The air was filled with relentless gnawing, like teeth scraping memory itself. I tried to wield my power against the monsters that were slowly devouring fragments of my memory, but I couldn’t touch them at all. The Wraithlord did not pursue me; instead, he watched from a distance, his laughter echoing in the gloom.
"Go ahead and try, Ethan Zhang. You can’t touch these things—do you know why?"
My eyes widened. The purple sphere in the air that held my memories was already starting to fracture, its surface crawling with countless fissures. Unlike before, when karmic energy could restore everything, this time my memories were being devoured by an outside force.
I ignored the Wraithlord and kept searching for a solution. Grotesque, swollen purple creatures continued to multiply, swarming across the floating islands.
"It’s a simple method, Ethan Zhang. When I said I would kill you, I meant killing your memories. You are nothing but a fleeting shadow now, sustained only by memory. Without a true body, your consciousness clings to what remains. Once your memories are devoured, everything ends."
Furious, I spun and charged at the Wraithlord. Now, the only way to stop my memories from being consumed was to defeat him.
With a thunderous crash, my fist struck at the Wraithlord, but he slipped aside at the last instant. My power—fused from Buddhist and Daoist energies—surged, only to be abruptly snuffed out. Every time I tried to unleash my strength, the Wraithlord’s power swallowed it whole. The more it happened, the more impossible it seemed. Then it hit me: the Wraithlord must have developed this power just to counter me. I knew his cunning—he always prepared countermeasures and never acted rashly.
"Once those things devour all your memories, the vessel of your consciousness will disappear, and you will return to your destined place."
My eyes widened. Suddenly, beams of white light erupted from behind, piercing the Wraithlord’s body. I pressed my hands to the white beams thrust through his chest, channeling the power of humanity into them. With a jagged crack, the Wraithlord stared at me in shock as fissures spread from the wound in his chest.
"It truly is astonishing, Ethan Zhang. But now, you’re no match for me. Perhaps in decades, centuries, or even millennia, we’ll face each other again. But for now, it all ends here."
My eyes widened in horror as white energy radiated from my body, only to be instantly devoured by the black mist seeping from the Wraithlord’s form. Darkness crept up my hands, and I desperately summoned the power of the Dao to purge it, but the consuming force accelerated. I couldn’t escape in time—helpless, my hands detached from my body. I invoked karmic energy to shift above the Wraithlord, but my hands had already vanished.
Below, the Wraithlord was shrouded in black mist, his blood-red eyes glaring coldly at me. I focused my intent, unleashing the power of all the souls within his body. A violent burst of white light pierced the darkness, but it was devoured in an instant, vanishing like a fleeting glimpse. I stared in agony at my lost hands—there was no way to restore them, and my power was now leaking uncontrollably from my body.
I glanced back at the floating islands behind me—more than half had already disappeared. The remaining ones were overrun by hordes of purple monsters, devouring everything in sight. In a flash, the Wraithlord was before me. My form dissolved into a swirling mist of black and white, dodging his strike just in time.
As I was about to reconstitute my body, the Wraithlord seized me, and with a thunderous crash, hurled me onto a fragmented island below.
The moment I landed, the island shattered into debris. My eyes widened again—the Wraithlord’s power had grown even stronger than before. I couldn’t understand where he was drawing such strength from. His Threefold Soul was still in a state of division, and though his Sevenfold Spirit had recombined, it shouldn’t have made him this powerful.
I fought desperately, wielding every ounce of my inner strength, but soon realized the Buddhist and Daoist energies within me were rapidly draining away. Even my karmic energy was nearly impossible to summon.
With a sharp crack, a fragment whizzed past my eyes—I immediately noticed my body had begun to split apart. The Wraithlord pressed down on me with one hand; I was immobilized, forced to endure his ever-increasing power.
The Wraithlord’s smile vanished, replaced by a murderous aura. His eyes were icy as he stared at me. I struggled, but couldn’t rise. The ground around me fractured, massive stones crushed to dust, and I was slowly pressed deeper into the collapsing earth by his overwhelming force.
With a sickening splatter, I coughed up blood as cracks split across my body. Suddenly, the Wraithlord withdrew all his power.
"It’s over, Ethan Zhang. The fact you could wound me at all is a miracle. But now, you’re no match for me. It’s a shame—I had hoped to wait until you were strong enough to face me head-on. But time won’t allow it any longer."