604: Chapter 604 Goodbye

"Too fake. First, you used a watercolor painting slideshow to dazzle me, then you started trying to guide me with words."

"Unfortunately, one knows oneself best, and one is also most easily deceived by oneself; the reverse is also true."

Zhou Yan stared intently at "Xiao Ai," until it shed its current appearance and turned into a young man wearing a T-shirt with neat, short hair.

"It's been decades, don't you miss me quite a bit?"

Zhou Yan walked closer, smiling, his grin growing ever more brilliant.

"What, want a hug?"

"I—ow!"

"Screw you, I'll show you for playing god and acting like a ghost, I'll show you for deceiving me!"

"Don't hit the face! Don't hit the face! That's your face too!"

Zhou Yan didn't stop; he swung his fists in a flurry of wild punches. Although there was no technique, they had plenty of force!

"I knew something was off just now; it turns out you were the one messing around."

When he first entered that ink-wash painting style, Zhou Yan had noticed the issue with the System panel malfunctioning. At the time, Zhou Yan hadn't thought much of it, assuming it was the immense power of a Mahayana practitioner.

But when he woke up again and the panel still had no effect, that said a lot.

It had been working just before he went in; there was no reason it shouldn't work after coming out. This could only mean that this state had not yet been lifted.

So, when was the last time Zhou Yan faced such a situation? Naturally, it was within the Heart Demon illusion.

After hitting it for a while, Zhou Yan finally stopped, looking with amusement at this other version of himself before him.

"You're a real lunatic; when you go crazy, you even hit yourself."

The Heart Demon pushed Zhou Yan away, rubbed its face, and sat up.

"We haven't seen each other for decades, yet instead of a hug when we meet, I get greeted with fists. You really have no humanity left at all."

"Give me a break. It's one thing for me to brag to others about having decades of experience, but for you to use my own words to brag to me? You're the one who's sick."

"Although I've aged, I haven't truly experienced those years. You can't possibly not know that."

The Heart Demon reluctantly took the hand Zhou Yan extended and was pulled up.

"You really don't understand romance. Saying we haven't seen each other for decades just shows how deep our bond is."

"Cut the crap. What is actually going on?"

Zhou Yan ignored the Heart Demon's clinginess; after all, being clingy with oneself was truly a bit perverted.

The Heart Demon shrugged again, saying with a helpless expression.

"That guy outside is very powerful. With a single finger, he pointed straight at your inner heart, and thus, you saw me."

"In a normal process, it would probably involve searching for your original heart to let you find the root of your own illness, but obviously, because I'm here, the process can't be normal."

"You're actually proud of that?"

Zhou Yan was so angry he didn't know where to vent, so he rolled up his sleeves again, ready to give it a few more punches.

"So basically, without you, I would have cleared the level immediately! I was stuck for ages because of you, a bug!"

"Hey, hey, hey, don't get angry yet! I told you, we are the same person! And my appearance has benefits too; at least I can help you summarize the essence, right?"

Seeing that Zhou Yan was about to strike again, the Heart Demon could only hurriedly beg for mercy.

"Tick."

An alarm clock was conjured out of thin air by Zhou Yan. After winding it up, the clock began to count down.

"I'll give you one round of time. If you can't explain yourself within this round, I'll make sure you know what it means to be ruthless to others and even more ruthless to oneself."

"First, the data I gave is correct; your condition is really poor. If not for the fact that your Dao Heart has always been focused on wanting to go home, you would have collapsed long ago. Second, I really can't defeat your Divinity. You can understand it as me representing your animality, while you yourself represent humanity. Right now, we are actually both being suppressed by the Divinity, and even you are being subtly influenced. If this isn't resolved, even if it doesn't affect your future path, it will be very troublesome."

Watching the Heart Demon spit out a long string of words in an instant, Zhou Yan frowned.

"I'll give you another round. Keep talking about the Divinity."

The Heart Demon pursed its lips and rubbed its nose again.

"How should I explain this to you? How about you take a look yourself?"

"What do you me—"

"Snap."

Before Zhou Yan could finish, the Heart Demon snapped its fingers, and the original space changed once again.

"This is... outside Kaifeng?"

"So even if going back might be futile, can't you at least let me try?"

Hearing the voice from behind, Zhou Yan turned his head abruptly to look at the scene behind him.

It was the scene from back then, when he was haggling with the Fifth Elder outside Kaifeng. Only now, he was watching it all from another perspective.

Zhou Yan at that time was so high-spirited, facing an extremely terrifying enemy with an extremely low cultivation level, saying things he didn't even know what he might face.

"At worst, the resurrection Materials afterwards will count as me borrowing them."

"Even if I don't become the Saint, I will pay the Sect back double."

"At least don't let me lose my humanity so early."

Watching himself finish speaking haltingly, Zhou Yan hadn't yet figured out what the Heart Demon wanted to do, when the scene changed again the next moment.

After this change, he arrived at the desert hotel he had visited not long ago.

Zhou Yan saw himself again, but unlike listening to his own dialogue from back then, now he was hearing his own inner thoughts.

"Not to mention the resurrection cost for ordinary people is low."

"Although it's not very moral to say this, rather than frantically trying to solve puzzles to rescue them, it's better to use a Russian-style rescue—save as many as you can."

"For those who can't be saved, spending a little Millet to let them wait for the resurrection cooldown should also work."

Hearing these inner thoughts, Zhou Yan's ears suddenly felt hot, and a lump of Qi got stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down.

"See? Even you are changing."

The Heart Demon appeared beside Zhou Yan again, holding two cans of soda, and handed one to Zhou Yan.

"Back when you left, you handed me a can; you looked much more dashing than me then. Now, I'm returning a can to you."

Zhou Yan didn't take it, seemingly still deep in thought.

The Heart Demon shook it impatiently.

"Take it. Losing face in front of yourself is always better than losing face in front of others."

"Anyway, no one can see it. Drink a can to sober up, and then let's talk?"

"Screw you, I even lost my Spiritual Root playing around with you, and you're still trying to stop me for the sake of a demonic cultivator?"

Just as Zhou Yan was facing a choice, Wang Yao, far away in the Southern Desert, was also facing a choice.

At this moment, Long Tianxing was grabbing Wang Yao's hospital gown with a look of fury; his rage was almost enough to set the entire hospital room on fire.

Xiao Sheng was so scared he only dared to hide on the side, not daring to step forward to interrupt.

Wang Yao didn't dare to look Long Tianxing in the eye, only casting his gaze aside, saying in a voice as thin as a mosquito's.

"No matter what, please hand this sword to me."

"Your Spiritual Root, the sword that Senior Brother wants, or the potential losses to Brother Xiao's celestial master sword—I will bear it all."

"Bear it your ass!"

Long Tianxing had lost all his poise, venting his emotions with such anger for the first time.

Not long ago, Fan Wujiu had come to see them, bringing a few time fragments.

Through Fan Wujiu, the three of them had gained a rough understanding of the situation, knowing the relationship between Zhou Yan and this clone, as well as how important the sword Long Tianxing had snatched away was.

Long Tianxing had nothing to say about this; he had come to the Southern Desert originally to resurrect Zhou Yan, and now that Zhou Yan wasn't dead, it was naturally a joyous occasion for all.

As for that broken sword, it was indeed not a good thing; he had experienced that personally.

But since Zhou Yan wanted to use it to save someone, and the person he wanted to save was Lv Yang, who had died because of him, then there was even less to say.

This was paying off a debt for him; even if Zhou Yan hadn't said anything, he would have gone to the Wheel of Reincarnation Path to return the sword himself.

Long Tianxing had originally thought the broken sword had been taken by Zhou Yan while he was unconscious, but after seeing those fragments, he finally learned of the accident that had occurred.

Already feeling guilty, he immediately regarded Hun Wushang and Xuan Tianzun as his greatest enemies, determined to retrieve that sword no matter what.

But Wang Yao had stood up at this moment, saying he would solve it.

"I don't care what relationship this bastard has with you; this sword was lost because of me, and the person died because of me, so I will definitely go and get it back!"

"And you... you bastard, I saved your life, so now you are the one with the least qualifications to say that, and the least qualifications to stop me!"

Long Tianxing pushed Wang Yao away and stumbled out of the hospital room.