Chapter 169: The Truth: God’s Lover [VIP]
As the night deepened, the faint candlelight disappeared, and the entire castle seemed to have fallen into the eternal darkness at the beginning of the universe. It was terrifyingly quiet.
The rainstorm gradually subsided, and a pale moon slowly rose into the sky, weakly illuminating the arc-shaped barrier above the lonely castle forgotten by time, and also illuminating the sparkling lake below the castle.
(This castle...)
Xiao Yun couldn't fall asleep.
The castle's unusual features burned his mind like a flame, to the point that—
(It's strange... I'm absolutely certain that this is Earl Kang and I've just met for the first time, and I'm also certain that Earl Kang didn't lie to me, but... why... why... when it comes to Earl Kang, I always feel a sense of familiarity, as if I've met him again after a long separation? It seems...)
(Have I met Him before today?)
(Of course, everything about this castle is out of place. Earl Kang, of course, is not even that. His servants are clearly not human either... They're more like a bunch of spirits who haven't fully transformed into humans... As for the butler and the servant named Xiaobai, they're probably in that category...)
(Earl Kang himself is a different story… He appears calm, friendly, elegant and composed, but in reality, he hides unfathomable secrets, completely…)
(completely……)
Unconsciously, Xiao Yun's consciousness began to blur. When he woke up, he instinctively took a breath.
Something happened!
I don't know what happened, but——
The windowless and candleless bedroom was pitch black. The darkness weighed down his body like a heavy monster. Xiao Yun tried several times before finally regaining control of his body. His fingers immediately reached to his side.
Empty, there is nothing.
Yaris is gone.
There wasn't even any body heat left in the bedding.
From this we can see that——
Xiao Yun sat on the bed, silent and motionless.
(LA, can you hear me?)
[--Owner? ]
I need light to illuminate this dark space.
[this……]
Squeak!
The candle that had been extinguished long ago suddenly lit up, and the faint light tried to create a small piece of brightness in the darkness.
Xiao Yun stood up gently, picked up the candlestick, carefully protected the light, and looked for traces of Yaris.
The pillow belonging to Yaris was clean and fluffy, as if it had never been used. The bell on the bedside table was still ringing. The shoes by the bed and the wheelchair in the corner were all in their original places, and the clothes for going out were also neatly arranged.
(Yaris didn't leave on his own initiative... Given his personality and physical condition, it's impossible for him to go out barefoot in just pajamas...)
(Who took him away quietly while I was sleeping? Earl Kang, or...)
The more Xiao Yun thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He quickly lit all the candles in the room, put on his clothes, picked up his weapon, and took a deep breath.
Ring the bell to summon the servants.
Jingle bells! Jingle bells!
Creak——
The door opened and Xiaobai with white hair and red eyes appeared in front of him.
"What's the matter that you summoned me so late at night?"
"My brother is missing."
Xiao Yun said directly: "I demand to see Earl Kang immediately! Or return Yaris to me!"
"I don't quite understand what your Majesty means."
Xiaobai narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Yeah?"
Xiao Yun stood up, holding a candlestick, and walked towards the door.
Xiaobai immediately tried to stop him: "Sorry——"
“Get out of the way!”
"It's night time now, you should stay in your room and rest."
"impossible."
Xiao Yun said without hesitation: "Yaris is missing, I must find him."
"but--"
"Do you know where he is?"
"certainly."
Xiaobai narrowed his eyes and said, "Master is currently providing important treatment for His Highness Yaris."
"treat?"
Xiao Yun didn't believe it: "If 'He' was really so kind as to want to treat Yaris, why couldn't he ask for it in person? Why did he secretly take him away in the middle of the night?"
"The master has his own reasons. My mission is to prevent His Majesty from ruining the master's plans."
"Then I can only be rude to you!"
Xiao Yun roared, and the "Golden Blade" appeared in his hand, and the golden wristband was also faintly visible on his wrist.
"His Majesty--"
Xiaobai's face changed instantly. His white hair flowed down his face like an animal's long hair. His blood-red eyes flashed with bloody light like a wild beast. His fair face was covered with a layer of light green scales. His mouth stretched to his ears, and a bright red tongue stretched out of his mouth, constantly licking his scaly lips and cheeks - Xiaobai at this moment could definitely not be a human being, but he didn't look like a demon either.
"Who are you? What are you going to do to Yaris?"
Xiao Yun shouted loudly, and the golden blade in his hand not only shone brightly, but the sword tip even spewed out a ball of blazing white flames, as if the monster in front of him had drawn out his will.
The moment I saw the white flame,.
"Put that thing—"
"Are you afraid of the power of the 'Golden Blade'?"
"No! No! No! 'Gold does no real harm, but—"
The voice of Earl Kang suddenly rang out, and then the darkness twisted and condensed into a majestic and elegant middle-aged man with a shining silver robe on his body.
"—Even if it's me, I'm facing it."
"The Spark of Light?"
Xiao Yun was surprised.
Earl Kang sighed. "You obtained the Flame of Light, but you know nothing about its origin and power... As expected, your memory has been sealed... Who sealed your memory? Yaris, or—"
"I don't want to hear your nonsense! Take me to see Yaris immediately!"
Xiao Yun shouted sternly.
"I can take you to see Yaris, but you must take back the Spark of Light—it is a terrifying thing. Even a god could be reduced to ashes by its power."
"I'm sorry, but I can't trust a thief who sneaked into my room late at night and stole Yaris away from me! No matter how gorgeous, upright and elegant his appearance may be!"
Xiao Yun emphasized, "If you want to regain my trust, you must return Yaris to me immediately! And tell me your true identity!"
"I--"
"You are a friend of the Dragon Emperor, right?"
"I have nothing to do with that stupid beast! I've long lost contact with most of the lives in this world. For thousands of years, I've strictly adhered to the precept of not interfering with the human world, living only in my own independent dimension. Therefore, not only do I have no intention of harming you, but I sincerely invite you to stay. It's just that—"
"Just what?"
Xiao Yun stared at Earl Kang and the half-human, half-beast monster hiding behind Earl Kang with burning eyes, and the "golden blade" in his hand continued to emit a blazing white light.
"Yaris's condition was already very dire, yet he refused to stay here. I had no choice but to sneak him away in the middle of the night and put him in a life support capsule. I used the energy in the capsule to heal his body, which was on the verge of collapse at any moment."
Earl Kang spoke eloquently with an extremely sincere look in his eyes.
"—Who are you? And who is this 'our father' you keep mentioning?"
Xiao Yun looked at Earl Kang coldly.
"I...Okay, I'll take you to see Yaris, and then I'll tell you everything I can."
Earl Kang turned around and walked into the dark castle with Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun was worried that Earl Kang would launch an attack midway, so he held the "Golden Blade" in his hand and continued to release a blazing white light.
The demons and the dead, led by Xiaobai, had to hide in the darkness behind Xiao Yun.
…
Although there are almost no signs of living people, the castle is clearly inhabited by countless suspicious and strange creatures.
Xiao Yun followed Earl Kang, whose robes shone with a strange silver light, through the dark castle. He could feel the brush of life brushing against his ears and skin—some were cold and smooth like liquid, some flapped like bats with a rustling sound, and some were furry arthropods resembling spiders...
Because these things took the initiative to avoid Xiao Yun, Xiao Yun Bairan, who was anxious to find Yaris, would not take the initiative to attack them. Instead, Earl Kang, who was leading the way -
"The vengeful storms that frequently appear in the Twilight Kingdom have something to do with me."
"oh?"
"I have long ceased to set foot on the land of the mortal realm. My independent dimension can only float within the realm of the Twilight Kingdom. Whenever I need to obtain items from the mortal realm, I will open the spatial barrier and send out the dead from the castle. The energy turbulence generated by this process is what the Twilight demons call the Wrath Storm. As for the demons that accidentally disappeared due to the Wrath Storm—most of them are here, beside you and me."
"Aren't they going to leave?"
"Why are you leaving?"
Earl Kang scoffed, "For humans, who can only live in the real world, this place is filled with incredible strangeness. But for demons, time, space, and even the flow of energy here are completely different from those in the real world. It is a truly isolated place, and more suitable for demons to survive than the Twilight Kingdom."
"So you don't think it's a crime to plunder them into your independent dimension?"
"I've given them a better living environment, haven't I?"
Earl Kang smiled leisurely and led Xiao Yun through the dark corridor. When they came to a wall, he pushed it open, revealing a glowing square metal door.
"You'd better squint your eyes to avoid being hurt by the sudden influx of bright light."
After saying this, Earl Kang put his hand on the metal door.
Crash——
The metal door opened, and dazzling light overflowed. Xiao Yun blinked hard, making sure that he could adapt to the overly strong gaze in the room as quickly as possible.
After his eyes finally got used to the light, Xiao Yun blew out the candlestick in his hand, walked into the room, looked around, and almost let out a silent scream from his throat.
(What the—what is this!)
Everywhere the eye could see was a gleaming silver-white, whether it was the floor, the walls, or the ceiling.
The walls, which were neither made of metal nor brick, were densely inlaid with elliptical capsules about two and a half meters long, similar to the space hibernation capsules often mentioned in science fiction movies. There were fifty of them in total. Each elliptical capsule had a transparent round cover similar to crystal, through which one could see that the original capsule was filled with colorless liquid.
Most of the oval cabins were empty, with only a few containing sleeping people - men, women, and even demons. Without exception, they were all very beautiful, wearing long white nightgowns, floating leisurely in the transparent liquid, their faces calm, as if they were just sleeping.
(These are...)
Xiao Yun felt a chill on his back.
"They are all my lovers."
Earl Kang introduced himself in a soothing tone, "I have lived for a very long time, and therefore have experienced many loves. However, although the flow of time here is much slower than in the real world, life still cannot escape the fate of death, but will only remain young for a long time. Therefore, when they realize that their lives are coming to an end, I will ask them if they would consider entering the life support capsule to stop the flow of time in their bodies?"
"them……"
"Not everyone chooses to enter a life support chamber and shut down their body."
Earl Kang sighed and said, "In reality, most people choose to spend their last romantic moments with me, walk out of my space facing the rising sun, and turn into ashes in the wind of the real world."
"What about those who chose to enter the life support cabin?" Xiao Yun asked, "I don't think their current state can be called alive!"
"After the life support capsule is officially activated, it will need maintenance every hundred years. During the maintenance period, I will wake him/her up, have a date with him/her, spend a sweet and wonderful time with him/her, and the day before the maintenance ends, ask him/her if he/she is looking forward to the next hundred-year date—"
"if--"
"If he/she chooses another 100-year appointment, I will look forward to our reunion a hundred years from now. If he/she wishes to sleep in a dream forever, I will arrange for him/her to lie in a life-support capsule covered with black, and transfer him/her to a completely dark room. As long as my independent dimensional space exists, the maintenance device in that room will not stop functioning. Although I don't know whether they can still be called 'alive' while sleeping in a dream from which they will never wake up."
“…”
"Of course, there are also those who, after experiencing several centuries of covenant, choose to return to the eternity of life."
Earl Kang sighed softly, "No matter what choice they make, I understand and accept it calmly. After all, compared to most life forms in the universe, my life span is far too long... so long that even among immortals, I'm considered an immortal."
"Who are you? Where did you come from? And why are you here?"
Xiao Yun was gradually attracted by Earl Kang's description and couldn't help asking.
"Before answering these questions, could you please put away the Golden Blade and the Spark of Light? The energy they emit is too violent and will seriously affect the operation of the life support module."
Earl Kang said calmly, pointing to a trapezoidal life support module covered with black metal on a platform in the center of the room. "Especially the one that Yaris is using."
"—Yaris!"
Xiao Yun suddenly came back to his senses and said sternly, "You just said that you would put those who choose to sleep forever into a black-covered life support cabin?!"
"Yes."
"Why is Yaris in the black life support pod!"
Xiao Yun emphasized the note, and the white flame on the surface of the "Golden Blade" also surged.
"Because his condition is so special, even I can only... If you don't mind, let's go over there and sit down and talk slowly. Let him rest quietly in the life support cabin."
Earl Kang pointed to the sofa not far away and said, "Believe me, I will never hurt him."
"Yeah?"
Xiao Yun sneered: "You don't even dare to reveal your true identity, how can I believe that you put Yaris into the black-covered life support cabin out of kindness!"
"because--"
Earl Kang smiled bitterly: "I not only know all the misfortunes that have happened to him so far, but I am also one of the causes of these misfortunes. I am full of pity and love for Yaris."
"--you!"
Xiao Yun tried hard to suppress his anger.
"Go over there, sit down, and let me explain."
Earl Kang walked towards the sofa.
Xiao Yun glanced at the black life-support cabin reluctantly, then walked to the sofa, still looking alert.
…
"...First, I want to introduce myself to you."
After taking his seat, Earl Kang spoke calmly, "A long, long time ago, I arrived at Ella on a spaceship from the distant universe. At that time, Ella was still a primitive planet without any intelligent species, and life grew freely and unrestrainedly."
"So you are a god? One of the gods?"
"Following the inertia of lower civilizations calling the dominant species on a planet 'humans' and life forms that possess advanced technology and super-magic arts far beyond their own stage of civilization 'gods', to the humans of Planet Ella, I am indeed a god. However, I am not the same kind as the other gods living on Planet Ella. We come from different civilizations and have different reasons for remaining on Planet Ella."
"Where are the gods coming from? What is their purpose? Where are you coming from? What is your purpose?"
"I came to this planet to find love. Because my home planet's civilization is so advanced, the lifespans of individuals are getting longer and longer, and they've gradually lost their desire for love. So, I decided to leave my home planet and seek out indigenous civilizations that are still in their developmental stages. By experiencing fleeting loves and irreversible sorrows, I hope to regain the ability to love."
“When I first visited Ella, I didn’t stay here for too long because it was still a very primitive planet without any intelligent species.”
"However, when I arrived here the second time, primitive intelligent civilizations had already appeared on Ella. They surrounded visitors from different advanced civilizations, whom they worshipped as gods, offering everything they could think of to the gods. I was moved by the innocence and purity of these natives and decided to live with them, teach them various things, and leave a legendary name in their tribe."
"However, with the passage of time and the development of civilization, coupled with the cognitive gap caused by different levels of civilization, the natives who once worshipped me as a god began to alienate me, envy me, and hate me, believing that I was an immortal demon that absorbed their soul energy. I had no choice but to leave them and move into an independent dimension with the lives that still trusted me. I quietly watched them struggle forward on the path of civilization, repeatedly igniting the flame of civilization, mastering science and technology, and attempting to advance into space, only to cause civilization to collapse again and again due to my own foolishness and arrogance..."
"It's a very sad story."
Earl Kang said emotionally, "Although the natives of this planet have never truly understood me, nor have they intended to sincerely accept me, I have never considered revenge or harming them. In my opinion, every action of their doomed short-lived people is so endearing. Even if they have done the most vicious things to me, the thought that they will leave this world and return to dust in the next moment will make my heart ache."
“…”
(I only feel the extreme arrogance and condescension of higher civilizations towards lower civilizations.)
Xiao Yun muttered secretly.
"About twenty thousand years ago, the native civilization created by the people of Aila suffered another devastating blow, forcing them to rebuild from scratch once again. Shortly thereafter, a visitor from an advanced alien civilization, later known as the 'Leopard-Headed Hero King Gu Yin,' arrived on this planet. He lived on this planet for five thousand years. Unlike other alien visitors, he never considered being worshipped as a god by the planet's natives. He longed to live among these short-lived creatures as equals, as friends."
"I once hosted him in my castle. I told him frankly that the natives of Ella were a group of short-lived beings who constantly repeated their foolishness and mistakes. Everything you did for them was meaningless. I hoped that as a fellow immortal, he would stay and share the loneliness, boredom, and sadness destined for immortals. He laughed heartily and rejected me, choosing instead to hesitantly move forward in the real world."
At this point, Earl Kang sighed again. "I firmly believed that one day he would feel the same pain as me and make the same choice as me, so I made a pact with him to drink together three thousand years from now. I knew I could live to that point, but I never imagined that he would actually give up his near-eternal life for this planet."
"What?"
Xiao Yun was shocked.
"Yes. For this foolish, jealous, arrogant, and fleeting race, he gave up his noble life, as unique even to the gods as the golden rule of the universe. His body and power were completely integrated into the planet Ella, and his heart became a spark of light to protect the 'Golden City' of Goddess Sasha. Now it has become yours."
"turn out to be--"
Xiao Yun lowered his head and looked at the bright fire that turned into white flames and wrapped around the surface of the "Golden Blade".
"...So, during dinner, the 'father' you repeatedly mentioned was the Leopard Head Hero Wang Guyin, correct?"
"certainly."
Earl Kang smiled slightly.
"I obtained the bright flame transformed from the heart of the Leopard-Headed Hero King, so I can indeed be considered his child. What about Yaris? What is the relationship between Yaris and Gu Yin, who integrated Bai into the planet?"
Xiao Yun asked, unable to hide his curiosity.
"Yaris... Yaris is a tragedy, a complete tragedy... Yet, you've lost your most crucial memories. Even if I explain it to you in detail, you still can't understand. If you wish to restore your memories now, I can use my technology to help you retrieve the blocked deep memory data."
Earl Kang had a kind smile.
“…”
Xiao Yun thought about it seriously for a long time, and finally, shook his head firmly.
"Yaris doesn't want me to recover my memory while he's still alive. I don't know why he asked me to make this promise, but I believe he must have his reasons for doing so. So - as long as he's still alive, I won't try to recover my memory, no matter how much confusion and distress this blank memory will bring me."
"Yeah?"
Earl Kang smiled bitterly, with a deep sadness in his smile.
He turned to look at Yaris who was sleeping in the life support cabin and said softly, "No matter what, you are happy, happier than me."
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