He and It Chapter 223: Inquire Here (51)

Chapter 223: Inquire Here (51)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

In the boundless darkness, Internal Demon opened its eye, and a divine light flickered in its single pupil.

Almost imperceptibly, it suddenly felt a loosening of the seal. In its line of sight, the stubborn Dao-heart, which glowed with golden brilliance, now trembled ever so slightly, while the apparently impenetrable cage around it rippled with waves – some strong, some weak.

What happened? Could it be that Supreme Goodness died?

Internal Demon was like a parasite desperate for blood, and eagerly rushed to the seal, as it took advantage of that momentary weakness to greedily devour the energy of its surrounding world.

Hmm, death was unlikely. It had taken the divine body and dragon heart, thus rightfully it  became half of the Supreme Evil. Naturally, it could feel the growing strength of the Supreme Goodness every day. After a quick, it understood what happened. The Supreme Goodness had certainly done something to please it. In order to make the Supreme Goodness happy, that one must have actively removed the anchor points between good and evil, and not just one.

Even though he was weak to that point, yet he still called himself the Supreme Evil.

It was likely because it was far from Liu Fuguang that Internal Demon was able to think calmly, since it was no longer under the corrupting influence of the Supreme Goodness. With Liu Fuguang’s charm having faded, Internal Demon could deliberately push aside the memory of his face, voice, and smile.

If his former self had been able to strike ruthlessly, destroyed his Dao bone and taken his Dao-heart, then, as the usurper, it should have been even more vicious and unfeeling than its predecessor.

Unfortunately, it still couldn’t obtain that title. The Supreme Goodness chose who would be the Supreme Evil. On that point, Internal Demon was clear-headed.

Its face was shadowed by an impending storm, and a savage expression flashed across its face for a brief moment before Internal Demon quickly suppressed its murderous intent, and focused instead on studying the right moment to escape.

There wasn’t much time to waste.

.

Liu Fuguang hadn’t said “yes,” but had he said “no.” He remained silent. His fingers weakly curled, once, twice, like a dying insect, until they finally brushed over the Eastern Swamp that Yan Huan had shrunk and taken away.

The weight of his homeland was immense, and brought a sense of steady warmth. The land was memory, a candle. The soil of his homeland nurtured everything he had. For a long time, he had drawn the strength to stand tall from the Eastern Swamp, knowing that no matter what happened, there was always one place in the world that could give him peace of mind.

Tears streamed down his face as he whispered, “I hate you.”

Yan Huan, who was combing through his wet hair, paused for a moment. He trembled and smiled. “I love you.”

Liu Fuguang simply closed his eyes, exhausted to the point of collapse. He sank into his damaged consciousness, and feigned sleep to escape the events that had just occurred.

In that haze, he heard the clear sound of falling water. Yan Huan wrung out a warm towel and carefully wiped the blood and tears from his face. The gentle heat from the towel pressed against his tight skin, and soothed him like a pleasant dream.

Yan Huan then softly hummed a short melody, a desperate call from a woman in unrequited love, who longed for her husband to return. Before that, no song of love had ever been written.

Liu Fuguang, physically drained, only wanted to temporarily distance himself from the mess; saying nothing, thinking of nothing. However, when he heard the dragon’s quiet chant, he genuinely fell asleep and slept without dreams.

When he woke up, simple bed curtains were before him, his white clothes were clean, and his wounds were healed.

Liu Fuguang sat up. He still felt a dull ache in his head.

He leaned against the bed, and saw Yan Huan in his original form, a dark, tar-like river circling the bed, and coiled around the small inn room. When he noticed Liu Fuguang had sat up, nine eyes cautiously looked toward him, and hesitantly studied his expression.

“…You’re awake.” Liu Fuguang said flatly, “We still have things to deal with.”

Yan Huan transformed back into his human form. His eyes were still red as he gazed at him in disbelief.

How…could it be over so soon? Such a huge matter, and yet he dismissed it so lightly? Earlier, he had cried to the point of despair, wished he could immediately die a thousand deaths to atone for his sins and end the pain, but now things had turned around so quickly?

Yan Huan felt dizzy.

“Stop standing there,” Liu Fuguang said as he packed, without glancing at him. “I promised Wu Luo that I’d handle this, so I need to fulfill my promise. It can’t be delayed.”

When he saw Liu Fuguang acting like that, Yan Huan abruptly understood. It wasn’t the first time they had been in such a state. It was the familiar feeling of “I don’t want to see you, but I can’t shake you off, so I’ll just ignore you like you’re air,” only now, driven by responsibility, Liu Fuguang had to speak to him.

Yan Huan felt sad and said, “Fuguang, are we going to go back to the way things were?”

Liu Fuguang paused for a moment, then turned to look at him.

“Was that what it was like before?” Liu Fuguang said quietly. “You think I’m giving you the cold shoulder again, don’t you?”

He turned around and continued to organize the things he had used, to make sure not to leave anything behind for the mortals to find.

“Just because we talked things out doesn’t mean we’ll start sharing everything from now on. I’m really annoyed right now, and I don’t feel like explaining. I suggest you shut up, and that’s it.”

Yan Huan froze. His first reaction was to rush to the window and see if the sun was coming up from the west.

“I’m really annoyed, and I don’t feel like explaining.” “I suggest you shut up…” Was this still Liu Fuguang? The Liu Fuguang who was always well-mannered, never cold, and never gave people the cold shoulder?

Yan Huan stammered, as he desperately tried to figure out what was going on. He didn’t doubt that someone had taken over Liu Fuguang’s body. After all, who could take over a person like Liu Fuguang?

To tell the truth, the harshest words Liu Fuguang said to him until now were shortly after their wedding, when Yan Huan stubbornly insisted that he sever his connection with the Eastern Swamp. He yelled, “You are completely unreasonable!” While the cruelest words Liu Fuguang had ever spoken were when they reunited. He raised his pinky and told him, “You and I can never be husband and wife for eternity.”

However, he had never heard such direct and harsh words from him before!

In a flash, Yan Huan suddenly remembered what Liu Fuguang had just said. “I hate you.”

He stopped thinking about being the “Supreme Goodness” anymore, so was he learning how to hate now?

When I think about it like that, even though his first love was never given to me, his first hatred is definitely mine!

After the initial shock, Yan Huan felt an overwhelming sense of joy. He was actually thrilled by the feeling of being hated by Liu Fuguang. It was a sensation he had never felt before, and it almost made him feel like he was flying.

Liu Fuguang ignored him, walked straight outside, leapt into the cloudlight and returned to the altar.

The towering and magnificent shamans’ altar was long destroyed by Yan Huan’s anger. Liu Fuguang had intended to deliver the Ancestor Shaman’s orders to the shamans at the Tian Shou Yumen, but that too had been obliterated by Yan Huan, who left everything in ruins.

Liu Fuguang started to get angry but held it back. When he thought of the Ancestor Shaman’s sorrowful tears, he decided to refrain. If it really came down to it, the future shamans were all descendants of the Ancestor Shaman. They had only misunderstood his true intentions, which caused them to drive Li Muxing insane during her long imprisonment. If the Ancestor Shaman still had a physical form, he might be even more ruthless and unforgiving than Yan Huan.

In order to deceive the way of heaven, the Ancestor Shaman had ordered his disciples to build the altar at the weakest point of his bones. But times had changed, and now the altar’s purpose had shifted from concealment to blocking any gaps, which prevented the evil dragon from escaping. It was truly a tragic turn of events.

Liu Fuguang used his spiritual energy to move the collapsed boulders, and together with a quietly pleased, but cautious, Yan Huan, they cleared the foundation and uncovered a massive pit that led deep underground.

“According to logic, since the Ancestor Shaman could transform into all things, this place should be…” Liu Fuguang thought for a moment. “The Ancestor Shaman’s navel?” 

Yan Huan stood nearby. He was unsure if he was allowed to speak, so he remained silent, while his nine eyes roved around.

Liu Fuguang flew down, and Yan Huan followed closely behind. The Ancestor Shaman’s navel seemed to be connected to the center of the earth, and the journey was long and exhausting. Neither spoke. The resentment of the dragon and the dragon’s energy became more intense. Liu Fuguang could handle it, but Yan Huan couldn’t help but frown. He was intruding on a fellow dragon’s nest, but without plundering their treasures or land, and he found it difficult to suppress his natural dragon instincts.

The journey seemed to take forever, but after just about half an hour, they finally arrived at their destination. Li Muxing was sleeping inside a black-reddish glowing sphere, coiled in her dragon form, her wings tucked in. After such long confinement, she had withered terribly, and now she was almost nothing but a desolate dragon skin wrapped around a skeletal frame.

Liu Fuguang sighed. “This is it. The Ancestor Shaman said that to awaken her, we need to make her remember her past reality. He already showed me her memories…”

After speaking for a while without hearing Yan Huan’s voice, Liu Fuguang turned around and glanced at him.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Are you mute?”

Yan Huan looked guilty – as though that word had no connection to him – and stared at him with wide eyes as he said, “You didn’t tell me to speak.”

Liu Fuguang, “…”

As the saying went, one shouldn’t hit a smiling person. When he saw Yan Huan’s cautious, almost innocent look, even though Liu Fuguang had told him that he hated him, he couldn’t just go ahead and attack him for no reason. He sighed and said, “…Then, how should we enter her dream and make her remember? Do you have any ideas?”

Yan Huan blinked, and suddenly looked troubled. “Well, I do have an idea, but I’m not sure if it will work.”

Liu Fuguang set up a barrier and replied, “Just say it.”

Yan Huan replied, “Let’s go in first.”

The two of them released their divine senses, and in the form of ethereal souls, projected themselves into Li Muxing’s chaotic dreamscape.

It was said that dreams were a manifestation of one’s subconscious, and indeed, Li Muxing’s dream reflected her current state. Liu Fuguang had never seen such a fragmented place before. Perhaps Yan Huan’s dreams were the extreme of madness and delirium, but they couldn’t compare to Li Muxing’s shattering.

She had gone insane under the violent tug-of-war. The love song of the Ancestor Shaman and the rumors of the people drove her back and forth. The love born from the heavens and the hate nurtured by the present pulled her in both directions. She had indeed once possessed the best things in the world, but now she was being tortured by the most terrifying things. Li Muxing didn’t know who she could trust anymore, so her dream howled with extreme fluctuations.

Yan Huan made the first move. When it came to dealing with dreams, he was incredibly proficient, handling them as effortlessly as if he were molding clay. The Dragon God created a stable area and turned to Liu Fuguang, “Where did the Ancestor Shaman meet her?”

Liu Fuguang seemed to understand. “You want to recreate the past in her dream?”

Yan Huan smiled as if Liu Fuguang said something adorably naive. “Dreams are not so simple. If it were that easy to wake someone up, I…I wouldn’t have been trapped in a dream for six thousand years. Every time I woke, it felt like my bones were being drilled through. The pain was indescribable.”

In the past, once he made a move, Liu Fuguang wouldn’t want to continue the conversation, but this time, Liu Fuguang hesitated. Yan Huan watched eagerly, and looked almost like he was expecting something.

“You…you deserve it?” Liu Fuguang hesitated, his usual habit of never delivering such retaliatory words making him now sound uncertain. He steeled himself and repeated, “You deserve it.”

Yan Huan was very pleased. He hid his delight behind a facade of sorrowful gasps. However, he couldn’t gasp too much, for if Liu Fuguang began to feel guilty – yes, he was still the soft-hearted good person who Yan Huan loved with all his heart – that wouldn’t be good.

“We won’t just recreate the past,” Yan Huan changed the subject. “The logic of dreams doesn’t work like that. If you only show her past memories, she’ll just think it’s another illusory dream. We need to play a part.”

Liu Fuguang didn’t understand. “Play a part?”

“Yes, play a part,” Yan Huan said. “As outsiders, we’ll be like foreign objects, unaffected by her divine sense. If we appear as ‘Li Muxing’ and ‘Ancestor Shaman’ in her dream, she’ll definitely notice something strange and pay attention to us.”

Liu Fuguang finally understood why he’d said earlier, “I’m not sure if it will work.”

“…Alright, let’s go with it.” He shook his head. “It sounds plausible.”

Yan Huan was overjoyed but didn’t dare to let it show on his face. He could only secretly rejoice. He solemnly nodded and said, “Then, I will be Li Muxing, and you’ll be the Ancestor Shaman…”

Having to play a young dragon girl was really hard to explain, but due to racial limitations, Liu Fuguang could only nod helplessly.

Based on the memories provided by the Ancestor Shaman, Yan Huan disguised himself as a “young dragon” and sat in an egg shell, then eagerly awaited Liu Fuguang, who was playing the Ancestor Shaman.

…Heaven above, how could there be such a large young dragon?

Liu Fuguang, who had been trying his best to imitate the Ancestor Shaman’s demeanor, was unable to maintain his expression when he saw Yan Huan’s appearance. He really wanted to turn around and leave, but the task he had promised to complete kept him from backing out. He walked up to the “dragon egg,” stretched out his hand, and touched the shell.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m here.”

Yan Huan spoke with deep affection, “I love you. I loved you from the first moment I saw you. Wait for me to grow up, I’ll definitely marry you.”

Liu Fuguang, “…”

Liu Fuguang gritted his teeth, “What nonsense are you talking about!”

Yan Huan pondered for a moment, “Well, you know, dragons are naturally domineering, whether male or female. Dragons are never the ones who get married, only the ones who do the marrying…”

“Who asked you that!” Liu Fuguang almost went mad. “You can’t just add random lines! She never said anything like that!”

Yan Huan’s tone was very aggrieved. “But we can’t just follow the script, right? We need something unusual in the plot for her to notice something’s wrong.”

However, what drove Liu Fuguang even crazier was what happened next – he truly felt an all-pervasive gaze, intensely directed at both him and Yan Huan.

This meant that Yan Huan’s plan was spot on. Their ridiculous little play had indeed captured Li Muxing’s attention in the dream.