A Certified Madman, by Common Consent

"Only I remain, so cold the universe gives no echo... only I remain, holding an old dream."

"Not the spring breeze, not a blessing, but loneliness burning red in my blood. If only one insect remains in the universe, then I'll breed until all realms go mad, kill until only I remain. I'll breed until the myriad realms go mad, loneliness burning red in my blood..."

"Only I remain, only I remain, then let all the myriad realms become..."

Amid the sea of flowers, Xiang Dong sang his heart out alone. Although the song was about the insect race, and was even from the Insect Emperor's perspective,

it suited Xiang Dong without the slightest incongruity. Boundless solitude and loneliness drove him steadily insane.

His main body sang while his clones swayed in accompaniment, their flower heads flashing with golden light like glow sticks. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought a concert was underway. The scene was more than a little bizarre.

The scene was so bizarre that even a passing dog couldn't have resisted taking another look.

The first look: something's not right.

The second look: I have to take another look.

That was exactly what Yang Mei Daoist did. When he came close enough to see clearly, he couldn't help clicking his tongue in wonder.

Innate Spirit Roots, and a whole field of them at that.

As an innate Spirit Root himself, the Hollow-Hearted Willow, who had taken form, he knew very well that innate Spirit Roots were unique. Each and every one was one of a kind.

Yet the ones before him had all split off from the same plant, and there was no distinction between parent and offspring. There was, however, still a main body: the one that was singing.

That one was even stranger. He possessed sentience and could sing, and his flower head had a face.

He had taken form, but not completely.

Although he didn't really understand the deeper meaning of the lyrics, he could sense the incredibly intense loneliness in the singing, tormenting him to the point of madness.

That state of mind gave Yang Mei Daoist a strong sense of familiarity. After all, most of the Chaos Fiend Gods had been in much the same state.

Yang Mei Daoist chuckled softly. He had developed an intense curiosity about the peculiar existence that was Xiang Dong.

So he took a single step to Xiang Dong's side and greeted him.

"Greetings, fellow Daoist!"

When Xiang Dong heard the voice, he thought he was hallucinating, until he confirmed that a living, breathing person really had appeared beside him.

In that instant, his eyes lit up like stars, bursting with two beams of dazzling light.

"You can speak? You can talk and communicate with me?"

How many years had it been?

How many years had passed? Finally, someone he could talk to had come.

Xiang Dong was so excited that even weeping tears of joy couldn't have expressed how he felt.

Golden specks of light kept falling from his flower head. They weren't tears, but Xiang Dong's power of origin, and the sight gave Yang Mei Daoist quite a fright.

What's going on? All I did was say hello, wasn't it?

"Fellow Daoist, your Dao heart is unstable!"

Xiang Dong used a leaf as a hand to wipe the golden specks from his face, then casually reached out and pulled over a sunflower beside him, ripping it right out of the ground.

He patted all the seeds out of its flower head and roasted them while he was at it, making five-spice sunflower seeds.

"Hey, stable or not, whatever."

"Come on, have some sunflower seeds and keep me company for a chat."

Xiang Dong's enthusiasm was like a raging fire. Yang Mei simply couldn't withstand it and sat down beside him.

But aren't these seeds from your own clone? Is it really all right to knock them all out and eat them like this?

Even the knowledgeable and experienced Yang Mei Daoist had never seen anything like this and was a little stunned for a moment.

But when he joined Xiang Dong in cracking open the sunflower seeds and eating the kernels, Yang Mei sensed the benefits within them.

A rich fragrance filled his mouth. Beyond that, the kernels actually contained a trace of a unique purifying power, a property of the first ray of light at the creation of the world.

Thanks to that unique property, a trace of the Sha Qi he had acquired while taking part in the slaying of the ferocious beast Shen Ni was actually purified.

"Well? Tasty, right?"

"Good stuff!"

"Of course. I'm an innate Spirit Root, after all."

Yang Mei Daoist exclaimed in admiration, then joined in the seed-cracking and chatting without the slightest reservation.

Crack, crack.

Before long, Yang Mei had gotten quite skilled at it, and sunflower seed shells littered the ground.

An old man and a flower sat there amid the sea of flowers, cracking sunflower seeds in the sun and chatting about everyday matters.

From their conversation, Xiang Dong learned that Yang Mei had come over for a look because his singing had attracted him after he had finished a grueling battle.

"A grueling battle? Who were you fighting?"

"Shen Ni, the leader of the ferocious beast race. After a grueling battle that lasted several Yuanhui, we finally took him down."

"Oh, oh, oh. May I ask your esteemed name?"

"Just call me Yang Mei."

"Oh, the Space Fiend God."

Realization dawned on Xiang Dong, and he revealed Yang Mei Daoist's origins in a single sentence. He wasn't one for scheming or hiding his thoughts; whatever occurred to him, he said outright.

But this was the Primordial World. When it came to one's origins, people concealed them whenever they could.

After all, if someone didn't know your origins, they wouldn't know what trump cards you had hidden or what weaknesses you had. But if you knew theirs, you could strike at their weaknesses.

That was an information gap, and often, that gap could be fatal.

Yang Mei hadn't expected Xiang Dong to know that he was the Space Fiend God. But what about Xiang Dong? No matter how Yang Mei looked at him, he was just an innate Spirit Root, with no identity as one of his old acquaintances.

And so, the way he studied Xiang Dong became subtle.

Xiang Dong even sensed a faint trace of killing intent.

Yet not only was he unafraid, he leaned closer, got right in Yang Mei's face, and launched straight into a question.

"Are you trying to kill me? Are you? Come on, come on, I'll let you kill me."

Xiang Dong even stuck his neck out, but the more he acted like this, the more Yang Mei couldn't help overthinking it.

What does this fellow mean by letting me kill him?

He's forcing me to make a move so he can counterattack!

Could it be that the Great Dao he has mastered is something like karma, predestination, or fate?

This is a trap, but can a trap really be this obvious?

Yang Mei couldn't make sense of it, but he gradually calmed down. He would first sound out the other party and respond to all changes by remaining unchanged.

"You seem to have quite a death wish?"

"Yeah. I've lived too long, and I can only stay here all day. It's just too dull. Can you understand what it feels like to be bored to the point of madness?"

"Hmm..." Yang Mei thought about it, and he really could empathize to some extent. "I think I probably can. There was a time when I felt that way too. Quite a few of the fiend gods from my time also lost hold of their Dao hearts and gradually lost themselves."

But there was one more madman they had all certified.

Pangu had opened up heaven and earth and died of exhaustion. Hadn't he, too, grown tired of seeing the same scenery and the same familiar people and things?