The Light Is Dark

Han Sen looked at Moving Star Emperor and said, "Are you saying those that don't understand are filthy? Why don't you go ahead and explain what the Luminous Stone is, then?"

Moving Star Emperor rebutted with, "Pah! You don't deserve to know."

"Wow, now you look like some pompous idiot who is only pretending to be superior. You shouldn't go around telling people you're an emperor, much less a spirit. Even talking to someone as thick as you has me feeling embarrassed." Han Sen wasn't willing to let this go so easily, and so he said a lot of mean things.

Before his enemy, he'd never concede.

Moving Star Emperor was notorious, but he had quite the reputation, though. Between spirits, disputes were often settled through battle. The opportunity to sort things out through discussions, as most humans did, rarely arose.

Knowing he might be at a disadvantage made Moving Star Emperor extremely angry.

If he wasn't in Evil Lotus Shelter, he'd already would have been trying to kill Han Sen through the tried and true method of a pummeling. He wanted to provoke Han Sen and get the human to attack him first so he could feign being the victim. But now, he found himself being the one ready to instigate a fight.

Moving Star Emperor managed to swallow that big, bitter pill and reversed the dialogue instead. He said, "If you think it is that simple, then why don't you tell me?"

Han Sen explained it succinctly, "The Luminous Stone is a path of light."

Moving Star Emperor addressed that hypothesis with disdain. "Nonsense! Night Empress practiced the path of darkness. It is a geno treasure attuned with the element of dark. Dark is the complete opposite of light. Pah! What a cheap race, only capable of talking crap."

Han Sen was not mad. Humans knew a lot, and the Alliance possessed swathes of knowledge. Spirits could not understand things beyond the surface, and they could not understand things on a deeper level. Their development was in a whole different ballpark.

Perhaps no human could beat Moving Star Emperor through physical means, but giving him a verbal beatdown was nearly child's play.

Han Sen smiled and told the emperor, "You are ignorant. Light and Dark are two sides of the same coin. They both exist at the expense of each other. Light is dark, and dark is light. She may have practiced along a path of darkness, but she could also use the Light element. It's simple."

"Light is light, dark is dark. How can the two exist together? If she was still here, she'd kill you for talking such drivel!" Moving Star Emperor rebutted.

Han Sen pointed at the lotus plants which were bathing in the soft glow, then he pointed to the darkness the light did not reach. He said, "Now tell me, which is dark and which is light?"

Moving Star Emperor said, "Of course the area with the Luminous Stone is light."

"Are you sure it's light?" Han Sen asked, with a smile.

"Of course, do you think I'm blind? I'm not!" Moving Star Emperor said with frustration.

Han Sen then cast fire and lit up the other side of the lake. The Luminous Stone could glow, but its glow was rather faint. The light it emitted was not very strong. But Han Sen's fireball was so bright, it made the stone's side dark.

"Now you tell me; which side is dark, and which side is light?" Han Sen smiled again.

Moving Star Emperor gave an ugly look, and it prompted Han Sen to explain, "Dark and light are one-and-the-same, see? Light is the absence of darkness, and darkness is the absence of light. They are two sides of the same coin, but both are dependent on each other. Night Empress sought darkness, but used light to guide her practice. She sought darkness through the light she possessed. A dumb*ss like you would never understand, my boy!"

Moving Star Emperor's face turned green. He was not an expert when it came to analyses like this, and so he had no clue how he should respond.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Han Sen turned around and saw a spirit clapping her hands gently. It was Lotus Empress herself.

Lotus Empress spoke, saying, "Seeking darkness through the light? If my mother was still here in the Third God's Sanctuary, she'd be very fond of you. She'd relish the opportunity to meet someone else who understood her."

Empty Witch flew close to her master and said, "Miss Lotus! The Luminous Stone really is of the Light element?"

Due to the fact the Luminous Stone was blackened and charred by the fires of Holy Door, and its lifeforce had been depleted, and it looked to be of Dark.

Lotus nodded and said, "This was her only Light-element treasure. She left all the dark treasures here, but she only wished to take this one. It was once called the Stone of Light. The light was merely drained due to its incineration."

When Moving Star Emperor heard this, he looked even worse. He looked as if he was going to faint. He didn't expect her most important treasure was not of the element of Dark.

"I thought it was pretty simple, really. I was just bringing it up in idle chit-chat," Han Sen said.

Han Sen really was just saying it simply, without meaning for it to come across as a lesson. His knowledge was vast, and so it made him go above and beyond a simple explanation. Still, he couldn't really learn much from observing the stone.

It wasn't that Han Sen was stupid, it was just that he hadn't reached that level of genius yet.

Many Dark and Light emperors had visited this shelter in the past, but they only learned a small amount. The melody and rhythm of the pulsating light came from the Fourth God's Sanctuary, so not being able to understand it was normal for someone who wasn't a demi-god.