My attributes are increasing infinitely

Chapter 378: Jian

The battlefield did not pause just because Ethan had learned the truth.

Inverse humans continued to move with care, their formations bending and shifting like cautious predators. Normal cultivators pressed forward with roaring techniques, unaware of how fragile the balance truly was.

Ethan stood apart from both sides.

For the first time since stepping into the Emperor Realm, he felt uncertain.

The warmth still lingered in his body.

It was not violent. It was not overwhelming. It was...just right.

That single evolved cell pulsed faintly inside him, like a quiet heartbeat. Compared to his vast cultivation base, it was insignificant in size. Yet Ethan instinctively understood something terrifying.

If that cell continued to spread.

If his body began evolving cell by cell...

He would no longer be a normal being. He would become something entirely different.

”Unknown superior being,” Ethan murmured.

The will of a world rarely used vague terms. When they did, it meant the future had slipped beyond established paths.

The Creation Lotus swayed gently inside him, its petals glowing faintly. It no longer felt like a tool or a treasure.

It felt alive.

Hungry.

Ethan looked back at the battlefield.

To his Eyes of Existence, the inverse humans were still gray blurs. But now, threads extended from them too. But those threads were something related to him only.

They were the threads that said those humans were important cultivation materials.

The lotus responded to those threads eagerly.

”These beings...” Ethan whispered. ”They are nourishment for me.”

The idea alone should have disgusted him.

Instead, it felt natural.

That scared him more than anything else.

Another inverse warrior fell, erased by a clash with a high-level cultivator. The moment it died, Ethan felt it. A violent pulse of entropy exploded outward, unseen by most, but obvious to his perception.

Space twisted.

Time stuttered.

A mountain in the far distance cracked for no clear reason.

”So killing them hurts this world,” Ethan said slowly. ”But consuming them doesn’t.”

He finally understood.

The Creation Lotus did not destroy the inverse human. It digested him.

It took the entropy and refined it, turning poison into nourishment.

Something no natural being of this universe should be able to do.

Ethan’s fingers tightened.

”If this spreads,” he thought, ”I could stabilize entropy instead of displacing it.”

The implication was massive.

He could end the war.

Or become something worse than both sides combined.

Before he could act, the air shifted.

A presence descended.

It was not loud. It did not crush space. It did not announce itself.

And yet, Ethan’s soul screamed.

His illusory Throne of Destiny trembled behind him. The authority he had just gained felt thin, fragile, like paper before a blade.

Someone had entered this reality.

Someone who should not exist here.

Ethan turned slowly.

The handsome young man stood several hundred meters away, dressed in simple robes. His face carried a gentle smile, relaxed and curious, as if he were visiting a market rather than a battlefield that warped reality itself.

But Ethan’s Eyes of Existence saw the truth.

This man was not standing on laws.

The laws were standing on him.

Every thread of authority bent subtly around his body, avoiding contact, like water flowing around a stone too heavy to move.

”He is totally out of my league.”

Ethan’s breathing slowed.

This was not fear.

This was instinct.

The kind that screamed one word.

Run.

The young man looked around, eyes bright with interest.

His gaze landed on Ethan.

The smile deepened.

”There you are.”

Ethan did not move.

If he attacked, he would die.

If he fled, he would die.

If he spoke carelessly, he might die faster.

”Who are you?” Ethan asked.

His voice was steady. That alone was an achievement.

The man clasped his hands behind his back and walked closer, each step effortless. Space parted for him without resistance.

”You may call me Jian,” he said. ”Names beyond this realm are... inconvenient.”

Ethan’s mind raced.

This man had crossed realities like stepping over a puddle. That meant one thing.

A being who had combat power 4 realms higher than his own realm or he was even stronger than the Eternal domain it self, so the rules didn’t apply on him.

”You came for me?” Ethan asked nervously.

Jian nodded. ”Of course. When someone begins stealing authority from the Throne of Destiny itself, it tends to attract attention.”

Stealing?

Ethan frowned. ”The will granted it.”

Jian laughed softly. ”The will grant what it can no longer control.”

Jian’s eyes flicked briefly toward the inverse humans. His expression shifted, just a little.

”The inverse plane arrive here too? Looks like the the eternal war of existence is very close”, he sighed.

His gaze snapped back to Ethan.

”And you,” he continued, ”are something far more rare.”

Ethan felt exposed.

As if every secret inside him had been laid bare.

”The Creation Lotus,” Jian said lightly. ”A relic meant to seed perfection in dead universes. Yet you’re using it to digest inverse existence.”

He tilted his head. ”Do you even realize what path you’re stepping onto?”

Ethan answered honestly. ”No.”

That seemed to please Jian.

”Good,” he said. ”Arrogance would have made this boring.”

The battlefield around them had slowed. Cultivators and inverse humans alike felt an invisible pressure, forcing them to keep their distance. None dared approach.

Ethan clenched his fist. ”If you’re here to kill me,” he said, ”then do it.”

Jian blinked, then laughed openly.

”Kill you?” he said. ”Why would I do that?”

He stepped closer. Now he was only a few meters away.

”You are an experiment the world did not plan,” Jian continued. ”A being who can consume entropy without breaking causality. Do you know how rare that is?”

Ethan stayed silent.

”You are the perfect definition of anomaly.”, suddenly his eyes changed into an abyssal darkness. Then they came to normal again.

” As expected. You have no alternate versions in any timelines. I wonder if the inverse plane has an alternate version of you or not.”, he said with some interest in his eyes.

”Then what do you want?” Ethan asked.

Jian’s smile softened.

”I want to watch.”

That answer chilled Ethan more than any threat.

”You will fight this war,” Jian said calmly. ”You will consume inverse beings. You will evolve.”

He raised a finger.

”But do not cross one line.”

Ethan’s instincts screamed danger.

”Do not allow the lotus to overwrite your will,” Jian said. ”The moment it becomes the master, you cease to be a being. You become a function.”

He turned away, already losing interest.

”Oh,” Jian added, glancing back. ”Someone else is coming soon. Someone less patient than me.”

”Who?” Ethan demanded.

Jian paused.

”A hunter,” he said. ”From the inverse world.”

Then he vanished.

No ripple.

No trace.

As if he had never existed.

The battlefield noise returned all at once.

Explosions. Screams. Shattered space.

Ethan stood alone.

His heart pounded.

A hunter from the inverse world.

One strong enough to cross realities on purpose.

The lotus stirred again, as if excited.

”No,” Ethan said quietly. ”You don’t get to decide.”

He raised his hand.

A massive portal opened beneath dozens of inverse warriors at once. They screamed as they were dragged into his inner realm.

The lotus reacted violently.

Roots erupted like spears.

This time, Ethan watched carefully.

As inverse essence was absorbed, more cells inside him began to change. Slowly. One by one.

Not explosively.

But in a controlled manner.

His existence became denser. Cleaner. More stable.

Entropy flowed into him and vanished, leaving behind pure structure.

Ethan exhaled.

”This is the path I will walk,” he said.

He would not let anyone control his destiny or his will.