Chapter 653: Long Haochen’s choice (I)
“You two have won.”
These simple words sounded really terrible in Elux’s mouth. His soul form floated in a daze, his eyes filled with incomprehension and unbelief. It seemeed as his thoughts were shaken to the core, causing his soul to fluctuate in instability, dispersing layer upon layer of white light.
Right now, Long Haochen and Cai’er were completely soaked in the joy of reuniting, and did not take note of any changes in Elux.
“Cai’er! Cai’er!!!” Long Haochen called out her name over and over again. Right now, his feelings of wretched sorrow ended with Caier’s appearance, to change into an extreme fear, the fear that this Cai’er was a fake, which would just shatter his hard-won last hopes.
So, he hugged her tightly, as if attempting to absorb her in him, and called her name incessantly.
Long Haochen still remembered clearly the instant the Demon God Emperor pierced through his heart. Darkness approached, but he didn’t have any grudge or pain in him, only an inexhaustible reluctance to part with Cai’er.
Darkness had descended gradually. Cai’er’s figure became fuzzy, until the instant that he finally started to fear death. The last thought in his mind was: So I’ll never be able to meet with Cai’er ever again?
But right now, he was back to life, and Cai’er was finally back in front of him. The fire of joy and hope rose in him in an indescribable manner. Hugging her tightly, the fear filling his heart gradually turned into extreme joy. If this was a dream, he hoped to never wake up from it for eternity.
“If you want to stay together forever, calm down a bit.” A warm soul-shaking voice woke up the two of them with shock from this moment of bliss.
Long Haochen and Cai’er turned back their heads at the same time, finally taking notice of the changes in Elux.
Elux’s condensed soul dispersed some white halations. From his body, a breath of death slowly spread outwards. The pair of eyes on his condensed body seemed far brighter than before, watching them ardently.
Long Haochen failed to understand his words, but Cai’er had a terrible chill! Right, Long Haochen hadn’t yet really resurrected. It’s just that Elux used extraordinary ways to temporarily bring him to life.
She immediately stepped up, filled with hastiness, “You just said that we won. Since we won, shouldn’t you be helping to resurrect Haochen?”
Long Haochen was startled, and looked at Cai’er in incomprehension, “Am I not truly alright? What are you saying Cai’er?”
Elux had a faint smile, “What a fool you are, kid. Don’t tell me you have forgotten everything that has happened before? Although I just used my soul power to make an illusion, it can be considered real in some sense. If I had at that time really accepted letting this girl offer her heart to resurrect you, everything just now would be real.”
“Cai’er, you...” Long Haochen tightly drew Cai’er closer in his embrace, “Why would you do such a foolish thing? If you die, what meaning is there for me to live?”
Cai’er buried her head in his chest. At that time Long Haochen was just a corpse; her only thought was that she had to resurrect him. That is why the previous scene shook her greatly, especially Long Haochen’s crucial words. Right! If he’s resurrected but at the cost of her own life, he’d still choose to die, so wouldn’t that make everything up to now meaningless?
This instant, the two of them became very calm. Long Haochen seemed to no longer be in a rush to resurrect Long Haochen. They would either live together or die side by side. Her heart finally felt relieved at this realization.
“So a thing such as real love really exists in the human world.” Elux’s aged face displayed a bitter smile. Although that was body just a condensed soul, he suddenly seemed to look much older at once.
“Of course it does.” Long Haochen raised his head, ardently looking at Elux. He still did not have the slightest good opinion of Elux. This slaughterer was the one to cause the collapse of Shengmo Dalu, the great loss in power of humanity. If not for him, how could the dark age even have come to be? If not for him, perhaps everything would be different. As the Scion of Light and candidate chosen by the goddess of Light, all he caused was destruction along his way. Long Haochen still remembered the deep impression the helpless testimony of the Divine Snail of Sun and Moon had made on him at that time.
Elux could not avoid seeing the look of rejection in Long Haochen eyes, and he calmly declared, “Long Haochen, you have a chance to choose now. Compared to her, you are the most fitting to inherit my power. I can see that you have already formally become the one blessed by the Goddess of Light, so you must despise someone who has walked in the path of death and darkness like me. But now, you have no other choice than to rely on me to come back to life. On one side is your beloved girl, and on the other side, your conviction. Now is the time to make your choice. By choosing to inherit my power, you will be able to stay by her side, and the two of you will be able to live together. And you will become even stronger. If you choose to renounce this, you will die, and surely she will follow you soon. It’s up to you.”
Long Haochen became blank-faced, and Cai’er too.
They did not expect Elux to give Long Haochen such a choice to make at such a time.
“Are you saying that… That even without my heart, you can help bring him back to life?” Cai’er asked in great joy.
Elux responded proudly, “I am the almighty Holy Necromancer, Slumbering Calamity Elux. In this world, the things that I cannot accomplish are very scarce. Your soul is still present, so what’s the deal with reconstituting your body? But why would I help reviving him? Unless he consents to inherit my power, and becomes the next necromancer lord, you are free to live or die as you wish. You will see him die, and whatever you choose is none of my concern. At worst I just have to enter several thousands more years of deep slumber awaiting a next successor’s arrival.”
Cai’er instantly turned her head to look at Long Haochen. But the instant her pretty eyes caught sight of Long Haochen, the flames of joy in her were extinguished entirely in one instant.
Right! Inheriting from Elux would be the only way to resurrect him, but Haochen was the one chosen by the Goddess of Light, the Scion of Light. how could he accept inheriting Elux’s power? Elux was the enemy of mankind, a terrible sinner, the Slumbering Calamity. If Long Haochen were to inherit his power, would that befit the Scion of Light? That would be like renouncing his whole beliefs.
Cai’er was totally unable to speak a word. This being the man she loved deeply, how could she bear to tell him to renounce his beliefs? Cai’er understood clearly that these beliefs were as important as his life in his eyes.
He was a knight, a pure knight to the core. Telling him to renounce his beliefs was no different than telling him to die.
She didn’t speak a word, tears flowing from Cai’er’s eyes again. Stretching her hands forward, she wrapped them around Long Haochen’s chest, sticking tightly close to him. She was already unwilling to think of anything, and just wanted to let him make his choice. If he chooses death, then let the two of them share this fate. This instant, Cai’er suddenly felt very tired, and only wanted to hold him. No matter whether they lived or died, they would stay that way forever.
The dull feelings in Long Haochen’s eyes disappeared gradually. Lowering his head, he looked at Cai’er leaning on his chest, his eyes flickering in the light, but it seems that no conflicting emotions were in him.
An insipid smile started to form from the corners of his mouth, as Long Haochen raised his head, and looked calmly at Elux.
“Have you made your decision?” Elux looked at him with some stupor, originally thinking that he would be in an incomparable struggle. But he didn’t expect him to have such a look on his face so rapidly. This clearly meant that he had already made his decision.
Long Haochen calmly answered, “I am willing to accept your inheritanceto live on.”
Hearing his declaration, both Elux and Cai’er were suddenly shocked.
Cai’er raised her head suddenly, looking at him in disbelief, “Haochen, you...”
Elux reacted with great unbelief, “You are not even afraid of death, yet want to renounce your beliefs? Don’t tell me that you have already forgotten that you are the Scion of Light, the one chosen by the Goddess of Light!”
Long Haochen raised his hand, lightly caressing Cai’er’s long hair, “I am willing to die for her, as well as I am willing to live for her sake.”
At this point, he paused slightly, his eyes looking dazzling at the time he turned toward Elux again, “For the sake of Cai’er, what’s the deal with renouncing my principles?”
Bam!
Two explosions occurred almost simultaneously. One was in Cai’er’s brain, feeling totally empty, as if she had already lost all her ability to think.
And the other explosion occurred in the Holy Necromancer, or more accurately speaking, his condensed-soul body.
The terrifying explosion caused massive fluctuations of soul force, blasting Long Haochen and Cai’er away.
Elux lifted his head, shrieking in pain, and his entire soul-body trembling violently. Large amounts of death energy were spurted out from his soul, and even more pure holy fire of white color had appeared, igniting his soul, and spreading to every corner of his soui.
Long Haochen hugged Cai’er tightly, using his own body to shield her from the assault of the terrifying soul force. Elux’s soul force was just too powerful: even the Demon God Emperor would be almost unable to compare in this aspect. In front of the terrifying soul might, he was unable to even struggle.