"&%￥#@￥#%#%&…"
Countless strange syllables flowed softly from Hua's lips. These syllables held no specific meaning, nor could they be easily recorded in writing, but she felt no need.
These sounds were like inscriptions on a stone monument; five thousand years of wind and rain weren't enough to erode them even slightly.
"*&￥%#@￥%*…"
Hua continued to softly chant the divine sounds. In the countless nights of her earliest existence, these sounds were her only companions.
She wasn't like Kevin, who could no longer sleep due to the Disciplines. She had the right to choose sleep. But perhaps due to Fenghuang Down's influence, entering dreams automatically replayed the memories recorded by the original "Hua."
A long memory, belonging not to her current self.
A memory filled with confusion, pain, loss, despair… making it unbearable to revisit.
Compared to that… she preferred the company of the divine sounds. Anyway, with a MANTIS physique, lack of sleep wasn't a major issue, just mentally tiring. But one gets used to it.
This situation had greatly eased in recent centuries. After such a long time, the resentment in those memories gradually dissipated, allowing her to sleep like a normal person…
But not tonight.
"Waiting for me?"
Hua opened her eyes. The surrounding candlelight flickered towards the front in unison. Another shadow appeared on the ground.
Hua wasn't particularly surprised. From the first glance at that Otto on the Kipchak Steppe, she had noticed something amiss.
After all, possessing Fenghuang Down, she was practically half a Herrscher of Sentience. How could she fail to notice the second consciousness within that Otto?
Though this was also thanks to a certain someone making no effort to hide, or rather, intending to reveal himself. But only to Hua. When Su arrived, he simply used a minor illusion to deceive him.
If not for that someone's blatantly targeted actions, Hua wouldn't have changed her mind midway and brought those three Rakshas back.
"So… this is your setup? You knew I'd be suspicious and, just to be safe, would definitely bring that Raksha back to Mount Taixuan. Then you could use that Raksha's mouth to tell my disciples some truths?"
"How about that? Reasonably brilliant, wouldn't you say?"
Feeling the warmth radiating from behind her, Hua felt inexplicably irritated:
"You said five thousand years ago you wouldn't interfere in this matter!"
"Yes, neither your will nor my own originally wanted direct involvement. But five thousand years ago, after I showed you the 'future calamity,' who was it that claimed they could prevent such a disaster?"
Hua fell silent under Michael's counter-question. After a long pause, she spoke again:
"But I also said, even if this calamity is unavoidable, it's a trial I deserve. You didn't need to go to such lengths."
"Yes, yes, I went to unnecessary lengths. It's not like I didn't try sealing myself on the moon, sleeping straight through a few millennia. But… watching you get hurt, having the power to stop it yet doing nothing… I can't do that."
"Sigh…"
Hua let out a long sigh. Her former self would surely have been moved by his words. No, it wasn't that she wasn't moved now, just… due to the missing memories, she always felt Michael's concern wasn't directed at her, but at the self in her memories—the one who was her, yet completely unrelated to her present self.
"Actually, thinking about it, we didn't have to reach the point of drawing weapons against each other."
The simplest method: if back then, after seeing the calamity her future self would face, she hadn't stubbornly made that bet with Michael, but instead asked Pardo and Sakura to act alongside her, things might not have gotten this bad. Both of them were skilled at interacting with children; only she was completely clueless in that regard.
"To think I lost in the end. A pity… Michael, when will you tell me the answer—what exactly is your goal, that you'd destroy the world you once risked your life to protect?"
"Oh?" Michael uttered a soft sound of surprise. Reunited after thousands of years, their thoughts were inevitably jumbled. Too many words queued up in their throats, some impatiently cutting in line.
He sat cross-legged behind Hua, reached out to undo the hairpin holding her hair up, letting the dark strands cascade down like a waterfall. Then, something appeared in his hand.
He gathered the thick, long hair, first combing it simply with a wide-toothed wooden comb, then using a bamboo fine-toothed comb to clear away any residue—of course, for Hua, whose metabolism was nearly stagnant, such things didn't really exist.
But Michael didn't skip this step. For beings like them who had lived too long, these seemingly meaningless, even time-wasting actions, often brought a moment of peace and tranquility to their minds.
At the very least, they could still feel like "humans."
After combing her hair, Michael held a handful of strands, weighing them slightly, and teased softly:
"How many years has it been since you cut this? It's way too long and heavy. Doesn't your neck get sore?"
Hua didn't speak. She raised her right hand, and the Key of Dominance, now bearing the new name "Xuanyuan Sword," materialized in her grasp.
Michael's movements froze, but the next moment, Hua flipped her wrist, offering the hilt to Michael.
"Thought you wanted a fight." Michael chuckled awkwardly, took the sword, and with a casual slash, cut off Hua's long hair. He let the remaining hair fall, noted with satisfaction that the neat ends reached her waist, then returned the sword to Hua.
Only after this did he speak softly:
"Hua, I won't fall for such simple provocations. Of course, if you had won the bet, I naturally wouldn't have gone back on my word. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case—if I hadn't intervened and disrupted everything, you'd be in a stone coffin right now. Besides, even so, what about tomorrow morning? I have no certainty either."
Hua scoffed coldly: "I'm afraid even if I had won the bet, you'd find various excuses to stall."
Michael chuckled aloud, shaking his head exasperatedly: "I told you, Hua, stop using simple provocations. They don't work on me. Besides, let me be blunt, the reason I dared make this bet with you is because fate decreed it."
"Fate… decreed it."
Hua chewed on the words carefully. Her eyes suddenly widened, then she turned angrily to face Michael:
"Didn't you say… didn't you say Elysia severed fate with her own dissipation?"
Agitated, Hua reached out to grab Michael's collar. Michael instinctively leaned back, but the main hall was quite small. The back of his head unexpectedly hit the wall. Hua, not anticipating his sudden stop, seemed to lurch forward, falling into his arms.
Such a coincidence left both frozen on the spot.
After a moment, Michael glanced away. Hua pushed off his shoulders with both hands, straightening her upper body again. They exchanged another glance, flickering eyes silently agreeing to ignore the previous awkwardness.
"Indeed," Michael nodded slightly, staring at the plain white, patternless cotton blanket on the bed.
"But Elysia only severed tangible fate. Intangible fate, it still exists, forever influencing this world."
"What do you mean…" Hua started to ask, then seemed to understand.
"Yes, exactly. To borrow Kevin's oft-repeated phrase—a person's character is their destiny. It's true for individuals, and it's true for human civilization as an abstract concept."
"What are you trying to say?" Michael's appearance was like a pebble dropped into the placid lake of her heart, creating ripples. Outwardly, it manifested as that brief moment of agitation, but only for that instant. Looking again, her heart's lake was a smooth mirror once more.
So, even words that looked like "interrogation" on paper sounded like a faint inquiry when spoken by her:
"Are you perhaps trying to say that human civilization is inevitably heading towards destruction, driven by human nature?"
"No, no, no," Michael quickly shook his head in denial. "I'm just stating facts. I believed from the start this event was bound to happen because I understand you, and I understand them. As long as your personalities don't change, your actions won't change significantly either. I might not predict specific actions, but the overall direction remains constant."
Hua remained silent. Michael showed no sign of stopping:
"Take this matter, for instance. Given your personality, you naturally felt guilty towards the children whose parents died by your hand. Considering your family once ran a martial arts school, the image of your father teaching disciples must have left an indelible impression, a subconscious trace even after memory loss. Thus, when you discovered exceptionally talented children among them, taking disciples was practically inevitable. Besides, you've been alone for five thousand years, surely lonely, longing for companionship. And then what?"
Michael's smile held a hint of mockery:
"Then you discovered that after five thousand years of solitude… No, you weren't truly alone these five thousand years. You met countless people, but they were different from you. You watched them grow old year after year while your appearance remained unchanged. You watched them leave you one by one. So your heart enacted the most natural defense mechanism—closing itself off. If you avoid deep connections from now on, avoid forming profound bonds, then when they die, you won't grieve too much.
"But in your disciples' eyes, this, at best, is 'transcending worldly emotions.' At worst, they believe you just see them as tools for exorcising demons, nothing more. If the hatred for their parents' deaths was a deeply buried powder keg, then your outwardly distant attitude dug that keg up. As for your fourth disciple's Honkai sickness, that was the spark that could ignite the powder keg."
Listening to Michael's words, Hua silently closed her eyes:
"But they clearly had other choices. If they had doubts, they could have come asked me… confronted me, couldn't they? Why resort to betraying me, killing me?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Michael spread his hands. "Setting aside personality variables, the most important reason is undoubtedly fear. To your disciples, you are the lofty, emotionless True Immortal. They don't feel particularly close to you emotionally, nor do they believe they hold any significant place in your heart. And in terms of strength, you are a True Immortal who has lived for millennia; they are merely mortals fortunate enough to receive some of your teachings. This vast disparity fills them with fear, terrified that revealing their rebellious thoughts would lead to your execution…
"However, Hua, think carefully. Haven't they tried discussing this with you before? But every time they asked why madness must be purged, you instinctively avoided the topic, fearing deeper emotional entanglement. And this instinctive avoidance, in their eyes, was further proof of your growing distance—either a stern 'You need not know these things,' or just expressionless silence. You didn't even dare care for these disciples personally, letting Zhaoyu handle it… You didn't even dare tell Wanru that Taixuan Sword Ki was the only way to combat qi deviation madness.
"But is such avoidance truly effective? If you truly transcended emotions, you wouldn't deliberately distance yourself. And from a psychological perspective, actions one repeatedly tells oneself not to do often become inevitable subconscious choices. Besides, can human connections truly be severed? Setting others aside, Zhaoyu, at least, you raised her from childhood. How could you have no feelings for her? And if you truly felt nothing for your disciples, you wouldn't care about their betrayal. Why then the sleepless nights?"
"So… from your perspective, my actions appear like this? Have you been watching me all these years? Then this is all my fault?" Hua's voice held no sadness or bitterness, just a hint of weariness.
"No, the reason I understand so well isn't… Besides, this isn't about 'fault,' because we are all like this. You are, I am, Mobius is, Sakura is, Kevin and Su are. The only exception is probably the carefree Pardo. Actually, if you hadn't made that bet back then, but stayed with us… Well, perhaps loneliness couldn't have been avoided anyway. Apart from Pardo, none of us managed it. And she was merely accustomed to solitude beforehand."
"Is this also… intangible fate?"
Michael shrugged, not directly answering the question:
"Tangible fate requires Authority as leverage. But if one understands another's personality well enough, one can predict their fate based solely on that 'understanding.' Even manipulating their fate isn't difficult if you understand their character sufficiently. Like now, although I lack the ability to weave fate, just by pulling a few strings, I got you to bring me back to Mount Taixuan, then used Otto's mouth to extinguish the 'spark' that could ignite their powder keg. Even if they ultimately decide to kill you, with me here, they can't succeed. I easily changed your fate.
"So, while the tangible shackles dissipated long ago, the intangible ones still bind every one of us tightly. As long as we are under this sky, it's a giant prison, and everyone beneath it is a prisoner. That's all."
"What exactly are you trying to… imply?"
"Just rambling," Michael shrugged and continued:
"Hua, you can drop that hostility too. I know you can't forgive my choice regarding the final world cycle. Hmm, you believe I destroyed our civilization… Heh, really? You're different from Kevin and the others. You should know very well, I didn't kill anyone. Including the ordinary soldiers of the Fire Moth. I didn't kill a single person."
Hua didn't know how to respond, only letting Michael continue speaking uninterrupted:
"Strictly speaking, whether I reset time or not, does it really make a difference? Even if I hadn't, wouldn't the task you face now be the same…"
"Michael." Hua suddenly interrupted his lengthy discourse.
"You still claim you're not stalling. Do you think I don't understand these things? Perhaps the me who just woke up five thousand years ago didn't quite get it, but the current me, after five thousand years, should have figured these things out."
Hua bit her lip, meeting Michael's gaze unflinchingly.
"You know what I want to know. You're just unwilling to answer, or being evasive—Michael, going to such great lengths, what exactly do you want?"
Michael shook his head repeatedly. He initially didn't want to continue, but after some thought, he finally couldn't resist speaking:
"You don't need to know. Of course, if you ask again, I can only say—I cannot say."
"Sigh…"
With Hua's sigh, the candlelight in the room flickered violently.
"Michael, your answer, and what you said earlier about my answer to my disciples, is there any difference?"
"None." This time, Michael's response was remarkably direct.
"There is indeed no difference. You avoid connecting with your disciples, and I avoid forming deeper connections with you, although… our starting points might differ."
Hua bit her lip lightly, unconsciously adjusting the hair at her temples. She felt she somewhat understood Michael's meaning, but unfortunately, that 'she' was the past her. The present her couldn't do it.
However, Michael smiled again at this point:
"Actually, it's not that I must hide it from everyone. Some things I cannot say directly, because wishes lose their power once spoken. But as I said before, the more one warns oneself against speaking, the more one reveals their motives in other ways… Reflect carefully, and you should gain some understanding… Anyway, time, for us, has always been sufficient."
Hua pursed her lips, ultimately saying nothing.
"Reveal… fate, personality…"
The light and shadows around them suddenly brightened. They sat facing each other again for a long time, until a rooster's crow announced the end of night.
As if prearranged, urgent footsteps sounded outside. Through the grey, hazy morning light, Lin Zhaoyu's figure froze outside the window below the door.
She pounded heavily on the door without hesitation, shouting loudly:
"Master! Fourth Sister is fading!"
Hua felt a pang in her heart. An indescribable sadness spread rapidly from her chest throughout her body, draining all her strength.
"Even after all this, it still has to happen…"
In a daze, she felt herself collapsing into Michael's arms. Then she heard Michael reply calmly, in a voice identical to hers:
"Understood. I will come after finishing this passage."