Chapter 529: Zhuge Yuan

Chapter 529: Zhuge Yuan

Li Huowang understood that for Zhuge Yuan to display such an expression, whatever had happened must be far more serious than anything that had come before!

What could possibly be more grave than the descent of Doumu?

Seeing Zhuge Yuan's unusual demeanor, Li Huowang quickly offered comfort. "Brother Zhuge, don't panic. Tell me what exactly has happened. If I don’t know what’s going on, how can I possibly help?"

Zhuge Yuan’s slightly red eyes blinked shut briefly, then reopened after a deep breath. He pointed his fan at the dead ox-faced man on the ground. "Brother Li, do you know what that thing is?"

"Uh... it's supposed to be the son of this eunuch, used by Zhengde Temple for procreation? I don’t know whether those lecherous monks couldn’t manage it themselves or what, but they’re clearly trying to use this abomination to satisfy the eunuchs."

Suddenly, the illusion from the Seat-Forget Dao chimed in, "Exactly! This whole thing is just plain unkind."

"No! You're completely wrong! Didn’t you hear what it sang? That creature is a Yu! The dragon vein of Great Qi is about to break!"

Zhuge Yuan’s words sent a sudden chill through Li Huowang’s heart. Although he still didn’t understand what the ox-faced man was, the idea that the dragon vein would break made him feel as though something terrible was about to occur.

"Brother Li, we have no time to waste here! Let’s go! Get out of here first! We can’t move freely in this place!"

Without hesitation, Li Huowang raised his right foot and rushed toward the desolate cold palace’s exit.

"The dragon vein?" Li Huowang instinctively recalled the stack of emperors' statues he had seen inside the Great Li temple.

Seeing Li Huowang begin to move, Zhuge Yuan quickly explained beside him: "Whenever there is great chaos, Yu are born. This creature, part human, part beast, speaks like a man upon birth, then dies instantly. The words of a Yu are always ominous—always referring to events that will happen immediately!"

"So the Yu’s words just now meant that the dragon vein of Great Qi is about to break? Brother Zhuge, if the dragon vein breaks, what happens?"

Li Huowang stamped his feet hard on the ground, easily leaping over a wall with the assistance of Li Sui’s tentacles.

"Only Great Qi should exist. There never was a Great Li. Do you know why Great Li ever came to be? Because the dragon vein of Great Qi once broke a thousand years ago! If it breaks again now, perhaps all of Great Qi will cease to exist!"

Hearing these words, Li Huowang’s entire body went cold. In this mad world, the dragon vein truly served as the anchor of history!

He suddenly understood why the emperor of Great Li had always been destined to be one person, and why the authority of the emperor could persist so long in this chaotic world.

"But did Great Li really come about this way? Could it be that Zhuge Yuan is mistaken?"

But even now, Li Huowang’s mind remained muddled. He seemed to grasp some surface truths, yet beneath them lay other hidden things.

"Brother Li! Stop! We’ve done enough!"

When Li Huowang stopped and realized he had left the cold palace and entered Youdu, the capital of Great Qi, he found himself surrounded by darkness. The tiles stretched endlessly under the night sky, silent as a ghostly realm.

It felt different from the Great Qi he had known before, but he couldn’t quite articulate how.

"Brother Zhuge, what should I do next?"

"Use the false to cultivate true! I need my physical form for a moment!"

Without hesitation, Li Huowang complied. As he pressed both hands tightly against his temples, Zhuge Yuan’s body began to flicker faintly.

Veins bulged across Li Huowang’s reddened forehead, his bloodshot eyes bulging outward.

"This… this feels off! It shouldn’t be this exhausting to give the monk and Peng Longteng their bodies!" With a trembling knee, Li Huowang knelt down, crimson blood dripping from his nose onto the ground.

"Brother Li, hold on! This fate of all the people in the world depends on it!" Zhuge Yuan clenched his fist and encouraged him.

"I’m fine! I can take it!" As Li Huowang’s head swelled to the size of a longevity god in a New Year painting, Zhuge Yuan’s body instantly solidified from ethereal to real.

Seeing Li Huowang stagger, Zhuge Yuan wasted no time. He drew the rib sword from Li Huowang’s back.

After peeling off the talisman from the sword hilt, the blade reawakened.

Two identical Zhuge Yuans stared at each other. Then, one of them, now transformed into a sword, spoke to the other: "Yu calamity begins! Dragon vein broken!"

"What?! Is that true?"

Though it sounded like a question, the sword Zhuge Yuan didn’t hesitate. He raised his skeletal arm and slashed through the center of his own flesh, dark red blood flowing slowly from the peach talisman and organs to the tip of the sword.

Zhuge Yuan gripped the sword, stepped lightly on the tiles, and soared into the air. Holding the sword like a brush, he wrote rapidly on the ground.

The blood from the sword, once it touched the earth, seemed to come alive, sinking into the ground.

Though Zhuge Yuan stood upside-down writing countless characters, nothing remained on the ground.

"You hurry! Father is about to collapse!" Li Sui shouted, supporting Li Huowang with his tentacles.

"Brother Li, almost done!" Zhuge Yuan, suspended in midair, thrust the rib sword into the ground. His white robe instantly rose into the sky.

As Zhuge Yuan’s body gradually became transparent, he released the sword. A somersault later, he kicked off the sword hilt with his left foot. The rib sword flew back smoothly through the gap between Li Sui’s tentacles, reinserting itself into Li Huowang’s back.

Using the recoil, Zhuge Yuan dove toward a rooftop to his left. With a sweep of his white sleeve, tiles scattered, revealing the study tools inside.

Zhuge Yuan plucked a brush from the air, took it in hand, and swiftly wrote on the paper flying toward him. First, he drew a circle with a gap, then quickly inscribed words.

At the moment his grip on the brush faded into nothingness, the scroll burst into flames without fire.

As the tiles above settled back into place, Zhuge Yuan vanished entirely.

Watching the papers burn to ash, the ashes swirling in eddies, Zhuge Yuan finally exhaled deeply. "If this helps, let it be so. May the Three Bodies above protect the dragon vein of Great Qi."

Zhuge Yuan passed through the roof tiles above and returned to the rooftop, walking toward Li Huowang.

"Brother Li, thank—" The word never finished. Zhuge Yuan saw that Li Huowang had collapsed in his daughter’s arms, bleeding from seven orifices.