Chapter 117: Ba Hui

Chapter 117: Ba Hui

After a thorough search of the temple grounds, Li Huowang returned to the mountain path.

Patting Mantou's canine head, Li Huowang pressed his lips together and continued forward in silence.

The Zoroastrian cross-temples seemed to be built in extreme density, and it wasn't long before Li Huowang discovered another.

This cross-temple was noticeably more intact; at the very least, the head of the Gu God had not vanished into thin air.

The head of the Gu God was charred black, seemingly having endured the same scorching flames.

Yet, paradoxically, carved upon such a visage was an expression of intense jealousy and extreme yearning.

Staring with eyes that had turned to cinders, it gazed straight up toward the ceiling of the temple.

Li Huowang's gaze followed upward, revealing a mass of patchwork colors and shapes adorning the temple's apex.

From the deity's expression, it was clear He yearned desperately for the murals painted on the roof, though Li Huowang could not yet fathom what that mass truly was.

"Woof! Arf, arf, arf!!" Mantou's barking made Li Huowang's body instantly tense.

He spun around swiftly, looking in the direction where Mantou was baring its teeth.

It was a side door; the light from outside the temple could not penetrate within, leaving the entrance in pitch darkness.

Within that darkness, he spotted a voluminous gray robe.

Li Huowang had learned from the nuns that the followers of the Zoroastrian sect mostly wore robes to conceal their full-body wounds.

Yet now, he could only see the lower half, with the upper half hidden from view.

Sensing something amiss, Li Huowang immediately drew out the human-skin letter given to him by Abbess Jingxin and tossed it into the dark.

"I am Xuanyang of the Pure Wind Temple. I have come to seek your sect's aid in an urgent matter!"

Li Huowang announced himself to the robe in the darkness, but it offered no response.

Just as Li Huowang was doubting whether this thing was even alive, the robe stepped out from the shadows.

At the very first glance, Li Huowang knew this person was undoubtedly from the Zoroastrian sect, for his scar-riddled face was entirely devoid of skin.

Just as the nuns of the Ance Nunnery had said, the Zoroastrians wore loose robes and tall hats.

The hat was large, concealing his eyes and nose, leaving Li Huowang with only the bloody, mangled flesh exposed on his chin.

Li Huowang swallowed hard, eyeing the man before him with utmost vigilance.

"Things seem fine for now; at least they haven't attacked the moment they saw I was a Pure Heart."

Glancing at the bulging hands hidden within the other's sleeves, Li Huowang calmly repeated his request.

The other still gave Li Huowang no reply, but it was obvious he had understood his purpose.

In silence, he turned and walked out of the cross-temple.

Li Huowang took a deep breath and followed, his heart filled with unease.

Following behind this man, Li Huowang gradually ventured deeper into the mountains.

Watching the voluminous robe of the man ahead, a doubt arose in his mind.

Wasn't the Record of the Myriad Realms a Zoroastrian artifact? Why hadn't he seen him carrying it? Could it be hidden inside the robe?

With this question lingering, Li Huowang went deeper and deeper, occasionally encountering other Zoroastrians.

They were all dressed alike, and upon seeing Li Huowang, their eyes hidden beneath the tall hats would stare at him intently.

The eerie environment made Mantou fearful; it hung its head and tucked its tail, practically pressing against Li Huowang's hem as it followed.

Under the gaze of these people, a gourd-shaped cave finally appeared before Li Huowang.

Seeing the cave, Li Huowang couldn't help but recall some unpleasant things; he hated caves.

The interior was not as dark as the Pure Wind Temple had been; instead, it was brilliantly lit.

Crackling torches illuminated the entire cave with blinding brightness.

The sheer number of torches had even raised the temperature inside, making Li Huowang feel a stifling heat in his chest.

Recalling the flames on the previous deity's statue, Li Huowang felt that fire might be a crucial element in the Zoroastrian sect.

After walking through the brightly lit cave for the time it takes two incense sticks to burn, Li Huowang finally saw the man in charge.

It was a figure lying on the cold ground, completely charred black; to call him a man would be to call him a scorched corpse.

Yet the gaze shooting from that direction made Li Huowang realize this was no corpse.

Seeing this man also answered a question that had just arisen in Li Huowang's mind.

An unrolled, blood-red copy of the Record of the Myriad Realms was spread upside down across his chest.

It was evident that this object had been laid there for a long time, so long that the bamboo slips had sprouted.

Bloody bamboo roots pierced through his entire body, bursting out from his back, draped with various scraps of flesh and skin.

Seeing the guide respectfully present the human-skin letter with both hands, Li Huowang immediately understood that this man's status in the Zoroastrian sect was undoubtedly high.

However, this charred corpse did not look at Jingxin's human-skin letter, but stared unblinkingly at Li Huowang.

He just stared, continuing to do so for a long time.

"You were seen by Ba Hui?"

The ability to communicate was a good start. Li Huowang nodded and replied, "That's right."

"Speaking of which, every Pure Heart is a promising seed, for they can approach the Sea of Suffering more easily; it's a pity they all end up going mad." A hint of regret crept into the other's tone from the very beginning.

Immediately after, he glanced at the Record of the Myriad Realms at Li Huowang's waist.

"I am Shou San. Pleased to meet you. Could you tell me how you performed the Ascension of the Cang Qiang? You must know, even among us, not everyone can achieve it."

Hearing that he was being praised, Li Huowang felt not a shred of joy.

"The Ascension of the Cang Qiang? Is that the name of the ritual requiring extreme dual agony?"

Concealing a part of it, Li Huowang told Shou San about what had happened before.

"Heh, using it against the Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month was truly a waste of talent; fortunately, you turned misfortune into blessing."

Li Huowang wasn't here to chat about that; seeing the other could communicate normally, he restated the purpose of his visit.

"Very well."

Before Li Huowang could rejoice for even a breath, the conditions followed.

"However, in exchange, I need you to perform the Ascension of the Cang Qiang again in front of us."

"Why ask an outsider like me to perform your sect's internal ritual?" Li Huowang found the other's thinking somewhat incomprehensible. "I have never seen a Pure Heart perform the Ascension of the Cang Qiang, so I want to watch, perhaps to find a way to steal Ba Hui's power."

"Steal... Ba Hui's power?" Li Huowang almost thought he had misheard.

"You have seen Ba Hui, so you surely know how powerful it is. In the moment you gazed upon it, did you not once think that you could possess such power yourself?"

Hearing this, Li Huowang suddenly came to his senses, realizing that the mass at the top of the cross-temple earlier represented Ba Hui.

It was only because humans could not fully describe Ba Hui's appearance that they used that thing as a substitute.

They used pain to exchange for power from Ba Hui, yet they did not worship Ba Hui. Instead, they worshipped the Gu God.

The Gu God they worship is likewise consumed by a ravenous yearning to usurp and seize the power of Ba Hui.

(End of Chapter)