Chapter 579: Secret

Chapter 579: Secret

From afar, the military commanders, upon witnessing the presence of the White Lotus Sect in the heart of the battlefield, found themselves believing even more firmly in their emperor's words.

The sound of war drums shifted; the Dragon Scale soldiers coordinated with one another, pressing forward against this group of heretics.

On a distant hillside nearby, archers began to draw taut the strings of their eight-pointed crossbows.

But in the next moment, a sudden fire erupted from the hillside and among the catapults—Aojing Sect had begun its move.

Although Bai Lingmiao’s pressure suddenly lessened, she still felt immense pressure from the layers of soldiers surrounding her. This was not only about herself but also about Li Huo Wang’s survival.

Surrounded by enemies, Bai Lingmiao glanced at Li Huo Wang, who was lost in his own world. Her expression twisted with resolve as she shouted loudly, “Summon the spirit!”

Upon hearing this, everyone around her instantly drew serrated daggers with one hand and struck them hard against their foreheads, crimson blood flowing down with their incantations.

“Invoke the god, let the god take form. Why do we invoke this altar? We wish to call upon our mighty generals. O ye golden light masters, subdue General Wu Chang, display the wheel of words every five steps, Great Bodhisattva Pu’An!”

After reciting the spell, the spirit mediums seemed possessed by deities, showing no fear as they charged toward the tall soldiers before them.

Though these mediums were no match for seasoned warriors in combat, their bodies were riddled with weapons that pierced through them rapidly.

Yet they appeared unaffected, clinging desperately to their attackers with sheer willpower.

Bai Lingmiao pressed her hands into a lotus seal on her forehead, and the lotus there instantly bloomed into a double lotus. "Both fragrant and pale, each scent unique; east and west, petals entwined!"

As Bai Lingmiao finished chanting, her body trembled violently, half angry, half sorrowful, an eerie sight indeed. Her shadow beneath grew enormous.

Despite the strange appearance, the soldiers paid no mind. The ground suddenly burst open, and a warrior brimming with malevolent energy leapt high, brandishing his dragon-horn weapon toward Bai Lingmiao.

Just as he was about to pierce her, her body split apart to either side, dodging the attack.

At this moment, her lower half remained unchanged, yet her upper torso split like a conjoined twin, forming two heads, each wearing a different expression—one compassionate, one cruel.

“Thump thump thump thump~” Four slender hands, adorned with black nails, whipped across Bai Lingmiao’s waist drum like whips.

With the rhythm of the beating drum, a red veil covered both their heads, and beneath it, the two spirits began to sing:

“Horse born with wings soars to heaven, clouds of treasures rise above iron mountain! I laugh, you laugh too, old immortal, you must come!”

In the next instant, matted fur sprouted from Bai Lingmiao’s wrist, while wolf bones protruded from under the red veil, biting into the soldier’s palms from left and right. As both sides pulled simultaneously, the hand holding the weapon was torn apart.

While Bai Lingmiao delayed time with her spirit mediums, Li Huo Wang had already devoured most of Shangguan Yuting’s head. His brow bore a bulging eye, swollen beyond measure, matching the grotesque mass of tentacles covering his body.

His face contorted in horror, as if unable to breathe, yet Li Huo Wang felt this wasn’t enough.

“Not enough! Not nearly enough!”

Li Huo Wang’s mouth stretched wide to his ears, his jaw agape, lunging forward to swallow the entire head into his mouth.

When Shangguan Yuting’s motionless form faded away completely, her eye swollen to maximum size, Li Huo Wang’s scalp stretched almost transparent.

“I...I saw it!!” With a frenzied shout, his skull swelled again halfway, then shrank to the size of a walnut, followed by a loud bang—his head exploded like fireworks.

In that instant, through countless secrets of the Uppermost Inflow Mouth, Li Huo Wang glimpsed what lay hidden beneath this world. Everything once shrouded in mist became crystal clear.

He was the Red Center. When Doumu granted him the identity of Red Center, everything in his past changed.

Past was not merely past. When the Fate Keeper altered someone’s past, they also altered their future!

They clung so tightly to the past because ultimately, they were fighting for their futures! The Celestial Bureau was right—without cause, there is no effect!

These Fates weren’t entirely real. When their traces were completely erased, they vanished.

In the depths of fate, Li Huo Wang caught a glimpse of the secret of how Fates were born and ended. Suddenly, he understood what they truly were.

Once he grasped these secrets, he could feel many celestial beings from beyond the heavens had taken notice of him—but at this moment, he did not care.

What mattered more was that he had found valuable information through the secrets of the Uppermost Inflow Mouth, including something inscribed on Zhuge Yuan’s fan.

Li Huo Wang raised himself to kneel on the ground, lifting his head to gaze at the heavens. “Is this your plan?” At this moment, he saw the stolen divine eye of Doumu.

Within the towering eye that blocked out the sky, he saw his reflection. If he became Doumu’s Heart Puppet, then Doumu would be his future self.

And that was exactly the plan. As long as he walked according to its predetermined path, he could resolve this crisis.

“The dice played with my future self—I’ll avenge myself.” Logically, nothing was wrong.

Just as Li Huo Wang’s eye drew closer, his flesh suddenly tore apart. His scars that hadn’t disappeared cracked open, blossoming like flower petals.

"Pain, excruciating pain."

The intense agony pulled him back, pulling him further from the divine eye in the sky.

Feeling that familiar sensation, Li Huo Wang laughed. “I really am a prize worth taking! Should’ve seen it coming.”

Ba Hui, when Doumu set the trap, Ba Hui was setting one too. More accurately, since he obtained the *Great Thousand Records* from the river bandits, they all wanted to turn me into their Heart Puppet!

Though Li Huo Wang felt as though hours had passed, now, the brain matter, blood, and shattered bones he had splattered mid-air finally touched the ground.

This unexpected scene caused both the spirit mediums and soldiers to pause slightly, halting their actions.

They stared in shock at the figure whose head was gone, yet his mouth continued muttering to itself.

His body seemed to undergo slow torture, skin splitting open repeatedly, revealing writhing black appendages underneath.

Inside Li Huo Wang, Li Sui had already realized something—he knew that without a head, one dies.

"Dad, are you alright? Your head..."

"Shh~!" Bai Lingmiao, now possessing two bodies, rushed over, urgently speaking to the tentacles growing from Li Huo Wang’s wound: “Sui Sui, listen carefully—don’t say anything to your father now!”

Upon hearing this, the face with only a mouth suddenly moved, lunging toward the dice entangled with the Celestial Bureau.

Bai Lingmiao’s fangs bit down hard, following closely behind. The Dragon Scale soldiers tried to block her, but were stopped by Bai Lingmiao and the fearless spirit mediums.

Seeing Li Huo Wang’s current state, the Celestial Bureau and Zhuge Yuan immediately understood something. They said nothing, except for the dice. “Red Center, how did you lose your head?”

Li Huo Wang roared at him in fury. “You, the School of Forgetfulness! Don’t try to fool me again!”

“You really lost your head! Feel it yourself if you don’t believe me!”

———

Next chapter updates at 00:02

(End of Chapter)