infinite Pantheon Aspect Activated]
Ten thousand golden rods slammed into Yi Zhen from all angles—each from a different mythical Wukong variant. The God of Reincarnation raised one hand:
> "I accept your karmic weight. And I return it... inverted."
A vortex of black and white energy spiraled outward—Duality Cycle Collapse. Each rod shattered. Each myth was rewritten. Wukong, stripped back to his essence, panted, bleeding light.
Yi Zhen stepped forward, floating above him.
> "You are not my end, Monkey King. You are my trial."
He raised his hand for the final blow...
...
A divine spear pierced Yi Zhen's chest from behind.
He turned—shocked. A new figure stood in the void.
"You've forgotten me... old friend," the figure said. "Before Samsara, before Nirvana, before even Inversion. I was your past self. The first path you abandoned. I have returned."
Yi Zhen's eyes widened. The battle was never just with the Monkey King.
It was with himself.
[To Be Continued...]