Chapter Sixty-Three: The Clever Funina

After the servant departed, Furnina stepped lightly out from the recesses of her dream, her gait buoyant. She gazed at the bench, her smile growing ever more radiant, as a curious idea blossomed in her mind.

On the day of judgment in reality—

As Viellette and the others escorted the servant from the prison to the opera house, Furnina sat on the familiar bench, watching the servant from a short distance. She tapped the bench gently and, smiling, invited, “Arlecchino, come sit!”

It was hard to imagine how many earthquakes might be triggered by a mere dilation of the servant's pupils; if such an event truly occurred in reality, her composure would surely falter. Precisely because of this, Furnina dared not act so boldly. If she truly did, the servant might well raise her scythe and, with reckless abandon, come to strike her down.

She was allergic—she was allergic to benches.

“Do you want to arrange something? She’s clever, such misdirection might not work easily,” Lu Mingfei remarked with a helpless smile.

“I only wish to disrupt her judgment,” Furnina replied.

Her concealment had no meaning, but if it was done for the servant to see, it gained significance. For someone as meticulous as the servant, she would search for the truth and answers in the smallest details.

If Furnina hid herself and Lu Mingfei asked her for the Evil Eye, the servant would deduce that Lu Mingfei’s power was not as great as she imagined. He needed to further weaken his strength, thus protecting Furnina.

But if, on this basis, Lu Mingfei openly created a new Evil Eye before her and returned her original one, the servant’s thoughts would become far more tangled.

“Oh, I see,” Lu Mingfei nodded, then, with an excited smile, pulled Furnina onto the bench, exclaiming, “Let me tell you, today I found out that two of my closest friends are actually Dragon Kings! You know Senior Chu Zihang, right? He’s the King of Bronze and Fire! And Old Tang, he’s Norton—they’re brothers!”

“Huh?” Furnina listened in bewilderment to Lu Mingfei’s account, suddenly feeling that Dragon Kings seemed to proliferate in his world; any random online friend or senior was a Dragon King. How absurd.

Could it be...

That Dragon Kings attract one another?

“Wait...hold on.” Furnina gently patted Lu Mingfei, cautiously interrupting him. Seeing his puzzled expression, she continued, “I think, even if Senior Chu’s Word Spirit is Sovereign Flame, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the King of Bronze and Fire, right?”

“Why not?” Lu Mingfei looked perplexed.

“If it were our world’s Dragon King, fine—but yours is clearly different. Think about yourself: you command multiple elemental powers and express your strength in many ways, never confined to a single element.”

She paused for a moment, then regarded Lu Mingfei with grave seriousness, staring into his eyes as she continued, “So...isn’t it possible that Dragon Kings other than the King of Bronze and Fire could also wield Sovereign Flame?”

“Huh?” Lu Mingfei’s eyes cleared instantly, a sense of foreboding stirring within him.

“And you’ve said Senior Chu is not a timid man—perhaps he isn’t the cowardly Constantine after all?” Furnina pressed.

“No, that can’t be right! You’re overthinking this... you must be overthinking. Old Tang changed a lot after becoming Norton; his tone and attitude are different. Maybe that’s because Senior hasn’t awakened his past memories yet? Maybe he’ll become Constantine once he awakens?”

Lu Mingfei defended nervously, then his eyes brightened, as if he’d found a crucial key. “That’s it! Even after I awakened, I didn’t change. I never recovered my past memories—I am Senior’s precedent!”

“You’re his precedent?” Furnina smiled and continued, “Isn’t it possible you’re not his precedent? That little devil once said you’re the greatest monster in that world; your only adversary is the Black Emperor. That means your rank matches the Black King’s. It’s normal for you to differ from the Four Sovereigns.”

“And you don’t know those things, but the little devil beside you does. Did you ever wonder why he knows and you don’t? Is it because you haven’t awakened? No, you have—you awakened long ago, but your memories are stored in the little devil. Perhaps he is a part of your power, or even your personality; you’ve known everything from the start!”

“This...” Lu Mingfei’s pupils quaked.

“And let me tell you, just as a possibility—Norton to Old Tang is as the little devil is to you,” Furnina leaned closer, gazing into Lu Mingfei’s eyes. “The little devil and Norton are not the same. He loves you, but Norton doesn’t love Old Tang. Norton devoured Old Tang’s soul, making him a part of himself, becoming the complete King of Bronze and Fire.”

“But the little devil is different. He calls you brother, he loves you, he refuses to devour you, even offers you great power. Trading souls may be his lie; if he wished, he could swallow you at any moment and become a true Dragon King.”

“Lu Mingfei, you possess the power of dragons, but you are not a true Dragon King. You are the consciousness from which a Dragon King is born. You plus the little devil—that’s the real, complete Dragon King. You are one!”

“We...are one?” Lu Mingfei murmured, feeling his mind tremble.

Of course—the little devil existed only for him to see. No one else could perceive him. Why was that? Because he belonged to Lu Mingfei’s spirit, was a part of him. They were one, naturally able to see each other.

If that’s true...

Then what am I, really?

“Let’s return to the main topic,” Furnina gently pulled him into her embrace, stroking his back as she continued, “I have a guess, though I can’t be sure it’s right. I suspect your Senior isn’t a Dragon King at all; he has no Dragon King’s will, nor a little devil by his side.”

“But he has a Dragon King’s power...”

“No, that’s not his power. You have your own power, but does your power automatically merge into the Evil Eye and form a Dragon’s Heart? That belongs to you; you are a whole. Your power won’t merge into something else. But his does! Do you understand?”

Lu Mingfei: !!!

“So, I guess that power never belonged to him. He has no control over it; that’s why the Dragon King’s power is drawn by yours, flowing into the Evil Eye and forming the Dragon’s Heart.”

Furnina paused, seeing Lu Mingfei battered by the truth, then continued softly, “Your Senior is just an ordinary person, so he lacks the Dragon King’s will. Even with the cultivation method, he can’t react or awaken ancient memories.”

“He can command the Dragon King’s power only because you drew out the hidden Dragon King’s power in him, channeling it into the Evil Eye. The Evil Eye carries his will, so it becomes his Dragon’s Heart, turning him from a false Dragon King into a true one, making him look like a genuine sovereign.”

“Stop, I want some peace.”

Lu Mingfei buried his head in Furnina’s chest so hard the steel plate made his head ache, as if he’d crashed into a wall.

What a headache!

(End of chapter)