Chapter 437: Zhuge Yuan

Chapter 437 Zhuge Yuan

Seeing Zhuge Yuan risking his life for him, if Li Huowang were to continue being bewildered and entangled by his own identity, he simply could not bring himself to do it!

No matter who he was, he owed Zhuge Yuan his life! Moreover, escaping was completely out of the question!

Gritting his teeth, Li Huowang scanned his surroundings, and upon seeing the Emperor of Great Liang and the Directorate of Astronomy entangled with the Dices, he pushed off with both feet and leaped toward them.

Every time the soles of his shoes were about to land on that liquid ground, with a flip of Li Huowang's hand, a leaf-tile would fly out, acting like a lotus leaf to provide him with a foothold.

Like a dragonfly skimming the water, he swiftly approached that side,

The Dices were clearly not fighting these people to the death; they were merely playing with them, seemingly waiting for Doumu to free up Her hands to eliminate these people once and for all.

Arriving at the edge of the fray, Li Huowang shouted to the inside: "Is there a living Heart-Turbidity placed within the eye of this formation?!"

He did not expect them to answer, but when he noticed the extremely subtle change in expression of one of the Vice Directors of Astronomy, he immediately relied on his years of experience in deceiving people to swiftly analyze the vigilant meaning behind this expression.

Faced with his question, the man showed vigilance rather than bewilderment and confusion—there must be a living Heart-Turbidity in this formation's eye!

It made sense; Yin and Yang counteract each other. Since a dead Heart-Turbidity was used as the formation's eye, how could they not place a living one!

Without another word, Li Huowang instantly rushed toward the surroundings, a scene naturally witnessed by the Sitting-Forget Way.

One of the Dices glanced with some surprise at Li Huowang, who was leaping into the distance, and then asked another Dice beside him, "Huh, what did you order this Hongzhong to do?"

"How should I know? That is clearly Great Liang's Hongzhong, he is one of your men, why ask me?"

"Bullshit! Are there no eyes on your backside? That is clearly your Great Qi's Hongzhong!"

By this time, Li Huowang had arrived at a side hall to the east. Originally, a golden palace should have stood here, but as the gold flowed away to form the Divine Mountain Ghost Masks, nothing but an empty frame floating on the ground remained.

Rushing into the center of the hall, Li Huowang only saw a dead, crystal-clear white fox in the center of the formation's eye. Clearly, the formation's eye here was this creature.

Launching his body into the air, he snapped his wrist fiercely, sending Yaoji mahjong tiles skipping like stones across the water, spinning in all directions. The eyes on these mahjong faces blinked rapidly like living things.

Everything those Yaoji saw was swiftly transmitted into Li Huowang's mind, allowing him to quickly learn what the formation's eyes in the other side halls were.

After half an incense stick's time, Li Huowang stood on a piece of driftwood, looking down at the old man in the mud who resembled withered wood. Just like the previous Heart-Turbidity, his seven orifices were sewn shut with golden thread. The only difference was that a single swastika symbol was pasted over his chest.

Glancing at Zhuge Yuan, who was continuously falling from the sky, Li Huowang took a deep breath, violently dislocated his body, and scooped up the living Heart-Turbidity.

Without any hesitation upon catching it, Li Huowang flipped his right hand, revealing four Baiban tiles, and snapped them hard against the man's back. "Kong!"

The Baiban sank into the Heart-Turbidity's body, and a tremendous force sent the Heart-Turbidity's body flying swiftly into the air.

Yet this was not the end. While the living Heart-Turbidity was flying toward Doumu in the sky, Li Huowang swiftly located the dead Heart-Turbidity he had seen when first entering the imperial city.

This Heart-Turbidity was the exact one he and Jixiang had found back then!

With two pairs of Pai Gow tiles slapped into its body, Li Huowang performed a backward overhead kick, violently launching his heel into the Heart-Turbidity's back.

The dead Heart-Turbidity left a trailing afterimage as it flew rapidly toward the living Heart-Turbidity in mid-air.

Seeing the immense power born of the union between life and death in the Heart-Turbidity, Li Huowang had immediately thought of using this to deal with Doumu. At this moment, apart from Zhuge Yuan, only this strike could inflict damage upon the avatar of Doumu.

"Brother Zhuge! Get out of the way! The living and dead Heart-Turbidity are about to collide!" Li Huowang roared into the sky.

Seeing this, Zhuge Yuan, whose veins were bulging all over his body, felt an instant wave of relief. Exerting the very last of his strength, he hurled the judge's pen high into the air, and his body collapsed backward, falling helplessly toward the ground.

Just as an incredibly tense Li Huowang steadily caught the falling Zhuge Yuan, a flash of light blacker than absolute darkness erupted in the sky—the living and dead Heart-Turbidity had collided.

When the light vanished, Li Huowang raised his head and discovered that a massive, hollow void had appeared on Doumu's body.

Not just on Doumu's body, it was as if everything within a colossal sphere in the entire sky had been completely scooped away.

Having lost a massive chunk of its mass, Doumu's entire body gradually grew unstable, shifting between distinct clarity and illusory fading.

Li Huowang could feel that It was watching him, but now It could no longer pull him upward.

With one final, profound gaze, Doumu, who covered the entire sky, gradually vanished.

Seeing this scene, Li Huowang smiled, unable to contain his excitement as he shouted, "Brother Zhuge! Brother Zhuge, we succeeded! We suc—"

When Li Huowang looked down and saw Zhuge Yuan's current state, his ecstatic voice abruptly halted. He had aged tremendously, and his entire body seemed to be cracking, poised on the brink of shattering.

It was not just his body; relying on his abilities from the Sitting-Forget Way, Li Huowang could also see the Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings upon him. Their condition was terrible, fusing and sticking together, turning into a deathly gray.

Faced with this sight, Li Huowang felt utterly helpless. He frantically searched through the memories of Hongzhong and the memories of Li Huowang, attempting to find a sliver of a chance that might save him.

Yet despite his intense denial, his reason told him that Zhuge Yuan was truly beyond saving.

Right now, Zhuge Yuan's body was like a bowl with a hole in its bottom, continuously leaking its contents.

Relying on his lone strength to resist the avatar of Doumu for so long had completely wrung dry everything Zhuge Yuan possessed.

Just as Li Huowang was anxiously searching for yellow paper, intending to use talismans as a desperate, last-ditch effort, he was stopped by Zhuge Yuan's voice.

"Brother Li, do not waste your strength. This humble scholar does not fear death, and you need not blame yourself. This scholar did not do this merely for you, but also for the common people of this world."

Watching Zhuge Yuan slide irreversibly toward death, tears welled from Li Huowang's eyes, and he panted, speaking with frantic exasperation: "This wretched place is already rotten to the core! Why do you have to be so noble! If you had run away, who could have blamed you! Did I ask you to save me? I am of the Sitting-Forget Way! Why on earth did you save me?!"

Zhuge Yuan smiled magnanimously. "It is not a matter of nobility. It is simply because this scholar has read a few more books of the sages than others, knowing what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Though I dare not presume to call myself a gentleman, to abandon a friend in distress and flee alone is something this scholar simply cannot bring himself to do."

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