"Asura King, where is Mr. Brown?"
I immediately shouted, but the atmosphere in the arena was thick and heavy, filled with a sense of imminent violence.
The Asura King didn’t answer me. Barefoot, he stepped through the air toward Tan Tian, while Tan Tian also walked toward him.
"Impure creature, I didn’t expect you to break through the restriction I set on the Asura Realm so quickly."
"It wasn’t that I couldn’t break through, but that I knew even if I did, I still couldn’t leave. So I chose to wait—until I sensed Ethan Zhang’s presence."
I swallowed hard. He’s strong—Tan Tian is truly fearless, undaunted by Buddhist or Taoist powers. Even the Six Paths can’t harm him.
"Still holding a grudge over what happened back then?"
Tan Tian asked, and the Asura King raised his fist, stopping in place and glaring fiercely at Tan Tian.
"It was you who betrayed the Asura Realm back then. You broke our trust. I gave you certain advantages, which let that zombie Luna Quay successfully complete his transformation. But then you had the nerve to alert Divine Law, letting it know about our plan to seize the Living World. Ha! You bastard."
With a thunderous crash, the Asura King swung his fist at Tan Tian. Tan Tian didn’t back down; black bone plates grew all over his body. I stared in shock as, with a loud crack, the bone plates shattered. Tan Tian was sent flying toward me, stabilizing himself midair before landing in a half-crouch. His body began to writhe, and then, with a series of explosive sounds, his body started to burst open from the inside, bit by bit.
But at once, the swirling dust gathered, and Tan Tian stood before me again. He twisted his neck, silently watching the furious Asura King.
"Even if I hadn’t alerted Divine Law, once you started moving, every faction would target you. Your attempt to disrupt the Six Paths of Reincarnation would bring even harsher punishment than now."
"Punishment? Hahaha..."
The Asura King laughed furiously, his expression terrifying, veins bulging on his forehead.
"I only want to reclaim the status that was ours. First, the Asura Realm; second, Divine Law."
"That’s none of my business. Just tell me how to get back, Asura King. Enough. We’ve fought for months. I can’t defeat you, and you can’t defeat me."
The Asura King sneered, swung a fist through the air with a whoosh, and with a bang, Tan Tian’s right shoulder exploded—but he quickly recovered.
"As an Asura, I can’t kill you. But as the representative of the Asura Realm in the Living World, Zane Zhuang is capable of killing you."
Tan Tian remained expressionless and nodded slightly.
"You’re right. Zane Zhuang could kill me, but not now—at least not for another 500 years. And in those 500 years, many changes will happen. For example, the one behind me—that’s a terrifying and imminent future for both humans and ghosts. What’s about to happen is close at hand. Our fighting now is meaningless. I have to return to the Dark Banquet."
"I won’t let you leave."
The Asura King declared with absolute certainty. At this, Tan Tian began to float upward.
"Do you want to witness my power, Asura King?"
Tan Tian said coldly. The Asura King immediately raised his six arms, a buzzing sound filling the air.
"Manifest Aspect, appear..."
A cracking sound rang out. In an instant, my eyes widened as the gray-black sky around us fractured, and the island beneath my feet split open, trembling slightly.
The cracks in the sky grew wider. A massive black claw reached out from the fissure. I stared in disbelief as the Asura King flew toward the claw.
With a thunderous roar, just as the Asura King neared the giant black claw, he struck it with his fist, sending it back into the crack. The fissure vanished instantly, but then, from all the splits in the sky, more black claws began to emerge.
"My Manifest Aspect is limitless—it doesn’t exist only between heaven and earth."
With a deafening boom, I began to float upward. The floating island beneath my feet split open, and a massive black claw emerged. Tan Tian slowly descended onto the claw and sat cross-legged.
The Asura King's movements grew faster and faster, darting through the sky, punching the black claws back into the fissures.
The upheaval between heaven and earth didn’t end—it kept getting worse. Finally, the cracks in the sky vanished.
In an instant, the Asura King appeared before Tan Tian, staring at him in silence. The surrounding mountains began to tremble, and more claws emerged from the fissures. Once again, cracks appeared in the sky.
"Well, Asura King, if you keep this up, the Asura Realm will suffer severe damage."
The Asura King said nothing, just stared intently at Tan Tian. Suddenly, shadows appeared on his body, multiplying until countless shadows overlapped, trembling faintly.
"I won’t let you wreak havoc."
With a boom, the Asura King instantly split into countless clones, rushing in all directions. He himself stood in front of Tan Tian, arms folded, refusing to back down.
The clones rapidly punched the black claws back into the fissures. Tan Tian held his ground, but eventually he stood up and, with a whoosh, lunged at the Asura King.
For an instant, I saw a purple-black beam of light refracting and leaping through the air, circling around the Asura King.
"Looking for my Manifest Aspect? Too bad—my Manifest Aspect is the entire Asura Realm."
With a thunderous blow, as the Asura King struck, Tan Tian appeared—his body shattered instantly by the immense power of six fists.
The chaos around us gradually subsided. The split island fused back together, the Asura King's clones vanished one by one, and Tan Tian reformed, coldly staring at me.
"Aren’t you going to do something, Ethan Zhang? Don’t you want to go back?"
"Of course I do. That’s why I came here to ask you, Tan Tian—what is the real purpose of the Dark Banquet?"
Tan Tian silently stared at me, then slowly passed by the Asura King and stood before me.
"What do you plan to do once you know?"
I shook my head.
"I just want to return to the Living World—to the world that was originally mine."
"To create a mirrored world."
I looked at Tan Tian in confusion, and in an instant, the Asura King burst out laughing.
"Humans really are insane, actually wanting to do something like this. It’s pure delusion."
Tan Tian turned away, speaking coldly.
"It’s not a delusion. With the overwhelming, supreme power of illusion, it can be done."
"What does that mean, exactly?"
I asked again.
"A mirror has two sides. The mirrored world means transplanting everything from the Living World—plants, trees—over here, duplicating it in this darkness. That’s the first part of the plan."
I stared at Tan Tian in disbelief, mouth agape. My reaction was the same as the Asura King’s—this was pure fantasy. To mirror everything from the Living World into the darkness was impossible.
"Why do it?"
"One reason is to restore my emotions. As for the others, I don’t know. They plan to mirror and copy everything from human history, every century, into this world. That’s why they’ve collected vast, precise data on people."
It sounded completely fantastical, but as Tan Tian spoke, I remembered the experiments in those round glass spheres—many contained things found only in the Living World.
"Alright, Ethan Zhang, I’ve answered your questions. Now it’s my turn: What does Yin Choujian intend to do? You know that if I return to that darkness, it will be a huge disadvantage for you all."
I shook my head.
"I really don’t know. But that darkness is vanishing, being devoured by the fourth layer of ultimate darkness spilling out from illusion."
Tan Tian’s eyes flickered with emotion. At that moment, the Asura King approached us.
"No matter what, I won’t let you leave, Tan Tian."
"I don’t need you, Asura King. If you can enter, you can leave. Ethan Zhang, use your coexistence instinct to find the way out of the Asura Realm."
I stared in shock. Suddenly, the Asura King lunged at me, but Tan Tian blocked his attack with a bang.
"Hurry up. The way you came is the way you leave. You found Ethan Zhang because you possess coexistence instinct."
Something was very wrong—the Asura King was filled with hostility toward me and wanted to kill me.
I floated upward at once. Behind me, Tan Tian was shattered by the Asura King's fist, but instantly caught up to me. With a gurgling sound, a mass of brown-yellow mud rose up in front of me. With several bangs, powerful shockwaves dispersed around the Asura King, the force blocked by the mud.