"…"
With blood and sweat covering almost every inch of his body, Long Hua opens his eyes partially.
In the next instance, he grabs the two serpents that are biting onto his neck, and tears them away from himself.
"…"
Staring down at his right hand—which no longer looked human, a series of memories flashed within his mind.
Within these memories, a three-headed monster moved about from place to place, and destruction followed its every step.
The denizens of the land cried out for mercy; but any sort of noise—regardless of it being words or screams, fell upon deaf ears.
At some point, the monster raised a roar to the high heavens prior to being slain.
But even then, the monster's blood would stain the oceans red, and from the corrupted waters, scions of the three-headed monster would emerge—to haunt the lands, and devour everything in their wake.
As these memories flashed through his mind, a single streak of tears fell from Long Hua's eye. There is something about the three-headed monster's fate—that causes him to feel heartache with every beat of the organ.
(…Monster and an intellectual lifeform; what separates the two is the latter's ability to reason. I'm… Am I an intellectual lifeform, or am I more of a monster?)
Shaking his head with a sigh of fatigue, Long Hua already knew the answer.
(No, I'm… Something that wishes to become a proper intellectual lifeform that is akin to a human.)
Closing his eyes, Long Hua draws in a deep breath of air.
(I am the final clansman of my father's fallen family. At the same time, I am also a powerful individual's masterpiece. That individual… That unpleasant bastard...…)
Parting his lips, Long Hua's scalp went numb, and for an unknown period of time, his thoughts froze over completely.
Eventually—
(…He created me for the sake of creating the ultimate lifeform through evolution. And now, much like what that individual had intended, I had used his curse to evolve.)
A bitter smile appears on Long Hua's bloodied lips at this realization.
Reopening his eyes with a glow of blue radiance, Long Hua looks to the twin serpents—that are a byproduct of his curse.
Tightening his grip on the twin serpents, Long Hua pulls.
As hisses sound, an immense sensation of pain emanates from his shoulder blades.
(I've said that I would rather be the one to devour this curse than to let it do the same to me. In that case, the first step would be to pry its physical manifestation out of my body.)
As blood spews from his back, Long Hua grits his teeth to prevent himself from screaming.
What he is doing at this time—is no different from attempting to forcefully pry his own bones out of his body, while still having his vital organs attached to them.
Under this painful torment, time passes—with every second feeling like an eternity.
...…
At the first light of the rising sun—
"…"
Raising his arms, Shao Tianming stretches in front of the oasis.
Much of the treasure that was previously there have been plundered, however—
"…Well?"
Walking up to Shao Tianming, Wang Yongning asks, while looking at the center of the oasis.
The headless corpse is still there, sticking out like a sore thumb.
An order has already been given to prepare a casket, and to take this corpse out of the ruins for burial later.
Lowering his arms, Shao Tianming replies—
"I'm still thinking about whether or not to risk it."
Having come to realize the same thing as Long Hua about the lack of caskets in this oasis—when the topic had been brought up, Shao Tianming had contemplated whether or not to dig deeper into the waters.
"…"
Redirecting his attention towards Long Hua's tent, Shao Tianming immediately sees Tian Cheng standing perfectly still with her eyes shut, and asks—
"…Has she been standing there all night?"
"Seems like it. With her eyes shut, it's hard to know if she's even awake or not."
"Even if she isn't awake, it takes skills to be able to stand still without collapsing all night."
"…"
The need to maintain this level of security for himself—that is exactly what makes both Shao Tianming and Wang Yongning a bit concerned regarding what Long Hua is doing behind the cover of the tent.
"If he's only just sleeping, I don't see the need for him to keep such a guard out."
"Should we ask?"
Just as Wang Yongning had raised the question, knives—attached to thin threads, drops from Tian Cheng's sleeves.
"…?"
Seeing how fast Tian Cheng was able to react, Shao Tianming is a bit astonished to see that even from this distance, she's able to hear their conversation.
"Tch. Yeah, I don't like this at all."
Turning towards the direction of Long Hua's tent, Shao Tianming takes a step forward, and just as Wang Yongning is about to do the same—
*Boom!* the tent behind Tian Cheng explodes, conjuring a billowing cloud of dust—that blasts outwards.
"The hell? Did a bomb go off?"
Alarmed by the sound, every single person, who had been asleep snaps to attention, and turns their head in the same direction.