Chapter 993: The Nuo Festival

"Yangshou Pills?" Yi Donglai looked at the object in Li Huowang's hand, feeling an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if he had heard of it before.

"Xiao Li, are you alright?" Yi Donglai leaned back slightly, sensing that Li Huowang seemed somewhat abnormal at that moment.

Li Huowang's breathing was heavy, and his pupils dilated and contracted. "You don't believe me, do you? I'll let you see with your own eyes what's real! Whether I'm having hallucinations or not!"

Li Huowang rushed out of the warehouse. When he returned, he dragged Chen Hongyu, who was munching on potato chips, inside with him.

"Watch closely!" When Li Huowang offered some of the items in his hand to Chen Hongyu, she immediately popped them into her mouth without a word and began to chew loudly.

"What did you give me to eat?" Chen Hongyu asked, picking her teeth with a finger.

"Yangshou Pills, they can make you young again!"

No sooner had Li Huowang spoken than a miraculous scene unfolded: Chen Hongyu rapidly grew thinner, and her appearance quickly began to rejuvenate.

In no time, the middle-aged woman vanished, replaced by a young girl munching on potato chips, who appeared before everyone.

Chen Hongyu was particularly astonished by the changes in her body. "Oh my god! This is truly amazing! Li Huowang, isn't your ability to turn things into gold? When did your special power mutate?"

However, her astonishment paled in comparison to Yi Donglai's at that moment. Facing the unbelievable scene before him, his mouth hung wide open, and his eyes were as wide as brass bells.

The long-held, unchanging beliefs he had maintained for so long were utterly shattered by this supernatural sight.

Supported by Yang Na, Li Huowang excitedly stepped forward. "Dr. Yi, did you see that clearly? Can you understand how I've felt all these years now?! Do you finally understand what I've been through?"

"How is this possible? How can this be? It's illogical! Yes! This must be a magic trick!" Yi Donglai refused to believe it, rushing to Chen Hongyu, meticulously examining details and pulling at her clothes.

Even after Chen Hongyu slapped him across the face, the neurotic Yi Donglai showed no discouragement. Instead, he knelt on the floor, clawing at the tiles.

But no matter how he examined it, reality confirmed that there was no trick involved.

"Calm down! I must calm down; this world is materialistic!" A somewhat frantic Yi Donglai held his breath, concentrating, and used psychological techniques to try and restore his composure.

At that moment, Li Huowang, holding the last seven Yangshou Pills, extended them to Yi Donglai. "Dr. Yi, I know you won't believe me, thinking I'm tricking you with some other illusion. In that case, why don't you try them yourself?"

With a mixture of fear and excitement, Yi Donglai took the seven Yangshou Pills and, with trembling hands, popped them all into his mouth.

Soon, Yi Donglai felt a miraculous transformation in his body. Along with a sensation of his skin tightening all over, he felt himself growing younger.

With a final shred of disbelief, Yi Donglai turned and rushed out of the warehouse, beginning to ransack other rooms. "This is impossible! Absolutely impossible."

Watching the other man's hysterical departure, Li Huowang picked up Yang Na's bag, pulled out a compact mirror, and presented it to the still-unconvinced Yi Donglai.

Upon seeing the familiar young man in the compact mirror, his newly re-established composure finally completely shattered. "No!! This can't be! This is absolutely impossible!!"

With a complex expression, Li Huowang slowly retrieved the mirror and handed it back to Yang Na. "Dr. Yi, you can finally understand how I feel now, right?"

"Everything I've experienced is real, and what your papers recorded is also truly real. They aren't hallucinations; they are living, breathing people."

As Li Huowang spoke, he gestured towards the others who were watching. "They aren't fraudsters; they are all Shens of the White Jade Capital."

Yi Donglai, holding his head in his hands, stood frozen. As he looked around once more, his entire worldview completely collapsed.

Li Huowang walked over, helped him up, and said very earnestly, "Dr. Yi, I originally didn't want to involve you, but there's no other way. If you don't understand the importance of this whole situation, you won't grasp how critical our current predicament is."

"This concerns all the people across three historical timelines. I don't know how many there are, but they've truly done their best just to survive. They just want to live."

"I know you're a good person, a compassionate doctor. You surely wouldn't want to see so many people separated from their loved ones, their families broken apart by life and death, would you?"

"So, please, help me to heal. This is crucial for the upcoming battle."

In a state of collapse, Yi Donglai flung off Li Huowang's hands, snatched the compact mirror from Yang Na's grip, and stumbled towards the warehouse.

Ba Shengqing, who was loading bullets into a pistol, saw this scene and let out a cold laugh, saying to his sister, who stood nearby with her arms crossed, "Hey, another one gone mad."

Beside them, Ba Nanxu remarked to Zhao Shuangdian, "Ah Zhao, looks like we're adding another member to the family. How about we eat something good for lunch today?"

"Stop being frivolous all the time. I don't think this matter is that simple. Go get me the computer." Zhao Shuangdian said, then followed Li Huowang into the warehouse.

As they all entered the warehouse, they saw Yi Donglai holding up a pocket watch, swinging it in front of his reflection in the mirror.

"Now fix your gaze on the pocket watch and concentrate on that single point. As you stare, feel your body becoming more and more relaxed. Whenever you feel yourself entering a hypnotic state, you can close your eyes..."

"What are they doing?" Li Huowang asked, puzzled.

Before him, to the rhythm of drums and the swaying of the bonfire, figures wearing strange wooden masks on bamboo frames continuously leaped and tumbled, following the white-eared lion dance.

And from behind those masks came a constant stream of cryptic sounds.

"The Imperial Astronomical Bureau of Later Shu ordered them to perform the Great Nuo, invoking the Great Nuo through the Yuan Nuo dance," Gao Zhijian explained from the side.

Hearing this, Li Huowang couldn't help but sneer, "Is it useful? Don't they know the Great Nuo has gone mad? He can barely protect himself; how could he possibly have time for us? If it were truly effective, he should have intervened during the Dharma Sect incident."

"According to the Altar Master of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau of Later Shu, performing the Great Nuo is also a process of healing the Great Nuo. Little by little, accumulating over time, one day the Great Nuo of old will return."