Chapter 608: False and True

"Xu'er." Although a long time had passed, Li Huowang still remembered that this was the nickname Master Jingxin of An'ci Nunnery had given her son. However, he never imagined that this "Xu'er" was actually Xu Shou, the person currently opposing him.

The Master's son was a Heart-Plain, and the fact that his other side also existed in the real world was a bombshell for Li Huowang, implying many significant things.

But those matters could wait. Right now, Li Huowang urgently needed to ask Xu Shou why.

"Xu Shou! Why are you doing this to me? What exactly do you want?!" Li Huowang, eyes wide open, loudly questioned the old man before him.

"Cough, cough!" Xu Shou, propped up by Li Huowang, spat blood. His somewhat unfocused eyes fixated on Li Huowang, seemingly full of reluctance. His bloodless lips slightly parted, and he began to speak.

Li Huowang suddenly looked up angrily, glaring at the helicopter approaching in the sky.

"Get away! You're too loud! I can't hear!"

Immediately, Li Huowang, somewhat flustered, helped Xu Shou up and pressed his left ear to the other man's mouth, trying to make out what he was saying.

Finally, as Xu Shou's lips slightly opened, familiar, clear voices reached his ears.

"Huowang? Huowang, don't zone out, it's your turn."

A startled Li Huowang instantly snapped back to reality. When he looked around in confusion, he found that his surroundings had undergone a drastic transformation.

The ship, Xu Shou, and the roaring helicopter were all gone. The sudden shift from extreme motion to absolute stillness in an instant caught Li Huowang completely off guard.

His injuries, his severed arm—everything seemed to have reverted to a few days prior.

Li Huowang realized he was now sitting on a plastic chair, gathered in a circle with other patients from Kangning Hospital. The atmosphere in the entire hall was calm and peaceful.

"Li Huowang? What's wrong?" Wu Cheng, dressed in a white doctor's coat and holding a tablet, asked his patient with some surprise.

Li Huowang slowly turned his head to look at Wu Cheng. His face should have been horribly disfigured from Li Huowang's biting, yet there wasn't a single mark on it now.

Not only that, but facing the person who had once tormented him, Wu Cheng showed no other emotion, as if nothing had ever happened. A hint of concern even touched his square-shaped face.

"Is there a new development in your condition? Don't worry, tell me. I'm a doctor, and as long as you're in this hospital, I'll do everything I can to help you."

Li Huowang, his expression conflicted, stared at him for a moment before slowly saying, "Dr. Wu, it seems something just happened."

Following that, Li Huowang slowly recounted everything that had just occurred.

After listening to Li Huowang's account, Wu Cheng crossed his arms, his brow furrowed.

"It's not unusual for you to experience hallucinations; your previous medical records note that. However, thought disorganization, which typically only occurs in autism, appearing alongside hallucinations in your case, is truly unique."

Autistic? Thought disorganization? Li Huowang looked around in confusion, his gaze settling on the face of the autistic patient beside him.

The patient, with a simple, honest face, smiled increasingly broadly, but then suddenly stopped, looking utterly bewildered, just like Li Huowang had moments before, before the cycle began anew.

Was everything that just happened fake? Was it all my imagination? How could that be! It felt so real! How could a hallucination be so vivid!

Li Huowang knew this matter wasn't over; he had to get to the bottom of it.

"Dr. Wu, could I borrow your phone? I'd like to call Dr. Yi."

"Alright, although hospital regulations generally don't permit lending personal phones," Wu Cheng said. He unlocked his screen and naturally handed the phone to Li Huowang.

Wu Cheng's action made Li Huowang's last shred of doubt vanish completely. Wu Cheng truly had changed.

Li Huowang pulled out the slip of paper with the phone number Yi Donglai had given him and quickly started dialing.

The dial tone rang repeatedly.

Accompanied by the sound, Li Huowang looked at the pond before him. He was familiar with this pond; it was the one in Niuxin Village.

The Doumu Heart-Pan, the ship, and the worms in his belly had all vanished as well. It was as if he had reverted to his state before the Grand Preceptor of Daliang had attacked him.

When the sound vanished, Li Huowang suddenly looked up and shouted at the sky, "Come out! Was this your doing? What exactly have you done?!"

Immediately, a strange scene unfolded: Li Huowang watched as his own reflection slowly emerged from the pond water.

"What's wrong? Isn't this great? Everything is fine."

"Fine? What's fine? I'm asking you, what exactly happened with the changes just now! What about everything I experienced on the ship? How did it all disappear? How did my thoughts become disorganized?" Li Huowang questioned him loudly.

Ji Zai paused, thinking for a moment, then spoke again: "Because I have now taken over the True-False Heavenly Dao of Doumu Mingyang, all of Doumu's previous arrangements have become false."

Li Huowang's face showed a hint of irritation. "What on earth are you rambling about?"

"I told you before, once you embark on this path, everything you care about might turn illusory, and what was once illusory might become real. You didn't think that was just an idle threat, did you?"

Hearing this, the agitation on Li Huowang's face intensified. "But those things clearly happened! They were real! How can they just disappear?!"

"What is real? What is false? Is something necessarily real just because you can see and touch it? Is everything you're experiencing now necessarily real? How can you prove it? Prove it to me."

Ji Zai's words left Li Huowang speechless.

"Don't dwell on what's already passed. It's over; we should look forward," Ji Zai said, his body slowly leaning back, merging once again into his reflection in the water.

"Let me tell you more good news. I now possess Doumu's True-False Heavenly Dao, and I've become even more formidable. I now control three and a half Heavenly Daos:

Confusion, Truth, Falsehood, and the Chaos of the Spirit Mountain Ghost.

You don't need to worry about other matters; I can now protect myself."

"I don't want to guess anymore! Explain it clearly to me, precisely what happened! I truly can't comprehend it right now!"

However, Ji Zai did not directly answer Li Huowang's question.

"Excellent. Keep that up."

"Damn you!!" Feeling that the other party was trying to claim him, Li Huowang swiftly swung the Bone-Tube Sword in his hand, creating fissures that repeatedly cut the reflection in the pond.

Li Huowang had never hated his future self as much as he did now.

Yet, no matter how many times he cut or how much pond water he displaced, the reflection in the water remained unharmed.

"I've become stronger, and you are my Heart-Pan. You will also enjoy this benefit. You should be happy."

"I don't want it!" Li Huowang struck with all his might, and a long fissure shot out, splitting the pond before him into two halves.

As the two halves of the pond water crashed heavily back together, Li Huowang shouted at him again, "Now that this is over! Don't bother me anymore! I can't stand the sight of you! Get lost!"

"You should understand that one day, you'll be in my position, hearing your current self say such things here, won't you?"

With that, Li Huowang's reflection in the water closed its mouth. But as Li Huowang looked at the reflection, he felt as though the other party was still watching him.