AZI Volume 4 Chapter 16

Just as Tian Cheng closes her eyes—

(That unpleasant bastard…)

Long Hua mutters this within his head, and—

"…?"

Without saying a word, Long Hua leans towards Tian Cheng, and hugs onto her.

If the Tai Xuan Emperor increases the sensory feedback of her vessel, she would be astonished to feel how cold Long Hua's body temperature is. This sort of body condition is very much akin to a cold-blooded reptile.

Raising an eye within the dreamscape, the Tai Xuan Emperor asks—

(What's this? Feeling the need to have a woman comfort you? I figured you'd be completely disinterested in activities like this now. …Especially so after that incident in your previous life.)

Seeing this to be a good opportunity to raise Long Hua's affection gauge, the Tai Xuan Emperor has her vessel lean its cheek against the top of the former's head, while caressing his face like a loving mother.

"…What incident?"

(…The contract forbids me from talking.)

"…"

Finding comfort through the vessel's artificial body temperature, Long Hua feels a sense of drowsiness beginning to overcome him.

Acting spoiled like this, admittedly, even Long Hua finds his current behavior odd, however—

"Qie, imagine living under the impression that you are a human—to the point of it being the most natural thing in the world; what if one day, you suddenly find out that you are actually an object instead?"

(…Hm? Is this related to your curse?)

"I suppose."

Thinking for a bit, and organizing her thoughts, the Tai Xuan Emperor answers—

(My race… We… Our way of life is very different from what you are accustomed to. Our flesh and blood bodies—beyond the Nascent Soul realm; it becomes one with our souls. As a result of that, we were able to constantly swap our vessels; this made it so that we had all the time in the world to cultivate. …Hmm, no. I suppose this doesn't really answer your question, does it? Maybe I should start over from the very beginning?)

"I'm listening."

As Long Hua tightens his hold over her vessel, the Tai Xuan Emperor pauses for a brief instance, and without breaking character, she says—

(The world that I came from, it's called the Earthborn Elementals' Realm.)

In the very beginning of the Earthborn Elementals' Realm, planets were made from a combination of water and earth, greenery as a result of this was commonly seen.

However, the technology of the Earthborn Elementals' Realm was constantly progressing at a frightening rate.

In fact, the rapid advancement of technology had become a central part of immortal cultivation for this world, and this ultimately resulted in the creation of "Spirit Technology," or simply Spirit Tech for short.

For the denizens of the Earthborn Elementals' Realm, their cultivation methods were focused mostly on their souls, resulting in them coming into possession of divine senses that surpassed other races by a great margin.

Due to their possession of a powerful soul, and equally powerful divine senses, it became common practice for this world's denizens—to swap their bodies out for new ones, as a means to reach equilibrium with the previous two traits.

"Combat bodies," were what these vessels were called, and they were divided into different grades; while also being thought of as a category of Spirit Armaments created via Spirit Tech.

"Hm?"

Hearing this familiar term, Long Hua's closed eyes twitched, and noticing this, the Tai Xuan Emperor explains—

(Indeed, the same as the one your doll is currently using. Some of the most powerful combat bodies—possessed strength that could surpass most True Immortal realm practitioners of the Zang Luo Realm.)

The True Immortal realm is the realm of cultivation—that is just beneath the Void Shattering realm, the realm that is theoretically two levels below the unreachable apex.

(It's fine to say that it's unfair and cheating—if all you need to acquire such strength is the possession of a powerful soul, and divine senses. However, the creation of those powerful combat bodies required vast resources, and…)

As a result of this, the natural resources of the Earthborn Elementals' Realm, they were plundered to the point where every planet within that world had died out—due to their inabilities to keep up with the rising demands of the world's denizens.

With the lack of habitable planets, the denizens of this world lived out their lives in colossal warships of steel that rivaled planets in scale.

Time passed for those individuals, whose population had only ever seen an increase.

Eventually, it got to the point—that the ships became unable to house everyone. That was when the proposal of crafting planets out of metal came to be.

With how advanced the Earthborn Elementals' Realm's technology was at the time, the feat of creating these iron planets didn't take more than a hundred years.

And rather quickly, planets of metal became a common sight in the outer heavens of this world's domain.

But even then, it was never enough; hence, the denizens of the Earthborn Elementals' Realm turned to plundering more resources from other worlds.

(I'm probably getting off topic. What I mean to say is, if our cultivation culture is based completely off the idea of swapping our body out for a new one—the moment we become strong enough, to fully exploit the features of a more advanced body… Aren't we essentially just one of the many components—for the machine, we called a combat body? In other words, are we not simply just objects?)

"Then…?"

(I'm not saying that I do not understand your question of suddenly realizing that you, yourself is an object. What I mean to ask is, does it matter?)

"…"

(I'm sure your shizun, Dao He Tian Xue must have answered this question for you in the past. Think about it—what does it mean for someone, something, to be considered a living lifeform? Is it the ability to reason, or is it the possession of a soul? The definition varies from person to person, and from thing to thing, ultimately, do you consider yourself a living lifeform?)

"I…"

(You must be thinking, I've only been pretending, or acting like a human all this time. But how exactly is a human supposed to act? Are they supposed to be kindhearted and generous? Or should they be selfish and greedy? If the latter is your definition of a human being, then I think you do fall under your own definition of it quite well.)

Silence looms in the air as Long Hua takes these words in.

Eventually—

"I see… So, it doesn't matter if I'm someone else's masterpiece…? That's…-"

Falling asleep under the warmth of the Tai Xuan Emperor's vessel, Long Hua's consciousness dims.

...…

Within the dreamscape—

"It's times when he lets his guard down like this that he becomes easier to deal with. If only he could be like this all the time. Hmm."

Somewhat concerned about whether or not she had slipped up her character during this conversation, the Tai Xuan Emperor frowns.

"Ai, speaking of home… Truly makes me realize just how cruel of a thief—time, really is. I wonder, how advanced Spirit Tech has become after all these years?"

Narrowing her eyes, the Tai Xuan Emperor mutters—

"Speaking of a cruel thief… This bastard is just as cruel of one."

Looking at Long Hua's sleeping face—via projection, the Tai Xuan Emperor had the urge to end him on the spot.

"…If only it were that easy. The moment I show any hint of hostile intent… You'd probably snap your eyes wide open, wouldn't you?"

Following a sigh, the Tai Xuan Emperor clicks her tongue.

"I could hardly wait—to stab you in the back, when you least expect it. I wonder… Just what sort of face will you make? ...…"

Recalling a certain incident from Long Hua's previous life, the Tai Xuan Emperor clicks her tongue once more.

"Probably not a face—that would bring me any sort of satisfaction."