Chapter 405: The Second Sun That Rose on the Rooftop |
"Hu... Hu Xuan?"
Cheng Shi stared up at the colossal sun overhead, momentarily at a loss.
But soon he noticed something strange: this newborn sun could be looked at directly!
Despite blazing as fiercely as the real sun, its light didn't sear the eyes. The surrounding temperature hadn't even changed.
The sunlight that fell on him carried no heat at all. Compared to a real sun, it was more like a colossal phantom.
As Cheng Shi continued staring directly into it, a hazy figure gradually coalesced from the churning heat haze at the sun's center.
One glance and he recognized her — Hu Xuan!
They hadn't seen each other in ages, yet she looked the same as ever. A deep-V black halter dress hugged her alluring figure, snapping Cheng Shi's memory back to that first encounter in Far Dusk Town!
The moment Hu Xuan materialized, she smiled warmly and extended her hand toward Cheng Shi.
Cheng Shi shuddered and instinctively stepped back.
Seeing his familiar rejection, Hu Xuan laughed lightly and shook her head:
"Funny. Everyone else is terrified of Zhen Yi but not of me. Only you, Cheng Shi — you're not afraid of Zhen Yi, yet you're afraid of me alone.
You're the one who brought me to this height. So why won't you walk further alongside me?"
Cheng Shi forced a stiff smile:
"We don't need to hold hands. Walking side by side gets us just as far.
Besides — you said the whistle has nothing to do with luck. So speak plainly. I'd rather not let anyone see a second sun on my rooftop."
"Don't worry. They can't see it."
?
Cheng Shi frowned, suddenly realizing his assumption had been wrong. The Night Curtain Spring Whistle wasn't a physical summon — it had induced a hallucination?
But hallucinations were Void's domain. How could a Birth artifact produce this effect?
Hu Xuan read his confusion and patiently explained with a smile:
"If the birth of life is called Birth, then why can't the birth of an illusion be as well?"
BOOM—
That single sentence set Cheng Shi's brain ringing.
He suddenly understood: Birth's authority wasn't limited to Life. Birth was no "pushover" whose domain everyone else could poach.
He was clearly a player in the war among gods. While other deities — led by Truth — were seizing His authority, He was seizing theirs right back.
And that "theirs," from the looks of it, appeared to be... Void?
'Hold on, sis — why does this feel like you stole my family's chickens, sold them, and came back to give me a dividend?'
Cheng Shi's heart lurched. He wondered whether Deceit and Birth had struck yet another deal beyond mortal comprehension — one that allowed Birth to appropriate Deceit's domain.
Otherwise, given what he knew about the Fun God, His authority shouldn't be so easy to take.
Hu Xuan had no idea Cheng Shi's imagination ran this wild. She simply assumed the miracle of "birthing illusions" had dazzled him. She quickly broke the silence with a smile:
"I won't waste your time. I do have something for you. Just moments before you called, I'd finished an audience with Him.
He said He'd recovered another child. But this child is still trapped somewhere and can't escape. So He entrusted the child's belongings to me for safekeeping."
'A child?!'
"Wait — hold on!" Cheng Shi's pupils shrank. He cut in before she could finish: "What child?"
"A child like me."
Cheng Shi's eyes flew wide. Disbelief flooded his voice: "An Envoy of Birth?!"
Hu Xuan nodded. "Yes. His Envoy."
"..." Cheng Shi's chest tightened. Instinct told him this child was connected to himself. But what he'd encountered was a Corruption Envoy — how could it be...
A name suddenly flashed through his mind. And the instant he thought of that name, cold sweat broke out across his back.
He stood frozen for a long moment, then stammered: "That child — no, that Envoy — who is it?"
Hu Xuan's expression turned solemn. After all, as someone who hadn't yet become an Envoy herself, this person was a genuine Envoy of Birth.
"Sin Brood Mother — Go Lis. My Lord's first child, and His rod of discipline."
"WHO?!!"
Cheng Shi was stupefied.
He confirmed he'd heard correctly. He confirmed he'd guessed correctly. Birth's Envoy was indeed Turadin's mother, Go Lis!
Though it made sense. She was, after all, the relentless woman who'd tirelessly remodeled herself to get closer to Him.
So in history, Birth had accepted her?
But if He'd accepted her, why had He "lost" this child?
Cheng Shi was perplexed. He quickly organized his thoughts and voiced the question. But Hu Xuan's answer left him standing there, completely stupefied.
"The Sin Brood Mother's situation is special. Because she isn't only my Lord's Envoy. She's also...
Corruption's Envoy."
???
'What did you just say?!'
Before the wide-eyed Cheng Shi could squeeze the stunned "holy shit" from his throat, Hu Xuan continued:
"Her other identity is Corruption's Envoy — the Gate of Joyous Lust, Aph Ros!"
!!!
'Of course it's him!'
'No — it had to be him!'
When every single thread pointed to something being wrong, the most wrong one was the truth!
"You're saying Go Lis and Aph Ros... are the same person?"
Hu Xuan was slightly surprised by his reaction, but she nodded.
"You could say that. But they're the same... deity.
It sounds like you know of them?
No — you've met them?
You called me because of Go Lis?"
Cheng Shi emerged from the depths of his shock, smiled bitterly, and nodded: "Yes. But actually — because of Aph Ros."
'How can Aph Ros be Go Lis?'
The doubt had barely formed when brilliance flashed in Cheng Shi's eyes. He had the answer in an instant.
Setting aside how she'd become her own mother in history's grand narrative, within the trial he himself had experienced, she'd clearly had the opportunity.
And that opportunity was—
The Oathbreaker Old Hunter, Scorpio, had exiled the newborn Aph Ros into the historical past. And from this vantage, that infant had likely — through some twist of fate — become the original Go Lis!
So the story of Dolgod was far more abstract and insane than anything he'd witnessed!
Turadin gave birth to herself. Then she mated with her future self to create a new version of herself, who was sent back in time to become the original version of herself!
From start to finish — Go Lis, Turadin, Aph Ros...
They'd all been the same person!
...
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