The ivory-haired youth, an enigmatic smile playing upon his lips, regarded Wang Lin with unnerving familiarity. “I,” he declared, “am you.”

“Empty boasts!” Wang Lin scoffed, striding forward. Like a meteor unleashed, he surged towards the boundless, alien continent, dismissing the cryptic apparition.

Yet, scarce a hundred paces had he traversed when his eyes narrowed, halting his advance. Before him, he raised his right hand, striking the void.

At his touch, the very air shimmered, coalescing into a barrier like a curtain of water. This shimmering veil pulsed with potent celestial energy, nullifying the force of Wang Lin’s strike and riposting with a surge that pierced his defenses.

“You cannot pass,” the ivory-haired youth proclaimed from behind the shimmering veil, perched upon the ancient demon effigy.

“You seek the nature of the Heavenly Tribulation, its origin? Defeat me, and all shall be revealed… Do not be surprised that I know your thoughts, for I am you.” With a fluid step, the youth emerged from the shimmering barrier, his white hair dancing in the wind, an aura of ethereal grace surrounding him.

“Down through the ages, you are not the first to tread the path of the Third Step Inverse, but none have survived this ordeal of the True Self… I confess, I am curious to see if you shall.” The youth’s voice was laced with amusement, barely audible.

With a stride, he crossed the threshold of the watery barrier, halting a mere dozen paces from Wang Lin. He extended his right hand, pointing a single accusing finger.

“Dare you face me, or do you shrink from the truth of yourself?”

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with glacial fire. Without a word, he lunged forward, a blur of motion aimed directly at the ivory-haired youth. His right hand rose, fingers splayed, poised to strike.

“The Tribulation of the Self… intriguing.”

The youth remained unruffled. Mirroring Wang Lin’s advance, he too raised his right hand, mimicking the posture, the gesture, the very essence of his opponent. The spectacle was unsettling, a disturbing reflection that would chill the blood of any observer.

Two figures, identical in form, expression, and garb, wielding the same power, closed upon each other within the desolate expanse of the world, like twin meteors hurtling towards inevitable collision.

In a heartbeat, they clashed. A savage light flared in Wang Lin’s eyes as his right hand, poised as a striking palm, met the ivory-haired youth’s own.

An earth-shattering roar reverberated across the land, its echoes spiraling outwards, merging into a thunderous cacophony that threatened to shatter the very fabric of existence.

As the echoes continued to rage, Wang Lin and the youth, their actions perfectly synchronized, clenched their fingers, locking their palms in a desperate grip.

A cyclone of power erupted between them, unleashing a tempest that tore at their matching white hair and identical robes. Even their faces mirrored each other, contorted in a mask of grim determination.

The intertwined fingers tightened, each attempting to wrest control of the other’s vital essence. Though the action unfolded in a mere sliver of time, the consequences were profound.

The ivory-haired youth coughed up a gout of crimson blood, his body flung backwards. Blood streamed from his orifices. His left eye swirled with the infernal symbol of the Flame Totem, while his right pulsed with the crackling energy of a Lightning Mark. The very essence of his being – the fundamental principles of Karma, Life and Death, Truth and Illusion – roiled and writhed, threatening to be drawn forth. Finally, the forces coalesced into a swirling vortex of chaotic energy, grasped within Wang Lin’s hand.

Wang Lin himself, however, fared no better. He too choked on blood, his face mirroring the youth’s agony, his very being convulsing with the same internal struggle. The same primal forces writhed within him, poised to be ripped from his grasp. The youth, his body hunched with pain, recoiled, mirrored exactly by Wang Lin’s own desperate retreat, each stumbling back a hundred paces in perfect unison!

Even their thoughts echoed in perfect harmony as they simultaneously slammed the stolen essence into their foreheads, seeking to mend the gaping wounds within their souls.

“There is no need for further tests,” the ivory-haired youth said, wiping the blood from his lips. “Your thoughts are my thoughts. Your powers are my powers. I am you! Your tricks might work on others, but they are useless against me!” A chilling smile twisted his lips.

“If you still doubt me, I shall force you to believe!” With a deliberate stride, he surged forward, a blur of motion aimed directly at Wang Lin.

His left hand rose, shrouded in a swirling mist of white, while his right hand became wreathed in shadows as dark as pitch. Raising both hands in tandem, the ivory-haired youth closed upon Wang Lin, pressing down with open palms.

“The Mark of Life and Death!”

A wave of unimaginable power – the very essence of existence and oblivion – surged from the ivory-haired youth. His left hand embodied life, as if holding the spirit of all creation, while his right clutched at death, the master of beginnings and ends. His left hand slammed towards Wang Lin, the white mist swirling, threatening to engulf him. This mist, normally benign, was the harbinger of the Life and Death Mark. Once it penetrated his defenses, the mist of death would follow, and the seal would be complete.

Wang Lin’s face hardened. With a snarl, he raised his left hand, unleashing his own mist of life, forming a protective screen around him. As the mists clashed, his hand pierced through the barrier, meeting the ivory-haired youth’s touch in a resounding impact.

A thunderous boom echoed as both figures shuddered, each absorbing the opposing life force, disrupting their internal equilibrium and unleashing geysers of blood. Neither retreated, but instead raised their right hands, meeting in another earth-shattering collision.

The skies churned, the winds howled, and the ground quaked. Wang Lin and the ivory-haired youth staggered back, their blood painting the air. But even as they stumbled, they roared in unison.
“Mark of Life and Death!” The echoes of the incantation ripped through the air.

“Mark of Life and Death!”

A cataclysmic roar followed, and Wang Lin was hurled back, his feet pounding a desperate retreat against the unforgiving earth. Each step was a tremor, a violation of the soil. A hundred paces he yielded before finally halting, his face ashen, his breath ragged.

Chaos reigned within his very core, the Mark of Life and Death threatening to consume him. Only his hard-won understanding of the delicate balance between existence and oblivion saved him from grievous wounds.

His white-haired adversary fared little better. Staggering backward, the youth crashed against the shimmering barrier of the water curtain. He pierced through, his boots landing atop an ancient, demonic effigy. The moment his weight settled, a spiderweb of fissures erupted across the statue’s surface, consuming it whole.

With a final, earth-shattering boom, the effigy crumbled, its destructive force finally spent. A trickle of crimson stained the white-haired youth’s lips, his face contorted in a rictus of pain. Yet, a mad, unsettling smile played upon his lips.

“How fares thee now?” he shrieked, his laughter echoing with manic glee. “Mark of Karma, Mark of Life and Death! All the divine arts and sorceries you command, I wield as well! How can you hope to vanquish me? What power do you possess that can slay me?”

The water curtain held them separate, and Wang Lin’s expression darkened. He stared at the youth through the shimmering barrier, then abruptly closed his eyes.

The moment his eyelids fell, a flicker of alarm crossed the white-haired youth’s face. He, too, snapped his eyes shut.

Both stood in blind opposition, locked in a battle of True and False Dao. In this realm, closed eyes signified falsehood, rendering the world around them an illusion, born only of perception. A flicker of will, a surge of intent, could shift reality itself.

With their eyes closed, the world ceased to exist for them, reduced to a mere phantom. Yet, this was no simple delusion. They had pierced the veil, grasped the essence of reality’s true form.

In an instant, Wang Lin’s eyes snapped open. And at that same, precise moment, so did those of the white-haired youth. A frigid light flashed within their pupils, for in the True and False Dao, opened eyes signaled truth. The illusion shattered, and the world regained its solidity. In the fleeting transition between truth and falsehood, one could glimpse the secrets of existence.

Then, as swiftly as they had opened, their eyes closed once more.

And as their eyes fell shut again, Wang Lin raised his right hand and flung it outward with savage force.

“True and False Dao! Let all be steeped in falsehood! By my will, let dust return to dust, and all fade into oblivion!”

The white-haired youth mirrored his movement, his voice echoing Wang Lin’s words.

Both wove their will into the fabric of True and False, seeking to erase all. Alone, such a spell held immense power. But cast simultaneously against each other, it became a dangerous paradox. The moment their hands moved, both were wracked with agonizing tremors. A thunderous roar deafened the senses, and great gouts of blood erupted from their mouths. They were hurled backward, reeling from the blow.

But after three staggering steps, Wang Lin fought to regain control, wrenching the chaotic forces within him into submission. With a desperate surge, he hurled himself forward, charging toward the white-haired youth, who was mirroring his every move.

Closer and closer they hurtled, until they met at the very center of the shimmering barrier. Each extended a hand, each pointed a finger, and each roared the same three words.

“Spirit Bind!”

One touch, one word, and as Wang Lin’s outstretched finger met that of his white-haired foe, a searing jolt ripped through them both.

This was no mere physical restraint. *Spirit Bind* held fast not only the body, but the very essence of the soul. The flow of energy, the passage of time itself, even the ancient, eternal laws governing the universe, were all frozen in that single, devastating instant.

Under the weight of Spirit Bind, they plummeted from the sky, hurtling toward the unforgiving ground. As they fell, Wang Lin’s mind raced, calculations and deductions whirling within his thoughts.

“It must be this way…”

Everything Wang Lin had done since their first clash of Karma had been carefully calculated. But he dared not dwell on it, for he knew his opponent might sense his intentions.