Chapter 438: Sitting Forgotten Tao

"It's looking at me. Why is it looking at me?" Li Huowang asked himself, his heart trembling, as he looked up at the eyeball in the Yin-Yang Bagua diagram above his head.

This question was destined to remain unanswered. The only thing Li Huowang knew was that he had truly been targeted by this Doumu.

With hardly any hesitation, Li Huowang quickly rolled over and dove towards the liquid-like ground around him.

Even if he ended up buried dozens of feet deep in the soil, Li Huowang didn't want to be pulled into Doumu's body like the so-called Divine Mountain Ghost Eyes!

Just as Li Huowang's body was half-submerged in the soil, he suddenly felt the entire world invert.

The ground within reach before him was actually the ceiling, and the distant black-and-white ocean beneath him was the true ground.

Upside down, Li Huowang's body in mid-air irresistibly plummeted towards the Yin-Yang Doumu below him.

"I won't give up! I was so close to getting cultivation techniques! I was so close to becoming a normal person!" Li Huowang gritted his teeth and sharply shook his right hand.

The flesh-colored worms in his abdomen rapidly surged out, intertwining into a thick rope that firmly coiled around a section of a half-collapsed stone wall on the ground.

He managed to stabilize himself, but the situation wasn't much better; the pulling force on him continued to intensify.

Gradually, invisible transparent threads appeared above Li Huowang's head. As the black-and-white ocean churned, some of the threads on Li Huowang's body separated.

Then, some inner threads were peeled away, while outer threads were hidden. Other threads were interwoven.

He had expected the stalemate to continue, but gradually, images began to emerge in Li Huowang's mind.

First, there was a gigantic ox head, taller than several of him combined. Li Huowang recalled this was the fear he felt when he first saw a water buffalo at the age of six.

Next, a frighteningly tall counter in a pawn shop appeared. This was a scene he witnessed at fourteen, when he was sent to town to apprentice under a master at a pawn shop.

Then came a wailing, thin man—the pawnbroker and his own master. He had been tricked by a group of swindlers, making a mistake when appraising an item, and was cheated out of everything he owned.

It was from this point that Li Huowang lost his livelihood and had to find food for himself. This was precisely why he came into contact with the Sitting Forgetfulness Dao.

These images were slow at first, but then accelerated, flashing through his mind like a rapidly moving slideshow.

Following that, some vague memories began to sharpen, very specific memories.

Memories of deception, and experiences of learning the divine abilities of the Sitting Forgetfulness Dao, gradually emerged.

"Boss Hongzhong, what are you doing? Are you really playing such a big game? Playing with a pure heart like this? Aren't you afraid of getting lost in it yourself?"

"Ah, the realm of the Three Yuan is too profound; I truly don't understand it. Alright, alright, if you say so, I'll do it."

These increasingly clear memories filled Li Huowang with unprecedented terror. His lips, turning pale, began to tremble. "I'm not Hongzhong... I am Li Huowang.... I'm not Hongzhong... I am Li Huowang...."

Yet, this desperate, pale repetition couldn't convince anyone. If a person cannot imagine what they haven't known, then what exactly was filling his mind now?

As more memories flooded his mind, his grip on the wall loosened. If everything about Li Huowang was merely fabricated by Hongzhong to deceive himself, then was there any point in desperately struggling to survive?

Zhuge Yuan, noticing Li Huowang's abnormal state, furrowed his brows even tighter. He reached for his waist and swiftly drew a slender, flexible sword.

Then, with firm resolve, he stomped hard on the painting with both feet, using the momentum to step on his right foot with his left.

Dressed in white, he swept past Li Huowang, charging directly towards the Doumu that covered the entire sky and land, with an unstoppable momentum.

As he blocked the Doumu's gaze from Li Huowang, the pulling force on Li Huowang suddenly ceased, and he fell heavily onto the wall.

The rapidly flashing images in his mind disappeared, but those past memories became even clearer, as if they had truly existed.

"No, no, no, no!" Li Huowang tremblingly touched his face. His facial features, flesh, and bones rapidly shifted, eventually transforming into Hongzhong's appearance.

This was no longer Li Sui forcibly supporting his appearance with tentacles, but his own subconscious action, as natural as eating and drinking.

And as Li Huowang thought, his face continuously changed: Dogwa, Lu Zhuangyuan, Gao Zhijian, Bai Lingmiao, Zhao Wu, Chun Xiaoman.

Face after face appeared and disappeared on him, making Li Huowang's own past face become increasingly blurry in his mind.

"Sever!" A thunderous roar exploded, making Li Huowang look up. As the flexible sword in Zhuge Yuan's hand shattered into fragments, a blade aura swiftly flew towards the Doumu in the sky.

But when that massive arc of light flew past, it merely stirred up a small ripple before the colossal Doumu, which was as vast as the firmament.

When the eye moved towards Li Huowang again, Zhuge Yuan in mid-air quickly did a backflip, firmly positioning himself in front of Li Huowang.

Facing the Doumu that covered the entire sky, Zhuge Yuan showed no fear. With his left hand behind his back, his right hand tightly gripped the cracked Judge's Brush, pointing directly at Doumu's single eye in the sky.

"Brother Li! You go first! I'll hold it back for you. Don't worry, the other Si Ming are watching; it can't descend to the mortal realm! You'll be safe once you're out of Shangjing City!"

Wearing a stranger's face, Li Huowang looked at Zhuge Yuan's straight back with a complex expression. "That's a Si Ming, Brother Zhuge. Why would you do this for me?"

"The essence of human connection is understanding the heart! In life, why ask so many 'whys'? This humble one wanted to do it... so I did it!"

With a "whoosh," yellowish-brown old almanacs scattered across the sky. Zhuge Yuan hovered in the air, using the ground as an inkstone and the sky as paper. He rapidly wielded the Judge's Brush in his hand, writing, "Beware the Si Ming's manifestation!!"

The moment the words were spoken, all the old almanacs exploded into flames with a roar, drifting towards the Doumu in the sky like yellow talismans engulfed in fire.

As he spoke, the entire world instantly brightened by a fraction, and the Doumu's black and white body in the sky began to dim.

Watching everything in the sky, a bewildered Li Huowang gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. "Run? Abandon my friend and cling to life? How could I!"

"Don't be foolish, that's Doumu's true body. How could you possibly fight it? It's rare to find a fool blocking for you; hurry and escape with your life," the illusory Sitting Forgetfulness Dao urged.

"Nonsense! We're all from the Sitting Forgetfulness Dao; who are you trying to fool?! Those guys can only summon Doumu's avatar with the Heavenly Treasure Scroll, not her true body!"