613 Art of Sealing

[POV: Zhu Shin]

When Zhu Shin lost his match, he had thought he would not be able to fight again.

Yet here he was, swinging his spear against the massive axe of the two-faced Asura before him.

Clang!

The collision exploded with enough force to shatter the earth beneath their feet. Zhu Shin's crimson spear bent beneath the weight of the axe before snapping back into place, its shaft humming as he twisted his body and redirected the blow. The axe passed beside his shoulder, close enough for the edge to tear through the air and leave a deep scar across the ground.

Zhu Shin stepped forward.

His spear thrust toward one of the Asura's faces.

The Asura tilted his head, allowing the spearhead to skim past his cheek before his second face grinned and swung the axe horizontally.

Zhu Shin ducked.

The axe swept over his helmet.

He planted the butt of his spear against the ground and vaulted over the weapon, rotating in midair before bringing his spear down with both hands.

The Asura caught it.

For an instant, the two immortals stood locked together.

When the Asura's muscles bulged, Zhu Shin was thrown backward.

He crashed through three enormous boulders in succession before twisting his body in midair. His spear pierced the ground, stopping his momentum, and he immediately pulled himself forward again.

He had no intention of fighting here.

Not if he could help it.

Zhu Shin deliberately retreated toward the edge of the city, allowing the Asura to chase him. Every exchange pushed them farther from the battlefield, farther from the other contestants, until their figures became blurs racing across the landscape.

Mountains rose before them.

Zhu Shin crossed the distance in a matter of seconds.

The Asura followed.

BOOM!

The moment they reached the mountains, Zhu Shin swept his spear sideways. The force of the strike split an entire mountain peak. The Asura's axe descended in response, cleaving through the collapsing stone and forcing Zhu Shin to retreat several hundred meters.

Rocks rained from the sky. Dust swallowed the battlefield. Neither immortal slowed.

Zhu Shin emerged from the dust first, his spear flashing like a crimson dragon as he stabbed toward the Asura's chest. The Asura blocked with the haft of his axe, but Zhu Shin's spear twisted around the weapon and struck from an impossible angle.

The Asura bent backward. The spearhead passed within a hair's breadth of his throat. His two faces laughed simultaneously.

"Now that you've got me alone, the least you could do is introduce yourself!"

Zhu Shin's eyes narrowed. So he had known. The Asura had understood his intention from the beginning to bring the fight outside the city.

"You saw through me."

"Of course."

Zhu Shin steadied his spear.

"Zhu Shin."

The Asura's grin widened.

"Zhao Zhen."

The two exchanged a glance before simultaneously disappearing.

Another explosion shook the mountains.

Zhu Shin's spear and Zhao Zhen's axe collided again and again, each exchange creating shockwaves that tore apart the surrounding peaks. Zhu Shin's movements became increasingly fierce. He fought to prove something.

Since he had lost his previous match, Zhu Shin intended to win this one.

Zhu Shin lowered his spear, allowing World Force to surge through his body.

"Trinity Path: One With Destruction."

The world trembled.

Violent energy erupted from within him, flooding every limb and forcing his body to swell with explosive strength. His crimson armor gradually shifted into burnished bronze as torrents of scarlet flames engulfed his figure.

Twisted horns curved from his helmet.

A suffocating scent of blood spread across the battlefield.

The crimson spear trembled in his hands.

When scarlet mist poured from its surface, a beautiful woman emerged from the mist and wrapped her arms around Zhu Shin from behind. Her delicate features carried an alluring smile, but there was nothing gentle in her eyes.

Only destruction.

She had never spoken before.

Now, for the first time, she possessed something resembling a personality. Perhaps it was because her master's growth had become her own. Her lips brushed near his ear.

"Finally..."

Her voice was soft and sultry.

"You're becoming worthy of me."

Her fingers slowly traced along his armored shoulder.

"Don't doubt yourself, Zhu Shin. You lost once, but that loss has already become part of our strength."

Her smile widened.

"Look at him."

She gazed toward Zhao Zhen.

"That is the only thing standing between us and victory."

The scarlet flames around Zhu Shin intensified.

"Come on, Master."

She leaned closer, her voice filled with intoxicating confidence.

"Let me show you what happens when you stop thinking about defeat."

Her arms tightened around him.

"Only victory awaits us."

Zhu Shin's grip tightened around his spear. The flames erupted and he vanished. Zhao Zhen's expression became grim as Zhu Shin appeared before him with overwhelming destructive force.

The spear descended, and the mountain exploded.

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[POV: Fan Shi]

Fan Shi dragged her opponent west of the city and into the thick forest.

Just moments ago, she had cast an Egress through a scroll, allowing her to carry her opponent along with her as the chains wrapped around him. She had not tried to defeat him in the city. There were too many people living there, and the battlefield offered too many opportunities for their fight to interfere with the others.

The forest was better, since it was isolated and quiet.

The figure standing before her looked like some manner of undead. A cowl concealed most of his features, while an overwhelming stench of death clung to his body. Even without seeing his face, Fan Shi could tell that he was someone like her.

Someone who walked through shadows and practiced methods that dealt with death.

Fan Shi slowly raised her hand.

"I assume the shape of isolation. I step beyond reality. I sever all paths that bind this existence to mine."

The moment the incantation ended, the world seemed to fall silent.

Fan Shi became isolated from reality.

The trees around her remained motionless, yet their existence felt distant. Even the air seemed incapable of touching her. She withdrew her chains. The silver-white and dark chains returned to the pair of bangles around her wrists as she leaped backward, increasing the distance between herself and the undead.

She had been warned about the opponents she would face.

She had memorized every piece of information available to her.

The figure before her fitted the description of Hu Mu, an assassin. Hu Mu remained where he stood. He could not sense her. His head slowly turned from side to side.

"Impressive abilities."

A cold sense of dread tickled the back of Fan Shi's neck, and then Hu Mu looked directly at her.

"But not impressive enough."

How!?

Fan Shi's pupils contracted.

"You are not the only one who could tap into the primordial forces of the universe, little one." said Hu Mu, two daggers appearing in his hands. "It makes me curious who your master is. But unfortunately, you will have to die!"

Fan Shi's perception barely caught him.

Hu Mu suddenly reappeared beside her, moving with a combination of incredible speed and stealth. His daggers were already swinging. Blue flames covered their blades.

The moment Fan Shi sensed those flames, an instinctive warning of death screamed inside her mind.

Those flames carried an aura that evoked overwhelming sadness, as if they could strip away more than life itself and drag the soul into an endless grief.

The silver-white chains reacted before she could think. They warned her that even a mere graze would bring certain death. Fan Shi immediately raised her arm. The dark chains lashed outward.

Clang!

The dagger struck the chain, the force sending Fan Shi stumbling backward. When another dagger followed, she barely parried it. A third strike came. Fan Shi twisted aside, but the blue flames passed dangerously close to her cheek.

She felt the sensation of something being torn from her existence. Her heart tightened. He was too fast.

More importantly, he could perceive her despite her isolation.

Fan Shi held her breath. She could not panic. She could not allow her emotions to disrupt the technique. The isolation was powerful, but it was also dangerous. If she pushed it too far, she would no longer merely be isolated from Hu Mu. She could become isolated from everything.

Even herself!

Fan Shi carefully reached deeper into the primordial force. The world around her blurred. Her presence disappeared.

Hu Mu's dagger stopped in midair. His head snapped toward the place where she had been standing and found nothing.

Fan Shi had vanished from his perception again.

A short distance away, she reappeared among the trees. She kept her distance. Her breathing remained controlled as she stared at Hu Mu through the darkness. The assassin slowly turned toward her.

His expression could not be seen beneath the cowl, but Fan Shi could almost see the frown on his face.

…

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[POV: Zhao Zhen]

Zhao Zhen could hardly believe what was happening.

He was being thrown through mountains.

The sheer destructiveness contained within his opponent's spear had driven him backward again and again, each clash sending him crashing through stone as if the mountains themselves were nothing more than paper walls.

Zhao Zhen gritted his teeth as he steadied himself against the side of a shattered peak.

That spear...?

He could sense several different mysteries woven into its power.

World Force formed its foundation. There was also a touch of Aura, something that sharpened every movement and gave the weapon an oppressive presence. Most surprising of all was the faint trace of a Sage's power.

Zhu Shin was combining multiple paths into a single style. No wonder his attacks were so overwhelming. But Zhao Zhen had held back long enough. If he continued fighting like this, he would eventually lose. He tightened his grip around his massive axe.

"True Asura Path: Twin Gods of Destruction."

The instant those words left his mouth, the world around him distorted.

Zhao Zhen's body split apart.

His face separated down the middle, and two figures emerged from the same body.

Zhao.

Zhen.

The enormous axe in their hands divided alongside them, becoming two weapons. Yet the transformations did not stop there. The axes lengthened, their blades expanding as the weapons transformed into massive halberds.

Two Asuras stood where one had been.

They looked almost identical, but the difference could be felt immediately. They were not clones. Each was a true body, possessed his own consciousness, and represented a different aspect of Zhao Zhen.

There were many kinds of Sages.

The orthodox path, and perhaps the most powerful path known to the Greater Universe, was the Six Paths. By walking all six paths and completing their mysteries, a cultivator could manifest true Sagehood.

Those who failed to complete the Six Paths sometimes created aberrant paths like the Dual Paths or the Trinity Paths. Other unorthodox paths that attempted to reach the same destination through different means.

But those were not the only possibilities. There was another orthodox path. One that almost no one knew existed. A path that required a cultivator to devote themselves to a single path and trace that path backward, all the way to its origin. A True Path.

The sages of old believed that walking the Six Paths was the only way to reach true Sagehood.

They were wrong.

Those so-called ancient sages had merely been tourists. Visitors who had wandered through the paths of existence without ever discovering what lay beneath them. They were nothing like Zhao Zhen and nothing like his masters.

They had opened another path. The real path. And what was an Asura's path if not destruction?

"Let's destroy him, Zhao!"

"I agree, Zhen!"

The two figures moved simultaneously.

Zhu Shin's spear descended.

Zhen raised his halberd and parried the attack.

BOOM!

The collision shook the mountains.

Before Zhu Shin could follow up, Zhao appeared from his flank. His halberd swept toward Zhu Shin's waist. Zhu Shin twisted aside. The blade missed his body by inches.

Zhao and Zhen immediately switched positions. One attacked. The other defended, and then they reversed. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, creating the impression that Zhu Shin was fighting a single opponent whose attacks came from every direction at once.

Zhao was whimsical. His movements were unpredictable, relying on instinct and sudden changes in rhythm.

Zhen was structured. His attacks followed precise patterns, each movement designed to force Zhu Shin toward a predetermined position.

Instinct and logic represented opposite ends of the same spectrum.

Together, they became complete.

Zhao and Zhen surrounded Zhu Shin, unleashing destructive techniques from both sides. Halberds tore through the mountains as crimson spear and blackened blades collided again and again.

Their strength had doubled.

Their immortality had become even more troublesome. As long as Zhao existed, Zhen could return. As long as Zhen existed, Zhao could return. They were effectively immortal as long as the other remained. Yet that was not the most frightening part.

When they fought together, their effectiveness did not merely double. It grew more than fourfold. Their powers could now be expressed through two separate bodies, allowing each mystery to be utilized simultaneously from different angles.

They were powerful and almost absurdly so.

But even they had a weakness.

A weakness that was perhaps more common than anyone would imagine.

It was a weakness shared by most beings throughout the entirety of existence, even across the Greater Universe or within the Hollowed World itself. It did not matter how powerful the practitioner was or what cultivation realm they had reached.

Zhu Shin blocked a halberd with his spear. His eyes flickered between Zhao and Zhen, and then he smiled as he raised his spear. "I now know your weakness with certainty. And it seems you are more prone to it than even your peers, considering you've split your body into two. There's no need to overcomplicate this."

The beautiful woman formed from scarlet mist appeared beside him once again.

Zhu Shin looked toward her.

"Fight with me as one."

Her sultry smile widened.

"Finally."

The scarlet mist around her body exploded.

A monstrous mirage manifested behind Zhu Shin.

It resembled a crimson bull, yet it was neither completely beast nor man. Its enormous body possessed the muscular shape of a humanoid warrior, while its head carried the savage features of a bull. Twisted horns extended from its skull as scarlet flames poured from its nostrils.

The mirage roared, and then it compressed. The enormous phantom collapsed into Zhu Shin's body, wrapping around him like an armor of destruction. The crimson spear trembled. Its power surged.

Zhu Shin vanished, appearing before Zhao brimming with killing intent.

"Stop him!"

Zhao rushed forward.

Zhen raised his halberd.

CLANG!

Zhu Shin's spear smashed into the weapon. The impact forced Zhen backward. Zhao immediately attacked from behind. Zhu Shin twisted his body and blocked the second halberd with the shaft of his spear.

The three weapons collided.

Zhao Zhen felt something was wrong. This was no longer merely World Force. It was not simply the power of a Sage. There was something else. Something hidden within Zhu Shin's spear. A mystery that Zhao Zhen could not understand.

A mystery that was more profound than anything he had encountered before.

The crimson spear pierced through Zhen's defenses.

"Impossible!"

Zhen attempted to retreat. Zhu Shin followed. The spearhead struck his chest, and then the weapon erupted with a terrifying sealing force.

Zhen's body began to distort. "No!"

Zhao rushed toward his other half. However, it was too late.

The spear swallowed Zhen. His body collapsed into countless streams of crimson light before being dragged into the weapon.

Zhao stood frozen, feeling the incompleteness.

Half of himself was gone. He could still sense Zhen faintly like a phantom pain, but the connection had been severed.

Zhao finally understood what Zhu Shin meant earlier. Their greatest strength had also been their greatest weakness. They could exist independently, revive each other, and multiply their destructive power.

But neither could escape one universal truth. They could be sealed. Almost every existence could be sealed. It did not matter how powerful they were. If their existence could be contained, then their immortality meant nothing.

Zhao stared at the crimson spear, and his expression darkened.

"You are next," said Zhu Shin. "Think not of fleeing, and meet my spear!"