The entire world was a haze of yellow and white. Gases still floated in the air. The three of them sat on the ground, silent for a long moment. Sylvia Yan stared at her hands, her face expressionless. Her hands were nothing but a bloody mess now—hardly recognizable as hands at all.
Meanwhile, Phantom Sage kept poking at his left eye. The eyeball was completely gone. He bared his teeth, spat out a mouthful of dark blood, and a splash of bloody water dribbled from his lips.
“Our bodies have been pushed this far. Heh… those guys were pretty impressive. I’d love to fight that monk again, just to see what it’s like. Buddhism, huh? Something I’ve never seen before. And that beast he brought with him—my eye was gouged out by that animal.”
Emperor God sighed and stood up, kicking the white sand in frustration.
“You all know why we failed, don’t you? The three of us have always done things our own way, never working together—not even a little. That’s the main reason for our defeat. Especially you, Phantom Sage. You’re too careless. When you were in charge of the Upper Hell, you never took on the responsibilities you should have.”
“And you? What did you accomplish in the Lower Hell? You were no better. Hmph.”
At that moment, Sylvia Yan stood up.
“Endless bickering—how many thousands of years has it been like this? How long do you plan to keep arguing? Our failure is the result of natural selection. If things never change or turn over, the world stagnates and heads for destruction. We’re relics of a bygone era. We had all the power, but acted recklessly, without rules or order—just doing whatever we pleased. So, when the Heavenly Way descended, no matter what we did, we could never defy it.”
The three looked at each other in silence for a long time. Emperor God hung his head in frustration, looking deeply dejected.
“The Flow of Hell… I never imagined that black-faced guy could control it. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The things those people use are in a league of their own—they call it the Way. What exactly is it? I’d like to see it for myself.”
Phantom Sage smiled faintly and stood up. With a wave of his hand, the swirling yellow-white vapors around them slowly condensed and formed a chair. He sat down on it.
“They tossed us into this garbage dump—this must have been their goal, to seal us away forever. And they succeeded. Heh.”
Emperor God spoke, and Phantom Sage burst out laughing.
“Garbage dump is right. This place is where ghosts come after death—that’s one way to put it. There’s such intense Killing Intent all around, everything is shattered and broken, overflowing everywhere. Ha! It’s all just trash. There’s nothing left.”
“Hmph. In the end, we were tricked by the Honored One. If I’d known what would happen, we should’ve fought back then. If we’d won, we wouldn’t have lost that person. But now, it’s all too late.”
At that moment, Sylvia Yan slowly raised her mangled hand. I saw yellow-white vapors gathering around her palm, gradually radiating a strong white light.
“Everything here is conscious—the air, the sand, the sky, the earth. All of it is full of countless minds. Stand up, you two.”
Just then, flames ignited on Sylvia Yan’s hand. Her damaged hands began to heal bit by bit, and soon, all her wounds across her body vanished.
“What’s happening, Sylvia Yan? This place…”
Emperor God stared at her in astonishment. Sylvia Yan looked back at him and smiled—a smile as sudden and gentle as a glacier melting.
“I represent Thought, you represent Order, and Phantom Sage embodies Form. Have you forgotten? The three of us are triplets—when we were born from our mother's womb, the Honored One endowed us with everything. It’s time to start over. Everything has been destroyed. Now, we are nothing. If we can’t escape, then let’s build a world—let’s make this place a world again.”
“Mother Goddess Nuwa creating humans, huh? Heh, interesting.”
Phantom Sage smiled and stood up from the chair, which instantly dissolved back into vapor. Emperor God crouched, grabbed a handful of sand, and blew on it. The grains seemed to come alive, gathering together and gradually forming a human shape.
“Limbs, head, hands and feet, organs, flesh and blood—that’s a person.”
I stared in astonishment as the sand slowly took on the shape of a person. It looked like a plaster model—grayish, with no facial expression. But gradually, the stiff skin softened, and eventually, a human figure appeared.
But this couldn’t be called a person at all. The moment it opened its eyes, I swallowed hard—this was not human. There was no emotion in its gaze, no human aura about it. It was nothing but a finely carved statue, all sharp edges and angles.
“I’ve created the order of flesh—now give it thought.”
Sylvia Yan quietly walked over, placed a hand on the manufactured human, and closed her eyes. A stream of red vapor slowly entered the figure’s head.
With a cry, the figure screamed, clutching its head in pain, kneeling and wailing. Phantom Sage stepped forward.
“A thing without a soul can never be called human. Let me give it a soul.”
As Phantom Sage spoke, he waved his hand and streams of yellow-white vapor began to condense in his palm. Then, he injected a softly glowing white mass into the body of the figure.
(Irrelevant system message skipped.)
“Is it finished?”
Emperor God spoke, but suddenly—crack! The figure before them exploded, dissolving into a shower of sand with a whimper, scattering into the air.
Emperor God laughed loudly, shaking his head.
“Creating humans… heh, looks impossible, don’t you think? Even with soul, flesh, and thought, it still failed, didn’t it?”
“We’ve only failed once. Let’s keep going.”
Phantom Sage said, and the three began to try again. I watched as they repeatedly attempted to create humans, using whatever was available in this place.
Failure, and more failure—countless years must have passed. The three seemed completely absorbed in the process, repeating it endlessly, with no concept of time, purpose, or meaning.
“In the end, this place must be the opposite of the living world—the Shadow Realm.”
Emperor God spoke, while Phantom Sage sat down, resting his hands on his knees and gazing up at the sky.
“That’s the nature of Yin and Yang—it’s impossible to succeed. Humans aren’t just soul, flesh, and thought. A person is the union of Yin and Yang. This world has only Yin, no Yang, so we…”
“Stop arguing.”
Sylvia Yan spoke, eyes closed, as if sensing something.
The process went on for a long time. During that period, Emperor God and Phantom Sage simply lay on the ground, saying nothing, their faces expressionless as they stared at the sky.
“We’re assembling the pieces wrong.”
Those words made Phantom Sage and Emperor God scramble to their feet. It seemed they understood something.
“That’s right. Before, all we did was randomly force these fragments together.”
Phantom Sage spoke, and the cloud of worry vanished from Emperor God’s face.
“So we need to find the fragments of a once-whole person’s soul and consciousness. Looks like it’ll take a long time.”
Sylvia Yan raised her hand, and gradually, a bright white stone appeared in her palm.
“Go search—no matter how many years or how much time it takes, we must find all the fragments of a complete person. Only then can we piece them together. I’ve already chosen someone. After his destruction, his consciousness and soul shattered and entered this world. This stone is a part of his mind and soul. Each of you, take a piece.”
As she spoke, Sylvia Yan split the stone into three pieces and handed them to the others.
“James Grant? That’s the name of this person—a general, killed in battle. Why did you choose him?”
“His mind is filled with the strongest obsession in this world—that’s why I chose him. Sometimes, that’s what a soul is. The stronger the obsession, the more the soul stands out. That makes it easier for us to find.”
As they spoke, the three drifted off in different directions, relying on the stones in their hands to search this yellow-white world for fragments of James Grant, collecting them bit by bit.
Finally, after a long time, the three gathered together again, having finished collecting the fragments.
“Now we just need to piece together all the fragments according to this person’s original form.”
Each of them brought what they’d collected. Emperor God began, using sand to shape a body. Then Phantom Sage injected the reconstructed soul into the flesh, and something strange happened.
I swallowed hard. The figure that had looked like a cold, lifeless statue began to change—long hair grew out, and it was James Grant. My eyes widened as Sylvia Yan slowly infused all of James Grant’s consciousness into him.
A streak of golden light flashed.
“Yuna Ji, go! Don’t worry about me—go, go…”
A shout rang out as James Grant woke up. Sylvia Yan slapped him on the head, and the agitated James Grant fainted immediately.
“Looks like his mental state is stuck at the moment of death. We finally managed to reconstruct someone—let’s not ruin it now.”