I Am Your Natural Enemy

Huo Yong glanced at Wen Yan as he spoke.

”Stronger than your body, they are the most courageous warriors I have ever seen.

They are fearless and brave in combat, with strong bodies, hard bones, and incredible recovery abilities.

Unfortunately, their population is too small, at most a small tribe.

If their population were even a tenth of ours, they wouldn’t have been annexed.”

”How many of them are there?” Wen Yan casually asked.

Just as Huo Yong was about to speak, he reconsidered and immediately shut his mouth.

If he dared answer that question, Wen Yan might be able to deduce how many people are in his tribe and possibly figure out where he comes from.

Wen Yan smiled indifferently.

”Did you annex them without wiping out their tribe?”

Huo Yong gave Wen Yan a curious look and said naturally.

”Population is the most precious resource; their bloodline is also extremely valuable. How could we engage in wanton slaughter? Only those behind you are eager for such brutality, especially people like you now, overly obsessed with war, which I don’t quite understand.”

...

Wen Yan was taken aback, unsure how to refute.

The mindset is quite different. In Huo Yong’s eyes, aside from people from his own tribe, people from other tribes might not even count as people until they are annexed. However, their obsession is with turning people from other tribes into their own, rather than exterminating them.

After pondering for a moment, Wen Yan chose not to dwell on this matter and changed the subject.

”I won’t ask about your tribe anymore, but can you tell me about this other tribe?”

”I only remember this much; the rest I’ve forgotten.”

”Alright then, let’s not talk about that. Let me ask you something, do you know the Mountain Ghost?”

Huo Yong remained silent.

Wen Yan understood; he knew but didn’t want to say anything, nor did he bother pretending otherwise.

Thinking for a moment, Wen Yan said.

”The Mountain Ghost is merely power; the consciousness behind this power is long gone, neither the Mountain Ghost you know nor the Mountain Ghost you knew.

It broke free decades ago and caused some trouble.

Later, it was sealed once again. I have seen it, and I dare say it’s certainly not the original Mountain Ghost.

But this power has been passed down.

According to my speculation, this power has been inherited many times.”

Wen Yan tried to separate the current Mountain Ghost from the former Mountain Ghost, but Huo Yong kept silent, afraid that even one extra word might reveal something to Wen Yan.

Wen Yan didn’t press further, chatted casually for a few more minutes, and then turned to leave.

Upon reaching the door, Wen Yan suddenly turned back.

”The person who caused your sealing artifact to demonize was the original unsealer, right? Besides you and the Mountain Ghost, the third person, correct?”

This time, not only did Huo Yong not speak, he even closed his eyes, flipped his ears to cover them, and curled into a ball like a phantom flame, quietly floating there, retreating into silence.

He was genuinely frightened, worried that even if he said nothing, any reaction might provide Wen Yan with considerable information.

So he simply shut down, saying nothing and not listening either.

Wen Yan closed the door and left.

He was indeed right; both the Mountain Ghost and Huo Yong breaking the seal were likely the actions of the original unsealer.

The opponent moved quietly, probably having prepared for many years and done many things, but no one knew.

Now the question is why, despite doing so much, the opponent remains unknown?

The past few hundred years of The Last Dharma might explain it, but what about before The Last Dharma? And now? Why is there not even the slightest trace?

Hopefully, the experts at Scorching Sun Headquarters can provide some clues.

Wen Yan now suspects that the person who deceived Fifteenth Wang decades ago wasn’t necessarily the Mountain Ghost.

At the Scorching Sun Headquarters, in the interrogation room, special lamps illuminate one side, where experts conducting the interrogation sit in the shadows, exuding a gloomy, oppressive aura.

Their voice is slightly hoarse, like a tape caught, with an oddly calm tone, persistently asking the same question.

”Name?”

Fifteenth Wang had calmed down, remaining silent.

However, as the interrogation progressed, the eerie oppressive aura and the strange tone, like poison, continuously echoed in his ears, slowly eroding into his mind like a curse, constantly replaying in his head.

As time passed, Fifteenth Wang felt his brain was about to explode, even though he had become a Ghost and had no brain.

The monk-chanting-like voice surged over him, making his spirit increasingly fragile. Finally, his slightly blurred consciousness instinctively replied.

”Fifteenth Wang.”

In an instant, all echoes vanished.

The expert’s tape reached its end, continuing to ask with that same calm tone.

”Gender?”

As soon as Fifteenth Wang refrains from answering, it starts repeating the earlier experience.

”Male.”

”Age?”

”73.”

”Cause of death?”

”Hit the wall and died.”

Fifteenth Wang’s consciousness began to blur, unable to fabricate answers promptly based on each question.

Two hours later, someone lit a special incense in the interrogation room, wisps of smoke swirling around, enveloping Fifteenth Wang’s somewhat translucent soul body, maintaining it, preventing his soul from dissipating.