AZI Volume 4 Chapter 10

Having finished their meal, they tossed the emptied bowls outside.

"Hmm."

Unable to think of what he could do to get out of this awkward predicament, Long Hua frowns with a dark expression on his face.

After being that much of a thorn in their rear, the odds of the Ashen River Hall letting him live are rather low.

(Use my cultivation base, and carve out a blood path by killing everyone here… That's one option, but if I do manage to escape, I'm bound to be questioned. To avoid questioning means becoming a fugitive. That won't work at all, plus, that dimensional rift is still there. It's all too easy for those bastards from the hall to escape. Hmm… Assuming they don't outright kill us, and just leave us here to die, I'm confident—that I'll be able to hold out much longer than anyone else. But the exit is still an unknown.)

(*-laoban.)

"Piss off."

(Come now, no need to be like that whenever I say something.)

"Well, be quick with what you need to get out."

(How about using the power of your curse? And chalk it up to be the power of your Relic—if anyone is curious enough to ask.)

"…"

Under normal circumstances, Long Hua would refuse for sure. But right now—

"…Would it even be enough?"

(…Probably not, but if you're willing to let your curse progress further… Maybe?)

Despite having accompanied Long Hua in his previous life, the Tai Xuan Emperor is uncertain of the full details behind Long Hua's curse. That is a topic that only Dao He Tian Xue would have knowledge of.

"…"

Not knowing the exact source of this curse makes Long Hua extremely hesitant to rely on it.

Pressing a finger to his temple, Long Hua looks through all the memories that he currently has access to—in an attempt to see what the consequences of progressing this curse could result in.

In the next instance—

[My masterpiece, do you desire evolution?]

"…!"

"Hm?"

Looking at Tian Cheng, who is tilting her head at him for raising his head in alarm, Long Hua asks—

"You didn't hear that voice?"

"…?"

(I didn't either.)

Answering as such, the Tai Xuan Emperor also has her vessel shake its head.

"Masterpiece? Evolution?"

Contemplating what these two words could mean, in connection with his curse, Long Hua eventually sighs, and remarks—

"Even if I managed to get those bastards to piss off, the exit is still nowhere to be found…"

"…Master, any chance of the exit being buried beneath the oasis?"

"With my divine senses' current strength, it's quite difficult to look that deep into the sand… Hmm."

In other words, there is a chance of Tian Cheng's guess being true.

"…"

Using his divine senses, Long Hua sees the members of the Ashen River Hall taking treasures out of the oasis, and are being attacked by tendrils of waters for their greed.

(Hmm. Those tendrils would collapse—the moment the treasure is thrown into the rift, so they have a set activity range. …If I were the builder of this place, and I wanted to setup a teleportation magic array—that leads to the outside world, I would have wanted a landmark, to make it easier to find. Logically speaking, the oasis is the best landmark possible. Also, the number of names on those monoliths, there's far too many to count; however… The quantity of burial goods here, they don't seem to line up well with that number. Maybe, there's probably more of them buried beneath the oasis?)

Probing deeper into the oasis's waters through his divine senses, Long Hua peers pass the base made up of rocks and sand.

Eventually—

(So there really is another layer… Or two. No, there's…-)

Going as far as his divine senses would currently allow, Long Hua withdraws it with a look of amazement.

(Now that I think about it. That city should have a lord, or a group of governing bodies. People of such status should have a casket of some kind. But I didn't find a single casket. In that case, just deep is this oasis—assuming those caskets are also inside of it?)

Realizing now, that this ruins excavation is far from over, Long Hua's can't help but feel an even greater degree of fatigue, as he mutters—

"I'm really, really, really tired…"

(Ai, putting on a tough act all day is bound to tire you out, *-laoban. You really should learn to let loose occasionally.)

"…Being thought of as a soft persimmon makes me feel worse. If it means avoiding that, I'll tire myself out to death."

(Pride that you cultivated from your previous life speaking?)

"…It's not just pride alone. I…"

Thinking for a bit, Long Hua answers—

"I don't remember what my goal in my previous life had been. But it's definitely related to my own survival. For the sake of this forgotten goal, I needed strength that would make me stand well above others. And to reach this goal, I had to be selfishly committed to it. Even if both my legs were to be severed… I'd crawl forward, and if my arms were to go as well, then I'd use my teeth to worm ahead. I want to live out my life with my head raised, and to never have to kneel to anyone other than my family and shizun. My commitment to that unknown goal is my pride, which is why, it is both a necessity and an obsession for me to maintain it. Especially so, when I'm currently lost, and probably… Do not even resemble an ounce of my genuine self."

Hearing Long Hua's final remark, a feeling of discomfort wells up in the Tai Xuan Emperor's mind, as she replies—

(You figured that maintaining this selfish pride of yours would make you return to your original self, do you? …Still, isn't occasionally compromising on something fine? Imagine if you were forced to stand in front of an individual—who is many times more powerful than yourself. If you don't kneel, they'll kill you in the next instant.)

"Death, it is then. That way, I wouldn't be losing face for my former self, and for those who had aided me along the way."

(And what if you dying meant subjecting those people to… To suffering that could have been avoided with you present?)

Being asked this, Long Hua smiles, and answers—

"The sort of people—that I want by my side should be those with the same mindset as myself. I do not accept individuals who would turn tail, and flee from the enemy. That means to say, you either have the ability to take your enemies down with you, or you off yourself first to avoid being humiliated."

(…Selfish indeed.)

"My current strength doesn't allow me to afford certain luxuries in my selfishness. I'm at least aware of that much. But even so, I wish to live as close as possible to my ideal."

...…

Within the dreamscape, the Tai Xuan Emperor mutters—

"I once walked with you through a full lifetime. Your radiance made many envious of you; but behind that radiance, not a single person—other than your shizun understood just how much pain and suffering you had to go through. Despite being right beside you, I never once attempted to understand you as an individual, nor did I attempt to learn about your past."

Narrowing her eyes, the Tai Xuan Emperor shakes her head.

"Understanding you, and learning more about you—it's all too late, and doing so would have only made it more difficult for me to do what must be done at the end. Earthborn Elementals' Realm… Even if no one accepts me back, I'll force my way in, and take back what's rightful mine."