Immortal Paladin

[POV: Fan Shi]

Fan Shi had spent the past several days traversing the forest alongside Zhu Shin, scattering formation arrays across the wilderness with meticulous care. Every formation had been hidden beneath layers of deception, disguised beneath roots, fallen leaves, and drifting spiritual qi.

They had long since noticed unseen eyes following their every move. Whoever lurked beyond the trees possessed remarkable patience, never striking and never revealing themselves. The realization had forced the pair to become increasingly cautious whenever they laid another trap, often pretending to move elsewhere before secretly doubling back to complete the formation.

The strategy worked for a time, until the enemy got Zhu Shin.

A crimson spear tore through the forest like a streak of burning lightning.

Fan Shi twisted sideways as the weapon carved through the air where her head had been only an instant earlier. The shockwave splintered ancient trees behind her while she retreated without hesitation.

Her eyes widened when she saw Zhu Shin still chasing her.

He rode atop his crimson spear as though it were a flying sword, scarlet flames wrapping around his armor while murderous spear qi exploded from every swipe of his finger. His movements remained unmistakably his, yet there was a subtle stiffness behind his eyes that chilled her heart.

"This is getting annoying."

The monk was quite persistent.

The divine technique of the Paladin Legacy, Divine Possession, was a technique exclusive to His Holy Majesty and his people. It was unthinkable that a monk under the Supreme Heart knew such a technique.

Fan Shi flicked her wrist.

Every chain attached to the silver bangle on her right arm returned back toward her except two links. The remaining chains floated beneath her feet like narrow bridges, allowing her to stand upon them as they skimmed across the air. She accelerated through the dense forest, weaving between towering trunks while Zhu Shin pursued relentlessly overhead.

Scarlet spear qi rained after her.

Each slash sliced apart trees, shattered boulders, and gouged enormous trenches across the earth.

Fan Shi glided gracefully through the destruction. Every movement wasted the smallest amount of motion possible as she slipped through impossibly narrow openings before another spear beam obliterated the space she had occupied moments before.

Her silver-white bangle radiated brilliant light. It was fashioned from one of the Holy Emperor's eyes, the artifact possessed authority over the past, present, and future. Her consciousness immediately divided, thinking thoroughly what she might've missed or what strategies she could employ.

One part entered the past, while another remained anchored within the present.

Across countless overlapping memories, numerous versions of herself appeared alongside different versions of Zhu Shin discussing what they should do.

"What if we were separated?" one Fan Shi asked.

Another Zhu Shin answered. "Prioritize escape above all else, until we managed to regroup. We must take His Holy Majesty's words quite literally. If he thinks we can beat our foe one to one, then we must do it with the numerical advantage in mind."

"I agree," Another Fan Shi nodded solemnly. "What about intelligence? We know almost nothing about the foes we are about to face, yet I feel like eyes had been watching us constantly for the past few days."

"Then assume the worst," another Zhu Shin answered.

The discussion echoed through countless possibilities before dissolving. Her consciousness focused to the present. Formation after formation appeared within her perception between large, small, and concealed arrays to emergency escape arrays.

Fan Shi stepped on one of them, designed to bless her steps with the wind, thus empowering her movement. She looked back, and saw Zhu Shin similarly stopping on the array, and accelerating just after her.

Every spiritual thread they had woven over the previous days remained visible beneath the forest floor. Now, the damn monk was also aware of them.

After all, Divine Possession did not merely seize control of flesh. The technique reached into memories, allowing its wielder to uncover everything the possessed knew. The monk undoubtedly possessed Zhu Shin's knowledge.

A single comforting realization steadied her breathing. She had never revealed all of her abilities to Zhu Shin. That also meant the monk have no knowledge of the full extent of her abilities, which was a small silver lining.

Unfortunately, the advantage worked both ways.

Fan Shi had never fully understood the extent of Zhu Shin's strength either.

After enduring His Holy Majesty's brutal training together, she could roughly estimate the limits of his cultivation and combat ability, but rough estimates were dangerous things on a battlefield.

Still, not all hope was lost.

Divine Possession was not absolute.

Outside the Holy Emperor's hands, the technique could be resisted through overwhelming willpower. Sometimes the struggle descended into a direct battle between souls.

Fan Shi could not gamble on that possibility, so she decided to be prudent and retreat first. Understanding how that cursed monk regenerated from seemingly fatal wounds was also important. She steered toward one of her largest concealed formations.

The moment her senses connected with it, her expression stiffened. There was nothing. The formation no longer existed. Someone had dismantled it without triggering it or leaving behind the slightest trace.

At that exact instant, Fan Shi's pupils contracted.

For the briefest moment, the future unfolded before her. She saw Zhu Shin's spear pierce Fan Shi's chest. The vision vanished almost immediately.

"So that's how it is," she muttered. "I really have to use it."

She raised her left hand, while a calm voice escaped her lips.

"I assume the shape of isolation. I step beyond reality. I sever all paths that bind this existence to mine."

The surrounding space rippled silently.

Zhu Shin descended like a falling meteor. His crimson armor erupted with blazing radiance as a majestic crimson woman materialized behind him, mirroring every movement of his spear. The thrust carried enough force to obliterate mountains, yet the weapon simply passed through Fan Shi as though she had ceased to exist within the same reality.

Fan Shi released a slow breath.

Two bangles rested upon her wrists. The silver-white one on her right had been forged from the Holy Emperor's eye, Meanwhile, the charcoal-black bangle upon her left had been bestowed by the Crimson Empress, Alice.

Her journey to find the Crimson Empress and earn her tutelage had been filled with bloodshed, despair, and relentless trials that had reshaped her understanding of battle. The dark bangle coiled around her wrist like thorned vines, crimson roses blooming along its surface as every carving ignited with furious scarlet light.

Silver chains exploded from her right wrist.

Dark chains burst from her left.

Together they crossed through reality itself before wrapping tightly around Zhu Shin's body.

Fan Shi pulled.

"Soul Rend."

The chains tightened, while a translucent figure was violently torn away from Zhu Shin's body as though reality itself rejected its existence.

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"Excellent!" cried out the real Zhu Shin, while his eyes blazed with violent delight. "Human, Asura, and Ghost Unity."

His smile widened into something utterly inhuman.

"Trinity Path: One With Destruction."

…

..

.

[POV: Zhu Shin]

The path of a sage was one of transcendence.

To walk it was to step beyond the Six Paths that governed all living things. Under the guidance of Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the ancient wardens of the Underworld, Zhu Shin had begun treading that arduous road. He had experienced the Path of Humanity, embraced the Path of the Asura, and descended into the Path of the Ghost. Though he had only grasped a sliver of what it meant to become a true sage, that fragment alone was enough to elevate him beyond ordinary cultivators.

World Force erupted from within him.

The violent energy flooded every limb, causing his body to swell with explosive strength. His crimson armor, forged from the Holy Emperor's sacred blood, gradually shifted into burnished bronze as torrents of scarlet flames engulfed his figure. Twisted horns curved from his helmet, while a suffocating scent of blood spread through the battlefield like an approaching sea of carnage.

His Ego Weapon answered its master.

The crimson spear trembled with exhilaration, and a beautiful woman formed from scarlet mist embraced Zhu Shin from behind. Her alluring smile carried only destruction as she rested her hands upon his shoulders.

"BRING FORTH DESTRUCTION!"

His roar shook the heavens.

The spear descended.

The forest split apart beneath the strike.

Fu Ru barely managed to raise his staff before the overwhelming force swallowed him whole. The impact shattered the ground for miles, reducing ancient trees into splinters while dozens of identical monks hidden throughout the forest exploded into clouds of spiritual light. Every substitute life the monk had painstakingly prepared was erased alongside the original strike.

Yet the real Fu Ru survived.

He burst from the smoke and answered with a fierce swing of his staff.

"Divine Smite!"

Golden radiance exploded from the weapon.

The staff descended like divine judgment.

Zhu Shin stepped forward instead of retreating. His spear spun once before thrusting straight through the descending light, shattering the technique before the staff itself could reach him. Sparks erupted where bronze and gold collided.

Fu Ru immediately shifted forms.

"Thunderous Smite!"

Lightning roared from the heavens.

Bolts wrapped themselves around the monk's staff before crashing downward with enough force to pulverize a mountain.

Zhu Shin's expression remained unchanged as his spear carved a perfect arc. The flowing movement resembled a charging bull lowering its horns before trampling everything ahead of it.

"Iron Bull of Destruction."

The spear struck first. The lightning shattered. The staff bent violently under the impact as Fu Ru was blasted backward, skidding across the ruined earth before crashing through a line of towering trees.

He coughed blood.

Before he could regain his footing, Zhu Shin had already arrived with another thrust of his Ego Weapon, rendering another overwhelming collision.

Fu Ru gritted his teeth.

"Searing Smite!"

Blazing golden fire erupted around the staff, transforming it into a pillar of divine flame. The monk unleashed a relentless barrage, each strike carrying enough force to reduce boulders into molten fragments.

Staff and spear clashed repeatedly. The battlefield echoed with deafening explosions, creating an ever-evolving contest of skills. However, every exchange ended the same way.

Fu Ru was forced backward. His arms trembled. His footing collapsed.

His techniques broke apart beneath Zhu Shin's superior spear mastery. The sage's World Force empowered every movement beyond what ordinary cultivation could withstand. Each thrust carried overwhelming pressure, while every sweep resembled a charging beast flattening everything before it.

The monk simply could not compete.

"FOOL!"

Zhu Shin's voice thundered across the shattered forest.

"I KNOW NOW WHO YOU ARE!"

Fu Ru's pupils narrowed.

"YOU HAVE YET TO MASTER DIVINE POSSESSION!"

Another spear thrust forced the monk to leap backward.

"THUS I'VE SEEN YOUR LIFE!"

Fu Ru turned and fled.

His retreat lacked panic, but Zhu Shin could sense the urgency beneath every movement. During the period his body had been possessed, he had not remained idle. While locked within his own soul, he had carefully observed the invader, piecing together fragments of memory, intention, and emotion until the monk's identity gradually became clear.

"I SHALL TEACH YOU THE WAY, YOU MISGUIDED CRETIN!"

The spear tore through the air.

"FU RU OF THE HOLLOWED WORLD!"

Another thrust obliterated everything in its path.

"FACE MY SPEAR!"

Humiliation burned within Zhu Shin's heart. He had allowed himself to become possessed. He had become a weapon aimed at his own companion. No excuse could erase that disgrace. The only acceptable recompense was Fu Ru's death.

His anger intensified with every memory he had stolen from the monk.

Fu Ru lived beneath an endless mountain of resentment. The hatred inside him had long surpassed reason, consuming every aspiration until vengeance became the sole purpose of his existence. Rather than overcoming that darkness, he had willingly allowed the Supreme Heart to manipulate it.

Zhu Shin despised that more than anything.

The Supreme Heart had never respected another person's dignity. Freedom, honor, and self-determination were merely pieces upon a game board to be moved whenever convenient.

Many would dismiss those ideals as empty words.

To Zhu Shin, they were worth more than life itself. He remembered standing before His Holy Majesty after the Civil War. The Holy Emperor had offered him the mantle of a Paladin, and he declined. The refusal had been immediate.

The Holy Emperor had simply nodded, never resorting to coercion, feeling disappointment, or shown any attempt to sway him. Zhu Shin's choice had been respected because it belonged to him alone. That single memory stood in stark contrast to everything Fu Ru represented.

Divine Possession. Bound souls. Stolen freedom.

To Zhu Shin, those acts were unforgivable.

As the chase continued, his heightened senses as a fledgling sage gradually perceived truths hidden from ordinary cultivators.

This forest was both real and unreal.

Every tree, every villager, every mountain carried the weight of genuine existence, yet they were also echoes preserved within a fragment of history. The entire realm resembled a memory granted physical form.

Understanding dawned upon him.

Fu Ru had intertwined his soul with the souls of countless villagers living within this recorded history. Every fatal injury inflicted upon him was transferred elsewhere. Every death merely consumed another borrowed life.

The dozens of "spare lives" Zhu Shin had destroyed earlier had never truly belonged to Fu Ru. They had belonged to innocent villagers. His grip tightened around the spear. The next strike would kill the monk. It would also slaughter people who had committed no crime beyond existing within this place.

Zhu Shin might've hesitated, but his spear did not.

…

..

.

[POV: Fu Ru]

Fu Ru fled through the battered forest, desperately weaving between shattered trees as Zhu Shin pursued him like an enraged bull. Every thrust of the crimson spear carried enough force to pulverize the landscape, forcing him to dodge without pause. His breathing grew increasingly ragged. Divine Possession had consumed far more qi than he had anticipated, and the battle against Fan Shi and Zhu Shin had drained what little remained. In his current state, he could no longer cast another high-grade divine art.

As he retreated, his gaze never stopped scanning the surroundings from every broken branch, patch of disturbed earth, and subtle fluctuation of spiritual qi.

He had already seen enough of Fan Shi's and Zhu Shin's formations to know that carelessness would spell his end. The forest had become a labyrinth of hidden traps, and after possessing Zhu Shin, he understood precisely how meticulous they had been while laying them down.

Yet no matter how far he fled, he could not find her.

His expression darkened.

The number of spare lives bound to his soul was dropping at an alarming pace. Every devastating strike from Zhu Shin erased another one, and the connections sustaining his immortality grew thinner with each passing breath.

Soon, there would be nothing left.

"Look at you," Zhu Shin shouted as another spear strike carved apart the earth behind him. "You wield the power of the divine, yet you steal the lives of innocents. What kind of monk does that?"

Fu Ru bared his teeth.

"Hypocrite!" he snarled. "You speak of honor while chasing a man whose death will slaughter every villager tied to my soul! Tell me, warrior, how different are you from me?"

Zhu Shin's answer came in the form of another spear.

Fu Ru narrowly twisted aside as the crimson weapon grazed his shoulder, leaving behind a deep wound that immediately consumed another spare life to restore itself. He could not continue like this. His spiritual senses stretched across the forest until they finally found salvation.

A dragon vein.

Ancient and vigorous, it pulsed beneath the earth like the heartbeat of heaven itself. If he could merge with it, even briefly, he would recover enough qi to mount one final stand.

Without hesitation, Fu Ru accelerated toward it. The dragon vein emerged within a secluded clearing where spiritual mist lingered in dense clouds. Relief filled his heart, until it didn't.

Fan Shi stood at the center of the dragon vein, seemingly arriving before him.

The instant Fu Ru stepped into the clearing, countless silver and charcoal chains burst from beneath the ground. They wrapped around his arms, legs, waist, and neck before he could react. Their bindings tightened with terrifying force, anchoring him where he stood.

His eyes widened.

"When..."

Fan Shi calmly pressed her palm against the earth.

The formation beneath the clearing awakened.

Golden runes spread across the dragon vein as though an enormous net had risen from underground. The immense flow of spiritual energy immediately suppressed Fu Ru. The dragon vein itself became the core of the formation, amplifying its sealing power until every meridian in his body felt nailed into place.

Fu Ru struggled, but his qi refused to circulate.

Even his soul felt pinned beneath the overwhelming pressure.

Fan Shi stepped back without another word.

"Leave the rest to me," Zhu Shin said.

The simple sentence filled Fu Ru with genuine fear.

Zhu Shin descended from the heavens, bronze armor blazing with crimson fire while the seductive spirit embracing his spear smiled with merciless delight. The first thrust pierced Fu Ru's shoulder. A spare life vanished.

The second strike pierced his abdomen. Another life disappeared.

The third shattered his chest. Then the fourth. The fifth. The sixth.

Each wound should have been fatal, yet every death merely consumed another borrowed soul hidden within the recorded history. The monk's body healed repeatedly, only to be carved apart again before the regeneration had even finished.

"No!"

Another spear.

Another life extinguished.

"Stop!"

Another thrust.

Another villager died in his place.

"Please!"

The crimson spear became an unending storm. Every strike erased another substitute life. Every death echoed through the countless souls bound to him.

Fu Ru's composure finally collapsed.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

His scream reverberated throughout the forest.

"STOP! STOP! THEY'RE DYING! THEY'RE ALL DYING!"

The spear answered him without mercy.

"NO! PLEASE! STOP! I HAVEN'T COMPLETED MY REVENGE, YET!"

Another thrust.

Another borrowed life vanished.

Fu Ru's voice became hoarse from screaming as despair overwhelmed every trace of resentment that had once sustained him. One after another, the souls he had relied upon disappeared beneath Zhu Shin's relentless spear.

Just like that, the contest between the Supreme Heart and the Supreme Bearer had its first blood.

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