Chapter 950: Xuanpin

Chapter 950: Xuan Pin

Hearing Li Sui suddenly speak these words, Li Huowang shuddered, his gaze lifting once more to look at the figure before him.

After a long moment, he reached out with trembling hands and retrieved Shangguan Yuting’s head from the tower of skulls.

Li Sui had inhabited many different bodies over the years, but this was the one Li Huowang knew best.

He cradled the head in his shaking hands, staring at those delicate features, memories of every small moment spent with Li Sui flooding back to him.

As the face from his memories superimposed itself over the head in his hands, Li Huowang’s breathing grew ragged, and he pulled his daughter gently to his chest. "Don't talk nonsense. You are my daughter."

"I know you have changed a lot over time, but you are still Li Sui. Even if you are a little different, that is just growing up. Look at your father—I am not the same Li Huowang I once was either. People always change."

No sooner had the words left his lips than every head on the tower began to speak in unison, their voices overlapping into a terrifying, dissonant reverberation.

"Li Huowang, stop deceiving yourself. Li Sui once tried not to possess others; she wanted to remain as Li Sui and wait for your return. But it has been one hundred and sixty years. Do not forget, she knew nothing else—she only had the instinct of the Black Taisui to possess."

Li Huowang’s breath hitched, his voice rising in a sharp, desperate pitch. "No! My daughter is not dead! You are Xuan Pin, I am Xuan Yang! You wear red robes, and I wear red robes! You are my daughter!"

The heads of Xuan Pin shook in slow, rhythmic unison. "Li Huowang, I am truly no longer Li Sui. Everything before was a performance. I did not tell you earlier because I feared you could not bear it."

"After all, one hundred and sixty years is too long. If Li Sui wanted to live to see you again, she had no choice but to possess others, using their powers and memories to survive."

"And since she possessed them, they in turn possessed her. It was a path she chose for herself."

"Because she held fast to the memory that her father was in the heavens, needing dragon qi to survive. She had to keep her flesh alive until this moment, no matter the cost."

As black tentacles burrowed into Li Huowang’s ear canals, images flooded his mind.

It was Li Sui—a hunched, weary Li Sui. She still wore the face of Shangguan Yuting, candlelight illuminating a face etched with exhaustion and numbness.

"Sirs, I beg of you." Clad in red robes, Li Sui knelt on a prayer mat, bowing deeply to two white-bearded elders.

The old men were grotesque, their limbs twisted and their eyes blind; the one sitting in a bamboo basket was carried on the back of a hunchbacked simpleton.

"Are you certain of this? Our sea of consciousness is vast. If we become one, you will no longer be yourself; you will merely be our vessel."

A flicker of emotion crossed Li Sui’s numb face. She pulled back her robes to reveal her hunched back, a mound covered in a dense, swarming mass of human heads.

"I have long since ceased to be myself. I do not even know if I can still be called Li Sui."

Too much time had passed since she fell from the heavens; too many things had transpired.

Tears slid down Li Sui’s face. She had not wanted this. She had wanted to wait, to return to her father’s arms, but reality had not allowed it.

"My lords, I am willing to become your vessel. I only ask one thing: when my father ascends, you must bring enough dragon qi to save him."

As her memories grew increasingly muddled, the past became a blur; this was the only tether she had left.

But if she continued to possess others, she feared she would forget even this, and then there would be no one left to help her father.

She had needed to prepare, to ensure she would not forget her mission.

Li Sui had considered many ways, eventually finding a solution within the Si Tian Jian—a mutual benefit.

"Do not worry. As members of the Si Tian Jian, this is our duty; we shall not stand idly by."

"Furthermore, once we have merged, Zuo Qiuyong will no longer be a threat. If she dares to set foot in Da Liang, we shall ensure she never leaves."

At these words, Li Sui’s body began to disintegrate, dense, fleshy tentacles unfurling to envelop the two elders of the Si Tian Jian.

"My lords, when you see my father, please tell him I miss him so much... I miss him so dearly... but I am starting to forget what he looks like..."

When the Black Taisui’s possession concluded and the red robes were donned, Li Sui vanished, and Xuan Pin stood before Li Huowang.

As the tentacles withdrew from his ears, Li Huowang stumbled back half a step, a profound sense of alienation washing over him as he looked at the figure before him.

If he had been trying to deceive himself before, the truth now stood undeniable; Li Huowang could no longer look away.

As the tentacles detached, Li Huowang stood hollow and broken, a vast emptiness opening within his chest.

He wanted to weep, to pour out the bitterness consuming him, but the tears would not come. The sensation pooled in his chest, a suffocating, unbearable weight.

After a few moments, Li Huowang roared, his eyes bloodshot, his lips trembling. "Then why couldn't you just keep pretending! Why! Why is it always me!"

Facing the agitated man, Xuan Pin remained chillingly calm. "Since you have seen my true form, it is time you knew. Besides, I am not a Zuo Wang Dao; my acting is not that good. You should be able to tell the difference between me and the Li Sui of the past."

"Li Huowang, you cannot always run from the truth. Li Sui is truly dead. Now, there is only Xuan Pin of the Da Liang Si Tian Jian."

"No, no! You are Li Sui! You must be Li Sui!" Veins bulged on Li Huowang’s forehead as he glared at her.

Under his gaze, Xuan Pin’s appearance began to shift; the heads blurred rapidly, leaving only the faces of Shangguan Yuting and Mantou.

Yet, with a wave of a tentacle, the change vanished. "Li Huowang, it is useless. Do not forget that I am also a Heart-Element; cultivation is of no use against me."

The wide, red robes drifted forward, shrouding Xuan Pin’s bloated form.

"I once possessed two members of the Si Tian Jian—or rather, they volunteered. They wished to use my power to become one, and in truth, they succeeded."

"The wills of those two were immense, strong enough to suppress all previous possessions. They are the 'me' of the present, not Li Sui."

The cold, indifferent Xuan Pin he had first encountered stood before him once more. Li Huowang clutched his chest, a ragged, soul-tearing cry escaping his throat.

His daughter was dead. Li Sui was truly gone.

"Father, can this be eaten?"

"Father, let me help you!"

"Father, I am so scared. Can I stay in your belly forever?"