Chapter 404: Nether Capital

Chapter 404: Youdu

Staring at the map that belonged to him, Li Huowang's mind had completely unraveled. He simply could not fathom what was happening.

People were one thing—he could perhaps attribute it to some kind of wide-ranging hypnotic power of Xin Pan. But how did his own map now belong to Great Qi? Why was this ability so strange? Why couldn't he make sense of it anymore?

Was Great Qi another parallel world? Or was there no Great Qi at all, and everything was merely a distortion caused by Xin Pan’s power?

“Brother Li,” Zhuge Yuan said, “it’s already late. Let’s be off quickly. If we don’t hurry, we’ll end up sleeping in the wild.”

Seeing Li Huowang standing motionless, Zhuge Yuan began to urge him on.

Li Huowang pulled his gaze away from the map and looked once more at the pale-faced scholar before him. With great seriousness, he said, “Zhuge Brother, can you tell me the truth? What exactly is Xin Pan? I really don’t want to guess anymore.”

“I cannot speak of such things,” Zhuge Yuan replied calmly, waving his folding fan toward the sky.

“I’m not asking about the origin—I mean, what happens when I stay near you! I can’t adapt to this at all.”

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Yuan responded as if it were perfectly natural: “Near me? Near me, people always appear claiming to come from Great Liang. They say Great Qi has been destroyed for over a thousand years. Like Brother Li, for instance. I naturally know they’re from Great Liang, but Great Liang is false—Great Qi is real.”

“But Great Qi clearly—” Li Huowang stopped mid-sentence. Continuing would only lead to repeating the same circular arguments they'd had before. Neither of them could convince the other.

“Fine, I won’t ask,” Li Huowang rolled up the map in his hand. “Let’s go. I’ll follow you to the capital of Great Qi—Youdu!”

The journey remained free of any trace of the Way of Forgetfulness. Had it not been for their previous encounter on Xing Island, Li Huowang might have thought the Way of Forgetfulness had given up its quest for revenge against Zhuge Yuan and moved on to something else.

With the carriage from the black inn and with the injuries of the Heavenly Observers of Great Qi healing, their pace began to quicken.

Even taking the back roads, they reached their destination in no time.

The crimson sun slowly rose above the towering, thick city walls. Li Huowang, standing atop the carriage, exhaled a white puff of breath. “Finally back in Shangjing… or rather, Youdu.”

He turned his head to look at the group of people far away, their eyes full of tears, greeting him with outstretched hands. Standing still, Li Huowang seemed utterly out of place.

“Hey, Taoist, today’s the first day of the month. Remember to eat black Tai Sui. Otherwise, you’ll go mad again,” the monk’s hallucination reminded him.

“I know,” Li Huowang took out a dagger and thrust it into the carriage, pulling out a large chunk of black Tai Sui and chewing it heartily.

“Elder, what are you eating? Could it help with your cultivation?” Summer, who had been secretly watching Li Huowang’s actions and unable to suppress his curiosity, approached cautiously and asked.

Li Huowang ignored him and jumped back onto the carriage. He tugged gently on the reins, and the horse pulled the carriage forward, following Zhuge Yuan and his entourage toward the massive gate.

Once inside the city walls, Li Huowang carefully observed his surroundings, trying to spot differences from when he had left.

He found that this so-called Youdu still resembled the old Great Liang. The wide streets were bustling with people, the shops along the road were still the same, though some details had changed.

“Sir~! Come play!” A soft voice reached Li Huowang’s ears.

Following the sound, he saw a young man with a delicate appearance, dressed in almost nothing but sheer fabric, standing in a bamboo cage adorned with red flowers, coquettishly swaying.

“This…” As he looked at the men in cages, their faces painted heavily, Li Huowang frowned. He remembered this place—it used to sell women. Now, why were they selling men?

“Hmph!” A cold snort came from the old man Qin. His hands clenched tightly, trembling with anger.

Just then, two plump, fair-skinned men walked down from a carriage, holding hands. Though distant, Li Huowang still caught the same scent from them—the strong perfume mixed with a pungent smell of urine.

These two eunuchs completely ignored others’ gazes, smiling suggestively as they held hands and walked into an establishment called Xunwei Pavilion.

At that moment, an elderly scholar with white hair emerged from within. Two identical handsome youths, one on each side, supported him as he walked toward a ox cart.

When one of the youths lay on the ground to serve as a stirrup, allowing the scholar to step onto the cart, they didn’t leave. Instead, they ducked into the cart and followed the scholar away.

“Unthinkable! Unthinkable!! These are the tricks of those bastards! They’ve turned the entire capital into such a filthy mess! Homosexuals everywhere! Truly unthinkable!”

“These people talk about such vulgar things as elegant! Pah! A bunch of cowards who’ve betrayed those eunuchs. Those Confucian texts must’ve gone straight to their dog stomachs!”

The injured Qin, still recovering, grew so angry that he started wheezing. The crowd immediately surrounded him and urged him to leave the area to avoid worsening his condition.

As the people gradually moved away, Li Huowang stood still, as if waiting for something.

Soon after Zhuge Yuan and the others departed, Li Huowang unexpectedly noticed that the men who had been coquettishly posing were now all women.

Their appearances hadn’t changed, but their facial features had softened and grown more delicate—completely transformed into women.

Li Huowang frowned, reached out, and grabbed an old man carrying firewood into town to sell. “Is this Great Qi or Great Liang?”

The old man looked at him like he was a fool. “This city is the capital of Great Liang. What do you think?”

“Heh,” Li Huowang chuckled lowly. Clearly, the transformation only occurred within dozens of feet of Zhuge Yuan.

Within that radius, everything became another country—Great Qi.

As for the other details, Li Huowang could feel the strangeness, but he couldn’t articulate it clearly.

As for why this happened, whether Great Qi was real or not, he didn’t know yet. Perhaps it had something to do with that Three Bodies Old One.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to understand much more. It was enough to know that Zhuge Yuan’s strange ability posed no harm to him.

“Go!” Li Huowang whipped the reins sharply against the horse’s flank and hurried after Zhuge Yuan’s group.

(End of Chapter)