Chapter 580: Siming

Chapter 580: The Keeper of Life

“You’ve really lost your head, huh? Don’t believe it? Feel for yourself!”

Li Huowang paid no mind to the dice’s temptation. He raised his face toward the heavens and shouted wildly: “You think I’ll become your heart puppet? Not a chance!! Since I am the fragrant steamed bun, why should I seek you out? I can find anyone else!”

“I, Li Huowang!” Li Huowang pointed at the sky with a firm hand and roared with unwavering determination: “I am destined to become a Keeper of Life! The future Li Huowang is also destined to come here to help me!!”

Upon speaking these words, Li Huowang felt his innate vital energy rapidly drain away. At this moment, he was cultivating within himself a future version of himself as a Keeper of Life.

Since Doumu was already below to provide a safety net, if he was going to gamble everything, why not go all in?

The dice looked utterly stunned—completely unable to fathom what Li Huowang was about to do.

“Huh?! Hongzhong, what nonsense are you spouting? Are you out of your mind?!”

Li Huowang sensed that the memories of Hongzhong were rapidly eroding his own recollections. Doumu did not intend to sit idly by.

But immediately after, wounds he had suffered before began to spread across his entire body, splitting open one by one. The intense pain forcibly dragged him back to reality.

This dual split between spirit and flesh left Li Huowang nearly at death's door.

Yet precisely because of this torment, his belief deepened. His method worked; otherwise, why would they be so determined to stop him?

To cultivate a future self as a Keeper of Life seemed like an impossible dream—but Li Huowang believed. He believed wholeheartedly.

Li Huowang smiled, a radiant smile full of joy.

Time passed indeterminately. When Li Huowang came to again, he found himself in a vast white void.

Just as he was puzzled, the Astronomer Minister approached and helped him up.

“Li Huowang, are you truly set on this path? Though you have already touched upon the karma of a Keeper of Life, it doesn’t mean you must become bound by its fate.”

Li Huowang ignored whether the Astronomer Minister was real or not and cut straight to the point: “Do I have a choice? If I don’t take this road, am I supposed to become a puppet of Doumu or Ba Hui?”

“Will the future me be powerful? Which Keeper of Life will I command?”

“The confusion itself,” replied the Astronomer Minister.

“Oh? So, I can use the same trick as Doumu—exploiting confusion?” Li Huowang perked up instantly.

“Yes, but the stronger you become, the deeper your confusion grows. It’s a mutual relationship.”

Then he said solemnly once more: “Let me confirm something with you—do you truly wish to walk this path?”

“All things you once cherished may turn into illusions. And all that you once deemed illusory will become real.”

“Heh, sounds like I already know the difference clearly now,” Li Huowang mocked himself.

Hearing this, the Astronomer Minister nodded slightly. From beneath his red robe, he withdrew his hand and took off the red robe, revealing a white one underneath.

That white robe wasn’t anything else—it was Yi Donglai’s white lab coat.

“Li Huowang? Li Huowang?” Yi Donglai held the pen in his hand and snapped his fingers in front of the boy.

The environment shifted instantly. The Yi Donglai before him transformed into the Astronomer Minister in red Daoist robes, and the battlefield filled with the scent of blood returned.

But after just one second, the tall Astronomer Minister reverted to Yi Donglai, and the smell of blood changed to the antiseptic scent of a hospital.

“Li Huowang, haven’t you forgotten what you still need to do?”

Yi Donglai’s words brought Li Huowang back to his senses. He saw a spiral slide inside the ward, long enough to reach almost the ceiling.

Li Huowang pulled back the blanket and slowly approached the spiral slide under Yi Donglai’s watchful gaze.

In the next moment, the spiral slide instantly transformed into Gao Zhijian’s dragon vein. Just as he prepared to fly away, it turned into a slide again.

Li Huowang scratched his scalp, dragging his frail body up the slide.

His weakness made even such a simple task extremely difficult. He often slipped and slid back down.

Outside the ward, Sun Xiaoqin watched this scene and couldn’t help but rush in to assist, but her husband tightly held her back.

“Doctor Yi is hypnotizing our son! Don’t barge in and mess things up! Listen to the doctor!”

Hearing this, Li Huowang glanced at them. His mother had become a military strategist, while his father had become Bai Lingmiao, who blocked the military strategy.

When Li Huowang finally reached the top of the slide, looking around and seeing nothing, he raised his head and saw a round fluorescent light hanging upside-down from the ceiling.

Crouching on the slide, Li Huowang reached out and unscrewed the light fixture.

“This is impossible! Absolutely impossible! I’m the dragon vein! Wherever I am, that’s where truth lies! You can’t control me!” Gao Zhijian’s voice rang out with strong resentment.

“Real? Illusion?” A trace of confusion flickered in Li Huowang’s eyes—he began to lose clarity.

The light cover unscrewed, and from within, Li Huowang pulled out an eighteen-sided die.

He placed the cover back on, stared at the die in his hand, and a faint smile gradually formed on his face.

From the other side of the slide, Yi Donglai descended and joined Li Huowang. He reached out and snatched the eighteen-sided die from Li Huowang’s hands, placing it in his white coat pocket.

“Come, let’s go downstairs.”

Yi Donglai supported Li Huowang as they descended the steps, leading him to the bedside of the ward. “How does this treatment feel?”

Li Huowang turned his head and saw Gao Zhijian, who had been rubbing his head and looking puzzled, standing up again, shaking his head in bewilderment. “I can’t say for sure, but at least it seems the trouble has been resolved.”

“Brother Li, has Great Qi been saved?” Zhuge Yuan, whose body was gradually fading, asked loudly.

“My illness should be cured.”

Hearing this, Zhuge Yuan showed a look of relief and vanished completely from Li Huowang’s sight.

“And how do you feel now?” Yi Donglai continued.

“I feel... something seems to be overlapping on both sides,” Li Huowang said, looking at his emaciated hands with confusion.

“Hmm, this is normal. It means my method is working. Remember to take your medicine regularly. It will heal faster when combined with treatment.”

Suddenly, the ward door burst open, and a group of doctors rushed in, pointing and whispering in amazement at Li Huowang.

Sun Xiaoqin pushed past them, tears of joy streaming down as she threw herself onto Li Huowang.

“Son, you’re cured! Oh, Heaven! Your illness is finally gone!”

(Volume Three Complete)

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Next chapter updates at 00:01

(End of Chapter)