Chapter 277: A Perfect Puppet (5)
Old Beast Gu watched his shifting expression carefully. "The Divine Dragon King. Jun Haoxuan."
Ningyan’s face hardened.
"He is deeply connected to that crystal, and the crystal is bound to your lost memories," she explained softly. "The dragon is the key. And judging by your expression..."
A knowing smile appeared on Old Beast Gu’s lips. "You already knew that."
"No," Ningyan shook his head, taking a step back. "No. There has to be another way! An artifact, an ancient formation, some secret technique..." His voice grew increasingly desperate, his eyes searching the surrounding shelves. "Perhaps I could destroy the crystal myself. Or..." He swallowed hard. "...perhaps I need to die again."
Old Beast Gu’s expression turned frigid. "If you die again, Su Ningyan, that will be the end."
"How can you be certain? You don’t know anything about.."
"You are avoiding him simply because you’ve been taught to hate dragons," a sly smile appeared on her lips. "A perfect puppet, crafted so flawlessly that he hates his own cure... to the point that he would rather destroy himself than accept it."
Ningyan’s lips parted, his chest heaving with suffocating rage. "I said, I am not a puppet!" His voice shook the foundations of the room.
He spun on his heel and with a sharp wave of his hand, a blast of demonic energy blew the heavy wooden doors wide open. Ningyan stormed out, the heavy doors slamming shut behind him with a deafening thud.
•^°
As soon as Ningyan stepped out of the pagoda, he spotted Rong Chao and Tang Ruifeng waiting nearby while several attendants loaded heavy treasure chests onto the lead carriage.
Ningyan took a slow breath. The cold air left his lips in a lingering pale mist.
He needed to get a grip.
His corruption seemed hungrier by the hour. Every emotion was sharper, every slight harder to suppress. Even during his confrontation with Old Beast Gu, he had felt like nothing more than an angry child throwing a useless tantrum.
Ningyan straightened his pristine robes and approached the couple.
"Oh, Ningyan," Rong Chao brightened immediately upon seeing him. "There you are. I was starting to worry when I couldn’t find you inside."
"I’m fine," Ningyan forced a calm, serene smile. "I just wanted to look around. Are you two finished here?"
"Yes," Rong Chao nodded warmly. "Everything has been arranged."
Ningyan nodded in response, deliberately avoiding Tang Ruifeng’s gaze. The peacock beastman was watching him as though he could see straight through Ningyan’s flesh and directly into his spiraling thoughts. Ningyan wasn’t sure if it was his forced expression, the faint blackish veins creeping along his neck, or the subtle leakage of demonic qi that had given him away.
Tang Ruifeng’s gaze lingered a moment longer before he said softly, "Rong Yue has returned. He is waiting in the second carriage."
Ningyan’s fingers tightened inside his wide sleeves. "Then I will take my leave."
He turned and walked toward the second carriage without another word.
Rong Chao and Tang Ruifeng watched his retreating back in silence. Only after the carriage door clicked shut behind Ningyan did Rong Chao speak, his brow furrowed with concern.
"Do you think he’ll be all right?"
Tang Ruifeng looked at his husband, a faint, bittersweet smile touching his lips. "I don’t know... I wish I did."
Rong Chao lowered his head, a heavy sigh escaping him and dissolving into the icy air. "We should try to help him. He looks so lost, despite being one of the most powerful beings in the Three Realms."
He paused, his voice softening. "He deserves happiness. He shouldn’t have to stand so far away from all of us. We’re his family."
Rong Chao’s eyes remained fixed on the carriage. "I hate how it still somehow feels like he’s..."
He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
Tang Ruifeng reached out, gently cupping his husband’s cheek with a warm hand. "We’ll help him, Chao’er. As much as we can."
Rong Chao looked up.
Tang Ruifeng offered a reassuring smile. "We’ll help him find his way back to himself."
^
Soon, the final chest was secured, the attendants boarded their posts, and the convoy began moving through Earth City’s snowy, winding streets.
Inside the second carriage, Ningyan sat beside the window in heavy silence, his gaze fixed on the passing snowing scenery. Yan Wuhen sat beside him, unusually quiet, while Rong Yue sat across from them, watching Ningyan.
Neither beast needed to ask what was wrong. The suffocating, unstable aura rolling off Ningyan spoke for itself.
His corruption was restless. Blackish-red energy flickered beneath his skin like trapped lightning, causing the spiritual pressure inside the carriage to rise and fall.
Fortunately, both Rong Yue and Yan Wuhen were now God-Tier Divine Beasts; an ordinary beast would have been crushed flat under such pressure.
Wuhen had already discreetly erected a thick spatial barrier around the carriage. A translucent red-gold light shimmering faintly along the wooden walls kept Ningyan’s leaking demonic aura completely contained.
Still, neither of them dared take their eyes off him.
Finally losing his patience with the suffocating silence, Rong Yue lifted his boot and lightly kicked Wuhen’s shin.
Are you going to speak to him? Rong Yue mouthed silently.
Wuhen glanced at him, his fox ears twitching, before mouthing back, You speak to him.
Rong Yue glared. Wuhen stared right back, utterly unbothered.
After several seconds of an intense, silent staring contest, Rong Yue turned his attention back to Ningyan was still staring out into the snow, his profile cold, distant, and visibly irritated.
Rong Yue hesitated for a second, clearing his throat. "Little bird?"
Ningyan slowly turned his head toward Rong Yue.
The moment their eyes met, both beasts stiffened.
Ningyan’s face had gone unnaturally pale.
Wuhen was closer to Ningyan in an instant, his slender fingers reaching out toward the black veins crawling aggressively up his neck.
Ningyan slapped his hand away with a harshly. His eyes flashed a dangerous, bloody black-red. "Don’t touch me!"