Chapter 736: Soul

Li Huowang watched as his arm effortlessly passed through the mummified lama's hand. He instantly understood something. As he looked up, his entire body suddenly dropped, landing directly on the ceiling below.

Standing firm, Li Huowang raised his head. He saw the mummified lamas above him, and another Li Huowang surrounded by them. It was clear that Fengdu was not a place one could enter physically.

Li Huowang could still hear the lamas chanting, but it sounded hazy, as if filtered through a veil.

This feeling was very strange. Walking felt weightless, as if his body had no mass. "Is this an out-of-body experience? If souls truly exist in this world, then why are there no ghosts?"

Remembering the lama's earlier words, Li Huowang didn't delay. He clenched his fists and walked towards the entrance.

After emerging from the inverted Bardo Temple, everything outside had changed. It was as if he had arrived in a vast, empty desert, utterly devoid of anything.

Li Huowang wasn't surprised, as Yang Xiaohai had already told him this would happen. He pondered for a few moments, then, following Yang Xiaohai's directions regarding the "Red Dragon" tile, he headed that way.

With only three hours, he had to find the "Red Dragon" of the Sitting-Forget Path as quickly as possible. If he couldn't find it here, he would search in circles around the Bardo Temple.

Li Huowang walked through this desolate landscape, his eyes constantly searching his surroundings.

"Yang Xiaohai mentioned earlier that there isn't a single drop of that strange seawater from the Child-God now. Does this mean the Lord of Death prevented the Child-God's invasion?"

The Child-God shouldn't have control over the Lord of Death. A change in the master of the Heavenly Dao should cause natural disasters.

Perhaps this was a good thing for them. Anything that could thwart the Child-God was good.

What perplexed Li Huowang was that he had been walking for a while, but not only had he not found the "Red Dragon," he hadn't even found the ubiquitous souls of the dead that the child had mentioned.

No souls, no giant, bizarre ghost messengers, and no bottomless pits. Everything Yang Xiaohai had described was gone, except for Li Huowang himself.

Just as Li Huowang was wondering if he had taken a wrong turn, he suddenly felt something emerging from the distant black mist.

"Is that...?" Li Huowang leaned forward, staring suspiciously at the vague outline slowly appearing from the mist.

However, as the shadow in the black mist grew larger and larger, eventually exceeding Li Huowang's field of vision, he instantly realized what it was! This was Mahakala! This was the Lord of Death! He mustn't look!

Li Huowang immediately lowered his head, staring intently at the uneven ground, and shifted sideways.

The next moment, a terrifying low rumble pierced through, making Li Huowang freeze on the spot as if electrocuted, unable to even lift his feet.

All Li Huowang could do was close his eyes and cover his ears, curling his body into the smallest possible form. "Don't see me... Don't see me!"

Another low rumble sounded, and the immense pressure made Li Huowang feel as if he were on the brink of death.

He felt as if a mountain was forcibly crushing down on his head.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the sensation disappeared. Li Huowang, gasping for breath, struggled to his feet. He saw that his body had melted away by more than half, like a candle.

And this was just from its passing by, without even touching him.

"Is that Mahakala? Is that Kui-Ta?" Li Huowang muttered to himself, looking at the distant black mist.

Compared to Ba-Hui, who controlled pain, and Dou-Mu, who controlled truth and falsehood, Kui-Ta, who controlled death, was an entirely different sensation. It was like facing eternal stillness itself.

Before, he hadn't known why this place was so empty. After that recent encounter, he finally understood.

More than wondering if the dice had lied to him, Li Huowang was now more worried if his "Red Dragon" memory was still alive.

If that situation happened a few more times, even with the mummified lamas' protection, he wouldn't be able to endure it, let alone the "Red Dragon" of the Sitting-Forget Path.

"Could it be that it really reincarnated? Speaking of which, does reincarnation even exist in this world?" Li Huowang couldn't help but start thinking the worst.

However, just as he was thinking this, Li Huowang suddenly looked up. In the southeast corner of the ceiling, he saw something rapidly darting into the black mist ahead.

"Wait!" Li Huowang pushed off with his feet and shot towards the ceiling.

Once his feet touched the uneven ceiling, Li Huowang immediately started swinging his arms, giving chase to the movement.

In this extremely desolate world of death, that was the first moving thing he had seen. He had to catch it and ask for clarity.

Li Huowang pursued as fast as he could, and soon he saw the back of the thing. It was the back of a small child, its body a translucent white, as if glowing.

"Wait! Don't run!" But upon hearing Li Huowang's shout, the thing ran even faster.

Following its footsteps, Li Huowang's surroundings gradually changed. Gigantic pillars, soaring between heaven and earth, began to appear. These pillars were incredibly tall and wide, dividing the sky and earth into two parts. The child vanished directly behind one of these massive pillars.

Just as Li Huowang let out a frustrated sigh, he heard a mocking, teasing voice from above his head. "Why are you chasing him?"

Li Huowang looked up, and saw another Li Huowang, identical to himself, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

That was the "Red Dragon" of the Sitting-Forget Path. Li Huowang recognized it instantly; he would never have an expression like that on his own face.

"Great! You're not dead!" Li Huowang was overjoyed, marveling at his good fortune for finding it so quickly.

"Oh? Do you really want me to die? That makes sense, I suppose," the upside-down Li Huowang said, "after all, to you now, I'm just a memory created by Dou-Mu. Heh heh, even I want myself to die."

The upside-down Li Huowang wiped his hand across his face, and his face instantly transformed into a "Red Dragon" mahjong tile.

"Let me guess," it said, "coming all this way to Fengdu, enduring such hardships to find me, you must have run into some trouble, haven't you?"

"What kind of trouble could it be," it continued, "that would make the famous Li Huowang come seeking help from a mere false memory?"

"Do you know? I'm just a memory!" The "Red Dragon" made of flesh and blood jumped down, splitting its mouth open in laughter.

"Do you know what that means? It means that whatever I do, I reset in an hour, and then I start repeating, repeating, repeating again! Do you understand this feeling? Do you understand?!"

As it screamed, the "Red Dragon" patched together from flesh and blood began to slowly disintegrate, finally collapsing into a writhing puddle of blood and gore.