"I've been timid and thin-skinned since I was little… Ever since Tail possessed me, this life has been like falling into a nightmare."
"Back in school, people would always ask, why is your tail on fire? Walking in a crowd, it's like being under a spotlight, so conspicuous."
Tail: "Yo, blaming this old man? Back then if you had obediently let this great one eat you, would you still need to worry like this?"
This time, it was Stelle's turn to glare at Tail.
"Shut your golden mouth. I haven't let you speak yet."
Tail: "???"
Huohuo's voice grew lower and lower, filled with heavy guilt and self-blame.
"Later when I joined the Ten Lords Commission, I found everyone was also strange, and thought I had found a home."
"Unexpectedly, the work at the Ten Lords Commission is really dangerous. Every day we have to fight all kinds of monsters, ghosts, and unpardonable villains…"
"I… I'm really not suited for this job. I'm completely useless. If I can make it back alive, I should still submit my resignation to the Ten Lords Commission."
"Making someone who fears heliobi use heliobi to subdue heliobi… no matter how you think about it, it's wrong… I'm really sorry, I can't help."
Stelle reached out and placed her hand on her head, rubbing it.
"Who said you're completely useless? Didn't the talisman you gave me work? It temporarily made Cirrus behave, didn't it?"
She might as well not have said it. As soon as she did, Huohuo started crying again.
"…Being able to help you is really wonderful."
Tail: "Then stop crying. You are useful. The paper figures you make can help others."
"I really can't stand it. If I could regain my freedom, the first thing this old man would do is swallow that bastard Cirrus."
"Then, I'd also take a big bite and swallow you, this sniveling little coward."
"Ah, what a pity. Tail grandpa is not what he used to be."
Cirrus still spoke in a tone that deserved a beating.
"If we still had the power from back then, let alone breaking through this ghost wall illusion barrier, even swallowing the Huiyan who created it in one bite wouldn't be a problem."
"Power from back then?" Huohuo didn't understand.
Cirrus chuckled happily: "Tail grandpa, she knows nothing about your origins."
"Little sister, heliobi are supposed to find places where humans gather to lurk. But do you know why we are gathering here in this deserted Fyxestroll Garden right now?"
Huohuo tilted her head and answered very innocently:
"…Team building?"
"..."
Cirrus was speechless. The rest of the words in its mouth were directly choked back.
Tch, a silly, naive, timid little ghost.
Who knows how Tail back then fell for this little ghost.
"Listen well, this is a glorious piece of history!"
"More than a thousand years ago, Fyxestroll Garden was once the battlefield where the great heliobus Ignamar fought fiercely against a certain general of the Luofu!"
"The Creation Furnace shattered, heliobi escaped. All the heliobus fragments that once constituted Ignamar returned for the sole purpose of fulfilling their wish to fight the general again."
"Speaking of that great battle back then, it was truly earth-shaking, enough to make ghosts and gods weep!"
"Ignamar transformed endlessly, flooding with water and burning with fire, mountains collapsing and thunder splitting, fighting that general to a stalemate, evenly matched!"
"Puhahaha… Sorry, couldn't hold it in."
Stelle laughed out loud, arms crossed, face full of doubt.
"Really evenly matched? The way I'm hearing it sounds like exaggeration and boasting."
Cirrus: "Shut up, absolutely, definitely evenly matched!"
Huohuo weakly said: "The Ten Lords Commission seems to have records. Ignamar should have… been utterly defeated by that general named Tengxiao?"
Cirrus disdainfully retorted: "Of course your human records would only boast about the general's military achievements."
"What a pity. Although the great heliobus Ignamar absorbed the power of countless heliobi kin, it still underestimated human treachery and suffered a narrow defeat to that general."
"After the decisive battle, Ignamar could no longer fuse and take form. It scattered into different soul fragments and was sealed inside the Creation Furnace."
"However, there are always exceptions—"
Speaking of this, Cirrus looked at Tail and couldn't help but sneer.
"I originally thought Tail grandpa had escaped and was living freely. How could I have imagined that you would actually be subdued by this little fox girl."
Tail spat out fragrant words in annoyance: "Subdued my ass. This old man encountered this little fox when the tiger fell to the plains. What rotten luck!"
Cirrus: "This is really killing me with laughter, ahahahaha!"
Stelle: "I'm thinking you're not even human. Laughing like a dog barking. Tone it down, okay?"
"Shut up!"
Cirrus's eyeballs trembled, speaking in a furious rage:
"You and I are still in a cooperative relationship. Do you have to pick faults?"
Stelle curled her lips: "So what? This young lady is happy to. You're only allowed to cause trouble and disgust everyone, but I'm not allowed to disgust you?"
"No reason. Don't tell me you're getting angry? No way, no way. Getting heated so easily?"
Cirrus: "..."
Damn little ghost!!
If heliobi had blood pressure, its blood pressure would have already broken the critical value.
Once we leave here and regain strength, I must make this little ghost pay the price at the first opportunity...
Endure. First endure.
Huohuo didn't know what scheme Cirrus was plotting and spoke up to answer Stelle's doubts for Tail.
At the same time, she was also explaining to Tail, telling Cirrus that things weren't as it thought.
"When I was still little, I once saw a dying ball of fire in some corner of the Luofu…"
"I felt soft-hearted for a moment and put it on my tail. In the end… in the end I didn't expect Tail grandpa would actually want to eat me!"
"Luckily the Judges appeared in time, and I escaped disaster."
Tail: "It was just a little snack that couldn't even fill the gaps between my teeth. Saying 'eat' makes it sound too forceful, doesn't it?"
Huohuo was extremely aggrieved: "I… the tears I've wiped away in regret these years must have been water that got into my brain when I made the decision back then…"
Cirrus's big eyeballs rolled around.
"Interesting. It's a pity Tail grandpa didn't succeed. Otherwise, using this little girl's body, perhaps it could have made a comeback."
"Like Ignamar, turning the Luofu upside down."
Stelle was thoughtful and didn't fully believe Cirrus's words. Tail didn't refute much, meaning at least half was true.
"Why did you want to challenge the general?" she asked.
"Need a reason?"
"Yes."
Cirrus: "If you want something high-sounding — the Xianzhou imprisoned the progenitor of the heliobi in a cage to provide power for the Xianzhou. Is this reason enough?"
"If you want something simple and straightforward — we just wanted to fight the general and see what the Xianzhou people are made of."
"Our heliobi race was originally carefree lifeforms. It was only because we came into contact with humans that we caught the disease of humanity."
"It's all humans' fault. Possessing such intense emotions and desires, causing us to never return to our past pure and untainted state of mind."
"So, I want to restore my freedom! I want to go beyond the heavens again!"
Hearing these words, Stelle found it endlessly amusing.
"Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"
"Because of greed you took a bite of humans and got addicted, then turned around and blamed humans for making you like this?"
"Well, isn't this the heavens turned upside down. You really are the type to eat the noodles and then flip the bowl over."