Seeing Xuan Yang cover Li Huowang's mouth, the others clutching fire boxes rushed forward, surrounding Li Huowang with unfriendly eyes.
"Not leaving, huh? Then you'll die here today! There's no way we'll let you tip off that mangy master!"
But facing his life-or-death situation, Li Huowang wasn't remotely flustered. He rolled his eyes in exasperation at this hallucination's plot and shut his eyes, inhaling deeply.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself strapped to a hospital bed by a broad leather belt; the brothers who'd surrounded him had vanished.
"Aunt Wang, I'm awake. Can you let me out?" Li Huowang shouted into the bedside microphone, calling for the night-shift nurse, desperate to check if the jade pendant was still inside his shirt.
But no matter how long he yelled, there was no response. Li Huowang knew Nurse Wang was probably binge-watching Mary Sue dramas again during her shift; slacking off was her favorite pastime.
Li Huowang looked down at his chest, wrapped in blue and white patient clothes, twisting with all his might to try to feel whether the jade pendant was there.
But his body was locked rigidly in place. Sometimes he thought he could feel it, sometimes not. After several attempts, he gave up in frustration.
Yawning, Li Huowang could do nothing but lie in bed, praying that after finishing her show, Nurse Wang would mercifully glance at the security cameras.
In the dead of night, even the second floor, reserved for critical patients, was eerily quiet. Li Huowang drifted into a hazy sleep, only to awaken again sprawled on the cold floor of a cavern.
He was in the same spot as before, but all the others who'd tried escaping had disappeared.
"Tch, you bunch of NPCs think you can handle me?" Li Huowang fished out the jade pendant from inside his coat, bounced it lightly on his palm, and tucked it back in again.
After about half an incense's time, he returned to his dormitory—the big communal bed—laying in the hay, patiently awaiting daylight. Just imagining the pendant's worth, he was too excited to sleep.
Without a clock, Li Huowang had no idea how much time passed. When he saw his fellow disciples on either side waking up, he sat up too.
"It's dawn here, so Aunt Wang should be changing shifts, right? Maybe I should go back and check? Nurse Ai is way more diligent than her."
While Li Huowang hesitated, hurried footsteps sounded at the doorway.
A Daoist Boy, hair tied up, dressed in a black Daoist Robe, burst in, panicked.
"Hurry up! The Master wants everyone at Hui'an Hall!"
This sudden order left everyone at a loss, but with the master summoning them, refusal was not an option.
Soon, in Hui'an Hall—the largest cavern—all the disciples had gathered, torchlight laying bare the confusion etched on every face.
Li Huowang, always sharp, noticed something: some people were missing from the crowd. Besides Xuan Yang, a few of the Mangy Master's own personal disciples were gone too.
"Ha, did they run together?" he thought darkly, half-amused at the drama unfolding before him, feeling almost as if he was watching a TV show.
When a misshapen head poked out of the dark tunnel, all the Daoist Boys except Li Huowang instinctively bowed their heads.
That was their master—Master Danyang.
"Ahem~!" A single cough made everyone tense up from head to toe.
"Last night, at second watch, someone tried to escape—including two of the Daoist Master's own disciples. I am truly grieved!"
Though he spoke of grief, the fury contorting his face was nearly solid enough to touch.
"Already caught? Xuan Yang's crew are really useless," Li Huowang sneered to himself.
"No rules, no order. Break the rules, face punishment—that is the law of our Xishan Donghua sect! Follow me."
No one dared breathe too loudly, trailing silently behind Master Danyang.
They walked through winding caves, past a roaring underground river, until finally they entered a damp cavern the size of a classroom.
Li Huowang saw that every escapee from last night was tied up, piled like sacks in the corner.
Seeing their master, the captives struggled desperately, as if trying to speak, but with cloth stuffed in their mouths, they could say nothing.
Master Danyang clearly cared nothing for their explanations; with a twist of his hand, he formed a Daoist Seal and pointed forward. "Open!"
The smooth, washed stone floor of the cavern suddenly split open, and the escapees tumbled instantly into a yawning pit.
Seconds later, muffled screams and agonized shrieks erupted, mixing with the sound of flesh tearing.
Confronted with such horror, many Daoist Boys' legs began to tremble, eyes squeezed shut in terror.
"Step closer! This is what happens when you try to run!" Master Danyang barked, and everyone instantly paled several shades.
No one dared defy the master; everyone shuffled toward the edge, bumping into one another.
The hole was pitch black—so dark nothing could be seen.
The round, black pit was like a whirlpool, threatening to swallow them whole.
Squinting, Li Huowang could make out a huge black cauldron at the bottom, its rim lined with distorted talismans.
Something moved inside, but Li Huowang couldn't make out what. The only sensory clue he had was a nauseating stench of blood rising from below.
No matter what was in there, it was certainly something incredibly dangerous.
"Things in a hallucination aren't supposed to hurt me. That's never happened before."
But even as he rationalized, his heart beat wildly and he prepared to retreat to the hospital at a moment's notice.
"Shua—!" A wriggling shadow lashed from the pit, yanking a disciple beside Li Huowang back in an instant.
Panic gripped the room; all backed up against the cavern's slick wall. If Master Danyang weren't watching, they'd have bolted.
Nearly everyone present was stricken, trembling, mentally replaying the question: What was that thing?
But Li Huowang didn't need to guess—he'd been closest and had seen it clearly.
It was a mass of flesh-like black matter, covered with rows of short, twitching black tendrils on slick, sticky skin!
That alone was enough for Li Huowang to be certain: whatever Master Danyang kept down there, it was no natural creature from this world.
As for what it was, Li Huowang couldn't guess, nor did he want to take another look.
Even knowing it was all his mind's invention, Li Huowang still wondered—why did he dream up such monstrosities?
He looked around at the terrifically vivid surroundings. Suddenly, a chilling possibility crept in: "What if this bizarre, terrifying world is real?"
The thought made Li Huowang tremble, recalling those who'd died before. If they were truly real and not hallucinations, then being grabbed by that thing just now—would have killed him?
He was almost crushed beneath the suffocating terror, forcing deep breaths and hurried self-therapy as the doctor had taught him.
"These are hallucinations. However real they seem, it's all a hallucination. Li Huowang, you cannot get lost in them again. They're your creation—why should you fear?"
"Yang Na is still waiting for me; I can't let her down. I can overcome all of this! I will!"
After Li Huowang talked himself down, his emotions steadied enough to face whatever came next.