Chapter 1001: Gather and Scatter

Chapter 1001: Gathering and Scattering

The six white donkeys surrounding Bai Lingmiao consisted of two lamas, two White Lotus devotees, and two malevolent spirits.

Seeing Bai Lingmiao seated upon a sky lantern, cradling the twelve-petaled lotus, surrounded by those six donkeys, Li Huowang felt a chilling sense of familiarity.

As his pupils contracted, he suddenly recalled seeing this very scene depicted on the walls beneath the ancestral hall in Niuxin Village.

He did not know what it signified, but his instincts screamed that this was an omen of catastrophe.

As the Unborn Mother reached out to touch the half-dragon, half-human form of Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang’s body lurched, placing himself directly between them, his saber raised. "Don't you dare touch her!"

Yet at that very moment, the figure of the Unborn Mother began to blur, and from within her, another image filtered through—it was Yang Na, rushing toward him with a look of desperate urgency.

Gazing at that familiar tear mole on her face, Li Huowang’s expression twisted in agony; his saber grew heavy, impossible to lift.

Yang Na of the real world and Bai Lingmiao of the Great Liang existed in different realms, yet both were the people he cherished most. When they converged in his mind, his sanity shattered.

Li Huowang’s body began to crack, blood and viscera spraying into the air as he split, his physical form tearing into two distinct versions of himself.

A pale, severed hand reached out, passing effortlessly through his ruptured torso to press gently against Bai Lingmiao’s brow.

The moment they touched, Li Huowang’s four eyes saw both Bai Lingmiao and Yang Na flicker and fade, as if they were nothing more than mere projections.

As they dissolved, the hidden truths within them overlapped, revealing the true form beneath the projection: the Unborn Mother, the real Unborn Mother.

"Was I not right? This is the true existence. We are all projections, regardless of the side, merely shadows cast by the sun from different angles." The familiar voice echoed in his ear before vanishing.

Specks of starlight drifted through the Yak Gate, converging upon the white donkeys. Soon, the six seated figures were consumed, coalescing into six prayer beads that hung in a fan shape behind the Unborn Mother.

In an instant, a gentle white light radiated outward, dispersing the chaos of Baiyujing, as the Heavenly Daos of Compassion and Death merged, warping the world around them.

As the end drew near, Li Huowang heard a triple-layered voice, overlapping in unison: "Huowang! Strike!"

Hearing that resonance, the split halves of Li Huowang merged once more. He stared blankly at the Unborn Mother, unsure of which identity he should use to face her.

"Do you know what the Three Bodies are? The Dharma-kaya, the Sambhogakaya, and the Nirmanakaya. These are the Three Bodies, and I am the one above them." Qing Wanglai’s voice returned.

"Shut up!" With a roar, Li Huowang’s killing intent surged outward. He lunged forward, staring intensely at the Unborn Mother.

"Who are you now? Are you... Yang Na? Or Bai Lingmiao? Or something else entirely? If you are the real one, then who am I?"

As he pondered this, his overlapping form grew unstable once more.

Visions of two worlds flickered around him, sometimes manifesting simultaneously.

The Unborn Mother shook her head slightly, gesturing for him to look up.

Li Huowang followed her gaze and saw the hole in the firmament had widened, the black water within now stained with the blood of the Si Ming.

The Unborn Mother extended her white-feathered sleeve, wrapping it around the roaring head of the General-Minister and presenting it to him.

Li Huowang took the roaring head, drew a deep breath, and tore open his own chest, slamming the head against his own frantically beating heart.

"I don't care who you are! When this is over, send Bai Lingmiao back! Or I will never forgive you!"

"Thump, thump, thump—" His heartbeat grew thunderous, exploding in his ears like war drums, as a sky-piercing aura of slaughter enveloped him.

"Kill!" Li Huowang swung his spine-sword and charged out of the ruins into the forest on the left.

In the torrential rain, the forest was a cacophony of gunfire and screams. Corpses lay strewn about, blood and rainwater mingling into a single, indistinguishable mire.

Seeing Ba Nanxu press a gun to an enemy’s throat and blast it apart, Li Huowang, his eyes bloodshot and veins bulging, charged without hesitation.

With a single swing, he decapitated one man, then leaped high, tearing half the face off another with his teeth.

As an enemy raised his rifle to aim, a blur of motion flashed by—the disheveled Yang Na, who sliced through the man’s fingers and weapon in one stroke.

Li Huowang, blade in hand, plunged into the fray, roaring as he slaughtered. Against his absolute madness, the black-clad figures stood no chance.

The destruction was total. Piles of corpses grew, and despite the rain, the air remained thick with the stench of blood.

Suddenly, the sky darkened. Looking up, Li Huowang saw the inverted black mountains descending upon him.

As they threatened to swallow him whole, his body trembled violently. The mountains flickered like a mirage, then vanished into thin air.

Wiping the blood from his face, Li Huowang shouted to the left: "Zhao Shuangdian! Stop! Take everyone back to Baiyujing! Now!"

"Don't panic. We haven't lost yet." Even in this chaos, Zhao Shuangdian remained cold and composed, reloading her weapon.

Li Huowang tried to explain, but his mouth hung open, words failing him. Anxiety gripped him; he had forgotten what he was afraid of.

Zhao Lei, missing an ear, stumbled past, panting, clutching a severed hand. He bit into it savagely before rushing back into the fray.

Nearby, Wu Qi plunged a syringe into an enemy; as the fluid entered, the man’s tongue swelled, choking his airway.

Seeing the others entangled deeper in the madness, Li Huowang reached into his own chest, clawed at his mind, and shoved his hand into his mouth. The rain turned transparent, and the words trapped in his throat finally broke free.

"Their Elephant has already crashed into us!!"

In that moment, Li Huowang saw the Fusheng Heaven again—that vision of utter despair. Fear surged, only to be countered by his killing intent.

Having warned Zhao Shuangdian, Li Huowang prepared to reach into his mind once more to extract every memory of the Fusheng Heaven, but then, he saw the distant entity cast a single glance at him.

With that simple look, Li Huowang’s body simply fell apart.