Chapter 435: Dou Mu

Chapter 435: The Lady of the Battle

In Later Shu, Qingqiu, Siqi, and Daliang, every person deceived by a stone slab gave rise to a faint violet light emerging from their brows.

They had not lost anything tangible; if pressed to say what they had lost, it would be only the sensation of being tricked in that moment.

These violet lights gathered together, swiftly converging toward the imperial city’s Forbidden City, drawing attention from all factions.

From all directions, the violet lights in the sky came flying, plunging into the black dots of the four dice.

With the addition of these lights, the square heads of the dice grew larger and more purple, while their bodies began to fade gradually from this world—as though they were nothing but illusions themselves.

As their forms disappeared, the chanting of the dice grew louder and louder, until it became the sole sound in heaven and earth.

“Can these people of the Way of Forgetfulness really hope to oppose the Fate-Holder with mere mortal flesh?” There was no way such a thing could happen!

The Emperor of Daliang looked up at his still-unfixed mask. Though he found it hard to believe, he dared not ignore it.

With a sweeping motion of his hands adorned with inverted dragon scales, dark clouds in the air rolled and twisted toward the scene.

Others in Daliang, witnessing this, also joined in, rekindling the battle that had briefly cooled.

At that moment, the remaining members of the Way of Forgetfulness charged forward recklessly, trying desperately to block the approach of the black clouds.

In the midst of chaos, the dice finished their incantation.

“All beings in distress, when they call upon my name, I come to save them. Great compassion, great vow, great sage, great mercy—Holy Spirit, Supreme Light Empress, Mother of the Great Star, Great Saint of the Heavenly Realm of Moli. Venerable Lady of the Cosmic Dice!”

At the final word, the six-faced dots on the dice’ faces detached from their bodies, enveloped in streams of violet light, sinking into the thick, pitch-black clouds above.

In the next instant, all the members of the Way of Forgetfulness raised their heads simultaneously, shouting in unison toward the heavens:

“Lady of the Dice, come quickly! Dashen is waking up!”

“Whoosh~!” The dense clouds that had hovered in the sky all night vanished like bubbles meeting water.

Just as Li Huo Wang was about to leave this place, his foot suddenly plunged through the ground beneath him.

The ground was still there, yet its texture had become strange, as if transformed into some kind of liquid.

Not just the ground—but even Li Huo Wang himself felt the same way, soft and limp. If not for the writhing worms inside his abdomen supporting him, he would have fallen completely into the depths below.

“What exactly is this...?” Li Huo Wang instinctively looked up and saw a Taiji diagram of yin and yang far above, as if a sun hanging in the sky.

No—it was two suns. No, four!

As he gazed further, he even felt his eyes multiplying.

When his thoughts fragmented into six parts, he heard the mocking laughter of the dice in the distance.

“Hahaha, I tricked you! Dashen hasn’t woken up after all. Look how scared you got!”

Boom! The dice laughed loudly toward the heavens, showing no respect for the will of the Fate-Holder.

“Look what I brought you—a missing eye? I found you one!”

“Shua~” The massive Taiji diagram rapidly expanded, like a giant lid covering the entire sky instantly.

Not only the ground, but the whole capital city began to destabilize. Things that should exist vanished, while things that shouldn’t appeared out of nowhere.

Li Huo Wang struggled fiercely, even though he was currently in an unstable state of the Five Elements. Yet before this, he seemed utterly insignificant.

He looked up again, and now he could see clearly—the so-called Taiji fish wasn’t a fish at all, but two interwoven seas!

“Beneath those black and white seas lies…” Li Huo Wang clearly saw something. He clutched his head in agony, crimson blood seeping from his seven orifices, his head swelling like a painted longevity god.

It was the first time he saw the Fate-Holder in reality—and the first time he truly understood just how powerful such a being was. Even a single glance was too much.

As chaotic distortions began to erode everything within his perception, intense pain pulled him back.

His body seemed to crack apart, scars appearing without warning, bringing endless torment while slowly restoring clarity to his mind.

Once clear-headed, Li Huo Wang realized he was moving—he sat atop a scroll, controlled by Zhuge Yuan, who held the scroll firmly, navigating the undulating terrain.

This narrow scroll was like a wooden boat, carrying them away from danger.

“Brother Li, hold tight—we’ll get out of here first,” said Zhuge Yuan, his face grave but not panicked, despite the sky having changed color completely.

His composure eased Li Huo Wang’s nerves slightly. All he wanted was a bit of northern wind, never expecting to be drawn into such a grand matter.

Was this the Fate-Holder, the Lady of the Battle, of the Way of Forgetfulness? What did they intend by unleashing such a force?

When Li Huo Wang turned to look at the giant eye once more, he saw it wrapped in a golden mask, swiftly flying toward the yin-yang Taiji in the sky.

It seemed to struggle. As it fell into the white eye of the black sea, the entire ocean trembled violently.

One thing was certain: a single eyeball could not stand against whatever lay beneath the sea.

Zhuge Yuan looked up at the heavens, speaking in a rare low tone:

“Brother Li, I sincerely hope I’m wrong. Otherwise…”

“What?”

“Nothing. Let’s just leave this place.”

With a swift gesture, Zhuge Yuan drew a “swift” character in midair with his judge’s brush. The scroll beneath them moved faster.

Time could be swift or slow. As the gates of the imperial palace came into view, Li Huo Wang’s heart pounded.

He didn’t care what happened above—he only knew that soon, he’d learn the method to escape the illusion from Beifeng!

“Brother Zhuge, once we’re out, may I borrow your old almanac? I need to extract—” Li Huo Wang started, then stopped abruptly.

Trembling, he stared at the Taiji ocean covering the sky. Within the black sea, a vertical pupil floated in the white circle—the very eye behind the golden mask.

And now, that eye was staring directly at him!!