Chapter 360: Method

Chapter 360: A Solution

Tuoba Danqing had utterly collapsed, and the rest were no better off.

Liu Zongyuan knelt on the ground, his hands pounding the earth in frustration.

Hong Da stood motionless, his expression blank, eyes fixed on everything around him with a vacant stare.

Despair enveloped everyone. The voices of those who could never die, echoing from all sides, were shrill with mockery.

Under such circumstances, it seemed that nothing they did would matter anymore—death itself became an unattainable luxury.

Yet this did not include Li Huowang. Having faced countless desperate situations, he rarely found himself broken by anything else.

When he noticed Bai Lingmiao's face twist into a grimace, Li Huowang suddenly embraced her, his voice trembling as he said, “I’m here. As long as I’m alive, no one can harm you!”

The two spirits approached from behind, gently leaning against Li Huowang’s back. This time, he didn’t push them away—a rare occurrence.

“In this situation, do you really have a way out?”

Bai Lingmiao stared wide-eyed at the man before her. In such a hopeless scenario, what gave him the audacity to speak so confidently?

Li Huowang nodded slightly, then raised his head to gaze at the pitch-black ceiling above, a bitter smile flickering across his face.

“This place is inaccessible to immortals, but I believe there exists someone who can enter.”

“Who?”

“Ba Hui! The Ba Hui inside Bai Yujing!”

Li Huowang had been to Bai Yujing. No matter how the Heart Turmoil had managed it, in front of beings who dared not even be imagined, it was meaningless—even the fusion of life and death within the Heart Turmoil.

After thinking it through, Li Huowang’s expression grew firm. “I will use the Cang Qian Ascension to borrow Ba Hui’s power and break this deadlock.”

If there was another way to resolve their current predicament, it was this.

A pang struck Bai Lingmiao’s heart. She remembered this. Back when Li Huowang had told her about it. “Then wouldn’t that be—”

“Yes, exactly,” Li Huowang replied, turning his head to look at Tuoba Danqing, who was still practicing the Three Blades and Six Holes, before taking Bai Lingmiao toward a dense grove nearby.

As for the others, they didn’t care where Li Huowang went. At this moment, they might have lost interest in everything.

“The Cang Qian Ascension requires dual suffering—physical and mental. The extreme pain of flesh and blood is manageable. What I need is the ultimate inner agony.”

At this point, Li Huowang recalled something, his eyes flickering with inner struggle—but quickly suppressed it.

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao trembled. Without hesitation, she said, “Tell me what to do. I can endure it.”

Li Huowang shook his head. His lips trembled slightly. “You don’t need to do anything. Just watch me. Because... I need to enter a hallucination to find…”

While speaking, Li Huowang’s eyes showed intense inner conflict. But when he looked at Bai Lingmiao standing before him, his determination solidified.

He wasn’t ordinary. He was a Heart Essence. While the Heart Turmoil could exploit his abilities, the Heart Essence could also harness them.

Just like during the first Cang Qian Ascension, in that hallucination, if he dared to act, it would continuously feed him with the ultimate inner anguish.

In the silent night forest, Li Huowang studied the girl before him carefully.

“Don’t worry. I’ll save you from this perilous situation just like I did at Qingfeng Monastery.”

“No! Think of another way!” Bai Lingmiao immediately rejected his words.

But Li Huowang had no intention of listening. “Li Sui, come out. Stay quiet with your mother. Don’t run around. I’ll be right back.”

Black tentacles emerged from Li Huowang’s chest, eventually forming a writhing mass of appendages.

“Miao Miao. He is my son. Don’t be afraid,” Li Huowang explained to Bai Lingmiao, who had met Li Sui for the first time.

Bai Lingmiao widened her eyes, staring at the terrifying mass of tentacles. “Repeat that. Whose son are you talking about?”

Li Huowang chuckled softly, feeling the world around him begin to tremble and shift. He stopped explaining.

“You wait for me. Step back a bit. Don’t get hurt, even if you don’t die, it’ll still hurt.”

Everything began to melt. This time, for some unknown reason, the transformation was much slower than usual. Yet eventually, Li Huowang returned to the dark, filthy bridge cave.

Looking at the familiar yet strange surroundings, Li Huowang paused for a moment before rushing to the riverbank and washing his face with water.

Staring at his reflection in the water, Li Huowang seemed to hypnotize himself.

“Miao Miao is waiting for me. I must find the ultimate inner pain through hallucinations to save her!”

He repeated these words three times. Then straightening up, he turned his attention to how to seek that ultimate inner torment.

It required no thought. To reach the pinnacle of pain, the path was clear.

At that moment, Li Huowang heard footsteps outside. Soon after, Huanhuan appeared at the door, holding a small steamed bun.

Seeing Li Huowang staring straight at her, she smiled brightly. “Uncle, you’re awake again?”

“The ultimate pain. The ultimate pain—it’s nothing. It’s all fake. All illusions.”

Li Huowang muttered to himself, glancing around. He picked up a thin rope from the ground and walked toward Huanhuan.

“There’s no way such a coincidence could happen. No, this is clearly a fabrication. I won’t hesitate.”

Looking down at her, Li Huowang’s right hand, wrapped in the rope, trembled more violently.

“Uncle?” Huanhuan took a step back, sensing that the uncle before her was not the same as before.

Suddenly, Li Huowang deflated like a punctured balloon, exhaling all the air from his lungs.

“No, wrong. This is wrong.”

Turning around, Li Huowang clenched his teeth so hard they cracked, pacing back and forth in place.

“No, I’ve known her only briefly. Even if I killed her, the pain wouldn’t be enough. I need more. More!”

He knelt on the ground, writing two names in the dirt: Yang Na and Sun Xiaoqin.

Staring at those names, fear filled Li Huowang’s eyes, causing his whole body to tremble.

“All this is illusion! I’ve already transcended! None of this is real!”

His shaking hand was about to raise, but he recoiled as if shocked by electricity.

Suddenly, he grabbed a pebble from the ground and slammed it against his own head.

Instantly, blood poured from his skull. But it wasn’t enough. He gripped the stone and struck his head repeatedly.

Soon, tears, sweat, and blood mixed together, making his appearance grotesque.

“It’s fake! It’s clearly fake! It’s all illusion! What am I hesitating for?! Miao Miao is waiting for me to save her!!”

(End of Chapter)