Chapter 435: History

"Brother Zhuge, it's me! Li Huowang!" Li Huowang explained, gesturing to the body controlled by Li Sui beside him. This lengthy explanation finally made Zhuge Yuan understand the situation.

Once Zhuge Yuan accepted the explanation, Li Huowang, disregarding everything else, quickly urged, "Brother Zhuge, we must leave this place immediately! It's not safe to stay here any longer! Daliang's Heavenly Watchdog Bureau and the Sitting-Forget Dao are clashing; if you remain, you risk being caught in the crossfire!"

However, Zhuge Yuan shook his head and pointed towards the imperial palace ahead. "No," he stated, "our 'purging the emperor's corrupt officials' has already begun. There's no sense in abandoning it halfway."

Regardless of what Li Huowang had just experienced, from Zhuge Yuan's perspective, Li Huowang was among those who had entered the palace to force the zombie-like child emperor of Qi to abdicate.

At that moment, military generals in battle armor and various civil officials surrounded Zhuge Yuan, clearly indicating he was their leader.

Noticing Li Huowang's anxiety, Zhuge Yuan confidently declared, "Don't worry, I have everything under control. There's no danger."

Li Huowang looked around and noted the clear distinction: the area bathed in golden light was Daliang, while the one covered in white snow was Daqi. This interior gold and exterior white arrangement created an incredibly distinct separation.

Furthermore, the peculiar chanting sound from Daliang abruptly ceased, as if something was blocking it. The Heart Scroll's ability was truly astonishing, capable of even warding off the influence of the Si Ming.

"How much longer?" Li Huowang asked once more.

"At most, the time it takes for an incense stick to burn," Zhuge Yuan replied. "Ahead is the meditation chamber where the Empress Dowager chants Buddhist scriptures. The child emperor is there too. We simply need to ask him to issue an edict of abdication."

Li Huowang glanced at the body controlled by Li Sui, pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth. "Alright! I'll help you! Let's make this quick!"

As Zhuge Yuan pressed forward, his surroundings shifted, drawing in some of those who were engaged in combat.

Yet, neither the Heavenly Watchdog Bureau nor the Sitting-Forget Dao personnel seemed to acknowledge Zhuge Yuan's presence.

As he watched people pass by, swiftly transforming from combatants into fleeing palace maids and eunuchs, Zhuge Yuan's brow furrowed, as if something had just occurred to him.

The meditation chamber door burst open, and a low, resonant chanting, accompanied by the rhythmic thud of a wooden fish, washed over them: "Sā Pú Luó Fá Yì, Duò Yī Méng Ā Lì Yě, Nán Mó Nā Luó Jǐn Chí."

The entire meditation chamber was filled with monks in yellow robes, sitting cross-legged. They formed a densely packed circle, and in the center, an old abbot, clad in a kasaya, had his back to them. He held a razor, shaving the head of a small child whose face was deathly gray.

Li Huowang recognized the child. The Sitting-Forget Dao had once impersonated him; this was the zombie-like child emperor of Qi.

"Shaving his head? Have you monks of Zhengde Temple gone mad? Making a zombie convert to Buddhism?" Someone exclaimed, though the monks continued their actions, unfazed.

The razor scraped gently, until the last strand of hair fell away. "Amitabha, excellent, excellent. The three thousand threads of worldly worries are severed. Your dharma name shall be Jie Tan, 'Renounce Greed,' and from this day forth, you are a disciple of Zhengde Temple. Should anyone dare to harm you, they will be considered an enemy of Zhengde Temple."

As he spoke, the old monk in the kasaya slowly turned. When Li Huowang saw his face, he was stunned, and instinctively blurted out, "Monk?!"

This old abbot's appearance was unmistakably that of the monk hallucination that had been by his side!

Here, the monk was merely an old man without a temple, yet in Daqi, he was the abbot of Zhengde Temple!

Suddenly, much became clear to Li Huowang. This Daqi was not the Daqi of a thousand years past. Being with Zhuge Yuan wasn't a journey through time to a bygone era; instead, he had arrived in an alternate timeline.

Li Huowang instinctively looked up at Zhuge Yuan beside him, remembering his nickname, "the Storyteller," and the severe penalties for privately printing historical texts displayed on the sign opposite the Heavenly Watchdog Bureau. He realized, "Zhuge Yuan's Daqi is an alternate history of this chaotic world!"

All these thoughts flooded Li Huowang's mind in an instant. Previously, he had struggled to comprehend Zhuge Yuan's true nature, but now he suddenly understood what the Heart Scroll truly was: a gateway, a portal to an alternate history!

The Sitting-Forget Dao members who had appeared earlier were actually from another historical timeline! And in *this* particular timeline, the monk had become the abbot of Zhengde Temple!

As Li Huowang's mind raced with these revelations, Zhuge Yuan uttered something, and with a booming sound, all the Zhengde Temple monks in the meditation chamber rose to their feet.

As they pressed their palms together, small and large, unsettling eyes flickered in and out of sight from the tonsure scars atop their heads.

Their chanting grew louder and louder, causing the corners of the massive Buddha statue's mouth on the wall to subtly turn upward.

"Venerable Masters!" Zhuge Yuan called out. "As cultivators who adhere to vegetarianism and recite Buddhist scriptures, is it not unbecoming to be so entangled in worldly affairs?" With that, Zhuge Yuan unfurled a scroll, and several monks in the chamber abruptly vanished.

He had used the 'heart turbidity' within the painting to conceal the monks.

"Hmph!" The monks clapped their hands, transforming into enraged Vajra figures. Their eyes bulged instantly, and then, like peacocks displaying their plumage, a thousand bloody, mangled arms erupted from their backs.

Just as a conflict seemed imminent, the entire meditation chamber began to shake violently. Immediately afterward, a peculiar sound, capable of unraveling one's ten emotions and eight sufferings, resonated through the air.

The instant the sound began, several Daqi individuals around Zhuge Yuan collapsed, screaming in agony as their bodies became disoriented and chaotic.

"What's happening?!" Li Huowang instinctively whirled around. There, standing like a colossal mountain, was Daliang's enormous vertical pupil.

"Brother Zhuge!" Li Huowang shrieked, clamping his hands over his ears. "We can't stay here any longer! Whatever this is, Daliang's presence is already affecting Daqi!"

Yet, in the face of this chaos, Zhuge Yuan merely offered a cold smile. "Hmph! Don't try to deceive me! What if you've grown so massive? What's fake is fake, no matter the size!"

With that, Zhuge Yuan pulled out an old almanac from his robes and began to write furiously. But before he could finish, the immense eye abruptly opened wide, causing Zhuge Yuan to fall to one knee in agony. Semi-transparent, umbilical cord-like tendrils pulsed in and out of sight around his body, and turbulent black clouds surged in the sky.

At this point, Li Huowang found it incredibly difficult to even move. If they remained, he and Zhuge Yuan would surely perish here!

Li Huowang steeled his resolve, pulled out his dagger, and drew it deeply across his own neck.

With a whoosh, the blood-red Grand Thousand Record swiftly unrolled across the ground. "Wood Liver! Earth Spleen! Metal Lung! Water Kidney! Fire Heart! Intercalate the Five Elements!"

As Li Huowang pressed his five organs onto the scroll, his five senses began to merge, and he became aware of Bachu's presence.

Immediately, the Grand Thousand Record's red bamboo slips twisted into worms, rapidly burrowing into his body. They consumed fragments of flesh, intertwining and multiplying until, in moments, they filled Li Huowang's empty chest cavity and began to spill out.

Despite the horrific transformation of his body, Li Huowang felt remarkably good at that moment. His body was free of pain, and his mind was clear.

Moreover, no matter how wide the enormous vertical pupil stared, the strange sound could no longer affect him.

The Intercalated Five Elements technique could not be used casually; it required sacrificing five organs and could only be performed once per lifetime. However, Li Huowang was unconcerned, as this was not his own body, but Beifeng's.