Chapter 159: Death

Chapter 159: Death

Jiang Yingzi vanished, disappearing right before Li Huowang's eyes without the slightest warning.

Frozen in place, Li Huowang recalled her final words before she vanished, "Are the elders of the Xuanjing Cult all from the Path of Forgetting? Is Danyangzi still alive? Was he never an illusion?"

As words from an illusion, Li Huowang should have ignored them, but upon pondering this possibility carefully, he suddenly found that everything began to make perfect sense.

The Path of Forgetting hadn't just suddenly appeared by his side; they had been there all along, ever since the days of the Xuanjing Cult.

"Impossible! You couldn't have found out!" The shout, thick with furious rage, made Li Huowang lower his gaze to Erbing on the ground.

Erbing, who had been grinning triumphantly despite enduring all manner of tortures, now wore a ghastly expression, looking utterly infuriated and desperate.

In this moment, Li Huowang suddenly understood what the Abbess had meant, what she meant by saying that to deal with the Path of Forgetting, one had to do the exact opposite of what they expected.

These madmen, seeking their own amusement, feared neither pain nor death; their twisted notions differed vastly from ordinary folk, for in their minds, something was far more important than life itself, and that was the thrill of the game.

Now that he knew what they valued, Li Huowang also discovered how to exact his revenge.

"Want to know how I saw through your tricks?" Li Huowang spoke as he raised his longsword and thrust it straight into her chest.

"Cough... cough..." Blood slowly oozed from Erbing's mouth, the little flesh left on his face twitching faintly. "How exactly..."

Leaning his battered body forward, Li Huowang brought his face close to her mangled, bloody ear hole and whispered softly, "Heh... guess."

As he spoke, Li Huowang's hand gripping the hilt slowly twisted to the right; Erbing's body stiffened like a dead fish, his expression filled with sheer unwillingness to accept his fate.

With a sickening squelch, Li Huowang yanked the sword out and brought it down fiercely upon Erbing's head, cleaving it cleanly in two.

As if his hatred still wasn't sated, Li Huowang, his eyes brimming with extreme malice, raised the blade again and hacked down heavily. Blood and flesh flew through the air, and in no time, Erbing's corpse was thoroughly minced into a pulp.

The others could only watch from afar, witnessing Li Huowang's descent into madness, too terrified to utter a single sound.

Pressing her lips tight, Bai Lingmiao was about to rush over, but Chun Xiaoman stopped her, "Don't go over there now! What if he..."

"I'm not afraid!" Bai Lingmiao shoved her away forcefully and threw herself toward Li Huowang.

"Senior Brother Li! Senior Brother Li! Come to your senses!!" Weeping, Bai Lingmiao clung desperately to Li Huowang's arm with both hands, preventing him from striking again.

Looking at that face, Li Huowang gradually regained his clarity; he slowly withdrew his bloodied sword and slid it back into its scabbard.

Stiffly, Li Huowang raised his neck and looked toward the terrifying Danyangzi nearby.

Floating in the air at that moment, his three faces—one joyful, one wrathful, one sorrowful—stared down at him; under Li Huowang's gaze, he gave a sinister smile before slowly sinking into the earth.

"Senior Brother Li, don't be like this, he's dead, we're all safe now, it's all over."

Li Huowang took a deep breath and nodded; the return of Danyangzi was self-evident to him now.

"Yes, it's all over."

Li Huowang nodded in agreement. He first glanced at the rotting flesh on the ground, then turned to the others and said, "Who brought a flint? Burn this thing to absolute ash."

Even with the slightest possibility, Li Huowang dared not take the risk; he had to grind Erbing's bones to dust and scatter them to the wind.

The others complied, using the broken carriage as fuel; along with Erbing, other corpses burned as well, and on the morning of the Gobi desert, a massive bonfire billowing black smoke roared fiercely.

Li Huowang didn't leave; he had to see Erbing burn to ash with his own eyes. In this abnormal world, anything could happen, and he dared not gamble.

Carrying his luggage, Lü Zhuangyuan stood aside hesitating for a long time, finally looking at the resolute, blood-stained back before him and saying, "Ahem, that little Daoist... my daughter-in-law was frightened last night, and she's pregnant and weak, so we don't want to travel for now. We'd like to go to town and see a physician, what do you say..."

Last night, it wasn't just the daughter-in-law who was frightened; the entire Lü Family Troupe was terrified. Previously, Lü Zhuangyuan had been secretly rejoicing that he could take advantage of the little Daoist without spending a dime.

But everything that happened last night proved his petty cleverness was utterly wrong. Traveling on their own, the Lü Family Troupe would at worst be robbed and his daughter-in-law wronged, but if they truly continued following the little Daoist, they were afraid they'd lose their lives!

This little Daoist had hidden his nature too well, nearly fooling him completely; who knew he was this insane.

Li Huowang tilted his head slightly, and Lü Zhuangyuan was instantly terrified, his face turning deathly pale as he shrank back a few steps, his mouth already brewing an excuse.

"Fine, safe travels, Head Lü. Gouwa, give Head Lü two camels to carry his people."

"No, no, no! Don't trouble yourself." Lü Zhuangyuan waved his hands like a pellet drum; having received Li Huowang's answer, he felt as if granted a grand pardon and led the others in fleeing back the way they came.

Li Huowang paid them no mind, continuing to watch the bonfire before him; the flames burned from morning until afternoon, finally dying out.

He walked in personally to inspect it, and only after finding nothing but ashes did Li Huowang finally let his guard down.

"Are you alright?" Li Huowang turned to look at the wound on Bai Lingmiao's shoulder.

"I'm fine, just minor wounds." Seeing Li Huowang return to normal, Bai Lingmiao shook her head with a forced smile.

She reached out her hands, carefully moving toward Li Huowang's severed arm, her eyes revealing profound grief.

"It's fine, it's just a lost hand, it'll grow back soon." Li Huowang gently patted her soft, smooth hair.

"Really?" Bai Lingmiao's eyes instantly lit up again.

"Of course it's true." After comforting her, Li Huowang turned to look at the others.

Everyone looked utterly wretched; he could no longer tend to their wounds, because someone had died.

It was the man with the good eyes who was now left with only one arm; he was dead, and lying beside him was a fat Daoist acolyte who had also perished.

The two corpses, one short and one thin, lay side by side on the ground, while the ragged old monk stood there with palms pressed together, his face full of sorrow, continuously chanting Amitabha.

More deaths; looking at their ashen faces, Li Huowang had grown numb, even doubting whether leading them was truly the right choice; perhaps if they had walked home on their own, they might have arrived by now.

"Burn them too. Are there any urns? If not, wrap them in cloth."

Once everything was prepared, Li Huowang led the others to set off once more.

"Senior Brother Li, aren't you going the wrong way? That's the road back to Siqi."

Li Huowang nodded, "Yes, so we must hurry, or we won't make it in time."

(End of Chapter)