Humph! Stop barking like a dying dog… Emperor Ming chuckled, his patience snapping. Two golden chains materialized in his hands, shorter but thrumming with the essence of an unknown law.

With a swing, he lashed them down toward Wang Xiao.

TIIIIINNNGGG!

The sound was deafening, yet the chains froze a meter short. A ripple of raw, suffocating force burst outward from Wang Xiao, shaking the scale itself.

The space around them warped, stars in the distance quivering.

Emperor Mings lips curled. Its not enough for you to break free…

The scale trembled like the spine of existence itself was about to snap. Yet still the souls poured endlessly into the opposite pan, clawing and screaming, their countless hands pressing Wang Xiao down.

The Emperors confidence grew.

Yes, he thought, the man was finished.

Then Wang Xiao chuckled. Haha… Do you want to know something?

His gaze lifted, half-smile curving like a blade.

From the very beginning… I knew killing Yang Yuhuan wouldnt save me.

Emperor Ming faltered. His hands tightened on the chains. …What?

Wang Xiaos words rolled calmly, each syllable deliberate. The moment I cut her soul into pieces, consumed her whole, and tore through her… I already knew. Shes still inside me. There are still two Transcendents left. Which means you can still strike me at will, leaving only her portion alive.

The Emperors expression cracked, doubt flashing through his eyes.

And yet… Wang Xiao tilted his head, his lips curling wider. …I let you. I let you throw your chains. I let you bring your river. I let you pile sins on the scale.

Why? Emperor Ming demanded, voice sharp, though unease grew at him.

But Wang Xiao didnt answer.

Instead, he moved.

Slowly…

Step by step…

Walking forward.

The souls eeire dark hands grabbed tighter, their claws stretching like endless shadows, but they bent like reeds in a storm. The golden chains strained, trembling, yet none could stop him. Each step cracked the silence like thunder until he stood only a breath away from Emperor Ming.

Now, face to face, he looked into the Executioners eyes. His own lips quivered, not with pain, but with something closer to joy.

I… His voice was cold, filled with hunger. …wanted to kill you. To consume you.

The words slashed colder than any blade.

Emperor Mings pupils shrank. A chill sliced through him as realization slapped. This wasnt desperation.

This was a trap!

From the very start, this madman had been waiting for this moment.

Too late.

BANG!

No energy, no divine art, just a raw punch.

Flesh against flesh.

It caught the Emperor off-guard.

His jaw cracked under the blow, pain flooding him as his head snapped back.

Ugh!

For the first time in ages, the Judge staggered against his own judgment, teeth rattling as he doubled back.

BANG!

A kick crushed into his abdomen. Bone crunched, flesh tore.

Puchi!

Golden blood sprayed from his lips, spattering the scales beneath. His eyes bulged, veins bursting red and gold, before he collapsed onto his knees, clutching his stomach in disbelief.

H-How… he choked, his words drowning in blood. His gaze snapped upward, wide, broken. Even with two of you combined… you shouldnt… you shouldnt be able to hurt me-!

CRACK!

Wang Xiaos fist slammed into his jaw before he could finish. The Emperors head snapped sideways, a stream of golden blood whipping across the void.

THUD!

Another knee drove into his ribs, splintering them like dry wood. He coughed more golden fluid, gasping, eyes swimming with panic and denial.

No… I dont… I dont want to… His voice broke between blows, each syllable shattered by another strike.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Fists rained down mercilessly. Face, chest, gut, each hit carving away the dignity of the Emperor of the Nether River, leaving only a bleeding figure spasming on his knees.

CLINK!

The chains slipped from his hands, useless now.

Wang Xiaos knuckles dripped with divine ichor, his breath steady, his grin evil. He looked down at the broken judge, lips curling as if enjoying the taste of sacrilege.

Golden blood poured like rivers, Emperor Mings once-radiant skin was a ruin of split flesh and shattered bone, his jaw tilted and broken, broken teeth scattered across the trembling scale like broken pearls

His nose was flattened, one eye swollen shut, the other rolling wildly as if begging the karma itself to explain how this was happening.

His chest caved where Wang Xiaos knee had landed, ribs jutting like snapped ivory stakes through pale skin. Every breath came as a wet gurgle, spraying golden ichor mixed with clots of shredded organs.

His once-majestic clothes were nothing but ragged strips soaked in blood, covering him like funeral rags.

He twitched on his knees, vomiting golden blood that splattered hot across the scale. The stench was acidic, enough to turn stomachs if there were mortals here to witness.

Still, Wang Xiao didnt stop. His fists came down with brutal rhythm, each blow smashing through divine flesh like hammering rotten meat.

CRACK! BAM! CRUNCH!

The Emperors nose was gone. His cheekbones shattered. His skull split open in fractures, golden fluid bubbling out. His once-immortal frame looked less like a god and more like butchered carrion, twitching, unrecognizable.

Stop… he gasped, his voice a broken mess, more blood than words. This… shouldnt be possible…

And then, he saw it.

Through the haze of pain, his blurred eye caught something impossible: behind Wang Xiao, stretching from his back, glowed a strange golden string, quivering, reaching somewhere far beyond.

Instinct made him look down,.and horror clawed into him. From his own back stretched a dark string, blacker than void, pulsing with a sickly rhythm. It wasnt just tethered.

It was pulling.

The entire scale beneath them trembled violently, louder and louder, its sacred beam cracking as though it would snap.

What… what is this…? His voice cracked, trembling between disbelief and terror.

Then, he looked up.

And froze.

Above them, blotting out even the void of stars, stood a figure so vast it dwarfed this tiny universe itself.

Not human, not even close.

A cosmic silhouette of shifting forms.

A body woven from galaxies that spiraled like veins.

Hair trailing into nebulae, strands unraveling into endless starlight.

Eyes, no, not eyes, but black voids rimmed with burning halos, each blink collapsing constellations within.

Her face was never still, it flickered between beauty, horror, and something entirely unknowable, like creation itself trying masks and discarding them, her limbs were not limbs but flowing lattices of radiant geometry, fractal patterns that both burned and healed space as they moved.

Where her hands should have been, rivers of light and shadow poured endlessly, shaping and unshaping matter.

She was vast, infinite, and she was watching.

Recognition stabbed through him like a final blade. His bloodied lips trembled, disbelief choking his throat.

Its… you…

His one good eye widened with the horror of final realization.

He understood, too late, what this meant.

CRRRAAAACK!

The Scale of Karma split apart, the beam snapping like brittle wood under the weight of truths it could not hold.

The fragments of law holding it, glowing crimson, scattered like dying stars across the Nether River.

And judgment collapsed into chaos.

The scale split, both plunged into river below.

CRASH!