Chapter 582: Si Ming

"Your mind is truly gone! Don't believe me? Feel for yourself!"

Li Huowang completely ignored the die's attempts to tempt him. He looked up at the sky and frantically shouted, "You want me to be your Heart Core, don't you? No way! If I'm such a hot commodity, I can find anyone else. Why would I choose you?"

"I, Li Huowang!" he declared, pointing forcefully at the sky. "I am destined to become a Si Ming in the future! And the future Li Huowang is destined to come and help me at this very moment!"

As soon as he spoke, Li Huowang felt the Innate Qi within him rapidly deplete. He was cultivating himself into a future Si Ming. With Doumu already providing support from below, if he was going to risk everything, why not aim for something greater?

The die looked utterly bewildered, completely unable to predict what Li Huowang intended to do.

"Huh?! Hong Zhong, what nonsense are you spouting? Have you gone mad?!" Li Huowang felt Hong Zhong's memories rapidly eroding his own original thoughts. Doumu clearly wasn't going to stand by idly.

However, immediately afterward, old wounds covered his entire body and simultaneously reopened. Intense pain violently dragged Li Huowang back to reality.

This sensation of dual mental and physical fragmentation pushed Li Huowang to the brink of death. Yet, it was precisely this torment that strengthened his conviction; his method was working, otherwise, why would they try so desperately to stop him?

Cultivating himself into a future Si Ming seemed like an impossible fantasy, but Li Huowang believed it, believed it with all his being.

Li Huowang smiled, a smile of immense joy.

An unknown amount of time passed. When Li Huowang finally came to his senses again, he found himself in a vast, white expanse.

As he wondered about his surroundings, the Imperial Astronomer approached him and helped him to his feet.

"Li Huowang, are you truly set on this path? Although you've already become entangled with the karma of a Si Ming, it doesn't necessarily mean you must *become* that karma."

Li Huowang ignored whether this Imperial Astronomer was real or not and spoke directly, "Do I have a choice? If I don't go down this path, am I supposed to become a puppet of Doumu and Bahui instead?" He then asked, "How powerful will my future self be? Which Si Ming will I control?"

"Confusion itself," the Imperial Astronomer actually replied.

"Oh? So that means I can manipulate confusion, just as Doumu manipulates truth and falsehood?" Li Huowang's spirits immediately lifted.

"Yes, but the stronger you become, the deeper the confusion within you will grow. They are interdependent."

Then he very earnestly spoke again, "I must confirm one more thing with you: do you truly intend to embark on this path?"

"Everything you once cared about may become illusory. And what you once considered illusory may become real."

"Heh, as if I can tell the difference clearly right now," Li Huowang scoffed.

Hearing Li Huowang's self-deprecating remark, the Imperial Astronomer nodded gently. He reached into his red robe, then removed it to reveal a white robe underneath. That white robe was none other than Yi Donglai's white medical coat.

"Li Huowang? Li Huowang?" Yi Donglai, holding a ballpoint pen, snapped his fingers in front of the young man. The environment instantly shifted. The Yi Donglai before him transformed back into the Imperial Astronomer in a red daoist robe, and the surroundings reverted to a battlefield filled with the scent of blood.

But after a brief second, the tall Imperial Astronomer changed back into Yi Donglai, and the smell of blood in the air became the scent of hospital disinfectant.

"Li Huowang, have you forgotten what else you need to do?"

Yi Donglai's words brought Li Huowang back to his senses. He saw a spiral iron slide in the hospital room; it was so long it nearly touched the ceiling.

Li Huowang threw off his covers and, under Yi Donglai's watchful eye, slowly approached the spiral slide.

The next moment, the spiral slide instantly transformed into Gao Zhijian's Dragon Vein. It was about to fly away, but then immediately turned back into the slide.

Li Huowang scratched his scalp. Dragging his weak body, he began to climb up the slide.

His physical weakness made even this simple task incredibly difficult; he occasionally lost his grip and slid back down.

Outside the ward, Sun Xiaoqin saw this scene and couldn't resist rushing in to help, but her husband held her back firmly.

"Dr. Yi is giving our son hypnotherapy! You absolutely mustn't go in and mess things up now! Listen to the doctor!"

Hearing this, Li Huowang glanced at them. His mother had transformed into a military strategist, and his father into Bai Lingmiao, who was trying to stop the strategists.

When Li Huowang finally reached the top of the slide, he looked around and found nothing. Then he looked up and saw a round, disc-shaped energy-saving lamp hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Li Huowang half-squatted on the slide and reached out to unscrew the lampshade of the energy-saving lamp.

"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible! I am the Dragon Vein now! Wherever I am, that is reality! You can't control me!" Gao Zhijian's voice was filled with intense unwillingness.

"Real? Fake?" A trace of confusion appeared in Li Huowang's eyes; he was starting to lose his sense of what was what.

As the lampshade unscrewed, Li Huowang pulled an eighteen-sided die from inside.

Li Huowang reattached the lampshade, then looked at the die in his hand under the energy-saving lamp, a smile slowly forming on his face.

Yi Donglai came down the steps on the other side of the slide and approached Li Huowang. He then reached out, took the eighteen-sided die from Li Huowang's hand, and put it into the top pocket of his white lab coat.

"Come on, let's go down first."

Yi Donglai helped Li Huowang down the steps of the slide and led him to the hospital bed. "How do you feel after this session?"

Li Huowang turned his head to look at Gao Zhijian, who was now standing again in the distance, rubbing his head with a confused expression. Li Huowang shook his head, somewhat bewildered. "I can't really say, but at least for now, it seems the problem is resolved."

"Brother Li, is Great Qi saved?" asked Zhuge Yuan loudly, his body gradually dissipating.

"My illness should be considered cured."

Hearing this, a look of relief appeared on Zhuge Yuan's face, and he completely vanished before Li Huowang's eyes.

"How do you feel now, personally?" Yi Donglai continued to ask.

"I feel... I feel like something on both sides is starting to overlap," Li Huowang said, looking at his skeletal hands in confusion.

"Yes, that's normal. It means my method is working. Remember to take your medicine on time from now on. Cooperating will help you recover faster."

The ward door suddenly swung open, and a crowd of doctors rushed in, pointing at Li Huowang and exclaiming in wonder.

Sun Xiaoqin pushed past them, her eyes welling with tears of joy, and threw herself onto Li Huowang.

"Son, you're cured! Oh, thank heavens! Your illness is finally gone!"

(End of Volume 3)