Chapter 365 - Sky
Li Huowang stared blankly; he could sense everything around him, but he could no longer feel any pain. His transcended perception allowed him to feel that the fused Yin and Yang had split apart.
It wasn't because Yang was missing; it was all because the Yin had come alive. Only living beings could feel pain, so the dead Muddled One came alive and let out a heart-curdling scream, just like the screaming rocks and trees.
Li Huowang staggered when he tried to walk. He was utterly exhausted and could only stagger forward. Just then, several pitch-black tentacles reached out to support him before becoming pillars sticking out of the ground for Li Huowang to lean against.
“Dad..." Li Sui tore open the wound in Li Huowang’s chest and burrowed inside of it.
Li Huowang's mouth fluttered open as he tried to say something, but all that came out of his mouth was blood; he couldn't make any noises at all. Li Huowang raised his right hand, which had been stripped off of its nail, and pointed south. He could feel a rift somewhere south.
Bai Lingmiao instantly understood what Li Huowang was trying to say. She picked up the Profound Records on the floor and carried Li Huowang to head south along with the Second Deity's help.
They had just taken a few steps when the world suddenly inverted, sending them plummeting straight toward the rift in the pitch-black dome below them. When they passed through the rift, the piercing sunlight made everyone squint.
The world inside the dome was pitch-black, but daybreak had fallen outside.
They were finally out!
The Second Deity spun upon realizing that they were getting closer and closer to the ground. She took Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao in her arms and braced for impact.
Boom!
A deafening noise echoed as they landed harshly on the ground.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang’s merged perception separated slowly as Ba-Hui averted its gaze on him. Li Huowang's sense of pain also returned.
“Huowang! Are you okay? Listen to me!”
Li Huowang heard a familiar voice. He opened his eyes and saw Bai Lingmiao, but Yang Na’s face overlapped with Bai Lingmiao's face. Their faces overlapped as if they had become one person, and their mouths opened at the same time as they shouted at Li Huowag.
Li Huowang was so disoriented by the sight that he couldn't distinguish whether he was in reality or he was back in that hallucination.
“Huowang!” Bai Lingmiao exclaimed, patting Li Huowang's cheeks lightly with her soft hand. However, Li Huowang didn't respond.
Bai Lingmiao held her whip and got ready to beat the drum on her waist to ask for Granny Bai's help.
However, Li Huowang grabbed Bai Lingmiao’s hand and shook his head slightly. Li Huowang had finally distinguished that he was in reality.
Bai Lingmiao was standing before him, and Yang Na wasn't here. Bai Lingmiao turned and sprawled out on the ground. As he gasped heavily, some of his flesh and blood slid out from the hole in his mouth and onto the ground.
Li Huowang mustered all of his remaining energy to raise his head and look around. He saw the Profound Records lying in the distance, stained with mud, and then he started crawling toward it.
Bai Lingmiao quickly ran over to fetch the red bamboo slips still dripping with blood.
Li Huowang extended his hand and opened up the Profound Records. The bloody tongue and the throat appeared before him.
Li Huowang weakly raised his hand and opened his mouth wide before raising the Profound Records and dropping it directly into the horrifying hole in his mouth.
Soon afterward, the tentacles burrowed out from Li Huowang’s mouth and wrapped around Li Huowang’s tongue and organs. The tentacles rearranged and bound Li Huowang's organs into their rightful positions.
“It's good that you're fine. You really scared the hell out of me!” Bai Lingmiao exclaimed as she embraced Li Huowang.
Li Huowang thought back to his experience in the hallucination and forced a smile. He reached out to hug Bai Lingmiao and controlled his icy tongue as he coughed. “Why.. did you... suddenly... do it?”
He had yet to kill Yang Na in the hallucination, but Bai Lingmiao had already taken the initiative to perform the Cang-Qiang Ascension.
“You told me to make a move once you could no longer take it? I saw that you were about to pass out, so I made a move. Did I do something wrong?”
Li Huowang shook his head. “No, It’s fine...”
Yang Na was injured, but she was still alive.
“Thank you... Miaomiao...” Li Huowang kissed Bai Lingmiao on the neck. Her timely intervention had saved Yang Na. Otherwise, his attack would have pierced though, if things had gone according to his plan.
Li Huowang truly didn't understand why he cared so much about something that was clearly fake, but the thought that Yang Na was still alive made him happier than anything.
Li Huowang finally understood that Ba-Hui only wanted suffering, not death. The other Simings were a different story. Perhaps that giant white-boned Bodhisattva or something else would want death.
Yang Na's death wasn't necessary. The heart-wrenching pain that had inundated him when he decided to kill Yang Na was enough to perform the Cang-Qiang Ascension.
“Yang Na, I’m sorry..” Li Huowang muttered dazedly, “I scarred your chest. You should hurry and seek medical help...”
Bai Lingmiao frowned at Li Huowang's words, but she did not say anything. Bai Lingmiao struggled to help Li Huowang up, and the two started walking away. Their priority was to leave this eerie place.
Li Huowang finally managed to take a good look around. However, he couldn't see anything but soil, which was a completely different scenery from what he had been expecting.
“Where are we? Haven't we already escaped?!” Li Huowang exclaimed. He looked ahead and saw a dense forest up ahead. Unfortunately, the trees were extremely tall with thick canopies. They were on a distant cliff as well.
As far as Li Huowang could remember, there weren't supposed to be any cliffs or tall mountains here.
A cliff? Why is there a cliff here? Li Huowang looked around and noticed towering cliffs, but he soon realized that they weren't cliffs. They were at the bottom, while the surface was above them. In other words, they were in the middle of an expansive basin.
The moment the living and dead Muddled Ones made contact, they had actually not just spirited them away. They had also dug roughly a meter deep and spirited away everything in the vicinity for miles.
“Huowang, look! What’s that in the sky?!” Bai Lingmiao exclaimed.
Li Huowang looked up with great difficulty and found that the cloudless sky above seemed to be missing a piece for some reason. Li Huowang quickly realized that they had come from that missing piece, and it was a pitch-black dome at the time.
“Can this really be the doing of a Muddled One...” Li Huowang was stupefied, and he couldn't help but question, “What exactly is a Muddled One? How come when a living and a dead Muddled One make contact, they can spirit away even the sky?”
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