Chapter 427: Give It Back to Me

Li Miao gripped Zheng Anqi's neck. Within the cracks blooming in his palm, countless tentacles with sharp teeth rolled incessantly, cutting away flesh and bringing it back into his body.

And so, Zheng Anqi's neck became increasingly slender.

Looking at his eyes, he seemed somewhat panicked.

But Li Miao knew he was not afraid of death.

Not to mention that what was currently in Li Miao's mental image was only Zheng Anqi's "Nature" rather than his true body, so the concept of death did not exist. Even Zheng Anqi himself was a Heaven-Man who had grown up through a thousand years of slaughter. In an era when Nature Cultivation had not yet been completely lost, he had assassinated the ruler of the world several times and faced enemies far superior to him in both number and quality dozens of times.

It was impossible for him to be scared out of his wits by death like the Emperor.

The reason for his panic was the memories Li Miao had stolen.

Everything in the mental image was composed of "Nature." There was no distinction between a fingernail and the brain; every part carried independent emotions and memories.

Those memories stolen by Li Miao had truly vanished from Zheng Anqi's heart.

Zheng Anqi's panic was because his already vague and scarce memories of the "Old Man of the River" were becoming fewer and fewer, until finally, only the concept of "Master" remained.

The reason he had persisted for these thousand years was disappearing from his mind.

This was what he feared most.

Just as Zheng Wan said before she died, a person lives a lifetime and must have an obsession. If a person does not fear death, the reason must be that they fear the consequences of losing other things even more.

From the moment he made the choice a thousand years ago to found Yingzhou and extend his lifespan through "reincarnation," Zheng Anqi's greatest fear was that as the number of "reincarnations" increased, his own memories and emotions would become thinner, until they eventually disappeared completely.

Before finding "Master," he could not die.

Even knowing that he was just a clone used to seize Li Miao's body, and even knowing that death would not affect his true body in reality, the same emotions brought the same fear that could not be suppressed by reason.

Zheng Anqi's eyes changed.

Li Miao's smile, however, became increasingly ferocious.

The neck in his hand was already "easily grasped." He watched Zheng Anqi's eyes, which were gradually losing their composure, and slowly increased the force of his grip.

The next moment—thump.

Zheng Anqi's neck snapped.

The body fell to the ground, and the head was held in Li Miao's hands.

"Actually, I've been thinking about one thing."

Li Miao weighed Zheng Anqi's head, as if weighing a ripe watermelon.

"In the mental image, everything is composed of 'Nature.' You could say every part is the same, with no concept of vital points, yet when we fought, you still protected your head."

"Since you said you have already engaged in mental image struggles with several people, with your talent, you should have long been accustomed to this kind of struggle without vital points and shouldn't have made instinctive defensive reactions."

"So, there is a difference after all."

Li Miao's fingers drilled into Zheng Anqi's head, bit by bit, from the break below the neck. The tentacles beneath the skin rolled the flesh inside, and the fear in Zheng Anqi's eyes grew more intense.

"This part of the 'Nature' that makes up the head carries the memories and emotions most important to you. You are afraid of losing it."

"You have reincarnated too many times. This part of your memory is your anchor. Losing this anchor, you will completely lose yourself."

Li Miao kicked Zheng Anqi's torso away.

Then he brought the head before his eyes.

His fingers had already drilled behind Zheng Anqi's pupils. As the tentacles grabbed, Zheng Anqi's head became increasingly thin and transparent. Li Miao could already vaguely see his own wiggling fingers through the eyeball.

"Having lived an extra thousand years, you should die."

Squish.

Li Miao's fingers pierced through the top of the skull.

Zheng Anqi's eyes became chaotic.

At the very last moment before losing consciousness, he heard Li Miao's cruel laugh.

"Your true body will also die."

"If your Master is still alive, I will send him down to see you as well—you can just wait for him down there. No need to thank me."

Zheng Anqi wanted to open his mouth to curse.

But he no longer had the organs to make a sound. The next instant, his vision went dark.

The last piece of black water slid down Li Miao's fingers. When it reached his forearm, it was rolled into a crack by a suddenly appearing tentacle and disappeared.

On the pitch-black beach, only Li Miao and a headless corpse remained.

Apart from the sound of the tides and the sea breeze, there was no other sound. It seemed everything had ended.

But Li Miao remained focused and alert.

He had no premonition that he was about to wake up; his Xuanlan was still being interfered with, and his state had not recovered.

This mental image struggle had not yet ended.

Li Miao stared at Zheng Anqi's torso that he had kicked away.

There was some vague movement there.

With the disappearance of Zheng Anqi's head, the protective True Qi wrapped around the torso not only did not disappear, but instead expanded even more. At the same time, an extremely eerie aura emanated from the torso.

The next moment, the fingers of the torso moved.

Then the arms, shoulders, and neck, spreading to the whole body like a chain reaction, eventually evolving into eerie and violent convulsions.

"Uh—uh—"

With a heavy tone, as if the screams, wails, cries, and roars of dozens of people were mixed together, they simultaneously spread from that torso.

The sound grew louder and more tragic.

And clearer.

"Uh—I—"

"Who—am—I—"

"Give it back—my body, my—"

Li Miao curled his lips and clicked his tongue.

"I knew it."

The body in the mental image has no vital points.

Even if Zheng Anqi's head was absorbed by Li Miao, it should have grown back the next instant.

But like Li Miao, Zheng Anqi was special.

His "Nature" was not that of one person, but the product of dozens of Zheng Anqis from the past thousand years merging after he seized their bodies.

The emotions and memories stored in the head were "Zheng Anqi's" greatest obsession, the anchor that allowed him to maintain himself after seizing bodies dozens of times. That was why Zheng Anqi protected his head.

Now this anchor was gone.

What would the remaining parts become?

The convulsions of the headless torso stopped.

The clothing, bones, flesh, and hair gradually melted, eventually turning into a pool of sticky black water that spread out on the ground, then bulged up from the middle bit by bit.

Dozens of faces emerged from that pool of black water, bit by bit.

Some old, some young; some male, some female; all bore an extremely similar face.

They poked their heads out from the black water, and as soon as they took shape, they instinctively opened their mouths and let out shrill wails.

"Ancestor/Island Master/Zheng Anqi—"

"Give my body back to me! —"

"No, I don't want to become you... No!"

The next instant, as if wild beasts had smelled prey, these dozens of faces turned toward Li Miao in unison. Dozens of pairs of eyes were filled with the exact same resentment.

"Give it back to me! —"

"Give the body back to me!!!"

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 428 =====