Secrets

As the coffin slowly opened, Uchiha Zhuang grew anxious, hoping a golden light would flash and reveal some treasure. It felt like opening a mystery box. At last, his two clones managed to shove the lid aside with enormous effort. They stared at what lay inside, completely dumbfounded. Seeing their reaction, Uchiha Zhuang immediately stepped forward and peered down. Whoa! A hollow golden sphere gleamed before him. It was intricately decorated with birds and beasts, fish, flowers, and more, all arranged with striking beauty. Uchiha Zhuang looked at his clones, and one reached out to lift it. He examined the sphere closely and saw another golden ball inside, fused into one seamless whole. Just then, Persia slowly came to, gazed at the golden ball, and exclaimed, "Gold, gold, gold!" "I know it's gold, and it's valuable, too," Uchiha Zhuang said. Through Natural Energy, Persia conveyed, "This is Jinkela, a sacred relic of Balaxia's shrine and the embodiment of wisdom. Holding it can cure brain poisoning." "What's brain poisoning?" Uchiha Zhuang asked. "It means the brain isn't functioning properly," Persia replied. Uchiha Zhuang was speechless. So this was an artifact that could break mind control. Cradling the Jinkela sphere, he suddenly felt a warm current rise through his mind. Then, as if a weight had been lifted, he felt light and refreshed, all his exhaustion swept away. Once he had savored the relief, Uchiha Zhuang handed the golden ball to Persia, but she hurriedly refused. "I'm scared of it." He didn't question her and sealed the ball in a scroll. Then, steeling himself, he used his last sealing scroll to pack away the enormous golden coffin.

The two slowly made their way along the temple path. As the light at the entrance grew brighter, Uchiha Zhuang began to brace himself. By convention, this was when the monsters appeared. Sure enough, the massive statues began to tremble, and chunks of stone fell away. Uchiha Zhuang hurried outside with Persia. As they emerged, the temple began to collapse, sending clouds of dust and bricks flying everywhere. The temple crumbled, but the enormous statues remained standing, unmoving. At last, Uchiha Zhuang got a good look at them: flat noses, huge ears, gaping mouths with tusks, round faces, and bald heads. They looked like middle-aged men in their fifties. The statues slowly turned their heads. Flesh grew around their once-dull stone eyes—the very eyes that had chased him in their thousands. Uchiha Zhuang understood: the statues had been controlled. With no time to think, he grabbed Persia and tried to keep running, but she nimbly dodged his pull, deftly cut the rope, and stood some distance away, watching him.

"You were controlling Persia last night, or did you take control of her when the eyeball monsters appeared?" Uchiha Zhuang asked calmly. Persia gave him a seductive smile. "Guess! Maybe I'm Persia herself!" "Fine. I won't bother asking. What do you want?" "I want you to go all the way down. Then I'll tell you what to do." "And if I refuse?" "You can try, young man." They stared at each other. His Two-Tomoe Sharingan had no effect on her. She gazed at Uchiha Zhuang with a playful smile, her eyes just as clear and seemingly devoid of any killing intent. "I'll go, but call off those statues." "I'm afraid not. My delicate body couldn't withstand a hero like you," Persia said with a smile. Uchiha Zhuang understood. He turned and headed down, with Persia following at a short distance. The statues gradually came to a halt, and their eyeballs retreated back into the stone.

On the way, Uchiha Zhuang kept asking Persia, "Who are you? What do you want? Where are we?" But each time, she merely smiled and said, "That's a secret," refusing to answer. She seemed like a robot capable of repeating only that one line. Uchiha Zhuang deliberately walked slowly, and she matched his pace without seeming to care what he did. But whenever he stopped, she urged him to hurry. He tried sprinting ahead, but she kept up effortlessly, as if she never tired. They descended for an unknown number of kilometers. At Uchiha Zhuang's normal pace, three hours of walking would cover seventy or eighty kilometers, yet when he checked his watch, nearly six hours had passed, and the darkness below remained endless. "If you're trying to wear me out, you might as well give up now. The body you've taken over can't handle a run this long." "Heh, we're almost there, young man. It's just a little farther down." The farther they descended, the more sinister the aura radiating from Persia became. Even Uchiha Zhuang, young and vigorous, shuddered. He turned away from her and kept moving. Sure enough, less than half an hour later, they saw what lay below: an enormous open-air sacrificial site, with four metal pillars as thick as a person and a metal floor stained with grime, as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. What stood out most were the countless skulls and shattered bones scattered around. As he slowly reached the floor, Uchiha Zhuang realized there was a pool beneath the altar. Its dark green water was utterly still. He took the only path leading to the altar, walking slowly to recover his strength as he said, "We're here now. Even if I'm going to die, will you at least let me understand why?" Persia approached him and spoke softly. "I'm the one Balaxia worshipped. I'm their god."

Uchiha Zhuang stopped, unable to believe his ears, and stared at Persia. "I imagine that elf already told you about the calamity a thousand years ago. Everyone in Balaxia used divine power to protect God Peak and the vast forests around it. Unfortunately, they forced me to do it. In the face of disaster, a so-called god is nothing but a rag for her people to use and discard." She grew more and more agitated, until she was nearly hysterical. "When they trapped me with Anti-Magic Stone, they chained me to this altar. Do you see what's around it? Do you think I did this?! It was those beasts! To draw out my divine power, they slaughtered half the women, old people, and children in the country, then poured their resentment and blood over this altar." At that, her expression calmed. After a brief silence, she continued, "Their resentment and blood, combined with the formation and the Anti-Magic Stone, drained me of my divine power on this altar. I unleashed every bit of power I had, and the formation held back the rampaging Divine Tree from another world. Once the disaster had passed, Balaxia sent its strongest men. They violated me on this altar for ten whole days, hoping to make me bear children with divine power. But how could a god ever mate with insects? During that time, the blood polluted the spirit spring beneath the altar, and the spring began to surge. At last, I used its rampage to smash the formation and wash away the hideous men crawling over me. That was when my revenge began!"

Persia looked at Uchiha Zhuang and smiled. She seemed as pure as a lily in spring. For a moment, he almost saw a young woman in a flower crown and golden robes, smiling at him. He blinked hard. She was still Persia, but somehow she seemed different. Uchiha Zhuang continued trying to buy time. "So you were the one who wiped out Balaxia. But a thousand years have passed. You should let go of your hatred and move on to reincarnation. Balaxia's history has disappeared from this world, and so has yours." She listened calmly to his attempt to reason with her, then replied, "Insects defiled my divine body. Insects stole my divine power. Insects broke the oath between us. So even if I lose my divine power forever, I will have my revenge. Do you think time can dissolve a hatred like this? Even after I sealed every exit to the outside world and tortured every last person in Balaxia to death, I still felt no relief. This revenge exhilarates me. I can't stop. When I think of the ugly things those insects did as they died, all their pleas, I get excited. I need more!" She began to lose control again, even dancing around. "I spent a hundred years torturing them to death, one by one, from the old to the middle-aged to the young. But for the remaining nine hundred years, I was unbearably lonely. There were no sacrifices, no voices, no kindness or beauty, no evil or obscenity. I wandered through this so-called sacred mountain alone."

At that, she calmed down again and casually tucked the hair behind her ears. "Then I met you. From the moment you entered the cave I prepared especially for you, you slowly entered my world. I can't be impatient now. I want to have some fun with you. It would be best if you stayed with me a while longer, Zhuang." At this, Uchiha Zhuang froze. When had it happened? That time! When the eyeball monsters chased him, he had gotten dizzy inside the room. This woman had ambushed him then. She could read memories. Uchiha Zhuang stared at her with his Sharingan exposed. But she gazed back at him with the tender look of a lover, their eyes locked. "Get out of Persia's body. I won't interfere with your past or your future anymore, woman!" "Heh."

She chuckled softly. "That won't do. I still want to go out into the world. I'm tired of this place. Your Natural Energy is incredibly strong, dozens of times stronger than that of the elves who came in from outside before you! I need your power. Now, stand obediently in the middle of the altar, or this elf will die too." "So elves like Persia have come in from outside before?" "Who knows? That's a secret!" She burst into laughter.