That was when I felt my very soul tremble. I couldn’t move, I could barely think. I just felt an overwhelming amount of fear and despair. The arrays plates parted and I was quickly dragged through the space towards the absolute center of the Gu Container. The plates moved back into position behind us. Not that escape was an option anymore.

In front of me as the plates parted was a giant crystal chamber that was clear, with a hand sized object. That had to be the Gu. On top of the crystal chamber was a black throne and a larger circular platform around one side of the crystal container, like a hat with a hole in it. I couldn’t sense anything through the crystal container, but I knew the Gu had to have a massive amount of energy.

As I was pulled closer, I noted that the crystal chamber was a dodecahedron. That brought me a brief moment of joy, knowing I had used the same shape in my cultivation in the past. I noticed Shen arriving before me, pulled from another part of the inner citadel.

There was a cloaked figure sitting on the pitch black throne with several holograms and controls around them. The throne was absorbing all light and only visible from the outline it created and the being sitting upon it. We landed at the far edge of the metal platform from the throne. There was the pull of gravity, keeping us in place on the platform in addition to whatever the demonic cultivator was doing to move us about.

The figure sitting on the throne wore a dark black cloak, with only two green fiery eyes showing from beneath it. We were slammed down onto the platform before the throne with no way to resist.

“So, you are the ones who made it this far. To my inner sanctum. Did you enjoy it?” The voice was surprisingly pleasant. I didn’t feel like my ears were about to melt off. I could move my mouth, but that was it.

“It was by far the worst experience I have had so far in my life. The suffering was immense. The environments were hellish. The ambient energy, corruptive and corrosive, senior demonic cultivator,” I said, hoping to flatter the demonic cultivator.

“Hahahahaha, how amusing. I am glad I could accommodate such foolish cultivators such as yourself. Soon this will come to an end, and I will be more powerful than ever. Climbing to new heights. I will see what truly lays at the top and then I will consume them to become even more powerful.”

That sounded really bad. But hopefully we were beneath this beings notice. Focus on more important things rather than us, please. You have a Gu you are making. You don’t need me. You have Shen. Just let me go. He was probably the one who alerted the demonic cultivator, so this was all his fault.

“Any chance you could let us go, senior super powerful demonic cultivator? Please?” I asked with as much enthusiasm and pleading as I could muster. It was a long shot, but I had hope that asking nicely would work. There was zero chance it would work, but I couldn’t come up with anything else at the moment.

“Nope. Not a chance. You will be my snack. I always love the taste of hope. Savoring it when it is destroyed bit by bit. There is nothing more enjoyable than crushing hope that others have. Oh, maybe I could spare you. Hahahahaha, there is that delicious hope you foolish cultivator. You have come before me, there is no escape. Now to season you with fear and despair. You will be a nice appetizer before the Gu completes, seasoned just right. The Gu will be done soon, but there is no reason to wait. Let’s start with the quiet one, their screams are always the best and they think they can turn the situation around in some way. A rare but enjoyable spicey flavor,” the demonic cultivator said, reading my emotions perfectly.

Shen and I were both forced to stand up straight. The demonic cultivator flicked a gloved hand towards Shen, who went floating towards him. Everything paused and the demonic cultivator flicked his hand once more, Shen went flying away and was caught by a middle aged looking man. The new arrival had a blank expression on a clean shave face and short black hair. He was wearing gold and silver martial robes and carried no weapon that I could see.

Whatever force had kept me in place, let me go. I dropped to the platform and quickly retreated towards the new arrival. He tossed Shen at me, who I caught. I moved to the side so I wasn’t in the way if these two started fighting. Shen then stood up on his own. I considered running, but there was no chance of getting far enough before I was brought back and killed.

“You think you can stop me? You old fool?” the demonic cultivator asked slowly while standing up from his throne and stepping forward. I felt like any moment could result in my instant death. This was a clash between two titans. A clash I had no business even witnessing.

“I wouldn’t be here if I thought you had a single chance of winning Ix. You have caused enough problems that I was asked to intervene to save my friend’s beloved disciple.” That was clearly Shen and not me. I didn’t have a master who could call on such help. No wonder why he was completely shameless. “And really, a Gu, how old fashioned and disruptive.”

“I won’t be stopped, not again. Not by you. Not by anyone. If you take action, then I will shatter this space, unleashing all this energy. Even you would be dragged to despair by what would come up from Chaos. Mutually assured destruction,” Ix, the demonic cultivator said with fury lacing every word as the two powerful figures stared at each other with enough intensity that I thought some sort of effect would be unleashed.

“Then, how about a gamble.” Just kill him, don’t talk. Send us away and then fight to the death. I wanted to say all of this, but didn’t dare.

“With you? Your luck would win any kind of gamble. I have the upper hand here,” Ix said. I still didn’t know the name of the other being who had just shown up. When two bigshots were talking, it was best to keep one’s head low and not draw attention. I was still trying to come up with a way to escape. Why was there no obvious teleportation platform or escape vehicle nearby? The demonic cultivator clearly didn’t like back up plans.

“A contest of champions then. Your champion wins, I will depart and not interfere with your Gu.” While I wanted to run and get far away from this place, I knew that would do no good without a method of travel to leave the Gu Container. I should have never come here to this inner citadel. While I might be an immortal, death was hanging over me like a cloying toxic fog.

“And if you win this gamble?” Ix asked. Then we all get to go home with no problems, free and clear with a pat on the back.

“You will give up on the Gu. If you can escape, that is up to fate and destiny,” the middle aged looking man said.

“Fate!? I spit on Fate. Destiny is nothing but an excuse for the powerful to oppress others! Toss density in the rubbish bin where it belongs. But if you want to gamble, then let’s gamble. I pick your friend’s disciple as my champion. No take backs! If you want to ruin my plans, then I will ruin yours!” Ix clearly wasn’t right in the head and had no friends or even minions to help him out. That wasn’t surprising since he was a demonic cultivator that liked consuming others after seasoning their emotions.

“Spiteful and stubborn. I will take the other one then.” Shen was yanked away from me towards the demonic cultivator who let out another chuckle. I was dragged over to the side of the middle aged man. I wanted to protest that I didn’t agree to be a champion. I just wanted to leave. I didn’t even want the Gu or anything to do with this match between forces way above me.

“AHHHH!” Shen let out a scream as the demonic cultivator placed his hand on his head. His shamelessness had apparently run out. You could only tempt horrible death so many times before you actually got a horrible death.

“Just do your best. If you die, well you will suffer eternally as part of the Gu,” the middle aged man told me. That was the worst pep talk ever. While I wouldn’t complain about fairness, help me out a bit why don’t you.

“Can’t you give me some kind of super weapon, or something. He is helping Shen,” I pointed out as Shen continued to scream under the ministrations of the demonic cultivator. I didn’t want help like that but give me something. Like the Heaven Annihilating Sword of Ultimate Power or a powerful technique. Use some method to implant a powerful technique into my mind. Don’t just give me a lousy pep talk.

“Let’s leave it up to luck, why don’t we. That is often the best choice. The right target will be obvious when it is revealed. Don’t overthink it too much Yuan Zhou, your time will soon end.” If the situation wasn’t so dire and this middle-aged looking man wasn’t so powerful, I would have slapped him for saying something so stupid and then something cryptic.

Luck! Why don’t we just all hug and make friends if that was your solution. Or why don’t you toss a single pebble out into the mass of array plates floating around us and destroy the Gu. If you want to depend on luck, then depend on it yourself. Don’t ask me to count on luck. Give me some benefits.

Heck, I wanted to tell him to shove it all up his rear and go screw himself. The middle-aged looking man glanced at me and he just smiled serenely at me, like didn’t know what I was thinking. I knew he knew what I was thinking, and he could go screw himself. How would luck help in this situation? Only power mattered and it appeared Shen was getting a lot of power from the demonic cultivator, even if it was unpleasant.

That was when I realized the being beside had used my name, and I had never shared it. There were countless esoteric techniques, but how did he know?

Fear gripped my heart. What did he mean when he said my time would soon end? Didn’t he want me to win this gamble death match? Just as I was about to open my mouth to ask more questions the middle-aged looking man spoke up.

“What are you even doing?” the middle aged looking man asked the demonic cultivator Ix. I wanted to ask questions or speak up, but there was too much fear inside of me. If these beings got annoyed, I would have zero chance of living. He clearly chose that moment to cut off any questions I might have asked. The frustration within me grew even more.

“His soul is being stubborn. I just want to make some adjustments before the fight. Stop resisting!” Shen, this is what you get for your shamelessness. It wasn’t like I was in a much better situation. I wasn’t sure about everything that was happening, and it was putting me on edge. Don’t use me for your schemes, take responsibility yourself I wanted to say to both of these powerful people.

“Really, if he dies, you will automatically lose. I didn’t make a fuss about you picking first or helping your champion, but it is a bit much to let you torture him to death in front of me and then pick another,” the middle-aged looking man said. Like you care about that. You could just claim I would win if that happened, but you were clearly planning something.

What was really annoying was that I didn’t have any idea what the plan was, but I was a key part of the plan. I felt nervous, angry, and frustrated all at the same time.

Ix let Shen go. Shen began to transform into some kind of demon creature as he screamed and screamed. His luck had clearly run out. From what I could tell, his energy had been forcibly altered, which was altering his body, mind, and soul all at the same time. I could see Shen trying to fight what was happening, but he was too weak.

I felt a bit of sympathy for him, but there was nothing I could do. He had brought this fate upon himself and I was too weak to intervene. The middle-aged looking man clearly didn’t want to intervene either, even if Shen was a disciple of his friend since he just stood there watching the horrific transformation process.

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“Fine! He isn’t worthy of inheriting any more of my demonic powers. To the death. No interference from either of us. I know how you are with your tricks. Exploiting loopholes,” Ix declared. Shen stumbled forward and slowly stood up straight. My mind was racing for a solution to everything. Now was the time I needed come up with a plan to get out of this mess somehow. It didn’t need to be a clever plan, but I needed to come up with something since clearly the man beside me wasn’t about to help in any way.

“I agree. To the death. No interference from either of us. The agreement is sealed. Well, go on, you better win this,” the middle aged man gave me a look and a shooing motion. I wanted to curse him, but he would probably take offense if I spoke the words out loud. His smug grin made me want to punch it right off his face as well. Shen was given a shove forward as well as we stepped onto the crystal portion that was in the middle of the platform.

My mind raced as I slowly brought up my sword. Shen was clearly struggling with what was happening to him. The best option would be to strike him down here and now. But that was a foolish choice. I wasn’t going to have a death match for either of these beings, especially since I wasn’t promised survival for winning. If that middle aged man had said that I would be taken to safety after winning, then Shen would quickly depart the ranks of the living.

But with no guarantee of survival, Ix would surely kill me as soon as the fight was over. That meant the fight couldn’t end no matter what. A loophole, I needed something, anything. My mind raced as Shen and I stepped towards each other. A blade of black fire formed in his hand.

Attacking either of these powerful beings wouldn’t do anything, but make them annoyed. The Gu was sealed away and I had no chance of breaking the crystal container it was housed in. There were no other good targets. That was when an answer came to me. For all that I hated Shen’s personality and shamelessness, I had to let go of that anger.

This place had put me down a dark path, but I had realized that the path forward was never set. I could chart my own path. While everything was leaning towards me killing Shen in combat, that would be the wrong choice right now. Later, I might kill him for his shamelessness, but for now not fighting was the correct answer.

“Well, I think waiting to see who dies of old age is the best option,” I told Shen who gave me a weak smile and nodded as well. I lowered my blade, and his black flaming sword disappeared.

“WHAT?!” Ix shouted in pure rage. Well, if you wanted us to fight, you should promise the survival of the winner and maybe a reward. We aren’t idiots who are just going to dance to someone else’s music. I wasn’t about to fight and die regardless, I would rather take the one winning move I had to hopefully drive the two powerful beings into conflict and escape.

“No. No. No. You already agreed. If you make a move, I will make a move,” the middle-aged man said while bringing up a hand. He was probably using some esoteric technique involving contracts to get the upper hand and I was about to be sacrificed for this ploy.

“Then make your move,” Ix said and appeared in front of me. His gloved hand clamped down over my face. A wave of energy washed over me. And that is why you don’t gamble with an insane person. You just kill them and end this. It didn’t escape my notice that the middle-aged looking man didn’t show up until after we had arrived.

Couldn’t he have gotten off his lazy ass to show up sooner and deal with Ix and the Gu Container. But nope, it was clearly a scheme I had no control over and Ix was throwing the whole table over in frustration. Why weren’t you doing anything? I felt Ix’s energy begin to push into me and resisted. But the energy I had taken from this place resisted my control, making any hope of resistance fall apart. I always knew it was a bad idea to use the energy of this place, but I had no other choice.

At least Ix wasn’t focused on me. I was just a punching bag. He was focused on the middle-aged looking man, whose name I still didn’t know. Now was your time to make a move and reverse the entire situation. Come on senior, I believe in you. You can do it!

“And now you will never get your Gu. Thank you and goodbye,” the middle-aged man disappeared. Take me with you, I wanted to scream but couldn’t. After the table was flipped the other person just got up and walked away, leaving me behind to deal with this mess and a very angry demonic cultivator. I was about to experience a very horrible death. My danger sense still wasn’t warning me, which was a very bad sign of things to come. I might not die, but terrible things were about to happen to me. I was about to be forcibly transformed like Shen had been.

My fate would be that of a monster with a crippled cultivation. Every fiber of my being fought to resist, I held back Ix’s energy, but he clearly wasn’t focused on me. He was more focused on his rage and anger.

“Luck! I hate luck. You think you can curse me with bad luck. Me!” the demonic cultivator roared in fury and his grip tightened on my face. I felt the bones bend under the immense pressure he was applying. Any tighter and my head would burst like a balloon. “Now you are going to suffer. Truly suffer for creating a headache. Just eating you or transforming you is not enough. I know just the thing to make you scream throughout all eternity. Something I picked up on from my little trip down to Chaos. It wasn’t easy finding something to consume, but time to test out its powers. I was saving this for someone special, but you will do,” Ix said with fury. Gone was the mad laughter of before, only the cold surety of death remained.

That sounded incredibly bad. I struggled and swung my sword, but nothing affected the demonic cultivator. The blade hit his dark robes and bounced off. Any attempt to muster my energy was instantly swept away as if it was nothing. His flaming green eyes under his hood stared intently at me. All forms of resistance were pointless, despair gripped my heart.

This was the end. It had been a hard journey. I am sorry everyone. I made it to immortality but died right after. There was nothing I could do. All that effort, was going to be destroyed in a single moment. Whatever was about to happen to me was going to be horrible if it was worse than being eaten or transformed into monster.

A tremendous amount of energy began to gather.

I had a single moment left.

The end was about to arrive.

I couldn’t do anything.

I failed.

“SOUL CRUSH.”

The energy surged into me and disappeared. My body or soul didn’t absorb the energy and it wasn’t released, the energy just disappeared. The demonic cultivator let me go and I staggered backwards. I was waiting for something horrible to happen as Ix stared at me intently. My soul was fine.

Nothing had happened to me. I looked at the demonic cultivator who seemed to be confused as I was. I thought I was about to experience the most horrific of tortures at his hands. My mind couldn’t process that I was still alive. I needed to do something, anything. My situation was still incredibly precarious.

“Impossible. How?!” I was forced up into the air and unable to move. It was too late. I had lost my opportunity and was going to die. In the face of absolute power, there was nothing I could do. Even if his attack didn’t work, there was no magical rebound or some other form of intervention like I had been hoping for.

Despite not being hurt by his attack, I was still no match for this Ix. I noticed Shen sneaking over towards the throne but couldn’t say or do anything while the demonic cultivator stood in front of me constantly mumbling. Shen, I am counting on your shamelessness. You were my only hope. Do something, anything!

“Your soul was crushed backwards through time. I felt it being crushed. The technique worked perfectly. But you are still here. You weren’t erased from existence. How? You have no hidden artifacts, no secret techniques, nothing. That was my ultimate attack and yet you still live.” I had a guess, but I couldn’t say or do anything. It made no sense, since I had existed up until this point, but it was the only explanation I could come up with.

An ability from Chaos using a tremendous amount of energy to crush my soul. Not my soul, but the soul of the original Yuan Zhou. I had taken over his body when his soul was crushed. I didn’t know how souls exactly worked, but that was the only explanation. The cause came after the effect, which was confusing like anything related to Chaos.

If I hadn’t shown up here, would I even exist? Was my entire life destined to be here at this point in time? The more I thought about everything I knew, the harder it was to understand. Cause and effect had been reversed, leading to me surviving what should have been an instant kill attack.

The middle-aged man had known. He knew the original Yuan Zhou would have his soul crushed and I would take his place. That made no sense. I couldn’t understand anything. I just knew that I needed to escape. I had survived through sheer luck or some crazy shenanigans. Getting answers was a very low priority at the moment, no matter how much I wanted them.

“While it is tempting to just kill you or consume you, I want to know how you survived first. To survive an attack I took from a Chaos creature. Such an interesting power. If I could harness it for myself, that would be another tool in my arsenal. Let’s try again and see what happens. If it is a lasting effect, then I will take it for myself when I consume you,” Ix said as I floated forward back towards his outstretched hand.

The attack worked! I couldn’t say anything, but it had worked. It had just broken causality that hadn’t resulted in me dying horribly. If I was hit with it again, I would truly die. I knew this without a shadow of a doubt.

That was when I felt a massive surge of energy from below. Somehow Shen had figured out how to open the crystalline clear chamber containing the Gu by using the controls near the throne. The mad lad was making an attempt to steal it and take it for himself.

The power of shamelessness knew no bounds. You could do it Shen. Take that Gu and kill Ix. You wouldn’t forget your old companion who helped you along the way, Yuan Zhou. Just let me go and we would be even. I would never think about you again no matter what. In fact, your shamelessness was heaven defying bravery in the face of adversity. No shamelessness here, just pure bravery.

Shen was leaping off the throne as the crystalline chamber opened up with the one side that was level with the platform, rising up into the air. It was moving upwards as Shen raced across the platform towards the opening.

If he could get the Gu then there was a chance everything could be reversed in a single instant. Or we could all die horribly, but I was hoping for a complete reversal. Only someone as shameless as Shen would have gone for something like this. No, not shameless, impossibly brave. Shen was the hero we needed all along to stop the demonic cultivator Ix.

Ix lost focus on me, or the surge of energy being released out of the crystal container disrupted his control. Shen made leap into the container to grab the Gu, but a gesture from Ix froze him place as the energy around us began to shoot up massively. He began to be dragged away from the opening.

A golden barrier formed around Shen, allowing him to break free of Ix’s mental grip. Probably some treasure from his master. You could do it Shen! Shen raced forward once more. I brought up my blade to strike at Ix to distract him.

“Crush!” the golden barrier was shattered. But Shen was still moving.

“One Swing To Accomplish Anything!” I put a good chunk of my energy into the attack and stepped forward to strike him. The energy of my attack was instantly dispersed, the powerful blade shattered the moment it touched his dark robes. He didn’t even glance at me. The attack was nothing, not even a distraction to a being of his power. I was a joke.

All the hope I had was lost in that single instant. There was nothing I could do to change the outcome of this situation. Ix was too powerful and whatever scheme the middle-aged looking man had, had failed. I cursed Sword God Feng mentally for the name of his technique. It had given me false hope. I dropped the hilt of the ruined blade.

Now, things would only get worse. I had put too much into the attack and my blade had been lost. There was nothing else I could do and there wasn’t any time to think of another idea.

“Reverse!” Ix swung his gloved hand and Shen was struck by a blast of green light just as his finger tips were about to touch the Gu. So close, but he had failed. In a single moment he massively aged and turned into dust in a single moment. There was no hidden power. No master emerging at the last moment to save him. He had been instantly turned to dust and killed.

I wanted to cry at that. Shen, your shamelessness powers failed at the critical moment. Why?! Weren’t you supposed to be a beloved disciple of some powerful being. Everything you had said made me sure you would grab the Gu and reverse everything. That just left me and the supremely powerful demonic cultivator Ix. I had lost my earlier chance, but I wouldn’t let it escape me again. I had one more chance to act.

“Foolish. Even with higher powers aiding you, this place is beyond such foolishness. Luck has no foothold here and never will. Destiny, fate, soon I will be rid of them all.” I had a single moment left to act. That moment seemed to stretch into eternity as Ix stared where Shen had turned into dust. Ix was clearly suspecting that there might be a comeback of some kind.

But I knew there wouldn’t be. What could I do? Ix was too powerful and all the variables had been reduced one by one, to leave only me. One swing couldn’t accomplish anything. If I had been a bit stronger, Ix might have been distracted and Shen would have gotten the Gu. But that was too late now, he was dead, and I was alone with Ix.

His power was beyond anything I could hope to beat. There was no chance of running and getting the Gu for myself when he was on guard for such a thing. I needed to do something, anything. Even if it was risky or crazy, I needed to take action now. The moment that Ix was distracted was about to be lost.

A familiar blade appeared in my hand from my spatial storage. It had been with me for a long time. While its metal was weak, it was a weapon I knew intimately. A beloved gift of my first master millennia ago. A master who had passed on his hopes and dreams to me. The hopes and dreams of everyone who believed in me, now rested in this blade. Its familiar words brought a comfort to me in this dire moment.

I brought up my blade. Settling into a familiar stance that Sword God Feng helped refine during my time with him. Ix slowly turned his cloaked hood towards me as I swung my blade and focused everything I had into it, even the energy inside my body. I might damage my cultivation, but that was nothing compared to what Ix would do to me.

The words of the middle-aged looking man made me realize the only choice I had to get out of this situation. While I was grateful for the advice, the stress of everything might just kill me if Ix and the following events didn’t wipe me out.