Chapter 531 - 321: Kill You?
Pitch-black, frizzy hair, like dried thatch and matted with filth, obscured the face of the man in the stele. But a pair of eyes peered at Yang An through the gaps, eyes that seemed filled with exhaustion and despair, utterly devoid of any light.
Yang An had blurted out Huan’s identity because the first thing he saw was the shattered mask embedded in the Stone Stele, prompting his subconscious cry.
As the first Boundary Repairer Yang An had encountered in the Deep World of the Xian Origin Land, Huan had left an extremely deep impression on him.
And the man in the stele, upon hearing Yang An’s voice, had immediately confirmed that he was, indeed, Huan.
’He really is Huan! One of the former Boundary Repairers of the Earth Immortal Dao Sect!’
’Why is he here? And why does he look like this?’
Realizing he had inexplicably revealed what he knew by calling out Huan’s name, Yang An subconsciously took a step back.
If he had initially thought the Great Demon of the Insect Dao in Earth Demon Cliff was just some ordinary Insect Dao practitioner, he wouldn’t have felt much of anything.
But now, knowing this person was actually Huan, Yang An couldn’t help but feel shocked. More than that, however, he was on guard.
Huan was powerful. As one of the Boundary Repairers of the Earth Immortal Dao Sect, he was on the same level as He. Yang An had to be careful.
"I’ve seen you... no, to be precise, I’ve seen that mask."
Yang An replied slowly as Huan raised his head to question him.
"In a portrait from the Central Continent. It showed that you were once a member of the Earth Immortal Dao Sect."
The portrait, of course, was a fabrication. He needed a plausible lie to cover his tracks, and Yang An was a practiced liar, able to spin a tale without batting an eye.
As for why he hadn’t mentioned Huan’s status as a Boundary Repairer, only that he was from the Earth Immortal Dao Sect...
It was because Yang An had suspected back in the Xian Origin Land that since he had never heard of Boundary Repairers, it must be some kind of secret concerning the Earth Immortal Dao Sect. He couldn’t reveal too much information.
Hearing Yang An’s answer, the lightless eyes of Huan were quickly overtaken by a profound emptiness, and he slowly lowered his head again.
"Is that so? Where did you see this portrait?"
he asked, his tone filled with a contradictory mix of wanting to ask, yet having no real interest.
His body was sealed within the Stone Stele, and it seemed that aside from his hands and head, he couldn’t move any other part of himself. He was utterly exhausted.
Yang An keenly picked up on this and immediately changed the subject.
"That’s not important. What’s important is, why are you here? Why have you become the so-called Death Lord?"
Earth Demon Cliff was a gathering place for Demon Fiends. For Huan to be here, it was highly likely he was living as a Demon Fiend himself.
Cultivators and Demon Fiends shared the same origin, so it wouldn’t be strange for one to lose their sanity, fall to corruption, and become a Demon Fiend.
So, Yang An wasn’t particularly curious about why Huan had ended up in this state. He was more concerned about what had happened to the Earth Immortal Dao Sect. Why was Huan, one of the Boundary Repairers, here instead of in the Central Continent?
But just then, Huan, who had already lowered his head, suddenly looked up again, the expression in his eyes changing abruptly.
"No! That’s not right! How do you know the name Huan? You shouldn’t know it! You shouldn’t!
Who are you?!"
He seemed to have grown suspicious about something Yang An hadn’t noticed, and he suddenly became agitated.
His body struggled violently within the Stone Stele, but the stele was as rooted and unmovable as a mountain. No matter how much he thrashed, it didn’t budge an inch.
Yang An’s heart tightened. ’It seems this guy has figured something out.’ But seeing that the Stone Stele remained motionless despite Huan’s struggles, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
Just as a flurry of thoughts raced through his mind and he prepared to deflect Huan’s question once again, Huan shouted again.
"You’re a Boundary Repairer too, aren’t you? You’re another one who schemed to survive from the ancient era until today! Who are you?"
’Too?’
Hearing Huan’s sudden, emotional outburst, Yang An zeroed in on that crucial word. But Huan was clearly not in his right mind, so Yang An showed no outward reaction.
"Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came here to find the Death Lord."
A fire of rage seemed to swell in Huan’s heart, wanting to erupt, but it was extinguished just as quickly.
After struggling in vain to free himself from the Stone Stele, he gave up and grew calm once more.
He fell silent for a long time, seemingly trying to soothe the turmoil in his heart until he was completely quiet, reverting to his earlier listless state.
"Why did you come looking for me?"
"I need the soul of a Great Demon of the Insect Dao." Yang An didn’t hide this fact; it was the very reason he had come.
"Go back. Or go somewhere else...
You can’t kill me. Nor can you kill any of the other Demon Fiends here."
Yang An could tell from Huan’s weary tone that this wasn’t a dismissal of his strength, but rather a statement of established fact.
"Why?"
he asked, confused.
"Everything here... we are the Fallen, the first to be tainted by the corruption. We’ve been barely surviving all this time, yet we cannot advance an inch. We can’t live, but we also can’t die. We can’t leave this place. All we can do is wait to perish along with the world.
If you stay here too long, you won’t be able to kill us, and sooner or later, you’ll become one of us. You’d be better off leaving now."