“So, this is the place you decided where you should fall.” The Grand Defiler, the one that led the horde into this realm, and whose projected shadow was destroyed by Jianmen during the incident at Clearwater Municipal Hospital, said to Jianmen as he turned into a human shape from his former form of a cloud of dark mist.

“Or, this is where I shall fell you.” Jianmen twirled his rattan broom and his meat cleaver in his hands: “I don’t know, but I think even YOU can be felled.”

“I am not going to dignify that with an answer.” The Grand Defiler’s body turned more detailed, and he turned into the shape of Jianmen, just that the skin tone was slightly darker and the features were in a reverse manner like Jianmen was looking at himself from a dimmed mirror.

They were inside of an empty, spacious room whose interior space was a perfect cube, all surfaces inside were made of bricks that were laid in an orderly manner with no uneven spots at all. At each of the eight corners of this room, a polished white crystal was embedded in there, radiating warm white light, and a gentle but firm and sturdy energy field. All of the eight pieces of crystal were in sync, creating a spacial and karmic seal that locked this entire room off and isolated it almost completely from the outside world. It was an orphaned realm, separated from the rest of the universe and without great effort from Jianmen one could not simply go in or out.

“And you really believe that without you out there, those humans would really stand a chance against my army?” The Grand Defiler looked around the room, seemingly just checking out the bricks and structures, his voice still remained the same.

“I have faith in them, they will do their job, and I will do mine.” Jianmen tilted his head both ways and loosened his muscles and meridians in preparation for battle: “But are you so confident that your army would last long enough to breach their defenses? It’s not just humans, it’s also the swarm of primitive but ferocious creatures from the void.”

“Xyn, The Living Will of The Void. ” The Grand Defiler scoffed: “Oh, what a pity he’s not what he was back then - if only you can see how grand, powerful, glorious, and arrogant he was. Arguably one of the most blessed godhood holders since the dawn of time.”

“And arguably the most powerful one leading this attack.” Jianmen smiled.

“Oh? But does he even have the will to fight?” The Grand Defiler smiled.

“We all fall, once or twice before.” Jianmen shook his head.

The Grand Defiler stared at Jianmen for a brief moment, then he let out a gentle laughter: “You’ve fought us before, haven’t you? Before the last time we met, before - before you came to this world.”

“Yeah, and the manners your kind display and the things your kind do are just really unimpressive.” Jianmen shrugged: “You look weaker than the one I fought before though. I don’t really know why, but at least that’s good news to me.”

“How old do you think this world is?” The Grand Defiler took a deep breath like a human, then asked.

“A couple of billion years by Earth’s measure, perhaps. It’s really not that polite to ask a lady her exact age.”

“A lady, huh! You’re funny.” The Grand Defiler shook his head and finger at Jianmen: “But yeah, a couple of billion years by the measures of the planet you inhabit. And to us, it’s still very, very young. Which leaves us a lot of time to grow. And by the time this universe comes to an end at our hands, you probably won’t be there to see it.”

“So, that means you’re cancer.” Jianmen nodded.

“A gross oversimplification, but yes.” The Grand Defiler shrugged and raised his hands: “Now, how do you plan this to end? I suppose there is no way to convince you to join us. And since you have fought us before, you would already know that though the lower ones can be slain, we, the Grand Ones and the originators of what you call Defilers, cannot be felled. You may destroy me if you are so fortunate, but I will be reborn in the abyss and ready to strike again.”

“Well, at least then I will have a good feeling that I’ve kicked your ass once, and I can do it again.” Jianmen smiled, then lunged at the Grand Defiler with his broom and meat cleaver in his hands.

The meat cleaver and the rattan broom swung across the air in quick succession, and the Grand Defiler just dodged them with ease, using a similar martial arts style as Jianmen’s own.

Jianmen remained unfazed after missing two hits, and taking advantage of his momentum, he unleashed a full force kick at the Grand Defiler. This time, his opponent had to block the attack using his arms and back off riding the impact.

While he was in mid air, the Grand Defiler shifted a short distance to back off further. Then as landed on the ground and stood up, he shook his finger at Jianmen once again: “Looks like hard as you tried, there’s still cracks in this near perfect realm of yours. Just to let you know, it’d be harder to fell me now.”

“Huh. Looks like one needs to go all in if he wants to catch a break.” Jianmen narrowed his eyes, then he held his meat cleaver to the loose end of his broom.

The thin rattan branches closed in on the meat cleaver like dozens of tiny snakes and wrapped around the handle of the meat cleaver. The blade of the meat cleaver grew longer, wider and slightly more curved. Before long, the broom and the meat cleaver became one, a guandao, with the shaft of the broom as the shaft, and the blade of the meat cleaver as the gruesome looking blade.