"So you really have fully regained your senses."
I silently gazed at the Wraithlord before me. Earth Soul looked somewhat stunned at him, while anger welled up again from deep within me.
"Just what kind of deal did you make with the Wraithlord, Earth Soul? I wanted to ask you from the very beginning, but you never said a word. Are you ashamed? Have you fallen so far that you need the Wraithlord just to become stronger?"
As I spoke, Earth Soul's expression grew serious.
"The path I chose is different from yours and Ethan Zhang's."
"Different? It's not different—it's that you never chose any path at all, Earth Soul."
I pressed on, but at that moment the Wraithlord blocked my way. I glared at him viciously.
"You look strong. In that battle on the side of Heaven's Law, if it weren't for you, Ethan Zhang would have died long ago. Heaven's Law would have been dragged into the shadow realm by my three children. Where did you get such overwhelming power?"
I gazed quietly at the Wraithlord. He was powerful, and in a single glance, saw through the truth behind my strength.
"This doesn't concern you. Move aside."
"What you just said—that I never chose any path—I disagree."
I clenched my fist. In the instant I threw a punch, the Wraithlord caught my fist with one hand. Black mist surged from his body. My eyes widened, my pupils turning a bright white.
With a boom, the Wraithlord's entire arm exploded instantly. He was blasted away by a surge of immense force, crashing to the ground with a thud. The earth caved in completely. Earth Soul stared at me in disbelief.
"How is that possible?"
"Can't comprehend it?"
Earth Soul looked in astonishment at the Wraithlord behind him. His entire arm was trying to reform, but couldn't.
"The power of Heaven's Law is absolute, Wraithlord. You know very well—as long as you remain in this world of desire, a part of the Six Paths, I can destroy you."
The Wraithlord laughed heartily and nodded.
"Indeed, you can destroy me, Heavenly Soul. But you can't kill me."
Rage kept boiling up inside me. The power of desire, sensing my anger, began to shrink away. Everything on the forest floor around me started to fade. In my fully opened state, this was the second time I'd used this Heavenly Realm—the first was to help Ethan Zhang, but this time, I wanted to deal with these two before me.
Just as the Wraithlord said, I can't kill him. But I can shatter his form completely, then use my own power to suppress the scattered fragments from reforming—not just his body, but even the Wraithlord's consciousness.
"Go ahead and try. That last strike was perfect—you caught a gap in my power in an instant. Earth Soul, you'd better step back. The three of you were once one, but now, after the souls split, you're far weaker than Heavenly Soul and Ethan Zhang."
Earth Soul's face changed instantly. He glared at me, teeth clenched. I looked at him in surprise—he'd already started to resemble the Wraithlord inside: lonely, defiant, and full of hatred.
If these things become the source of your power, it's torment for anyone with self-awareness and feelings. Earth Soul wasn't like this before; though he was influenced by the End, he talked about wanting to destroy this meaningless world, but deep down he didn't truly think that way. The one who did was Ethan Zhang.
Earth Soul just disliked people—he never wanted to destroy everything. He was always pretending, and I knew that from the beginning. He's actually exhausted. That's why, time and again, I held back my true power and simply watched. Earth Soul always thought he was stronger than Ethan Zhang, and once, that was true.
I knew it clearly—it was only temporary. Because of their different mindsets, Ethan Zhang was more determined and steadfast than Earth Soul. That's the real source of strength. Earth Soul lacked that, while the Wraithlord possessed an unshakable obsession to destroy the world left by the gods, to erase everything Nuwa created. That was his conviction and the root of his power.
My instincts sensed everything clearly, even the weakness in Earth Soul's heart. Maybe he'd long sensed the gap between himself and Ethan Zhang. His pride was far greater than mine or Ethan Zhang's. When he gained immense power in an instant, he began to change—especially in his mindset.
But now, after witnessing Ethan Zhang's strength, Earth Soul's pride was deeply wounded. I don't know what the Wraithlord said to him, but when I saw Earth Soul, he felt like a stranger—almost unrecognizable. Instead, he's steadily walking the path the Wraithlord pointed out to him, convinced it's the right way.
The Wraithlord is clever—clever enough to control everything. I don't know what he was like in the past, and I don't care to know every detail. For someone to become so cunning, they must have survived trials that could have destroyed them.
Now the Wraithlord stands before me, sending that message. But what pains me most is Earth Soul—he's been used by the Wraithlord, yet doesn't realize it. Deep down, he feels inferior, lacks even basic instinct, and his realm is only half-formed.
Earth Soul, in this state, was completely kept in the dark by the Wraithlord.
"Earth Soul, has your mind stopped working altogether?"
I roared, but Earth Soul had already turned and started to float away. His face looked terrible, as if he couldn't hear anything anymore, his features twisted in rage—a rage that wasn't even his own.
I've always thought of Earth Soul as nothing special, and he saw himself as my equal in strength. But now, it seemed I'd struck his most vulnerable spot.
"Go ahead and try."
The Wraithlord spoke, then suddenly lunged at me. Darkness closed in around me—it was the power of ghostly confusion. My mind stayed clear, but my body was already trapped in a distorted space. I realized the darkness was trying to strangle me, each autonomous space created by overwhelming ghostly energy, using spatial dislocation to tear me apart.
"Too bad, Wraithlord. Do you really think you're so clever? So am I, because I'm skilled at observing everything—people, minds, and power alike."
With a roar, I instantly located the Wraithlord. White streams of energy shot from my hands, piercing his body. He stared at me in shock as the tangled black masses behind him began to vanish. The Wraithlord started to retreat.
My eyes slowly turned gold and red. The Wraithlord seemed to realize something. The moment he stopped, I was no longer in my original place, but farther away. The Wraithlord behind me was just an illusion—the real one was hidden within this vast force of desire.
"Testing me with these tricks won't work. I'm neither Ethan Zhang nor Earth Soul."
With a thunderous crash, I thrust my hand toward the space before me. The Wraithlord was instantly torn from the force of desire and slammed to the ground. I teleported in front of him, raising my hand as white smoke, like flames, swirled around my body.
"Unbelievable. Can you really become this strong just by observing?"
I sneered, staring at the Wraithlord's half-healed left hand, and struck without hesitation. This time, he didn't take the blow head-on, but instantly turned into black mist and scattered.
"It's useless."
With a rush, I moved to where the Wraithlord's true body was. As I struck, his form appeared in the air—he dodged, but his shoulder was dented, blood seeping from his body as he grinned.
"So you came at me with full strength from the start, hoping to shatter my Human Soul. Interesting, Heavenly Soul. You knew I was the Human Soul, so you came straight for me, without hesitation—because Heaven's Law holds absolute sway over the Human Soul."
"You're only half right."
With a rush, I grabbed the Wraithlord's shoulder. With a ripping sound, I tore off his entire left shoulder. He teleported away, slashing through the air, and I noticed black death-characters flying toward me. My eyes widened and my power burst out, instantly turning the words to ashes.
I flew to the Wraithlord, grabbing his neck. Instantly, white flames erupted around me, and his body began to fall apart. He smiled coldly.
"Do you really think you've won? Your realm is mature, your power too. But I've already seen it—the root of your strength. You are clever, but there are many kinds of cleverness. Right now, you're so angry you've lost your usual sharp judgment."
My eyes widened as the Wraithlord in front of me instantly shattered into pieces of stone. At that moment, blood-red eyes appeared at my side—a hand stabbed into my ribs. I reacted instantly, pulling away from the Wraithlord.
The Wraithlord looked utterly pleased, holding a handful of white flames. He blew on them, and the flames went out.