Chapter 511: Inside the Room

Chapter 511 Within the Room

Faced with the monk's mockery, a flash of annoyance crossed the face of the hallucinated Sitting Forgetful Daoist, yet it vanished as swiftly as it had come.

Immediately following this, he sluggishly scrambled up from the ground, putting on an act as he patted the dust from his clothes, then massaged his left cheek, which had been struck askew.

"Boss Hong Zhong, you certainly have some means now; whenever you wish to pin me down, you make me manifest from illusion into reality, and once you are finished, you send me right back.

"But I am nothing more than a dead man. No matter how much you bully me, what can it possibly achieve? Could you perhaps kill me a second time?"

"Whether you believe it or not, my concern for you just now was entirely genuine and sincere; after all, we are currently grasshoppers tied to the same string. If you die, then we will surely perish altogether as well."

As he spoke, the hallucination of the Sitting Forgetful Daoist had unknowingly arrived right before Li Huowang, quietly staring at him with those two hollow sockets upon his face.

"If you ask me, we ought to put aside the matter of Great Dice for the moment and instead attend to the trouble looming right before our eyes—for instance, this issue of you cultivating only reality without cultivating falsehood.

"Should this problem remain unresolved, and you obstinately continue your cultivation, Great Dice will not even need to deal with you before you directly fall into deviation yourself."

Seeing Li Huowang stand there in silence, the hallucination of the Sitting Forgetful Daoist continued:

"Furthermore, this matter is not difficult to handle at all, is it, Boss Hong Zhong? The falsehood-cultivating methods of our Sitting Forgetful Daoist sect are clearly recorded inside your own mind, so why on earth do you refuse to cultivate them?"

"Bang!" Li Huowang's fist struck the hallucinated Sitting Forgetful Daoist squarely in the face, causing him, in a repetition of his previous plight, to throw his head back violently as crimson blood splattered into the air.

In the next instant, Li Huowang abruptly raised his right foot and stomped hard against his stomach, sending him flying backward with a kick. "Li Huowang, have you gone mad! I am speaking of serious business with you!"

"Clatter, clatter," accompanied by the sound of scraping metal, Li Huowang, clutching his head, directly unfastened the pouch of torture implements at his waist, laying out the shimmering, blood-stained tools in a row before the hallucination.

At this, even though the hallucination of the Sitting Forgetful Daoist bore a face full of resentment, he finally ceased his speech and slunk away to a distance.

"Brother Li, what this person says does indeed possess a modicum of reason. Why do you refuse to listen to even a shred of it?" Zhuge Yuan flew over from the side and inquired.

"Brother Zhuge, think about it: from whose mouth did this notion of needing to cultivate falsehood alongside reality originate?"

"Dice."

"Exactly. Yes! Dice said it! I am a Heart-Element. What do you think his purpose was in telling me this?"

"Ever since I obtained Hong Zhong's past, I am now able to comprehend some of the thoughts of the Sitting Forgetful Daoists. In facing them, one must remain constantly vigilant against their influence. Therefore, his words are false. Cultivating reality is simply cultivating reality; there is no necessity to cultivate falsehood!"

As Li Huowang spoke to this point, his tone was exceptionally resolute and unyielding.

"Could there not be a single possibility—"

"No! Absolutely not! There is not a single shred of hesitation within my heart right now! For the sake of cultivating falsehood, how many heinous and unpardonable deeds have the Sitting Forgetful Daoists committed? Am I to become just like them for the sake of cultivating falsehood? Dice is merely trying to trick me; I shall absolutely not fall into his trap!"

Li Huowang stared at Zhuge Yuan with an incomparably steadfast gaze. "If I truly were to cultivate falsehood, then I would no longer be Li Huowang, but would instead become the Sitting Forgetful Daoist, Hong Zhong! Therefore, if I say his words are false, then his words are false!!"

"Oh—" Zhuge Yuan nodded in realization. Hearing this, he seemed to understand the other's line of thought.

Faced with the claim of cultivating reality without cultivating falsehood spoken by Dice, it was not that Li Huowang had taken no action; on the contrary, this firm attitude he held now was precisely his method of coping.

"Are you suspecting that Dice is utilizing your power as a Heart-Element to make it a reality that cultivating reality without cultivating falsehood leads to deviation?"

"So, in order to prevent such an occurrence, you are directly striking down this falsehood from its very root, correct?"

"No." Li Huowang shook his head forcefully. "The Sitting Forgetful Daoists cultivate falsehood without reality and suffer no ill consequences. Why is it that when I cultivate reality without falsehood, something must go wrong? Therefore, this matter requires no deep contemplation at all! This matter is absolutely false!!"

"Brother Li, I understand. I must say, for a Heart-Element, this method of coping might truly work." Zhuge Yuan nodded in realization, then retreated to the side of the other hallucinations.

The hallucination of the Sitting Forgetful Daoist leaned close to his side and whispered something, but Zhuge Yuan merely shook his head with a faint smile while waving his fan.

Looking at them in the distance, Li Huowang stood up with a somewhat weary demeanor and walked toward the second-floor bedroom.

During this period, various matters had weighed upon him until he was exhausted in both body and mind. Coupled with having just transformed that hallucination into reality twice, Li Huowang felt truly spent now. He desperately needed a proper rest.

Seeing Li Huowang walk past her, Li Sui silently followed him.

Once she saw Li Huowang close his eyes and lie upon the bed, Li Sui crawled up. Pressing tightly against him, she felt the familiar heartbeat within his flesh.

She liked to sleep huddled close to her father, for it made her feel as though she had returned to the time when she was still inside his body.

With her head curled to her tail, Li Sui suddenly recalled something and gently nudged Li Huowang with her head. "Father, is there anything I can do to help you? I really want to help you."

Sensing Li Sui's concern brought a rare sliver of warmth to Li Huowang's heart; with his eyes closed, he reached out and gently patted her head.

"I appreciate the thought, but you truly cannot assist with the matters ahead. Just stay well and do not cause trouble; that alone will be a great help to me."

Yet, for the first time, a sense of resentment arose within Li Sui's heart. She was clearly very capable, and even Second Mother had praised her. Why did Father always feel that she could do nothing at all?

Perhaps due to the hardships of traveling and sleeping in the wild along the journey, Li Huowang slept very deeply that night.

And when Li Huowang woke once more, he discovered that the time had already reached the afternoon of the following day.

"How long did I sleep? Thirteen or fourteen hours? No, a day in this world has only twenty-two hours; I shouldn't have slept that long."

Just as Li Huowang was about to get out of bed, Li Sui, who was sprawled on the floor, immediately crawled over, her voice laced with excitement as she said: "Father, I did a lot of things last night! I swept the floor! I swept the entire house! I also filled the water vat to the brim."

"Mhm, good girl, well done," Li Huowang said as he sat up from the bed, picking up the Daoist robe and the coin mask from the stool to put them on.

Yet just as he began to dress, Li Huowang seemed to feel that something was missing; the pouch of torture implements at his waist was gone. "Did you take it?"

Li Huowang looked toward Li Sui; he did not think any ordinary thief would steal a collection of blood-stained iron tools.

"Mhm, I helped you wash all the blood off them. I saw some were blunt, so I also took a whetstone and sharpened them all once." From within her body, Li Sui brought forth the various torture implements—now polished to a brilliant shine, looking entirely like new—and presented them before Li Huowang like a treasured offering.

Li Huowang nodded, reaching out to hang the pouch of tools back onto his lower hem, and immediately after, patted her head as a reward.

"Father, did I do well?"

"Well... very well indeed, so fucking filial."

Li Huowang snapped his head around, glaring fiercely toward the hallucination of the Sitting Forgetful Daoist who had uttered those words.

The Sitting Forgetful Daoist instantly shrank his neck and slunk away outside the room.

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