Chapter 1000: Helper

Chapter 1000: Helpers

The one who once devoured him, the one who once rewrote his past—the Sima—was merely a flake of dross fallen from the body of the Blessed Heaven.

As this cruel reality took hold, a profound despair welled up from the depths of Li Huowang’s heart; against such a formidable existence, what meaning was there in anything he and the other Simas had done?

The words Qing Wanglai had once spoken to him surfaced in his mind, along with the expression he had worn at that moment. Now, at last, he understood why Qing Wanglai had thought that way: they stood no chance whatsoever against the Blessed Heaven.

"What now?"

Watching the scene before him, this thought surfaced in his sluggish mind.

"What am I supposed to do?"

A wave of intense despair, curdling into a desire for self-destruction, began to bloom in Li Huowang’s consciousness, and his features twisted in agony.

This sensation was a forced reaction of his flesh and blood; even as a Heart-Element, he was utterly powerless to control it.

But soon, Li Huowang caught a glimpse of the Unborn Mother standing before him, an inexplicable emotion flickering within her densely nested, overlapping eyes.

Clearly, she had not been affected by the secret of the Three Pure Ones; she could not see the Blessed Heaven looming behind her, and thus, she could still move.

The Unborn Mother stirred. She contorted her form, brandishing a dozen water sleeves laden with white feathers, passing them straight through the mind of Ji Zai.

As the sleeves were withdrawn, the death-wish that had been congealing in Li Huowang’s heart was purged, and his thoughts finally regained a sliver of clarity.

Though his will had returned, his body remained paralyzed. He struggled to move, but the things spreading from the Blessed Heaven before him held him fast.

"No! I must move! I cannot sit here and wait for death! I must!" Li Huowang summoned every ounce of his strength, opened his mouth wide, and bit down with savage force.

As his tongue was mangled into a bloody mess, the searing pain finally granted him a brief moment of control over his body.

Li Huowang knew that in this situation, turning to flee was impossible; he had to resolve this at the source.

With this thought, Li Huowang plunged one hand into his own body to seize the secret of the Three Pure Ones, and the other into his own brain, tearing out his recent memories along with a mass of grey matter.

As he held these two things in his hands, the transparent liquid surrounding him rapidly receded, reverting to that dim, iridescent black.

The first thing he did upon regaining his freedom was to search for Qing Wanglai, but the man had vanished once again.

Li Huowang saw it now: this fellow was orchestrating something! All of this was premeditated!

He was exploiting the crisis of the Blessed Heaven to achieve his own ends.

At the mere thought of the Blessed Heaven, Li Huowang’s eyes filled with deep terror as he peered into the depths of the surrounding black liquid. With his memories and a portion of his brain clutched in his hands, he no longer knew what it was he feared.

Yet, his trembling body’s instincts drove him to flee this place at once; the sensation was overwhelming.

The liquid rippled from time to time, showing Li Huowang that other Simas were locked in battle with the Blessed Heaven’s own, their intensity escalating without them realizing what had truly transpired.

He had to leave now, and worry about the Three Pure Ones’ agenda later.

"Go! Run! Forget about them! Just go!"

Li Huowang’s voice echoed through the liquid as he flailed his arms, swimming desperately toward the breach in the White Jade Capital.

Clutching these two objects made movement difficult; he considered discarding them, but paused and shoved them into his robes instead.

Reaching the breach, Li Huowang looked at the crater, which had grown significantly larger, and panic set in. With such a massive gap, the dragon qi he possessed was insufficient to stitch it shut; he needed more sent up from below.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. He bent down, picked up a shard of a shattered mirror, and roared hysterically at his own exhausted reflection: "Quick! Li Huowang! The White Jade Capital needs dragon qi, as much as possible! If it isn't stitched up, the entire sky will leak away!"

No sooner had the words left his lips than several long, resonant dragon roars echoed from below.

Looking down, he saw Gao Zhijian ascending with four dragon veins, accompanied by the two golden dragons of the Tianchen Kingdom. "Brother Li, where are you! The dragon qi is here!"

Seeing this, Li Huowang felt a momentary relief. He was Ji Zai now; fortunately, he could contact the Li Huowang of the future to summon reinforcements.

Li Huowang reached out, grabbed the two dragon veins with one hand, and thrust them into the edge of the breach to begin the stitching.

The dragon veins were the needles, and the dragon qi seeping from them was the thread.

But he had barely begun before he was forced to stop, for the other Simas were still locked in combat within.

If he sealed the breach before they returned, the White Jade Capital would be doomed! Yet he could not leave it open, for the hole was still expanding!

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, gripped the dragon veins, and prepared to plunge into the black water to help the others escape.

He knew, however, that he could not do it alone; that would only drag him into the mire as well. His expression twisted in struggle, as if his left arm weighed a thousand pounds.

Looking at the churning black water, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and raised the mirror shard once more.

He spoke to his own bloodshot reflection in the glass: "I need help here, the White Jade Capital needs help! Call everyone you can!"

The mirror shattered. A faint red glow emerged from beneath the White Jade Capital, spreading upward, and a familiar roar sounded from the distance, drawing near.

It was the General-Minister Heads—two of them.

Looking closer, Li Huowang realized there was something within the heads; they were not ascending on their own, but were being carried.

Bai Lingmiao, her body half-draconified, sat cross-legged on a lotus lantern, cradling the Twelve-Petaled Merit Jade Lotus. With her six White Donkey messengers, she ascended toward him.

Li Huowang plunged downward, clutching the dragon veins, and collided heavily with one of the General-Minister Heads. In an instant, the fear in his heart was swept away, replaced entirely by the urge to kill.

Just as he reached out to grab the other head, a mist-like entity erupted from the deep crater of black water—it was the Unborn Mother!

She inverted her body and lunged with terrifying speed toward Bai Lingmiao on the lantern and her six White Donkeys.

As if summoned by some call, the white lotus mark on Bai Lingmiao’s brow, and those of the White Donkeys, began to glow with blinding intensity.

The six White Donkeys sitting on the lantern wore expressions of joy, and surrounding Bai Lingmiao, they chanted in unison:

"The heavens and earth are dark, the sun and moon have lost their light; the Red Sun kalpa ends, the White Sun shall rise! The Great Calamity is upon us! The White Lotus attains Nirvana!"