Chapter 1018: Eye

Chapter 1018: The Eye

Li Huowang roared as he charged forward, reaching back to unsheathe the spine he carried, swinging it with savage force.

Like a gale sweeping through, the Heart-Soothe’s mastery over reality began to fray the secrets of the Three Pure Ones; under the influence of the Heart-Soothe’s bewilderment, the chains of secrets began to fracture and warp.

He caught three secret chains in one hand, raised the spine, and hacked down with all his might, severing the interconnected secrets until they dissipated into the void of White Jade Capital.

Yet, even as Li Huowang struck, countless secret chains began to pierce through his own body, relentlessly draining the bewilderment from within him.

Despite this, Li Huowang did not falter, severing one secret chain after another.

As the scattered secrets grew denser around him, the very edges of Li Huowang’s body began to fray into new secrets, turning gradually translucent.

"Not enough! Too slow! It’s still not enough!"

Li Huowang snatched up a shard of mirror, stared at his own reflection, and after a moment of dull hesitation, he bellowed: "Help! I need more hands! I need help! Everything hinges on this single strike!"

The next moment, a crimson hue emerged from below. Li Huowang looked down to see three severed heads of generals and ministers, tearing at one another, drifting toward him under the guidance of five dragon veins.

Just as Li Huowang reached out to grasp them, the invisible, intangible secret chains of the Three Pure Ones wove into a web, blocking the path between him and the heads, attempting to ensnare them.

But at that instant, the Unborn Venerable Mother struck; as her water-sleeves fluttered by, every living thing entangled in the karma of those secret chains withered and died.

As life perished and secrets were buried under the weight of death, Li Huowang thrust out a hand, easily piercing the tattered web to seize the three biting heads.

After swallowing them in quick succession, his eyes turned a deep, blood-red. His teeth began to lengthen, the spine in his hand grew razor-sharp, and his temperament was consumed by the malice of the heads.

With a thunderous roar, Li Huowang raised the spine-sword, now wrapped in tangible, suffocating baleful energy, and swung it at the Three Pure Ones with the force of a collapsing mountain.

The sheer power of the blow threatened to tear the chaotic White Jade Capital asunder; had it landed, the Three Pure Ones would have been utterly undone.

At this critical juncture, the secret karmic chains forming the body of the Three Pure Ones scattered like grey snakes, narrowly evading Li Huowang’s lightning strike.

The Unborn Venerable Mother, assisting from the side, seized the opportunity, casting a vast shroud of death to bury the secrets of the Three Pure Ones.

But just as Ji Zai and the Unborn Venerable Mother prepared to press their advantage and finish the Three Pure Ones, a Siling stood in their way: the Five-Wisdom Tathagata.

At this pivotal moment, she had actually intervened to protect the Three Pure Ones!

The scattered Three Pure Ones gradually coalesced behind the five-fold body of the Five-Wisdom Tathagata, and only then did Li Huowang realize that the Three Pure Ones’ karmic chains were strung through her like a puppet master’s strings.

The Five-Wisdom Tathagata, standing between them, was nothing more than a shadow puppet held up by the Three Pure Ones.

"Where is everyone? Where the hell did they go?" As Li Huowang roared at the sky, the situation with the Three Pure Ones shifted once more.

The blood-red, overlapping flesh of the Five-Wisdom Tathagata began to liquefy, coating the karmic chains of the Three Pure Ones like molten sludge.

In moments, both the Three Pure Ones and the Five-Wisdom Tathagata vanished from White Jade Capital, replaced by a tangled, pulsating mass of flesh and tentacles, dripping with viscous fluid.

"Damn it! The Three Pure Ones have stolen the Five-Wisdom Tathagata’s Heavenly Dao!"

Though he had tried to intervene, it seemed that by erecting the Buddha statue for Zhuge Yuan, the Five-Wisdom Tathagata’s path had been destined for the Three Pure Ones all along; it had been a trap from the very beginning.

Li Huowang could see that the wounds he had inflicted on the Three Pure Ones were already fully healed, mended by the stolen flesh.

At that moment, the other Silings finally arrived, drifting at various heights throughout White Jade Capital.

Seeing the current state of the Three Pure Ones, every Siling finally realized that Ji Zai had spoken the truth, and their previously wavering attitudes began to shift.

"Attack from a distance! Don't get close to Qing Wanglai! That thing is poisonous!" Li Huowang shouted to the others.

Yet, faced with the encirclement of the Silings, the Three Pure Ones—now bolstered by flesh—did not flee, but instead charged directly at Li Huowang with their twisted, deformed body.

As Li Huowang prepared to dodge, he was struck with horror to find the same secret karmic chains that had appeared on the Five-Wisdom Tathagata now emerging from his own body—denser and more numerous than before!

He had not intended to fight all the Silings, but the Three Pure Ones meant to strike first and devour Ji Zai’s Heavenly Dao!

The chains twisted together, forming the character for "Wang." Seeing it, Li Huowang understood exactly when the Three Pure Ones had marked him.

Pulled by these chains, the two drew rapidly closer; if this continued, Li Huowang would soon follow in the footsteps of the Five-Wisdom Tathagata!

The Unborn Venerable Mother prepared to use death to sever the chains on Ji Zai, but as her power neared, she was forced to stop.

She sensed that the karma within those chains was tied mostly to Li Huowang and Zhuge Yuan; to bury these secrets in death would not merely erase memories—it would be to bury Li Huowang himself.

Meanwhile, other Silings launched their own attacks, but with little effect; something within the Three Pure Ones seemed to block the influence of their respective Heavenly Daos.

A gunshot rang out, the bullet piercing Qing Wanglai through and through, yet he seemed entirely unaffected, drawing ever closer to Li Huowang.

Watching the Three Pure Ones approach, the rage and killing intent in Li Huowang’s heart burned brighter than ever! Ignoring the chains binding him, he gripped his spine-sword tight.

"Come then! Three Pure Ones!" Fearless, Li Huowang gathered his strength and lunged toward them.

As the two Silings collided with a sickening tear of flesh, their bodies shattered into fragments of varying sizes, colliding and weaving through one another, only to reform behind each other’s backs.

Ji Zai turned, his maw filled with jagged fangs, and snapped it open, determined to swallow the Three Pure Ones whole.

But the Three Pure Ones’ tentacles coiled like vipers around Li Huowang’s fangs, pinning them shut, and as the secret karmic chains on his body multiplied, his own form began to liquefy and fade, just as the Five-Wisdom Tathagata’s had.

"You want to devour my Heavenly Dao? In your fucking dreams!" Li Huowang raised his hand toward the chaotic void of White Jade Capital and shouted: "Eye!!"