Chapter 1022: Pollution

As Li Huowang shouted this, a muddled, fleshy eyeball, filled with extreme chaos, fell into his hand from above. It was the Eye of the Mountain Ghost.

When Li Huowang forcefully crushed it, the Heavenly Dao of Chaos exploded outwards. Everything centered around Jizai was affected by the Heavenly Dao of Chaos, becoming incredibly disordered, except for Jizai himself.

Even the chaotic White Jade Capital was affected. The Three Pure Ones, being closest to Li Huowang, were naturally impacted the most. Under the influence of the Heavenly Dao of Chaos, the Three Pure Ones’ secret karmic chains began to break, and their fleshy tentacles exhibited abnormal cohesion and separation.

Just then, Jizai heard Qingwanglai’s screams and saw the putrefaction at his wounds. Not only did Pain enter the fray, but other Sima also joined in.

“Damn it! You can feel pain too!” Li Huowang picked up a stone and viciously smashed it onto Qingwanglai's left hand fingers. With a cracking sound, the five slender fingers were instantly crushed, left hanging by only a layer of skin. In agonizing pain, Qingwanglai reached out his other hand towards his injured one. However, Li Huowang, who had fallen for a trick once, was alert. He swiftly brought his blade down, severing both the arm and hand.

Li Huowang reached behind Qingwanglai, grabbing the hidden test tubes containing potent poison, and flung them far down the mountain. Qingwanglai's last resort was finally gone.

“Qingwanglai! You're finished!” Li Huowang roared, stomping directly on Qingwanglai's neck. He then picked up a stone and mercilessly smashed it onto his head. Watching the blood seep out from under the stone where Qingwanglai lay, Li Huowang let out a long breath.

But just then, Li Huowang suddenly felt a coolness on his head. He looked up to see raindrops falling from the oppressive dark clouds.

“Hahaha…” A low chuckle emanated from below. As Li Huowang lowered his gaze, he saw the Three Pure Ones’ body, which should have been torn asunder, begin to re-integrate. Li Huowang realized that the Three Pure Ones were once again utilizing Zuo Qiuyong's Heavenly Dao of Growth! As long as the Heavenly Dao of Growth resided within their body, no matter how many times their flesh was shattered, they would always resurrect.

“Li Huowang, Li Huowang, why do you obstruct my plan? Haven't you realized that you've become an evil obstacle to justice?” The Three Pure Ones’ chaotic, distorted fleshy body expanded once more.

“Your justice is to kill everyone? What the hell!” Li Huowang roared, raising his military saber and directly severing the re-coalescing fleshy tentacles into two halves again. Yet even so, the Three Pure Ones’ body instantly healed again, this time even faster than before.

Just then, Chen Hongyu suddenly appeared behind Qingwanglai, raising the half-rotted corpse of Qingwanglai in her hand and hurling it at him. At this moment, the dying Qingwanglai seemed to experience a brief flicker of life, his drooping limbs shaking violently once more.

“You people have no idea! No idea what you're facing! What you're doing is simply digging your own graves! I had intended to bear this despair alone, but you've forced my hand in all this! Since you don't understand my good intentions, then I shall show you what I've been silently enduring all this time!”

The Three Pure Ones’ secret karmic chains rapidly unraveled, swiftly passing through Chen Hongyu’s body. The rotting corpse in her hand instantly fell to the ground, and she stood frozen, her entire body trembling uncontrollably, her eyes filled with profound terror.

Li Huowang recognized this move; the Three Pure Ones must have implanted certain secrets into the Sima of Putrefaction! It was hard to imagine what kind of secret could terrify a Sima to such an extent.

“Don’t approach Qingwanglai! Attack from a distance!” Li Huowang shouted, warning the other Sima again.

That’s what he said, but Qingwanglai couldn’t be stopped from charging towards the other Sima. Seeing Qingwanglai about to reach Yang Na, Li Huowang immediately moved to defend, raising his blade to strike.

Those fleshy, secret karmic chains were severed again, but they didn't dissipate. Instead, they moved towards Li Huowang once more; the previous attack was merely a diversion, Li Huowang was the true target. As those secret karmic chains entered Li Huowang's body once more, terrifying secrets and information surfaced in his mind:

Fear—the source of fear, and of all the unknown. Blissful Heaven. Blissful Heaven was actually the Sima presiding over Fear! No, more than that. The concept of fear he commanded far transcended that of a mere Sima; he was a Great Sima! More importantly, upon perceiving these secrets, Li Huowang felt fear. For the first time, Li Huowang was truly afraid. A suffocating fear, like maggots clinging to bone, that he couldn't shake off no matter how hard he tried, washing over him in relentless waves. It was not merely a Heavenly Dao; it was an existence more pure than a Heavenly Dao, an existence capable of birthing Heavenly Daos! Even among the Three Pure Ones’ secrets, its true nature was unknown, and this very uncertainty was the source of the terror it invoked.

Qingwanglai clutched Jizai’s head tightly with both hands, his bloodshot eyes staring at him with extreme paranoia. “Do you see it? Do you see it! Do you know what we're truly facing? Do you truly believe you can contend with such an existence on your own? Wrong! You are too ignorant! You have no idea how powerful it is! So powerful that it drove me to utter despair! Only by following my path will there be a glimmer of hope! Jizai! Go and die! Why are you still alive!”

Li Huowang looked at Qingwanglai before him, at the extreme terror and despair in his eyes. Unexpectedly, the tombstone he had seen in a half-dream state resurfaced in Li Huowang’s mind. The more he looked, the more he felt that Qingwanglai before him resembled a stroke of a character. Then, under his gaze, another character reached out, forcibly tore off that stroke, and affixed it onto itself.

“I understand!” Li Huowang suddenly exclaimed. He reached out, grabbed one of Qingwanglai’s fleshy tentacles, and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing. As he continued to taste the secret karma within it, he began to comprehend certain things. “I finally understand!”

“You finally understand?” Qingwanglai laughed again upon hearing this. He tore off another piece from his own body and offered it to Li Huowang. “Do you finally agree with my view? Have you finally decided to abandon the projections on both sides and save your true self?”

“No!!” Li Huowang took it, put it into his mouth again, and continued to chew. As he chewed, his eyes grew progressively brighter. “No! I finally understand why Great Nuo went mad—it was all because of you! As the Sima who controls the Heavenly Dao of Secrets, you were long ago corrupted by the fear of Blissful Heaven.”