With the Land Above All brooding in frustration, the atmosphere in the lower Realms was even worse.

The apparent small victory that Kami had secured by injuring the Celestial Tortoise didn’t just feel hollow; it stared at him with accusation.

On the other hand, the Lord of Shadows remained calm. His adversary was not Kami, but the ancient God who had once taught him as well.

Although he had already sent Old Gu and Baoshi to convince the Celestial Beasts to join his cause fully, it didn’t go as well as one might have imagined.

The Celestial Beasts had lived long enough to understand politics. It was well within their knowledge that their sibling had become a target only because those dead-brained humans had wrongly assumed that they weren’t neutral.

Still, the Celestial Tortoise had suffered grievous injuries. Although the most peaceful of the 4 Beasts, the Tortoise now wanted nothing more than revenge. It just so happened that the Lord of Shadows was willing to give him one.

The other three, however, had different thoughts. Although they were furious on behalf of their sibling, they were unwilling to become part of the war. As usual, they would simply protect their lairs. It didn’t matter if help was given to them or not.

Even the Celestial Tiger, who cared the most about the Tortoise, refused to go against the Heavenly Emperor. She even advised her brother to show restraint and forget about the grievance.

But the Tortoise only saw red. If it weren’t for his strong defense, he would have died that day!

While Yasashii Hito quietly thought of how he could use this new pawn to his advantage, he felt something near the door.

Alarmed, he stood straight. Whoever was outside was dangerous because they had evaded his senses until they came this close!

After Yasashii had established this Realm, even the Heavenly Virtues thought twice before coming here. And when they did, he knew immediately. This Realm was a stronghold under his constant watch.

"Be at ease. I have no intentions to start a fight..." Ozul walked in slowly, his hands raised to show he wasn’t holding any artifacts.

The moment he spoke, four shadows stirred and leaped to surround him. They were completely covered in dark clothes, leaving only their emotionless eyes visible.

Across the room, Yasashii narrowed his eyes, trying to assess his power, but failing regardless of what methods he used; there was not a single trace of Spiritual Essence in him.

"So you’re him... What was the name? Azur? No... Azul."

"Ozul Ashfall."

"My apologies."

Shrugging, Ozul replied, "I don’t know your name either."

He smiled, but before he could say anything, he heard another remark,

"Your titles are not your name."

And then there was a pause. A stillness so dense that it made the 4 guards think they were about to hear orders to kill.

But the Lord of Shadows was not an unreasonable man. He waved his hand—a hint for the guards to leave. They vanished just as quickly as they had appeared.

"For the longest time, maybe forever, I have not spoken my own name," he began, "Before you... No one ever asked."

Following that, he sat down, leaning back on his chair comfortably.

"My name is Yasashii Hito... or it was. Now, I am either one of the two titles. Whichever you prefer."

Ozul always found it weird to refer to one with their famed titles, yet he also found it tedious to remember names.

He had merely mentioned not knowing his name to assure him that it didn’t matter if he had gotten it wrong. Instead, the Lord of Shadows thought he was asking his name. He was already regretting not being vocal enough.

"How do you know of me?" Ozul asked, making himself comfortable on a seat across from him. He wasn’t offered a seat, but who would stop him?

"Great beings are known by virtue of their existence," Yasashii spoke in riddles, deserving of a man who had grown so old that his age was second only to that of the Heavenly Emperor.

"You know of me, why could I not know of you?"

In his mind, Ozul didn’t feel it was right, but at the same time, he couldn’t refute it—not when the man before him was the famed Lord, or what most called him, the Demonic Emperor.

"It seems you are curious, little one." Yasashii tilted his head, his voice empty yet carrying an undeniable weight. He said, "I must admit, I have a great deal of interest in you as well."

Ozul examined the man deeply. He could sense the other’s Spiritual Essence, but to put an accurate guess on his overall strength, he would have to observe the man in a fight or something.

At the same time, he also tried to sense the emotions surrounding the man, yet he could grasp very little, almost like a dim flame on its last verge of struggle. Either his ability worked poorly on the man, or the latter had mastered the art of managing his feelings.

He was sure of one thing: he shouldn’t fight the man.

"...Why?" That was the only word Ozul could utter. Maybe the Lord of Shadows had some intimate knowledge of his peculiar situation.

"Because you may be what I dream of becoming."

"Death of God?" Ozul asked, recalling what little he had gathered from Old Gu before he was imprisoned.

"Death of the most ancient man."

Evidently, Yasashii didn’t like people calling ’him’ a God.

"I was skeptical, or maybe I refused to believe it. But now..." he paused, a bitter chuckle escaped his lips, "Now that you are in front of me, I can deny it no longer. You really are the Eternal Darkness of the prophecy as Old Gu predicted."

After all, not only had the boy broken out of the prison, but he had even slain one of the Heavenly Virtues and managed to come so close to him without being noticed. These feats alone put him among the top powerhouses across all Realms.

Ozul stayed quiet, digesting those words.

"Do you know something about me? Anything?" He asked, hope reigniting in the dark corners of his shell.

Yasashii noticed the hunger for answers, but he shook his head. Parting his crisp lips, he answered, "You seek answers, but so do I. You seem lost, and so am I. Forgive me that I do not have the waters you seek to bathe in."

"Are you saying we’re the same?"

"Maybe. Do you seek revenge?"

"Revenge?"

"I thought so," Yasashii nodded, "We couldn’t be any more different then."

Having realized even the Lord of Shadows didn’t know about his being, Ozul got more curious about the latter’s story instead of his own.

"Why do you seek revenge?"

There was silence once again. Unpleasant memories surfaced in Yasashii’s mind as his face scrunched up in hate.

Staring into the air, as if muttering to himself rather than talking to Ozul, he gnashed his teeth and let out, "I wanted power. I wanted to be the strongest! I trusted him to make me the strongest, and he betrayed me!"

It was a story lost to history.

Curious, Ozul continued to probe, "How? Did the Emperor not want someone growing stronger than him?"

Yasashii shook his head, bitterly replying, "He doesn’t care about strength. He never cared.

I was young and had no knowledge of the paths ahead, so I sought his tutelage, trusting the man and his ancient wisdom. He put me on the path of Light, and I must know why!"

This confused him. "Path of Light? Was that the betrayal?"

Sensing his confusion, Yasashii explained further, "I wanted a path that held the most potential, and he kept it from me; he lied. He lied to me for eons! If I knew the right path, I might have overcome the shackles, the divine bindings, the rule of nature!"

"What path?"

Taking a deep breath, his chest rising just a tad bit, as if declaring himself more magnanimous than God himself, Yasashii answered,

"The darkness. It was the darkness that was infinite in the universe. Only that path could give one an infinite room to grow."

Again, a flicker of hate flashed past his eyes. He declared, albeit with difficulty, "But no! That man wanted to put everyone on the path of Light! Before I realized the truth, it was already too late... I was already bound to it."

"If you’re on the path of Light, why do they call you Lord of Shadows? Why is the Realm so... dark?"

All his revelations only seemed to deepen Ozul’s confusion.

"I confronted him, and he vaguely told me he had a reason for it. We fought and separated. But my will to reach the greatest of heights was not dead. I removed my own spiritual veins, destroyed everything, and started anew."

Yasashii’s voice grew dimmer the more he spoke. Never had he poured out his heart like this in front of anyone. For a moment, he questioned if he was under any influence of an artifact, but found nothing like that.

Meanwhile, Ozul was stunned.

He knew just how painful it was to deal with the spiritual veins. Someone ripping those out himself, destroying the gates, and surviving after all that pain? It deserved respect, yet he could not muster up any.

Maybe the sheer will of wanting to reach the top, becoming the strongest, and going through such hardships would inspire even the most cowardly of hearts, but not him.

He couldn’t relate to wanting more strength simply for the sake of it.

Something in him even felt a little dismayed, a little restless whenever he grew stronger.

To him, power was a means to an end. The end was his answers, and those could only be gotten from the most powerful ’man’ in existence.

Having heard the story, Ozul didn’t waste any more time and presented his offer,

"Our motivations differ, but the goals align. Would you consider an alliance?"