Chapter 471: The Battle of Two Shadows

Thick black mist emerged from the seven orifices of the Holy Ancestor statue and quickly coalesced into a black figure that appeared identical to the shadow standing beside Su Che beneath the altar.

“A Shadow God?”

“Two Shadow Gods?”

“How can there be two Shadow Gods?”

The holy envoys in the hall were all astonished, while only a few people like the leader of the Holy Shadow Sect remained gloomy. “There can’t be two Shadow Gods; one must be real and the other fake. Without a doubt, the one from outside is fake!”

Of course, another possibility couldn’t be ruled out: it was possible that both were real, and they had to merge into one to become a complete Shadow God, to truly signify the return of a Shadow God…

So for now, everyone watched quietly, with no one daring to act rashly.

Before long, the Holy Ancestor statue stopped emitting black mist, and the black figure on the altar had fully taken shape. Then…

The eyes of the Holy Ancestor statue suddenly lit up, emitting a faint green glow, as a very majestic voice resounded throughout the hall: “Descendants of the Shadow Clan, retreat outside the hall for now.”

“Huh?”

More than a thousand high-ranking members of the Holy Shadow Sect were stunned, followed by overwhelming joy—the Holy Ancestor had manifested!

Indeed, the Holy Ancestor had manifested!

The leader of the Holy Shadow Sect, “Ying Chengzong,” reacted fastest. He stood up abruptly and shouted at everyone, “The Holy Ancestor commands that all descendants of the Shadow Clan leave the immortal hall immediately! Do not fail! Leave now!”

Whoosh!

The obedience of the Shadow Clan was proven once again. Faced with such a once-in-ten-thousand-years event as the manifestation of the Holy Ancestor, even though everyone was excited and filled with various guesses and hopes, they all left obediently and in perfect order at that moment.

In just a few breaths, only the leader of the Holy Shadow Sect remained in the hall. Of course, he didn’t dare defy the Holy Ancestor’s order and also had to leave.

Before leaving, he didn’t have time to pay a full bow to the Holy Ancestor statue, so he could only bow deeply as a substitute. Then, he gave Su Che a deeply meaningful glance before exiting the hall and slowly closing the massive door several zhang high.

The Holy Ancestor’s immortal hall had several isolation barriers. Once the door was closed, outsiders could no longer detect what was inside.

Thus, inside the hall, there were only the two shadows on and below the altar, along with Su Che, the living man.

“The Holy Ancestor has manifested? Is this Holy Ancestor Yu Qing?”

Su Che was extremely nervous, his mind filled with various speculations.

Swish!

The black figure on the altar, seemingly the Shadow God, suddenly opened its eyes. Its gaze was tangible, emitting a fierce glow. Moreover, it could speak human language, its voice identical to that of the Sacred Ancestor when he manifested earlier.
“I never thought there could be beings in this world with exactly the same form as me.”
Its gaze fell on Su Che’s shadow.
The shadow stood motionless, silent as ever, but at that moment, Su Che could clearly sense that it was in a state of extreme tension. Clearly, the threat it had mentioned earlier on Phantom Star was this very black figure, seemingly the Shadow God.
“Haha, just like me back in the day—also unable to speak.”
The black figure laughed heartily, then quickly turned its gaze to Su Che’s face. “You must be its master, right? How do you communicate with it usually?”
“I can’t really call myself its master,” Su Che replied with a bow, showing appropriate respect for this mysterious shadow. “In fact, I have no idea how it appeared around me. Usually, it’s only I who speak to it, and I’m not sure if it understands everything.”
“Hmm, that’s quite normal. After all, it’s still in its growth stage—it’s young.”
The mysterious shadow spoke in a gentle tone, which made Su Che doubtful. “According to the Shadow Clan’s lineage records, the Shadow God not only never speaks but also remains extremely indifferent and cold in interactions. Apart from fighting and imposing punishment, it never takes the initiative to interact with others. Yet the black figure I saw today not only speaks but also seems very talkative.”
So, Su Che mustered up the courage to ask, “May I ask, sir, are you the Shadow God?”
The mysterious shadow emitted a faint laugh but gave no clear answer, as if saying, “Guess for yourself.”
Since it refused to respond, Su Che had no choice but to stay silent for now, to avoid saying something inappropriate that might bring trouble.
“Is your reason for coming to Phantom Star at its request?” the mysterious shadow asked, pointing at the shadow.
“Yes,” Su Che nodded. “When passing by this planet, my shadow sensed something from millions of miles away and insisted on coming here.”
“That’s right,” the mysterious shadow chuckled. “It’s coming for me—probably to devour me.”
Su Che frowned, at a loss for words. He really didn’t know how to respond to this, so it was better to remain silent.

“Do you know why I can guess its intentions?” the mysterious shadow asked itself and answered, “Because my feelings are the same as its—the moment I see it, an endless desire arises in me to devour it, to merge with it, so that my form of life can reach a higher level…”
Su Che was stunned in silence: These creatures were truly bizarre; there were very few of them in the world. When they encountered each other, instead of feeling closeness, they were doomed to devour one another in a cruel cycle.
“That’s why, after remaining silent for over a million years, I’ve returned to the world for the first time—just for it!”
The mysterious shadow raised its arm, pointed at Su Che’s shadow, and shouted, “Since it’s a gift delivered right to my doorstep, of course I must enjoy it to the fullest.”
Su Che shook his head inwardly, thinking, “Well, his words have completely confirmed that our relationship can only be hostile—never friendly.”
Time to fight!
Although Su Che knew clearly that this confrontation was between his own shadow and the mysterious shadow, with no direct involvement on his part, if his shadow lost, he would be trapped on the Star of Illusions and likely face a terrible fate—unless…
Whoosh! Whoosh!
While Su Che was still thinking of a strategy, the two shadows attacked at the same time.
The two black shadows collided in midair. Normally, since they were both formless entities, even if they collided, it wouldn’t cause much noise. But this impact was like two massive mountains crashing into each other—with a thunderous roar, the entire palace trembled violently.
Fortunately, the immortal palace itself had powerful defensive formations, equivalent to divine artifacts, that could withstand such impacts. If it were a regular building, it would surely collapse into ruins.
Boom…
Even those outside the palace, like the Holy Shadow Sect Leader, could clearly feel this intense vibration. In fact, with the naked eye, they could see the entire palace swaying from side to side.
Whoa!
The ordinary sect members still celebrating in the square were also shocked by this astonishing change, wondering what was happening. How could the Holy Ancestor’s palace be attacked during the celebration?
“The Shadow God has returned, the Holy Ancestor has manifested—this is a miracle long awaited by all…”
As the leader of the sect, Shadow Successor naturally had the responsibility to calm the situation. With just a few words, he turned the shock of the thousands of sect members into even greater joy and celebration.
Boom!

In the square, hundreds of thousands of believers spontaneously knelt down, facing the Holy Ancestor Immortal Temple. Again and again, they began to cheer and kowtow repeatedly.
Boom…
With every violent tremor of the Holy Ancestor Immortal Temple, it triggered another wave of cheers among them. All the lower-ranking believers were completely driven mad, having long lost their ability to think rationally.
Only those core members who had just withdrawn from the main hall were quietly speculating about various possibilities in their minds…
Inside the main hall, two dark figures were now facing each other, clashing violently over a dozen times. So far, it seemed no one had an edge over the other.
Their movements were so fast that Su Che could no longer tell which one was the mysterious dark figure and which one was his own shadow. The two dark figures were identical; even Lao He’s detection abilities couldn’t distinguish between them. This meant that at critical moments, even if Su Che had the ability to intervene, he wouldn’t know whom to help.
“It seems their strengths both exceed my expectations,” Su Che said quietly to Lao He from a corner. “I didn’t expect my shadow to be capable of matching up evenly with that guy who seems to be the Shadow God. On the other hand, that guy also doesn’t seem particularly strong.”
“I guess he’s not the real Shadow God either,” Lao He analyzed. “Normally, the real Shadow God should be an ancient monster from the Immortal Realm, having lived for hundreds of millions of years. Such a being should be able to easily destroy the entire Shadow Star with a single strike. How could he keep clashing back and forth over a dozen times without even managing to defeat your shadow?”
“I don’t quite agree with that,” Su Che replied in his mind. “Because even though we know nothing about my shadow, it’s possible it also comes from the Immortal Realm and is an ancient monster that has existed for hundreds of millions of years.”
“Oh!” Lao He scratched his forehead and nodded. “That’s true; it’s indeed possible.”
Boom! Boom! Boom…
Another dozen clashes later, the two shadows still couldn’t be distinguished as superior or inferior. Suddenly, one of the dark figures’ eyes flashed with intensity as it spoke, “I almost fell for it. You’re not in your juvenile stage—so are you…”
Before it could finish speaking, boom! The two shadows collided again.
This time, the force of the impact was even stronger. As an observer with mid-Yuan Ying cultivation, Su Che was also destabilized by the invisible force field generated, forcing him to summon defensive magic artifacts to fully protect himself from injury.

It’s not that Su Che is frail, but rather the shock waves they create have an extremely special form of energy that causes little damage to the physical body, yet can directly shake the essence or shatter the souls of lower-level cultivators. Although Su Che has the Immortal Prison Pagoda to suppress his soul, it is after all the last line of defense within his body. It’s better to summon defensive talismans to block such shocks from reaching him. Boom! Boom! Boom… The entire Holy Ancestor Immortal Palace trembled more violently. The leaders of the Holy Shadow Sect were deeply worried, unable to guess what was happening inside the palace. Meanwhile, the lower-level followers thought this was an increasingly clear miracle sent by the Holy Ancestor, and waves of cheers swept through the towering Holy Shadow City like a tidal wave. At the same time, more members of the Shadow Clan gathered from all directions to pilgrimage to Holy Shadow City. With the Return of the Shadow God and the Manifestation of the Holy Ancestor, this was truly a genuine pilgrimage. A once-in-ten-thousand-years opportunity—too precious to miss in this lifetime!