Chapter 115: The Worst of Them All

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Apparently, the innkeeper had never expected me to answer that way. For a moment, he was completely dumbfounded.

After a long while, he finally smiled faintly.

Then he asked softly, “Do you know my name?”

I felt a surge of frustration. It was a difficult question, because I had no idea what the man before me was called. I knew only that he was myself, that he was currently the proprietor of this inn, and that, in the eyes of outsiders, the two of us were one and the same person.

Xiyue had told me that throughout Painted-Brow Village, apart from them, the only person who likely knew my true identity was the shop assistant.

The shop assistant…

I had personally witnessed the innkeeper kill him. If that was the case, then at least all the conditions for murder had been fulfilled. No wonder that after my body entered the Yin Eye, everything I saw had unfolded in precisely that way.

“Everyone who knows my secret must die!”

At the thought of those words, I felt a sudden sense of clarity. Only now did I truly understand what they meant.

The innkeeper had killed the shop assistant because, in Painted-Brow Village, he was the only one who knew the innkeeper’s true identity. As for killing the two yin-yang masters, Feng Yang and Feng Hu, that was because they had entered Painted-Brow Village from outside by passing through the chaotic currents of the Ghost Path. Anyone capable of entering this place would inevitably know a great deal about it.

If that was so, then Chen Chuyi, Zhao Shiwǔ, and Xiyue were all targets he intended to murder.

And I was the final person he meant to kill and replace.

I raised my head and looked at the other me before slowly shaking it.

“Yang Dong, it seems you truly are as the former me once told me—you would never return. And even if you did, you would have lost all your memories, because everything was a fate you had arranged for yourself long ago!”

I smiled bitterly. This matter seemed far more complicated than I had imagined. No wonder Xiyue had asked me to deal with it alone this time. Perhaps she wanted to use this opportunity to see whether I was truly capable of returning to the past.

“You are no longer the person you once were.”

Then what had I once been like?

I desperately wanted to know.

Seeing the confusion in my eyes, the innkeeper seemed to relax considerably. From my inability to answer when he had asked my name, he had already realized that everything I had done before had merely been a forced performance. Once that was confirmed, he no longer had anything to fear.

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“You must be very eager to know what you used to be like, aren’t you?”

I nodded. There was no point in hiding it. At that moment, I felt utterly powerless. I even knew that I might never leave this place alive.

Originally, I had thought I was merely a young master who had just stepped into the world of yin and yang. I had no idea where my path would lead. But then someone suddenly told you that you were actually an extraordinary figure who had manipulated everything.

Anyone would need time to process something like that.

“Haha. I have some time now, so I’ll tell you what kind of person you used to be!”

I lifted my head and watched as the other me slowly sat down before me. His voice was hoarse, but its tone was merely the sound of my own voice after aging.

I stood there as the air throughout the room grew thick with blood and oppression, making it almost impossible to breathe. It felt as though I might suffocate at any moment.

“Your name is Yang Dong. Before I appeared, you were the master of this entire region. This space was your kingdom. You killed as you pleased, freely linked together and refined human souls, all for the sake of your ridiculous dream of piercing through the boundaries between yin and yang.

“You believed that countless worlds existed beyond this one. You wanted to explore ancient ruins and transcend the realms of yin and yang. Because of your brutality, you treated everyone here as experimental subjects. You even treated yourself as one.

“In the end, you discovered an ancient ruin left behind by a distant age.”

“The Shadowless Village?”

I felt a stir of excitement.

I had never imagined that my former self could have been so wicked.

“No. At that time, it was not yet called Shadowless Village. You called it the Thousand and Ninth Experimental Field. Just as before, you refused to enter it yourself. Instead, you placed the results of your research inside—those people and animals whose souls you had fused with your own. You called these experimental subjects X.”

As he spoke, the innkeeper watched me with keen interest. It was almost as if he were saying, Remember. Recall. Better yet, sink into those memories and never awaken.

I shook my head. Those memories were far too unfamiliar. There was not the slightest trace of them in my mind.

Everything the innkeeper was telling me seemed utterly fabricated.

“You can’t remember, can you?”

The innkeeper continued trying to lure me into recalling the past.

“After several attempts, you decided to enter personally. And that journey completely changed all your plans.”

“I was the one who released you from your seal after returning from Shadowless Village in a wretched state. You told me that from then on, I was you, and that I was to govern Painted-Brow Village in your place.

“At the time, I had no idea who I was. I struck one of your souls into my own body and used the Reversal Art to erase every memory I had possessed before that. Thus, I knew only that I was you—and that my name was Yang Dong.”

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Doubt began to surface in my heart. But then the innkeeper’s next words made my entire body tremble, and I nearly fled the place on the spot.

“After that, you made all the necessary arrangements. Then you left Painted-Brow Village with your wife at the time, Xiyue.”

Unable to understand, I asked, “But why did I leave Painted-Brow Village back then?”

“That is what I have wanted to know all these years!”

The innkeeper stared coldly at me. There was no longer any trace of the fear or confusion he had shown earlier. In their place was utter recklessness. Perhaps, in his eyes, I no longer posed the slightest threat.

After all, he had me completely imprisoned.

“You don’t know?”

I found that difficult to understand as well. If my former self had been able to survive in Painted-Brow Village, why had I left it for somewhere else? And judging from the circumstances, after leaving the village I had forgotten everything and begun again from the very beginning.

Why?

The innkeeper looked just as perplexed. Then he suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

“That is why I have spent all these years trying to awaken you. I want to know why. Why did all of this happen?”

As he spoke, the innkeeper suddenly reached out and seized the blood-red sheet covering the single bed before me. With a forceful tug, he flung it aside.

Beneath it lay a corpse.

My body trembled faintly. Although this was the second time I had seen it, the sight still shook me violently.

The corpse was exactly identical to me.

P.S. Shaolang has been updating rather slowly lately, so please forgive me. I promise, however, that the story will remain exciting. If you have any opinions or suggestions, you can follow the Yang Family Shaolang public account, or add Shaolang directly on QQ at 511489605 to discuss the story with me. Thank you all for your support and generosity.

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