The Ugly Little Snake: My Dragon Son | Chapter 31 | The Truth of the Rift | Novela.app

Although only five days had passed since he last saw Su Luo, the state of the Su Manor left Leng Jing truly astonished. He had never seen grey lotuses like these—climbing the walls like ivy, their tangled stems and tendrils weaving a complex web. As he stepped through the main gates, he saw that the once exquisite and tidy manor was now overgrown with wild weeds, looking as though it had been abandoned for many years. Furthermore, upon closer inspection, every weed sprouting from the ground bore a strange "flower bud"—a bloodshot eyeball. Countless eyes were fixed upon Leng Jing. The manor’s dimensions seemed to have stretched into an impossible depth; the path from the entrance to the inner courtyard felt as if it would never end. Leng Jing did not quicken his pace, instead walking forward with slow, deliberate steps. Not a soul was in sight—only the desolate scenery and the sprawling eyeball grass. "What are you?" A soft whisper drifted on the wind, faint and ethereal. "What are you...?" "What are you?" "What are you?" "What are you...?" "What are you?" "What are you?" "What are you?" "What...?" "What are you? How can you enter?" Many thin voices murmured and called out in the wind, seemingly questioning Leng Jing. Leng Jing remained silent. The further he ventured, the more the sky lost its color, eventually turning into a hazy expanse of grey. Thick, low-hanging clouds drifted in the air. As he drew closer, he realized those clouds were remarkably low—barely higher than a man’s head. Some even hung suspended at waist height, a truly eerie sight. The sky was the color of a brewing storm. Finally, Leng Jing arrived before the circular pool where Su Luo had once placed him. The shape of the pool was peculiar—perfectly round, with a thin layer of clear water. Beneath the surface, a white ring encircled a massive, black, circular object. Because Leng Jing had approached it from a level gaze, it was only when he reached the edge and looked down that he realized with a start: this pool was actually a giant eye! The white part was the sclera, and the black circle in the center was the pupil! The black pupil slowly shifted toward Leng Jing’s side before returning to the center, as if looking at the sky. Leng Jing looked up and was startled to find Su Luo suspended directly above the eye, entwined by grey lotus vines. Su Luo’s head hung low, his hair obscuring his face. From his mouth came intermittent, somber words that sounded like a delirious chant: "What... are you? How... can you enter?" The voice struck directly at the heart, carrying a massive weight of malice and fear that made one want to collapse and scream. "I want to know—what is that curse?" Leng Jing finally spoke. As the words left his mouth, grey lotus vines instantly coiled around his body, dragging him into the infinitely soft, sinking ground. Everything began to pour and slide downward, as if he were plummeting off a cliff, yet the fall felt eternal, as if he were sinking into a bottomless abyss... *** He did not know how much time had passed. When Leng Jing realized the sensation of falling had stopped, he found himself in a cramped, watery space, surrounded by tangled grey lotus vines. It felt incredibly narrow. "Su Bai, is it?" A gap slowly opened among the vines, and Su Luo’s face appeared—but it was only a face. "Su Luo. You are the Flower God, Suro!" Leng Jing barely opened his mouth; his thoughts manifested directly as sound. "Yes... I only just remembered that I am that Suro... and then I was discovered... I think this is my last shred of consciousness..." Su Luo murmured. "Is this your consciousness space?" Leng Jing asked. "Yes, this is the last remnant of my sanctuary, but it will soon vanish. Su Bai, I believe you are the one I have been waiting for..." Su Luo said. "Listen carefully. I am about to entrust you with the terrifying truth of the entire Heavenly Realm." The clear water surrounding the grey lotuses began to take on a faint tint of blood. Su Luo slowly recounted the origin of all the calamities: "One hundred and fifty years ago, the prophet of the Snake God Clan, Bai Jing, committed suicide in the Heavenly Court in a most gruesome manner. That prophet was once our dear friend. Before he died, he told us of a terrible prophecy—he said the Heavenly Realm was about to collapse, and all gods would be unable to escape their doom. He hoped his death would force the Heavens to take notice and take precautions early. "But his death did not sway the Heavenly Emperor. As Bai Jing's friends, Hua Yun, the Dragon Emperor, and I found his suicide note while organizing his effects. It detailed the terrifying future of the Heavens, but we were skeptical. Among his writings, he mentioned a 'White Dragon'—a variable said to be capable of bringing change to a 'Dead End'... "The cautious Hua Yun presented the letter to the Heavenly Emperor, but there was no response. Hua Yun stubbornly believed everything the prophet said was true, for Bai Jing was the only person Hua Yun had ever truly loved in a thousand years... Hua Yun eventually tore out and destroyed all records regarding the final 'White Dragon,' then set out alone to fulfill Bai Jing’s dying wish... "Not long after, a haggard Hua Yun found the Dragon Emperor and me. He took us to see his shocking discovery—a 'Rift' located in a desolate region at the edge of the Heavenly Realm. It was originally a tiny spatial fissure, but staggering power was leaking from the other side! A terrifying, massive evil force. When the tiniest insects of the Heavens, the Sky Plankton, were accidentally infected by the evil force leaking from the Rift, they transformed into enormous monstrous bugs that could not be killed and grew incessantly! "Hua Yun said that the Rift, created by unknown means, was the root of the calamity Bai Jing had spoken of. He wanted to mend the crack and begged us to help him. He had actually struck a deal with the sinister Curse Demon of the Demon Realm, intending to exchange his own Primordial Spirit for the method to seal the gap. "As it turned out, the Curse Demon had utterly deceived him. Not only was the Rift not mended, but the Curse Demon exploited it. The immense power within the Rift even tempted the Heavenly Emperor. They blindly believed they could control that power... but by the time we realized, it was too late. The Heavenly Emperor sealed all paths leading to the Rift, becoming obsessed with the infinite, terrifying power it provided... From that moment on, Hua Yun and we agreed to search for the 'White Dragon.' "Searching for the 'White Dragon' took us fifty years. We painstakingly sought any clue. Finally, the Dragon Emperor risked his life to break into the Ancient Forbidden Zone of the Heavens and stole the 'Dragon Egg,' which was said to be an absolute taboo, bound by the Six Paths of Supreme Seals. That Dragon Egg had existed as a forbidden object of the Heavens since the separation of the three realms and the dawn of chaos; it was said to be a dangerous item sealing a rampaging, deviant dragon. Both the Dragon Emperor and Hua Yun believed this 'Dragon Egg' was the 'White Dragon'! "But it was all too late. The Heavenly Emperor discovered our actions. In his arrogance, he apprehended the Dragon Emperor. Hua Yun fled with the 'Dragon Egg' but was captured halfway. The 'Dragon Egg,' unknown to the Heavenly Emperor, was lost at the intersection of the three realms. Hua Yun exhausted his entire cultivation to break one of the Six Paths of Supreme Seals on the egg, but we never knew where it ended up. "After that, the chaos in the Heavens intensified. The Heavenly Emperor eventually tore the Rift wider; the evil force spread through the Heavens, and the gods became infected and mutated. At the moment the Heavens finally collapsed, because I am the Flower God and possess a floral avatar, I forcibly separated a portion of my Primordial Spirit to enter the mortal world and reincarnate, hoping to eventually find that lost 'Dragon Egg'... "Now, I believe I have found it. It turns out that as long as one of the six seals is broken, the White Dragon, who possesses power no less than that of the Rift, can break the remaining seals on its own." Su Luo’s gaze fell upon Leng Jing. Leng Jing listened quietly until the end, then asked, "What is the deal with the Curse Demon’s curse?" Su Luo wore a bitter expression. "The Curse Demon was one of the first to obtain the power of the Rift. He is cunning and profound; he knows how to utilize the Rift’s power, which has made him a terrifying Archdemon with a unique power of malediction. To monopolize the Rift’s power, he placed a terrible curse on everyone who knew the secret. Once these people reveal the secret, their souls are devoured by the curse. I am only able to speak of this secret now because this narrow space was created by seizing a gap in the Curse Demon’s power. I, too, am about to be devoured. The strange sights you saw outside are the Curse Demon’s doing, and my physical shell has long been controlled." Leng Jing pressed further, "Who are the people who know the secret and are cursed?" Su Luo said, "Me, Hua Yun, the Dragon Emperor, and those Bai Jing told before. The people Bai Jing told might have been his clansmen." Leng Jing frowned. This explained why Leng Qingqing knew the secret and was cursed; Bai Jing must have been someone very close to Leng Qingqing. The blood-red color around them gradually deepened, while Su Luo’s face grew paler. His voice became smaller and smaller: "White Dragon... you must find that Rift... you must seal it... otherwise... the entire Three Realms will... I beg you... you must..." Leng Jing nodded. "I understand. I will fulfill your final wishes." Su Luo gave a pained smile. "Then... I can rest easy... Finally, can you tell me your name? White Dragon?" Leng Jing spoke in a tone of absolute sincerity, "My name is Leng Feihuan." Because this was a consciousness space, the most direct voice of Leng Jing’s heart manifested as sound. The name "Leng Feihuan" rang out with perfect clarity. "Thank you." Su Luo smiled one last time. "I will use my final strength to help you leave." The now ink-black lotus vines grabbed Leng Jing’s limbs and instantly pulled him upward. The speed of his ascent was no slower than his fall. The surrounding scenery distorted and warped until, finally, Leng Jing returned to the side of the eerie eyeball pool. Su Luo’s lingering words echoed in the wind: "Go back, White Dragon. Leave this Curse Demon’s garden quickly. In the southeast of the land lies the Ladder to Heaven; it will lead you into the Heavenly Realm." *** Just as Leng Jing was about to step one foot out of the manor’s gate, a sharp voice suddenly rang out: "Cunning dragon, you are lying to me!" In that brief instant, the scenery shifted again, and Leng Jing was back by the eye pool. "You are lying to me!" "Cunning!" "Liar!" "Lying to me!" "Lying!" "Lie!" "Liar!"... Countless voices surged like a tide from all directions. The eyeball grass all glared at Leng Jing. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be an old woman who only knows how to nag, would you? Curse Demon." Leng Jing crossed his arms, his voice cold and contemptuous. Su Luo’s shell, which had been suspended in mid-air entwined by lotus vines, slowly descended. The pupil-less white eyes stared at Leng Jing, the skin as pale as a doll’s. "Liar." The voice of "Su Luo’s shell" was sharp and short, with overlapping echoes. "Oh? I’m a liar? Then what are you, who have been using Su Luo as bait all this time?" Leng Jing said. "Liar. You must pay the price," the shell said emotionlessly. "No one in the Three Realms can dictate terms to me." Leng Jing met him head-on. "You coward, you only know how to use others and don't even dare to show your face. How is it? Does the torment of the Rift’s power feel good? You can't take it anymore either, can you? You want to use me to help you close that crack?" "Liar, liar! Liar! Shut up, shut up!! I can still control that power!! The curse you suffer now is the best proof! Wahahaha~ You know the 'truth' now, don't you! My curses regarding the 'truth' never miss!! Unless you fulfill my conditions, you will never be reborn!!" The shell laughed stiffly. Leng Jing simply sat down cross-legged, resting his chin on his hand and tilting his head as he looked at him. "What exactly is this curse power of yours? As I see it, you obtained the power of the Rift, so your curse became a powerful force similar to 'Word Spirit Arts'—anyone who knows or attempts to speak a certain 'key' set by the caster—for example, a specific event or a specific person—will be 'infected' by the curse like a disease, suffering a horrific backlash. I just learned the truth from Su Luo, so I’ve been cursed too, right?" The shell chuckled. "Exactly, exactly! That’s right. Now you should realize!" "However," Leng Jing revealed a composed smile, "the key to this chain curse of yours is 'the secret and truth of the Rift.' Therefore—the curse actually doesn't exist, you fool!" "What did you say?!" the shell shrieked. Leng Jing spoke aggressively, "Since the power you obtained works like 'Word Spirit,' the transmission of the curse must rely on the logic of the matter! If the 'key' you defined is not logically sound, then it doesn't work! And in fact, since you stipulated that anyone who speaks or knows the truth of the Rift must be cursed, then let me ask you: how exactly was the 'Rift' created? What is inside the Rift? What is the source of the Rift’s massive evil power?! In reality, absolutely no one knows the so-called truth of the Rift. Your curse is invalid! You are merely indulging in wishful thinking!" As Leng Jing finished speaking, the surrounding space fell into a dead silence. After a long while, the sound of explosions rang out incessantly. The eyeballs on the eyeball grass began to burst one by one. The countless whispers turned into a single, terrified scream: "Impossible! Impossible! I clearly found the best way to use that power! Why was I struck down like this?! Aaaaah!!!" Leng Jing said, "You wanted to subtly influence the Rift’s power through consciousness and Word Spirit curses, but an idiot like you isn't worthy. You neither dared to risk your life to be turned into a mindless Archdemon by the Rift’s power, nor could you resist the urge to dominate this massive force. So you placed the power elsewhere, using malediction to transfer the poison. Now, the one suffering the backlash is yourself. What, still unwilling to show your face?" As his voice fell, the giant eye in the pool gradually rose, finally revealing its true form. Hanging from the bottom of the massive eyeball was a thin, withered body, wrinkled and hideous like a sun-dried corpse. This was the Curse Demon’s true face. The Curse Demon rasped, "I poured the Rift’s power into my Dharma Eye, never expecting that I would become a mere appendage to it... If this continues, it will completely cast aside my original body and become an independent monster... White Dragon... if I had met you earlier, perhaps I... perhaps I wouldn't have... I would have done better... I wouldn't have made this stupid mistake!" As he spoke, the giant eyeball began to look around; it seemed to have already developed a rudimentary independent consciousness. "Hmph, what you do is none of my business. Curse Demon, since this place is a space of conscious curse-sealing created by you, according to the rules of curses, since I have broken yours, the curse power should be returned. Now it's my turn to take the initiative. I have already set the 'key' of the curse in my heart. If you don't want to trigger this taboo, release Su Luo." Leng Jing stood up. The Curse Demon gnashed his teeth. However, in his heart, he still held a trump card—another curse he had crafted when he created the Rift curse. As long as he could grasp the opponent's true name, he could still make their soul scatter when he called it out and activated the curse! This was why he had used Su Luo to ask for the White Dragon's true name! Although the White Dragon had used a fake name, he had discovered it immediately. Now he still had a chance to trick the White Dragon into revealing his true name! Because in "Su Luo’s" consciousness space, he had captured a fleeting thought from this fool of a White Dragon—at that moment, the White Dragon was thinking, "Bai Jing must have been someone very close to Leng Qingqing." That Leng Qingqing must be someone very important to him, right? A sinister smile appeared on the Curse Demon’s withered face. "That Leng Qingqing—you came for him, didn't you? He is actually one of the people involved in this incident, isn't he? My curses are not as simple as you think. Even if you break one, I still have a way to take Leng Qingqing’s life! Tell me your true name! White Dragon! You can't hide it from me!" "My name is Leng Jing!" Leng Jing stood up, speaking crisply and decisively. "But the key to the curse I am returning is also my name. Now that you know this key, according to your own laws of malediction, taste the suffering of those you have harmed!!" "You terrifying loach! Did you calculate everything from the very beginning?!!! Aaaaaah————————" Amidst the screams, the Curse Demon was torn to shreds by a massive, invisible force, just like the traitor of the Snake God Clan had been, forming a turbulent whirlwind of mixed flesh and blood. "So, back then, we only needed to expose the fallacy of his curse to be freed from it?" Su Luo’s Primordial Spirit was liberated, emitting a faint glow. He spoke sorrowfully behind Leng Jing. "No, his curse power was very real. The reason I could make him self-destruct was that I utilized the consciousness space he created himself, causing him to collapse from within. In truth, in this idealistic space belonging to him, as long as he let go of his obsessions and his so-called principles of curse power, there would be nothing left. His caution and stubbornness came from his cowardice and meanness; he wanted to harm others but didn't dare to do it openly, so he set a bunch of tedious rules and patterns. The most pathetic person is the one who clearly has ability but insists on binding themselves with all sorts of excuses—to put it simply, I bamboozled him." The ugly little snake brushed the dust off his clothes, preparing to head home. In truth, Su Luo didn't fully understand what the ugly little snake and the Curse Demon had been competing over. He only understood one thing—which is also what all the readers should understand—and that is that the ugly little snake is very powerful and very black-bellied. ***