Chapter 67
Huan Zheng, upon hearing that, did not respond with words—he merely snorted softly, pretending to scratch his nose that wasn't itchy to hide the fact that he was blushing.
That for the first time in thousands of years, a lazy man who had never cared about anyone's appearance, including his own, felt nervous like a boy seeing a beautiful girl at a night market for the very first time—then shifted his gaze toward the road ahead, toward the people beginning to gather at the roadside out of curiosity at the arrival of two strangers who had suddenly appeared at the outermost gate without announcement, without reception, without anyone knowing where they came from.
"You look… different," he finally said, his voice still lazy but carrying a tone Ling Xu had never heard before.
A strangely gentle tone, like someone trying to find the most fitting words to describe something beautiful but afraid that if the words were too grand they would sound cheesy, and if too ordinary they would sound insincere.
"Before, you looked like a Goddess who had lost everything—beautiful in a sorrowful way, beautiful in a way that made people want to protect you even though they knew you were stronger than them, beautiful in a way that could not be forgotten even after they tried desperately to forget. Now… you look like a human, Ling Xu. An ordinary human of twenty-two years old. And strangely, that makes you more… real. Closer. More… not frightening."
He paused for a moment, smiling—a smile no longer bitter, no longer empty, no longer warm in a strange way, but an honest smile, a smile that spoke plainly without needing to be wrapped in metaphors or sarcasm or lies—then added in a softer voice, almost a whisper.
"But that third eye on your forehead—which is now closed as if sleeping—still makes you look like an ancient war goddess who has awakened from a long slumber to destroy the world. So don't be too happy just yet. You're still frightening, Ling Xu. It's just that now, you're frightening in a more… human way."
Fhhh!!
Huan Zheng stood still for a moment, his lazy eyes sweeping across the rows of buildings stretching from the first gate to the horizon—white stone houses with red-tiled roofs, grand temples with marble pillars carved with reliefs of humanity's victories over the Gods, wide streets filled with merchants shouting their wares, children running and laughing freely without knowing that at the gate, two harbingers of death stood patiently waiting for night to fall—then let out a long breath like someone who had just decided to take on a responsibility he had never asked for.
"This time, it's my turn to guide you, Ling Xu," he said, his voice no longer lazy as usual but firm, like an older brother holding his beloved's hand in the midst of a crowded, unfamiliar market.
"Allow me to guide you in this human world. Not because you are weak or lost. Not because you are blind. But because I want to, Ling Xu. After so long of you leading, poisoning, killing, healing, and determining our path—this time, let me hold the map. Let me show the way. Let me make sure we don't get lost in this spider's nest before we have the chance to burn it."
Ling Xu, upon hearing that, did not respond with words.
She simply nodded, a single nod that felt like releasing a burden she had carried alone for so long, a nod that felt like entrusting something precious to someone who would never betray her, a nod that felt like saying.
"Alright, guide me. Because for the first time in this long journey, I want to walk without always being on guard, without always calculating every step, without always wondering whether the next step will lead me to an abyss or a palace."
Huan Zheng stepped forward first.
Not with hurried steps like someone late for a ceremony, not with cautious steps like someone walking over a trap-filled ground, but with his usual lazy stride, like someone strolling through a park on a bright afternoon, occasionally yawning, occasionally scratching his stomach that wasn't itchy, occasionally glancing left and right just to make sure Ling Xu was still beside him, that the girl with white bandages on her head did not get lost among the crowd of people who began to move aside because they could feel—though they did not know exactly what they felt—that there was something different about these two newcomers, something that made the hairs on their neck stand, something that made them want to run even though their feet were rooted to the ground.
"We need to find out what really happened during the Harmony Conflict," Huan Zheng suddenly said, his voice still sounding relaxed, even slightly lazy, but his eyes—those half-lidded eyes—now wide open, scanning every corner of the street, every turning face, every whisper beginning to emerge among the crowd.
"Not merely to satisfy curiosity, Ling Xu. Not merely to pass the time before night falls. But because when you carried out the collapse to break into the realm of Humanity, your Humanity Star Consciousness awakened. And it shared a quarter of its memories—memories that for some reason, somehow, since who knows when, make me feel that it was never truly a part of you, that it is something separate, something older, something that once played a role in an event that changed the history of the entire universe."
He stopped in front of a tea house located at a street corner, beneath a shady tree with golden leaves, a place where he and Ling Xu could sit without drawing too much attention, without needing to shout to be heard, without worrying that every word they spoke would be overheard by spies who might have begun following them the moment their feet touched this land.
"What's even stranger," he continued after they sat on the rickety wooden chairs in the back corner of the shop, shielded by yellowing bamboo curtains.
"I also received the same memory. Not by coincidence. Not by luck. Not because the universe is being kind to me. But because back then, when I was nearly killed by the poison of One Land, Two Skies, Three Authorities, you willingly gave forty-nine fragments of your Humanity Star. Those fragments, Ling Xu, didn't just save my life. They connected us in a way I never imagined. They made us share more than just poison, Cancer threads, and a blood-soaked journey. They made us share memories. A past that does not belong to us. Secrets that perhaps were better left unknown—but now that we know, we cannot turn away. We cannot run. We cannot pretend not to see."
To be continued…