novelraw Chapter 112: Huang Er: Could I Actually Be the Clone?
Chapter 112: Huang Er: Could I Actually Be the Clone?
As the Nine Nether God Lantern's cold words settled.
A single drop of lamp oil appeared out of thin air—frigid, radiating an eerie aura.
The drop of oil was burning.
Because netherworld fire had ignited it.
Then the burning drop of oil, wreathed in ghostly flame, phased straight through the bamboo hat and sank into Huang Twenty-four's brow.
The space between its brows rippled.
That clay body came alive as though a switch had been flipped.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into flesh and blood.
At its brow, flesh squirmed and soon coalesced into a series of strange, tadpole-shaped characters.
Netherworld script.Many characters layered atop one another, forming a single eerie sigil.
Huang Twenty-four had been successfully consecrated.
Every other Yin God crowded around. It seemed this hadn't happened in such a long time that they were beside themselves with excitement, some even dancing for joy.
Chen Huangpi read the netherworld script and murmured in his heart, 'Dao Calendar Year Seventeen Thousand, Four Hundred. One Yin God consecrated in the Yellow Springs and Yin Lands. Appointed Day and Night Patrol God. Total appointed to date: one million, three hundred and forty-nine thousand, seven hundred and twenty-four. Currently remaining: one hundred and three...'
Now he understood completely.
There really had been beings in the Yellow Springs and Yin Lands mass-producing Yin Gods all along.
Setting aside for the moment how Huang Twenty-four had suddenly met the qualifications and been consecrated as a Yin God—even appointed as a Day and Night Patrol God.
Before this, nearly 1.4 million Day and Night Patrol Gods had already been appointed.
Yet as of now, counting Huang Twenty-four, only one hundred and three remained.
And here stood nearly eight million more that had never passed consecration—all failures.
In other words, for a very long time before Huang Twenty-four, the failed Yin Gods had been ceaselessly manufacturing more of their kind—millions upon millions—yet for reasons unknown, none of them met the criteria. So the Nine Nether God Lantern had denied them all.
Perhaps because Yellow Heaven had not yet been born.
Perhaps because the Dao Lord had not yet arrived.
Or perhaps because the person forging the Yin Gods was wrong.
"The Dao Lord is probably Master."
Chen Huangpi murmured, "The Heaven and Earth Mutation isn't over yet, so Yellow Heaven hasn't been born. And whether Master was forging regular gods or Yin Gods, he must have had his reasons. But this Nine Nether God Lantern..."
"Huang Er, if that thing is the Nine Nether God Lantern, then who are you?"
That question struck the Brass Oil Lamp dumb.
In truth, the moment the voice from behind the ghost gate had shifted in tone.
The Brass Oil Lamp had already begun to feel a creeping dread.
And when the Nine Nether God Lantern emerged.
The Brass Oil Lamp was thunderstruck.
The bronze-green patina.
The netherworld fire.
Aside from the lack of bite marks on its body.
This Nine Nether God Lantern was the absolute spitting image of its own original form.
Or rather—the other one was the Nine Nether God Lantern.
Staring at it now.
Chen Huangpi said with mischievous suspicion, "Huang Er, you're not a counterfeit, are you?"
"How could I be a counterfeit?!"
The Brass Oil Lamp cried out desperately. "I am the Nine Nether God Lantern! The Guanzhu forged me with his own hands! How could there be a fake? Maybe that thing is my clone? But I don't remember having a clone..."
"Who's whose clone is still up for debate."
The Life-reaping Ghost said coolly. "It can consecrate Yin Gods and you can't. It's powerful and you're weak. Clones are typically split off from the stronger original, aren't they? I've never heard of it working the other way around."
Earlier, the Brass Oil Lamp had said: 'If you really miss your father that much, just take a few extra deep breaths.'
The Life-reaping Ghost hadn't forgotten those words.
Now that the chance to return the humiliation presented itself, the fact that it wasn't outright taunting was already showing restraint.
Chen Huangpi chimed in. "Huang Er, no wonder you can't consecrate Yin Gods. So you're just a clone all along."
"Impossible!"
The Brass Oil Lamp stomped its metaphorical feet in panic. "I am absolutely, categorically not a clone! If I were, why would the Guanzhu have treated me the way he did?"
"Maybe you imagined all of that."
Chen Huangpi said thoughtfully. "As I recall, when Master woke you up, there were already many copies of you around the temple. Either you've gone mentally unstable, or you were never the Nine Nether God Lantern at all. You're just the Brass Oil Lamp."
"I haven't gone mad!"
The Brass Oil Lamp roared. "I am the Nine Nether God Lantern!"
"Then why do you always look like this in your daily form?"
"My true appearance is too terrifying. I was afraid of scaring you."
"Then why didn't you turn yourself black, or white? Why this brass color specifically?"
"Because..."
The Brass Oil Lamp said, deeply aggrieved, "I... I..."
Because the Golden Top Heavenly Lamp—Huang Yi—was a brilliant, shimmering gold.
It was only out of some complicated, tangled sentiment that it had deliberately chosen to appear in brass—the color closest to Huang Yi's gold.
But there was no way it could bring itself to say that out loud.
"Chen Huangpi, you and I are like brothers."
The Brass Oil Lamp pleaded. "Believe me, I truly am the Nine Nether God Lantern. That thing is definitely my clone. I just don't know why it was placed in the Yellow Springs and Yin Lands. But the Guanzhu must have arranged it. We'll know for sure once we get back and ask him."
Yet its tone lacked conviction.
Because even it had begun to doubt whether it was truly the Nine Nether God Lantern.
Memories could deceive.
The memories of being forged by the Guanzhu's own hands, of the moment it emerged from the kiln, of the time before and after the Heaven and Earth Mutation, and of awakening afterward—all were vivid and clear.
There was only a gap of two to three thousand years during which its memory went blank...
Those two or three thousand years had been spent in slumber.
'But what if I wasn't actually asleep?'
An inexplicable panic seized the Brass Oil Lamp. 'Then am I the clone? Or have I already gone mad—deluding myself into thinking I'm the Nine Nether God Lantern? So I'm not really Huang Er? Then who am I?'
'Wait—if I'm not Huang Er.' 'Then I never groveled to the Nine Separation Bell only to get kicked out... never kowtowed to that sword begging it to accept me as its sworn brother only to nearly get cleaved in two... never bowed my head to Huang Yi and called it Big Brother...'
'But then, why would I pretend to be Huang Er? Am I that self-degrading?'
The Brass Oil Lamp stared at its own gleaming, yellow-gold surface and blurted out, 'Huang Yi's color is very close to mine. If I'm not Huang Er, then maybe I'm actually Huang Yi? But if I'm Huang Yi, then who is it? Have I really lost my mind?'
'But of everyone in the Pure Immortal Temple, I'm supposed to be the most sane one...'
"Chen Huangpi, real or fake—I can't tell anymore."
Hearing this, Chen Huangpi pointed at the Nine Nether God Lantern. "Just go talk to it. You'll find out what's real and what's fake soon enough."
"I won't..."
The Brass Oil Lamp clung to Chen Huangpi's clothes for dear life, refusing to go up and communicate with that Nine Nether God Lantern.
Its very name had already been stolen by the other one.
If its last shred of dignity got ripped away too, it might as well be dead.
"Look—your main body is leaving."
Chen Huangpi said. "That's right. It consecrated Huang Twenty-four as a Day and Night Patrol God, so naturally it's going back to the world behind the ghost gate."
As soon as he spoke.
The Brass Oil Lamp noticed that the Nine Nether God Lantern had already slipped back through the ghost gate.
The patina-covered ghost gate began to change, as though its color was fading—golden light slowly seeped through once more.
The countless pallid hands that had been clutching the doorframe began to withdraw, one by one.
Even the darkness within was gradually dimming.
The Golden Horn screamed, "Yellow-Skin Dad, the path back to the mortal world is disappearing! Get in there! Hurry, get in there!"
"This..."
Chen Huangpi's expression shifted rapidly.
The world behind the ghost gate felt every bit as eerie and terrifying as the Old Temple.
And there was an entire Yama Hall in there.
What if it was filled with untold dangers?
Besides, everyone said the Yellow Springs and Yin Lands had already mutated and were crawling with evil spirits—yet apart from Desolation Mountain, he hadn't seen a single one.
Who knew whether they were all lurking in the world behind that gate?
And yet...
Less than two hours remained until nightfall.
If he didn't go in now, there would be no time left to search for another way back to the mortal world.
"Let's go!"
Chen Huangpi hesitated no longer.
He immediately summoned the swirling black smoke around his body and, while the Yin Gods were still whooping and celebrating the successful consecration of a Day and Night Patrol God, launched himself skyward and dove straight toward the world beyond the gate.
Below, countless Yin Gods were startled by his sudden movement.
The moment they realized what Chen Huangpi was trying to do.
Every one of them erupted in fury.
Countless Yin God figures flickered and materialized in a dense, swarming wall before the ghost gate.
Several Yin Gods roared at Chen Huangpi.
Their howls were shrill and harrowing, like wrathful ghosts unleashing their rage.
Struck by that sound.
Chen Huangpi's figure faltered momentarily.
But in the very next instant.
An even more furious roar exploded outward.
This roar was like demonic thunder boring straight into the skull.
The Yin Gods blocking Chen Huangpi's path wavered for a split second—then dropped like dumplings into boiling water, plummeting from the sky.
Huang Twenty-four blazed with ghostly energy.
The eerie sigil at its brow radiated pitch-black luminescence, projecting an aura of dark, solemn authority.
A Day and Night Patrol God naturally outranked these unconsecrated defects from the very start.
The Yin Gods were at a complete loss.
Huang Twenty-four, however, turned to Chen Huangpi with an expectant gaze.
Like a child waiting to be praised.
But Chen Huangpi had already plunged through the ghost gate and didn't see it.
Huang Twenty-four felt a pang of disappointment.
It walked toward the ghost gate.
The darkness behind it was like a mirror, a barrier.
Huang Twenty-four passed through the gate—only to emerge on the other side, then pass through again. No matter how many times it tried, it could not enter the world beyond.
Frantic now.
It began to howl at Chen Huangpi's receding figure within the mirror-like darkness.
This time, Chen Huangpi sensed something. He turned and looked back at Huang Twenty-four, then cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Guard my domain here in the Yellow Springs and Yin Lands for me! If I get the chance someday, I'll come back to see you!"
Huang Twenty-four stood motionless.
It didn't understand why Chen Huangpi—its creator—was leaving it behind.
Nor did it understand what "domain" Chen Huangpi wanted it to guard.
It stood there, blank and bewildered.
In its mind, it replayed everything that had happened.
Then it turned and began to bow before the golden gate once more.
Because Chen Huangpi had told it to perform the ritual.
But this round of Yin God consecration was already over. The Nine Nether God Lantern would not appear again.
So Huang Twenty-four straightened up.
It remembered one more thing.
Something the Brass Oil Lamp at Chen Huangpi's side had said: "If they won't give it to you—then take it by force!"
It didn't know what a domain was, or where to find one. But if it didn't have one, then it would simply go and seize one.