54. We, Become You And I

The Hollow Technique: Purple rushed toward Azhdaha without stopping. Then, it ripped part of Azhdaha's legs to cripple him.

Azhdaha roared again. However, except for his deepened hatred, he was getting weaker and weaker. In the first place, since he was sealed for far too long, his strength already declined. And the energy expense also increased the moment he absorbed the elements from the Ley Lines, although his strength increased momentarily.

On the other hand, Ryūhei's energy expenditure was nearly zero. In addition, his energy regeneration was more than enough to make up for his energy loss. And with his ability to absorb negative energy to increase his power, there was no way he would run out of energy.

"Mr. Zhongli, Now!" Strangely enough, Ryūhei suddenly shouted to Zhongli.

Zhongli formed hand seals. A golden light shone from his body before the same thing happened below Azhdaha's body. A grand formation appeared while several pillars were raised from the ground surrounding Azhdaha.

Although Ryūhei's technique was so deadly, with Azhdaha's size, he needed to unleash dozens of his Hollow Technique: Purple to reduce Azhdaha to nothing. However, he heard that Azhdaha's soul would survive even if he killed him. And since Zhongli wanted to save Azhdaha, Ryūhei refrained himself from killing him.

"Morax! A thousand years after you sealed me underground, you return for the second time– just to seal me once again?"

Zhongli silently stared at Azhdaha. A moment later, he opened his mouth.

"It's fate, Azhdaha."

"Fate? Did you say fate? Haha… Hahaha!! So here lies the wisdom of the gods. Destroy all deemed redundant, enlist tyrants to ravage the wilderness!"

Suffering Erosion, Azhdaha already forgot his contract with Morax and his conscience telling him that Morax betrayed him.

Seeing his hatred overflow, Ryūhei stepped forward to absorb his negative emotions.

"Insect, you again!"

Azhdaha roared in anger seeing Ryūhei casually absorbing something from him. Ryūhei frowned.

"If this continues, Azhdaha's hatred will never go away. I had to do something other than absorb the negative energy from him."

Meanwhile, Zhongli focused on what Ryūhei absorbed.

At first, Zhongli was worried when Ryūhei absorbed Azhdaha's negative emotions. Upon learning that not only was Ryūhei fine, and negative emotions were multiplying Ryūhei's strength, his worry turned to Azhdaha.

Zhongli didn't expect that thing could happen. After all, who would have thought that an ordinary mortal absorbed negative emotions from a god-like enemy and raised his power on par with his enemy?

And seeing the way Ryūhei fought against Azhdaha, Zhongli just acted as a support while preparing a formation.

Azhdaha wanted to regenerate his wounds, but Zhongli's formation restricted his movements and strength.

"Aggghhh, damn you, Morax! You betray me once again!"

"No! You have forgotten."

A different voice out of those three sounded in the underground space. Another person who appeared was none other than Kun Jun.

Ryūhei took a glance at Kun Jun. Then, he glanced at Azhdaha.

"What's the relationship between these two?"

At first, Ryūhei thought that Kun Jun was just an ordinary human. However after he observed carefully the energy between those two, they had similarities. Moreover, Kun Jun seemed much stronger than the last time he saw him. So after he glanced at both Azhdaha and Kun Jun, he knew that both of them had connections.

Zhongli glanced at Kun Jun before opening his mouth.

"You've recovered?"

"Morax, it's been a while." Kun Jun replied with a smile.

"Huh?" Ryūhei was stunned for a moment when he saw Zhongli seemed to recognize who Kun Jun was.

Meanwhile, Azhdaha inside the seal stuttered.

"Y-You…"

"Is that surprising to see me here?" Kun Jun responded to Azhdaha's surprise.

"Are you Kun Jun? Or–" Ryūhei decided to ask. Then Kun Jun turned around.

"Forgive me for concealing the truth, Ryūhei. There were things that only became clear to me upon reaching the tree in Nantianmen. To make it simple, I'm Azhdaha. Not the whole, but a fragment."

"A fragment?" Ryūhei raised his brow.

Then, Kun Jun nodded while saying further.

"In this world, there will always be opposing forces. Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, Dark and Light, Life and Death, and so on. You can consider the existence of me and Azhdaha you see there, to be a reflection of such polarities. "We" are a schism of the will. The will of Azhdaha."

Hearing what Kun Jun said, Ryūhei understood the whole matter. In short, the little girl that Kun Jun saw was the evil manifestation of Azhdaha's will, while Kun Jun himself was the good one.

"No! It can't be! That's impossible!!!" Azhdaha didn't want to believe it. But, Kun Jun explained further.

"When the seal loosened, your power manifested in this world as a child. With this new identity, you were able to vent about the forces that suppressed you. But, would anyone listen if someone spoke ill of the god who had always protected Liyue? Would they even care about what you say? No, right? The loosening of the seal gave you an opportunity to strike back. Kidnapping the people in aid of digging to the entrance to the seal itself. You planned to launch an attack on both ends, from outside and within. Thereby fully destroying the seal. However, the little girl's strength shouldn't be strong enough to break the seal. How come the seal was broken?"

When Ryūhei heard that, he stiffened. There was no evidence that the little girl could destroy the seal from the outside. Rather, he vividly remembered that the little girl used a means to destroy Zhongli's shield, which contained pure Adeptus energy, and the energy crashed into the seal.

In other words, if Zhongli wasn't there, the seal wouldn't be lifted.

Ryūhei glanced at Zhongli, but only to see him avert his eyes, proving that he understood what Kun Jun meant earlier.

Kun Jun didn't seem to suspect Zhongli or Ryūhei, so Ryūhei sighed in relief.

At that moment, Azhdaha snapped.

"Are you insane!? If you truly are a part of me, how is it you find yourself standing on the side of the betrayer!?"

"I was another power of yours, awakened with the loosening of the seal. Too weak to reincarnate, but strong enough to possess a human body. I was barely conscious, and I couldn't remember who I was. But my aim was clear: Find Morax and aid him in stopping you."

Zhongli decided to open his mouth after hearing Kun Jun's aim.

"I had sensed that something was amiss when you mentioned Dragonfall. Had your power been, but a little stronger, I would've recognized you."

"It's pretty normal since I have changed beyond all recognition. No need to blame yourself, Morax. Moreover, I remembered everything when I touched the stone tablet below the tree outside." Then, Kun Jun turned his head to Azhdaha. "Your consciousness was grounded, and you already forgot your old friend, including your memories to protect Liyue and now, you've become incomplete, irascible, and aggressive."

Hearing that, Azhdaha snorted.

"Humph! What would you expect!? It was humanity that attacked the Ley Lines that sustained me! It was their fault."

"That's true. The citizens of Liyue mined deep into the ground and caused overexploitation. Because of that, the Ley Lines began to quake, which brought untold suffering to "us. Which is why "you" attacked The Chasm and why "you" waged war against Morax. In addition, Erosion made "us" even more savage. No matter how we struggled, we lost the ability to coexist with humanity, and we lost all reason even after Morax shared with us some of his power to prevent further Erosion. Though, it was futile."

Kun Jun explained at length the reason why Azhdaha was sealed underground. After pausing for a moment, he continued.

"Your consciousness clouded. Most of it forgot the past memories, while part of it was the witness of promise between Azhdaha and Morax. And so, Azhdaha became "you." And from Azhdaha's will, "I" emerged. You can hate me, but you can't deny me!"

"No…no…!" Azhdaha refused to believe. So, Kun Jun said again, "I am the remnants of Azhdaha's benevolence, the echo of a contract set in stone. I harbor a willingness to go further, a willingness to coexist peacefully with mankind."

"No, no! It is I, Azhdaha, forged of elemental crystal, bearer of the weight and memories of the earth, older than the mountains and the oceans that decides! I will not swear allegiance to this insect!"

"Morax is not an insect."

"A lord over insects is nothing but an insect in turn!"

"You forgot yourself. Nobody held Morax in higher regard than you or I. That which you have forgotten, I hold here in my heart. If you are the memory of the earth, then I am the memory of coexistence. The coexistence with humanity."

Zhongli silently observed those two arguing with each other. Meanwhile, Ryūhei silently absorbed Azhdaha's negative emotions without stopping since the appearance of Kun Jun distracted Azhdaha.

"You might have forgotten the promise, but how about this?" Kun Jun suddenly chanted, "All powers under heaven, rise and fall of land and sea."

And surprisingly, Azhdaha was the one who continued.

"A star appears within the wild, and a sun ascends as bright as– jade. How weird, what–what is this feeling?"

All of a sudden, Azhdaha's negative emotions dispersed almost instantly as he began to calm down. This surely surprised Ryūhei, who kept absorbing his negative emotions without stopping earlier.