He and It Chapter 160: The Serpent of Pharisee (26)

Chapter 160: The Serpent of Pharisee (26)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

That night, Xie Ning drank himself into a stupor, all because he drank newly brewed grape wine, which tasted sweet at first but had a strong kick afterwards. He kept drinking one glass after another like he was drinking cola, and soon he couldn’t handle the strength of the alcohol. In his eyes, Echidna started to blur. 

Drunk Xie Ning neither cried nor made a scene; he just sat there blankly on the ground, with a silly grin on his face. When he saw Dorus’s small and adorable appearance, Echidna’s heart melted. He slithered forward and allowed his beloved to nestle into his embrace. To Xie Ning, he looked like a dancing shadow with a flickering tail.

“I can paint this scene,” Xie Ning mumbled drowsily, as he clung to Echidna’s neck like a koala, his fingers unconsciously tangled in his chilly long hair. “But I can’t record your singing…radio. I need a radio! No, wait. It should be…a recorder? Radio!”

Echidna didn’t understand what he was saying, so he just lovingly patted his head. A wine glass that had been knocked over during the picnic had dampened Xie Ning’s clothes and spread the scent of alcohol along his path.

With his eyes closed, Xie Ning began to sing “I Want a Recorder” in a Doraemon-like tune until Echidna carried him into the hot spring, at which point he abruptly woke up, and shouted “Fire!” before he splashed around in the water.

Echidna found it amusing until Xie Ning collapsed against his chest, nearly crying and complaining incoherently about having butterflies in his stomach. Then, the demon’s mind was filled with thoughts of “Dorus is so adorable” and “I love Dorus so much.” He decided to check if there really were butterflies, so he used his forked tongue to explore both above and below.

“It seems there are no butterflies,” Echidna reassured him with a satisfied smile. “Don’t worry, Dorus.”

Xie Ning, already completely asleep, couldn’t say another word.

.

Days passed peacefully. They flowed like water into the moist earth and converged into underground rivers. Echidna immersed himself in extraordinary happiness, and gradually found new interests in life. Activities that he had grown tired of before became joyful again when experienced with Dorus. He even started learning to paint, as he wanted to immortalize his beloved’s image in solid gold and bronze through his own efforts.

Unfortunately, the demon’s abilities lay in destruction rather than creation. So even though Xie Ning carefully taught him the modern teaching methods for painting, Echidna showed no understanding and displayed no talent. At best, he could only draw stick figures with big heads and thin arms that poked around with twig-like swords.

When he saw those works, Xie Ning didn’t disdain them at all; he just laughed. He decided to teach Echidna the theoretical methods of observation, abstraction, and modeling and let him freely express himself.

Echidna didn’t need a pen. He enthusiastically carved primitive rock reliefs on the walls with his sharp claws. His depiction of sheep consisted of four thin lines holding up a cloud, with two black dots for eyes on the cloud and two antennae-like lines as horns. His depiction of a horse was simply four black lines: one for a large oval body, one for a small oval head, and another for a horse’s neck with four wavy lines floating around. Drawing humans was even simpler, using square cloaks and triangular crowns to distinguish between characters.

By the time Xie Ning saw it, Echidna had carved hundreds of stick figures fighting on the black rocks.

Xie Ning hesitated. “What is this…?”

“This is the Trojan War!” Echidna proudly explained, and pointed out each figure for Xie Ning. “Look. The ones with square shields are Trojans, and the ones with round shields are Achaeans. Diomedes’s son, Diomedes, is driving the chariot…” ¹

A stick figure with a cloak spread into a parallelogram stood on a chariot made of trapezoids and circles, waving a matchstick sword. Beside him was the charioteer, with simple wings and a radiant halo above his head, resembling a god.

“…his charioteer is gray-eyed Athena, who favors this human king and grants him keen eyes and the power to fight against the gods, and they are charging towards the God of War, Ares.” ²

On the other side, a tall stick figure with armor shaped like a big square stood there, holding a spear aimed at Athena’s chariot. The spear drew a visible arc in the air but missed, landing aside.

“Athena brought down a thick fog, which caused Ares’s attacks to miss. Then, she urged Diomedes to strike heavily, and Diomedes threw his spear, hitting Ares in the abdomen.”

The Ares stick figure had a wide-open mouth, forming an “o” shape on his face, and a cloud appeared beneath his feet.

“Ares roared loudly, his anger reverberating from the battlefield to the navel of the world, Delphi. Then, he hastily flew back to the heavens, and vented his resentment to Zeus.” ³

After finishing his explanation, Echidna looked at Xie Ning expectantly, waiting for the expert’s praise. “This is my work!”

As he suppressed his laughter, Xie Ning commented seriously, “Well done. The topic is serious and historically significant. The characters are clearly delineated in importance, while amidst the chaos, there is order. Most importantly, the lines are concise and powerful, which gives the scene a very strong emotional impact! Very good. Keep it up.”

Echidna spat out his forked tongue and pondered for a moment before he asked Xie Ning with some bewilderment, “Really? Is it really that good?”

Xie Ning had initially teased him, but when he heard his question, his teasing turned into  tender affection. He kissed Echidna’s fingertips and said earnestly, “Of course, it’s that good.”

Having received affirmation from his beloved, Echidna felt more overjoyed than if he had conquered the top of Olympus. He happily considered things for a while and came up with an idea.

The next day, he called Xie Ning out of the studio, as he hid something mysterious behind him and prompted Xie Ning to guess what it was.

“What is it?” Xie Ning asked with a smile. “Another surprise?”

“Surprise” had become a tacit secret between them. It represented a need for sweating, kissing, whispering sweet nothings, and the ambiguous merging of skin. When Echidna asked, he furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, this doesn’t rank as a surprise, but it’s still a decent craft,” the demon said as he presented what he had been hiding to Xie Ning. “Please have a look, Dorus! You have your precious sketchbook, and now I intend to have mine to record our story.”

Xie Ning’s smile froze on his face as he stared at Echidna’s hand. He found it hard to believe his eyes for a moment.

…A golden book.

It was the same kind of golden book he had seen in the museum, a precious gold exhibit of unknown age and origin. He had deeply wondered whether that mysterious, wordless golden book had caused him to traverse to this strange mythological era. However, with no evidence to support his speculation, he could only guess wildly and couldn’t establish it as the real reason. Yet now, the golden book reappeared before him, just as dazzling and magnificent as it had been when he glimpsed it thousands of years later.

Xie Ning exclaimed, “It’s actually this?!”

This solid gold book wasn’t small in size, and it was incredibly heavy. Even as Echidna held it, it seemed majestic and weighty, like a stack of history books in the hands of an ordinary person.

When he saw Dorus’s reaction, Echidna hesitated for a moment, then asked urgently, “What’s wrong, Dorus? Why do you look so surprised and apprehensive? It is as if you’ve seen a long-lost enemy? Is this not good?”

Xie Ning stared at the golden pages and the intricate and beautiful patterns on them, identical to what he had seen in the Ancient Greek culture exhibition. He took a deep breath and told Echidna everything.

“At that time, I was in a hall, and I saw this blank golden book,” he said anxiously. “I found it strange even then. It was such a precious artifact, but there was no information about its background nearby, and it was displayed alongside many imitations. Since the hall was crowded, I took a picture of it, intending to find a larger space to research it. I went to the bathroom, and unexpectedly, when I closed and opened the door again, I was here…”

As he spoke in a flurry, Echidna listened and his heart filled with shockwaves. He couldn’t interpret the divine will, couldn’t understand the intricacies involved, but he had a vague sense that the golden book seemed to be a key-like object that connected the exits and entrances of the two eras.

With that thought, he felt like he was holding a red-hot iron. He didn’t want Dorus to touch the golden book, and decided to destroy it once and for all. He was so restless that Xie Ning could see his thoughts. He sighed and said, “Don’t be silly. This isn’t a portal. You can’t just touch it and travel back in time.”

After he said that, he asked, “How did you get it?”

Echidna replied, “I summoned giants skilled in forging and commanded them to create such a sketchbook for me. I…”

However, the demon couldn’t continue. He had come with a heart full of joy, only to hear such an ominous secret related to his beloved’s whereabouts. Echidna’s heart surged with anger. He scolded his servants loudly, and his hissing shrieks pierced through every dark corner of the palace. He ordered the giants who forged the book to appear before him since the Lord of the Palace was filled with anxious rage and eager to unleash a brutal interrogation.

The three giants hurried to the throne room, and saw the golden book thrown far away in a corner. Echidna questioned them loudly, thundering like an enraged lion, “How did you create this book? Did you follow my instructions in terms of techniques and materials? Confess truthfully, or I will bury all of you like a lion killing a deer!”

The giants trembled with fear, and hastily defended themselves, “Noble master, we followed your orders entirely. We used pure gold from the heart of the mountain and the techniques inherited from the Cyclopes ⁵ when he swept back and forth.

“Didn’t we agree?” Xie Ning smiled. “You go find Gaia, and then we’ll see if there’s any chance of going home. Don’t worry, I won’t run away on my own.”

Echidna remained silent, feeling sullen. He bent down, hesitated for a moment, and picked up the golden book that he had thrown on the ground.

“You said it was blank when you saw it,” Echidna said. “So if I add content to it, it shouldn’t be the same as the one you saw.”

“Alright,” Xie Ning said. “What do you plan to add?”

“You and I. Our story,” Echidna replied. “Without the songs of bards to spread it, our story should still be known to future generations.”

True to his words, he began sketching on the flawless golden pages, filling them with numerous clumsy doodles. This time, the protagonists were not only stick figures but also a crooked matchstick snake.

Xie Ning chuckled, thinking to himself that when the golden book was unearthed thousands or even tens of thousands of years later, people shouldn’t mistake these drawings for a new form of hieroglyphs.

So, Echidna continued to search for Gaia’s soul, and hoped that the Mother of the Earth would awaken from her endless slumber and respond to his call.

A few days later, the palace received some unusual visitors.

…No, it couldn’t be called unusual; it was unprecedented. Xanthippe had been sent here by the King of Cilicia according to the will of the Gods, but these visitors had come voluntarily.

They were artists from all over the world, who risked their lives to come and learn from Xie Ning.

Xie Ning, “…Huh?”

The giant, four-armed messenger thought he hadn’t heard properly, so he patiently repeated, “They are artists from all over the world. From Thebes to Athens –”

“No, no, no. I heard you,” Xie Ning interrupted him. “I just…Huh?”

Learning? Seriously? Why?

The giant couldn’t understand human language, so Echidna explained thoughtfully, “I think they’ve come to paint because of you.”

The four-armed giant seized the opportunity to flatter and said, “Wise and noble Echidna, your words are always correct! Yes. The royal family of Cilicia has distributed the paintings from the golden box and gradually displayed them in neighboring countries, so many countries have now seen the paintings on parchment. Renowned artists from all over have gathered at the royal palace of Cilicia, seeking to meet the creator of the paintings.”

Xie Ning asked skeptically, “Is that true? Aren’t they afraid of this place?”

“A solitary demon can be very frightening,” Echidna replied as he leaned against Xie Ning’s dark hair. “However a demon who loves someone, who can be soft and gentle toward a companion because of feelings far from hatred, will surely weaken their terrifying aspects greatly, so in the eyes of the world, they will take on a different image.”

Xie Ning coughed and softly bit his ear. “Am I causing trouble for you?”

“Oh, you are not causing trouble for me,” Echidna hurriedly pleaded, pretending that his copper skin and iron bones were being hurt by the human’s teeth. “It is me who causes trouble for you.”

Xie Ning let go with his mouth, then hesitated for a while.

Should he agree? Actually, Xie Ning knew that it wasn’t suitable for him to leave the palace anymore. With the petty nature of the Olympian Gods, who knew how they might retaliate against him, or use him as leverage against Echidna. Still, a person couldn’t live underground forever. He hadn’t seen the sky and the mountains for so long, and what used to be commonplace, the warm sunlight, had now become a luxury in his imagination.

Moreover…an artistic salon among peers! Just the thought of it made him incredibly excited. If he could communicate and exchange ideas with the artists of this era, how wonderful would that be?

When he saw his longing, Echidna sighed softly, “Dorus, as we agreed before…”

“I know,” Xie Ning said helplessly. “I shouldn’t go out, or else there might be danger.”

The snake demon couldn’t bear to see his drooping, sad face and came up with a compromise. “Then perhaps you can correspond with them through letters. That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll have Kostas keep them at the palace, and we will free up time for you to communicate.”

It was indeed a compromise. Xie Ning nodded and agreed. However, deep down, he still strongly yearned for the everyday sights on the surface.

What Xie Ning didn’t expect was that the first letter to arrive came from a familiar figure.

“…Palaemon, son of Achelous,” Echidna read the name of the sender and his face darkened.

Why did an unknown son of an unknown river god come all the way here to deliver the first letter to Arima’s gates?

What made him even more uneasy was Dorus’s reaction. Upon hearing that name, Xie Ning immediately stood up, and his eyes shone brightly as he said, “Wow! Isn’t he a good guy? Why is he here?”

“What good guy, Dorus?” Echidna slowly spelled out his question. He tried not to let his tone reveal too much. “Did you know him before?”

“He’s a big brother who took good care of me in Iolcus!” Xie Ning replied happily and unaware. “Thanks to his cloak, I didn’t…”

“So that cloak was his!” Echidna’s anger surged, his eyes widening, and his forked tongue violently shaking in the air. Not only had the vinegar jar been knocked over, but it had also shattered on the ground, and the sour smell could be wafted ten miles away against the wind. “You…! That cloak was actually his!”

Xie Ning, “…Ah. Oh no.”

It’s over, now I’ve really stirred up trouble.