Chapter 321: Human Mandrill

Chapter 321: The Renxiao

Li Huowang stared at Hongzhong in silence, before shifting his gaze to the other three: the Monk, Peng Longteng, and Jin Shanzhao.

Ever since these entities manifested, they had dogged his every step; in the past, he had always dismissed them as mere illusions conjured by his Heart-Su constitution.

Yet now that the term "Renxiao" had fallen from Hongzhong’s lips, he realized the truth was far less simple.

Toba Danqing might possess some knowledge regarding this, but Li Huowang dared not ask, terrified the man would deduce his nature as a Heart-Su from the inquiry.

"If they are no illusions, then what are they? Why do they follow me?" For the first time, Li Huowang truly pondered the question.

Then, his thoughts drifted to Jiang Yingzi, who had previously appeared only to vanish. "She arose from the shame in my heart, and disappeared because of it. Could it be..."

He felt himself on the very precipice of understanding, yet a thin, impenetrable veil remained, growing more elusive the harder he tried to grasp it.

Witnessing Li Huowang frozen in thought, the grin upon Hongzhong’s face widened.

"Can't wrap your head around it? Shall I help you? Do you know what it means to serve as a tiger's jackal? Legend says when a great beast devours a man, the victim's soul becomes a ghost in its belly, luring others to be eaten. Perhaps you are that great beast, and we are but your jackals?"

"Jackals?" Li Huowang raised his head to look at Hongzhong, his eyes brimming with absolute disbelief. "If you lot truly were my jackals, what help have you ever given me?"

"Aside from being eyesores, you are utterly useless! Your sole impact on my life is that whenever I speak to you, everyone else thinks I'm losing my mind!" His voice grew heavy with resentment.

Hongzhong’s laughter grew even more theatrical. "Well, perhaps you *are* losing your mind. I've long thought you weren't quite right in the head, boy."

Hearing this, Li Huowang glared at Hongzhong with a look fierce enough to devour him alive, the veins on his forehead pulsing violently.

"Oh my, oh my~ Glaring at me again? I call you a madman, yet what can you possibly do to me, little Huowang~" Hongzhong leaned back, the strips of skinless red flesh on his face twisting into an exaggerated smirk.

The mockery sent a rush of boiling blood straight to Li Huowang’s head, his mind buzzing with a deafening roar.

With a sharp clang, Li Huowang drew his sword with a single hand and, with a face contorted in sheer madness, plunged it directly toward his own throat. "Come then! Let us walk the road to the underworld together!"

Seeing the crimson blood spray into the air, Hongzhong instantly panicked. "Hey, hey, hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

Before Hongzhong could finish, a long halberd skewered him through the abdomen, lifting him high into the air before slamming him brutally against the ground.

It was Peng Longteng's Crescent Halberd; radiating pure murderous intent, she frantically savaged Hongzhong with her weapon.

The Monk rushed over, his voice tight with anxious pleading: "You mustn't die, Daoist! Do you not still wish to rid yourself of the Heart-Su? To return to your woman? Do not give up!"

Right then, a writhing tentacle erupted from Li Huowang's navel, wrapping around his wrist and pulling back with desperate force.

As Li Huowang collapsed to the ground, gasping heavily for breath, more tentacles burst from his navel, locking his sword-wielding hand in an unbreakable grip.

It was a wretched sensation, making him feel as though his very intestines were churning violently in his abdomen.

Seeing that Li Huowang had finally quieted down, the Monk stepped back to Hongzhong and muttered under his breath, "Stop provoking him. The Daoist has nothing left to lose now; he won't hesitate for a second to turn on himself. He's like dry tinder, catching fire at the slightest spark."

Hongzhong shot a distant glare at Li Huowang, snorted coldly, and hid his body beneath the waters of the nearby river. "A lunatic, truly..."

Restrained and coaxed by the Monk and the tentacles, Li Huowang gradually regained his senses. As he wrenched the blade from his neck, a mass of writhing black tentacles, slick with thick fluid, rapidly sealed the wound.

Calming down, Li Huowang felt a profound strangeness looking back at his actions; why had he suddenly become so radical? Was that truly himself?

"Daoist, we must move. Someone is still using those infants to refine elixirs. Saving a life surpasses building a multitude of temples. Keep doing good deeds, the Buddha is watching from the heavens."

"If you save enough lives, perhaps the Buddha will descend to earth one day to deliver you from this sea of misery."

The Monk’s absurd words coaxed a hollow laugh from Li Huowang. He slowly sheathed his blood-stained sword behind him, then staggered to his feet, walking toward where the candle had previously vanished.

"Monk, you are no jackal of mine. You were not killed by my hand, and whether you are truly dead remains to be seen."

The Monk’s body flickered with a nearly imperceptible tremor. He widened his eyes, asking in sheer bewilderment, "I'm not dead? Then who am I?"

Li Huowang gave no reply, walking in grim silence deeper into the dim, rugged subterranean cavern.

He had not gone far when a Renxiao with twisted limbs crawled out. It extended its long tongue, lapping at the blood Li Huowang had left on the ground, before swiftly vanishing.

Veiled in invisibility, Li Huowang walked silently through the dark, searching for the missing Renxiao.

Now that he had found their trail, it was time to purge them. He cast aside all other doubts; a fire burned within his chest, and he desperately craved a release.

As he walked, faint sounds reached his ears—chaotic yet strangely synchronized chants.

Following the noise, Li Huowang soon bore witness to a bizarre spectacle: a pack of Renxiao were attempting to sit upright, chanting in unison behind a leader clad in tattered Daoist robes.

That leading Renxiao, with a black horsetail whisk thrust into the back of its neck, was clearly the chief of this place, reading aloud from a thick sheet of paper spread before it.

Though their limbs were hideously deformed, these Renxiao still forced their long-clawed feet into a lotus position.

The sight struck Li Huowang with a mixture of shock and uncanny familiarity. "This is... morning lessons? They are performing morning lessons?"

Watching these creatures mirror a monastic routine, Li Huowang’s mind flashed back to the Clear Wind Monastery. The same monsters, the same delusions of ascension—the parallel filled him with a sudden, visceral nausea, a deep revulsion that shook his entire being.

"What piece of garbage thinks it can cultivate immortality?!" Gritting his teeth, Li Huowang drew his sword and charged.

"Wait, Daoist! Find the infants first! If those children do not return, how heartbroken their mothers will be!"

Hearing the Monk’s plea, Li Huowang’s footsteps slowed to a halt. After a moment of hesitation, he released his grip on the hilt and began to grope through the surrounding darkness.

Just as he prepared to search the perimeter for the infants, Li Huowang spotted a Renxiao scuttling over at breakneck speed, urgently whispering something to the leader of the morning lessons.