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Lu Changcheng stood amid the ruins of the crumbling dungeon, his Pure Yang Sword gleaming with residual tribulation energy. The Phoenix Feather had restored his body, but it couldn't erase the knowledge of how close he had come to permanent death. He studied the being across the obsidian plain with new respect and growing concern.
This cannot be taken lightly anymore, he thought grimly.
If this continues much longer, I will surely die. The Phoenix Feather was my only resurrection item. There won't be a second chance.
The being stood motionless, divine ichor still leaking from its cracked left mask. Its remaining five arms flexed with predatory grace, while the bone sword in its grasp pulsed with malevolent hunger. The cosmic forces it wielded were unlike anything Lu Changcheng had faced before. Not just raw power, but a perfect harmony of consumed divinity that made every attack unpredictable and devastating.
Brother Ren must have somehow absorbed fragments from multiple gods, Lu Changcheng mused, his mind racing through tactical possibilities.
Being a Myth rank hunter and guild master he know far more than average person.
The terror that crushes the mind, the plague that rots flesh and mana, the madness that turns reality against itself, and the flesh manipulation that makes him nearly unkillable. Each law fragment is incomplete, but together they create something far more dangerous than any single complete law.
He watched the being's movements carefully, looking for any weakness or pattern he could exploit. The creature moved with terrible purpose now, no longer the confused entity driven by instinct. The awakening of Ren's consciousness had paradoxically made it more dangerous, as survival instinct merged with divine power to create perfect lethality.
But wait...
Lu Changcheng's eyes narrowed as he focused on the being's three masks.
The left mask is cracked and damaged from my Heaven Punishing Sword. The right mask remains blank and expressionless, just as it has throughout our battle. But the center mask...
He studied the middle face more intently. Unlike the other two masks, which maintained the same serene, emotionless expressions, the center mask showed subtle changes. Micro-expressions that flickered across its features too quickly for normal perception to catch. Pain. Confusion. Recognition. And underneath it all, something that looked almost like...
Human.
Maybe, Lu Changcheng thought, his pulse quickening with sudden possibility.
Maybe Brother Ren isn't completely lost. That center mask, it's the one that bears his original human features. If his consciousness is still fighting somewhere inside this cosmic horror, it would manifest there. The other masks represent the consumed gods, but that middle one... that's still him.
The realization hit him like a physical blow. He had been fighting the symptoms, not the disease. The being's power came from the fusion of multiple divine fragments, but the core that held them all together was still fundamentally human. If he could reach that core, if he could somehow separate Ren's consciousness from the consumed divinity...
The being began moving toward him again, its footsteps sending fresh cracks through the obsidian. There was no more time for planning.
The battle resumed with renewed ferocity.
Lu Changcheng opened with his Tribulation Sword Rain, filling the sky with sword lights infused with thunder. They fell in graceful patterns that should have overwhelmed any defense, but the being's flesh flowed like liquid to avoid the worst strikes while its terror aura deflected others.
The creature countered by unleashing its plague crown at full power. The diseased aura expanded across the entire obsidian plain, turning the volcanic glass into a landscape of rot and decay. Where the corruption touched Lu Changcheng's robes, they began to crumble despite their mythical grade protection.
Even my Primordial Dao Robe can't completely resist this level of divine plague, he realized with growing alarm.
I need to end this quickly.
He activated his Sword Dao technique, Void Crossing Edge. The space carried strike manifested instantly upon the being, cutting deep into its torso. But the wound healed almost immediately as new flesh grew to replace what was lost.
The being retaliated with its mastery of flesh and sinew, sending dozens of skin threads toward Lu Changcheng from multiple angles. He used his Space Shattering Palm to fracture reality around himself, creating pockets where the threads couldn't reach, but more kept coming.
They fought across dimensions now, their battle transcending the physical plane. Lu Changcheng's space cutting techniques clashed with the being's reality manipulation, creating cascades of broken physics that made the air itself bleed.
The being's countless mouths began chanting in perfect unison, their forbidden sutras twisting the laws of causality. Lu Changcheng felt his own techniques beginning to turn against him as madness seeped into the fabric of space itself.
This is getting out of hand, he thought desperately. I'm being overwhelmed on every front.
He tried his Heaven's Silent Manuscript, creating a zone of absolute stillness, but the being's terror aura was so intense it penetrated even that sanctuary. The whispers of insanity followed, turning his moment of clarity into a trap.
The being pressed its advantage, all five remaining arms moving in perfect coordination. Lu Changcheng found himself on the defensive, barely able to parry the storm of attacks. The bone sword left trails of corrupted space with every swing, while the other hands tried to grab him with fingers that could reshape flesh like clay.
I need to take a bigger risk, Lu Changcheng realized.
Playing it safe will only lead to slow defeat.
He deliberately allowed one of the being's attacks to connect. The bone sword punched through his defenses and tore a hole in his stomach the size of a football. Pain exploded through his body as divine ichor splashed across his intestines, but he used the opening it created.
His Pure Yang Sword flashed out in two perfect arcs, executing his Severing the Void technique with precision. Both strikes found their mark, cutting through two more of the being's arms just below the shoulders. Divine blood sprayed across the obsidian as the severed limbs fell with sounds like breaking stone.
The being staggered, its remaining three arms trying to compensate for the sudden loss. For the first time since the battle began, Lu Changcheng saw genuine vulnerability in its movements.
Now or never, he thought, gathering every remaining scrap of power in his body.
I have to gamble everything on this one attack.
"Heavenly Wrath of Tribulation!" he roared, pouring his entire qi into the technique.
The sky above them split open, revealing the realm of pure tribulation lightning that lay beyond mortal comprehension. From that crack in reality poured a tsunami of celestial judgment, each bolt carrying the weight of Heaven's wrath.
The wave of tribulation lightning crashed down on the being like a cosmic avalanche. The force was so intense it almost broke the obsidian plain. Reality itself groaned under the strain of containing such concentrated power.
The being's aura of terror rose to meet the attack, but even combined divine laws couldn't completely deflect the judgment of Heaven. Lightning tore through its defenses, searing divine flesh and cracking the remaining masks.
The creature staggered, its massive form wavering as the tribulation energy coursed through its system. For a crucial moment, its coordination faltered.
Lu Changcheng didn't hesitate. He used his Daoist Step Between Horizons to teleport directly behind the being, appearing with his hand already reaching for the center mask. The one that still bore traces of his brother's human features.
His fingers closed around the pale surface, and he pulled.
The sound was indescribable. Not just the physical tearing of flesh, but the ripping of concepts themselves. Reality screamed as fundamental forces were forcibly separated. The texture under his hands was wrong in ways that made his soul recoil, like touching living nightmare given form.
But he didn't let go.
The mask came free with a wet, tearing sound that echoed across dimensions. Divine ichor splashed his hands as sinews snapped and cosmic bonds shattered. The being's scream was like the sound of a god dying, a wail of anguish that made the obsidian plain crack in perfect spirals.
Lu Changcheng immediately swallowed a mythical grade healing elixir, feeling the hole in his stomach seal itself as divine medicine worked its miracle. He needed to be at full strength for whatever came next.
The being's body began to dissolve into black liquid, the cosmic forces that had held it together finally coming apart. The shadow fabric of its robes unraveled into nothingness, while the wing like structures on its back crumbled to ash. The bone sword fell from nerveless fingers and began sinking into the liquefying form.
But the dissolution wasn't random. The black liquid flowed toward the Sword of pure horror on the ground, drawn by some cosmic magnetism. The blade began to glow with dark energy as it absorbed the essence of consumed divinity, becoming something more and less than it had been before.
In his hand, the mask he had torn free began to transform.
The pale, porcelain like surface cracked and fell away like an eggshell, revealing what lay beneath. Flesh and bone reformed themselves into recognizably human features. Hair grew from bare scalp, and skin took on the warmth of living tissue.
It was Ren's head, perfectly preserved but somehow wrong. His eyes were open, staring at Lu Changcheng with an expression of pure hatred and unwillingness. The eyes held no recognition, no trace of the bond they had once shared.
Lu Changcheng's face darkened as he stared into those hate filled lifeless eyes. The question that had been haunting him throughout their battle finally demanded an answer.
Is my brother really dead?