In Order To Ascend, I Became A Modern Wage Slave - Chapter 44: Elemental True Monarch 17

Chapter 44: Elemental True Monarch 17

 

As the saying goes, the onlooker sees clearly, but the involved is lost.

 

A healer cannot heal themselves.

 

At first, Yuan Xu thought the same.

 

He realized that although he didn’t truly want to save people, he often couldn’t control his actions and ended up helping them. At that time, he felt that he and Yuan Su were still one entity, constantly influencing each other. He began to wander in search of test subjects, trying to treat people with similar conditions.

 

He even consulted a psychologist.

 

She suggested trying to reconcile with himself.

 

Reconcile, my foot!

 

Utterly ridiculous!

 

This world had never thought of reconciling with him!

 

“What are you doing?!”

 

Yuan Xu roared in a fit of rage and knelt down to pick something up.

 

The moment the scene became clear, accompanied by a heart-wrenching scream, Xi Yu felt his thoughts being pulled by an unknown force to another place. Gradually, an image appeared before his eyes, but its content had nothing to do with him.

 

Around him, the darkness transformed into proud greenery. In front of the kneeling Yuan Xu, a tall pagoda tree appeared.

 

Since the first year of the Yuan Qi era, when he came into existence with self-awareness, Yuan Su had been searching for the meaning of his existence. Homeless, he roamed far and wide, witnessing the myriad forms of humanity, the vicissitudes of life, and the impermanence of all things. All the tastes of life, sweet or bitter, were its essence. He tried to understand what life was and why it existed.

 

Behind the kneeling Yuan Xu, a group of people armed with sticks, brooms, and pitchforks were marching toward him in a great wave. It wasn’t long before Yuan Xu was surrounded. He raised his head in confusion, barely registering the current situation before a stick struck his back, knocking him to the ground.

 

His expression was gentle, his gestures refined, radiating an extraordinary elegance. Even as he was struck down, he didn’t appear the least bit disheveled or unsightly—evoking pity in anyone who saw him.

 

Xi Yu could confirm that this was the true Elemental Immortal.

 

Although he looked exactly like Yuan Xu, the feeling he gave off was entirely different.

 

After being beaten to the ground, the crowd didn’t even give him a chance to get up. They kicked and struck him repeatedly. The leader spat at him several times, cursing loudly.

 

The punches and kicks rained down. Just as Yuan Xu gathered the strength to explain, another kick and strike followed, leaving him no chance to speak.

 

His blood seeped into the soil, slowly spreading.

 

Xi Yu noticed that even as he lay helpless, his back remained slightly arched, as though protecting something precious beneath him.

 

Looking closely, a small sprout could be seen poking out, gradually growing taller.

 

It was likely the immortal herb mentioned in Idle Notes.

 

Someone stabbed Yuan Su in the abdomen, and a string of blood droplets fell, forming a chain in midair before landing on the herb. Strangely, the herb began to grow faster and taller, ultimately piercing through the hollow in Yuan Su’s abdomen!

 

This left the surrounding crowd, who had been beating Yuan Su, utterly stunned. They took a step back, looking at one another before someone, likely the leader, shouted, and they all fled.

 

Xi Yu quickly followed. He saw them run to a temple. The leader pointed to the deity statue atop the temple and said, “He’s a god, but this looks like demonic mischief! Let’s topple it!”

 

How did he know?

 

Xi Yu approached the leader. Though he had changed his face, his voice, and disguised himself thoroughly, perhaps because Xi Yu already had the answer in his heart, he recognized him at a glance.

 

It was Xi Yi.

 

His identity was that of a wandering Taoist passing through the village. This incident with the villagers arose under his guidance.

 

He had demonstrated real abilities to the villagers, who harbored no doubts about him. A few strong men stood up, ready to act on his words.

 

“One, two!”

 

“One, two, three!”

 

“One, two!”

 

…

 

With everyone’s combined effort, a loud crash echoed as the clay statue of the deity toppled and smashed heavily onto the ground.

 

Boom—!

 

Dark clouds, which had gathered unnoticed, began to rumble ominously in the sky. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck.

 

No rain, just thunder.

 

Yuan Su ascended successfully!

 

No, that wasn’t it!

 

That facade of gentleness—it was no longer Yuan Su.

 

The immortal herb slowly devoured his body, growing taller and thicker, eventually transforming into a second pagoda tree, intertwining with the original.

 

When Yuan Xu woke up, memories of Yuan Su flooded back to him, driving him to rush into the temple.

 

He would never forget that day when his statue was pushed to the ground by the crowd.

 

Nor did he want to recall that the people who did it were the very patients he had tirelessly worked to save.

 

He crouched down.

 

The statue had been toppled and shattered.

 

It couldn’t be pieced back together.

 

Why save them?

 

Why?

 

Why?

 

Why indeed?

 

…

 

He began to lose understanding. Suddenly, what he had steadfastly upheld all this time seemed like a joke. He became convinced that Yuan Su was already dead, beaten to death by that group of people. At the end of Idle Notes, he wrote a lengthy passage to remind himself that his name was Yuan Xu.

 

He decided never to save anyone again.

 

But when traveling through the world, he would still soften. He spent a long time trying to convince himself, yet the beliefs he upheld later completely contradicted the ones he initially adhered to.

 

Finally, one day, he returned once more to the original village. There, a new temple had been built for him. He entered, and inside, many people were kneeling and worshiping.

 

Among them were familiar faces.

 

For no apparent reason, the calm and detached heart he thought he had achieved suddenly erupted with an overwhelming fury. He took possession of the statue and sat there for several days.

 

What he witnessed could be described as the fickleness of human nature.

 

In the end, he closed his eyes and fell forward.

 

The statue hit the ground. Contrary to expectations, it didn’t shatter into pieces but cracked down the middle, splitting into two halves.

 

Yuan Su detached from the statue, standing aside to observe.

 

He crouched down and reached out, trying to piece them back together.

 

Though pieced together, they were still broken…

 

“I don’t understand you,” Yuan Xu murmured. “Why?”

 

——Because your name is Yuan Xu.

 

Suddenly, a voice appeared in his mind. Yuan Xu looked up in confusion at the massive locust tree. His lips moved silently, mouthing, “You’re still inside me… We were never truly separated?”

 

“Yes, never.”

 

His expression sharpened instantly. Lowering his head, he exhaled deeply and turned to Xi Yu, saying, “It’s me now.”

 

“Yuan Su,” Xi Yu said, “What do you want to do?”

 

That book was likely placed deliberately by Yuan Su. After all, something over a thousand years old could not possibly look so new. It must have been a reproduction from his memory, crafted specifically for Yuan Xu—delivered through Xi Yu.

 

This made it seem less deliberate.

 

He hid within Yuan Xu’s body—or rather, they shared one body. On the surface, it seemed Yuan Xu was in control, but in truth, Yuan Su was the omniscient force behind the scenes, the mastermind standing outside and above everyone’s plans and purposes.

 

Yuan Xu smiled, gentle as a spring breeze, tinged with helplessness and a trace of regret. “Actually, this is a matter between the two of us. We shouldn’t have involved you, but I had no choice. I cannot fail again.”

 

Roughly two thousand years ago, the two had already engaged in a life-and-death struggle over the use of this body. In the end, neither won; they perished together, transforming into the locust tree before them, one on the left, one on the right.

 

This outcome was perfectly acceptable to Yuan Su, but for Yuan Xu, it was quite the opposite. At some point, he formed an alliance with Di Yi, fostering a connection and waiting patiently for this day over the past two millennia.

 

Yuan Xu wanted to see him.

 

No matter the cost.

 

Perhaps he believed that meeting him face to face, arguing or even fighting, could resolve all their grievances.

 

He was as simple, reckless, and naive as a child.

 

Yuan Sul said, “We are like two eyes, able to see everything and aware of each other’s existence, yet unable to see one another. You look left; I look right. Our views differ; our thoughts diverge, stubborn in their convictions.”

 

He had thought of many ways to resolve this but ultimately prepared to perish together.

 

No matter which of them survived, the other would be in pain.

 

Yuan Su said, “I’ve always been weaker than him, so naturally, I’ll go first. I came out specifically to have you convey a few words to him—my reflections over the past few millennia. I hope he can understand.”

 

“I will wait for him.”

 

——I named you Yuan Xu not for ruins (墟), nor for necessity (需), nor for continuity (续), but for the rising sun (旭)—the sun ascending, rebirth, and light.

 

Thud!

 

He knelt.

 

Yuan Xu’s eyes flickered as he gritted his teeth, glaring at the locust tree before him.

 

Xi Yu repeated the message. Blood trickled from Yuan Xu’s lips as he cried out, “Why did you save them? They treated you so terribly back then! They should have died! They deserved to die!”

 

“You’re utterly hopeless!”

 

After his ascension, Yuan Xu intended to bury the entire village with Yuan Su, not only refusing to save them but hastening their demise and ensuring they suffered doubly.

 

At the time, when the two were still one, the villagers were saved.

 

——And that’s why you have a second temple now. Looking on the bright side, if not for him, there wouldn’t be you.

 

“And what about you?” Yuan Xu shouted. “What about you? Tell me, now that I exist, what about you? And why, even though we’ve been separated, have you never come to see me? Why? You must have known I was here! I wrote so many names, so many words to you. Why didn’t you respond to a single one?”

 

“Get out here! Face me! Get out!”

 

——Because I was lost too. Also, you are yourself. Look, after all these years of being me, you’re still…

 

…so interesting…

 

——You don’t have to become me, nor do you have to oppose me. We are, after all, two different people. After so many years, I’ve finally understood.

 

——After fighting for so long, will you leave with me now, Yuan Xu?

 

“Like hell I will! Get out here and see me! I’ve already figured out how to make us meet. A wooden puppet! Get into the puppet, and we’ll talk face to face!”

 

Xi Yu could hear their conversation, but from others’ perspectives, Yuan Xu appeared to be raving to himself.

 

Gripping his own throat, he began to threaten himself.

 

Xi Yu stepped forward and patted the locust tree. A leaf gently floated down and landed on Yuan Xu’s head. He immediately brushed it off, picked it up, and stared at it, his eyes filled with rage.

 

Xi Yu said, “I have a way. Lend me some power.”

 

After a while, the leaf emitted a white light, forming a vague humanoid figure.

 

——I clearly understand good and evil, but I act according to my nature. I do good as I please, and he does evil as he wills. We are entirely separate. You must understand, when malice arises, no one can control their actions. All you can do is act virtuously at other times. That’s your nature—why suppress it? Why restrain it? Don’t become someone else for their sake.

 

——What I want to say is, don’t become someone else for anyone.

 

…

 

Yuan Xu immediately stood and lunged forward, but he grasped at nothing. The figure dissolved into specks of starlight.

 

From his actions, it seemed he wasn’t trying to strangle the figure but rather to embrace it.

 

In the end, amidst the starlight, there was a faint sigh.

 

——I’m no saint either. Because I didn’t want to die alone, I dragged someone down to accompany me.

 

——I still remember that the year I died, I was only twenty-five.

 

Finally, under everyone’s gaze, Yuan Xu slowly wrapped his hands around his own throat.

 

The Elemental True Monarch had fallen.

 

According to reason, all the power should have gone to Xi Yu. However, Bai Fan stepped forward, waved his hand, and took the power for himself.

 

Bai Fan smiled, “Now it’s my turn. Afraid you won’t keep your word, this power will be under my custody for now.”