The divine arena shook, not from tectonic plates nor heavenly will, but from the clash of paradox itself. Yi Zhen—God of Reincarnation, Inverse Lord of Samsara—now stood opposite himself… and Sun Wukong, the First Chaos Ape, eater of stars and wielder of all mythical selves.
The second Yi Zhen was no simple copy. This was the Inverse Dao Yi Zhen—the remnant of the self that once embraced madness, power, and ritualized wrath. Both shared the same eyes, same soul, but opposite philosophies. Between them was no misunderstanding, only inevitability.
And Sun Wukong, grinning like a devil crowned in galaxies, spun his Ruyi Jingu Bang until space itself folded inward.
"You two gods stand tall... yet even heaven doesn't have room for three."
The battle began.
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Round One: Fractured Heavens
Inverse Yi Zhen flashed forward first, his corrupted Qi forming a vortex that bent even light. In a blink, he released his old forbidden technique—Inverse Battle Tendency—aiming to drive both opponents into strategic madness.
But the True Yi Zhen smirked. He had transcended that form.
"You misunderstand your own power, old self," he muttered. "You wield inversion, but I walk Nirvana."
With a wave of his sleeve, the air turned gold—Cycle Nullification: an ability that silenced all repetitive powers for three breaths. In those three breaths, he dashed forward, drawing from the Law of Birthless Flame, formed in his 88,000th reincarnation, striking his inverse self directly in the chest.
BOOM.
The skies cried.
Yet Sun Wukong was already mid-arc, coming down like a meteor. His staff, multiplied into Ten Thousand Sun Banners, crashed upon the battlefield in a barrage of celestial might. Yi Zhen raised a single finger—Cycle Barrier—catching the first barrage, but the next broke through.
The ground shattered.
Monologue – Yi Zhen (True Self): "Even now, my heart remains calm. One is me, the other is the world's chaos. Wukong… that beast is not simply fury. He is the wrath of order undone. I must hold. I must endure."
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Round Two: The Thought War
The three combatants blinked into the Mind Lotus Realm, a conceptual domain within Yi Zhen's inner world. Here, thoughts became blades.
Inverse Yi Zhen split into Nine Logic Clones, each a piece of his fractured mind: Guilt, Rage, Sacrifice, Power, Loss, Hate, Desire, Sorrow, and Ambition. Each attacked with a specific emotion turned weapon.
But True Yi Zhen had reached Nirvana. His thoughts moved like waves, gentle yet unstoppable. He merged with the sea of thought, Shunyata Resonance, dispersing several clones with formless energy.
"You try to win with fragments… but I am whole."
Sun Wukong laughed.
"Then try this!" He shouted.
Technique: Primal Echo Boom – He shattered the Mind Lotus Realm by laughing so loud, it broke the fabric of thought itself.
They returned to the real world… the arena now floating above the River of Transcendence, a literal stream of enlightenment.
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Round Three: Cosmos Unbound
Yi Zhen (True) closed his eyes.
Then opened them.
And behind him, Ten Thousand Samsara Wheels spun, each forged in a different lifetime. He pressed his palms together.
"Endless Return."
Time reversed for Sun Wukong and Inverse Yi Zhen… but only in small moments. Their injuries returned. Their weapons faded.
"Do you see it?" he said. "This is the burden of understanding."
Inverse Yi Zhen shrieked, surging with forbidden might. He used his One Sin Prayer Technique, summoning all the souls he sacrificed to chain True Yi Zhen in a graveyard of memory.
But Sun Wukong didn't aid him. Instead, the Monkey King spun backwards and summoned his newest skill:
Heaven's First Joke.
He made reality laugh.
And laughter broke causality.
The chains broke. Yi Zhen emerged—bruised, burned, but smiling.
"You've made a joke out of divinity itself… but I wonder, Monkey King… do you know why Nirvana smiles too?"
He clapped his hands together, formed a Mudra of Pure End, and launched his next power:
Rebirthless Lotus Strike.
A lotus formed.
Then exploded.
The explosion didn't destroy their bodies.
It destroyed their concepts.
Sun Wukong's ego was shattered. Inverse Yi Zhen's purpose dissolved. Both stumbled.
True Yi Zhen stood tall.
But the battle wasn't over.
All three gathered energy. All three glared.
And all three… charged again.
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To Be Continued...