He and It Chapter 198: Inquire Here (26)

Chapter 198: Inquire Here (26)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

The turbulent currents surged in the world sea. Yan Huan shielded Liu Fuguang, and allowed the chaotic forces to cut through him thousands of times. Limbs scattered, his dragon horns cracked. He had roamed here for many years, yet had never experienced such a miserable state.

The three thousand worlds rotated according to law, like a wind turned prayer wheel, ¹ reflected in the nine partially blind eyes of the true dragon, as they turned round and round. Seizing the opportunity, he dove down, stirred up several waves of nothingness, and in an instant disappeared into a small world within.

The dragon’s body broke through another layer of celestial fabric, which sparked fiery flames in the high skies. Yan Huan coiled around himself. His dragon tail covered his dragon head, while his jet-black tentacles tightly shielded Liu Fuguang in his arms. He could no longer control his direction of flight, as he plummeted through the clouds, then crashed into the mountains, and landed heavily amidst lush forests.

Like a meteor from beyond the sky, the thunderous crash shook the earth, and collapsed half the towering mountains. The shockwave of heat and wild winds instantly scattered the surrounding trees and thickets.

It was unclear how much time had passed before Liu Fuguang finally woke from unconsciousness. His head throbbed painfully, and his limbs weak. He curled up on the charred earth for a while, until he gradually mustered the strength to sit up.

…What happened?

As his memories trickled back, he only remembered wanting to first restrain the impostor and then investigate the truth of the matter. Even after he incinerated his opponent’s primordial spirit, he could only temporarily confine him. Then…

His headache worsened, and he pressed against his throbbing temple and hissed. After a long while, he vaguely recalled more. Then, the nine-eyed black dragon burst through Yan Huan’s chest, and swiftly escaped with him. The Eastern Swamp returned to its bottle-like state, and flew into his arms.

It seemed the genuine article took advantage of the turmoil he caused to escape confinement.

So, where was Yan Huan?

As he rubbed his temples in pain, Liu Fuguang surveyed his surroundings. He really wanted to leave it all behind and ignore any troubles involving Yan Huan. However, with such a significant matter at hand, he couldn’t simply walk away without understanding the impostor’s motives.

Yan Huan’s shadow was nowhere to be seen…Did he crash elsewhere?

Lost in thought, Liu Fuguang suddenly sensed something amiss beneath him. He furrowed his brows and lowered his gaze.

Liu Fuguang, “…”

It turned out that what he had been sitting on all along wasn’t exactly “charred earth.” Instead, nine large, murky eyeballs, accompanied by drifting dragon horns, floated and spun on the tar-like ground beneath him, as they eagerly stared at him.

Yan Huan had indeed become a water balloon dropped from above, and splattered into a puddle on the ground. Having caught Liu Fuguang’s attention, the eyeballs hurriedly gathered around him anxiously, circling Liu Fuguang, while not daring to get too close but not willing to stay too far away, so that they resembled nine small animals begging their master for food. However, in reality, there were no such hair-raising, faint-inducing creatures in the world. A single glance at them could make one pass out.

Liu Fuguang fell silent, not understanding what Yan Huan wanted.

When they saw his complicated expression, the eyeballs became even more flustered and scrambled around aimlessly, hastily arranging formations on the slowly flowing tar, sometimes they formed a “gather,” other times they sketched a “collect.”

Gather…Does he want me to gather him up?

Liu Fuguang couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. He hesitated for a while before he said, “… What characters are written?”

After a moment of silence, he added lightly, “I only learned seal script. I can’t understand anything else.”

The eyeballs remained in place.

Gradually, tears welled up in the eyeballs.

They began to tremble in grievance, then their shaking became more intense. If they had mouths, they would probably burst into loud wails and cries immediately…

Wait a minute.

Liu Fuguang suddenly understood. With Yan Huan’s abilities, what couldn’t he grow? Be it mouth, limbs, hooves, or scales and sharp horns? If provoked, even if those nine eyeballs could grow legs, teeth, and mouths, and run around wildly. It could be terrifying…

After much thought, and weighing the lesser of two evils, he couldn’t help but sigh. Slowly, he crawled up, then squatted down and used his hands to gather the tar-like living substance together and piled it up high.

The nine large eyeballs immediately became ecstatic. They rolled over to Liu Fuguang, jostled each other eagerly, and stared at him with a cooing sound, while their pupils melted into heart shapes. 

Liu Fuguang felt only fatigue and resignation.

Through personal experience, he knew how clingy that tar substance could be. When he gathered it in his hands, it felt like there were a hundred thousand mouths sucking on his skin, unwilling to let go. He had to shake and flick them off, and expended great amounts of effort to free his hands. If it continued, it would take forever to “collect” them properly.

Helpless, Liu Fuguang came up with a plan. As he gathered another pile, he squeezed it with both hands, furrowed his brow, let his arms tremble slightly, and softly exclaimed, “Ouch,” as if in pain.

Instantly, the nine eyeballs froze. The living substance, which had been rolling and boiling with excitement, immediately stiffened as if frozen solid.

He immediately took advantage of the opportunity, quickly withdrew his tingling hands and pretended to rub them a couple of times.

When they saw that, the previously gathered remnants, who were struggling to grow a mouth full of sharp teeth and the eyeballs, who intended to act as windows to his soul, jumped up and communicated with him.

“I’m sorry, Fuguang…” The dragon god emitted a viscous sound that was neither human nor animal, a surreal sound like the mingling of mud and flesh. “I was too stupid and impatient, and hurt you. I deserve to die, really…I deserve to die…”

Liu Fuguang glanced at him silently, said nothing, and just lowered his head.

How strange you are. Stop talking.

Now that Yan Huan wasn’t causing trouble anymore, Liu Fuguang breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and continued his collection work. Unfortunately, he hadn’t relaxed for long before he began to regret his previous actions.

…It wasn’t for nothing. If before, the liquid substances were eagerly sucking, now they were persistently clinging. Liu Fuguang couldn’t stand it any longer and finally pulled back a few steps, and said a few sharp words, “Do it yourself.” He crossed his arms, and refused to look over again.

Yan Huan, who was dizzy and confused at the moment, heard those words, cold as snow meeting fire, or like being whipped, then immediately felt heartbroken and curled up into a ball.

At that moment, when he could finally get close to Liu Fuguang, and ask his lover to gather his remnants, to feel his warm and soft fingertips as they gently passed through his body…that was simply like a dream! No, even the most beautiful dream couldn’t encompass such an experience!

However, restraint was indeed a virtue. Yan Huan had lost control, soared into the sky with happiness, and finally went too far, and earned Liu Fuguang’s cold treatment.

The jet-black tentacles slowly extended across the ground, twisting and intertwining, forming sharp, slippery, abnormal joints. The epidermis surged with dark and oily iridescent colors.

While meticulously they gathered all the scattered remnants of the dragon god, they swayed like the wind; an uncontrollable sway in Liu Fuguang’s direction, hoping to get closer, closer.

Liu Fuguang ignored all the small movements under his feet and behind him. He refused to give them even the slightest bit of attention. He mobilized his remaining spiritual energy, formed the hand seal of the Rainmaking Art, and repeatedly poured rain on the raging fires around him. When all the thick, heavy sounds ceased, the flames that had been unstoppable were suddenly extinguished, as if an unspeakable force had pressed them deep into the moist soil.

Liu Fuguang paused and slowly relaxed his fingers.

When he turned around, he saw Yan Huan sitting on the ground, smiling awkwardly at him. The dragon god’s chest was bare with a large hole in it, there were nine murky eyes, and the divine body was more than half damaged. The whole person looked empty, as if covered in a layer of blurred mist.

“Fuguang…” Wrapped in a disguise, Yan Huan looked delusional. He held onto those two words, circling them between his lips for many rounds before he reluctantly let them out, “You saved me.”

At that point, continuing a cold war of disregard was unnecessary. Liu Fuguang sighed deeply, turned around, and got straight to the point, “What exactly is going on?”

Yan Huan took a shallow breath. Just hearing Liu Fuguang’s voice again made him dizzy. His pupils dilated slightly. He had to adjust his breathing several times to avoid losing his composure on the spot.

“… He is my internal demon,” Yan Huan replied hoarsely. “My three-fold restoration of the Great Sun weakened my divine power, allowing him to find an opportunity…”

“I see. He took your dragon heart,” Liu Fuguang assessed the gaping hole in Yan Huan’s left chest. “He was once part of you. No wonder he hid so seamlessly.”

Yan Huan smiled sweetly, his gaze affectionate, “No matter how seamless his disguise, you saw through it.”

— It’s clear that you understand me the best. But he swallowed the rest of his words.

Liu Fuguang didn’t pursue the topic. He remained calm, “If he’s your internal demon, what does he want? Possessing the body of the supreme evil, he must be seeking something significant.”

Yan Huan’s nine eyes greedily roamed over Liu Fuguang, like a desert traveler long deprived of precious dew, unwilling to miss a single drop.

With his eyes fixed and a bitter smile on his lips, Yan Huan replied, “Indeed…he does seek something significant, and calling it delusional wouldn’t be an exaggeration — he wants to reverse time, back to…before everything happened.”

When he mentioned “before,” Yan Huan’s tone inevitably became vague.

“Before everything happened?” Liu Fuguang frowned. “Setting aside the absurdity of time reversal, when exactly is ‘before everything happened’? Was it when the true immortal officially recognized you?”

Yan Huan sneered, “His ambition goes far beyond that. He wants to go back to when you and I…were bound together, before we tied the knot.”

Upon hearing that, Liu Fuguang fell silent. After a long pause from both sides, he changed the subject, and asked, “If he’s your internal demon, where did he originate from? Do you know?”

Yan Huan carefully chose his words, and tried to respond calmly, “You know…ever since I lost you, I went crazy. My mind wasn’t clear, and for six thousand years, I wandered aimlessly, dreaming a lot about you. That’s how he was born. He claimed to have suffered pain, but in reality, he’s been the embodiment of my many negative emotions, never finding peace. It was inevitable.”

He saw Liu Fuguang was still silent, so Yan Huan continued, “He wants revenge on me, and he’s grown to hate you too. He didn’t stop the True Immortal’s recognition because he wants to be a legitimate evil dragon god. And his vow to return to our acquaintance before is because he endured the trial of fate and wants to sever the connection between good and evil. Only then can he better control the young supreme goodness…which is you.”

At that point, Yan Huan finally lowered his head, his tone dark, unwilling to look at Liu Fuguang again.

“…Ultimately, the grand plan of Internal Demon is no different from my former self,” Yan Huan said dejectedly, as he hung his head. “We both desire…fulfillment, mastery of the Dao, and ascending to become the sole god.”

Upon hearing that confession, Liu Fuguang remained expressionless. He focused on the crucial matter, and asked, “When Internal Demon spoke about reversing time, can he actually do it?”

Not receiving a response on the sensitive topic from him, Yan Huan didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved that the worst had passed.

After some thought, he replied, “Do you remember a few months ago, on a night when I told you a story about a prince encountering a ghost? I vaguely mentioned that I once swore to find a way to reverse time, to go back to the day we first met…but I decided to abandon it later because of its hidden dangers.”

Liu Fuguang raised an eyebrow at Yan Huan’s words, recalling the incident. He turned back, and said, “So, despite the risks, there really is a viable method?”

Yan Huan nodded, and looked into his eyes. “As time flows through the three thousand worlds in the world sea, there is the law of time. By identifying key anchors within it, you can use them as support to reverse all three thousand worlds together…”

Liu Fuguang’s expression subtly changed, “Can you really do it?”

Seeing his surprise, Yan Huan smiled faintly, his gaze eager and subtly prideful, like a peacock eager for love, obscurely displaying his feathers.

“Why not? The ancient Emperors raised dust to become stars, and the Eleven Dragon Lords controlled the rotation of the sun and moon. I am their sole descendant, so playing with time is just my old trick.”

Liu Fuguang wanted to criticize him, and thought, If it’s only a simple trick, why did you lose so much health after repairing the eternal sun a few times, that your internal demon could take advantage of you?

However when it came to his responsibility, which was not to create but to destroy, it was understandable that Yan Huan struggled to follow through. So, he swallowed his dissatisfaction and didn’t speak much with the Dragon God.

“He has already taken your dragon heart,” Liu Fuguang sighed. “That’s a problem. If you can find a way to reverse time, can you find a way to stop him? My Dao-heart’s power is limited, and I can’t hold him forever.”

Since Yan Huan had no dragon dantian, his dragon heart was equivalent to his divinity. With Internal Demon gaining that asset, that left them as one disabled and the other half-disabled. How could they compete with each other?

The Dragon God looked at Liu Fuguang with endless love and promised, “Don’t worry. Since I found a way to go back in time, I naturally have a way to stop him.”

Yan Huan stood up, tall in stature. When he looked down at Liu Fuguang, the eyes on his disguise seemed endless, concentrating enough to make people feel cold in their hearts.

“The so-called anchors are nothing more than the chaotic places where good and evil struggle in the world. Simply remove those anchors, eliminate evil, leave behind goodness, eradicate chaos, and Internal Demon will have nowhere to work with, thus he will be unable to reverse the world sea.”