There is a specific kind of frustration that comes from arguing with yourself in the shower. Now, imagine that frustration magnified a thousand times, given the body of a Martial Emperor, and armed with a sword that can cut through reality.
Su Ye dodged a shovel strike—not his own shovel, but a Shadow Shovel conjured by the possessed Emperor.
CLANG.
The blow cracked the obsidian floor where Su Ye's head had been a second ago.
"You are slow," the Emperor said, his voice a distorted echo of Su Ye's own mockery. "I remember your moves. I remember your muscle memory. I know you're going to throw sand in my eyes before I even do it."
The Emperor flicked his wrist. A wave of Shadow Sand flew into Su Ye's face
.
"Gah! That's my move!" Su Ye sputtered, wiping his eyes. "Copyright infringement!"
"I am the upgrade," the Shadow-Emperor smirked. "I have your cunning, but I also have the Emperor's cultivation. Tier-6 Foundation. Unlimited resources. And better fashion sense."
He smoothed his dragon robes.
"Kill him," the Shadow commanded.
On the other side of the throne room, the Heavenly Kirin roared. It was a tragedy of a beast. Its golden scales were dull, and the black, rune-covered blindfold wrapped around its eyes pulsed with pain. It couldn't see friend or foe; it only felt the Eunuch's command to destroy.
It reared up, hooves flaming with holy fire, aiming to stomp Luo Bing into paste.
"Father! Stop!" Luo Bing screamed, raising her shield. She couldn't attack the Kirin—it was the symbol of her family.
"He can't hear you!" Eunuch Wei laughed, fanning himself safely behind a pillar. "The beast is sealed! Just like your father's mind!"
"Zhu Zhu!" Su Ye yelled while dodging another sword strike. "Tank the horse!"
Zhu Zhu, who was currently trying to chew the gold leaf off the armrest of the throne, looked up. He saw the flaming hooves descending on the Princess.
Sigh.
Zhu Zhu teleported (a short-range Void hop). He appeared above Luo Bing. He inflated his belly. [Void Bounce].
BOING.
The Kirin's hooves hit the rubbery, void-infused belly of the pig. The massive beast bounced off, stumbling backward.
"It's blind!" Moonbell hissed, circling the beast. "We need to remove the mask!"
"I'm a little busy fighting myself!" Su Ye shouted, parrying the Emperor's blade with his shovel handle. Sparks flew. The force of the blow drove Su Ye's knees into the floor.
The Shadow-Emperor leaned in, his face inches from Su Ye's. The black eyes were void-empty.
"Give up, Warden," the Shadow whispered. "You are just a zookeeper. I am the King of the Jungle. Once I kill you, I will take the Sky-Eater. I will eat the world."
"You have one problem," Su Ye gritted his teeth, pushing back.
"And what is that?"
"You copied my memories," Su Ye grinned, sweat dripping down his nose. "But you copied the memories of yesterday. You don't know what I learned today."
"And what did you learn today?"
"I learned that Gao Ming is really, really annoying when he shines a light in your face."
Su Ye yelled: "NOW! OPERATION DISCO BALL!"
Gao Ming, who had been hiding behind a curtain, leaped onto the center table. He spread his mirror-cape wide.
"Witness the Brilliance of the Narcissist!"
Little Sun, perched on Gao Ming's head, unleashed a Solar Flare.
The beam hit Gao Ming's cape. The mirrors didn't scatter the light this time. They focused it. A singular, blinding laser beam of pure solar energy shot across the room.
It didn't hit the Emperor. It hit the Kirin's Blindfold.
HISSSSS.
The black cloth, woven from shadow magic, screamed as the concentrated sunlight burned it. Shadows hate light. The runes on the blindfold sizzled.
"My eyes!" Eunuch Wei shrieked, covering his face. "The brightness!"
The Kirin thrashed, sensing the weakness in its bonds.
"Now, Moonbell!" Su Ye shouted. "Cut the knot!"
The Nine-Tailed Fox launched herself from the wall. She was a silver blur. She passed over the thrashing Kirin. Her claws, infused with moonlight, slashed the back of the burning blindfold.
SNAP.
The cloth fell away.
The Heavenly Kirin froze.
Its eyelids fluttered open. Its eyes were not black. They were profound, swirling pools of liquid gold—the eyes of absolute judgment.
The beast looked around.
It saw the pig protecting the Princess.
It saw the Fox standing guard.
It saw the Eunuch hiding in the corner.
And it saw the Emperor attacking a stable boy.
The Kirin snorted. A puff of smoke shaped like a gavel came out of its nose.
[Divine Beast Status: Unbound.]
[Judgment: Pending.]
"No!" Eunuch Wei panicked. He pulled out a backup control talisman. "Obey me, beast! I am the voice of the Emperor!"
The Kirin turned its head slowly toward Wei. It looked at the talisman. It looked at Wei's soul.
It didn't roar. It simply stepped forward and Judged.
A beam of golden light shot from the Kirin's antlers. It hit Wei.
There was no explosion. Wei simply... flattened. The gravity of his own sins (and the Kirin's magic) crushed him into the floor tiles.
"I... repent..." Wei squeaked, pressed as flat as a pancake.
"One down," Su Ye panted, kicking the Shadow-Emperor away. "Now for the big guy."
The Heavenly Kirin turned its gaze to the Emperor. It sensed the corruption. It sensed the Void Shadow piloting the body of its master.
It lowered its horns, preparing to charge the Emperor.
"No!" Luo Bing threw herself in front of the beast. "Don't kill him! That's my father!"
The Kirin paused. It looked at Luo Bing. It whined softly. It knew. It couldn't kill the host to save the realm.
The Shadow-Emperor laughed. "See? Sentimental fools. The beast is useless if it cannot kill."
He raised his hand. The entire Throne Room began to darken. The shadows on the walls peeled off, forming hundreds of spikes aimed at Su Ye and the Princess.
"I will end this," the Shadow declared. "I will enact the Imperial Decree of Execution."
The pressure in the room multiplied. Su Ye felt his bones creaking. This was the power of the Capital itself—the Dragon Formation responding to the Emperor's will.
"I can't beat him," Su Ye realized. "He has the admin codes to the city."
He looked at the Kirin. He looked at Luo Bing.
"I need to get inside," Su Ye said.
"Inside the barrier?" Luo Bing asked.
"Inside his head," Su Ye tapped his temple.
"The Shadow is driving the car. I need to reach into the backseat and wake up the passenger."
He looked at the Kirin.
"Hey, Sparky!" Su Ye whistled at the Divine Beast. "You want your master back? Throw me!"
The Kirin understood. It lowered its head.
Su Ye ran. He jumped onto the Kirin's nose.
The Kirin tossed its head with divine strength.
Su Ye flew through the air like a cannonball, straight at the Emperor.
"Futile," the Shadow sneered, raising his sword to impale Su Ye mid-air.
"Zhu Zhu! Interference!"
Zhu Zhu, from across the room, opened his mouth and inhaled. He didn't eat the Emperor. He ate the air in front of the Emperor.
A vacuum formed. The Shadow-Emperor stumbled forward, pulled by the sudden lack of wind resistance. His aim faltered.
Su Ye crashed into him. He didn't stab the Emperor. He tackled him.
Forehead to forehead.
SMACK.
Su Ye slammed his hand onto the Emperor's chest.
Zzzzt.
"Connection Established."
[Target: The Human Emperor (Possessed).]
[Guardian Beast: The Heavenly Kirin.]
[Intruder Detected: Void Shadow Reflection.]
[Entering Spirit Plane...]
Su Ye opened his eyes. He wasn't in the throne room. He was standing in a vast, grey version of the Imperial Capital. The sky was static. The buildings were crumbling.
In the center of the Mind Palace sat the Emperor. He looked old, tired, and was wrapped in black chains.
Standing over him was the Reflection—the Shadow-Su Ye.
"Get out," the Shadow said. It held a shovel made of static. "This mind is occupied."
"I'm evicting you," Su Ye summoned his own shovel (Spirit Form). "You're a bad tenant. You haven't paid rent, and you're ruining the property value."
"I am you," the Shadow snarled. "I am your ambition without your weakness. I am your power without your morals. Why fight me? We can rule this Empire. We can tame the Void itself."
"Ambition?" Su Ye laughed. "Buddy, my ambition is to open a petting zoo and retire rich. Your ambition is... what? Destroying the world? That sounds like a lot of paperwork."
Su Ye charged.
The two shoveled warriors clashed. It was a brutal, ugly fight. No magic. No beasts. Just two guys hitting each other with farming tools in a metaphysical parking lot.
But the Shadow was stronger. It pushed Su Ye back.
"You are weak!" The Shadow roared. "You care about the beasts! You care about the girl! That weighs you down!"
"That's not weight," Su Ye gritted his teeth, blocking a blow. "That's leverage."
He looked past the Shadow, at the chained Emperor.
"Hey! Your Majesty!" Su Ye shouted. "Wake up!"
The Emperor didn't move. "Let me sleep... the darkness is quiet..."
"Your daughter is outside!" Su Ye yelled. "She's fighting a blinded god because she refuses to hurt you! Are you going to let her die?"
The Emperor's finger twitched.
"She learned pizza for you!" Su Ye improvised wildly. "She crashed a sun-chariot into your house! That's how much she cares! Wake up, you old goat!"
The Shadow slammed Su Ye into the ground. It raised its shovel for the killing blow. "He cannot hear you. He has given up."
But suddenly, the grey sky of the Mind Palace cracked.
A beam of golden light shot down.
It was the Kirin. Even outside the mind, the bond between Beast and Master transcended dimensions. The Kirin was roaring in the real world, and the sound echoed here.
The Emperor's eyes snapped open.
"My... Kirin?"
He saw the Shadow standing over Su Ye. He saw the black chains on his arms.
The Emperor stood up. He didn't break the chains; he ignored them. He was the Emperor. Chains were irrelevant.
"You," the Emperor spoke to the Shadow. "You are wearing my face. And you are hurting my guest."
The Emperor raised his hand.
In the Mind Palace, the ground shook. A massive golden dragon materialized behind the Emperor—the Imperial Will.
"This is my mind," the Emperor roared. "GET OFF MY THRONE!"
The Golden Dragon lunged. It didn't bite Su Ye. It bit the Shadow.
The Shadow screamed as the Imperial Will tore into its substance.
"No! I am the Void! I am inevitable!"
"You are a trespasser," Su Ye stood up, dusting himself off. He walked up to the screaming Shadow.
"And you forgot one thing," Su Ye said.
"What?!" The Shadow dissolved into static.
"I have a shovel," Su Ye swung. "And I bury my mistakes."
WHACK.
Su Ye hit the Shadow so hard it shattered into a million pixels of light.
The Mind Palace began to collapse. The grey turned to gold.
The Emperor looked at Su Ye. He smiled, looking tired but sane.
"You have a heavy hand, young man," the Emperor said.
"Heavy Sword Style," Su Ye winked. "Time to wake up, Your Majesty."
Su Ye gasped and flew backward, thrown off the Emperor's chest by a wave of golden energy.
The Emperor staggered. The blackness faded from his eyes, replaced by a warm, human brown. He fell to his knees.
"Father!" Luo Bing dropped her shield and ran to him.
The Emperor caught her. He hugged her.
"Bing'er... I'm sorry."
The Shadow was gone. Expelled.
But it wasn't destroyed.
A pool of black ink coalesced on the floor. It boiled. It screamed.
"I... WILL... NOT... FADE!"
The Shadow rose up. It didn't have a human shape anymore. It was a monstrosity—a Void Horror. It grew massive, filling the vaulted ceiling of the throne room. It had tentacles, teeth, and Su Ye's face stretched across its torso.
"If I cannot have the Emperor," the Void Horror shrieked, "I will eat the Capital!"
It began to draw in energy. The walls of the palace started to crack. The Void was trying to self-destruct and take the city with it.
"It's going critical!" Lin Fan yelled. "It's a Void Bomb! Just like the Spire!"
"Zhu Zhu is full!" Su Ye checked the pig. Zhu Zhu was asleep, belly distended. He couldn't eat another bite.
"How do we stop it?" Moonbell hissed, her tails flaring. "It is pure energy!"
Su Ye looked at the massive, exploding monster. He looked at the hole in the ceiling where they had crashed.
He smiled.
"We don't stop it," Su Ye grabbed his communication stone. "We feed it to the big fish."
He yelled into the stone.
"Senior Tortoise! NOW!"
Above the Palace, the clouds parted.
The Sky-Eater dropped out of stealth mode. The massive mountain plummeted toward the Palace.
It didn't crash. It opened its Blowhole.
A massive suction force—generated by the World Tree Engine—descended like a tornado.
Su Ye pointed at the Void Horror.
"Sky-Eater! SNACK TIME!"
The mountain inhaled.
The Void Horror screamed as it was lifted off the ground. It clawed at the floor tiles, but the suction of a continent-sized beast was absolute.
SCHLOOP.
The Shadow Monster was sucked out of the throne room, through the hole in the roof, and up into the sky. It disappeared into the Sky-Eater's intake vents.
[System Notification:]
[Target Consumed.]
[Nutritional Value: High.]
[Side Effect: The Mountain now has a sarcastic personality.]
Silence fell over the Throne Room.
The Emperor, the Princess, and the Team looked up at the giant mountain hovering over the city.
"Did..." the Emperor blinked. "Did your mountain just eat my inner demon?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Su Ye bowed, putting his shovel away. "It's part of the premium cleaning service. That will be five million spirit stones, please."