ushernet Chapter 183 Reality and Illusion
Chapter 183 Reality and Illusion
It was still the same hall, but next to the already collapsed Chenxi and the calm-faced Arcana, there was another pair of figures sitting at opposite ends of a round table, turning their heads to watch the scene unfold.
"But you, you're actually willing to hurt your little girlfriend like this. For a moment, I don't know who's more cruel between us."
Chenxi looked at the dazed Virtue and felt a pang of sympathy, but in the end he didn't reach out and break through the barrier between illusion and reality, and sat back down in his original seat.
"I believe her."
Welcome home, my child. You will always be welcome here. We will eventually find our permanent home as mystics.
On the stage, Arcana reached out his hand to Virtin, imagining that he had done the same thing as Chenxi when he was in despair, seizing the opportunity to win people over.
But Virtue completely ignored Arcana's outstretched hand and didn't even look up at her.
She just stared blankly at the blood in her hand, then suddenly turned her head and met Chenxi's gaze, who was lost in a trance.
Chenxi was quite frightened at just one glance, but then Virtin suddenly grinned with a strange smile and pounced on him, knocking the unsuspecting Chenxi to the ground without holding back.
"Hmm, that's really strange."
The barrier between reality and illusion shattered with a crash. Arcana, who was sitting in the chair, suddenly disappeared, leaving only the figure across the round table with an intrigued expression.
"Ms. Arcana!"
The sudden turn of events left Forget-Me-Not completely bewildered. He watched as his master and that heretic who should have died in the first place somehow reached some kind of tacit agreement that he was unaware of.
That damn feeling surged up again, but this time, he had even less say than before.
He merely called her name, and Arcana raised his hand to stop Forget-Me-Not from saying anything more, then waved for him to leave.
If looks could kill, Chenxi and Virtue, who are lying on the ground, would have died tens of thousands of times over.
With a click of the door, only the key figures of this scene remained in the room.
The expected wailing and crying of someone who had lost something and then found it did not occur. In Chenxi's arms, Virtue just trembled with fear.
She hugged Chenxi tightly, her fingers digging into his back as if trying to embed themselves in him.
Knowing that she had really gone too far this time, Chenxi did not get up. Instead, she stroked Virtue's head again and again, pressing her face against hers and rubbing her neck to make her feel that she was indeed still alive.
"I never imagined that Si Chen, who watched the era crumble in the torrential rain, would have this side to him. Could this be considered a fatal weakness?"
Arcana's tone was quite cheerful, but Chenxi didn't give her a friendly look.
"You can try. My strength should be about 30% equal to yours now."
"Hmph~ You dare to make such bold statements with only a 30% chance of winning?"
A tentacle grazed Arcana's neck and flew past, embedding itself in the wall behind her. Soon after, the sound of the wall crumbling could be heard.
"What I mean is, I can turn you into seven pieces in three seconds."
A figure outside the wall, clutching his shoulder in a disheveled state, left while cursing under his breath.
Faced with such a threat of force, Arcana remained silent, her smile still radiant. She gently stroked the taut, fleshy tentacles still taut beside her neck.
With a flash of black light, the creation that was pressed against his carotid artery, pulsating just as it was, fell into Arcana's hands.
She watched with amusement as the tentacles gradually coiled and wrapped around her hand, rubbing the blood flowing from its broken surface between two fingers. Even this slight probing elicited a powerful mystical aura within the blood.
"Having presented such a generous gift, what are your requests?"
Chenxi didn't reply. She hugged Virtue tightly with one hand and raised the other hand to draw some golden characters in the air.
As he wrote, the words began to gradually dissipate and transform into golden light, slowly disappearing into the trembling tentacle that was wrapped around Arcana's arm.
The flowing light repaired its bleeding cut, and then, as the text continued to penetrate, the tentacles began to thin out, transforming into an ink-black color, with faintly shimmering scales emerging from their surface.
In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a small snake, its red tongue flicking. It slithered along Arcana's arm and finally hid in her hair, leaving only a tiny bit of its tail tip dangling near Arcana's ear.
"This child is rather shy, so you'll have to put in a lot of effort to get along with him."
This was no longer the method of awakening consciousness in objects, but rather the direct creation of life from flesh and blood. Using special techniques, Arcana even saw the golden blood condensed within the small snake's body.
Its uniqueness may be no less than that of itself.
Arcana reached out and scratched the snake's exposed tail, causing it to tremble. It quickly withdrew its last weakness and then nervously coiled its hair into a ball deep inside, making her head feel heavy.
Seeing that the human and the snake were getting along well, Chenxi felt a little relieved. As for what had happened in the past, Chenxi was now unsure how to evaluate it.
From the moment he first came into this world, all his experiences with Arcana made him unable to understand this woman.
The two of them are no longer in the kind of relationship where they can act cute and affectionate with each other. As for Xiaochen and Xiaona...
This is also why Chenxi is unsure about this woman. The interactions between the four of them are still vivid in his mind, but Arcana seems to have never experienced them, as if she is just saying: It's just for fun.
There is reason to believe that if Chenxi were to lose his power now, Arcana would not hesitate to keep him captive, and use his blood and flesh for research.
Having sorted everything out, Chenxi sighed deeply, but Virtue in his arms trembled and hesitated to let go of Chenxi's arms. But Chenxi immediately hugged her tightly again and whispered in her ear that everything was alright.
Holding onto the chair, Virtue stood up and sat down, still putting her arms under Chenxi's armpits and hugging him tightly, unwilling to let go.
Chenxi tapped her fingers on the table, her tone carrying a hint of threat as she spoke:
"Don't get too involved. As long as Xiao Si is here, you'll have enough trouble with matters concerning the gods."
Chenxi was referring, of course, to the trouble that Arcana would cause on Apailang Island not long afterward. As for the stubborn people on that island, all Chenxi could do now was to reduce the destabilizing factors. As for how to rescue them... he would deal with that after he landed on the island.
Suddenly, Chenxi's gaze softened again. He saw Xiao Si peeking out from under Arcana's hair, looking quite aggrieved.
Chenxi didn't create life; he simply attached one of the millions of versions of himself that had differentiated during his previous experiments to Xiao Si.
Although theoretically they are all themselves, each has a different personality and memories. After they merged into one, their consciousness began to slowly awaken in their own minds. They occasionally have disagreements, but they are more like a harmonious family.
He was pleased that Xiao Si was willing to challenge herself and come out to see the world, but at the same time he was a little worried.
But I doubt Arcana will do anything too extreme. With my current abilities, I can handle anything that happens.
"Hmph, and what about you? Are you planning to leave now, or..."
"I will stay here for a while longer... until the moment before the torrential rain completely washes away this era."
"I understand. There are still some things to take care of at Reconstruction. Please make yourselves at home."
After saying that, Arcana left without looking back, while Virtin buried his head deeper and deeper in Chenxi's arms.