Evil Emperor Zun

Chapter 2039 The Last Piece of the Puzzle

"Pipi—Pipi, where are you?" Kotomi Kanna found that the little ferret was missing. She ran out of the room and called out to it everywhere.

With her purest soul, she could also sense the invisible, unsettling aura surging through the space, though she didn't yet know what was happening.

Until she saw a silver-haired figure emerging from the shadows.

"Hello, little princess."

"Touyu-nii-san?" Kotomi looked at him in confusion, then quickly shook her head. "No, you're not..."

The other person might be an enemy, so she instinctively took a step back, only to bump her heel into a barrier that hadn't been there before. Turning her head, she saw a square mirror that had replaced the path she had come from. The girl in the mirror was staring at her with a clear, bewildered expression.

The mirror itself shouldn't pose a threat. Her protective artifact didn't give any warning. After thinking for a moment, Shinnachi Kotomi decided to turn around and face the person who looked exactly like Chen Juyu.

This person exuded an aura that seemed to suffocate the air; he was clearly not a good person. But since he had already seen through his identity and hadn't turned on him, he decided to test his intentions first.

"Brother, what's wrong?" She smiled sweetly, trying her best to act like she was dealing with anyone else.

Hei Shiyu's expression was calm and composed: "Don't be afraid, Miss Qin Jia, I won't hurt you, I just want to ask you for a favor."

Even so, it didn't ask for her help in any way. When it approached her under her wary gaze, it simply raised its hand to touch the mirror without uttering a word. Even as the negative energy centered on it surged rapidly within a few breaths, threatening to transform into a tangible storm, its expression remained as calm as a frozen lake.

Kotomi Kamui's attention was completely focused on it. As she looked at it, she lost track of how much time had passed. Suddenly, she heard herself in the mirror let out a short scream!

"Wow! I'm moving in the mirror!"

The exclamation also came from inside the mirror.

Kotomi Kanna turned her head in disbelief, only to find that the reflection in the mirror was no longer herself and the winding corridor behind her, but rather a rather cozy girl's bedroom. In that space, looking at her with a surprised expression, was a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old.

Her short, curly brown hair was tied up in a high ponytail, revealing her smooth forehead, with only two thin strands falling from her temples to her shoulders. Two long, red pom-pom earrings swayed playfully beside her neck. Dressed in a clean, casual style, with cool leather shoes on her feet, she looked youthful, beautiful, and fashionable.

She wasn't herself, but she did resemble her a lot, like her grown-up self. Why would her grown-up self suddenly appear in the mirror? And it seemed like they could even talk to each other?
Kotomi Kanouchi jumped around curiously in front of the mirror, trying to greet "herself," before turning her head to look at Kurojuha beside her after a while.

Black Ten Feather didn't look at her. It stared intently at the vibrant girl in the mirror, its eyes filled with deep joy and awe.

"It really appeared..."

The Devourer King is about to be born, further disrupting the world's order and throwing its laws into chaos. If this opportunity can be seized to further unleash that power that shouldn't exist, and combined with a spacetime artifact, there's a chance to tear open a passage to a parallel world!

Capture Qin Jia from a parallel world. This was the order the Gnawing Clan gave it during its latest blood transfusion.

The king didn't explain his intentions in detail, only saying that he wanted to use such a character to confuse the public. Hei Shiyu guessed that the process of devouring pure souls would either take a very long time or cause a great commotion, allowing top powers to locate it. Therefore, it needed a "substitute" to divert attention and buy time.

The other self in a parallel world naturally carries the karma of "oneself." If various forces use causal calculations to find someone, Parallel Qin Jia can become a distraction, diverting their pursuit.

Is such a thing really possible? Could two worlds, supposedly "parallel," actually intersect one day? Black Ten Feather was initially skeptical. But it was just a subordinate; it could only do what its master ordered.

Witnessing the connection to another world, it too was immersed in awe. A sense of awe rose within it. Truly worthy of being called the destroyer of the world, it possessed the power to turn the impossible into possible. Therefore, it too must do what it ought to do.

"Come out." Its eyes flashed with a sharp light, and it reached out to grab the girl in the mirror. You will become a substitute for a pure soul, and a sacrifice.

However, this blow only struck a cold, hard mirror.

"Huh? Dad? What are you doing?" Pinghe Qinjia stared wide-eyed in surprise, but didn't seem scared at all. She only noticed Hei Shiyu when it suddenly moved. After examining it carefully for a while, she couldn't help but slap her forehead in annoyance, then somewhat embarrassedly clasped her hands together and bowed to it.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry! I think I mistook you for someone else. You two look so alike, I thought I saw my dad when he was young, hehe."

Black Ten Feather's pupils suddenly widened. Of course, it understood the hidden message behind those words. But at the same time, it felt like water being violently scattered by a collision, its thoughts wandering aimlessly, unable to piece together its original intention.

Her father was Chen Shiyu. Chen Shiyu from their world.

In that case—Kurojuu's gaze quickly shifted to Kamui Kotomi. Could it be that she was also "his"...?
The parallel world is different from this one. The Chen Shiyu in that world might be a completely different person with a completely different personality and temperament. They wouldn't make the same choices, and therefore wouldn't end up in the same place. Besides, even if we take a step back and assume that the pure soul in this world is also Chen Shiyu's future daughter, then she belongs to "Chen Shiyu." Everything he has now, and everything he can have in the future, has nothing to do with me. I am just a clone, a clone with nothing.

Black Feather understood all the necessary principles, but when it looked at the little girl beside it, it could no longer see her as mere prey. Once it realized the new connection she might have with "itself," there was no going back. In just a few days, it had first developed a crush on a girl, and now it was experiencing a "fatherly love" for its future daughter. These emotions, which didn't belong to it, were consuming it, making it crave and desire.

In a fleeting moment, the image of the parallel world vanished. The mirror once again merged with their surroundings. Hei Shiyu surmised that the collapse of order wasn't complete enough; the different worlds remained distinct. They had only briefly received a signal from the parallel world; they couldn't even touch it, let alone pull its inhabitants over.

"That's good. I didn't deliberately go easy on them. I just need to report the truth when the time comes." Hei Shiyu seemed to be convincing himself. After a while, as the wide mirror surface rapidly contracted, turning into a stream of light and disappearing into its sleeve, its hand, which had been suspended in mid-air, froze for a moment for no reason, as if it had suddenly lost its direction and didn't know where to fall back.

This hesitant act of kindness ultimately failed to reach Qin Jia. Before the little girl could even ask a question, it had already hastily turned its head, its figure flashed, and disappeared into the depths of the corridor.

……

Baili Ji was also considering the birth of a king.

Although the king claimed to be willing to sign a soul contract with him, all he had received so far were two unilateral terms of the deal. He couldn't offer any reciprocal terms, and he couldn't confirm whether the other party would honor their promises afterward. Such cooperation made him uneasy. Therefore, he reasoned that since he knew the Red-Eyed Demon Clan was involved with the Devouring Clan, even if they were just pawns being used, this "hint" was still worth investigating. The Devouring Clan played on information asymmetry; to regain the initiative, intelligence was paramount.

During this time, he had been trying to find a breakthrough by approaching the Red-Eyed Demon Clan. Ye Yunyan seemed to be engrossed in studying historical materials and hadn't done anything to openly interfere with the Devouring Clan. He could say that he had temporarily given his due to the King.

Another fruitless conversation. But this time, something seemed different.

Baili Ji suddenly felt something was wrong as he walked out of the red-eyed demon's room.

It seemed like something that shouldn't have been in that room had just flashed past his eyes. But since he hadn't paid attention at the time, he couldn't remember what it was now.

I should go back and check. Thinking this, Baili Ji turned and went back into his room.

Standing in the spacious living room, he quickly found the source of that unease. Before he could even ponder what it meant, through the half-open door, he saw the back of a red-eyed demon in the deeper room.

He didn't seem quite right either. Ever since I came back in, he had remained in that position, without turning around, speaking, or making any of the expected reactions.

His body seemed to be writhing from the inside out.

This was not a movement that a human could make spontaneously, and of course, neither could the true form of the Red-Eyed Demon. The scene was quite bizarre, as if countless bubbles were boiling in his blood, or as if countless bacteria were multiplying and expanding within him. This change became increasingly obvious, and his gradually distorted form silently drained the temperature from the room, spreading a sense of loss of control wildly.

Baili Ji frowned and slowly walked towards him.

Just as they stepped into the room, the red-eyed demon suddenly turned around.

Then, his face melted.

Not just his face, his entire body was melting.

Like a wax figure melted by high temperatures, every color, skin and flesh, was peeled away and slid off, leaving it limp and lifeless. The detached cells and tissues transformed from their human-like form back into their animalistic form, before merging into the dissolving swamp. In the end, stripped of all flesh and blood, only a withered skin remained, lying on the ground covered in thick, stagnant water.

There was no medium left for soul searching. Baili Ji observed the scene with a grim expression. Out of caution, he still scanned the skin with the power of law. The only thing he could detect was that the traces of time remaining on it were very ancient, suggesting it belonged to someone who had been dead for a long time.

If the Golden Winged Eagle King back then was like that—a shocking thought suddenly entered Baili Ji's mind, connecting the two events—if the real him, as Cain recorded, died in that holy war, and then some other being put on his skin and continued to act, could he still be called "alive" at that time?

Following this line of thought, the Red-Eyed Demons would have been killed long ago. What was moving around them all this time was merely a corpse manipulated by the Devourers. Whether it was devoured while trying to recognize a master, or whether the recognition itself was bait thrown out by the Devourers using this puppet, is no longer important.

What happened to those who had pledged allegiance to him? Baili Ji straightened up and spread his divine sense, only to find that the mysterious space was filled with melting bodies and dissipating energy. They, too, had perished.

This was indeed a trap. The ominous premonition that had been lingering since their encounter with that cunning and calculating king was now confirmed. They thought they were opening their souls to a drop of water, unaware that the drop of water and the ocean behind it were one.

Under normal circumstances, a weaker being's imprint of their soul on a stronger one would undoubtedly be met with a backlash. However, after demonstrating the repulsive force of the "adult Devourers," the Gnawing Clan deliberately opened the "juvenile Devourers" as a breach, allowing them to believe they could gain an advantage. Yet, both adult and juvenile Devourers are essentially part of a vast ocean. The stronger can, of course, freely give the weaker the illusion of successful mastery, while the weak remain completely unaware that their souls have become prey for the stronger to devour at will.

However, something's strange. Even amidst this upheaval, Baili Ji remained calm and thoughtful. Since the enemy had meticulously created these living corpses and hadn't revealed any flaws until now, why not let them continue their infiltration, instead of so carelessly destroying all their pawns at once? Could it be that the king had already done what he needed to do, and they were no longer useful? And—

Baili Ji turned around and went back to the living room, pulling out a rolled-up parchment from a gap in the bookshelf.

That was a map he had drawn with Ye Yunyan, which had somehow fallen into the hands of the Red-Eyed Demon Clan. This was also the very thing that initially made him feel it shouldn't be in this room.

This map provides a complete record of the Gnawing Clan's historical activities, down to the year and location in which they appeared.

The King's first explicit move was to obtain the map. It seems there must be something of special value to him, a key to his evolution, which they had overlooked. Similarly, just as he was about to discover the map's secret, the King sacrificed all his pawns. This indicates that for both sides, the map represents the final piece of the puzzle; once it's revealed, everything will end.

The truth seemed to be right before his eyes. In an instant, all the recent fragmented clues raced through Baili Ji's mind.

The Devourers seek out pure souls... fratricide... the Golden-Winged Eagle King whose identity was replaced... all the times and places where the Devourers appear... a lost star system... a spacetime distortion... a gigantic Devourer corpse... a stunningly beautiful mysterious man... traveling from the future to the past... the Devourers are a unified whole... incompatible with heaven and earth... a chaotic and incomplete puzzle...

These fragments swirled and turned for an unknown amount of time before a bolt of lightning suddenly pierced through the mist.

Baili Ji felt a chill run down his spine.

Ah, I see. He understood everything.

The answer has always been obvious. Although it may be too late now—

He turned and charged toward the Gnawing Clan's cage.

"...Just as I thought."

Looking at the human body slowly taking shape while lying prostrate on the ground in the cage, Baili Ji swallowed a breath of cold air as expected, his face turning terribly gloomy.

The king used the map they drew as coordinates to travel back in time.

The mysterious man that Feng Yi'er saw in the Lost Galaxy is the future king of the Gnawing Clan!