Chapter 386: Apricot Island

Chapter 386: Apricot Island

In that moment, as Li Huowang spoke to Yang Na with a heavy heart full of guilt, his taut nerves finally gave way, and he collapsed unconscious.

The sounds around him—footsteps, shouts, Yang Na's sobs—all gradually faded into the distance, leaving everything in silence.

He did not know how long he lay there before slowly awakening. It was the scent of incense that had awakened him.

The only color he could see was sky-blue. After a while, as his senses returned, Li Huowang realized he was lying on his back, staring up at the heavens.

The sound of waves crashing against the ship’s hull, the feel of the wooden deck beneath him, all told him he had returned to the boat.

When he lowered his head, his pupils contracted in shock at what he saw.

Before him were offerings and an incense burner; behind it stood a row of people prostrating themselves. What chilled him most was that within the offerings sat a pair of child boys and girls. They were being worshipped like deities, as if he himself were some divine figure.

Seeing this, Li Huowang’s rage flared. He leapt to his feet and kicked over the incense burner.

“Are you all fools? Why do you always place your hopes on others? And you dare offer up children for worship!” With that, he yanked the two children—foreheads marked with red dots—from their offering tray.

Li Huowang’s sudden outburst terrified everyone. They backed away in fear, and even the ship captain kept bowing and begging. “Great Dragon King, please calm down! Please, calm yourself!”

“Great Dragon King?” Li Huowang looked down and saw black tendrils writhing from every part of his body, especially from where his arm once was—five tendrils coiled tightly around his stump.

It seemed the crew mistook him, a being covered in black tentacles without skin, as possessed by evil spirits.

“Li Sui, retract them. Don’t scare them,” Li Huowang commanded. Instantly, all the tendrils vanished.

Looking at the wet deck and then at the cloudless sky, Li Huowang had no time to explain. He barked at the ship captain: “Get going! Set sail for Apricot Island!”

“Y-yes, yes! I’ll go! I’ll go!” The captain didn’t dare refuse. Even if this man wasn’t the Great Dragon King, he was clearly someone not to be trifled with.

Pushing through the crowd, Li Huowang entered a quiet corner of the cabin. After taking a deep breath, he looked up at the monk and asked, “How did I return to the ship?”

“The Taoist, you crawled out from inside that thing. It was too dark underwater—I couldn’t make out its shape. Oh, wait—I think I remember… there was another person alive inside it. I wonder if they’ve come out yet. And also—it had eyes all over its back…”

Listening to the monk’s account, Li Huowang replayed everything he had experienced.

As he had suspected, jumping through the window meant he had emerged from the creature’s belly. Climbing over the electrified barbed cage meant he had broken free from the underwater entanglements. When he reached the watchtower, he had climbed onto the deck.

His journey through hallucinations had ultimately saved his life. This was a valuable lesson. Next time something similar happened, he might use this method to escape.

It shouldn’t have been so difficult. But somehow, whatever creature lurked beneath the sea had managed to nullify the power of the Black Tai Sui in his abdomen. Fortunately, despite the ordeal, things had worked out well enough.

“The Li Sui inside your belly helped you a lot. Without it, you wouldn’t have made it back to the ship.”

Li Huowang touched his stomach, reflecting on what had just happened, feeling slightly reassured.

“Huowang!” A piercing shriek rang out. Instinctively, Li Huowang clapped his hands over his ears.

That was Yang Na’s voice—he would never mistake it. Thinking of her despair, his heart felt as though it had been stabbed.

With a grimace, Li Huowang pressed his hands to his ears and muttered to himself: “That must be a hallucination. There are too many coincidences over there. It’s a hallucination! I don’t need to care about it. It’s just a hallucination!”

He chanted these words for a long time, trying to push Yang Na’s image from his mind.

Only when he lowered his tentacles and no longer heard the ringing did he finally let out a shaky breath.

It seemed this auditory hallucination was a side effect of earlier trauma. From now on, he needed to be more cautious when encountering unknown malevolent spirits. Perhaps they had the ability to counteract the effects of the Black Tai Sui.

“Heh... Look at you, a ghost-like mess. You’d be better off dead.”

Ignoring the mockery in the red ink, Li Huowang pulled out the *Fire Robe True Scripture* and silently began healing himself.

“No matter how much suffering I endure, there will come an end. I still have hope to escape this living death! If I can force the truth out of Beifeng about how to break free from this illusion…”

“Three copper coins.”

“Empty bottle.”

“Half-moon coin—winning.”

Seeing the cards Li Huowang laid out, the other three threw their own cards in frustration. “Why is it always you who wins? Master, you didn’t cheat with supernatural powers, did you?”

“If I really wanted to cheat, I’d just grab your money outright instead of going through all this trouble. Enough talk—pay up. You lose, so pay up.”

A pile of blackened silver coins and mismatched bronze pieces were pushed toward Li Huowang.

Just as he was shuffling the cards to start another round, a loud thud echoed from above. “We’re approaching shore! Apricot Island!”

Hearing this, both players and spectators rushed toward the gangway.

When Li Huowang stepped onto the dock of Apricot Island, he exhaled deeply—finally here.

But then, a dilemma struck him. Although Zhuge Yuan had told him to find him, the ship captain had said the island was as large as half of Jiangnan. How could he possibly locate Zhuge Yuan in such a vast place?

After thinking for a while, Li Huowang took out a yellow parchment and drew a hexagram to seek guidance.

However, divination required human bone, which he had no intention of preparing.

Though difficult, after much thought, he came up with a substitute.

Using a knife, he cut open his healing arm. Clenching his teeth, he plunged his hand into the bloody flesh and grabbed the bone, pulling it out with all his strength.

With a sharp pain and a hollow sensation, he tore out his entire upper arm, blood-soaked and mangled.

———Author’s Note———

Tomorrow, three chapters.