Chapter 1668: The Desired Illusion

"Keep telling yourself that," Emperor Kong said. "The sad truth is your ego destroyed your life."

"What did you say?"

Dark Kong appeared above Kong and slapped him. However, as his hands were about to touch the face, Kong’s head suddenly turned into a grinding disk that instantly shredded the attacker’s right hand. Then, he used his brush to draw a mark on Dark Kong’s body.

"Danm it," Dark Kong cursed as he regenerated his arm. That mark was a seal, and the target was his speed Ultimate Skill. His body pushed him back, distancing him from his opponent. A small, dark, purple orb slowly condensed in Dark Kong’s palm as he transformed all the power and energy between Heaven and Earth into a pure destructive force.

Emperor Kong reacted by condensing an energy orb of the purest power of creation, wanting to counter his opponent’s attack. However, his experience told him his attack could not compare with the latter, meaning he needed a boost.

’What? What’s going on?’

This was his last thought before the power of destruction spread to every corner of this dimension. His power of creation tried to counter, but after less than ten seconds of confrontation, it was overwhelmed, and the power reached Kong himself. He did not waste any time transforming his body into the best Anti-Destruction material he knew of.

Once the attack dissipated, a metallic-looking Emperor Kong, half his body gone, floated in the void. He immediately used his True Will and Sage Will to expel Dark Kong’s True Will from his body before focusing on the next plan.

’I can’t access the Grand Constructs, which is bad news for me, but it can also be a good thing,’ Kong analyzed. His location was the most likely cause of his current situation. But as long as this state also applied to his opponent, this bad news may turn into good news. He did not know how long it had been since his alternate self had been a primal, meaning it’s possible he has mastered one or more grand constructs.

Kong suddenly groaned, followed by blood dripping from his orifices; he had just received a backlash from the alternate self trying to remove the seal he had placed on their ultimate skill. He then raised his palm to turn the air into the sharpest sword he could manufacture, trying to cut his opponent in two.

Dark Kong’s hand turned into an unknown material and casually punched the blade away. He then transformed his muscles and bones into the heaviest material he knew — a material called world steel, wth one gram being as heavy as an entire Source Chaos World.

Emperor Kong’s upper body exploded into a mist after blocking one punch. He was lucky his alternate self had merely read about world steel and could barely mimic a minor portion of the essence of a Saint Tier material such as world steel.

"Today, you will feel as helpless and weak as I have felt my entire life," Dark Kong said before attacking again. His punch hit a golden protection, but he only sneered. The Golden Body of Merit will not save his primordial self. He released a barrage of punches and kicks, and it didn’t take long for the golden protection to be shattered.

Emperor Kong’s body turned into mist to evade that last devastating attack. ’I need more time, and a distraction,’ he thought as he reformed. He used his brush to write numerous runes around him, each transforming into an array. Dark Kong rushed head-on, showing his complete trust in his transformation. But while he was not harmed, the endless arrays delayed him.

Emperor Kong used this opportunity to use a technique to write with invisible ink. However, he understood his opponent’s senses must be better than his, and probably had some kind of Detection Ultimate Skills, so he decided to distract him.

"You never mentioned why you were late to save Han’er? What was so important that you delayed saving your own son?"

"I wasn’t delayed. I rushed in over as soon as I sensed something," Dark Kong snapped.

"So, it was just a coincidence that missed the timing by such a small margin? Are you sure some people were not plotting from the shadows?" Emperor Kong asked. There are rarely any coincidences in this world.

"Does it fucking matter now?" Dark Kong roared as he tore apart the last array. His body grew in size, further increasing his mass and weight from the world steel. His enormous fist then smashed his alternate self with the utmost prejudice.

"Now," Emperor Kong yelled. An array suddenly manifested above his opponent, and before Dark Kong could react, a significant portion of his power was siphoned away from him. He desperately tried to resist whatever was happening, but it was too late.

"You stole my powers?"

"It seems you never had the chance to capture Paragon Jimin and study his Stealing Dao. Well, is he even alive in your timeline?"

"Jimin? The former leader of the Rebellion who died during his Paragon Tribulation?" Dark Kong asked.

"It’s truly fascinating to see how lives diverged from one single moment in time."

Dark Kong snickered at these words. Only these privileged assholes from the Primordial Timeline have the time to appreciate the beauty of life in the Infinite Trichiliocosm. For everybody else who is treated as spare or others, they have to struggle with the meaning of their existence.

"Do you think you’ve won now that you have my powers?" Dark Kong sneered.

"But I have," Kong replied calmly. His alternate self would have been a great opponent had the latter been more mentally sound. But now that their power was temporarily balanced, the battle was finished.

"Your arrogance reminded me of the Fate Lord," Dark Kong sneered before his body shrank to normal size. Then, three thousand eight hundred orbs of various colors manifested behind him, each transformed into a raw force of the fundamental Daos of the universe. They fused into a single dark purple ball of primordial chaos—a manifestation of the universe’s initial state.

"A brilliant ultimate skills," Kong praised. "But it’s useless."

[Illusion World: The Desired Life]

Emperor Kong waved his hand to create a spiritual world of illusion. Dark Kong wanted to immediately detonate his attack, but the first thing he saw in that illusion made him pause. "Bao’er."

"What are you doing, dazing off? Come, it’s time for lunch, and Han’er is hungry," Bai Libao said with a smile. Alternate Kong knew this was an illusion, but when he saw the smile, he could not stop himself from taking a good look. His memories have long been tainted. Everything he tried to relieve the happy memories before that day, they would soon be overcome by the flame, screams, terror, and helplessness.

At one point, he even contemplated erasing the dark parts of memories. But would he still be himself without his memories? Would he still have the drive to one day get back everything he had lost? And even if Dark Kong could forget, the emptiness in his heart would not be filled just because he does not remember.

"Hello!"

"Ah, yes, I’m coming." Without knowing it, Dark Kong followed his wife. They had a family dinner and spoke about the academy, their future, and everything else in between. As time passed, Kong slowly forgot what he had lost. Maybe he did not forget, but chose to ignore it. This world was much better than reality, so why couldn’t he indulge a little bit more?

"I knew this would work, but it still saddened me to see it," Emperor Kong sighed as he looked at the man with his face, genuinely smiling for the first time in probably eons. He raised his hands to activate his Ultimate Skill: [Mistake Correction]. A brush materialized between Heaven and Earth and slowly started to undraw Dark Kong from reality. At least, that’s what it looked like. What was truly happening was that all the atoms and spiritual particles of his flesh and soul were slowly transformed from a state of existence to a state of nonexistence.

As the last brushstroke finished its work, a blob of white essence materialized where Dark Kong had previously stood. The thing then flew into Kong’s body before he could react. A vast quantity of memories rushed into his soul, but as soon as they appeared, an unknown force erased them. Kong immediately tried to retain some of them, and he did, but most were erased.

Little did he know that his success or failure in capturing these memories had nothing to do with him. The Unification Tower brought the two of them into a space that could be described as the in-between dimension between timelines, and the moment he defeated his opponent, two higher beings started to fight for these memories: Grand Dao and the Highest Sovereign.

The number of people who noticed this confrontation could be counted on one hand. And Kong — as the pawn used as medium — was none the wiser.

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