Xiang Nan’s Will
“You’re Hou Tu, not Xiang Nan!”
From his appearance, to his aura, Xiang Nan was a totally different person. Being calm, determined and eve ruthless to the point of oozing the vibe of a mature schemer was far from the lazy, unfettered Xiang Nan whom Mu Yu knew.
Mu Yu thought he saw a glimmer of emotion in Xiang Nan’s unusual eyes, but Xiang Nan claimed, “I’m not Hou Tu. I’m Xiang Nan.”
“Senior Brother Xiang Nan would never do this, you snake! Hou Tu, you better let my brother go right this second!”
Mu Yu created a launch pad from a formation and spawned Shadow Splitter Sword after taking off. Mu Yu slashed without hesitation, but Xiang Nan morphed his hand into transparent rock and caught the sword. Xiang Nan’s yellow spiritual energy cancelled out Mu Yu’s energy completely.
“Your swordplay has improved. Have you mastered Celestial Swords Nine Summons Formation?”
“I’m not obligated to explain anything to you, Hou Tu!”
Xiang Nan effortlessly pushed Mu Yu back with one hand, demonstrating the gap between them in terms of cultivation. “Are you not even going to give me a chance to explain? That’s unlike you.”
“You should be at Twenty-Five Kilometres South Garden! Xie Bulao should be watching over Hou Tu!”
Mu Yu didn’t futilely attack because not even good luck would make up for the discrepancy in their cultivation. Besides, Xiang Nan was right; Mu Yu should’ve heard him out first.
“… I left Twenty-Five Kilometres South Garden ages ago. The day Wanwan came to inform us Elder Ku Ku met with misfortune, she stopped you when you wanted to go help him and told you that Xie Bulao was escorting Shifu back to Moyun Mountains from the shadows. That was when I realised I should leave Twenty-Five Kilometres South Garden.”
We all forgot about Xiang Nan when Qiao Xue and the others came after me when I went to check on Dad. He must’ve sneaked away when Lan Ling’er wasn’t watching, Mu Yu realised. “Why did you leave? Did Hou Tu force you to leave?”
“I thought long and hard about and decided that I don’t want to continue staying quiet. I want to do what I want to do.”
“And that’s to turn so many people into your puppets? That’s what Hou Tu wants to do, not you!”
“Hou Tu and I are now one. I am now complete.”
“Are one? What the heck are you talking about? If that was possible, Shifu wouldn’t have sealed the spirit lords.”
“The spirit lords are an inseparable part of our soul once they migrated into our bodies. The only difference is they keep their consciousness. They don’t accept us, and we don’t accept them, resulting in us fighting for control over our body. If we accept each other, we will become one – a complete individual. In other words, I have everything Hou Tu has whilst maintaining my memories and emotions.”
“Even if that’s right, why did you accept him? They ar-…” Mu Yu couldn’t continue when he discovered what he was about to blurt.
“Are the elemental demons as evil as you make them out to me? Is the war between our races inexorable? Have you never considered who stands to gain from our fighting?” Xiang Nan questioned, angry and determined to implement some sort of change. “Judging from your reaction, I assume you already know something. I believe Ju Mang has also filled you in? I don’t want to see Third Heaven Palace continue to lead everyone on. To that end, I want to end this with my own hands. I will take down Third Heaven Palace.”
“You have taken more than two hundred thousand innocent lives. You’re doing the same thing they are to achieve your goal. How are you any different to Third Heaven Palace?”
“Blood must be spilt for the greater good. They won’t assent to me controlling them. In the end, Third Heaven Palace will conspire to kill them. It’s all the same in the end if I don’t control them, isn’t it?”
“And you think you alone can stop Third Heaven Palace with these puppets of yours?”
“… You can help me. If the four of us join hands, we can take them down.”
Mu Yu heaved a hopeless breath. “I won’t help you. I’m not willing to watch so many innocent lives become sacrifices. I refuse to resort to your method to take them down even though I share the same goal. I will stop you.”
“I know you want to revive Elder Ku Mu, but you don’t have proper control over Life and Death in the Blink of an Eye. Hou Tu has memories pertaining to it. There are major restrictions on it due to how much of a cheat ability it is. You can’t revive anyone with it even if you defuse Nine Heaven Demon Sealing Formation.”
“I revived Tian Ran at Moyun Mountains!”
“That’s because she wasn’t dead! Elder Ku Mu passed away long ago. Your Life and Death in the Blink of an Eye isn’t complete, so you can’t revive Elder Ku Mu with it.”
“What do you mean it’s not complete?”
“To put it simply, I can now use the complete version of Hou Tu’s ability. Your Life and Death in the Blink of an Eye is incomplete. You see where this is going?”
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