Green Fire Sovereign

Jiang Hou, who was looking at Ye Chen, noticed the Spiritual Transmission and thought, 'That's exactly the same breath from the day of the Grand competition. What is wrong with this Junior Brother?'. Also, the sensation of being watched increased, so he fastened his eyes and Sense on the source of it. 

And it was from Ye Chen, and then the Jade Pendant. 'What is this guy doing? Is he spying on me? Or has he been spying on me?', he thought, thinking that his thoughts are ridiculous.

Then,

"Ahem", a deep, hoarse voice sounded from his Purple Mansion(PM) and echoed in his Sea of Consciousness(SoC). 

Jiang Hou was astounded, he questioned out loud, "Who is that?"

Because he was looking at Ye Chen, especially at the Jade Pendant hanging on his neck, both Ye Chen and Su Yaoren were stunned, thinking they'd been exposed. 

But Jiang Hou turned his face away and looked around, trying to see from whom the voice came.

"You idiot! Stop looking around, I'm here in your Purple Mansion", the voice continued. Jiang Hou's confusion cleared the moment he heard "...here in your Purple Mansion". He knew what else was in his PM, it was the second Soul Projection he condensed when he broke through to the PM Realm.

This Projection has been inactive since the time of its condensation. He pried his Sense into the Purple Mansion, and felt the Projection looking at him. This made him uncomfortable.

It is not just the thought that someone was looking at him. But that some Being he can't control is inside of him, and in the second most important part at that. 

Not only that, that didn't respond to anything he has tried over the years. Now, in this most sensitive time of his life, it spoke out of the blue, and for the first time, and in this situation. Moreover, his perception was warning him greatly in this moment, as though facing a big enemy.

'What should I do? Why am I subjected to these attacks, and from all sides?', he thought, in fear.

He summoned his real Soul Projection and communicated with the 'strange' Projection, saying, "Who are you?"

The Soul Projection still has the form of the Original Soul Projection, that is, like Jiang Hou himself. It said in a man's voice, "Of course I am Jiang Hou. I am you, and you are me".

"Don't joke with me, I know when someone is lying to me. I know you are not me. So, DON'T SAY YOU ARE ME!", his real Soul Projection(rSP) answered.

The Projection laughed, simply at first, then hysterically, and then evilly, and said, "You are not totally foolish after all. From the moment you chose to run for your life, I knew you were not a totally foolish young man. Yes! I am not you!"

"I don't care what you think of me, WHO ARE YOU?", the rSP questioned.

"Me? I am the Green Fire Sovereign. The writer of the book in your bosom", the Projection replied.

"Green Fire Sovereign. Green Fire Sovereign, WAIT. You are the Green Fire Sovereign? You can't be the Green Fire Sovereign. The Green Fire Sovereign fell thousands of years ago. Why can't you just tell me who you are or who you were?", Jiang Hou didn't believe him one bit.

"What do you mean? How do you know that I'm not the Green Fire Sovereign? This Emperor has never been so humiliated like this. Why? You think I'd lie to you?", the strange Soul Projection(sSP) said, annoyed.

"Well?", Jiang Hou's rSP looked at him weirdly.

"Ahem. That was just to play with you kid", sSP replied.

"And you still look like me?", questioned rSP

"Hmph! What's so good about your looks? Isn't it just a little good looking guy? I tell you, that can't buy you safety", sSp said, reverting to his true form. 

He is a green robed Soul Fragment.

"So your true form is a Soul Fragment? How did you get into my body? How did you get inside my PM?", Jiang Hou's heart was still not settled.

"That? I really don't know! All I know is that I died. Then I woke up in your Purple Mansion"

"Well, I still don't believe you are truly the Green Fire Sovereign. Even if you are, how would you prove it?", he continued asking.

"Well, I wrote the book in your bosom", sSP replied.

"The book has the name of the writer written on it. I'm sure you must have read it too, since you've been paying attention to my life's experiences", rSP argued.

Now getting angry, sSP replied, "You! It was written as dictated by someone else".

"See? You can't defend yourself. Wait. Did you just say that you were not the owner of the book's content?", Jiang Hou asked.

"I just said that", sSP admitted.

"Then who was the one who dictated the words in the book to you?", he asked again.

"That. He.. he..", 

Jiang Hou: "...?"

"I cannot remember. Everything related to him seems to have been erased from my mind, except that he dictated the contents of the book to me", sSP replied.

Jiang Hou's real Soul Projection was silent for a moment. Although he knew something was up, he couldn't wrap his head around it. Still he asked,

"Since we can't verify anything you've said about the book, can't we at least verify your identity through other methods?"

"You are the Holy Son of the Scarlet Heaven Holy Land. Don't you even recognize me?", the strange Soul Projection asked angrily.

"I do recognize that you have taken the shape of the Green Fire Sovereign in the Holy Land's records. But you just took my form too", Jiang Hou replied.

"Ah! What kind of mind do you have? Don't you know that it is only possible to take only one person's form after you've become a Soul Fragment? You can only choose to change between your true form and the other person's. The disguise is fixed and cannot be changed without paying the heaven price of Soul injury. Do you think I would risk that JUST TO DECEIVE YOU?", Qing Huo was really furious at this time. 

Never in his life has he had to answer someone else's questions in one sitting and still be tagged a liar.

"Okay, okay. Say the Dao Oath that everything you said was true, and we'll be done", Jiang Hou is not going to relent, this concerned his life after all.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!", gasped Qing Huo in rage.

"Don't die. Just say the Dao Oath. What is so difficult?", Jiang Hou continued.

Taking a deep breath, Qing Huo could only resign to fate at this point. Thinking about it, the kid is not to blame. He himself would react more violently if the same thing happened to him. The 'Huo' in his name isn't for nothing. So he said,

"Okay!"

"I, Green Fire Sovereign, do swear by the Dao, that everything I have said to Jiang Hou, the Holy Son of the Scarlet Heaven Holy Land, is true and has no lies in it. May the Dao be my witness", he swore. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. Since he became a Great Emperor, this was the first time he was swearing a Dao Oath. He was nostalgic too.

The phenomenon occurred. Bright green lights enveloped him from top to bottom, a sign that he said the truth.

"Great! Now we're good. My good Senior.. NO.NO, My good Emperor, please do not be angry with me. You've seen all I have faced so far, I can only be cautious against everything, including Soul Fragments", Jiang Hou said.

"Hmph", Qing Huo turned his head away, not convinced at all.

"...", Jiang Hou didn't know what to say. He's not good with words after all. He is the Holy Son of the Holy Land, the disciple of the Great Elder of the Holy Land, the Second Young Master of the Jiang Clan of the Qingyan Dynasty. Others have flattered him since birth. Doing the same is not him at all.

"You focus on the outside. That young man, Ye Chen, is not simple. The Jade Pendant hanging around his neck is the Soul Nourishing Jade Pendant, which is able to shelter Soul Fragments and Nurture them until recovery. Then they can find a suitable body to take over, or an appropriate resource to rebuild their body", Qing Huo spoke first at this moment.

…

And Jiang Hou also turned his attention to the outside world. And though the discussion he had with Qing Huo took time in the Purple Mansion, only an instant has passed in the outside world.

"Junior Brother Chen, what are you doing staring at me? Do you want to give your Senior Brother a present?", asked Jiang Hou.

Ye Chen also came back to his senses and regained his composure. He said,

"Senior Brother, I thought you'd give me something instead. After all, you are the Senior Brother"

They were just testing the waters.