The restrained Li Huowang was in a padded cell somewhere inside Kangning Hospital, and he was staring right into Wu Cheng's eyes.
Wu Cheng chuckled at Li Huowang's words, asking, "You want to talk to the boss? Sure, but you must agree to work with us, or you won't get to see him at all."
Li Huowang seemed to be struggling deep inside, which hinted that he was clearly unwilling to work with Wu Cheng. However, he caught a glimpse of Yang Na on the tablet and sighed.
"Fine, I will cooperate with you. Let me talk to your boss! I can't let you all take the profits, after all!"
Wu Cheng nodded and tapped on the tablet. Soon, Li Huowang saw an old man wearing a suit. The old man's hair was short and white; he was sitting on a sofa and was wearing sunglasses, so Li Huowang had no idea whether the old man was staring at him or not.
The boss wanted lifespan pills, and there was an old man before him. It wasn't that difficult for Li Huowang to deduce that the old man in the tablet was Wu Cheng's "boss."
"Li Huowang," the old man said. The fact that he had said Li Huowang's name meant that he was quite familiar with Li Huowang. "My name is Xu Shou, but you can call me Sir Xu." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Li Huowang glared at the old man and memorized every single detail about the latter. He needed as much information as he could acquire to come up with a plan.
The old man was the mastermind behind Wu Cheng and Wang Wei. If Li Huowang wanted to resolve this issue, then he had to attack it at the roots, which meant dealing with the old man!
Li Huowang had no plans of working with them and had merely pretended like he was going to cooperate with them.
"Sir Xu? Can I ask you a question? Why have you decided to do this to me? What do you want?" Li Huowang asked.
Sir Xu leaned forward and said, "I have no reason to tell you that. The only thing that you need to do is to show me your value. I've seen you whip out gold from out of nowhere, but I know that technology has become mature enough that anyone can easily edit any footage to show whatever they want to show everyone. If you want to show me your value, then you need to whip out something really special."
Li Huowang chuckled. It seemed that the old man still had no trust in him and was afraid that Li Huowang was just a lunatic.
Despite that, he desperately wanted Li Huowang to bring lifespan pills from the other side to this side.
Clearly, the old man was on the brink of death.
"Wu Cheng, I entrust everything to you. Call me once he has brought out the item," Sir Xu said before unilaterally ending the call.
Wu Cheng put the tablet down and took out a bottle of pills. He shook it and poured it into his hand before showing it to Li Huowang.
"I guess your decision to cooperate with us just isn't enough for you to start negotiating with the boss. If you want to negotiate with him, then you need to show us your value. Shall we start?"
Li Huowang glanced at the pills before staring at Wu Cheng. "Are you sure these pills are going to work?"
"Of course. They're very effective. Of course, there are some side effects. Anyway, forget everything that Yi Donglai had taught you and go back to that side. Prove your worth and show us your supernatural power... or maybe you're just an ordinary lunatic?"
The metal muzzle was taken off, and the pills were shoved into Li Huowang's mouth.
Li Huowang ground the bitter pills in his mouth and consumed them with a mouthful of saliva.
Upon swallowing the pills, Li Huowang's consciousness immediately started fading away as his brain slowed down. Eventually, his senses blurred, and when he came to his senses, Wu Cheng had become something else.
A metal pen appeared in front of Li Huowang. It moved side to side, writing down Wu Cheng's words from the other side.
"When I say 'now,' you have to close your eyes."
Li Huowang closed his eyes, and everything faded away into darkness.
For some reason, the strange pills were making Li Huowang feel like his true body was somewhere else rather than here.
"You've returned to that strange world. You've returned to the Liang Kingdom. Tell me, what do you see?"
Bizarre, fragmented scenes manifested in the darkness, and they pieced together by themselves until Li Huowang realized that he was inside a dark cave.
There were Sacrificial God motifs on the walls, and they depicted the Sacrificial God sitting down on a distorted cross. Li Huowang immediately realized where he was the moment he saw the cross.
He was being held captive in the Ao Jing Sect's Cross Temple.
He tried moving, but he couldn't move at all. He saw that he was being restrained in a massive array drawn by blood. More importantly, his legs and right arm had vanished, along with three fingers on his left hand.
"So? Have you considered it?" someone asked.
Li Huowang looked up and saw a familiar face. The face of the Imperial Preceptor, Huangfu Tiangang.
"So it's you? I should've seen that coming. There are only a few people capable of wielding lightning in this region, and who else would have such a high achievement at it?" Li Huowang asked. He snarled at the familiar face before continuing, "You are working with the Twisted One of Doulao! How dare you say that you have no relations with the Sitting Oblivion Dao?"
Huangfu Tiangang frowned upon seeing Li Huowang's change in demeanor.
"What are you talking about? The Sitting Oblivion Dao has been eradicated. I am the Imperial Preceptor. I am responsible for the safety of the Emperor of the Liang Kingdom!"
"Scram! How dare you try to disrupt the friendship between me and Gao Zhijian? Do you really think that I'm going to believe your words right now?"
"The emperor doesn't want to kill you, but the previous emperors have a different opinion of you. The fact that you made quick work of the Dragon Vein means that you're a threat. You'd be nothing but trouble for us, unless we can make us of you!"
"Haha! Huangfu Tiangang, you can't even lie properly. You shouldn't join the Sitting Oblivion Dao, as you'd ruin their reputation if you do so."
Li Huowang chuckled and raised his remaining arm to search for the little saw in his bag of torture tools. He stabbed the little saw into his waist and remained unblinking despite the pain.
"You want lifespan pills? Fine, I will give you some!" Li Huowang exclaimed. He had just raised his left arm when a lightning bolt flashed past him, severing some of his fingers.
He only had one finger remaining on his left hand.
Despite the powerful attack, Li Huowang didn't hesitate and jammed his remaining finger deep into his throat.
"Blegh!"
A thunderous boom echoed.
Li Huowang opened his mouth and spat out the pills straight toward Wu Cheng's face.
Wu Cheng flailed around in disgust before taking off his robes to wipe away Li Huowang's saliva on his face.
When he was done wiping himself clean, he looked up and saw that Li Huowang's abdomen was bleeding.
Somehow, Li Huowang was holding a little saw and was smiling ruthlessly at Wu Cheng.
"Wait!" Wu Cheng exclaimed. His words had just fallen when Li Huowang pounced on him and bit his face hard. "AAARRRGGGHHH!"
Chapter 601 - Intelligence
If he could bring over gold, it meant he could bring over other things as well.
The moment Li Huowang's straitjacket was cut open, Wu Cheng lost all chances of winning.
Of course, Li Huowang had no intentions of killing Wu Cheng. Otherwise, he would have slashed open Wu Cheng's neck instead of just biting his face.
Wu Cheng's face was drenched in blood, and he was in so much pain that he felt like passing out.
However, Li Huowang was meticulous enough to inflict pain that wouldn't make Wu Cheng faint. He couldn't let Wu Cheng faint, as he still had to interrogate the latter.
Li Huowang stood before Wu Cheng, who was groaning on the ground. He picked up a pen and waved it in front of Wu Cheng, saying, "Where does Xu Shou live?"
Xu Shou was the key here. He had to deal with Xu Shou, or he'd end up facing infinite trouble in the future.
Xu Shou had to be handled with, or Yang Na would never be safe.
Li Huowang didn't care even if he was sentenced to life in prison; he only cared about his beloved, and he would not let any harm come their way.
The kneeling Wu Cheng merely groaned in response to Li Huowang's question.
"All right. I don't know how to hypnotize, so I'll just show you another way to use a pen."
Li Huowang kicked Wu Cheng to the ground and straddled him. Then, he inserted the pen into Wu Cheng's nostril. He slowly pushed it in slowly as Wu Cheng trembled like an aspen tree in trepidation.
Wu Cheng immediately surrendered and exclaimed, "He's usually on his white cruise ship in Beihai Port!"
"Why is he living on a ship? Does he not have any houses?" Li Huowang asked. His hand was still moving, and Wu Cheng's nostril was already bleeding.
"It's all because he knows that things are going to become dangerous for him if something goes wrong. He plans to leave immediately once that happens, so he has only been living on his ship! I don't know if he has any houses here or overseas!"
Li Huowang's hand paused. He pulled the bloody pen out of Wu Cheng's nostril.
He then started sawing off his handcuffs and shackles.
Wu Cheng watched as sparks flew from the saw, and his expression changed from pain and fear to excitement. "It's actually real! You can really conjure things!"
Li Huowang glanced at Wu Cheng and said, "Huh, so you thought it was nonsense? Anyway, you better not move. Don't make me put this saw against your neck!"
After a while, Li Huowang was no longer shackled and in a handcuff. He then started taking off his blue and white patient gown.
"Take off your clothes!" Li Huowang exclaimed. Wu Cheng was caught off guard by Li Huowang's order, but he could only oblige. After all, he was facing a mentally ill individual armed with a dangerous weapon.
The two exchanged clothes. Li Huowang put on the doctor's white coat while Wu Cheng was forced to wear the bloody patient gown.
Under Li Huowang's threat, Wu Cheng obediently put on the muzzle and the damaged straitjacket.
Li Huowang took out Wu Cheng's phone and asked, "What's the pattern?"
"Z pattern."
Li Huowang unlocked the screen and found Yi Donglai's number in the contacts.
However, he didn't press the call button and made Wu Cheng press it instead. This time, the phone didn't electrocute him; it actually went through.
He listened anxiously to the ringing tone as he paced around the room.
"Hello? Junior, do you need something? Have you started writing your new thesis?"
"Doctor Yi! It's me!" Li Huowang exclaimed. He breathed a sigh of relief when Yi Donglai answered the call.
"Huh? Li Huowang? Why are you calling me using Junior Wu's personal phone? Where's Junior Wu?"
Li Huowang glanced at Wu Cheng on the ground and quickly explained, "Doctor Yi, I'm in an urgent situation, so let me get straight to the point! Wu Cheng is in cahoots with Wang Wei! And they have a mastermind!"
Once Li Huowang was done with his explanation, Yi Donglai went silent, seemingly falling into deep thought. "Huowang, have you been taking your medication over the past few days?"
"Why don't you trust me? Have you forgotten how you cured me?! Why does it sound like you don't believe even yourself? I'm not crazy! I'm already cured!"
"Okay, okay... just don't cause trouble in Kangning Hospital. I'll have someone pick you up and take you back to White Tower Prison."
"No! It's too late! They're already targeting me! I'd end up like a pig for slaughter if I were to stay here without doing anything! I must do something; I must address this problem at its roots!"
Yi Donglai seemed to understand what Li Huowang was going to do next, and his voice trembled as he said, "Li Huowang, don't go anywhere and just wait there. If there really is a conspiracy here, then we can just call the police!"
"It's too late! They're already targeting my family! I don't know what exactly they can do, so please help me, Doctor Yi! Call my parents and Yang Na! Tell them to hide! Tell them that someone wants to harm them!"
"Li Huowang, don't go anywhere, all right? You can just go ahead and call them them yourself!"
"No! They—" Li Huowang paused. Moments later, he said in a low voice, "They think I'm crazy, Doctor Yi. You're the only one I can trust, so please help me!"
Li Huowang ended the call, but it immediately rang again. Yi Donglai was calling him.
Li Huowang rejected the call, but Yi Donglai called once again.
In the end, Li Huowang blocked Yi Donglai's number.
Li Huowang stared at Wu Cheng, seemingly pondering over something. After a while, he fished out a bottle of medicine from the pocket of his white coat.
Li Huowang poured out a handful of it and brought it closer to Wu Cheng's mouth. "Take it."
Wu Cheng gulped a mouthful of saliva and said, "I can't take those pills; they're for the mentally ill. You should be the one to take them."
"What happens if someone not mentally ill were to take it?"
"Their limbs will start trembling uncontrollably, and their thoughts will become sluggish. The patient's hormones will be affected as well, and they'd suffer some degree of memory loss."
"Great! That's exactly what I want!" Li Huowang exclaimed. He opened Wu Cheng's muzzle and stuffed the pills into the latter's mouth.
Soon, Wu Cheng's movements and demeanor changed. His face became like a blank canvas as saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth. He looked not much different from the other patients.
Li Huowang glanced at the surveillance camera and saw that there were no changes to it.
He picked up the little saw on the ground and slashed at Wu Cheng.
A terrifying and gory sight was soon made as Li Huowang made cuts on Wu Cheng's figure. Of course, the wounds were not fatal.
Bang!
The tightly closed door was pushed open from the inside, and a doctor, with some blood on his face and on his white coat, rushed out, shouting, "Quick, bring a stretcher here! The patient is harming himself! He's already in hemorrhagic shock!"
The nurses and doctors rushed over to Li Huowang when they heard his cries for help.
Upon entering the room, they were met with a bizarre scene. A muzzled patient was sprawled out on the ground, and their face was covered in blood. It was a gruesome scene, and the patient seemed like they were already dead.
A deceased patient was a big deal in any hospital, so the group of nurses and doctors worked frantically to save the patient.
Meanwhile, the doctor who had reported the self-harm inexplicably vanished without a trace.
Chapter 602 - Arrival
Li Huowang looked nervous. He was sitting on the plastic seat of a public bus and was biting the back of his hand with his teeth.
His mind replayed everything that he had gone through recently as he stared at the streets outside.
He was wearing a white mask to cover the scars on his face and to make sure that he wouldn't get recognized.
After some hesitation, he took out Wu Cheng's phone and dialed a phone number that he had memorized.
"...Hello? Who is this?" Yang Na's soft voice sounded over the phone.
Li Huowang's heart trembled upon hearing her voice. It had been a very long time since he heard her voice.
"Hello? Who is this?"
Li Huowang quickly regained his composure. He pinched his throat and deliberately lowered his voice, "Hello, is this ID Good Rabbit? There are two parcels for you here. Can you please come out of school to pick them up? They're large, and it's not convenient for me to leave them at a storage unit."
"What? Parcels? I haven't bought anything, though..."
"Perhaps someone sent them to you. Please come out and sign the delivery forms."
"Sorry, I'm not available right now. I'm not at school today, too. If you can't leave them in a storage unit, then just return them."
Li Huowang was reassured upon hearing that. It seemed that Yi Donglai had conveyed his message to Yang Na.
Regardless of where Yang Na was hiding, it was much better than staying in one place.
They just needed to hold on until he reached Beihai Port. Once Xu Shou was no more, Yang Na would be safe.
"...Huowang?" Yang Na asked, sounding hesitant.
Li Huowang's heart trembled, but he forcibly calmed himself down and said, "What? Anyway, all right. I'll go and bring these two parcels back to the hub. I still have other parcels to deliver."
With that, Li Huowang ended the call and blocked the number.
Li Huowang covered his mouth with his hand and closed his eyes in pain. He really wanted to meet Yang Na, but this wasn't the right time.
She was in danger, and he had to ensure her safety before anything else.
Moreover, Li Huowang reckoned that Yang Na would only feel worried about him if he were to meet her right now.
Yang Na's mental health was already bad, and Li Huowang didn't want her condition to worsen just because of a selfish decision on his end. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Li Huowang took a deep breath and looked at the others on the bus. For some reason, everything felt unfamiliar to him.
Of course, everything would feel unfamiliar, as it had been a while since he appeared in public.
Li Huowang fell into a daze, and his surroundings distorted, seemingly transforming from a bus to a wooden carriage.
"Beep~ Senior discount." The voice of the bus' assistant echoing throughout the bus brought Li Huowang back to realit.
Just ten more stops, and I will be at the port. Stay calm, and don't get recognized. Li Huowang adjusted his collar.
Just then, a bald old man with a fishing rod in hand started walking in Li Huowang's direction from the front of the bus.
When the bald old man saw Li Huowang's eyes, he shivered in fright. Then, he stopped walking and turned around to hold on to the hanging handrail.
Li Huowang found the bald old man's actions to be suspicious.
Li Huowang tried to ignore it for a while, but he still felt uneasy, so he stood up and walked toward the bald old man to take a closer look at the latter.
Li Huowang's pupils constricted upon recognizing the bald old man. The bald old man was a fellow patient. More specifically, his name was Old Liu, and Li Huowang could still remember knocking out Old Liu's dentures with a punch.
The bus door opened just then, and the panicking Old Liu rushed down the bus with his fishing rod and bucket.
When Old Liu saw that Li Huowang was following him, he abandoned his fishing rod and bucket. Old Liu started breathing in ragged pants as he ran away desperately.
"Old Liu! Why are you running away?! I've recovered!" Li Huowang exclaimed. He caught up to Old Liu and grabbed the latter by the shoulder.
"I... I don't believe you!" Old Liu exclaimed. He struggled desperately and shouted in despair, "Help! Someone help! Call the police! This lunatic is a murderer!"
"Shut up! I'm going to kill you if you don't!" Li Huowang warned. He took out a little saw and pointed it at Old Liu's belly, who closed his mouth immediately.
He dragged Old Liu to behind a bush. Then, he breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Old Liu's screams didn't attract any attention from the sparse crowd.
Li Huowang took a moment to compose himself before explaining, "Sorry, I didn't mean to do this to you, but I have something important to do right now! I have to finish it before I get caught!"
Old Liu looked down at the bloodstains on the saw and gulped. "Okay, you... you can go, I promise I won't call the police."
"Heh, I know you too well. You cheated your way to victory in those card games with the other patients. I can't trust you at all. Anyway, is there anyone else at your home right now?" Li Huowang supported Old Liu as the two of them walked away from the bush.
"What.. what do you want?" Old Liu asked with an ashen look.
"There's no one at home. My... my son is at work, and my grandson is in school."
"I'm not going to do anything; I just need to make sure that you won't call the police once I've left you alone!"
"I really won't call the police, Little Li. Please spare me. I really was just sick at the time; I didn't mean to hurt your girlfriend."
Unfortunately, Old Liu's words didn't convince Li Huowang nor weaken his determination.
They soon arrived at Old Liu's home. It was a second-floor apart in a small residential area, and there was no one inside. Old Liu hadn't lied.
However, Li Huowang was still dissatisfied, so he decided to tape Old Liu to the toilet. He did it tightly so that Old Liu would find it difficult to break free.
He ignored Old Liu's pleas, but he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he went into the kitchen to select a handy tool.
A little saw wouldn't be enough to handle his opponent. He needed a handier and more powerful weapon.
"Little Li, I beg you, I really won't call the police!" Old Liu exclaimed. The crisp sound of metal scraping against metal echoed from the kitchen, and it made Old Liu shudder.
Li Huowang picked up a long-handled boning knife and returned to the bathroom.
"Little Li, you can kill me, but can you spare my grandson?" Old Liu pleaded in despair.
Li Huowang frowned deeply and said, "How many times must I tell you? I've recovered!"
"Yes, yes, you've recovered, you've recovered crazy," Old Liu said, nodding repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice.
Li Huowang gagged Old Liu and even sealed it with tape to ensure that Old Liu wouldn't be able to make any noises. "Sorry, you've recognized me, so I have no choice but to do this."
Having resolved the unexpected danger, Li Huowang pushed the door open and walked out of the apartment.
Li Huowang went down the stairs and returned to the bus stop at the entrance of the residential area. He hopped onto a bus that was heading to Beihai Port.
As the number of people on the bus dwindled, the frown on Li Huowang's face became tighter.
Soon, they arrived at the port, and the stacked shipping containers made him feel oppressed.
Li Huowang was in a dilemma. How could he infiltrate the place?
Chapter 603 - Wooden Ship
The New Year festivities had just ended, so the weather was still cold. It was so cold that the seawater's coldness had to be bone-chilling.
However, this bit of cold was nothing to Li Huowang, who had gone through countless battles.
Li Huowang was beneath a crowded wooden pier. He projected his image and submerged his colored phantom. His invisible figure peeked out of the water and stared at his distant target.
There was a huge wooden ship, and it wasn't just any ship. It was huge and was even larger than the warships Li Huowang had seen around Xing Island.
The bow of the huge wooden ship was like a massive fish as it sat on the water's surface. It had a wooden-yellow color, making it appear like an oppressive mountain.
I finally caught up! Hmph! Trying to escape, huh? Leaving Great Liang immediately when the situation seems amiss? Not that easy! You still owe me for the ambush that you and Huangfu Tiangang had done against me! Li Sui, let's go!
Li Sui's tentacles extended from Li Huowang's wound, and they moved swiftly in the seawater, propelling Li Huowang toward the bizarre flat-bottomed wooden ship.
Li Huowang had lost three of his limbs, and Li Sui's skinned tentacles, which resembled a dog's limbs, replaced his lost limbs. Even his left hand, which only had one finger remaining, was replaced by Li Sui.
Li Sui was attached to Li Huowang, so he could use her limbs skillfully as if they were his own.
At first, he was hesitant about the idea of making a break for it, but he decided to make a break for it after surviving Huangfu Tiangang's ambush.
This huge wooden ship would sail away before he could recover his limbs, so he couldn't wait for them to recover.
Fortunately, Li Sui's tentacles were great tools for swimming, and Li Sui herself was comfortable in the water as if she were a fish.
Soon, Li Huowang was touching the wooden hull of the ship. Instead of immediately making a move, he waited quietly for nightfall to sneak his way onto the ship.
He wasn't afraid that the ship might sail away as he dilly-dallied, as he was already near its hull.
Time ticked by slowly, and the sky gradually darkened as the sun shifted westward.
As the lights in the distant pier disappeared, Li Huowang stuck his black tentacles to the hull, and just like that, he rapidly climbed up the hull.
He placed his one remaining finger on the side of the ship and poked his head out to look around. His projection ability was concealing his figure at the moment, so Li Huowang wasn't particularly nervous about this.
The ship's bow was massive, and the front deck was as big as a soccer field. However, the vast field was desolate. Li Huowang couldn't see anything other than smoke from the three burning incense inside a giant cauldron on the bow.
The three columns of white smoke rising from the incense took to the air and disappeared into the darkness.
There were some offerings before the triangular display stand, which stood right in front of the cauldron.
In addition to the usual pig, cow, and sheep heads, there were incense, candles, yellow paper, and gold ingots.
"Dad, what are they worshiping?"
"Don't worry about what they're worshiping. Our goal is to find Doulao's Twisted One and kill him! Everything else is irrelevant."
Li Huowang dragged his crippled figure toward the cabin. His senses were heightened to their absolute limit at the moment, so he could feel every single movement around him. He was planning on brute forcing his way in if he ended up getting detected by any of the crew.
Soon, Li Huowang found himself standing before the cabin door. He opened it cautiously, but nothing happened.
What kind of trickery is this? Could it be that the Twisted One really can't detect my hidden self? Li Huowang thought as he placed his back against the wall and slowly entered the cabin. It was larger and more crowded than Li Huowang had imagined. The cabin was filled with clutter, and both walls were densely packed with wooden carvings of buildings. It was like a three-dimensional version of a famous Qingming painting[1] hanging on the wall.
The wooden carvings were incredibly realistic depictions of wooden tiles, pine trees, sleeves, donkeys, horses, and even cow dung.
Li Huowang was on high alert as he reached behind him and grabbed the hilt of the spine sword.
As soon as he touched the hilt of the spine sword, everything on the wall came to life. A crowd of tiny people rushed to the windows and pointed curiously at Li Huowang.
They can see me! Li Huowang's figure flickered, and he reappeared a yard away. He had no time to entangle with these things, so he quickly rushed forward.
Thump! Peng Longteng's tall figure landed heavily next to Li Huowang. She raised her fist, which was wrapped in heavy armor, and smashed it into the wooden carvings on the wall.
Peng Longteng sent a few more punches before she abruptly froze and became a wood carving. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
What are those? Li Huowang gripped the spine sword tightly and swung it toward the wall, creating a spacetime rift that sent the wooden carvings flying toward the Great Qi.
When the spacetime rift shattered the wooden wall, a wooden eye socket densely packed with eyeballs in a variety of sizes stared at Li Huowang, making his scalp feel numb.
Li Huowang saw that the path had gotten narrower, so he raised the purple-tasseled sword and thrust it into the ground before carving open a hole in the cabin.
Li Huowang wasted no time and jumped into the hole.
The lower deck of the ship was darker than Li Huowang had anticipated. It was so dark that he could not even see his fingers.
Li Huowang took out a green glowing stone, and a distorted, laughing face abruptly appeared before him.
Li Huowang responded quickly. He raised his sword and slashed out, but he forcefully stopped his attack. He took a step back and took a good look at the face that was over three meters tall.
If he wasn't mistaken, then the towering object before him was one of the Eight Immortals, Tieguai Li[2]. More precisely, it was a root carving[3] of Tieguai Li.
It seemed that the carving was made in a way that would emphasize the growth of the roots rather than make the intertwined roots appear like a person.
The carving depicted densely packed tree burls that had been assimilated by Tieguai Li.
Tieguai Li had no legs, as they had been replaced by twisted roots, which made him look rather bizarre and disfigured.
After confirming that the Tieguai Li before him was just an inanimate root carving, Li Huowang backed away slowly.
Just as he took a few steps backward, he felt someone's gaze boring into him from behind.
Li Huowang whipped around and saw one of the Eight Immortals, Lu Dongbin. It was another root carving, but it looked like he was carved from roots that had been eaten by insects.
Lu Dongbin's overall appearance was exactly the same as Tieguai Li's appearance. However, Lu Dongbin's interior seemed hollow as his figure was riddled with holes in a variety of sizes. Clearly, those holes were made by the insects that had devoured his figure.
Li Huowang stood frozen. After a while, he took out all the glowing stones that he had brought from Zephyr Temple and hurled them in all directions.
In the blink of an eye, the root carvings of Eight Immortals in many different poses were revealed around him.
1. Along the River During the Qingming Festival is a handscroll painting by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan ☜
2. also known as Iron-Crutch Li ☜
3. a traditional Chinese art form of carving and polishing tree roots into various artistic creations ☜
Chapter 604 - Eight Immortals
The dark-brown root carvings of the Eight Immortals looked extremely bizarre beneath the green light that had pervaded the dim and spacious tweendeck of the ship.
The remaining Eight Immortals looked far more terrifying compared to Tieguai Li and Lu Dongbin. They had the same root-like appearance as root carvings, but they all had their own peculiar characteristics.
For example, He Xiangu's neck was twisted like a twisted fried dough[1].
Han Zhongli's chest was bare, and his proportions were inconsistent. He looked particularly disgusting as well, looking like a rotten chunk of fat that had been left outside for too long.
A deafening silence hung over the dim tweendeck. Li Huowang couldn't hear any other noises aside from his own breathing.
Li Huowang swept his gaze across the root carvings of the Eight Immortals. Anything related to immortality was always a bad thing in this crazy world!
"Li Sui, let's go! Find Doulao's Twisted One and end this as soon as possible!" Li Huowang exclaimed and projected his image once again. He rushed past the root carvings and headed into the distance.
Just as he walked out of the crowd of root carvings, an eerie creaking noise echoed from behind him.
Li Huowang immediately turned around and saw the root carvings of the Eight Immortals standing in a row; their bizarre eyes were fixed on him—they could actually move!
Pop!
A popping sound echoed as a glowing stone that Li Huowang had thrown burst open.
Unfortunately, it was just the beginning.
A series of popping noises echoed as more and more glowing stones exploded into pieces.
Soon, the root carvings of the Eight Immortals vanished into the darkness.
Li Huowang's vision was excellent, but the surroundings were too dark for him to see anything unless they were only a few feet away from him.
A melody echoed from Han Xiangzi's flute, and a cacophony of voices from both men and women pervaded the tweendeck.
"The superior avoids conflict; the inferior loves strife. The superior is humble; the inferior clings to virtues. Those stubborn do not possess true virtues."
Deafening peals of laughter coming from both elderly and young people pervaded the dark cabin; the laughter sounded bizarre, as if they were layered on top of each other.
Li Huowang gnashed his teeth as the laughter entered his ears. He gripped the spine sword with his right hand and swung it toward where he last saw the root carvings of the Eight Immortals.
Then, he rushed toward the spacetime rift that led to the Great Qi.
Li Huowang lowered himself and got ready to dodge to the left to avoid any possible attacks when Lu Dongbin's root carving appeared on his left without any warning.
When Li Huowang jumped to the left, the large hole in Lu Dongbin's chest opened like a gaping maw, seemingly waiting for him to fall into it.
Li Sui's tentacles burst out of Li Huowang and stuck to the floor, sparing Li Huowang the horrible fate of making contact with Lu Dongbin's gaping maw.
What are these things?! Li Huowang gritted his teeth. He lifted both the spine sword and the purple-tasseled sword and swung them toward Lu Dongbin.
Crack!
Lu Dongbin's root carving was split in half. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
At the same time, Li Huowang was tripped by something, and he stumbled to his left.
Han Xiangzi's twisted bamboo flute stood tall, seemingly waiting for Li Huowang on the floor.
It stood tall in a way that it would pierce Li Huowang's temple if he truly ended up falling to the floor.
Just as he was less than an inch away from Han Xiangzi's flute, Han Xiangzi was suddenly dragged away by someone else.
Shiwik!
Li Huowang stabbed the swords into the ground, stabilizing himself. He then stood up with a furious look and asked, "Have you had enough fun, you bunch of rotten wood?"
Sparks flew from a flint as Li Huowang was set ablaze. The flames were like a viral infection as they jumped onto the half-immortal root carvings.
The dark cabin brightened instantly as the root carvings caught fire.
The stationary root carvings of the Eight Immortals made another move. The burning tree stumps and roots writhed as their charred figures crawled toward Li Huowang.
Li Huowang was about to set fire to the entire ship when the wooden planks on the ground split open, allowing seawater to come in.
The seawater extinguished the flames, plunging the entire deck into darkness.
A piercing noise echoed as the remaining flames resisted the encroaching water.
The submerged Li Huowang convulsed upon hearing the piercing noise. However, he had never been the type to give up so easily, so he took out his rib, which was stored in his belly button, and shoved it into his chest.
The pain wreaking havoc throughout Li Huowang was instantly shared with everything around him, and the cacophony of noises vanished.
"So you want to play, huh? Fine! I'll sink this entire ship for you!" Li Huowang exclaimed. His charred figure swam to the nearest wall, and he slashed out haphazardly with his spine sword.
Rifts appeared in the hull, and a large amount of seawater was displaced every time Li Huowang swung his sword.
The icy seawater rushed back in shortly upon being displaced, but the rifts in the hull writhed and intertwined with each other to seal the rifts.
To make matters worse, the bizarre-looking root carvings of the Eight Immortals appeared in the dark waters.
A layer of charcoal covered the root carvings of the Eight Immortals, and they looked even more terrifying as the charcoal enveloping them dispersed like black mist in the icy cold waters.
Lu Dongbin's root carving had miraculously recovered, even though Li Huowang had split it into two earlier. He stood firmly with the other root carvings as they surrounded Li Huowang.
Finally, the root carvings of the Eight Immortals made their move. A black mist spread from their charred figures as they rushed nimbly toward Li Huowang.
Li Huowang raised his weapons. The spine sword in his right hand blocked He Xiangu's lotus, while his left hand thrust the purple-tasseled sword into Zhang Guolao's face.
Li Huowang then opened his mouth wide, revealing a mouth full of tentacles that wrapped around Han Zhongli's head before twisting it off the latter's shoulders.
Li Sui stood bravely next to Li Huowang, brandishing the bronze coin sword to fight the enemies. Li Huowang was taken aback and was completely surrounded, but he still had the advantage.
Unfortunately, these carvings of half-immortals were difficult to handle. Even decapitation wasn't enough to deal with them; Li Huowang had to crush them into powder to render them immobile.
Li Huowang was making quick work of them, but there was one big issue—he was running out of steam.
The tweendeck wasn't that huge, especially when it was jam-packed with enemies, so Li Huowang had to make agile movements to avoid getting injured. To make matters worse, he was drenched in icy cold seawater. The exertion made Li Huowang feel like his lungs were on fire. His expression became increasingly agonized as time ticked by, and the bulging veins on his forehead seemed like they'd burst open anytime soon.
Li Huowang's instincts were telling him to surface as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Li Huowang was in the lower hold of the ship, and the bizarre root carvings of the Eight Immortals were not letting him go, which made it impossible for him to swim away.
Li Huowang's consciousness became blurrier and blurrier as he was running out of air. His situation eventually became so bad that he started hallucinating.
"Hah!" Li Huowang spat the dagger in his mouth and desperately gasped for air upon surfacing. After a few deep breaths, he dove fiercely and swam toward the depths of the sea.
The deep breaths on the surface had allowed him to come back to his senses and recover his strength.
Chapter 605 - Strayed One, Twisted One
Despite the darkness, Li Huowang had ample oxygen in his lungs, so he wasn't too worried at the moment.
The fate of the Eight Immortals in the seawater was obvious as well.
Soon, black and yellow wood chips pervaded the seawater around Li Huowang. The root carvings were agile, but he reckoned that they couldn't swim.
Having dealt with the root carvings of the Eight Immortals, the black tentacles that sprouted on Li Huowang's stumps swung rapidly, carrying him toward the sea surface.
Li Huowang soon found himself gasping for air on deck.
The other party knew that he was coming, so stealth had become meaningless. In the end, Li Huowang decided to confront the other party directly.
Li Huowang believed that he wouldn't necessarily lose in a head-on confrontation, as the two of them were Twisted Ones of a Siming.
Swoosh! 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
A spacetime rift flew and struck the bronze incense cauldron with three sticks of incense sticking out of it. The cauldron shattered, and ash scattered all over the ground.
"Come out! If you don't come out, I'm going to burn this ship down to the ground!" Li Huowang exclaimed. He looked down at his charred figure with barely any skin left. The next moment, he pulled out a flint and scratched his skin.
Sparks flew, and a conflagration erupted, enveloping him completely in an instant.
The raging flames spread outward from Li Huowang's feet.
Swoosh!
The cabin door swung open, and a large group of people rushed into the cabin.
The crowd was dressed in clothes that Li Huowang had never seen before, and their skin was slightly darker than the average person.
When the crowd dressed in strange clothes saw that Li Huowang was trying to burn down the ship, their eyes blazed with anger.
It seemed as if they had gone mad as they brandished their weapons and charged at Li Huowang.
There were some skilled fighters among them, but it was futile. As the flames spread, they ultimately became fuel that further intensified the flames.
The fire grew larger and larger. As the entire ship was about to become engulfed in flames, the flames disappeared rapidly. Time seemed to rewound like a tape as the charred wooden boards reverted to their original color. Eerily enough, the bronze incense cauldron, which had been split into two by Li Huowang actually returned to its original state.
A creaking noise echoed, and a nearby hatch opened.
A man dressed in tattered clothes with a leash around his neck crawled out slowly from the hatch. The rusty chain that linked his neck to the cabin rubbed against the ground, creating a harsh scraping sound.
He wasn't alone. Someone else crawled out of the hatch; more and more people crawled out until there were five of them outside.
They all looked normal, but they had identical pupils.
Li Huowang's expression turned solemn, and he clenched his fists. At last, the mastermind was here.
"Stand up." An aged voice echoed from the pitch-black cabin. The expression of the five people became dull, and they stood up to repeat the aged voice's words.
"Stand up."
"Stand up."
"Stand up."
"Stand up."
"Stand up."
Li Huowang remained calm as he faced the five strange individuals. He stared at the pitch-black cabin behind them and asked, "Are you the Twisted One hidden by Doulao?"
Just then, Li Huowang heard the sound of horse hooves on his left. He turned and saw waves of yellow dust rising from the pier in the distance.
It seemed that someone was coming to the pier. Unfortunately, their efforts were useless, as the ship was already quite a bit distant from the pier.
Li Huowang looked away and stared into the darkness. "Come out. I'm already here, so is there any point in hiding?"
Thump!
The headless Peng Longteng landed heavily next to Li Huowang. She took big strides forward and charged at the five people.
"Break their legs." The aged voice sounded once again.
The five strange individuals repeated the aged voice's words, and the legs of the charging Peng Longteng were abruptly severed, causing her to slam heavily onto the wooden floor.
Li Huowang swept his gaze across the five people, and he suddenly felt creeped out. The other party's ability to make their words come true made him think of something ominous. Strayed Ones? These five people are Strayed Ones?!
If Li Huowang's assumption was right, then it finally made sense how the walls had healed themselves. Li Huowang knew that the 'Truth' of Strayed Ones could do something like that.
The person hiding in the cabin seemed like they didn't want to answer Li Huowang's question.
When the Strayed Ones spoke in unison once again, the deck cracked open, and Li Huowang fell straight down into the lower hold.
Li Huowang recovered his balance and looked up to see the five Strayed Ones getting dragged away by the iron chains around their necks. Eventually, they were hung on the wall, making them look like five hanging ghosts.
As a Strayed One himself, Li Huowang could empathize with them. He found it disgusting how the other party was using these Strayed Ones as tools to fight for him.
The other party had transformed five living people into puppets.
Fortunately, Li Huowang was extremely familiar with Strayed Ones, and he had his own way of dealing with them as well.
When the other party opened their mouth to say something once again, Li Huowang took out an awl and pierced his eardrums without any hesitation.
The next moment, he closed his eyes and charged at the wall where the five Strayed Ones were hanging.
Li Sui watched as her father charged at the wall despite stepping on the fallen objects on the ground. The wooden boards that made up the lower hold were liquifying rapidly, but Li Huowang didn't seem to care as he continued his charge.
A giant wall covered with barbs, and a bucket of boiling molten iron fell toward Li Huowang, but he easily knocked them aside.
"Die!" Two spacetime rifts that led straight to the Great Qi flew toward the five Strayed Ones.
When Li Huowang opened his eyes once again, he saw that the Strayed Ones were dragged away by the chains on their necks, so they managed to dodge the attack.
However, Li Huowang was not disappointed at all. He already knew what he was going to do if his attack failed.
The opponent hiding in the darkness of the cabin was about to open their mouth when Li Huowang took out a bronze bell and shook it vigorously.
He had no intention of summoning the Wandering Gods; he just wanted to use the piercing sound of the bell to interrupt the other party's commands to the Strayed Ones.
Strayed Ones were difficult opponents, so Li Huowang decided to disrupt his opponent's commands instead.
The five Strayed Ones stopped moving. Li Huowang saw that, so he swung his left hand toward the cabin door, hurling two slender tentacles that wrapped around the cabin door itself.
Li Huowang tugged forcefully, propelling himself into the dark cabin next door as if he were a stone leaving a slingshot. He moved so fast that he left behind a trail of afterimages.
Chapter 606 - Truths or Lies
The cabin next door was made entirely out of wood and was only as big as a classroom, but it resembled more like a chamber of an ant's nest.
The walls were filled with engravings, and the tiny engraved people on the walls were moving and pointing at Li Huowang, making the entire cabin quite lively.
Li Huowang finally saw the true body of Yinyang Doulao's Twisted One.
The Twisted One was a bare-chested man sitting on a brown chair. The man was also wearing a mask similar to the mask in front of the Sitting Oblivion Dao's entrance.
The only difference was that this particular mask boasted tusks that made the mask appear even more menacing.
The man was skinny, but his abdomen was abnormally large. A tattoo of two fishes representing Yin and Yang was on the man's abdomen. Shockingly, the two fishes were alive and swimming!
The chains connected to the five Strayed Ones were in the left hand of the Twisted One.
Clearly, he was the owner of the aged voice. Li Huowang also noticed that the Twisted One didn't have legs—no, his legs had fused with the brown chair.
Li Huowang opened his mouth to start asking questions, but it seemed that the other party didn't want to talk to Li Huowang right now.
The bare-chested man tugged at the chains, and the five Strayed Ones were dragged into the cabin.
They wasted no time and charged at Li Huowang from behind.
The five Strayed Ones said something, and the wooden boards on the ground flew toward Li Huowang.
"Can you guys stop?!" Li Huowang was furious. He gripped his spine sword tightly and ignored the Strayed Ones behind him before charging at the bare-chested man.
Li Huowang had just swung his sword when his supposedly deaf ears heard something from behind the Twisted One's mask.
"One obtains Dao at Mount Tian Tai and becomes Immortal at Mount Ge Zao. The Jade Capital's Golden Gates opens within the Tai Chi. Great Compassion, Great Aspirations, Great Holiness, and Great Mercy. The Supreme Jade Capital hidden within the mechanisms of the Heavens. The Jade Void and Purple Spirit transforms into profound tranquility. The Eternal Dao blends harmoniously," the bare-chested man sang along with the five Strayed Ones behind Li Huowang.
As they sang, Li Huowang and the illusions around him flickered. It appeared like something was disappearing from them.
Rumble!
A spacetime rift came to life and struck the bare-chested man's face. However, the spacetime rift dissipated like a gentle breeze instead of bisecting the man.
It's useless on him? Is he another Dragon Vein?! Li Huowang was stupefied, but he refused to give up.
Peng Longteng's massive figure appeared beside him, and she hurled him toward the bare-chested man.
Li Huowang crashed into the man's mask. The purple-tasseled sword in his hand and the bronze coin sword gripped by Li Sui's tentacles were thrust into the man's enlarged abdomen at the same time.
Shockingly, both swords phased through the man and struck the brown chair instead.
Li Huowang was so surprised that he froze, but he snapped back to reality in the blink of an eye and thrust his swords forward once again.
Unfortunately, his swords were indeed phasing through the bare-chested man. To make matters worse, even the brown chair was unharmed.
"Something's wrong here!" Li Huowang exclaimed. He raised his sword and stabbed his thigh.
The sharp sword pierced his thigh, but he felt no pain at all. Eerily enough, his sword did not get stained in his blood as well.
Seeing that, Li Huowang realized that the bare-chested man wasn't a Dragon Vein. The issue was with him; something was happening to him!
It felt like he had ceased to exist the moment Yinyang Doulao's Twisted One clapped his eyes on him.
Li Huowang felt like he had become a ghost, as he couldn't touch anything, including himself.
"What's going on?" Li Huowang asked, sounding confused.
"You've become a 'Lie'! Quick, think of a plan while I distract Doulao!" A familiar voice exclaimed.
Just then, the ceiling of the cabin opened, and Doulao's Twisted One took the five Strayed Ones to kneel toward the skies.
"Not existing, yet not empty. Such is the true void, manifesting its traces in the world. Guard the sage's chariot in Yanfu. Great Compassion, Great Aspirations, Great Holiness, and Great Mercy. Of a saintly virtue with immense radiance. O' golden revered one, the Great Sage of Marici, Yuanming Doulao Tianzun!"
The starry sky was blotted out by a clump of darkness. It felt like something was about to emerge.
"Not existing yet not empty? Did I become fake? Did I really become a 'Lie'?"
Li Huowang's actions couldn't influence reality at all, and it seemed like he had truly lost against his opponent.
No! There must be some other way! As a Twisted One, he can use Doulao's Heavenly Daos of Truth and Lies! And I'm Ji Zai's Twisted One, so I can definitely use his Heavenly Dao!
"But how am I supposed to use 'Bewilderment'?!" Li Huowang roared in anger.
He was badly injured and was in a bad spot. His weapon was nothing but a knife, and he couldn't defeat Xu Shou's guard dogs. To make matters worse, Xu Shuo's men were even equipped with guns!
Boom!
Something exploded up ahead. It was a wooden frame, and its explosion forced him into a corner.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!" Furious barks echoed, reminding Li Huowang of the five pit bulls chasing after him.
Those dogs seemed to have been trained to fight. They were brave and fearless; they were also difficult to shake off once they had latched onto someone.
The pit bulls seemed immune to pain as well, which made Li Huowang's knife useless.
One of them had latched onto him, so he sacrificed his left arm to kill it, but he didn't expect to see more!
Li Huowang heard approaching footsteps, and his expression changed drastically, revealing his unwillingness to lose. "Is this how it ends? No! I need to do something to eliminate their weapons!"
Thankfully, he had a contingency plan in mind for a scenario like this.
Li Huowang took out a bottle of pills and opened it. Then, he dumped every single pill into his mouth.
He chewed on them once and swallowed them with great difficulty.
Moments later, Li Huowang's surroundings changed drastically. The white walls of the yacht transformed into brown wooden panels. Earlier, Li Huowang had been thinking frantically about how he could use the special Heavenly Dao of Bewilderment, but now, he was no longer worried as he could touch his head once again! He was no longer a spirit that couldn't influence reality!
Chapter 607 - Xu Shou
Li Huowang had no idea what happened, but he knew that it was a good thing that he was real once again.
Li Huowang attacked immediately, afraid that he'd become fake once again.
"Father, my bronze coin sword is missing," Li Sui said.
However, Li Huowang was focused on the bare-chested man kneeling on the ground as well as the five Strayed Ones. He had no idea what Li Sui was talking about.
"Die!" Li Huowang swung his spine sword toward the five Strayed Ones.
The praying Strayed Ones didn't expect that Li Huowang would become real once again.
The heads of the five Strayed Ones were sent to the Qi Kingdom.
"Touch your head! Your head is missing!" Li Huowang exclaimed.
The five Strayed Ones heard him and tried to touch their head to no avail. They went limp and fell to the ground the moment they realized that they were dead. They never got up again.
Li Huowang then pointed his sword at the Twisted One.
Their gazes met in mid-air, and that was when the deck split open like a monstrous maw. The sharp edges of the wooden floor engulfed the two and shut tight.
The wooden spikes were like jagged teeth as they closed up.
The cabin became silent and devoid of any living being.
The dark clouds in the skies expanded as time ticked by. From the darkest part of the clouds appeared a single eyeball. It was the Sacred Mountain Ghost Eye that Doulao had taken from the Liang Kingdom.
Just then, a blood-red maggot chewed through the wooden floorboards and consumed everything around it.
However, it was just the beginning; more and more maggots chewed through the wooden boards.
Soon, the wooden boards were riddled with holes, and Li Huowang could see the skies once more.
Li Huowang's chest was hollow, and the cavity was filled with wriggling maggots. He didn't hesitate to sacrifice his organs to use Five Elements Intercalation against the Twisted One of Doulao.
Li Huowang obtained a tremendous amount of power in exchange for his life. A whistling sound echoed; the air itself screeched as Li Huowang thrust his spine sword into the Twisted One's bulging belly, pinning the latter to the wooden boards.
Li Huowang twisted his sword, and the dark clouds spread even faster.
It was useless, but the Twisted One extended his arms and tried pushing the spine sword upward.
"You refuse to die?" Li Huowang asked. His tentacles launched the Twisted One into the air, and he thrust his sword into the Twisted One's chest once again.
The sword sunk deeper, and Li Huowang pinned the Twisted One into the wooden board once again.
At last, Li Huowang had fulfilled Ji Zai's request.
Rumble!
The dark skies abruptly changed, and Li Huowang phased through the spine sword!
The spine sword was sticking out of him, but he felt no pain.
Li Huowang instantly realized that he had become a "Lie," but it wasn't just him. The massive wooden ship and the stretch of the ocean around them were vanishing in real time. These "Truths" were vanishing and were being replaced by "Lies."
However, it didn't last long.
The "Truth" reappeared as fast as it disappeared, replacing the "Lie."
Qiu Chibao, the old monk, and Jin Shanzhao suddenly realized that they had fleshly bodies.
"I'm alive? Have I really been resurrected? I can do good deeds again?!" the old monk exclaimed, jumping around on the spot.
What's happening? Li Huowang unknowingly looked up. "Is this how Natural Disasters occur?"
Doulao's Twisted One had been dealt with, so Ji Zai was most likely in the middle of snatching away Yinyang Doulao's Heavenly Daos of Truth and Lies.
Natural Disasters occurred whenever a Siming was in the middle of robbing another Siming's Heavenly Dao.
Realizing that she had a fleshly body once again, Peng Longteng decisively abandoned Li Huowang and ran toward the gunwale.
She was about to climb the gunwale and jump overboard, but her figure phased through it—she was an illusion once more.
"Ah~ I'm an illusion again?" the old monk said, sounding disappointed upon sensing the change.
"Is it over?" Li Huowang muttered. He closed his eyes and felt his surroundings.
The Natural Disaster was over, which meant his Siming, Ji Zai, had completely taken over Doulao's Heavenly Daos of Truth and Lies.
It was a good thing to have control over two Heavenly Daos, but Li Huowang felt nothing.
Just then, a strange whirling sound echoed from above him.
Li Huowang looked up, and the strong wind blowing across the scene sent Li Huowang's hair flying backward.
The red lights up above revealed that Li Huowang was staring at a helicopter.
Li Huowang smiled when he saw the words painted on the underside of the helicopter.
"So Old Liu still called the police."
The situation was out of control, and Li Huowang knew that it wouldn't be easy to deal with the aftermath, especially when there was an entire yacht of corpses around him.
He looked down indifferently at the dying Xu Shou.
At least my parents and Yang Na will be safe now.
Li Huowang stared at the mastermind and felt extremely repulsed. He bent down and grabbed the man's sunglasses for himself.
"I'm not blaming you for anything, even though you've put me in such a tight spot. You even made me lose an arm. Anyway, be careful in your next life."
Xu Shou's lip quivered as if he wanted to say something. His hands, saddled with rings, were pressing on the wound that the bronze coin sword had made.
"Hm? What did you say?" Li Huowang got closer, and his pupils constricted.
He realized that Xu Shou without the sunglasses looked extremely familiar to him!
A strange face appeared in his mind. He soon recalled the nuns covered in filth. He had seen Xu Shou in the Benevolent Nunnery!
"Xu'er? Are you Xu'er?!" Li Huowang hurriedly asked, "Are you really the son of Abbess Jing Xin?!"
Li Huowang closely examined Xu Shou and became even more certain that Xu Shuo resembled the shriveled man hidden in the Abbess' folds of fat.
The man was none other than the son of the Abbess, and he was a Strayed One as well!
Li Huowang felt his hair standing on end. He felt like his skull itself was expanding uncontrollably as a torrent of information surged into his brain like a deluge. He was fine just a few seconds ago, but now, he was filled with many different thoughts.
Chapter 608 - Lies and Truth
"Xu'er..." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
It had been a long time, but Li Huowang could still remember the name that Abbess Jing Xin had given to her son.
However, he had never imagined that Xu Shou was actually Xu'er!
The Abbess' son was a Strayed One, but to think that he'd have another body on this side!
The implications were unmistakable, and Li Huowang felt overwhelmed by the deluge of information inundating his mind.
However, all of it could wait...
Li Huowang needed to ask what Xu Shou was trying to do with him.
"Xu Shou! Why did you do this to me?! What are you planning on doing to me?!" Li Huowang exclaimed, staring at the old man.
"Cough, cough... '' Xu Shou coughed up blood as Li Huowang helped him up. Xu Shou then stared at Li Huowang with his glazed but determined eyes.
His pale lips quivered to say something, but...
"... "
Li Huowang looked up and glared at the helicopter, "Scram! You are too noisy! I can't hear him!"
With that, he pulled Xu Shou closer to him and pressed his left ear against Xu Shou's mouth to hear what the latter had to say.
Xu Shou parted his mouth once again, and a familiar voice entered his ears.
"Huowang? Huowang, focus now. It's your turn."
Li Huowang snapped back to reality and looked around him.
His surroundings had changed.
The boat, Xu Shou, and even the helicopter had disappeared.
The chaotic surroundings had been replaced by a tranquil one. The shift was so drastic that he found it extremely uncomfortable.
He looked down at himself and saw that his wounds, even his missing arm, had vanished. It seemed like he had traveled back in time to just a few days ago.
Li Huowang realized that he was back on his plastic chair. He was sitting in a circle along with the other patients back in Kangning Hospital.
The hall was quiet and peaceful.
"Li Huowang? What's wrong?" Wu Cheng asked. He was in his white robes and was staring at Li Huowang.
Li Huowang stared at Wu Cheng and saw that the latter's face was unscathed. Li Huowang could still remember how he had bitten off a chunk of Wu Cheng's face, but now, there wasn't even a scar left.
Li Huowang had tortured Wu Cheng, but the latter's eyes reflected no emotions except for concern. It seemed like nothing had happened between him and Li Huowang.
"Have you discovered anything strange with your illness? I'm your doctor, so feel free to talk to me. I will do my best to help you while you're here."
Li Huowang looked at him with a conflicted feeling before opening his mouth, saying, "Doctor Wu, I feel like something has happened just now."
Then, Li Huowang recounted what had happened to him.
After listening to Li Huowang's recount, Wu Cheng crossed his arms and frowned. "It's normal for you to have hallucinations since it's written on the report, but usually, only those with autism suffer from fragmented perception. Actually, it's strange that your fragmented perception happened in your hallucination."
Autism? Fragmented thoughts? Li Huowang looked around in confusion before looking at the autistic boy nearby.
The boy smiled, but he froze all of a sudden and stared out into space. He looked just like Li Huowang earlier, seemingly stuck in an endless cycle.
Was everything fake just now? Was it all my imagination? Impossible! It was too real to be fake! A hallucination couldn't be that real!
Li Huowang knew that there was something wrong going on here, so he needed to investigate it.
"Doctor Wu, lend me your phone. I need to call Doctor Yi."
"All right. The rules actually don't allow me to do so, but I'll make an exception today," Wu Cheng said. He unlocked his phone and passed it to Li Huowang.
Li Huowang's suspicion vanished at Wu Cheng's reply. Wu Cheng has actually changed...
Li Huowang took out the slip of paper that Yi Donglai had given him and called the number written on it.
The phone was ringing, but no one was picking it up.
The tiny pond in front of him looked familiar. It was a certain pond in Cowheart Village.
The battle with Doulao's Twisted One, the boat, and even his belly full of maggots were gone. It truly felt like he had gone back in time and entered a timeline where the Imperial Preceptor hadn't done anything to him.
The ringing of a phone vanished. Li Huowang turned to the skies and exclaimed, "Come out here! Did you do this to me?! What did you do to me?"
And that was when something bizarre happened...
Li Huowang watched as his own reflection emerged from the pond before him.
"What's wrong? Isn't this great? Everything is back to normal."
"Good? What do you mean 'good'? What happened? What happened to the boat? Why did it disappear? Are my thoughts fragmented?!" Li Huowang shouted at Ji Zai.
Ji Zai pondered over his answer before replying, "I've taken the Heavenly Dao of Truth and Lies from Yinyang Doulao. And I turned everything that had happened into a 'Lie.'"
Li Huowang was frustrated. "What are you talking about?"
"I told you that everything you care for might become fake, while everything that is fake might become real. Did you think I was lying?"
Li Huowang's frustration intensified at Ji Zai's words, "But what happened just now was real! How could it just disappear?"
"What is real and what is fake? Are you sure that everything you're touching is real? What about everything you've experienced so far? Are you sure they're real? If so, then how are you going to prove it?" Ji Zai asked; his questions stumped Li Huowang. "Stop thinking about the past. What's done is done. Start looking forward."
Ji Zai returned to the water and merged with Li Huowang's reflection.
"I forgot to inform you of a good news. I've taken control of three and a half Heavenly Daos—Bewilderment, Truth, Lies, and the Heavenly Dao of Chaos from the Sacred Mountain Ghost. You don't have to worry about anything else. I can finally defend myself."
"Stop talking in riddles! You have to tell me what happened just now! I still have no idea what happened!"
"Great. Just keep moving forward," Ji Zai replied, refusing to answer Li Huowang's question.
"Screw you!" Li Huowang swung his spine sword at Ji Zai upon realizing that the latter had made a fool of him.
This was the first time Li Huowang detested his future self.
Unfortunately, the reflection of himself in the water sustained no injuries, no matter how many times he slashed his sword at the pond.
"You should be happy as my Twisted One. Since I've gotten stronger, you should have reaped some profits as well."
"I don't want any of those!" Li Huowang exclaimed and swung the spine sword, parting the water in the pond.
Once the parted water returned to normal, Li Huowang shouted, "I've done all of your requests! You better stop bothering me from now on! Scram! I feel irritated just looking at you!"
Surprisingly, the reflection in the water replied, "You know that one day, you'll stand here and listen to yourself saying those words. You know that, right?"
The reflection in the water disappeared afterward.
Li Huowang stared deeply at the water, and he couldn't shake off the feeling that Ji Zai was still looking at him.
Chapter 609 - Yang Na
The families of the patients and the workers of Kangning Hospital were all looking at a young lady sitting in the corner.
The young lady had a gorgeous, slender figure and was good looking overall.
Someone as pretty as her was a rare sight here, so everyone couldn't help but look at her.
Yang Na was wearing a white sweater beneath her red jacket, and she had on a small sling bag as well. Her hands were on her thighs as she waited impatiently for someone.
Yang Na had dressed herself up today, and her makeup was heavier than usual to hide her exhaustion. A jade earring was hanging from her left ear, and it jiggled as she looked left and right.
Yang Na looked at the time on her phone before taking out a small mirror and lipstick from her bag.
She redid her lipstick and pursed her lips.
Soon, someone called her name; she picked up the white bag beside her and ran toward a hospital staffer.
Yang Na smiled as she entered a certain room, but her expression froze upon seeing Li Huowang behind a wire fence.
"Wait, why is he locked up when I'm visiting him? The other hospitals are not like this! And this isn't a prison!" Yang Na exclaimed upon seeing Li Huowang's condition.
"Nana, it's fine," Li Huowang replied.
Yang Na ignored the staffer and walked up to the wire fence. She grabbed Li Huowang's hands, and her eyes became wet with tears upon seeing the handcuffs on him.
Li Huowang hurriedly consoled her, saying, "Stop crying, Nana. I'm really fine. No need to feel bad for me. This is a great hospital, and the doctors are great here. The food isn't that bad, and the patients are much more docile here. I even made some friends. Also, I'm getting better. It's only a matter of time before I get discharged! Once I'm discharged, we can finally meet outside."
Thanks to Li Huowang, Yang Na managed to hold back her tears.
"Nana, why are you here? Who told you that I'm here?"
Li Huowang was surprised by Yang Na's visit. He thought that their next meeting would be outside.
Yang Na lowered her head and pressed Li Huowang's palm on her cheek. "Auntie told me that you're here. She said that your illness has been cured and that you won't become crazy again. She said that you can tell people apart now. Did you know that I couldn't sleep for two nights after I got that phone call? I was so happy to hear that you're finally cured." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
Li Huowang couldn't do anything about that. His mother was a worrywart and had the tendency to do unnecessary things.
Li Huowang was planning on calling Yang Na the moment he was discharged, but it seemed that his mother was even more impatient than him.
"Nana, I heard that you're sick. Are you feeling okay now?" asked Li Huowang. He was worried about her.
"I'm fine. I can manage it through medicine," Yang Na smiled and said, "Did you know how happy I was when the doctor told me that I was sick? I thought I could get admitted to the same hospital as you."
Yang Na was lying that she was fine, and Li Huowang saw through her. An illness that needed medicine to manage was serious.
A mild case of depression required no medicine, and there was a massive difference between mild depression and major depression.
A mild case of depression was just like having a cloud above one's head that would go away over time.
However, major depression was like having a dog that would steal someone's ability to feel joy.
The dog, known as major depression, would always follow the individual, and it would grow larger over time.
The dog would vary in size, but it would never leave one's side.
The dog would keep following Yang Na until she was cured. In other words, she'd never be able to feel joy until she was cured.
Someone in the darkness with no light at the end of it would eventually plunge into despair.
It wouldn't be a surprise if Yang Na was already entertaining thoughts of self-harm.
To make matters worse, the patient could relapse after a period of improvement. A relapse was basically guaranteed if the patient went through a traumatic experience.
"Nana," Li Huowang said, looking into Yang Na's eyes. "Once I'm out here, I'll stay with you and face whatever you have to face."
Yang Na bit her lips and nodded. Then, she remembered something and let go of Li Huowang's hands. She picked up the plastic bag on the ground and explained, "Huowang, take a look at these. These are your favorite snacks. I bought many of them. There's liqueur-filled chocolate, crackers, and tomato-flavored chips. Hide these snacks, and don't let the other patients steal them. Also, I bought you some essential daily items."
The atmosphere between the two became better as Yang Na gradually relaxed.
Yang Na smiled often throughout their conversation as well.
Li Huowang was already cured, so their meeting today had a different meaning compared to their previous meetings.
Li Huowang was no longer plagued by those hallucinations, so they could finally see a future for themselves.
Yang Na never let go of Li Huowang's hands as she spoke about her plans with him once he was discharged.
Once he was discharged, Yang Na planned on bringing him with her to explore and eat good food. She wanted to make up for the torture he had gone through over the past few years.
Time flew by, and the visitation hours were up.
"Did your chest get scarred?" Li Huowang looked at her white sweater.
Yang Na's smile gradually disappeared. "Well, there are six stitches, so there's some scarring."
"Nana, I'm so sorry. I was..." Li Huowang muttered.
"It's fine," Yang Na interrupted with a smile. "Plus, you're the only one who's going to see that place, so it's fine as long as you don't find it repulsive.
"Anyway, look. I still have the present you gave me for my birthday," Yang Na said. She parted her hair and revealed the jade earring.
"Oh, but where did you get it? My friends said that it's worth a lot. Did you spend a lot of money on it?" Yang Na asked casually. She then realized something important and looked at Li Huowang behind the wire fence. "Aren't you always in the hospital? How did you get out to buy this thng? There's also the jade pendant."
Li Huowang's pupils constricted. "Huh?"
"Yeah, the jade pendant is apparently worth four hundred thousand."