"Remember to follow my chant. If you do it right, I will give you some candy." A devotee of the White Lotus Sect squatted in front of a group of child beggars and said, "Little god Yu'er pisses itself in front of the Heavenly Mater~"
"Little god Yu'er pisses itself in front of the Heavenly Mater~" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
"Good! Come, everyone have a lick and go repeat what I've taught you to the masses. Come back after a division and you will each get a candy."
As the child beggars ran away, they spread propaganda throughout the city to defame the Dharma Sect and praise the White Lotus Sect. Some of the other children even copied them on their own.
The White Lotus Sect used both children and adults to do their bidding.
"Offer tribute to the White Lotus Sect and pray to the Heavenly Mater, for she shall bless your life for a hundred years! She shall bless your afterlife for ten thousand years!"
"Pray to the White Lotus Sect and you are guaranteed to have a son!"
"The Heavenly Mater has descended into the mortal realm! She shall bless everyone! Those who join us will automatically become our sworn brothers. Everyone is welcome to join us. We shall not distinguish between the poor and the rich, the men and the women, or the old and the young."
As the White Lotus Sect spread their influence, numerous posters of a white lotus were plastered all around the city.
Instead of targeting regular civilians, the White Lotus Sect intended to absorb some of the Dharma Sect members to reduce their strength.
Instead of suppressing the White Lotus Sect's high-profile recruitment campaign, the city officials were actively supporting it.
The city officials' higher-ups had given the order that those who opposed the Dharma Sect were allies.
As the Saintess of the White Lotus Sect, Bai Lingmiao sat in a massive hall and waited for the palace of Hou Shu to come and meet her.
"Senior Bai, where is Senior Li?" Yang Xiaohai was nervous because he didn't see Li Huowang around.
"Senior Li has something to do and will return shortly." Bai Lingmiao knew where he went, but she thought there was no reason to tell Yang Xiaohai about it.
Bai Lingmiao was nervous as she waited for the officials. She didn't know how she should conduct herself in front of them.
An old woman with a lotus engraving on her forehead sensed Bai Lingmiao's worries and bowed. "Saintess, please do not worry. Hou Shu is in danger, so rather than making it difficult for us, they will instead politely ask for your help."
Bai Lingmiao nodded and calmed down a little. She used her mind's eye[1] in a day, so we had sixteen Dragon Veins. The reason why there's so little time in a day now was because some of the Dragon Veins were destroyed in the past."
1. [The mind's eye is the relic that restored her eyesight./ref] to sense everything in the hall.
The beautiful decorations in the hall indicated that the palace of Hou Shu intended to treat her as a guest.
She then saw Lu Xiucai was reading the Profound Records intently. She took a cup of tea and walked over to him.
Seeing her approaching him, Lu Xiucai put down the Profound Records, stood up, and bowed. "Mistress!"
Bai Lingmiao took the Profound Records and traced her fingers across the words. Various bloody and self-mutilation techniques appeared in her mind. She knew what it was.
Senior Li used this a lot in the past. It's very evil.
Bai Lingmiao sighed and put the Profound Records down. "Xiucai, I know you are upset. Please pray more to the Heavenly Mater and you will feel better. Also, if you want to take revenge against the Dharma Sect, we have a lot of techniques in the White Lotus Sect. There's no need to use this."
"Thank you, Mistress!" Lu Xiucai was grateful, but he had no intention of giving up the Profound Records. He wanted to cultivate both the techniques of the White Lotus Sect and the Ao Jing Sect.
The White Lotus Sect's techniques required talent, humility, and training, while the Profound Records required none of that. He could use it immediately.
Bai Lingmiao knew what Lu Xiucai was thinking. She wanted to persuade him, but the ground started shaking before she could. Everything in the hall began falling left and right.
"The Earth Dragon is moving! Quick! Get out of the hall!"
As the ground shook, everyone evacuated outside to avoid getting crushed if the building collapsed.
Bai Lingmiao composed herself and saw the chaos outside.
"The Earth Dragon is moving!" Gongs, bells, and people shouting could be heard everywhere. Many houses collapsed, and several people fell into the ravines.
Thankfully the situation ended soon. The ground stopped shaking after five minutes.
They looked down from the city built into the face of the mountain. The barren land below was cracked to the point it almost split apart.
Before Bai Lingmiao could understand what was happening, she saw Li Huowang approaching her quickly.
"Miaomiao! How many fighters do you have in the White Lotus Sect? Mobilize all of them!"
Bai Lingmiao had never seen Li Huowang so agitated before.
"Senior Li, what's wrong?"
"The Dharma Sect are not capturing the Dragon Veins to use them for themselves—they're destroying them!" Li Huowang's words made everyone else panic too.
God Yu'er was waiting. If the Dragon Veins were to be destroyed, the Liang Kingdom would end up like the Qi Kingdom.
Aside from the members who excelled at spreading the dogma, the stronger members of the White Lotus Sect, marked by white donkeys tattooed behind their backs, were mobilized. They accompanied Bai Lingmiao as she ran towards Hou Shu's Surveillance Bureau.
Due to the quaking, everyone in Hou Shu's Surveillance Bureau ran out. Li Huowang only recognized the three people at the front.
Hou Shu's Surveillance Bureau Chief, Zhang Tan, Liang Kingdom's Surveillance Bureau Chief, Xuan Pin, and Si Qi's Surveillance Bureau Chief, Zheng Boqiao. It was clear that the threat was so dire that all of them had to mobilize together.
Li Huowang felt a lot of gazes trained on him. Some of them were even staring at him in broad daylight. Li Huowang felt that the Surveillance Bureau wasn't that friendly to him.
Li Huowang approached them when Zhang Tan took out a horn tied with a red rope. He placed it on the mouth of his mask and blew it.
Bwoooooooooooh~
The sound of the horn echoed far and wide, covering everyone like a cloud of mist.
After the sound of the horn dissipated, the hundreds of people scattered. They all ran in different directions as they rushed to carry out their assigned missions.
Li Huowang turned to Xuan Pin and asked, "Where are they going? The Dragon Veins are at risk of getting destroyed and we need to get them back."
"Don't worry. We are not asking them to take on futile missions. We have some time since the Dharma Sect will find it difficult to destroy the Dragon Veins. We need to retrieve them before they are destroyed completely."
"How do you know that the Dragon Veins haven't been destroyed yet?"
"Time," Xuan Pin said, raising a single skeletal finger. "A Dragon Vein represents a single division. We have currently lost half of a division."
"A Dragon Vein represents a single division? There are twelve divisions in a day, so does that mean we had twelve Dragon Veins?"
"Wrong. There are sixteen divisions[ref]32 hours in a day for that world apparently. ☜
Chapter 691 - Cloud Swamp
"Sixteen divisions? So a day in this world originally had thirty-two hours?"
Li Huowang felt his mind spinning. What he assumed was basic common knowledge here turned out to be wrong.
"Yes, Dragon Veins vary in size. But, according to the records, there were indeed sixteen divisions in a day."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"What? Haven't you read the almanacs sold for a couple of silver coins on the street? Aren't you a Daoist? Have you not even read the Four Books and Five Classics[1]?"
Li Huowang didn't know how to respond. After thinking it over, it seemed pretty logical. If this entire world was mad, what did a few extra divisions in a day matter?
At this moment, an idea popped into Li Huowang's mind.
If all the remaining Dragon Veins disappeared, what would happen? Would a world without divisions exist? What kind of world would that be?
Li Huowang vigorously shook his head and tried to shake off these thoughts. "Let's forget about how many divisions there are in a day for now. Where are those three Dragon Veins? That's the most critical thing now!"
"Cloud Swamp."
Li Huowang quickly found a map of Hou Shu and examined it closely.
The terrain of Hou Shu was barren, but it wasn't devoid of water. Cloud Swamp was a swamp filled with miasma, and various legends spoke of it.
Li Huowang looked at the map and gritted his teeth. "Things have come to this. There's no time to waste. Let's go and retrieve the Dragon Veins! Eleven divisions in a day is already too few."
The situation was critical, so Li Huowang and his group set out. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
They weren't the only ones. All the military forces within Hou Shu and the reinforcements from Qing Qiu were also moving to counterattack the areas occupied by the Dharma Sect. No matter their motives, they were allies in dealing with the Dharma Sect.
The Dharma Sect wouldn't sit idly by with such significant movements. In an instant, the entire Hou Shu was thrown into chaos.
Everyone rode horses across the barren desert, rushing towards Cloud Swamp. As they charged into a low-lying area, the ground suddenly cracked open and revealed a bottomless black chasm.
A strange scene unfolded before anything from below could react. The riders seemed to lose their footing and were suspended in mid-air.
A pale hand with a jade ring on its thumb pierced into Li Huowang's head and slid out from the back of his skull as he moved. "Shen, this is the work of Xuan Pin. They aren't here."
Meanwhile, the real Li Huowang and his companions had already arrived on the outskirts of Cloud Swamp.
The Dharma Sect obviously wouldn't let them approach easily. The area around Cloud Swamp had become a battlefield, with the Dharma Sect defending against the attacks from Hou Shu and Qing Qiu.
It was like a massive millstone that swallowed people whole and spat out death and dismembered limbs. Even the heavens seemed to weep at the sight as a fine drizzle began to fall.
As the rain intensified, the number of deaths also increased. The rain mingled with blood, shrouding the battlefield in a layer of red mist.
"DIE!" Li Huowang roared. Covered in tentacles, he charged through the crowd and left a trail of corpses in his wake.
No matter how many Dharma Sect followers Li Huowang killed, they kept on coming with no end in sight. They swarmed him like insects, ready to sacrifice their lives.
Li Huowang and his group persevered through and finally reached the edge of Cloud Swamp. He saw the other Chiefs enter Cloud Swamp and didn't linger outside as he led his group into the swamp.
"This way! Follow me!" Xuan Pin's Shangguan Yuting called out and guided Li Huowang through the muddy swamp.
When they moved away from the battlefield, the noise faded. It was replaced by an eerie silence, but this didn't mean safety. In fact, the danger only increased.
Two hidden arrows shot out from a nearby pond and pierced Li Huowang's back, emerging through his chest.
Li Huowang held his purple-tassel sword, turned around, and coldly glared at the pond. Peng Longteng's large figure crashed into it and caused a large splash. The water soon turned blood-red.
A small bump rose on the back of Li Huowang's head and split open. Li Sui's eyes emerged to help him watch his blind spot and avoid further ambushes.
Li Huowang gripped the invisible arrows in his chest and yanked them out. He walked to the pond's edge and looked at his reflection with a hesitant expression.
"Ji Zai, what are you doing? With three Dragon Veins gone, are you just going to watch? What happened to the preparations you mentioned you were making earlier?"
There was still no response from Ji Zai. Disappointment flickered across Li Huowang's face. He really wanted to know what Ji Zai was up to. Could there be anything more important than dealing with the Dharma Sect right now?
Xuan Pin's figure appeared beside Li Huowang and said, "Be careful, Zheng Boqiao's group has encountered some tough opponents."
Li Huowang looked around at the reactions of others, then understood that this was merely Xuan Pin's illusion. His real self was somewhere else.
"Even if we tie up the Dharma Sect's cannon fodder with soldiers, the Dharma Sect has many skilled fighters."
"You're saying this a bit too late. Gather everyone to avoid being picked off by the Dharma Sect one by one."
"You underestimate the Chiefs. They're fine. If they're surrounded, I'll send others to reinforce them. I'm telling you this to keep you alert. Here," Xuan Pin said as he extended a hand, offering an old wooden box to Li Huowang.
"What's this?" Li Huowang took the box. While Xuan Pin's body was ethereal, the box was actually real.
"Some primordial breath found in Hou Shu. Use it when you see the Dragon Veins. There's not much this time, as there's very little Strayed Ones left. Many people have wasted it."
Li Huowang looked at the red box with a complex expression. He took it and tucked it into his robe.
Suddenly, Li Huowang tilted his head and dodged a flying stone shot from behind. He turned around and saw a motionless stone statue nearby.
Li Huowang frowned and drew his bronze coin sword, then swung it forcefully and shattered the statue. Dark green worms flew out and scattered everywhere.
It looked like stone, but it was more like a human-shaped cocoon.
Bai Lingmiao suddenly said, "Senior Li, there are many more of those things ahead."
Li Huowang turned to Xuan Pin and said, "Tell everyone to be careful. It seems the Dharma Sect has prepared a banquet for our arrival."
1. Confucian classics. ☜
Chapter 692 - Soldiers
In the extremely muddy Cloud Swamp, the rain continued to fall relentlessly as Li Huowang led his group and struggled through barely passable paths.
The deeper they went, the more perilous it became. There was a constant stream of Dharma Sect followers emerging from unexpected places.
Besides these people, Li Huowang also saw crooked human statues, each one filled with wriggling green worms.
More peculiarly, these statues were not solitary. They were connected by root-like tendrils that intertwined beneath the soil.
As the number of these statues increased, Li Huowang felt as though he was trapped in the Dharma Sect's web. Although the statues didn't move, he had the nagging feeling they could spring to life at any moment.
Li Huowang came to an abrupt halt as his legs sank into the mud. It was clear this was a trap, and he would walk right into it if he continued onward.
"Are you sure the Dragon Veins are in the Cloud Swamp? Could this be a trick by the Dharma Sect?" Li Huowang asked Xuan Pin.
"Not even the Sitting Oblivion Dao could deceive me. I don't think they can either. Three Dragon Veins can indeed alter the feng shui of a place. This is a known fact."
Xuan Pin's words did little to improve Li Huowang's mood. It was not good to knowingly walk right into a trap.
Li Huowang pressed his temples, and materialized Peng Longteng, the monk, Qiu Chibao, and Jin Shanzhao.
Under his orders, they took the lead and forged a path forward. The rain intensified, shrouding the swamp in mist and reducing visibility.
Dong dong dong~ The drum at Bai Lingmiao's waist was beat steadily, and the sound extended outwards through the rain.
Everything around Li Huowang gradually became clear in Bai Lingmiao's mind, allowing her to thwart several ambush attempts by the Dharma Sect.
Li Huowang had assumed that the enemies would become stronger, but the Dharma Sect's attacks suddenly ceased. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
"Senior Li, there's an attack happening a mile to our left!"
"Let's go! Help them!" Li Huowang led his group swiftly towards the source of the commotion. He couldn't allow the Dharma Sect to defeat them one by one.
When he arrived, Li Huowang saw the Chief of Hou Shu's Surveillance Bureau, Zhang Tan, under attack. The statues seemed to come to life in the pouring rain, appearing and vanishing in the mist.
Sharp fangs extended from beneath Zhang Tan's mask, which clashed and vibrated rapidly as they made a clicking sound. The same sound echoed from the mist and responded in kind.
The ground suddenly cracked open. Five statues emerged like fingers from the earth and, grasping Zhang Tan like a hand.
Li Huowang gave some instructions, then immediately charged into the mist without hesitation, wielding his bronze coin sword to assist him.
Li Huowang initially thought he was merely helping an ally. However, as he stepped over a fallen statue, it suddenly exploded. A gleaming long sword was revealed from within, slashing towards his face.
Clang! The collision sent sparks flying. He saw that his purple-tassel sword left no mark on the opponent's weapon, making him realize he was facing a tough adversary.
A figure slowly emerged from the mist, dressed in a matador outfit and wearing tall shoes. His head was bowed and his drenched black hair covered his face. Seven or eight long swords were protruding from his chest.
"What is this?" Li Huowang frowned.
"Be careful. This is a Si Qi Immortal Soldier," Xuan Pin's illusion answered.
"Immortal? What is an Immortal Soldier?" Li Huowang wanted to ask this question, but the Immortal Soldier twirled its sword and lunged at him before he could.
As Li Huowang prepared to defend, his body instinctively moved an inch to the left to narrowly avoid a scimitar from behind.
Peng Longteng's massive body shielded Li Huowang from the Immortal Soldier in front. Li Huowang turned to see another Immortal Soldier emerge behind him, wielding a strange curved blade.
It had been a close call, and he would probably have been killed if not for Li Sui's eyes on the back of his head spotting the ambush.
Two of them? As the thought crossed his mind, a spear burst from the ground and impaled Li Huowang's left foot. They were also underground.
Another Immortal Soldier descended from above, ready to strike. At this moment, he understood that these people had targeted and encircled him!
He took a direct hit from the curved blade with his body while swinging the spine sword upward with his right hand. The crack forced the Immortal Soldier above to retreat.
Li Huowang used his six tentacles and pushed firmly to propel himself into the air. The Immortal Soldier who had retreated temporarily was not too far away. Li Huowang's body flashed as he shifted his body above the Immortal Soldier and swung his bronze coin sword to decapitate that Immortal Soldier.
Flashes of cold light surrounded Li Huowang from all directions.
Swoosh! The rain halted in mid-air as all the Immortal Soldiers lunged at him with phantom images behind. "Break!"
The weapons of the four Immortal Soldiers collided with Li Huowang's body, producing a grating metallic sound. The rain resumed its heavy downpour.
Li Huowang was suspended in mid-air by the various weapons. He endured the searing pain, took a deep breath, and roared, "You hurt my daughter!"
He scooped out his eyeball and squeezed it tightly. A strange color enveloped everyone.
Boom! Flames erupted from Li Huowang's body and spread to the Immortal Soldiers, scorching them and turning them into charred figures resembling Li Huowang.
The fire burned Li Huowang's skin and caused the falling rain to evaporate into steam.
The Immortal Soldiers attempted to retreat, but they moved extremely slowly due to Li Huowang's eyeball sacrifice.
Since they were unable to withdraw, the Immortal Soldiers launched a desperate counterattack, which was exactly what Li Huowang wanted.
Despite being called Immortal Soldiers, Li Huowang believed they weren't true immortals. Genuine immortals wouldn't fear fire.
Soon, the four Immortal Soldiers fell onto the ground. Only their charred weapons were left behind as the flames devoured them.
Chapter 693 - Open
These Immortal Soldiers didn't seem to belong to the Dharma Sect—they appeared to be military creations.
This suggested that with the Dragon Veins' ownership changing, the military factions of Nanping and Si Qi had also switched allegiances.
Li Huowang didn't bother anymore with these people. While still engulfed in flames, he prepared to join the battle and help rescue the others.
He assumed the situation would resolve quickly, but the statues continued to emerge from the mist. Although they were no match for those like Li Huowang, they still kept everyone else busy.
Li Huowang realized what the enemy's strategy was. They're stalling for time!
Right then, the ground shook violently. The Earth Dragon was moving again.
The earthquake caused water in the swamp to flood out. As it shook, the expanded swamp quickly swallowed up anyone who couldn't find solid footing.
Despite the chaos, more Dharma Sect followers emerged from the mist, determined to drag someone down with them regardless of the risk of being consumed by the swamp.
Li Huowang had experienced the tremors caused by the Earth Dragon moving many times, and he knew what they signified.
"How many divisions have we lost?" Li Huowang shouted to Xuan Pin.
Xuan Pin showed him one finger in response.
Li Huowang muttered, "One division... That means one of the three Dragon Veins has been destroyed!"
This bad news stressed him out even more.
In such dire circumstances, there was no point in discussing any further. He gritted his teeth and led the others against the Dharma Sect's onslaught, advancing toward the center of Cloud Swamp.
As they neared the center, the number of worm-infested statues decreased. They were replaced by living and formidable Dharma Sect members.
The opponents didn't just consist of Dharma Sect members from Great Liang and Great Qi. There were also various sects that had pledged allegiance to the Dharma Sect, identifiable by the black cloths on their shoulders.
Li Huowang was still engulfed in flames and did not want to waste this opportunity. He charged at the front and used the fire burning him to dry the ground, kill the Dharma Sect followers, and pave the way for his allies.
They made swift progress with his lead. After two hours, they reached their destination—the deepest part of Cloud Swamp, which was unexpectedly a parched area.
A formidable stone fortress had been erected, and only Dharma Sect followers were visible behind the spiked defenses. The continuous rain and ominous dark sky added to the tense atmosphere.
Peng Longteng threw Li Huowang high into the air so that he could catch a glimpse of what lay behind the fortress.
There was a Dragon Vein formed from stacked emperors. It was pinned in a triangular quagmire by some massive stone pillars. As the Dragon Vein struggled, the mud shook violently, and a noxious mist filled the air.
Dharma Sect witches in wide robes circled and danced around the quagmire. They formed a writhing chain and used their human bodies to draw a living curse aimed at destroying the Dragon Vein.
Li Huowang wanted to observe more details, but he felt his body start to stiffen and turn to stone. The Dharma Sect had noticed him.
When Li Huowang landed back on the ground, he found everyone had gathered around him. Since both sides had revealed their cards, it was time to strategize.
"I'll leave everything else to you. The Dragon Vein is mine," Li Huowang said.
The Dragon Vein could resist most supernatural attacks, and he was the most experienced in dealing with it.
"That was my plan," Xuan Pin replied. His form dissipated like smoke, and he quickly reappeared before Li Huowang. "Remember, our utmost goal is to reclaim the Dragon Vein."
"But there'll definitely be some high-ranking Dharma Sect members in a place like this. Don't get entangled with them too much. I will assist you. We win if we take back the Dragon Vein."
"Understood."
Li Huowang glanced around at the unfamiliar faces and asked, "Who are they? What's your plan?"
Though he didn't recognize them, it was clear they weren't from the Surveillance Bureau.
"Li Huowang, this is not the time for such trivialities. Focus on the bigger picture," Xuan Pin said.
Li Huowang could sense the underlying tension in Xuan Pin's words.
Despite being forced allies against the Dharma Sect, Xuan Pin still didn't fully trust Li Huowang. Xuan Pin hid many things from Li Huowang just because he was Ji Zai's Twisted One.
But Li Huowang didn't fully trust them either.
He turned to Bai Lingmiao and instructed, "Stay back and be ready to retreat if things go wrong!"
The heads of Bai Lingmiao's two upper bodies, clad in red veils, gently moved up and down in unison.
Hou Shu's Chief sounded the horn, and everyone began to advance.
Armored cavalry charged forward, their murderous aura enveloping them like a giant sword that was aimed at the fortress.
"Kill!"
The fight erupted with a battle cry. Both sides unleashed their abilities against each other.
Li Huowang ignored the chaos around him and burrowed into the ground instead. He moved his tentacles like an octopus as he moved towards the fortress.
He knew the Dharma Sect had experts, so he did not advance by himself. Li Huowang was accompanied by his allies as they waited for the right moment. He knew that they shouldn't be impatient, especially at a time like this.
Two hours later, the fortress was breached. The entire heart of the Cloud Swamp was thrust into chaos as incantations and battle cries filled the air.
Li Huowang spotted Zheng Boqiao of the Fangxian Sect chanting a spell that turned a Dharma Sect witch into a ball of flesh and swallowed him whole. He knew his opportunity had arrived.
He took out a box he carried and stuffed it into his mouth. Li Sui watched a bulge in her dad's throat slide downwards.
Suddenly, the surrounding mud turned to transparent water, and Li Huowang's charred skin began to heal rapidly.
"Li Sui! Let's go!" Li Huowang said, leaping upward as a spring gushed from the ground.
The mysterious appearance of the spring drew the attention of the people on the battlefield, and Li Huowang, hidden from view, swiftly approached the Dragon Vein. As he moved closer, the agonized roars from the Dragon Vein assaulted his mind.
Li Huowang clenched his fists when he was near the edge of the quagmire. He watched the churning mud solidify while the stone pillars that pinned the Dragon Vein's body liquefied.
Just as he started to make his move, an unexpected change occurred. The colors of the stone pillars and mud all faded to black and white. Only the golden dragon robes on the Dragon Vein retained their hue, providing a stark contrast.
Who's there? What sect's technique is this? This thought had barely formed when Li Huowang noticed the colors on his body fading.
It was like he was transforming into a figure from a grayscale landscape painting.
Chapter 694 - Scholar
Li Huowang had lost all hue.
He looked down at his now grayscale self, then he drew a dagger and slashed his palm. Black blood flowed out instead of red.
This wasn't just an illusion but rather some strange supernatural power from a sect.
An elderly voice rang in Li Huowang's ears. "Yu Qing captures the essence, Da Fan divides the spirit, Yuan Gang flows and evolves, Xing Zhu stabilizes the realm, Chang Yang dispels Yin, Zhong Yuan conceals shadows!"
Then even the black and gray shades on Li Huowang gradually faded, turning an eerie white. His facial features blurred and distorted as the colors drained away.
Li Huowang turned towards the voice and saw an old scholar with a black beard. He wore a silk hat and a purple robe embroidered with green patterns.
One of his hands rested near a sword at his waist, another hand held a feather fan, and a third painted quickly on a scroll suspended in mid-air.
Li Huowang didn't know which sect or faction this three-handed scholar belonged to, but the black cloth on his shoulder made it clear whose side he was on. There was no need for conversation.
The Dragon Vein was evidently guarded, which was as expected.
Swoosh!
Li Huowang raised his spine sword and swung it forcefully, sending a rift flying towards the scholar.
The rift was spraying a strange liquid from the Great Qi.
Clang!
Nevertheless, a massive guandao[1] with a black tassel swiftly sliced the rift apart.
It was the act of an eight-foot-tall general. He stood imposingly as he pointed menacingly at Li Huowang with two fingers.
"Ha! You rogue, you dare to provoke me?! Shameless scoundrel, do you think a crow can occupy a phoenix's nest? Who do you think you are, pushing forward with all your schemes?"
Li Huowang thought this was an Immortal Soldier at first, but when the general moved, Li Huowang noticed he was as thin as paper. It was as if the general had just stepped out of a painting. Furthermore, his body only had black and white colors.
Li Huowang studied the scholar's brush and understood the general's origin.
"Sink!" Li Huowang roared.
The ground beneath the scholar and general turned to quicksand and dragged them down.
The three-handed scholar was unfazed by Li Huowang's attack. He lifted his feather fan and waved it at Li Huowang. A gust blew over and lifted the burly general off the ground. He floated towards Li Huowang like a kite.
When the general was close, he unfurled like a massive flag and raised his guandao to strike at Li Huowang's head.
"Fire!" Li Huowang yelled.
With a click, Li Jiancheng's thumb turned the gear of the plastic lighter. It sparked, and an orange-blue flame ignited, reflecting in Li Huowang's eyes.
Boom!
The paper general burst into flames in midair.
Li Huowang crashed through the general's disintegrating body, with the red flames giving Li Huowang a new color. He looked like a fiery comet as he lunged at the scholar.
The old scholar realized he had met a formidable opponent. He pulled out his trump card and drew rapidly on his feather fan.
He exclaimed, "Supreme of the supreme, the sky within the sky! Mysterious primal energy, chaos before all! Three realms of enlightenment transforming all heavens, Grand Luo Yu Qing, void and natural!"
Li Huowang's fire quickly faded, turning into a grayish color.
Very quickly after, even the gray was erased. It seemed he was going to lose all color.
Li Huowang didn't know which Siming's power the scholar was borrowing, but it was clear to him that he would disappear forever once all of his colors were erased.
Right before he turned utterly transparent, Li Huowang chanted inwardly, I have color! My body has color! My hair is black! My blood is red!
Li Huowang started to regain color. However, the scholar countered, and Li Huowang's colors quickly faded again. They reached a deadlock.
Then Li Sui's voice echoed in Li Huowang's mind, My father has color! His body has color! His hair is black! His blood is red!
Surprisingly, this helped Li Huowang slowly regain his colors. Li Sui was able to help him under such circumstances.
This was a new experience for Li Huowang. No, it was actually the second time. The first was when Dan Yangzi borrowed his Strayed One's power within his stomach.
Li Huowang focused on dealing with the opponent first. The old scholar saw his hidden abilities were useful and knew he was about to lose.
In despair, the old scholar watched Li Huowang raise his spine sword. Then Xuan Pin suddenly appeared beside the scholar and swiftly waved his sleeve across, taking off the scholar's head.
The scholar's body crumpled to the ground. This left Li Huowang feeling frustrated, like he was punching air.
"Go deal with the Dragon Vein. Leave the rest to us," Xuan Pin said.
Li Huowang barked, "Where were you!? I had almost finished him off by the time you showed up!"
He was reminded of his classmate stealing a win from him back in a game.
"Don't think I wasn't busy. The fact you could duel leisurely with this scholar of Minglun Hall meant we blocked the other troubles for you."
Li Huowang looked at the chaos around him and had no time to argue. He turned back towards the distant quagmire.
With the old scholar dead, the colors near the pit returned to normal. Li Huowang made haste. He drew his bronze coin sword and hurled it at the stone pillars pinning the Dragon Vein.
The sword extended like a whip and coiled around a pillar.
"Rise!" Li Huowang bellowed and yanked the massive pillar free. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
Accompanied by the dragon's roar, the Dragon Vein struggled even more violently.
Li Huowang saw hope, and he continued to pull out the remaining pillars.
One by one, the pillars were uprooted, and the first Dragon Vein began to rise from the mud.
He noticed the panicked expression of the emperor atop the Dragon Vein. Li Huowang was rather stumped. Did the Dharma Sect not control the Dragon Vein like Shai Zi had previously? Was it because they couldn't control it?
Nevertheless, it was a piece of good news. They had rescued the Dragon Vein, and the Dharma Sect hadn't found a way to control it yet.
It made Li Huowang happy to witness this, as he did not need to battle the Dragon Vein.
Li Huowang was about to speak to the chubby emperor. However, the frightened emperor was dragged along the Dragon Vein and then sent flying into the sky in terror.
Chapter 695 - Natural Disaster
Amidst the chaotic battlefield, just as Li Huowang was trying to understand what the freed Dragon Vein intended to do, he saw the emperor shouting excitedly to the surrounding warriors.
"Run! Run quickly! This is a trap! The Dharma Sect is using the Dragon Vein as bait to catch you all!"
An earth-shaking rumble erupted suddenly and caused the ground to tremble violently.
The clearing at the center of Cloud Swamp shook intensely, as if the entire fortress, or rather, the entire ground, had come to life.
It turned out that destroying the Dragon Vein was just a ruse. The Dharma Sect's plan wasn't merely to destroy the Dragon Vein. They wanted to use the pretext of destroying it as a trap to capture all the Surveillance Bureau Chiefs in one fell swoop!
At that moment, the sky suddenly darkened. It was a Natural Disaster.
Li Huowang felt the gaze in the sky fixed on him, and a cold sweat trickled down his face. He realized he was in serious trouble.
He had initially thought that no matter how many experts the Dharma Sect deployed, they couldn't possibly defeat the three Chiefs and the top experts from the Surveillance Bureau.
Even if there was an ambush, he was confident he could escape with Miaomiao. But no one expected that god Yu'er would intervene directly!
This wasn't the Dharma Sect's conspiracy—it was God Yu'er's scheme! He was pulling out all the stops to eliminate the mortal obstacles.
Li Huowang knew that although god Yu'er couldn't descend yet, it didn't mean he couldn't act in other ways. Since he had set this trap personally, more trouble was surely on the way.
"Run! Miaomiao, retreat quickly!"
Peng Longteng suddenly appeared beside Li Huowang, grabbed him with one hand, and threw him towards the distant swamp.
From a great distance, a crane's cry echoed, causing their hair to stand up. The ground of Cloud Swamp shook even more violently.
Suddenly, stone fangs resembling pillars rose from the surrounding marsh and blocked Li Huowang's path in mid-air. Before he could turn, giant spikes rose around the entire fortress.
These spikes interlocked and shook violently, then formed a gigantic mouth that swallowed the entire fortress at the center of the Cloud Swamp.
Everything went silent as they were plunged into darkness.
Xuan Pin raised a light to illuminate the surroundings, causing the crowd to erupt in chaos. Both sides ignored everything else and scattered in all directions.
The panic on their faces was genuine. Clearly, the Dharma Sect hadn't informed its members that this was a trap.
Li Huowang forced himself to stay calm. He approached Xuan Pin and asked, "What method did god Yu'er use? What kind of stomach are we in now?"
Xuan Pin answered him concisely, "Earth Dragon."
"What? Earth Dragons are real?" Li Huowang's pupils contracted. He had always thought the so-called Earth Dragon turning was just a metaphor for earthquakes, but it was real!
The dark surroundings trembled slightly, suggesting that the Earth Dragon was burrowing deeper into the ground. They would be trapped forever if they didn't find a way out soon.
Li Huowang walked towards the side. He had to escape from this place, even if he had to bust a hole in this so-called Earth Dragon.
Soon, he reached the boundary and began melting the iron-hard walls to create a large gap, despite their hardness.
However, as he continued, an unexpected itching sensation struck him. He reached into his abdominal wound and pulled out several wriggling worms.
Li Huowang was reminded of the human statues in Cloud Swamp.
"Dad, there are a lot of worms in your stomach, and they're growing in number. I'll throw them all out."
Li Sui's tentacles kept removing the worms from Li Huowang's stomach, but Li Huowang noticed that the smooth skin of Li Sui's tentacles was also crawling with worms. His heart sank.
The Earth Dragon was digesting both humans and Li Sui too.
His expression became even grimmer as he realized that the digestion was happening internally and externally.
"Ahhh!" Lu Xiucai's scream pierced the air. When Li Huowang turned, he saw all sorts of evil spirits wrapped in black smoke emerging from his shadow.
Inside this Earth Dragon's belly, everyone's shadow had become a door that could not be closed, and evil spirits were summoned endlessly.
Though these spirits were only about as strong as the Wandering Gods, their numbers were endless, continually emerging no matter how many were killed.
"Xuan Pin! Do something!" Li Huowang shouted.
"Sorry, I can't. I had already escaped when the Earth Dragon opened its mouth. It's just an illusion beside you," Xuan Pin said as his body began to melt.
"What did you say?" Li Huowang looked at him in disbelief.
"I covered all my bases. Since I came to Hou Shu to rescue the Dragon Vein, I naturally had a backup plan. Don't tell me you didn't have one too?"
Li Huowang reached into his stomach and pulled out a palm-sized piece of human skin as he gritted his teeth. Of course, he had prepared a backup plan. He had secretly peeled two layers of his skin while traveling and made two life-saving artifacts, one for himself and one for Miaomiao. But in this situation, his backup plan was useless!
Li Huowang looked around quickly and saw that Xuan Pin wasn't the only one who got away—Hou Shu's Chief Zhang Tan and many others had escaped too.
The only consolation was that Si Qi's Chief Zheng Boqiao hadn't escaped either. He looked around with a stern face, seemingly calculating his next move. It seemed his prepared backup plan didn't work either.
"No matter, just wait a bit. The version of myself outside is definitely working on a way to get you all out. Rest assured, I won't abandon you. After all, the two Dragon Veins are here too."
"Wait!?! Do you think we can afford to wait?" Li Huowang shouted as he sliced through an approaching evil spirit with his sword and pointed at the chaos around them.
In a short time, the various evil spirits had crowded the surroundings. Those with weaker cultivation bases had already fallen to the worms and spirits, and the situation was becoming increasingly dire.
"Don't panic. My other self will find a way. Besides, you won't die so easily," Xuan Pin said, and then his body completely melted away.
At that moment, Li Sui's voice emerged in Li Huowang's mind, filled with fear and terror for the first time. "Dad, there are a lot of worms in my stomach too. They're eating my flesh. Am I going to die?"
Chapter 696 - Stomach
Li Huowang stopped his daughter from thinking such negative thoughts. "Don't think about it! You won't die!"
He continued, "Come! Follow me and repeat after me! I don't have any worms in my body! I don't have any worms in my body!"
As Li Huowang used his primordial breath, the worms in his body slowly transformed into his flesh.
Even though the problem had been dealt with temporarily, they were still in danger. Li Huowang was not afraid of evil entities, but rather of the endless number of them.
As they shouted and growled, the evil entities all pounced towards Li Huowang.
Shua! The bronze coin sword whipped at the evil entities, and they were all sliced in half. The dead evil entities were reduced to a cloud of black smoke.
Right after the smoke had just dispersed, a new wave of evil entities lunged at Li Huowang.
"Miaomiao!" Li Huowang raised the glowing stone in his hand to find Bai Lingmiao.
"Senior Li, I'm here!"
Li Huowang followed the voice and soon found the members of the White Lotus Sect sitting cross-legged in a lotus pattern.
Their bodies were naked from the top and had a tattoo of a white donkey. They chanted in unison, "Formless yet complete, born before the creation of Heaven and Earth. Silent and boundless, yet standing alone without change. It goes without peril, for it could be the Mother of the world."
Li Huowang was surprised that none of the sitting figures, including Bai Lingmiao in the middle, had worms on their bodies. The evil entities also refused to step close to them.
Bai Lingmiao's upper body was divided in half. She sat with her legs crossed and chanted with both mouths, while the conjoined lotus engraving on her forehead glowed softly.
Li Huowang slammed his tentacles down and jumped forward. He appeared in front of Bai Lingmiao. "So? Is there a way for the White Lotus Sect to break out of here?"
Both of Bai Lingmiao's heads shook simultaneously. "No. This is a strange space."
Li Huowang understood that if they didn't get out soon, they would all be in mortal danger.
How should I escape?
When Li Huowang saw the others fighting off the evil entities, he had an idea. There might be a chance.
"Everyone, come here!" Li Huowang shouted. "We cannot fight alone. Let's all work together to escape! The worms and evil entities won't get near the White Lotus Sect!"
Those who survived up until now were competent and strong. They saw the White Lotus Sect was doing well and understood what might be happening.
Under Li Huowang's lead, the survivors started to move towards the White Lotus Sect.
Li Huowang never forgot the two Dragon Veins. He rescued one of them during the chaos. The Dragon Veins had been bait all along, but Li Huowang had no choice but to bite into them if he wanted to save the world.
As they grouped where the White Lotus Sect was, the members of the White Lotus Sect started to face difficulties in their chant. Worms began growing out of their bodies.
Their burden increased as the amount of people they had to protect increased.
"Can you ask your people to move towards the wall?" Li Huowang was agitated by how serious the situation was.
Bai Lingmiao nodded with difficulty. "Yes."
Everyone followed the White Lotus Sect members as they slowly moved towards the south. Li Huowang extended several tentacles to carry Bai Lingmiao above his head as he quickly followed them.
The White Lotus Sect members moved slowly because it was difficult to chant while walking, but thankfully they arrived at the wall without any issues.
Li Huowang got to the point. "Everyone, we need to dig here if we want to survive! We need to dig out a hole from inside the Earth Dragon's stomach!"
Li Huowang then used his purple-tassel sword to draw a large circle on the stomach lining of the Earth Dragon. "Do not think that it's impossible! I just tried digging, and the walls were soft! Everyone, start digging so we can get out of here alive!"
Without the worms and evil entities attacking them, they all heeded Li Huowang's words and started using their individual techniques to dig out a path.
Zheng Boqiao did not stand idly either. He spat out numerous pills and gave them to everyone.
Under their relentless attacks, the circle that Li Huowang had drawn on the stomach lining disappeared as a large hole formed.
It's working! Li Huowang saw that they had hope of escaping the place. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
"Go! Get inside!" Li Huowang shouted, and they started digging deeper. The hole got larger and larger.
"Senior Li! Faster! Everyone is at their limits!" The members of the White Lotus Sect were already pale from overexertion as they almost toppled over.
Bai Lingmiao's red veil was already drenched in sweat. Li Huowang glared at the hole and willed it to widen faster.
The hole grew wider as if it had become as soft as rubber, allowing them to dig through it more quickly.
Sensing Li Huowang's strange powers, Zheng Boqiao brought out the ace in his sleeve. He rolled up his sleeve and revealed his arms covered in large warts. He cut open one of the warts with his fingernail and took out something from the inside.
"Here!" he threw a writhing ball of flesh to Li Huowang. "Eat it! It's the pill that I've been preserving for years! It will temporarily grant you the strength of a half-Immortal!"
Li Huowang quickly swallowed it.
The moment he did, he felt his stomach turning and churning.
He barely held his stomach with his hands when a strong force shot upwards and split his head apart. At the base of where his head was split in half was another fist-sized head.
The small head started growing until it reached the average size of a head. The two halves of his original head grew out too. Soon, Li Huowang had three heads on his shoulders.
Splat. Two pairs of bloody arms sprouted from Li Huowang's back. Zheng Boqiao's pill had turned Li Huowang into a monstrosity with three heads and six arms!
Li Huowang felt a profound sensation: the amount of his primordial breath had tripled, just like his head.
Li Huowang raised his right hand, and the Earth Dragon's stomach hole grew wider.
"Go!" All three of Li Huowang's mouths shouted in unison as they ran into the hole.
With Li Huowang's guidance, everyone started moving quickly, but the tunnel was endless, as if the Earth Dragon's stomach was incredibly thick.
"Faster! Faster!" Li Huowang ran as fast as he could. The pressure in his three heads started to make his brain pulse in pain.
Just then, Li Huowang heard something chasing them from behind. The head on his left turned around and saw a wall heading towards them—an entire wall of evil entities!
"Ack!" One of the members from the White Lotus Sect spat out blood and fell to the ground. The air started to quiver as Li Huowang felt worms emerging from the depths of his stomach once more.
But they had no choice but to continue to run forward. He led everyone as they ran like an arrow shot out of the bow.
As the first devotee fell, the second and third soon followed—more and more devotees of the White Lotus Sect fell. Everyone felt the worms growing in their body while the wall of evil entities closed in on them.
"Faster! We need to be faster!" Just as the evil entities almost devoured all of them, Li Huowang suddenly felt no resistance in front of him. They escaped!
Chapter 697 - New
As Li Huowang opened up the hole, everyone ran forward and saw that they were in a very open space. They were overjoyed upon realizing they had escaped.
Contrary to their expectations, the Earth Dragon wasn't underground. They escaped from its stomach and were now on the surface. The skies were dark, as though the Natural Disaster was still ongoing.
Li Huowang dared not look up at god Yu'er. He wasn't sure where he was, but he was sure he was no longer at Cloud Swamp.
A piercing scream rang out, followed by the sight of the evil entities dragging those too close to the hole back into the darkness.
"Quick! We need to run away now! The Earth Dragon is still influencing us because the worms in our stomachs aren't gone yet!"
Li Huowang quickly dragged Bai Lingmiao and the others away from the hole.
As they walked away, they saw that the evil entities had left them alone, and everyone sighed in relief.
Suddenly, Li Huowang stopped and looked at a shimmering illusion in the darkness. The illusion wore a blue Daoist robe and a Daoist crown, with leprosy evident on his balding head. He flashed a toothy grin, exposing his yellow teeth.
"Hohoho~ My dear disciple, you did a great job!"
"Scram!" Li Huowang ignored Dan Yangzi and swung his spine sword at him. The rift flew quickly, destroying Dan Yangzi without leaving a trace.
"Senior Li? What's wrong?" Bai Lingmiao looked at him with worry.
"Huh? Did you not see Dan Yangzi just now?"
"Where? There wasn't anyone there. What happened to you? I thought you said your illness had been cured?" Bai Lingmiao held his hand with worry.
She can't see it? Is it just me? Did my illness—
He suddenly looked at the illusion of the old monk and urgently asked, "Monk! Did you see that just now? Did you see that balding Daoist?"
Someone from the crowd suddenly interrupted him as the monk was going to answer.
"Li Huowang, what's wrong with you?" Zheng Boqiao approached and looked at all of Li Huowang's three heads. "Move faster! The Earth Dragon is too powerful. The worms in our bodies are still alive!"
"Father... There's more and more worms in my stomach," Li Sui said, her voice tinged with worry and sadness.
Li Huowang continued moving forward as he looked at the spot where Dan Yangzi had disappeared. He didn't have the luxury to dwell on it right now.
Everyone moved faster to distance themselves from the Earth Dragon in hopes that the worms would die off.
After fifteen minutes, Li Huowang saw another unexpected person.
It was Shai Zi, dressed in the emperor's dragon robes. "Hohoho, Hong Zhong? Long time no see. Don't you think it's time to wake up after getting imprisoned in my illusion for so long?"
"What the fuck is wrong with me?" This time, he ignored the illusion and continued moving forward.
But this time, he was not the only one who saw an illusion.
"Father? Mother?" Tears streamed down from Bai Lingmiao's red veil as she stood there silently. She stared into the darkness as if she saw her parents. Her face was a mixture of sadness and longing.
Li Huowang followed her gaze but saw nothing.
"Miaomiao! What did you see?" As Li Huowang asked, he realized that the others were staring into the darkness, too.
"I didn't kill them! Scram! Go find someone else!"
"Master! Your disciple has been unfilial to you!"
"Chun Xiang? Why are you here? Xuan Pin, where are you? Come out!"
Li Huowang realized that he was not going crazy. The space around them was actually making them see things!
"Wait, don't panic! It's an illusion! Everything is fake!" Li Huowang warned them.
When they heard Li Huowang shouting, most of them tried to break free from the illusions, but they all failed. Some even attacked the illusions, which was also fruitless.
"We need to get out of the range of the Earth Dragon's corpse!" No matter how many illusions there were, they posed no threat. The actual danger lay in the worms in their stomachs.
The others quickly followed Li Huowang, seeing him as their undisputed leader and savior.
Everyone ignored the illusions and walked forward, but just a few minutes later, they all encountered something unexpected. Another wall of stomach lining appeared in front of them. They were still trapped inside of the Earth Dragon.
"Impossible!" Li Huowang gouged out one of his six eyes and threw it into the air along with two glowing rocks. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Only then did he see what was happening. They had not escaped the Earth Dragon's corpse—they had walked into another one of its stomachs!
"Hahahaha! You must be stupefied, right?" Shai Zi appeared again to taunt Li Huowang.
Is this the ability of the Earth Dragon's stomach? What exactly is an Earth Dragon?! Li Huowang tried to figure out another way to escape.
"Father... It hurts... There are way too many worms. I can't hold on any longer." The pale green worms started to burrow out of Li Huowang as they shaved off his flesh.
Just then, a tsunami of evil entities surged towards them. All of them despaired, knowing it was a death sentence.
"I don't want to die like this! I refuse!" An old man holding a Soul Calling Banner[1] fell backward and exploded into a clump of green worms.
Li Huowang tried to rally everyone to break through the stomach lining again. However, he failed to do so as the worms, evil entities, and illusions made it impossible for everyone to cooperate.
As they were infested with even more worms, they saw more illusions and evil entities.
Li Huowang refused to give up. He used all of his techniques to save Bai Lingmiao and Li Sui. He couldn't let them die here.
As the situation became more chaotic, more and more people died. Despite this, Bai Lingmiao stood still, listening to the cursing of her family's illusion.
"You bitch! He's the one who killed your father! Why haven't you taken revenge for me? Are you still human?"
"I really didn't think you were someone like this. How could you be like this? Why did you become so heartless?"
"Sister, are you a bitch?"
Bai Lingmiao cried. She saw Li Huowang struggling and noticed that he was on the verge of collapsing—more than half of his body had turned into worms.
"Senior Li, you can use the Cang-Qiang Ascension to escape." Bai Lingmiao pointed at the Profound Records being held by Lu Xiucai.
"I want to, but I can't!" Li Huowang howled in anger. He knew that the Cang-Qiang Ascension could rescue all of them, but where could he find the most intense mental pain right now?
Bai Lingmiao pursed her lips and shook her head, then smiled softly. "Don't worry, Senior Li. Let me help you."
Bai Lingmiao turned around. She gave a Flesh Book[2] to one of her followers before she leaped into the crowd of evil entities.
1. A flag that attracts spirits. ☜
2. A message written on one's own skin. ☜
Chapter 698 - Ascension
When the illusion of the Bai family appeared, the Second Deity immediately sensed how unstable her other self's emotions had become.
They are fake! They are illusions! We are still in the stomach of the Earth Dragon. This place can conjure up hallucinations! The Second Deity knew what Bai Lingmiao was thinking and tried to persuade her.
Do not doubt the Heavenly Mater! Have you forgotten that she guided everyone to the Void Home? Your family is waiting for you there! These are merely illusions!
But Bai Lingmiao's sorrowful voice came from beside the Second Deity. "I know. I know they are fake, but..."
The Second Deity then sensed the intense sadness flooding over from her other half.
I can't believe you're still so useless despite becoming the Saintess of the White Lotus Sect! The Second Deity looked through her red veil at the chaos around them.
She pressed her red fingernails on her belly and felt the wriggling worms inside.
The Second Deity then looked at Li Huowang. She understood how dire the situation was when even Li Huowang didn't have a plan to deal with it.
There was no time to think things through. If they didn't come up with a plan now, everyone would die right there and then.
The Second Deity had one last hope. She quickly made a lotus seal with both hands and positioned it in front of her stomach. Her mouth was filled with rows of sharp teeth as she chanted quickly.
"In the beginning, when there was nothing but chaos, a divine light burst forth. From the formless void came the Heavens. The void gave birth to the One, and the One gave birth to Two. The Two formed Yin and Yang, forming the Four Symbols, and from there the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams were created."
As she chanted, the conjoined lotus engraved on their foreheads flashed. The Second Deity was trying to invite the Heavenly Mater to possess their body, but there was a thin barrier interfering and preventing the Heavenly Mater from manifesting.
As time passed, the Second Deity felt her link to the Heavenly Mater weakening.
Bai Lingmiao felt the same. Her voice trembled as she said, "I have a plan."
The Second Deity huffed indignantly and said, "Then why didn't you say so?!"
"Because we might need to die."
"Then what's the point?! Might as well not say it!"
"But then at least Senior Li and Suisui can live. I don't want them to die."
"Fine!"
Pain. Unbearable pain. It hurt so much that the Second Deity even winced at her own thoughts.
She felt the evil entities gnawing off her hair and fingernails. They gouged out her eyeballs and bit into her body. Did she regret it? The Second Deity didn't think so. She didn't regret her actions, regardless of their cost.
"Miaomiao!" She heard Li Huowang faintly, his voice coming from outside the wave of evil entities.
"What are you shouting for? Hurry up and use the Cang-Qiang Ascension to escape! You deserve to die if you waste my life and don't use the Cang-Qiang Ascension!"
The Second Deity opened her mouth and bit into one of the evil entities. Her sharp teeth ripped apart the evil entity's head.
But her other half, Bai Lingmiao, had already lost both of her eyes as she cried tears of blood. She felt her body dissipating slowly, and for some reason, the pain in her heart made her feel better. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
Li Huowang had run into a group of evil entities. He ignored their attacks as he tried to find Bai Lingmiao.
After searching around, he only found her two eyeballs and tattered clothes. He howled as intense pain came from the deepest recesses of his heart.
Memories of Bai Lingmiao accompanying him when they escaped the Zephyr Temple surfaced in his mind. He vividly recalled everything they had endured together.
Li Huowang felt as if his heart had been put through a blender. Bai Lingmiao was dead. Bai Lingmiao, the girl he had sworn to bring back and marry, was dead.
Even at the very end, she still thought that Li Huowang's life was more important than her own.
Li Huowang placed the Profound Records onto the ground as his arms trembled. His emotions collapsed as he chattered his teeth uncontrollably.
He stabbed two stakes into his abdomen and tore his body open.
A giant clump of worms fell forward from the sudden opening in his body.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Li Huowang raised the stakes covered in his flesh and stabbed into the Profound Records, which were glowing in red light.
Swoosh! Black flames sprayed forth everywhere.
Several tentacles wielding different torture tools stabbed into Li Huowang's body again and again.
Blood, flesh, and worms flew into the air.
When the most intense mental and physical pain merged in Li Huowang's body, he felt a familiar gaze coming from below him.
Li Huowang's organs rearranged and converged onto themselves. Suddenly, his skin burst open like fish scales as his flaps of skin vibrated intensely like the wings of an insect.
Facing the unexpected change in his body, Li Huowang once again felt Ba-Hui's gaze coming from the depths of the ground and noticed a bewitching scent.
Under Ba-Hui's influence, Li Huowang's physical and mental pain changed into something else.
The pain he had inflicted on himself started to affect everything around him. Worms, evil entities, and even the other survivors fell onto the ground as they shouted in despair.
The stomach lining of the Earth Dragon came to life. It cracked, with contorted faces crying out in pain appearing on the walls.
The entire ground shook, and a low groan could be heard. The Earth Dragon was also affected by the intense pain.
"AAAAAH!" Li Huowang stood up and stabbed both hands into the ground, right where he felt the gaze of Ba-Hui coming from.
Pop! One of Li Huowang's heads blew apart, followed by the second one shortly after.
When the third head in the middle was on the verge of popping, the ground suddenly split open, making everyone fall through it.
They fell very quickly and soon heard the wind howling around them. Li Huowang looked down and saw the night sky.
He didn't know what happened. Somehow, they had been inverted in the Earth Dragon's stomach.
Li Huowang and the others didn't slow down as they fell towards the dark sky. Just then, he smelled Ba-Hui's voice and also a strange voice. It was the bizarre call of a crane.
Chapter 699 - Above the Heavens
No, it's not the cry of a crane! Li Huowang used his melded senses to feel the sound of the crane. He realized what the crane's cry really was.
It wasn't a voice—it was one of god Yu'er's hands, or rather, something that resembled a tree branch from god Yu'er. God Yu'er was formless and shapeless. When someone heard these cries, it meant that god Yu'er had touched them.
The sound of the crying crane resonated once again, and Li Huowang felt that god Yu'er had taken over his vocal cords and hijacked his voice!
Despite the intense pain, Li Huowang gripped his neck with his bloody hands to prevent himself from making any noise.
They fell further and further into the dark sky. Li Huowang felt that if he kept falling, he would eventually reach the Baiyu Capital again!
However, he was not planning to run away. As the cries of the crane grew louder, Li Huowang snarled and stuffed his hands into his throat.
Li Huowang tore out his vocal cords and threw them into the heavens below him with all his might. He saw his vocal cords spreading apart like butterflies as they released the crane's call.
As if on cue, everything around his vocal chord grew a mouth, and gradually, the crane's voice grew louder.
The crane's cry reached a crescendo as a female voice filled with sympathy interjected. The voice was filled with sadness and boundless kindness.
"I cried as my son left the village–his whereabouts are now unknown to us. I cry as I don't know where he is, for there are no letters from him. I cry when I cannot see him—when will he come back and see us again? I cried when I realized it would be difficult for him to come back, for how would his sins be tolerated? I cried when I approached the end of my life, as I knew he wouldn't be able to see his mother again.
The crane's voice grew quieter as the screaming voices of the people and evil entities around Li Huowang were audible again.
As the darkness transformed into a lotus, Li Huowang used his melded five senses to look into it.
He pulled open the curtains and revealed the darkness outside. His neighborhood was dark due to a power outage. "Huowang, look! The electricity is coming back!"
The next instant, the heavens and earth inverted as Li Huowang and everyone else fell downwards. They once again saw the night sky painted with stars. Li Huowang knew that the Natural Disaster had ended.
The wind blew past them as they fell from the skies. A tentacle sprouted out of Li Huowang's throat and grabbed his vocal cords in the air before quickly retracting back into his throat.
Bam! Li Huowang fell into an inn. He lay on the ground and stared into the skies as blood and corpses rained down around him, painting the inn red in the process.
Li Huowang's vibrating flesh scales had turned back to normal wounds.
He felt his body was on the verge of collapsing. He used the last of his strength to stand up, and then shouted to his reflection in his pool of blood, "Ji Zai! Get the fuck over here! I don't care what you are doing right now!"
"What's wrong? What's happening?" His reflection moved. "Sorry, I was busy saving someone, I think?"
Li Huowang clenched his fist and punched his reflection as he cried out, "Miaomiao is dead! Bai Lingmiao is dead! Why did I become your Twisted One? Why do you think I entrusted my fate to someone like you? That's because I wanted to protect Miaomiao and the others! But where were you? Is this how you repay me?! Why?! Why are the other Simings so strong while you are so useless?! You have three and a half Heavenly Daos, but you can't even protect a single girl! I had to borrow Ba-Hui's strength through the Cang-Qiang Ascension to escape the Earth Dragon's stomach. You are useless!"
"You have to rely on yourself. Only then can we win together."
"Stop giving me such bullshit!" With the support of the tentacles, Li Huowang staggered back upwards and pointed at his reflection.
"Miaomiao is dead! Revive her! Find a way to give her back her life! Or I will let someone else become your Twisted One instead!"
"Hm..." His reflection in the pool of blood thought about it. "She's not dead, though."
"She's not dead?" A glimmer of hope lit up in Li Huowang's heart. He looked around and checked the corpses around him.
"Wait, let me think about it... Oh, right. Extend both of your arms."
"Extend my arms?" Li Huowang extended his arms and a body promptly fell from the sky, breaking them.
He looked down and saw that it was none other than Bai Lingmiao, or rather, half of her. Her body had been bitten to pieces, and her usual clean look was nowhere to be seen. She was covered in blood and gore, with pieces of flesh hanging from her body.
There is supposed to be another half of her upper body, but she's already so tattered. Wait, what if...? Just then, the second half of her upper body fell from the sky.
This time, he was prepared. He quickly caught the second half using his numerous tentacles.
Li Huowang used his teeth to remove the red veil, revealing the bestial face underneath it. With barely any life left in her gaze, Bai Lingmiao looked at Li Huowang.
She opened her mouth, revealing her sharp fangs. Her forked tongue drooped out when she saw Li Huowang's shocked face. "I wanted you to use the Cang-Qiang Ascension to escape, but that didn't mean I had to die. I haven't lived a full life yet!"
Li Huowang was crying tears of joy as he hugged her.
He quickly checked the other Bai Lingmiao and saw she was still alive despite being badly injured.
"Miaomiao, stay still! You need to endure this!" Li Huowang brought out the Fiery Scripture and placed Bai Lingmiao's body together.
He started chanting while the Second Deity used the drum to call for the White Immortal Family.