“You know - it’s kinda funny.” Jianmen, with his left eye blinded, left forearm cleanly severed and his chest ripped open and his heart torn apart, could now only speak in a barely audible wheezing voice : “I - I thought I would never be here, I thought I’d never want to face another Defiler, much less a Grand Defiler. But as it turns out, I kinda wanted this fight, I looked forward to it.”

“And - I hope I didn’t disappoint. I believe you may have learned more about me and my children than you expected to?” The Grand Defiler bowed gently, with his right hand holding the jade amulet tightly. And with a series of cracking sounds, the amulet was crushed into a handful of tiny grains, which then flowed through his finger cracks onto the ground: “There - consider it a favor - now, I will present you with a choice, if you still have the heart to hear it.”

“Well, I didn’t expect that.” Jianmen shook his head, then looked down on his open chest: “And good one.”

“Thanks, I’ve been around for a looong time, and it helps to pick up a few things.” The Grand Defiler sat down in front of Jianmen: “I’ll cut to the chase: where do you think my children come from?”

“I don’t think there’s a Mrs. Grand Defiler.”

“No, and I don’t need one. Humor me this, if YOU are the original breaker of worlds and order, who would make the perfect subordinates to delegate your duties and your work? Think about it, you need to find those that are already familiar with the order of the world - and of course, they should know how to bend or even break the rules, and they should enjoy doing so.”

“... other gods.” Jianmen nodded with a wry smile: “No wonder, I was wondering why you would go for Xyn and fell him, and judging from the reaction I got from that worm Hoztang, your children went after him as well.”

“What’s that saying of your humans?” The Grand Defiler nodded with an approving smile: “Power - ”

“Yeah I know.” Jianmen grunted as he leaned over and picked up a few of the broken grains of his amulet with his right hand, then threw a grain at the Defiler’s face: “And my answer is no. I will not join you. I was a dormant contender for godhood because I wanted no part of it, and I want no part of whatever this is.”

The Grand Defiler didn’t even blink when the grain hit his face, he stared at Jianmen’s face for a while then sighed: “Too bad, this must be the worst fight I’ve been in. You don’t have godhood, which means the only thing I can get out of it is your body - it’s much much less useful if you’re not willing. And much less fun for you. You know - the process, if you resist, your mind and will won’t fade until the very last moment. And with your room here - I don’t have much power right now, so it’s gonna take very, very, very long.”

“Oh?” Jianmen threw another grain at the Grand Defiler’s face, hitting him for another time: “Thanks, but my decision is made.”

Just when Jianmen was about to throw another grain at him, the Grand Defiler grabbed Jiamen’s right wrist, and a stream of his power seeped into Jianmen’s wrist, and started flowing into his meridians.

“Thanks.” Jianmen’s forehead was covered in sweat, but he managed to squeeze out one word, before relenting his resistance and letting the Grand Defiler’s power in.

The Grand Defiler hesitated for a moment, but then a jolt of pain struck him like a bolt of lightning - something he had not felt in millenia. A white glowing orb appeared in his heart position, the position where Jianmen’s guandao blade was before.

“How - what did you do?” The Grand Defiler immediately cut off his energy output, stood up and said.

Jianmen’s smile was weak, his face was pale - the injuries finally overwhelmed him and he just stopped speaking. His body froze in a laid back and relaxed fashion, as if he just crossed the final item off his bucket list.

The Grand Defiler tried to move, but his body was somehow locked in place - it was as if the effects of the room were just amplified by thousands of times. The glowing orb on his left chest continued to spin and slowly, chewing off his body one small piece at a time.

It was order - extremely concentrated order, the Grand Defiler finally realized, the room was crafted in such a way that the order inside of it was condensed yet evenly distributed. This was the sole reason that their powers were so limited inside, because both the Grand Defiler and Jianmen were beings of immense power that tapped into the realm of order, being inside of this kind of isolated realm with extremely concentrated order would just cause their abilities to be restrained, just like humans not being able to fight with bare hands and legs effectively underwater.

And just like fighting in water, all cuts and punctures will cause water to seep into the wounds, which would be much more troublesome for the Grand Defiler than it was for Jianmen. This meant that the Grand Defiler would have to use his power to resist the inflow of order into his body.

The fight that dragged on created multiple chances for the inflow of order into the Grand Defiler’s body. But the straw that broke the camel's back was the time he used his taxing ability to convert Jianmen - finally, the loss of his power and the accumulation of order in his body broke the equilibrium.

“Clever - you mortal, very clever. ” The Grand Defiler almost laughed out loud as his body was gradually consumed by the growing, glowing white orb, and the order inside this room finally crushed his body like water pressure from the deep seas crushing a hollow container: “Clever - I guess I’ll remember you when I come again.”