Chapter 124 Heather and Manro

Manluo roared at Shican like a neurotic, "You played me for a fool! How dare you play me for a fool?"

Macarius frowned as he watched the frantic Manluo. He knew all too well how lethal a madman could be. He sighed inwardly and cast a slightly pitying glance at Luo Hanhai.

Shican patted the dust off his clothes, stood up decisively, and stared quietly at Manluo with his right eye wide open. There was no longer any panic in his gaze, nor any trembling in his body. He simply stood there quietly, face-to-face and eye-to-eye with Manluo.

Luo Hanhai rubbed his eyes in disbelief, feeling as though Shican's figure had suddenly grown much taller. He was no longer hunched over, nor cowardly, standing like a brave warrior who would face the certain dead-end ahead without a shred of fear.

"I didn't play you for a fool. It's just that I am naturally a fool myself, which is why you never noticed me. It wasn't because my acting skills were exceptional; when you play your true self, anyone can act convincingly." Shican smiled. It was a naive and foolish smile. Even though this smile looked exceptionally terrifying on his face, in Luo Hanhai's eyes, it was filled with gentleness.

Manluo propped his head on the armchair for a moment, staring at Manluo with a complex expression as he straightened his back with what seemed like a hint of pride. Manluo found it both infuriating and amusing. He patted his own cheek and muttered to himself, "Heh, things that even a total fool can figure out are beyond me? I never expected that I would actually turn out to be worse than a fool! Worse than a fool!"

Macarius carefully looked the two of them over from head to toe and said to Manluo with deep emotion, "You aren't worse than him. It's just that he is too pure, while you are too complex. In your complexity, you might get what you want, but you are also destined to lose a great deal."

"Gain? Lose?" Manluo stretched lazily in the grand armchair, squinting his eyes as he sized up the three figures standing straight before him, repeating the two words playfully.

Macarius smiled slightly, stepped forward, and said in a clear voice, "Stop while you can. At your core, you are still a mere spirit; you are destined never to become a true soul. If you stop now, you can still avoid complete annihilation, and perhaps..."

"Perhaps what? Is there still a 'perhaps'? Don't forget what we originally were! Do you really take yourself for him now? We were all originally independent entities! By what right should we let you make us whole?" Provoked, Manluo shoved the grand armchair aside and pointed at Luo Hanhai, flying into a rage.

"Why must it come to this? You are you, and I am I. I care nothing about spirits or souls. Can't we just mind our own business? You take your wide road, and I'll walk my single-plank bridge. From this moment on, we shall be separated by mountains and rivers, never to cross paths again..."

"Hahaha, what kind of place do you think this is? You still expect to be separated by mountains and rivers? This is not the kind of place you are used to. This place..." Manluo covertly pointed toward the ceiling, a fierce and murderous look flashing in his eyes that made Luo Hanhai shudder and involuntarily take a step back. "It's either you die or I survive! There is nothing more to discuss between us!"

Luo Hanhai shook his head, rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, and defiantly raised his middle finger—heaven knows what was running through his mind at that moment.

"Then we have no other choice. Come, then. It is also time to use your heart-blood crystal." Luo Hanhai blinked and unconcernedly reached a hand into his bosom, as if searching for something.

Suddenly, Luo Hanhai's expression changed. He frantically patted and searched his robes, realizing he seemed to have lost something.

"Oh? Did you lose something? Look at this. Does it look familiar? Are you looking for this?" Manluo took a small, exquisite piece of jade from his tunic, its blood-red luster piercingly bright to the eyes.

"You... how did this thing end up in your hands?" Luo Hanhai's face turned completely pale as countless thoughts raced through his mind, piecing together the cause and effect of it all.

Luo Hanhai felt a chill in his heart as a horrifying thought suddenly surfaced, making him gasp for breath.

"Hmm? Are you finally starting to figure it out?"

"Sigh! I never would have imagined it. I truly never could have imagined that Oeshnan was you." Macarius lowered his gaze, voicing this terrifying guess aloud.

"Hahaha, did you finally guess it? That's right! It was me!" Manluo laughed triumphantly, gently stroking his face. His features abruptly shifted, instantly transforming into the weathered look of a middle-aged man, complete with a decadent and magnanimous demeanor. It was unmistakably the same person.

"So, it was that bump?" Luo Hanhai gritted his teeth, vividly recalling how Oeshnan had bumped into him when he left.

"That's right, it was that very bump." Manluo grinned, triumphantly spreading his arms wide as if proclaiming his dominion over the world. He paused for a moment and continued, "I obtained all your secrets through this identity. No one could have possibly guessed it."

"Indeed, no one could have guessed it." Luo Hanhai slumped like a deflated eggplant, utterly dejected, his heart a turbulent mix of bitter, sweet, sour, and salty emotions.

"Do you know what an oeshnan is?" Manluo—or rather, Oeshnan—his eyes filled with nostalgia, seemed to have recalled something.

"Oeshnan is a flower. It is tiny, merely a low shrub; it is tragic, having never witnessed greenness or vitality since its birth. Yet it refuses to be crushed by the cold. On that frozen wasteland, it compresses all its leaves and petals until they are small and narrow..."

"It is difficult for it to bloom, and every single flower is condensed from its very heart-blood. Yet its blossoms are minuscule, almost pocket-sized, each flower bell-shaped and less than half a centimeter in diameter, exquisite beyond compare..."

"Do you know how tragic an oeshnan is? In the icy, desolate wasteland of despair, it is the only living thing. It is lonely, it is solitary, and it bears its delicate, fragile body, growing in lonely endurance across the frozen wilderness, covering mountains and fields, never withering..."

"It is loneliness, it is solitude, and it is me!"

"Yet by what right do all things on the wasteland consider me a traitor? I decorated the wasteland of death, bringing a hard-won touch of vitality, yet they believed I betrayed death! What did I do wrong? By what right am I treated this way? By what right..."

"Ah!!!"

With bloodshot eyes, Manluo roared frantically, as if venting the fury and injustice buried deep within his heart. Seeing Manluo like this, Luo Hanhai suddenly recalled a saying—all madness stems from utter desperation...

"Fortunately, however, I am no longer that fellow from the past. The old me died long ago in the desolate polar wasteland. Now, I am Manluo! I am Datura! I am the black datura! I no longer bring vitality, nor do I ever wish to! I am death itself!" (To be continued.)