Chapter 1006: Three Bodies

The sound of stumbling footsteps, "thud-thud," grew clearer, approaching from afar as the rain softened.

Yang Na, clutching her bleeding abdomen, was clearly very familiar with these footsteps. Immediately disregarding her tears, she rushed towards the rainy outdoors.

Meanwhile, Chen Hongyu, who was nearby, reacted swiftly, reaching out and sharply pulling her back.

Just as Yang Na was prying at her fingers, three figures walked in from outside.

It was Li Huowang. He looked severely injured; gunshot wounds, knife wounds, and blunt force trauma covered his entire body. Blood mixed with rainwater left bloody footprints on the ground.

Ba Nanxu, who occasionally let out nervous low laughs, followed, helping her brother support Li Huowang as they walked inside. Neither of them looked much better. "Damn, Huazi," she said, "I really underestimated you. Sometime, when you're free, let's sleep together."

After Li Huowang walked from outside into the room, his consciousness gradually fading, he forced himself to turn around, gathering his last bit of strength, to close the door and heavily bolt it. After he finally managed to close and heavily bolt the door, Li Huowang's body instantly gave out. His utterly exhausted body slowly slid down the door panel.

Seeing Li Huowang's injuries, Wu Qi, who had been bandaging Zhao Shuangdian's bearded subordinate, quickly ran over with a medical kit. After first injecting a dose of medicine into Li Huowang, she immediately began to frantically stop the bleeding.

But the chaotic mess of wounds before her, for a moment, left her unsure where to begin.

"Why... why..." Li Huowang, his lips pale, kept repeating in a murmur.

His gaze swept over everyone's faces, taking in all their expressions.

Li Huowang noticed that besides Zhao Lei being gone, Ling'er, who was often by Zhao Shuangdian's side with a constant twitch at the corner of her mouth, was also missing. The Si Ming of Baiyujing were losing members again; this time, he didn't know if the lost members would ever return.

"Why have I killed so many Si Ming, yet there are no repercussions? Why? Is it because I didn't act within Baiyujing?"

However, Wu Qi clearly had no time to pay attention to what he was saying. "Too much blood is flowing!" she exclaimed. "If it keeps flowing, he'll go into hypovolemic shock! Who among you is Type O blood?"

"I am," a voice no one expected rang out.

Qing Wanglai, with his signature smile, walked through the others, came to Li Huowang, and extended his right hand towards Wu Qi.

Noticing the anger and murderous intent in Li Huowang's eyes, Qing Wanglai reached up and adjusted the rimless glasses on his nose.

"Don't get agitated," he said. "Your blood pressure can't be high right now. If it rises, what little blood you have left might all pump out."

Just as Li Huowang suddenly stood up, drew his copper coin sword, and swung it towards Qing Wanglai, the others quickly rushed forward and clumsily held him down.

"Click," the sound of a bullet being chambered rang out. Two guns were aimed at Qing Wanglai from behind: one was Ba Nanxu's, the other Yang Na's.

Ba Nanxu, with a cigarette dangling from her mouth, held the pistol in her hand, pressed it against the back of Qing Wanglai's head, and said with a hint of displeasure, "Qingzi, what you've done isn't honorable."

Yet, facing the threat of death, Qing Wanglai appeared completely unfazed. With a smile on his face, he turned to look at Zhao Shuangdian, who was walking over. "Sister Zhao," he said, "won't you give me a chance to explain? Besides, I haven't done anything truly evil, have I?"

"Speak," Zhao Shuangdian said. "Please explain everything you know clearly." She reached out and took the computer, then, watching Qing Wanglai, began to type rapidly.

Qing Wanglai didn't speak immediately. He stood upright, slowly taking out a glasses cloth from his pocket. He then removed his rimless glasses, breathed on the lenses, wiped them clean, and put them back on his face.

"Li Huowang, you saw it, didn't you? You must have seen it, right?" He lowered his head, looking down at Li Huowang, who was leaning against the door panel. "Otherwise, all this effort would have been for nothing."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Li Huowang said, staring at him and gritting his teeth. "All I want right now is to tear you limb from limb!"

Facing Li Huowang's threat, Qing Wanglai sighed and shook his head helplessly. "You've forgotten again," he said. "If it weren't for the circumstances, I really wouldn't want to deal with people like you."

Wu Qi, from the side, said to Qing Wanglai impatiently, "Stop talking nonsense! What are you standing around for? Raise your hand, quickly!"

As Qing Wanglai raised his right hand, the scarlet blood from his body flowed through a tube, gradually entering Li Huowang's body. "Now?" he asked. "Do you remember?"

Li Huowang grabbed the transfusion tube with one hand, forcefully pulled it out, and violently threw it to the ground. He then forced himself to stand up again, bracing himself against the door panel.

Wu Qi, seeing this scene, was so angry she felt like she was having a heart attack. "Oh my! What are you doing?!" she exclaimed. "Lie down, quickly!"

"You clearly saw that existence," Qing Wanglai asked Li Huowang, a bewildered expression on his face. "Are you still questioning my decision now?"

Hearing Qing Wanglai's words, Li Huowang stopped and made no further aggressive movements.

"Perhaps you find me a bit heartless," he continued, "but you also understand how powerful the Fushangtian you speak of is. Given this situation, my plan is the optimal solution. Only by doing this do we have a glimmer of hope."

Qing Wanglai took a step forward as he spoke, looked down at him, and said, "Or, when facing such an enemy, can you come up with another way?"

"As long as you can come up with another effective solution, one that can help us overcome this crisis," he continued, "I promise I will abandon my plan and assist you wholeheartedly, I guarantee it."

Finally, Li Huowang spoke. "You keep saying you're helping us, but how have you acted? How are you any different from Fushangtian? What difference will the final outcome be?"

"Of course it's different," Qing Wanglai said, as if it were the most obvious thing. "Right now, we are merely projections. If a projection is gone, as long as the screen remains, it can be recreated at any time. But if our true selves are all gone, then I'm afraid we won't even have a sliver of a chance left."

Qing Wanglai's words drew dissatisfaction from Zhao Shuangdian behind him. "Don't be so vague," she said. "Be more specific."

Qing Wanglai turned around and looked at Zhao Shuangdian. "Your 'elephant theory' is wrong," he said. "In reality, we are indeed projections, but we are not the only projections. There are two layers of projections, like a person casting two different shadows under two different light sources."

"Only by comparing the two sets of projections can we understand the true reality that mortals cannot grasp," he explained. "In Buddhist terms, these are the Three Bodies: Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya, and finally, Dharmakaya."

"One layer is on our side, the Nirmanakaya," he said. He turned to look at Li Huowang, pointed meaningfully at his chest, and added, "The other layer is over there. That's the Sambhogakaya."

As Qing Wanglai spoke, his expression turned serious. He leaned down and whispered in Li Huowang's ear, "Brother Li, I am still the same person I was then. Everything I do is for the sake of all living beings."

Li Huowang's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this. Then, trembling, he savagely opened his mouth and powerfully bit directly into Qing Wanglai's left ear. Blood splattered as Li Huowang tore off Qing Wanglai's entire left ear.

Qing Wanglai, now missing an ear, took a step back. Despite the blood pouring down, he didn't care in the slightest. His face still wore his signature smile, as if this body were not his own.

"It's just a projection; it's not that important," he said. "My plan isn't very complicated: it's simply to sacrifice all Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya to save the sole Dharmakaya, to save our true selves."

Qing Wanglai, smiling, extended both hands and tightly gripped Li Huowang's single hand, looking at him earnestly. With a hint of pleading in his voice, he said, "Brother Li, help me one more time, please, go die quickly."