The night was cold atop the cliff, wind biting through layers of silk and bone. Lin Xuanji's steps were slow, each one echoing hollowly as he approached the figure ahead—the one man he hoped never to see again.
Liu Shengjie stood in silence. The moonlight made his features sharp and divine, like a statue carved from the heavens. His sword was sheathed, but the air around him thrummed with quiet threat.
"You came," Li Xuanji(Mo Tianzun) said softly, his voice lost in the wind.
"I always do," Shengjie replied, unreadable.
They stood in silence.
Then Xuanji smiled faintly. "You're older now. More composed. I suppose a deity must age with grace."
"And you?" Shengjie asked. "You've died once already. How does that feel?"
Xuanji's eyes darkened. "Youtell me."
Something flickered in Shengjie's gaze, but he didn't move. The wind whipped around them, scattering fallen leaves and bitter memories alike.
Xuanji's expression changed—softening, cracking. "…Why did you doit?"
Shengjie said nothing.
Xuanji stepped forward, boots scraping against stone. "You killedme, Shengjie. You were the last sword I trusted. My general. My right hand. And you—"
"I saved the world," Shengjie interrupted, voice calm but cold.
"Did you?" Xuanji asked quietly. "Or did you only clear the stage for yourself?"
Shengjie didn't flinch.
Xuanji tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "The truth is, I never truly died, did I? You pierced my heart, but not my core. You let me fall."
"I left you broken," Shengjie admitted.
"…Why?"
Silence again. Then
"Because you were too strong," Shengjie whispered. "Too feared. Too worshipped. You stood on the same level as the gods—and laughed."
"I never wanted worship," Xuanji said. "I wanted peace for the Demon Realm."
"And yet they bowed," Shengjie growled. "Every realm spoke your name in dread. Even the deities looked down from their heavenly halls and feared you. But me?"
He clenched his fists.
"I was the sword of heaven. The guardian of mortal and divine. Yet no one remembered my name, so I joined your realm secretly. Noone sang songs of Liu Shengjie. Not until I betrayed you."
Xuanji stared. "So it was jealousy."
"No," Shengjie said. "It was want. I needed them to believe in me. I needed their trust. Their faith. Their loyalty."
"…For what?"
Shengjie looked skyward, eyes glowing faintly with madness. "To build something greater. A world unified—not by gods or demons, but by me. A world that kneels to no chaos… because I am its order."
Xuanji's voice was cold now. "So you betrayed every vow. Lied to every realm. And all for power?"
"No," Shengjie corrected. "For control. I've spent lifetimes gaining their trust. Even now, the deities hang on my words. Mortals write scriptures in my name. And soon, when the final pillar of resistance crumbles…" His eyes locked with Xuanji's. "They will all kneel."
"…You're insane," Xuanji whispered.
"I'm the only one awake," Shengjie snarled.
Xuanji took a step back, breath catching. "And me? You tried to erase me."
"I had to," Shengjie said. "You were the only one who stood between me and the world. So I struck you down. But I failed."
"And now?"
"Now I finishit."
His sword was drawn in one motion—golden, divine, blazing with holy light.
But Xuanji didn't flinch. "Kill me again, then. See if it changes anything."
Shengjie stepped forward. "You still don't understand. You should never have returned."
Then suddenly, Xuanji whispered, "System."
Silence.
"…System?"
Nothing. Not a pulse. Not a flicker of light in his mind.
Xuanji's knees weakened slightly.
"It's gone," he muttered. "It left me too."
Shengjie paused. "What are you talking about?"
"The System," Xuanji said distantly. "It always guided me. Spoke to me. It vanished the moment I saw you."
Shengjie's eyes narrowed. "Then it knows."
Xuanji laughed bitterly. "I stood against the world. Lost everything. Crawled my way back. And the one thing that stayed through it all—even it abandoned me now."
He looked up at Shengjie. "You think you've won?"
Shengjie said nothing.
"I may be alone," Xuanji said, eyes glowing with faint red light, "but I will never kneel to you."
Their energies exploded outward, colliding like thunder. One divine. One demonic.
And high above, the moon turned red.