Chapter 528: Residence

Chapter 528: Allegory

In the desolate cold palace, Li Huowang gazed at the apparition of a monk before him with a trace of dissatisfaction.

Li Huowang was not a heartless man, but at this moment, it was clear he had no time to deal with an old eunuch whose origins were unknown and who was pregnant.

After all, this was the Great Qi, not the Great Liang—what if this was some kind of trap?

His most pressing concern now was to return quickly and inform the Celestial Observing Bureau about Prince Ren's secret collusion with the Law Sect.

"Leave!" Li Huowang said, turning to walk away. But after only a few steps, a scream of unbearable agony pierced the air from behind. The eunuch, with one hand, drove a sharp blade into his distended belly. Amniotic fluid mixed with blood gushed out like pus from the wound.

Seeing that Li Huowang did not offer help, it seemed the eunuch intended to deliver the child himself.

The sight of such gore made the monk unable to sit still anymore. He scratched his ears and scratched his head, once again blocking Li Huowang’s path.

"Save him! As the saying goes, saving a life is more valuable than building a hundred houses. Even if you don’t save him, at least the child inside shouldn’t be punished," the monk pleaded.

"It takes countless lifetimes of merit just to be reborn as a human—it’s a life, after all."

Looking at the monk, Li Huowang sighed deeply, pressing his palm against his temple. "Fine! You're compassionate—you’re a living Bodhisattva. Go ahead and save him yourself."

The monk hadn’t yet grasped what was happening when he suddenly noticed something different about himself.

"I’m alive! I’m alive!" The monk beamed, slapping his bald head joyfully, jumping up and down like a child.

"You were going to save him, weren’t you? Don’t just stand there—I can’t hold on much longer!"

"Oh yes, yes indeed!" The monk came to his senses and hurried toward the eunuch.

But faced with the horrific scene, the monk looked helpless. Clearly, he wasn’t skilled in midwifery.

Seeing someone had come to help, the nearly dead eunuch, despite the sweat pouring down his face, struggled to rise.

With cracked lips, he trembled and whispered to the monk, “Master! Don’t save the big one! Save the small one! Please, save the small one! It doesn’t matter if I die—we must ensure the Wang family has an heir. Even if I die, I won’t disgrace our ancestors in the underworld!”

“Oh oh!” The monk nodded eagerly and knelt down, gripping the knife in the eunuch’s belly and pulling hard.

“Aaaahhh!” With a piercing scream, blood and amniotic fluid sprayed everywhere, covering the monk’s face and body.

“Thank you, Master... May you... may you become enlightened soon,” the eunuch cried out with his last breath, then slumped over, a satisfied smile on his sweating face.

Seeing the eunuch was already dead, the monk continued to paw through the mess. Li Huowang couldn’t bear to watch and walked over.

At that moment, the monk felt as though he was reaching into a treasure chest filled with blood-red riches, his hands moving like they were swimming through it.

Suddenly, he felt something—a foot. His face lit up, and he pulled hard—but only a section of the eunuch’s intestines came out.

Li Huowang, slightly impatient, stepped forward and reached into the mess. His keen senses allowed him to quickly grasp the only thing still moving within the “treasure chest.”

As Li Huowang’s arm exerted force, there was a sharp pop, like pulling a radish from mud, and the object was yanked out.

When the monk saw what was in Li Huowang’s hand, his eyes widened in shock, and he took several steps back. “What is this?”

In Li Huowang’s hand hung a baby—though it could hardly be called a baby. Its body was that of a cow or sheep, covered in wet short fur, its limbs ending in hooves instead of fingers.

If the eunuch had given birth to a cow, the monk wouldn’t have been so frightened. What truly unnerved him was that although the creature had the body of a beast, its head bore the exact face of the eunuch who gave birth to it—same bald spot, same wrinkled skin, same grotesque appearance.

Just as Li Huowang tightened his brow and gripped the hilt of his sword, drawing the Purple-Flower Blade from its scabbard to strike evil down, the creature opened its deformed mouth and laughed.

Though its face was old, its voice was that of a baby, high-pitched and sweet. The contrast was unsettling.

"Hahahaha! The moon rises, the sun sets, water overflows, golden gates flow. Morning seeks ascent, evening seeks union. Serpents and dragons cannot survive. Kill cattle and sheep, drink wine and beer, everyone rejoices! Eat your mother! Fuck your mother! Let’s all live freely for a moment! Hahahaha!"

After singing these incomprehensible words, the creature collapsed, eyes rolling upward, and died.

Li Huowang stood dumbfounded, trying to make sense of everything. Why was everything in the Great Qi so strange?

“What nonsense was that? Was it a curse against me?”

Frowning, he sheathed his sword and turned to the monk, who had once again reverted to a hallucination.

“I told you so,” Li Huowang said. “You wouldn’t listen. Now how do you feel about doing good?”

With that, he didn’t wait for the guilt-ridden monk to respond and prepared to leave the cold palace of the Great Qi with Li Sui.

“Brother Li,” Zhuge Yuan’s voice stopped him.

When Li Huowang looked over, he was shocked to see Zhuge Yuan’s expression was tense—bordering on regret.

“Zhuge Brother, what’s wrong?” Li Huowang asked, sensing something was off.

“I need you to deliver a message to some friends in the Great Qi.”

“Of course, but tell me, what exactly happened here?”

Li Huowang didn’t believe Zhuge Yuan was simply nostalgic for the Great Qi and wanted to catch up with old friends—he wasn’t that kind of person.

Moreover, he had never seen Zhuge Yuan lose composure, even when he single-handedly resisted Doumu, and even when he perished in the process, he had remained calm and composed.