Yue Zian was having the best time of his life. He roared with the power of the ocean, pelting rain and crashing waves rising from behind him as he struck at the demon- no not even a demon. This thing was a spirit, a spirit of winter that he’d sometimes heard of. Creatures of death and malice, though at times also of kindness as they’d shelter people lost in snow storms.Yet this one wasn’t normal. He didn’t know how she had gotten with demons, or reached Divinity, but there was a clear madness in her eyes. The kind of madness that you did not return from, the kind that broke your psyche till there were nothing but pieces left. He’d seen it before, it was a sickness of the mind and spirit, and it had brought many before. The sickness of the body one could cure with medicine, but often the sickness of heart and mind were not so easily cured.He felt for her, felt for her pain, whatever suffering she must have endured, whatever her story had been. But despite all of that, despite those f

My world changed within an instant.I felt the heavens shudder, the last chain breaking as the Divinites vanished around me. I continued to meditate, the edge of harmony humming in my soul. I was not truly here, not truly in this situation. I was simply an observer, watching the world happen around me. And yet I ached at the deaths I saw around me. Two of the three divinities soul came to me, becoming a part of the cycle. The last one, it had died a worse kind of death.But I did not linger on it. I could not. Time had lost its grip on me, I no longer knew how long I’d been here, but it had been quite some time now. I’d watched as the battle had concluded. Even now the armies fought around the walls, but a different battle had also been taking place, and I’d felt it end just now, as the chains tying the heavens were finally undone.The heavens themselves opened up now. The last anchor of immortality was dead, and I felt the Divine Tree expanding itself outwards, reaching towards the h

“But do you know what happens to people who arrive as souls? People like you and me? People who had already died before they got here? We don’t get to just move on Yuan. There is nowhere to move on to. And so the thing that brought us here, it just repeats the process. And you’re reborn, again, and again, and again,” the demon said, taking another gulp.“The people who come here with their own bodies, for them it’s easy. They are tied to their bodies in a way we aren’t, so they mostly just go down, with the rest of everyone else. That’s what’s been happening for so long. They all move down, and then they slowly start to change, and like annoying mushrooms, they pop back up but as demons. What you see here, all of this is just a mere slice of everything down there. They stay there, mostly because it’s nice there, the surface is hostile to them. Qi doesn’t like Gu and Gu doesn’t like Qi so the two are content to remain separated. It’s a solid system, as long as it works,” Yang Shen said

I reached for Harmony and found it descended upon me like a tide of power. I moved first, Stepping as I arrived in front of Yang Shen and let Qi and Gu collide with my strike, a miniature void bomb exploding in my palm. Yang Shen was shot backward, the entire castle shook but I knew that had not been even close to enough. I was still just testing things.Yang Shen took the impact, skid backwards and then noted the damage. Whatever guide of friendliness had been there was lost now, he was calculating how to fight me, there would be no holding back. This was life or death.“Let me teach you a few things. You don’t live as long as I have without learning a few tricks,” he said, as fire manifested around his hands. I saw the flames, golden red flames that burned with a divine power in then. And then I saw their color change, cycling from green to yellow to purple and then to black. I realized what he was doing, he mixing metal in it, directly into the aspect of the flame and changing it.

“Yeah, and what’s that?” I asked, I wanted to make a quip but for some reason I didn’t. I hadn’t felt it, but I was a little tired now. I still had other of energy left, but the exhaustion was within my soul. Using this much power was wearing me out.We fight with nothing. Just our fists. No powers, no nothing.That… was ridiculous. Fighting just with our fists? That had to be the stupidest idea ever.“Alright,” I agreed, and then I let go of Harmony, descending to the ground.Yang Shen followed, and he reverted back to his human form.We both looked at each other, standing in the aftermath of the battle of titans, and for a moment, I felt like I was looking at Shen Yuan, at the boy who had once lived. And then, the moment was gone, and we charged at each other.I screamed. I screamed as I charged him, simply running. I was still fast, inhumanely so, just my raw body was quite powerful now, but it was nothing compared to what I was used to.I struck him, and he struck me back. I punch