Chapter 86 - Escaping from Burial Grounds (XVII)
Editor: Kitty
Actually, Luo Jian was very nervous. He had put in a great amount of effort to assimilate into the role of ‘ghost’ and tried to understand that person’s mood and thoughts, but he still couldn’t understand the wolf child’s personality in that story.
So Luo Jian had to ask straightforwardly.
But to be honest, looking at the dying old man staring back at him, Luo Jian really felt a little complicated. In fact, when the old man had told the story, he had fully understood. He could also comprehend the old man’s hatred; maybe he didn’t just hate his clan, but Luo Jian was afraid that he also hated himself. Otherwise, he would not have buried himself in this huge tomb with a huge tree, and no one knew whether he was trying to achieve atonement or to recover certain things.
Luo Jian suddenly wondered where might the real ‘ghost’ be if he did not replace his identity?
Where would he go? He would still be lying in the thick and silent coffin, regardless of whether a thousand years or ten thousand years had passed, and even if the world was destroyed, he would never wake up again. Would the god be left alone, day after day, year after year, stuck in the same lonely tree bitterly waiting?
Or had he already reincarnated, gone to another time and space, another world, launched a new life, and completely forgot this person he once hated…… or loved?
Or was it just a story that the secret chamber made out of nowhere? It was a story that seemed sad but was actually quite lamentable. The people in the story were only illusions. Even if the story was true, they were just like characters on pieces of paper. After reading it, people would simply laugh it off.
Also, what kind of identity am I standing here with? When Luo Jian asked himself this, he began to feel sad. His mood underwent some inexplicable changes, and he started to feel upset. He even felt that there was a strange anger and hatred spreading inwardly. These inexplicable feelings whose origin he did not know spread out and rushed to the top of his heart.
What Luo Jian didn’t know was that when replacing the identity of a NPC, you not only got the exclusive rights of the NPC but also you can sometimes get some of their exclusive memories or feelings. Although it was unknown whether these memories were real or false, if they did exist. For Luo Jian now, these memories had truly left their mark on Luo Jian’s heart.
Therefore, Luo Jian felt pain. When he faced the old man in front of him, he suddenly felt suffocated and out of breath. He tried to calm his breathing and calm down, but it did not work. Luo Jian had to take a deep breath, raised his head, stared at the old man with sharp eyes, and said in a deep and dull tone:
“I have been sleeping for nearly a thousand years.”
All the people around them were looking at Luo Jian. They were shocked to find that his expression and actions now were not like the person they thought they knew. It seemed that suddenly he was possessed by someone else. Suddenly, he became a person they did not know. And now, this person was glaring at ‘god’ in an imposing manner, and in a hateful tone, he said:
“My anger has never calmed since the moment I died in your hands!”
The old man in the trunk trembled and murmured, “I knowk2026;k2026; I knowk2026;k2026; You are here at last.”
You are here at last.
The old man did not know whether he himself could be considered alive or not. He only knew that he had been in the dark tomb for a long time. From the moment he was conscious, he could only stay stuck in the tree trunk and spend day after day in a daze. All kinds of emotions and memories had gone far away from him, and the outrage he originally felt had long faded away.
Clearly, he had abandoned all of them, but when he saw the man in front of him, he immediately remembered all the things he lost in an instant. The lost memories returned to his body, and in his soul, a force compelled and excited him, making him feel as if he had been freed from his shackles. He could not help but start to struggle and try to climb out of the trunk that imprisoned and destroyed him. He needed to crush everything to bits and pieces.
Yes, no one can stop him, not even God.
So, at this very instant, something shocking happened. Everyone in the god’s tomb looked in shock at the old man, that god! At this moment, the old man’s body had morphed horrifically. The full, shocking white hair on his head began to fly around everywhere, and he also began to slowly separate from the trunk, looking as if his body were crawling out of a swamp or a pool of mud. The old man climbed down from the trunk this way as well, and he looked a mess with his body naked.
However, when the old man had completely separated from the tree trunk, it was as if some kind of power had returned to him: his dry skin began to become lustrous, his wrinkled old face also recovered the elasticity and plumpness of a young man’s at that moment, and his head full of white hair was completely dyed black in an instant although his hair still remained an inhuman length.
Yes, it took only a few seconds for the god to change from a white-haired old man to a handsome young man.
“This power…” Duan Li, wearing an evil ghost mask, murmured in a muffled voice, “Is this the arrangement of the secret chamber or did he originally possess this ability?”
It seemed that the young god heard the whispers and turned to look at him. Everyone found that the young god had a pair of dark green eyes. The colour was not particularly distinct, but it was enough to leave a deep impression.
“This tree is the core of the tomb,” the god said, “Its roots extend to every corner of it. All the funeral accompaniments here are used to nourish it. Moreover, this tree can keep me alive and young, keep my appearance unchanged for thousands of years, and keep me immortal…… At the same time, let my beloved—”
When the god said this, he suddenly shook his head and looked at Luo Jian. There was a little excitement in his eyes: “Yes, I have been waiting for a thousand years, just to wait for this moment, to revive you, to let you come back to me. All my efforts, all my blood and tears……”
Luo Jian stood in the same place, expressionless, just staring at him.
The god did not mind his silence. When he approached Luo Jian, he was naked, but his hair, which appeared like a waterfall, was scattered across him, concealing the parts that shouldn’t be seen but showing his perfect body. All this served to add certain levels of charm to this man.
The god seemed to be a little crazy. He was a head taller than Luo Jian. He reached out and grabbed one of Luo Jian’s hands and placed it in his own palm. He gazed at Luo Jian tenderly and carefully treated him as if he was a priceless treasure. He muttered softly:
“Look, I succeeded! Now, nothing can stop us. We can be together forever…… My beloved…… Luo—”
When God had yet to finish speaking, Luo Jian had already come close to the young god without his noticing. He stuffed his knife into the other party’s chest fiercely, and immediately, gorgeous blood spouted out, dyeing both the chest of the god and Luo Jian’s blade red.
God could not help but cough twice, and blood also surged out from his mouth. For a very long moment, he remained stunned before he realized what had happened. He looked at Luo Jian in shock as if he could not understand: “Why…? You still…… hate me…… do you?”
Luo Jian…… Perhaps at this moment, he could not be called this name. At least at this very moment, he had completely become another person; he became the ‘ghost’ who sought revenge. His dark eyes were full of ferocity, and his face carried no expression; there was no anger or sneer on his face. He was just like a machine without emotion.
“I said…… my anger has never calmed,” the ghost spoke in Luo Jian’s voice in a sort of tone that Luo Jian could never use. It contained deep hatred like a sea of incomparable calm and comfort, and it felt like the advent of a storm.
At this moment, the ghost could no longer restrain this anger and hatred. He firmly grasped the blade in his hand and thrust it into the poor god’s chest with much more force. If he could not take revenge, he would just have to destroy everything!
“But I…… I don’t understand…… It’s all over, isn’t it? ” The young god didn’t understand. As he vomited blood, he hugged Luo Jian and did not want to let go. Everything had ended, hadn’t it? No matter whether it was his clansmen or his own people, they had all been destroyed. He did not believe that this man did not have any feelings for him since the beginning. He knew that they shared the same feelings.
“We can be together forever…” His obsession was too deep for him to extricate himself. The poor god hugged Luo Jian tightly and prayed, “So…… let’s be together! Please, let’s be together!”
Luo Jian, who had turned into the ghost, did not answer. He silently drew back his knife and swiftly moved. He stabbed the other’s chest with another knife.
The young god groaned bitterly and could not say anything.
The ghost did not look at the pain in the other party’s eyes but silently said, “I’m not the one you loved at the beginning.
“The one you love has already died.
“A thousand years ago, he was already dead.
“I’m just the deepest obsession left by that man before he died. I linger in this land, waiting for the day I die, waiting for the advent of the apocalypse.”
The ghost withdrew the blade and took a step back, leaving the poor god kneeling on the ground. The poor god covered his chest and refused to acknowledge what had happened. He gazed at Luo Jian: “I don’t understand! Aren’t you here? Why are you dead?”
This time, Luo Jian smiled. He spread out his hand and let his precious weapon fall on the ground. His hands were full of blood, and his smile was extremely ferocious: “Foolish fellow, you can clearly see who I am!”
Identity replacement could confuse certain things and people momentarily, but it could not change certain essential things. Luo Jian was still Luo Jian. Although at this moment he was controlled by some emotions and feelings that did not belong to him, he was still Luo Jian, and this was an indisputable fact.
Then Luo Jian squatted down, crouched in front of the god who was kneeling on the ground, and moved closer to take a look at him: “Look at my face; is tiis the person you know? My voice, my body, my hands… ”
Luo Jian raised his hands, covered with blood, and spread them in front of the other party: “Without sharp teeth and sharp claws, this body is an ordinary human being’s body. He grew up normally in human society. This body does not belong to me because I am just a soul about to dissipate! I did not receive anything from you! And you didn’t save me at all!”
“No!” the god yelled, terrified, “I’ve been waiting for thousands of years. This is impossible. He said that this tree can save your life!”
“Heh……” Luo Jian slightly smiled: “Did you make a deal with the real devil? Do you think they keep their promises? You sold yourself, and you gave me up, foolish human, from the very beginning…… There’s nothing left!”
Everyone was standing around to listen to the dialogue between the god and ghost and kept their conversation in mind. Specter and company glanced at each other. They could barely guess what the two were talking about, but it was pointless to do so anyway. The most important goal now was to find out where the exit was from the god. Unfortunately, they did not know whether they should get involved in this conversation, which spanned thousands of years and involved the two parties.
No one could get involved, could they? Because at this moment, the young god lowered his head as he bit his lower lip. Without muffling his sobs, tears rolled over his face.
In the empty and hollow tomb of the god, there had been only one solitary tree for a thousand years……
And a lonely person.