Chapter 106 – Tearing Apart Taotie
There was a violent surge of spiritual energy around He Ruge, breaking through the iron cage with a thunderous crash.
The cage shattered like a string of a qin, and a piece of iron shot out with the surge of spiritual energy, brushing coldly against the glutton’s scalp and piercing directly into the white wall behind the black-haired officer.
A strand of hair drifted to the ground, and the glutton’s pupils contracted in disbelief as he looked at the young man before him. He felt a strong sense of crisis; this turn of events happened too suddenly, as if a fish, which was laid out on the chopping board and ready to be slaughtered the moment before, suddenly flipped over and took control, ready to chop up its original executioner.
The live broadcast faithfully recorded everything. The camera captured not only the blood sprayed on the wall but also the iron piece trembling faintly at the end.
The live footage didn’t capture any people but showed only the light and shadows on the ground.
The slender shadow suddenly swelled on the ground like a giant creature, resembling a shadow puppet show. When that shadow monster opened its bloodthirsty mouth, bright light suddenly surged out like a tidal wave, tearing apart the shadow monster!
The shadow monster screamed as if scorched by the light, scrambling backward until it reached the corner of the wall, leaving only a small patch of shadow in the camera frame.
In the live footage, a young man walked calmly, resembling a leisurely stroll in a courtyard. His face, acclaimed as divine, was truly radiant with a divine glow at this moment, emitting a gentle halo not only from his face but from his whole body.
While the audience saw this gentle halo, for the glutton, it was like a sharp blade ready to slit his throat.
He trembled like a mouse caught in the light, hiding in the shadows in the corner of the wall and shouting in a somewhat panicked voice, “Don’t come near me!!!”
None of the previous aura of the snake-possessed villain remained.
He Ruge looked down at the cowering glutton in the corner of the wall. The middle part of the black-haired officer’s hair was shaved off, giving him a freshly trimmed Mediterranean hairstyle.
It turns out that even a bald head can test a man’s handsomeness, but when faced with the blow of a Mediterranean style, even the most handsome man can become comical.
He Ruge wanted to raise his lips in a mocking smile, but this action was somewhat difficult for him. At this moment, his body seemed to be split into two parts: one part was his original self, and the other part was his past self.
His past self was powerful, so powerful that it was like a brilliant firework blooming in the night sky, and its colorful light could overshadow everything. However, this kind of power was fleeting and ephemeral. Soon, perhaps in the next second, perhaps in the next minute, his past self would truly vanish.
The current him, on the other hand, was like a star, emitting a weak but firm light.
Both versions of himself looked at the glutton. One version seemed to overlook the glutton like a deity looking down on ants, while the other version seemed to have the feeling of having a powerful backer when being bullied, feeling truly awesome.
Because his past self currently had the upper hand in terms of power, his facial expressions and demeanor were managed by his past self. It wasn’t just a matter of standing tall and holding his head high; his chin was gently lifted, his black eyes lazily half-closed. Even though he couldn’t see anything, He Ruge could still guess that he was currently at the textbook-level kind of pretentious.
He Ruge took a small step forward, which was also a big step in avenging himself—
The dazzling light leaped towards the shadow that was huddled up, causing the glutton to scream as if scalded by hot water. The absolute suppression of power imprisoned him in a cage of light.
“Ah ah ah ah!”
The glutton’s originally deep eyes now seemed to be hit by a giant stone, and his painful emotions splashed out. He hated his current humiliating behavior and couldn’t help but empathize with the past He Ruge at this moment.
For so many years, he had been manipulating others at his fingertips. The huge disparity made the glutton’s face darken. He suddenly grabbed the light brain necklace around his neck, as if opening Pandora’s box, and pressed down on the light brain, pouring out countless negative emotions!
A hint of madness appeared in his pitch-black eyes. He, enveloped in heavy darkness, lunged toward He Ruge. The swelling monster shadow on the ground turned into a clear monster with a human face, tiger teeth, and claws.
A piercing cry, like a baby’s wail, filled the live broadcast room, piercing the listeners’ minds like long thorns, making them shudder.
“Death would be a relief. Today, I’ll grant you that relief.”
The cold, self-contained yet ethereal voice drowned out the crying.
The live broadcast only captured the glutton’s white hand reaching towards the ground, fingertips rounded like dew-kissed lotus petals. This hand clenched in the void, and the tongue of the shadow monster on the ground seemed to be caught by some invisible force, forced to vomit out fluffy shadow balls one after another, as well as smooth jellyfish and silhouettes of small snakes.
After confirming that the monster could no longer vomit anything else, the elegant hand, like handling a piece of art, tore the shadow monster in half, then folded it together and tore it in half again, repeating this cycle…
The black-haired officer, fallen to the ground under the glutton’s possession, was in a state of collapse. The attachment of this fierce beast had greatly weakened him, and it might take him a day to wake up.
As his past self’s power rapidly diminished, He Ruge, dizzy, held the fragments of shadows in his hands, trying to use the light from his body to extinguish the shadows. He also remembered to pick up the fluffy and smooth little balls on the ground and held them in his arms.
What had he forgotten?
What was it?
He Ruge turned his head in a daze, looking at the still recording live broadcasting equipment, and also saw the option for “Wings of Slaughter.”
This was his fate…
He Ruge was already very tired, too tired to keep his eyes open. He was like a child wielding a weapon, killing the enemy but also exhausting himself. Yet, the concern for Xi Guican’s little wings still drove him to speak, “Guican, are you alright? Don’t worry about me. I’m fine now.”
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, but He Ruge squeezed out a smile.
He said, “Let me recite a poem for you. One piece, two pieces, three, four pieces, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten pieces. A thousand pieces, ten thousand pieces, countless pieces, flying into the plum blossom, never to be seen again.”
The young man blew away the fragments of shadow in his palm, and those fragments merged into the light as if they had truly disappeared into the light flower. With his last strength, He Ruge turned off the live broadcast and closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.
He Ruge seemed to have had a very long dream, fragmented and spanning a long period of time. In the dream, he was Bai Ze, understanding the feelings of all things, knowing the appearance of all things in the world. He had done countless good deeds in his lifetime and had never done anything bad. Even his death was for the salvation of all beings.
In the battle with Qiong Qi that ended with both their deaths, he paid a great price to foresee the future.
He saw a future where Qiong Qi forged the Wings of Slaughter, causing widespread slaughter and the collapse of the world. He asked for the method to break the curse, and what he saw was Qiong Qi placing his hand on the Wings of Slaughter, tears of blood streaming down his pale face.
It was the first time Bai Ze had seen Qiong Qi shed tears, and the first time he had heard Qiong Qi’s low, pleading voice, “I beg you, don’t harm him. I’ll do anything you want, just don’t harm him.”
He had never seen Qiong Qi, so arrogant and self-assured, bow his head to anyone. Even if they were enemies, Bai Ze had never thought of insulting each other.
Seeing Qiong Qi in such a desperate state, Bai Ze’s emotions were not one of satisfaction but rather a vague reluctance and surprise.
So Qiong Qi could also plead?
Bai Ze was surprised in the dream and wanted to know who Qiong Qi would care so much about in the future.
Then he saw his own face.
Perhaps fate had already destined it. Qiong Qi killed him for the Wings of Slaughter ten thousand years ago, causing him to shed countless blood, which was the cause. Ten thousand years later, Qiong Qi voluntarily broke the Wings of Slaughter for him, shedding tears for the only time in his life, which was the result.
Although he was not Bai Ze in his current life, with the accumulated merit from his past life, he was reborn as a Golden Carp and left his remaining soul power on his reincarnated self as a talisman.
…
Xi Guican sat by the bed, holding He Ruge’s hand and guarding him. He saw the eyeballs under He Ruge’s eyelids moving slightly, as if he was having a long dream.
The man with silver hair and blue eyes looked affectionately at the young man on the bed. Two snow-white wings hung slightly behind him, one of which was peculiarly shaped, broken from the base as if forcibly twisted, but halfway through the twist, it stopped, resulting in the current somewhat deformed shape.
Just from behind, he looked like a fallen angel guarding his sleeping god.
Xi Guican sat motionless by the bed, his eyes almost greedily tracing the young man’s sleeping face. Finally, the youth, who he had been worried about, returned to him unharmed. Xi Guican wanted to thank the heavens, to bend down and kiss his lover.
But he dared not.
He Ruge’s identity overlapped with the Bai Ze inQiong Qi’s memory. When he heard that voice in the live broadcast room, Xi Guican’s action of breaking the wings paused, his fingertips nervously contracting. He had seen Qiong Qi’s memories, and the Bai Ze in Qiong Qi’s memories was a vivid character that Qiong Qi would never forget in his life.
Even when pushed to the brink of death by him, making Qiong Qi hate Bai Ze to the bone, even if turned to ashes, Qiong Qi could still recognize him at a glance. The Bai Ze in Qiong Qi’s memory always appeared in the form of a beast, so Xi Guican completely did not connect He Ruge with Bai Ze until that indifferent, god-like voice came from the live broadcast room, and Xi Guican suddenly realized that He Ruge was Bai Ze’s reincarnation.
Although he didn’t know what had happened to turn Bai Ze into a Golden Carp, killing Bai Ze for the Wings of Slaughter had indeed happened in the past.
This realization made Xi Guican wish he could go back in time and kill his past self who had hurt Bai Ze for the sake of wings.
Would you hate me?
Xi Guican stared blankly at the sleeping youth. In the complex emotions of grief and happiness, he slowly leaned down as if enchanted, and kissed the other’s lips. This kiss was filled with a sweet fragrance, like the faint scent drifting in a rose garden. It was sweet enough that even if the abyss lay ahead, one would willingly jump into it.
Xi Guican kissed the man with almost despair, regardless of whether he would be hated or resented when he woke up, even if he were to die. At this moment, he just wanted to kiss him, to embrace him.
In the battle between Qiong Qi and Bai Ze back then, Qiong Qi had won. But now, his encounter with He Ruge was a complete defeat for him. He willingly threw off his armor, willingly surrendered, and from now on, he would bow to He Ruge alone.
