Chapter 231: A Foxian Tale of the Haunted 『 Part Six 』
「 "According to the Ten-Lords Commission's records, Ignamar… was utterly defeated at the hands of that general named Teng Xiao, wasn't he?" Huohuo whispered, slapping Cirrus in the face with facts.
"Hmph." Cirrus was rather dismissive. "Human records, of course, only boast about the General's military exploits! It's a pity. Although the great Heliobus Ignamar absorbed the power of countless kin, he still underestimated human treachery and suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of the General."
"After that battle, Ignamar split into countless fragments and was sealed inside the Creation Furnace."
"However, there are always exceptions to everything. I originally thought you, Tail, had escaped with your life and gone off to be free and unfettered… I never expected that you would actually be subdued by this little fox girl. Hahaha, it really makes me die of laughter."
"Subdued my ass! I was a tiger down on his luck in the plains, and I ran into this little fox. It was truly bloody bad luck!" Recalling his first meeting with Huohuo, Tail was full of irritation.
But the one who regretted it even more was Huohuo. She had met Tail when she was small; back then, he was just a dying wisp of flame…
"I had a moment of soft-heartedness, so I put him on my tail. The result… the result was that I never expected Mr. Tail would actually try to eat me! Thankfully, the judges appeared in time, or I wouldn't have escaped that calamity."
"Hey, you were just a bite-sized snack that wouldn't even fill a tooth gap. Saying 'eat you' makes it sound like I was trying too hard, doesn't it?" Tail grumbled from the side.
The childhood Huohuo was as soft and sticky as a delicious little matcha cake. Her eyes, reflecting the firelight, were as clear as a pool of lake water.
"The… the tears of regret I've wiped away all these years must be the water that flooded my brain when I made that decision back then…"
Hearing Tail's past, Cirrus exclaimed that it was interesting. However, regarding the Heliobi, Stelle also had a question: "Why do the Heliobi want to challenge the General?"
"A reason? Is a reason necessary?" Cirrus thought for a moment. "If you want something high-sounding, the Xianzhou imprisoned the ancestor of the Heliobi in a cage to provide power for the Xianzhou. Is that reason enough?" 」
「 ..... 」
〜Dragon Raja World〜
"The Luofu, Xianzhou actually did something like that? I haven't heard General Jing Yuan mention it."
Caesar tried hard to recall the intelligence that had appeared so far; there seemed to be absolutely no mention of this Heliobus ancestor.
If even a Great Heliobus could fight a Xianzhou General to a fifty-fifty draw, wouldn't the Heliobus ancestor be an Emanator-level powerhouse? The Xianzhou couldn't have had any records of it.
"It's not that there aren't any. Do you remember? The Five Dragons' Migration…"
Chu Zihang reminded him in a low voice.
"Aren't those the High Elders of the Xianzhou Alliance? What do they have to do with it?"
Caesar recalled the descriptions of the High Elders in the Five Dragons' Migration, but there was no mention of records regarding Heliobi there either.
"In Hanya's description, the essence of a Heliobus is an energy parasite from beyond the sky; they are the essence of starfire."
Chu Zihang began to explain patiently, his serious tone reminding Caesar of his history teacher back at the academy.
"And one of the duties of the High Elder of the Zhuming, the Ardent Administrator, is to wield the Sky Fire and keep watch over the Flint Emperor—the description of the Sky Fire matches that of the Heliobi roughly. So, I believe the Flint Emperor is the ancestor of the Heliobi that Cirrus spoke of."
"That is indeed a possibility."
Caesar agreed with Chu Zihang's view.
"But the problem is, if the Heliobus ancestor is trapped on the Zhuming Xianzhou, why would it come to challenge the General of the Luofu?"
"…I'm not sure either. But judging from the currently known information, the Zhuming Xianzhou is a holy land of forging and has inextricably linked connections with fire. Their application of fire certainly far exceeds that of other Xianzhou ships. If the people of Zhuming can imprison the Flint Emperor, they can certainly imprison the Great Heliobus Ignamar as well. In the context of the Zhuming, wanting to win against the General… there probably wouldn't be even a sliver of a chance."
"So there's a chance on the Luofu?"
Caesar suddenly laughed.
"The General of the Luofu is being looked down upon, huh?"
"General Teng Xiao might not have cared about Ignamar's opinion from start to finish. In Xianzhou's records, this was nothing more than an incredibly boring battle. Writing two extra lines in the history books would have been considered an acknowledgment of his strength… but unfortunately, they didn't."
—
「 "If you want something simple and direct—we just want to fight the General and see the weight of the Xianzhou people."
"We of the Heliobus race were originally carefree. It was only because we came into contact with humans that we were infected with the 'Sickness of Humanity'—it's all the humans' fault. Possessing such intense emotions and desires caused us to be unable to return to our past state of pure and unstained minds."
"Therefore, I want to regain my freedom! I want to return to the outer skies. Tail, you don't want to reunite with the fragments, and you don't want to be a tail for your whole life. Why not return to the outer skies with us?" 」
「 ..... 」
〜Journey To The West World〜
"Oh~ I think I get it. Isn't this equivalent to them getting used to eating delicacies from land and sea, resulting in them being unable to stomach coarse tea and plain rice, and then turning around to blame the delicacies for being too delicious? Then just don't eat it! What, you got addicted yourself and now you're blaming humans?"
Ne Zha sneered. This bastard Cirrus really couldn't even find a suitable excuse; it was simply exposing its own nature completely.
Ao Bing shook his head with a calm expression.
"Heliobi feed on emotions. To them, human joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness are like fine wine. Once tainted, withdrawal is impossible. But clearly, this Cirrus has overestimated itself, and also overestimated the Heliobus race."
"If the Heliobi truly could defeat the General, after succeeding, how could they bear to abandon humans so full of emotions and leave Xianzhou? At that time, perhaps the first thing they would do is occupy the bodies of the Six Charioteers and turn the Luofu upside down, right?"
—
「 "Heh, you sing it better than you say it." Tail directly ignored Cirrus's invitation.
Just as they were speaking, the large gate beside Huohuo suddenly opened on its own, giving her a huge fright. This time, Stelle kept Huohuo close by her side, and they soon arrived at a small courtyard containing a mirror.
Voices constantly came from the mirror, calling Huohuo to come over. When she got closer, Xueyi's voice came from inside: "Huohuo, art thou in the mirror? I have finally located thee!"
Xueyi indicated that the current Fyxestroll Garden had been swallowed by an unknown force and was extremely dangerous. She told the group to pass through the mirror one by one and get out first.
But after following Xueyi's instructions, everyone did not return to reality. Instead, they appeared in a space with many mirrors. Tail saw at a glance that the space was changing rapidly; the owner of this space very much wanted to trap them inside.
The urgent task was to find the correct mirror.
Huohuo planned to investigate them one by one. She arrived in front of a mirror, and the Xueyi inside spoke again: "Huohuo, come quick, come quickly to Big Sister's side."
These sappy words gave Tail goosebumps all over his body. "Would that puppet judge ever say something so disgusting?" 」
「 ..... 」