Myth Beyond Heaven

Yun Lintian couldn’t help but laugh, the sound rough from his strained throat. “So you were both guardian and potential conqueror?”

“Balance requires both,” Si Junyi said simply. He placed a cold hand on Yun Lintian’s shoulder. “Remember this when you assume your role – true power lies not in choosing one extreme, but in maintaining the tension between them.”

Yun Lintian exhaled slowly, feeling the truth in those words resonate with his newly merged powers.

“Now,” Si Junyi stepped back, his form beginning to blur at the edges, “shall we complete the transfer?”

Yun Lintian didn’t reply immediately. He didn’t know how to feel at the moment. With the God of Death’s power gone, Si Junyi would definitely regress drastically.

Si Junyi’s crimson eyes flashed as he suddenly thrust both hands into his own chest. Black energy crackled as he withdrew two objects – the Judge’s Pen and the Book of Death.

“You thought losing the Death God’s authority would make me powerless?” Si Junyi chuckled darkly. With a swift motion, he stabbed the Judge’s Pen into the Book of Death.

Boom!

A shockwave of black energy erupted. Si Junyi’s form dissolved into swirling shadows before reforming into a towering figure clad in obsidian robe – a new Yama King. His crimson eyes now burned with hellfire, his presence dominating the Netherworld.

Yun Lintian’s mismatched eyes widened. “You…”

“Didn’t you expect this when you returned them to me?” Si Junyi’s voice echoed with newfound power. “The Netherworld always needs its kings.” He extended a hand, and the remaining Death God’s authority coalesced into a swirling black orb above his palm. “Now, take what’s yours.”

Yun Lintian exhaled in relief. At least Si Junyi wouldn’t disappear completely. He reached for the orb—

Pain.

The moment Yun Lintian touched the orb of Death’s authority, the Netherworld shattered into monochrome chaos.

Black and white energies exploded outward like colliding tidal waves. The gray mists tore apart, forming perfect hemispheres of opposing colors that constantly pushed against each other. Where they met, reality itself distorted – space cracking like thin ice underfoot.

Inside Yun Lintian’s body, war raged.

Left side — Death.

His flesh blackened, veins bulging with corrosive energy. His left eye saw only endings — the death of stars, the collapse of worlds, the final breaths of countless souls.

Right side — Life.

Emerald light burst from his pores, forming crystalline leaves across his skin. His right eye witnessed births – the first cry of newborns, the sprouting of seeds, the dawn after long nights.

The Beyond Heaven King’s Crown shrieked as its eight jewels flickered wildly, struggling to maintain balance.

“Endure,” Si Junyi commanded, now floating above as a spectral Yama King. “This is the final trial.”

Yun Lintian couldn’t even scream. His jaw locked as the opposing forces tore through him.

Day One.

His left side blackened completely, skin cracking to reveal the void beneath. His right side glowed blinding white, flesh transforming into crystalline structures. The Beyond Heaven King’s Crown shrieked as its eight jewels flickered wildly, barely maintaining equilibrium.

Day Three.

Yun Lintian’s hair turned completely white – not from age, but from the sheer strain of containing both Primordial powers. Strands floated around him like a frozen blizzard, each hair absorbing traces of the warring energies.

The Netherworld mirrored his struggle.

In black zones, mountains of skulls erupted from the ground.

In white regions, forests of glowing trees sprouted instantly.

The River of Forgetfulness split into two parallel streams — one dark as ink, one clear as crystal.

Day Five.

The Tree of Life within Yun Lintian groaned as its roots dug deeper into his soul. The Crown’s jewels dimmed one by one as they sacrificed their power to stabilize the fusion.

Memories flashed uncontrollably.

His time on Earth and the Azure World. All the familiar faces he had met throughout his life appeared one after another. His parents that he could barely remember their faces.

Each memory fractured and reformed, the emotional weight threatening to shatter his consciousness.

Day Seven.

A terrible stillness descended.

The black and white energies froze mid-collision, forming a perfect yin-yang sphere around Yun Lintian’s floating form. His white hair swayed gently despite the lack of wind.

Then—

Click.

Like the final tumbler in a divine lock.

The opposing energies didn’t merge—they learned to orbit each other in perfect harmony. The Netherworld’s monochrome chaos stabilized into balanced gradients of gray.

Yun Lintian opened his eyes.

His hair remained snow-white, the only visible change. But internally, he could feel the new equilibrium.

Death’s cold precision in his left meridians.

Life’s vibrant pulse in his right.

The Crown now hummed steadily, its eight jewels glowing with renewed light.

Si Junyi descended, his Yama King attire fluttering softly. “You’ve done it.”

Yun Lintian flexed his hands, feeling the balanced powers coursing through him. “It wasn’t about conquering either force…but understanding they need each other.”

“Exactly.” Si Junyi gestured to the transformed Netherworld. “Just as darkness defines light, death gives meaning to life.”

He paused for a moment and asked, “How do you feel right now?”

“Of course, I can feel that my strength has increased significantly,” Yun Lintian frowned slightly and said. “However, I always feel like there’s something missing.”

“Something missing?” Si Junyi raised his brow slightly.

Yun Lintian stared at his pale hands, the veins pulsing with unfamiliar energy. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he said slowly. “When I absorbed other powers before, I always felt…complete afterward. But this time…” His voice trailed off as he clenched his fists.

Si Junyi observed him with those crimson Yama King eyes. “Perhaps it’s because you’ve reached a height no one has ever attained before. Not even the Primordial Gods.”

Yun Lintian’s mismatched eyes – one void-black, one emerald-green – flickered with doubt. “You really think so?”

The newly transformed Yama King gestured at the transformed Netherworld around them. The once-gray realm now existed in perfect gradients of balanced darkness and light. “Look around you. This isn’t just absorbing power. This is transcending the very framework of existence.”

Yun Lintian exhaled, his white hair stirring with the motion. “I suppose…”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“How can I be?” Yun Lintian shook his head. “This feeling…it’s like I’ve become something else entirely. Not human, not god, not even Primordial. Just…different.”

Si Junyi considered this for a long moment before nodding. “Then perhaps that’s exactly what you are now. Something new. Something beyond.”

A wry smile touched Yun Lintian’s lips. “Hopefully that’s the case.”