The ground he landed on was an uneven surface, covered in a thin layer that cracked beneath his weight. The texture was viscous, as if a cold, organic substance oozed from the depths. Luminous cracks, a pale and sickly blue, streaked the ground, emitting a faint, pulsing glow. Towering silver pillars rose around him, so tall they seemed to pierce the invisible sky. Their surfaces were striped with dark veins that pulsed weakly, reflecting a cold, metallic light. Yet, this light only illuminated the pillars themselves, leaving the rest of the space in dense darkness. At their base, silver roots twisted and sank into the ground, chaining misshapen silhouettes that crawled around the pillars, barely humanoid.
Their bodies were emaciated, their limbs too long and grotesquely jointed. Their ashen-gray skin seemed to peel away in places, revealing black, glossy flesh. Their eyes, if they had any, were hollow orbits from which a flickering green light escaped. Their mouths, too wide, opened and closed silently, releasing inaudible whispers that resonated in the mind, pleading to be killed, to be freed from their eternal torment.
The air was thick with a pungent odor, a mix of rusted metal and decaying flesh.
"The Limbo..."
Sijin stood a few meters away, serene.
PanGu clenched his fists. He knew this place.
"I know what you're thinking. And it's true he's here. But you should be worried about yourself."
The cold intensified. Around him, the space cracked.
"Do you really think this world can hold me, Sijin?"
He raised an arm, and in an instant, a storm of black ice descended upon the Limbo. The ground crystallized, sharp stalactites burst forth from all sides, threatening to annihilate everything in their path.
Sijin merely sighed.
Then she extended her hand.
Void Walkers rushed toward him.
With a fluid motion, he dodged the claw of a Void Walker that emerged from the shadows. His fist surrounded by a glacial aura, he struck the creature squarely in the chest. The impact produced a shockwave so powerful that the ground beneath them cracked, entire mountains of this desolate land trembled.
But the Void Walker did not disappear.
Like the others, its body fragmented into a mist before re-forming barely a second later, its rictus still fixed on its deformed face.
Behind him, a hundred more charged.
PanGu leaped back, his hand rising toward the sky.
An unimaginable wave of cold burst from him. A storm of black ice swept across the battlefield, covering everything in its path with a frost that devoured energy itself.
The Void Walkers were engulfed by the onslaught. Their shadowy flesh stiffened, then exploded under the colossal pressure. Cracks appeared in space itself, as if the dimension was unable to withstand such an attack.
But... it was not enough.
More Void Walkers emerged from the void. Hundreds, then thousands.
*'They are infinite...'*
PanGu grit his teeth.
"Damn, if only I were stronger!"
Every second he spent here weakened him further. His energy, his very essence, was gradually corrupted by this place. He felt the Anarchy acting upon him, slowly ensnaring him, reducing his control over his own power.
Sijin, still motionless, observed the scene with a calm expression.
She took a step forward.
A single step.
And the entire universe reacted.
Silver waves surged from the ground, rivers of Void Qi twisting to follow her will. They engulfed the space, devouring even the light.
PanGu barely had time to raise an ice barrier before he was struck by an explosion of dark energy.
The impact was titanic.
The ground sank for hundreds of kilometers. Distant mountain ranges collapsed into dust.
PanGu was hurled into the air, piercing through several layers of this corrupted dimension before finally coming to a halt, creating a deep crater in the ground.
Blood trickled from the corner of his lips.
He coughed, his gaze hardening.
Sijin, she was still there. Still intact.
He clenched his fists, his black ice beginning to swirl around him.
*'If I stay here, I'll be consumed... just like my master!'*
He made a sudden gesture with his hand, and immense frost lances appeared in the sky.
He snapped his fingers.
They fell at a dizzying speed.
The Void Walkers tried to dodge, but the impact zone was too vast.
Dozens of them were impaled, reduced to dust under the absolute pressure of the black ice.
But again... they returned.
PanGu raised both arms, his aura intensifying.
Space itself began to tremble.
Behind him, a dark formation appeared. A gigantic rune of ice and shadow, a circle with complex patterns, emerged in the sky.
*CohereSTASIS!*
All around him, time and space collapsed.
A sphere of absolute frost formed, a pure storm that engulfed everything.
The Void Walkers didn't even have time to react.
They were instantly frozen... then disintegrated.
The ground itself was reduced to crumbs.
A heavy silence fell.
PanGu slowly rose, breathless.
But something was wrong.
A voice rose behind him.
"Why do you struggle so much?"
A shiver ran down his spine.
He turned around.
Sijin was there, about twenty meters away.
She hadn't even moved.
Her gaze was still as empty, as indifferent.
"If I wanted to, I would have crushed you already. But I enjoy your expression. When you suffer for me."
She slowly raised her hand.
A simple pressure in the air, and PanGu felt an overwhelming force bear down on him.
He fell to his knees, unable to move.
"Kuh- Shi..."
He spat a mouthful of blood. On the continent, there weren't ten Heavenly Emperors, and even in this realm, he was the strongest. But in front of her, nothing had changed. He was no different than when he was fifteen. He had many sacred and even supreme artifacts. But against her, it was all a waste of resources.
"Anarchy cannot be fought with mere attacks."
Her aura began to tremble. The Anarchy Void symbol on her forehead glowed faintly.
PanGu felt his own body become unstable, as if it were dissolving.
From his storage ring, he took it out.
A pill of deep black, almost liquid, that seemed to absorb the light around it. The pill was a treasure from the Eternal Ruins, a forbidden artifact, designed to absorb and manipulate the fundamental laws of the world. If he were a Heavenly King, it would grant him transcendence for a few minutes.
His master had left it as a last resort, with a clear warning: "It will destroy you, but it might also give you power."
Consuming it was a desperate act, a madness. But he had no choice. This woman, even if he had to die, he would take her with him into the darkness.
He took a deep breath.
"I will not die. Not yet."
With a swift movement, he placed the pill on his tongue. It instantly melted, releasing a metallic, bitter taste that spread through his mouth. A wave of intense heat, followed by freezing cold, surged through his body.
"The Tao is Fair, isn't it?" Sijin narrowed her eyes, clicking her tongue.
When he opened his eyes again, his aura exploded.
The black ice spread at a blistering speed, engulfing everything in its path.