Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 1083 - 680: Devouring

Chapter 1083: Chapter 680: Devouring

The war within the city had ceased.

With the demise of the insect tide, the Prefecture City, which once resembled the underworld, had grown much quieter. The blood and severed limbs that had been scattered everywhere had all vanished. Within the tightly packed districts, only the faint sounds of laughter and chatter could be heard as the dead, revived, reunited with their loved ones.

Staring into Mu Nuo’s pitch-black eyes before him, Xu Yuan’s gaze seemed to drift, drawn to a memory he least wanted to revisit.

Huizhou County.

The place where he had devoured the flesh and blood of the entire city.

Within its confines, the will-spirits of all living beings were torn apart, their bones ground to dust, their flesh and blood drained dry, then swallowed with a grotesque gurgling sound into his stomach.

That bloated satisfaction, the fulfillment of that moment, along with the awakening nausea and disgust a human should feel, were still etched deep into his memory.

Gently raising his palm, a wisp of reddish-brown, gauze-like smoke immediately seeped from Xu Yuan’s skin.

Since that moment, Xu Yuan had always possessed the ability—just like Mu Nuo now—to strengthen himself through the devouring of living beings’ flesh and blood.

If there were "what-if" scenarios in the real world, perhaps Xu Yuan would have built a gigantic mansion somewhere in Dayan, luring wave after wave of cultivators to kill and devour them in secret, growing stronger in the process.

Such a dark and villainous path.

Yet he could indeed have done it.

After all, the Prime Minister’s Mansion wielded such monstrous authority that it allowed him to treat human life like grass.

But, as the saying goes, "Those who frequently walk along the river will eventually get their feet wet." Sooner or later, this behavior would have been discovered—maybe through sheer coincidence, maybe because some insignificant individual managed to escape from that hell and reveal his true nature.

Then, as the evidence mounted beyond dispute, he would at last take center stage as the true calamity of the world.

At that moment, Little Four from his family would surely stand against him, the Big Ice Lump who couldn’t fulfill their promise would also cross blades with him, and those two Saintesses of Jiatiange, bound by duty, would seek to eliminate him.

A twisted and yet strangely exhilarating scenario.

But such things were better left as mere fantasy.

As a human being, Xu Yuan felt deeply repulsed by such actions. Besides, the subjective distortions of consciousness caused by his prior ghostification were still vivid in his mind. The thought that devouring living beings could corrupt his own consciousness filled him with dread.

He had not yet reached the point where he was desperate enough for power to abandon these bottom-line principles.

Yet now, it seemed he had no other choice.

Glancing toward Tian Ye, who remained in East City, his golden eyes locked with hers for an instant. Yet she merely stood there with her arms crossed, showing no intention of intervening in the matter of Emperor Bai.

This reminded Xu Yuan of a certain conversation he’d once had with this enchantress.

["In the millennia of calamities recorded by your Jiatiange, has there ever been a Yin Ghost?"]

["We’ve tried, but failed."]

["Sword Casting Valley?"]

["It seems you still remember some things from the Illusionary Realm. Yes, that place was indeed where we tried to cultivate a vessel for calamities. Unfortunately, the Great Calamity of the Charming God struck first."]

["An interesting approach."]

["Experiments must be conducted, after all. Jiatiange cannot always remain on the defensive. The only pity is that calamities cannot seem to be cultivated artificially. The question remains whether they can be guided instead."]

As expected, this enchantress had come to guide the calamity, and the current situation appeared to be precisely what she wanted.

Xu Yuan could even discern some of her arrangements.

If he successfully devoured Mu Nuo and remained sane, the calamity would still be manageable.

If he failed, the Ghost Willow Yin Source in the markings would return to Mu Nuo, and the calamity would remain similarly controllable.

Even if Xu Yuan understood and accepted all this, he had no choice but to follow the path Tian Ye had laid out for him.

The magnitude of a chosen calamity-bearer’s burden was indeed terrifying.

With this thought, Xu Yuan chuckled bitterly and shook his head.

He found himself thinking of Tianyan, that woman.

Without comparison, there would be no harm. The Washboard Saintess paled in every aspect when compared to this enchantress...

While pressing the crimson gauze seeping from his palm against the head in front of him, Xu Yuan allowed his mind to wander to trivial, amusing thoughts amidst his bitterness.

The pursuit of greater strength was the innate nature of all living things and the foundational principle of all things in existence.

Subjective ambition might lead to undesirable mutations, but instincts born of nature tended to drive evolution toward improvement.

Mu Nuo’s desire to devour him was driven by instinct—to correct certain flaws within himself. Conversely, Xu Yuan’s devouring of Mu Nuo should operate under the same principle...

Right?

But Xu Yuan truly wished to avoid another rampage.

The last time he’d lost control, the combined beating he took from his uncle had taught him unequivocally that an Evangelion-style berserk mode was ineffective in this world. Spellcraft and refined techniques were the true keys to dominance.

If he retained his sanity, there was perhaps a chance for him to challenge Emperor Bai. If he lost it, he would simply become another Mu Nuo—terrifying in strength yet ultimately incapable of raising even a ripple before Emperor Bai.

As his mind whirled, Xu Yuan’s hand had already pressed down on Mu Nuo’s head. Yet in the next instant, a torrent of erratic emotions surged within him, prompting him to withdraw his hand.

This damned little brat, even reduced to just a head, could still resist.

Seeing this, Emperor Bai tightened his grip on the severed head slightly:

"Why did you stop?"

Xu Yuan paused for a moment, then replied calmly:

"My cultivation is shallow. If this Ghost Infant resists while I forcefully devour it, I might be backlashed."

Although he had the markings provided by Tian Ye, Xu Yuan, being essentially an Integration Body, found it nearly impossible to devour this thing while retaining consciousness.

As he spoke, under Emperor Bai’s gaze, Xu Yuan took a fleeting glance at the other’s dim scale armor and said:

"Surely, Monster Emperor, you would not want to face a fully restored Mu Nuo yourself?"

"Fully restored?" Emperor Bai’s gaze turned inquisitive.

Choosing his words carefully, Xu Yuan elaborated: "You abandoned your long lifespan to pursue a human form. The previous Bug Saint forsook their life to achieve enlightenment and pass on their legacy. All living beings strive for evolution to perfect themselves. Mu Nuo is no different. Surely you noticed the changes in this little ghost after it devoured its mother?"

Emperor Bai, renowned for his sharp intelligence, pondered briefly before arriving at his conclusion:

"You mean emotions?"

"Before devouring its mother, Mu Nuo was a mindless creature acting purely on instinct, attempting to devour me without hesitation. But upon awakening afterward, it did not immediately seek me out. Instead, it chose to guard its father in Your Majesty’s hands."

"Yet emotions do not grant one strength."

"I simply provided an example."

Xu Yuan quickly responded, speaking rapidly: "None of us can predict the changes Mu Nuo might undergo if it backlashes against me and prevails. Perhaps it will acquire the meridians of a human, or my cognitive patterns, or even both. Surely you can imagine how much more formidable such a Mu Nuo would become?"

"An Ancient Beast’s vast Life Origin, a Yin Ghost’s soul skills, human meridian techniques, unerring calmness, and this sinister Life Spirit Dead Zone it possesses—such an entity would be a nightmare, even for you, Monster Emperor."

Silence.

Perhaps due to the Ghost Domain’s pervasive influence, the summer winds of the Great Desert carried a faint chill, stirring long hair and brushing against faces with an eerie coolness.

Emperor Bai’s voice remained low and calm:

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

"I humbly suggest, Monster Emperor, that its body be divided, allowing me to devour it piece by piece. This way, we could mitigate the risks."

"There isn’t enough time."

"......" Xu Yuan.

Emperor Bai raised the severed head in his hand to eye level. His dragon eyes narrowed slightly, his tone growing colder:

"Once this Ghost Infant’s body recovers thirty percent, it will be able to use its shadow-shifting teleportation technique within this Ghost Domain. Now that the Bug Saint is dead, my hands are no longer tied. Subduing it again would be nearly impossible."

"You are clever. Your concerns are all valid. But at this point, many choices are no longer ours to make."

At this remark,

Xu Yuan suddenly felt the air around this middle-aged man, clad in dragon scales, begin to tremble faintly.

"Three breaths. If you don’t act within three breaths, I will slaughter everyone within the Government Office, including you."

At these words, Xu Yuan knew his attempt to negotiate had failed. Without hesitation, he pressed his marking-covered right hand firmly onto Mu Nuo’s head.

Under the watchful gazes of both Emperor Bai and Li Junwu,

the reddish gauze formed from the Black Silk Fungus Blanket in Xu Yuan’s palm instantly enveloped the youth’s severed head.

With the power of the marking Sacred Origin, it transformed into countless sharp spikes that pierced through Mu Nuo’s skull, spreading within like vines, extracting certain elements within, and channeling them into Xu Yuan’s body with grotesque gurgling sounds as they were absorbed.

During this process,

the severed head, enveloped in the crimson gauze, underwent a series of transformations.

Wisps of black smoke began to seep from the blood cocoon, swirling briefly in the air before taking the form of countless tiny serpents, slithering back up along the blood-red threads toward Xu Yuan’s arm...

And then,

Buzz————

Amidst a violent surge of Energy Mechanism that rippled outward, Xu Yuan’s eyes became vacant and lifeless.

Intense waves of negative emotions began to well up within him, a droning hum reverberating in his mind.

Everything around him—

whether it was Emperor Bai before him, Li Junwu at his side, the Ghost Domain’s Heavenly Canopy looming over the Sky Dome, or the living and dead citizens scattered across the streets—all began to feel distant...

From atop the Sky Dome, looking down,

blood-red threads intertwined with black smoke, swiftly forming a massive cocoon mid-air, shrouding the robed young man and the severed head he held within, making it impossible for anyone to see inside.

Within this eerie cocoon of blood and blackness,

subtle transformations were quietly unfolding.

The black markings on Xu Yuan’s right hand began to spread rapidly. More bizarrely, his once vacant eyes were now tainted with tendrils of black smoke, which spread like veins, consuming his sclera before converging on his golden, blood-tinged pupils...