Chapter 156: Peng Zhi

"I'm one of someone else's Three Corpses, I'm... I'm Peng Zhi?"

Li Huowang's mind buzzed, feeling utterly chaotic.

"How is this possible? I clearly traveled here from another world; how could I be some damned Peng Zhi!"

"Even if you don't believe it, that's the reality. Think carefully about your past; there must be details you didn't notice at the time."

"Details?" Li Huowang instinctively resisted, but after thinking it over, he found there were indeed many suspicious points.

Dan Yangzi was as foolish and conceited as ever, and the illusory and real events around him all fit the description of the Three Corpses.

"Also, can you not recall anything from your childhood? That's natural, because we aren't even human; we never had a childhood!"

The monk's words made Li Huowang try to remember what happened before he arrived at Qingfeng Temple, but he only drew a blank.

"What is real, and what is fake?"

These details, along with the monk's help, constantly shifted in his mind, giving Li Huowang a splitting headache.

"Peng Zhi, control your nature! I can do it, and you definitely can too! Don't guess, and don't doubt anymore! We can win against that person!"

The old monk grabbed Li Huowang's arms and shook him anxiously.

"Pull yourself together quickly! Look, the people chasing us are all pawns of that immortal cultivator."

"As long as we, the two corpses, are eliminated, he will truly achieve immortality! So now we're in this together; we can't let his scheme succeed!"

Breathing heavily, Li Huowang steadied his chaotic mind, gritted his teeth, turned to the monk, and questioned, "Monk! You—"

"Watch out!" The monk quickly pulled him, and another barbed crossbow bolt, snagging a few strands of Li Huowang's hair, zipped past.

"At a time like this, what are you asking about? Can we leave this place first and talk later? Look, it's crawling with enemies out there!"

Li Huowang looked back and saw that the distant black dots were no longer just dots; they had turned into crowds of people riding horses and camels.

Some wore terrifying wooden masks, with pointed fangs protruding from their mouths, wriggling like sea anemones.

Li Huowang recognized them; they were the Nuer opera performers.

If it were just them, it would be fine, but it wasn't just them; a large group of bandits accompanied them.

These masked bandits, their eyes filled with hostility, raised their various weapons, shouting continuously as if herding sheep.

Watching everything in the distance, Li Huowang, with a grim expression, intended to charge forward.

But before he had taken a few steps, Li Huowang suddenly felt the surrounding dim Gobi desert begin to shake violently and collapse.

"Oh no! And at a time like this!"

When he fully came to his senses, he found himself once again tied to a hospital bed.

Then he saw Yang Na and his mother carefully placing a bedside table on the hospital bed where he lay.

"Peng Zhi..." A faint, intermittent voice suddenly sounded beside Li Huowang. His hands, bound by cloth straps, clenched tightly.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then suddenly opened them, only to find he hadn't returned.

"Huowang, happy birthday! Do you remember? In three days, it's my birthday."

Yang Na, wearing a white fitted sweater, gently placed a paper crown on Li Huowang's head. She clearly hadn't noticed the change in Li Huowang's expression.

"Peng Zhi... wake up quickly..." The voice in his ear grew louder.

Sun Xiaoqin, standing by, placed a cake on the bedside table and began to insert candles.

Immediately after, Li Huowang felt the voice in his ear growing louder. "Peng Zhi, wake up quickly, they're catching up!"

The lights in the hospital room went out. Smiling, they leaned in from either side, hands clasped together.

"Peng Zhi! Everything I'm saying is true! Don't dwell on the memories or the body in Li Huowang's mind! No matter how confusing those things are, they belong to Li Huowang, not you! You've just borrowed his body; overcome your nature! Forget them!"

"I'm not Li Huowang? My mother and Yang Na actually care about a different Li Huowang?"

Li Huowang's lips trembled as he looked at the two people in front of him.

"Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~" The two gently began to sing the birthday song.

Watching the incredibly heartwarming scene before him, Li Huowang's lips trembled slightly. He bit his gums until they bled, then gently swallowed the blood.

He wanted to gasp for air, to release the suppression in his heart through a physical outlet, but he dared not, for fear of startling the two people in front of him.

When the song ended, Li Huowang leaned forward slightly and blew out the candles in front of him.

Li Huowang's action clearly surprised them, and they immediately opened their mouths. "Huowang! When did you wake up?"

He smiled at them and quietly said, "My wish is for a piece of cloth to gag my mouth, if that's possible? Because I might get a bit noisy soon."

The moment he finished speaking, there was a loud bang, and Li Huowang instantly saw stars. "Wake up!"

He was back on the cold Gobi desert, his face pressed against the ground, scraped and bloody.

He saw three carriages encircled, with everyone huddled inside the circle, raising their weapons to counter-attack. They fought back against overwhelming numbers, struggling greatly.

Clearly, they had been caught during the time Li Huowang was gone.

The critical situation before him made Li Huowang eager to rush over and help.

However, he didn't move because he saw someone standing to his right: it was the monk.

Then he looked at the person supporting him in front.

Using his hands, Li Huowang forcefully pushed that person away. That was also the monk; now, in his eyes, there were two monks!

With a "thwack," an arcing arrow flew past and pierced straight through Li Huowang's shoulder.

Yet, at that moment, he felt no pain, continuing to stand cautiously, looking at the two identical monks before him.

"Oh no, Daoist, you've been hit by an arrow! Are you alright?" The newly appeared old monk was about to approach but was sharply told off by Li Huowang.

"Stand back, all of you! I don't believe either of you two right now!" Li Huowang roared, veins bulging in his neck as he held his long sword aloft.

If he didn't deal with these two immediately, he feared he would surely be ambushed when he went to face the enemy.

The closer old monk, with a helpless expression, said to Li Huowang, "Peng Zhi, there aren't two monks. That monk is your hallucination. If you don't believe me, ask the others; they can't see him either."