Chapter 714 — Speaking the Truth
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
More than a month had passed since that dreadful man-made god was reduced to feed for the sea demons at the end of the Baishui River. By now the grass on the grave of the Order of All Things' End had likely grown a hundred meters tall...
In every sense, that was a pretty fitting reality.
Beiyila appeared to have awoken, but she was undoubtedly no longer a normal human. Her body had fused with that colossal tree, transformed inside and out, and this had affected her mind and her capacity for speech: when she opened her mouth, a low, hoarse sound blended into her voice. Her speech was slow, her expression dull and vacant—everything about her inevitably brought a plant to mind.
Gao Yang looked at her. Though the situation before him exceeded his original expectations somewhat, he had nonetheless finally gotten the chance to speak face-to-face with this "old acquaintance": "It's a regrettable situation. Beiyila, is there anything you'd like to say to me?"
Beiyila gazed at Gao Yang quietly. After two seconds of silence, she spoke slowly: "Outland... wanderer. I want to talk with you in private."
Gao Yang frowned. After a brief moment of thought, he instructed those beside him: "You lot go outside the hall and keep watch first. Amber, you go too."
"Are you sure?" Amber's eyes immediately went wide. "This woman looks downright eerie right now. Who knows what kind of scheme she might be plotting..."
"Whatever scheme she's plotting, in her current state she probably can't pull it off anyway," Gao Yang waved a hand. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'm curious what she actually wants to say."
Amber thought it over, then reluctantly agreed. She answered while leading the others in retreating outward: "All right. Be careful."
Soon the soldiers in the hall withdrew outside under Amber's lead, and Bard departed along with them. When only Gao Yang and the half-plant Beiyila remained on the scene, he cleared his throat twice: "Ahem, ahem. You can speak now if you have something to say."
He looked calm, but in truth Gao Yang was still a little tense. Every time he met an "old acquaintance" from seven hundred years ago, he grew cautious, because after all he was occupying a body that was not his own—and those "old acquaintances" from seven hundred years ago had known the real Gao Yang Cecil.
The first time he felt nervous about this was when he met Solin, and then when he met Soyou. But neither of those two had put much pressure on him: Solin's personality was hardly the meticulous sort, and Soyou devoted most of her energy to nagging Solin about getting married. The Beiyila before him was different. Who knew what ideas would pop into the head of this woman who carried a pile of secrets once she sensed that another soul dwelt within Gao Yang Cecil...
Gao Yang's mind raced through calculations—but the instant Beiyila opened her mouth, all his calculations stopped.
"Who exactly are you?"
Beiyila stared fixedly into Gao Yang's eyes. The expression on her face was unprecedentedly grave, and her tone carried a full measure of caution and coldness.
Gao Yang's guard shot up instantly, but the expression on his face did not change in the slightest: "What do you mean by that? Can't you recognize me anymore?"
"...There's no need to waste effort. I know you are not Gao Yang Cecil," Beiyila said, still staring hard at him. "Outland wanderer... what exactly are you? Why have you taken possession of this body?"
She was no longer asking "who" he was—she had simply switched to words like "what."
Upon hearing the words "outland wanderer," Gao Yang abandoned any notion of continuing to communicate with her under the identity of this body.