Chapter 504: Zhuge

“Success!”

As Li Huowang excitedly opened his eyes, he found himself suspended in mid-air, plummeting rapidly towards the unrecognizable ground below. Watching the ground rush closer, Li Huowang abruptly closed his eyes, muttering, “So much water, good thing I know how to swim!”

With a splash, Li Huowang hit the water, sending a high spray upwards, and even getting a mouthful of it.

In the rather cool water, Li Huowang began to swim, stroking with his hands.

When Li Huowang opened his eyes again, he found he had swum ashore. He turned, looking at the hard rock behind him, which was still rippling from his impact. He excitedly clenched his fists. “My cultivation ability is getting stronger! If I keep this up, that world over there… no! That world over there *is* real!”

“That world is already real! My current cultivation is actually to resurrect Zhuge Yuan!” Thinking this, Li Huowang excitedly looked at Zhuge Yuan in the distance. “Brother Zhuge, come here for a moment!”

When Zhuge Yuan stood before him again, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and extended a trembling hand to pat his shoulder. “Zhuge Yuan is alive! Everything that happened in Shangjing before was fake! All illusions!”

This time, Li Huowang didn't pass right through him as usual; he could actually touch him!

And the sensation was incredibly real, as if he were truly there.

However, this only lasted for a few breaths. After a few moments, a pained Li Huowang let go.

“Danyangzi used the Innate Qi within me to become a Half-Immortal so easily, yet when I try to use it myself, it's so difficult.” Li Huowang said, massaging his throbbing temples.

“Brother Li, that's natural. The Innate Qi you previously borrowed unintentionally was like setting a fire. Anyone can set a fire, but no matter how big it gets, it's not under your control, and the bigger the fire, the more likely it is to harm others and yourself.”

“Now, though your fire is small, it truly belongs to you. Lighting lamps and steaming rice are entirely within your grasp.”

Hearing this, Li Huowang felt much calmer. He didn't need to rush; the Innate Qi was indeed within him.

Although Zhuge Yuan's body had only materialized for a brief moment, he had truly possessed a physical form. Once Li Huowang fully mastered this power within him, he would be able to resurrect Zhuge Yuan, just as Danyangzi had achieved immortality.

“No… I can't. Brother Zhuge, I need to rest, or this Innate Qi might become unstable again.”

Li Huowang staggered towards the cave dwelling. He didn't even have time to say half a word to Bai Lingmiao before collapsing into a deep sleep.

When Li Huowang opened his eyes again, the crisp birdsong outside confirmed that the rain had stopped, and sunlight streaming obliquely through the cracks into the cave dwelling indicated a beautiful day.

“Brother Li, you seem to have slept very well this time, no nightmares. Are you alright now?” A cheerful Bai Lingmiao scooped half a bowl of wild vegetable porridge from the iron pot hanging over the bonfire and offered it to him with both hands.

“It's only been one day, that doesn't prove anything. We'll see later.” Li Huowang took the porridge and drank it in large gulps. He felt incredibly hungry at that moment.

After finishing a bowl, while Bai Lingmiao was scooping more porridge, Li Huowang continued, “Let's see what happens next. If the Dice sends more dream messages, then I'll have to find a way to stop sleeping altogether.”

“Can you really stop sleeping?” Bai Lingmiao asked, bringing the porridge back.

“Haha, in this insane world, even the dead can come back to life. What's not sleeping compared to that? Anyway, whatever tricks the Dice tries next, I'll deal with them as they come.”

“He'd better not push me too far. If he really pushes me, I'll report him directly to the Supervisory Directorate!”

As Li Huowang spoke, he stared at Bai Lingmiao's face. On the left side of her delicate features, a few white hairs had grown.

Li Huowang's expression froze. He immediately pulled a dagger from his hem and plunged it into his thigh. When he felt no pain whatsoever, his expression instantly turned cold as he stared at the Bai Lingmiao before him.

“Boss Dice, enough is enough. Isn't this going too far?”

Bai Lingmiao's face peeled open from where the white hairs were, revealing a constantly shifting dice-head before him.

“Hong Zhong, this matter was originally quite troublesome, but since we're from the same sect, I'll help you with this. But don't forget, you owe me a favor, and you must repay it.”

“Alright…” Li Huowang, filled with despair and lethargy, nodded in agreement, though he didn't know why he felt such weariness and hopelessness.

“By the way, why do you need my help?”

“Because… you are the Dice… even if you tell me the truth, my future self will certainly not believe you…”

As he watched himself reach out and press a handprint onto the contract in the Dice's hand, Li Huowang suddenly snapped awake. It was as if he remembered something; these events had happened before. These were tampered memories from the past.

Every time Li Huowang tried to recall them, his body instinctively resisted, as if warning him not to.

“No… no… no no no!! Don't follow the Dice's path! He's deceiving me! This is all fake!!” The entire scene before him was instantly torn apart like paper. A gaunt, large hand reached out from within, grasping Li Huowang firmly and desperately trying to pull him back from the edge of the cliff.

“Brother Li!! Help me! Untie me! I'm really… I'm going to suffocate!” It was still Zhuge Yuan speaking, his eyes filled with longing and pleading.

“I didn't want to disturb you in your dream, but now you're the only one who can help me! Untie me!! Untie the talisman!!”

“Fake! It's all fake!!” With frantic swings of his arms, Li Huowang finally broke free from Zhuge Yuan's grasp and plummeted into the abyss. Below the abyss was not nothingness, but a tumultuous sea where yin and yang converged.

That was Doumu, mistress of truth and falsehood. When it looked at Li Huowang with the Eye of the Divine Mountain Ghost, seized from the Supervisory Directorate, it uttered, “Hmph!”

As if cleansed, Li Huowang abruptly sat up. The very next second after waking, he sharply drew his dagger and plunged it fiercely into his left forearm once more.

The piercing pain brought Li Huowang a small sense of security. Only pain could now dispel this dream-like uncertainty.

As Li Huowang regained his senses and looked around, he realized he was lying in the cave dwelling, surrounded by disarray. Bai Lingmiao and Li Sui were watching him with surprise. His Spine Sword lay unwrapped from its cloth strips before him. “Brother Li, was that person sending you dream messages again? Were they controlling your body in the dream to do those strange things?” Bai Lingmiao's eyes were filled with deep concern.

“Strange things? What strange things? What did I just do?” Li Huowang urgently asked.

Zhuge Yuan, standing nearby, spoke up. Hearing this, Li Huowang looked at the Spine Sword on the ground, at Zhuge Yuan's shrunken head on the hilt, and at the purple talisman on its forehead.

“Talisman? Just now Zhuge Yuan asked me to untie… a talisman?” When Li Huowang abruptly looked up at Zhuge Yuan beside him, he was instantly filled with a sense of dread.

“Could it be…”

As Li Huowang trembled and reached out to remove the talisman, Zhuge Yuan's shrunken head began to sway and struggle, growing rapidly in the wind. Simultaneously, blood, bone, and flesh quickly sprouted along the spine.

Mutilated and deformed, like fruits hanging from the spine, one peach talisman after another was interspersed among them. “Ah… finally… Brother Li, thank you.”

The moment Li Huowang heard this, the illusory body of Zhuge Yuan beside him flickered slightly, almost vanishing.