He and It Chapter 224: Inquire Here (52)

Chapter 224: Inquire Here (52)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Yan Huan boldly threw a flirtatious glance at him, and signaled Liu Fuguang not to interrupt the process.

Liu Fuguang, helpless, took a deep breath and continued, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll take you away…”

As he approached, he hesitated. The original dragon egg could indeed be carried by Wu Luo in a basket, but this enhanced and enlarged version…not only could it not be carried, even just looking at it, one felt like it could shorten their lifespan.

Yan Huan, of course, wouldn’t make things difficult for him. He twisted his body and transformed into the form of a little dragon, and flew gracefully in front of Liu Fuguang.

“Then, I’ll go with you.”

Liu Fuguang pinched the bridge of his nose, and felt a headache coming on. “She didn’t come out of the egg until the night before her wedding to Wu Luo…”

“Why couldn’t it have been in dragon form?” Yan Huan managed to shrug despite not having the shoulders. “Her intelligence was fully developed from the moment she hatched. Whether she was in dragon form or just breaking out of the egg, it was all just a projection of her inner mental block. She feared that Wu Luo would abandon her like her blood relatives, so she kept herself in the egg with the mentality of a child.”

Liu Fuguang was stunned by that analysis. He never expected Yan Huan to say something like that.

So, after Li Muxing finally confirmed Wu Luo’s love and that he would never leave her, only then did she emerge from the dragon egg, and end her seclusion.

He glanced at Yan Huan and said nothing further.

“Wu Luo” and “Li Muxing” walked side by side on the dreamlike continent. Yan Huan didn’t just shape people according to Li Muxing’s memories, he also fabricated many onlookers that Liu Fuguang had never seen, to fill the dream as if it were reality.

“Who are those people?” Liu Fuguang asked, as he watched a group pass by, dressed in tall crowns and elegant robes, with an ethereal aura. “I’ve never seen them before.”

Yan Huan casually replied, “They were my former teachers. I just brought them along to fill out the numbers.”

“Teachers?” While Wu Luo and Li Muxing walked the land, they talked about anything that came to mind, so Liu Fuguang couldn’t help but ask, “You had teachers?”

Yan Huan laughed. “Well, of course! Back then, I was still…”

He paused, as though he were trying to recall something from a very distant past.

“I was still very young,” he finally said. “Not much bigger than I am now, but I was already a True Immortal, with the blood debts of the Emperor and the Eleven Dragon Kings, but unable to control my power. Only True Immortals could approach me or communicate with me.”

Yan Huan smiled. “Don’t misunderstand. The True Immortals back then weren’t as weak and fragile as they are now. They were all Golden Immortals who had gained the Great Dao after the fall of the Ancient Gods. A few dozen generations back, they might have been the descendants of some divine being mixed with humans. When they spoke, it was like the sound of lotus petals falling, and their words turned to jade. No exaggeration. Zhou Yi or Jin Cuixu are like children in comparison to them. Otherwise, how could they have had the ability to seal me?”

He held his breath, then slowly exhaled before he continued, “They sealed me as Supreme Evil, fully aware they had caused a catastrophe. To remedy it, they insisted on raising me to be a humble, virtuous, and exemplary figure. Otherwise, how would they explain themselves to the Heavenly Dao?”

Liu Fuguang listened silently. Six thousand years ago, Yan Huan closed off his heart, and hated him more than anyone else. He never spoke of those past events. Six thousand years later, even though Yan Huan seemed willing to speak, Liu Fuguang wasn’t interested in hearing it. It was rare for Yan Huan to talk of those things calmly now.

“Unfortunately, they were wrong,” the black dragon hissed coldly. “Humans have their nature, and dragons have theirs. They treated me as they would anyone else. They thought that by teaching me from a young age, I would be influenced and abandon the darkness for the light.”

“A born bad seed, huh?” Liu Fuguang sighed. “Just like how I’m born to be a good person…though saying that might sound a little boastful.”

Yan Huan said, “Don’t deny it. Aside from you, no one else can say that.”

After a pause, Yan Huan continued, “Back then, I didn’t understand what they were doing. I just knew they were always saying this was good and that was bad, which was really annoying. I watched them for months, and when they finally got used to me staring at them, I managed to bite a True Immortal’s Dao body and corrupt him, making him the first Immortal to fall.”

He sighed regretfully. “I was just too inexperienced. Those True Immortals were scared out of their wits. To punish me, they locked me in a place with no light, no wind, no life…nothing at all. I spent many years there, alone. How many years? I can’t remember, maybe a few hundred. From that moment on, I understood a profound truth – what I had caused was the second most terrifying thing in the world.”

“What was the first most terrifying thing?” Liu Fuguang asked, surprised. He hadn’t expected Yan Huan to express any form of humility.

“Is emptiness,” he said. “Nothing at all. Even death disappears. When everything doesn’t exist. Nothing has meaning – good and evil, love and hate…it’s all just trivial matters, unworthy of mention. In that place, there is only you. Gradually, you even forget yourself.”

Yan Huan said it calmly. “There, I learned fear. After the Immortals released me, I learned to disguise myself. I hid for about a thousand years, and when I figured out how they had imprisoned me…Did I ever tell you, I was the kind of student every teacher dreams of? Since I can grasp the essence of everything. I am a god.”

He chuckled twice. “Maybe my teachers are still alive, but in a place like that, whether you’re alive or dead, what does it matter?”

Liu Fuguang lowered his head. He held no grudges against the long-dead True Immortals, but he would never forgive them. He thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, “What about me?”

Yan Huan froze. “What?”

Liu Fuguang smiled, though there was no humor in it.

“Zhongshan is the source of emptiness. Did you throw me down there because you had the same thoughts? Since the True Immortals arranged our marriage, did your hatred for them transfer to me, and that’s why you wanted to use the most terrifying punishment to get revenge on me?”

Yan Huan remained silent for a long time, his pain overwhelming him. The dreamlike world behind him twisted and trembled as if it were cracking apart.

“I…” He rasped. “I…I didn’t…”

He barely managed a few words before he couldn’t speak any more. The sound of the wind howled in his ears, and the illusion stretched bizarrely, as if time itself was materialized.

Finally, Yan Huan admitted, “Yes. Back then…That was what I was thinking.”

Liu Fuguang nodded and abruptly asked, “You said earlier that you killed the dream beasts? How did you do it?”

The topic twirled faster than a windmill, and left Yan Huan dizzy. Thousands of thoughts tangled in his mind, and it took him a moment to regain his voice. “Yes…yes, I killed the dream beasts, I…”

Gathering his strength, Yan Huan organized his words. “I deeply regretted it in the past. I went to Zhongshan to find you, but I only saw the dream beasts everywhere. I was suddenly scared…I opened up the belly of each dream beast, but they were all empty. Then I turned the base of Zhongshan upside down looking for you. I even dismantled the remains of the Mountain God, but I still didn’t find anything. I didn’t know where you had gone, and I couldn’t believe you had died. But no matter how I searched, I couldn’t find you, so I had no choice but to return.”

“You dismantled the remains of the Mountain God?” Liu Fuguang chuckled. “No wonder the dream beasts all died.”

Yan Huan didn’t dare say anything else. After a moment, he gathered his courage and spoke softly, “Actually, after you left, I’ve been suffering in emptiness. If I think about it carefully, it’s been six thousand years…”

Liu Fuguang didn’t respond. After a while, he said indifferently, “You reap what you sow. The bitter fruit you brought upon yourself cannot be blamed on anyone.”

Yan Huan flinched. His tears gathered as he trembled, like a young beast who was whipped. Liu Fuguang understood that venting pain was a form of indirect affection, and what Yan Huan sought was love, but he was unwilling to give such love to him.

The ubiquitous gaze had grown heavier, and now almost had a tangible form. That meant that Li Muxing’s confusion and curiosity were intensifying.

He and Yan Huan played out the things that Wu Luo and Li Muxing had done. They lived in a human tribe, and helped that weak group gradually grow stronger. Liu Fuguang made demands of the humans in the dream. He told them not to worship shamans, but to revere Yinglong as their totem.

In return, Yan Huan in the dream fought off small monsters, carved channels for illusionary rivers, irrigated fields, and adjusted the weather from time to time; essentially recreating Li Muxing’s past acts of kindness. The banner of Yinglong fluttered, the people on earth praised Yinglong, and called her the ancient great mother, the gentle war god.

“What else do you want?” Finally, the moment came, and Liu Fuguang repeated his words, as he asked Li Muxing’s opinion. “As long as I have it, I will give it to you.”

For a long time, Yan Huan stared into Liu Fuguang’s eyes but said nothing.

“Then, I have one question. Please answer me,” Yan Huan whispered. “This is a sincere request of mine. I have been thinking about it for thousands of years, but I still couldn’t come to an answer. Only you can help me.”

Liu Fuguang furrowed his brows and pondered for a moment before he said, “Ask.”

Yan Huan asked, “Back then…why did you fall in love with me?”

Liu Fuguang stared at him. He looked at the scarred, lost-hearted, blinded evil god. He thought for a long time, and decided on that matter, there was nothing to hide. He considered carefully before he answered.

“My love for you started with pity. I was too young, too naive, and too shallow back then. I really thought that you were so pitiful, like a blind person who had never seen light and thus thought light didn’t exist. And my love, I believed, could change anyone, even you.”

He smiled. “Looking back, it was a very arrogant thought.”

Yan Huan’s eyes trembled as he stared at him.

“I wanted to understand you, and I wanted you to understand me. I hoped everyone in the world could understand each other. My love for you was not without a reflection of my own vision…Ultimately, both you and I are not normal, Yan Huan.”

Then, Liu Fuguang looked at him and said, “That is my answer.”

“Because of pity,” Yan Huan softly repeated. “You loved me because you pitied me.”

Liu Fuguang opened his mouth, “Yes, but it wasn’t entirely because of that. What I mean is, both you and I…”

“I want you,” Yan Huan murmured, as he spoke the words from Li Muxing’s lines. However as long as someone’s eyes weren’t blind and their ears weren’t deaf, they could tell who he was truly speaking to. “You said that if you have something, you will give it to me. Then give yourself to me. I only want you.”

In a moment, Yan Huan transformed from his dragon form to his human form. The tall and handsome god had emotions surging in his eyes, even more intense than the spring tides. His ear ornaments jingled, and his golden radiance was captivating.

Liu Fuguang, “…”

Your selective hearing is quite impressive.

“Alright!” Liu Fuguang turned his head, as he pretended not to see the dragon god who was hopping about and opening his tail feathers. “Let’s complete the final part…stop laughing! We’ve got to get down to business.”

He conjured up the scene of the Eleventh Dragon King battling the Human Emperor, and without saying another word, he shoved Yan Huan into the dream’s underworld. As he pushed, he hummed the song created by Wu Luo. Feeling Li Muxing’s increasingly dangerous gaze, Liu Fuguang hurriedly created an image of Wu Luo transforming into all things. He showed her how the shaman sacrificed everything for his beloved dragon woman, in exchange for a power that could blind the heavenly law.

In the world of dreams, rain began to pour.

The painful cry of the Yinglong seemed to merge with the storm, and echoed through every corner of the world. Liu Fuguang knew that she was still only in a state of half-belief with her delirium, and hadn’t yet fully remembered the past.

With the sound of the dragon’s roar, the dream of the dragon woman began to tremble and collapse. Yan Huan came out from under the ground, no longer playing the role of a trapped young dragon, and instead flew around with Liu Fuguang, as they evaded the crumbling sky and earth.

“Trust us!” Liu Fuguang shouted loudly. “And trust yourself, Li Muxing! Think carefully! You are a descendant of Yinglong, and Wu Luo has been dead for ten thousand years. Even if he has transformed into the earth, how can he withstand a true dragon? From the beginning to the end, his feelings for you have never changed. That’s why his song is the most powerful magic in the world. Everything was a misunderstanding. Fate played a trick on you, but not his true heart!”

The sound of the dragon’s roar filled the sky, and shattered the entire dream world. Liu Fuguang and Yan Huan were immediately thrown out. As their divine consciousness returned to their bodies, Liu Fuguang opened his eyes, and looked in horror at the light orb in front of him. Li Muxing was struggling wildly, as the spiritual energy accumulated for millennia boiled like hot water, and emitted a sharp, ominous shriek.

“Go!” Yan Huan made a quick decision, his abilities almost drained. He knew he couldn’t fight Yinglong’s descendant head-on, so he had to take Liu Fuguang and run. “Don’t stay here!”

The two of them flew out at breakneck speed. The storm of spiritual energy and dragon’s breath swept across the earth’s core, and triggered a colossal wave of energy. It penetrated the tunnel at the center of the earth and shot out in almost a straight line, pierced the stormy clouds and connected to the starry sky!

In an instant, sea and sky merged, and the world seemed to become one with the void. Aside from Li Muxing’s long howl and the thunderous crash of spiritual energy, Liu Fuguang couldn’t hear anything else.

“If this continues, this star will be destroyed!” Liu Fuguang shouted loudly, but even he couldn’t hear what he was yelling. In the blinding white light, Yan Huan covered his ears, his tendrils like countless sticky hands, as he sheltered him within his body.

Then, Yan Huan transformed into a giant black dragon, and roared hoarsely as he clashed with the raging Yinglong.

“How dare you, mere descendant of Yinglong!” The black dragon bellowed fiercely.

Though Li Muxing was oppressed by the dragon god’s pressure, she was also imprisoned for ten thousand years. Now that she had broken free, how could she not destroy her prison? Her wild nature flared, and she fought fiercely against Yan Huan.

In the sky, the starry clouds surged, like a pair of invisible giant hands, that gently swept the two dragons, one black and one yellow, apart.

Liu Fuguang sensed it. It was the power of Wu Luo, and his lingering will.

“…The Supreme Goodness,” the voice of the Wu Ancestor faintly reached his ears. “I have been cursed, unable to meet with Muxing again. After you meet her, if you can help me deliver a message, Wu Luo will be forever grateful.”

Liu Fuguang quickly replied, “Please, say it.”

Outside, it was eerily quiet. After Wu Luo intervened, the two dragons stopped fighting. Yan Huan had swallowed him into his body so he hurriedly patted his whiskers, signaling to let him out.

Once outside, the vast starry sea stretched out before them, its brilliance like dew. A hurricane drove the Yinglong’s wings, and her eyes were weary, lost as she gazed toward the sky.

“Yinglong,” Liu Fuguang called. When she heard his voice, Yinglong involuntarily turned her sight that way, and fixed her eyes on him.

“…I recognize you,” Yinglong spoke slowly, her words awkward from the long silence. “You are the person in my dreams.”

Liu Fuguang nodded and admitted, “I was asked to come and awaken you.”

Li Muxing let out a hoarse laugh, and muttered to herself, “Is shedding tears for me for ten thousand years enough?”

“Actually, there’s one more relic that needs to be given to the dragon lady.” Liu Fuguang took a step forward, pushing aside Yan Huan’s protective gesture, “I wonder if the dragon lady would allow me to pass it on?”

Li Muxing, her heart deadened, her dragon scales cracked, and her mane turned pale as snow, suddenly looked up and spoke urgently, “What else did Wu Luo leave? Give it to me!”

In an instant, Liu Fuguang’s body radiated a blend of pale blue and white light, and his appearance seemed to resemble Wu Luo’s greatly. He flew toward Li Muxing, and his warm palm pressed against the great dragon’s forehead, as he leaned forward to place a kiss as soft as rain.

“I’ve wronged you for ten thousand years,” Liu Fuguang – or perhaps Wu Luo – said gently, “Though my original intent was to save you, I am too ashamed to see you again. But, to have met you…is truly wonderful, and to love you, is truly magnificent.”

Li Muxing was still, stunned and silent. Two lines of tears fell from her golden dragon eyes.

“The love of a dragon, is it a blessing or a curse?” Before departing, Wu Luo let out a sigh, a sound that only Liu Fuguang could hear. “My ten thousand-year wish is fulfilled. I am willing to use the strength of one life to heal your old wounds. Muxing…please look after her for me. She is still young, and having slept for so long, she truly doesn’t know how hard the world is.”

Liu Fuguang remained silent for a long time. He couldn’t answer Wu Luo’s first question and could only nod in agreement to the second.

“Alright,” he said. “Thank you for your kindness. I will take care of her for you.”