Chương 35: Within Lust, there is regret (Final)

Lucian wasn't aware of the string sound or the fireball being thrown at him. His entire focus was on fleeing east. In fact, if not for the fact that the scene hadn't ended in darkness, he wouldn't be sure he wa s on the correct path. Currently, he was using Xu Hua's body when the latter was a child. Forget about a vampire's enhanced senses, as those were locked outside. At this moment, Lucian lacked an adult's coordination, strength, and perception! Is your regret about not going back home, Xu Hua?

Or is it about being betrayed? Either way, going to the Peacock Mountain is the right choice. Lost in thought, he failed to notice an overgrown root that shone a green hue and tripped, crashing to the ground. Such a mistake would have been impossible in the real world, but in this childish body, within another's memory, during a chase, it was understandable, in his opinion. Before Lucian could stand, another explosion rang out, followed by a powerful force and an intense wave of heat striking his back.

His skin burned, part of his hair singed, and debris tore into his flesh. The blast also hurled him forward. Without control, Lucian rolled across the ground, slamming into a tree trunk. The force was so immense that it caused one of his legs to break and made him spill blood. Swallowing more blood threatening to leave his throat, Lucian forced himself to move, dragging his body eastward.

"Impossible," the man holding the fan said in disbelief, appearing by his side.

"Is this a sign from the heavens? How did you dodge?" Ignoring his words, Lucian crawled past him, using nothing but a child's strength and his will to remain awake through the pain.

"Doesn't matter," the man continued with a smile.

"I shall burn the heavens if they stand in my way. Killing you is nothing!" Qi gathered above his palm once more, forming another fireball. The technique swelled beyond a human's head, growing enough to devour a whole child. Lucian ignored the pain, groaning in an emotionless tone,"Help… Help…" Behind him, the man smirked, confusing Lucian's apathy with despair.

"Die, Young Master Huoxing." The fireball shot forward. And then, it vanished. The man's eyes widened in shock as an overwhelming pressure descended upon him, forcing him to his knees, then flat against the ground. As the cultivator struggled to circulate his Qi and move a single finger, Lucian felt his body grow lighter, an unseen force lifting him to his feet. Looking ahead, he saw a shirtless man drenched in sweat glaring coldly at his attacker.

"To dare harm the Young Master of Peacock Mountain," the muscled man said, his voice heavy with disdain.

"Such a bold and foolish move!" Next, he turned to Lucian, whose body floated in the air.

"Come, Young Master. Let us return home." Following those words, the forest shifted, and the crimson color intensified, flooding everything. Finally, Lucian thought as his surroundings changed form, condensing into the shape of a four-fingered hand gripping a neck. Before the rune could continue to the next step, however, Lucian felt his instincts, honed across millennia, scream in warning. With bloodshot eyes, he halted the process and forced his perception to his left side.

There, hidden from his view until now, a woman looked back at him. She had black hair, fair skin, and jade-like hands that moved gracefully over a golden zither, producing a soft, flowing melody. This mysterious woman also wore a green dress that seemed particularly untouched by the crimson color around her. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. In a place where only black, white, and red should exist, she stood apart like a full moon in the dark sky.

She isn't part of Xu Hua's memory, Lucian thought, his gaze fixed on her. Noticing his gaze, she stilled her fingers, silencing the strings. She offered a gentle smile tinged with quiet sorrow and said,"Nice to meet you, fellow Daoist. I am the Resonant Sea Ancestor of the Ten Thousand Echoes Island." Lucian, free from the shackles of the Rune of Lust, dispersed Xu Hua's childish body and condensed his own, staring at her with his cold eyes.

Supreme Tier, he thought, an extreme sense of powerlessness washing over him. To interfere with this technique, she's at least at the S-Tier. The S-Tier was a single tier below Lucian's previous one. In his entire world, he knew of only five beings above the Supreme Tier, known as Beyond the Supreme. And there were fewer than thirty Supreme Beings that he had known of. Resonant Sea Ancestor arched an eyebrow at his silence and softly said, "May I know Fellow Daoist's title?

From your techniques, you must be from the Forbidden Lands." Lucian kept staring at her without saying a word. Sighing, Resonant Sea Ancestor continued, "Are you a split soul of the Blood Moon Ancestor or the Heart-Severing Ancestor? Please, let's talk."

"You must mean Blood Sovereign," Lucian said.

"I do not recognize this Blood Moon Ancestor." Giving him a curious look, she asked, "Are you saying this because you do not remember?" As Lucian was about to respond, both of them glanced upward.

"It seems your technique is doing something on its own," Resonant Sea Ancestor said with a slight frown, then looked back at him.

"Very unique, this Authority of yours. Your main soul must have locked you out of its core memories. Very well, if you do not remember, I will take a look inside." Following her words, she played her zither, the sound resonating through the crimson space. When the sound waves struck Lucian, he closed his eyes, bracing himself for the attack. He knew rushing forward to bite her would be absurd, as they were literally inside a mental space without physical bodies.

After the first wave hit him, he recognized the nature of her technique. A mental attack, he thought, focusing and identifying specks of light surging inside of him. Mixed with a soul attack. So it's a technique aimed at my Sea of Consciousness. He steadied himself, currently defenseless against such an assault. His weakened state didn't allow him to use his full capabilities, so he had to wait for an opportunity to fight back. However, he was deeply surprised when he realized what she was doing.

The sound and the specks of light were gathering, funneling inward, probing his memories and secrets, trying to affect his soul to pierce through the darkness and read his memories. Smiling broadly, Lucian allowed her to see everything! If you tried to attack my soul, I couldn't do much. However, you made the wrong choice, trying to see the memories inside my inner darkness, he thought, hiding a mocking glance. After a moment, Resonant Sea Ancestor screamed.

Her eyes shone with myriad colors, and her body flickered in and out of existence, like a candle struggling against the wind.

"Aaaahhhh," she wailed, her form destabilizing. She felt that her mind and soul failed to process the overwhelming influx of information.

"Why—Many—Lives—You—Can—Not—" Lucian smiled and stepped toward her, probing her condition to perhaps extract something useful before the Rune of Lust completed its process and shattered this temporary space. But as soon as he tried to approach, she grasped her zither and struck another chord. This time, the sound produced was distorted, painful, broken. It aimed at Lucian's soul, using the previous attack like a river's flow, going deeper into the darkness.

Green light surged from the flickering body of Resonant Sea Ancestor. Images echoing her own struck Lucian in succession, causing a spike of pain akin to the Curse of Gluttony, indicating a profound alteration within his soul's framework. Wincing, he closed his eyes for a moment to endure the pain. When he opened his eyes and looked ahead, Resonant Sea Ancestor was gone. But her disappearance did not bring him any peace. What did she do?

With no time or any means to analyze his soul, Lucian's attention went to the Rune of Lust. The crimson space was trembling, trying to continue the technique. Pushing Resonant Sea Ancestor's actions aside, he released the crimson space with a thought. The crimson light surrounding him dissipated, and Lucian felt the world spin and his body dissolve. When he regained his senses, he found himself inside a medieval room b eautifully decorated.

The chamber was bathed in a dim crimson glow, akin to the forest in Xu Hua's memories. Inside it, there were metal ornaments, an enormous bed, an oversized fireplace, and countless paintings, weapons, and delicate decorations. Nonetheless, the room's most striking elements were the old woman lying on the bed and the bleeding woman on the ground. Both were dead and pale, their cold eyes filled with pain. Standing above the younger woman was Lucian's body.

He was tall, pale, and handsome, staring at the corpses in a daze. Consciously ignoring the corpses, the real Lucian, inside Xu Hua's young body, turned to his other self.

"Hello, Village Head Xu Hua," he said in a cold tone.

"Or, if you prefer, I can call you Huoxing Huang."