Chapter 510 - 255: "Don’t Come Over Here!

Chapter 510: Chapter 255: "Don’t Come Over Here!

Gray mist swayed gently like an aurora, filling the entire world.

A twisting tableau of gray and black.

BOOM!

For a moment, Zheng Xiu couldn’t distinguish what the sound was. At first, it sounded like a drop of water. Then, it became like the chattering grind of gnashing teeth. Moments later, it was the cacophony of ten thousand children playing at once. But soon, the source of these sounds seemed to discover him. After a beat of silence, a tide of low whispers, as if possessing physical form, crushed his eardrums. A roar echoed in Zheng Xiu’s mind, his vision went black, and he began to fall uncontrollably.

"Hee hee hee hee! If Heaven had not birthed me, Red King Zheng, the ages of Daqian would be as an endless night! By what right does that old fool of an Emperor stand above me? One mountain cannot house two tigers, and one kingdom cannot have two kings. The moment I get out, I’ll kill him!"

"Second Lady is as beautiful as a flower, and unmarried for so many years. She must be absolutely insatiable. We share not a drop of blood. We are meant for each other, a perfect match. Who would dare object?"

"Money, money, who cares about conscience? Cut their monthly wages by half and pay them once a year. If they don’t like it, they can get lost, and I’ll dock all their pay! If they still defy me, I’ll kill them! How can you make big money in business with a conscience? What truly rich merchant doesn’t suppress their fragile conscience to do the most ruthless things? I am the Red King, and I will one day be the Emperor above all others. Who dares to disobey? Hee hee hee!"

"First, I’ll seize land through trickery and force, make the lowly wretches work for me, and have them sign exorbitant contracts of servitude. If they can’t pay it back, their whole family can sell themselves to me, heh heh heh! Let the money beget money and the interest compound. Sooner or later, all the wealth in this world will be in my hands alone!"

"The four beautiful Orchids in my home... who can’t see that they’ve all fallen for me? They are masters of blowing, plucking, and singing. I’ll have them all lie on my couch and serve me at once. Two can blow and pluck while the other two hum a tune. Life is short and time is fleeting. To enjoy oneself in such a way, is it not wonderful?"

"That Feng Bei and I were husband and wife in my dreams for ten years; we know each other inside and out. Now, absence only makes the heart grow fonder, so why bother with all the formalities? If she’s unwilling, I’ll just force myself on her. If I can’t beat her, can’t I just drug her? What’s there to be afraid of! But if she really refuses and tries to fight back, humph, humph, such a terrifying girl... ahem! Forget her! The saying goes ’of three thousand streams, take but one to drink,’ but I’ll drink from two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine! There’s no need to waste my time on Feng Bei alone!"

"Look at that little she-cat, so curvaceous, with such a pretty face, soft fur, and a voluptuous body. The day she takes human form, she’ll surely be a seductive beauty. So what if she’s a cat? She’s still female, isn’t she? Heh! Is there any female in this world I can’t have?"

"It’s all mine! All mine! The world’s wealth, power, and beauties—they are all mine!"

A chaotic jumble of voices rang in Zheng Xiu’s ears.

Every one of them was his own voice.

They sounded like his inmost thoughts.

Each thought was bolder than the last, and each made Zheng Xiu blush with shame.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Zheng Xiu’s face was contorted. ’These are definitely not my real thoughts.’ With a great shout, he bit down hard on his tongue. Hot blood instantly filled his throat. The taste of blood and the sharp pain restored some of his clarity. As the [inspiration] faded, the clamorous "inmost thoughts" instantly fell silent, as if they had never been there at all.

The "inmost thoughts" in his mind receded like the tide, and the feeling of release was so profound that Zheng Xiu let out a long sigh. He was still falling. Once his mind cleared, he gave a beat of his wings, managed to stabilize himself, and hovered in mid-air.

After steadying himself, he was only half a body’s length away from the "river" below. Gazing down at the strange fluid, as viscous as asphalt and occasionally bubbling, Zheng Xiu had no desire to risk his skin to find out what it was.

"Looks like ’inspiration’ shouldn’t be used so carelessly."

Zheng Xiu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his heart still pounding. Recalling that cacophony of "inmost thoughts," his face flushed with heat, and he shook his head repeatedly. ’Slander, libel, defamation! It’s all fake. How could I be so shameless? A man must live by his conscience. My conscience is far too vast to be suppressed with a single hand!’

In an instant, Zheng Xiu understood what had just happened. The moment the [inspiration] check succeeded, he had made brief contact with certain entities within the Darkness. The "pollution" they emanated had conjured up "evil thoughts" that didn’t truly belong to him. Back in Baili Village, Zheng Xiu had once faced the Darkness directly and been contaminated by "Madness." The feeling just now—of being unable to control his own rampant thoughts—was strikingly similar to the "Madness contamination."

The contamination just now wasn’t "Madness." It was more like a kind of...

"Greed?"

’Could the essence of the Darkness just be a big stew of negative emotions?’

Zheng Xiu casually speculated on the mysteries of the Darkness. But what he never expected was that even in those audacious delusions, when faced with Feng Bei, he had still chickened out in the end.

The "greedy, evil thoughts" had voluntarily retreated.

Feng Bei was like an unshakeable pillar in Zheng Xiu’s mind. He silently gave her a thumbs-up.

He flapped his single wing, hovering in the Void as he continued to survey his surroundings.

The pitch-black, viscous "river" below was an unfamiliar sight to Zheng Xiu. He had once walked the Paths of the [Prisoner] and the [Painter] in his consciousness and knew that the "scenery" within each Path was completely different, each with its own unique character.

Within the Path of the [Prisoner], Heaven and Earth were a single color, deep as the sea. An endless, boundless expanse of gray that made one taste despair and helplessness amidst the suffocation.