Chapter 585: Ji Zai

Chapter 585: The Seasonal Calamity

Inside the pavilion, the Emperor of Great Li listened as the Astronomical Officer recounted his tale. “No matter how hard I and the Grand Master calculate, we cannot determine whether that die is alive or dead.”

Gao Zhijian began walking slowly along the long corridor, rain dripping from its eaves, accompanied by the Astronomical Officer. “Let me see once more what truly happened back then.”

The officer nodded, extending his bony, withered finger from within his shadow, pulling something forth, and flung it skyward with force.

As a black mass enveloped everything, the heavens and earth shifted in an instant. Both Gao Zhijian and the Astronomical Officer were suddenly transported back to the fierce battlefield of that moment.

There stood his senior brother Li, positioned at the heart of a blood-soaked field, facing the die that controlled the dragon vein.

Though only a mouth remained on Li’s face, he still stood there—alive, unshaken.

For some reason, Gao Zhijian felt as though, if Li had a face now, it would be serene, indifferent to all turmoil.

Li scratched his head mid-air, then moved closer toward the dragon vein.

The die seemed to flee, yet no matter how fast it flew, it drew ever nearer to Li.

If it soared swiftly, so did Li walk swiftly; if it slowed, so did Li slow down.

It was as though Li wasn’t walking step by step, but advancing at a pace proportional to the distance between them.

Eventually, Li reached the tail of the dragon vein. He stretched out both hands, gripping the golden chains coiled around it, and began climbing upward, one link at a time.

He climbed slowly, so slowly that even a sixty-year-old man would have been more agile. Yet despite this, the die thrashed violently, unable to dislodge him.

Throughout history, emperors had tried to reach into Li Huowang’s body with their dragon claws—but their bodies gradually stiffened, like stone.

“This is impossible! Absolutely impossible! I am the dragon vein! Wherever I am, that is the truth! You can't contain me!” the die cried out, filled with bitter defiance.

During this time, the die had indeed attacked Li Huowang, but he could not move at all. The entire dragon vein grew rigid, unable even to twist.

“Didn’t they say the dragon vein, the fortune of Great Li, is unaffected by other powers?” Gao Zhijian asked.

But the Astronomical Officer could not answer.

Soon, Li Huowang reached the top of the dragon vein. After glancing left and right, he reached out and grabbed the head of Gao Zhijian.

Then, like a master of decapitation, he spun Gao Zhijian’s head off. Yet the head did not die—it even deceived them.

Li Huowang acted as though he hadn’t heard, reaching into the head and pulling something out.

“Is it here? Can you pull it closer?” Gao Zhijian suddenly said.

At his thought, the distant Li Huowang instantly appeared before them.

Yet what troubled Gao Zhijian was that although Li had seemingly taken something out, his hands held nothing—just an empty gesture.

Then the Astronomical Officer spoke, “Perhaps there was something there, but it was extraordinary. With my current cultivation, I cannot manifest it.”

Gao Zhijian pondered for a moment, then asked again, each word carefully enunciated: “Have you truly rechecked—does my head now contain nothing else?”

“Your Majesty, rest assured. I swear upon my own head that your skull contains no die now.”

“Moreover, to prevent such a thing from happening again, the Grand Master, Zheng Boqiao, and I have placed seals upon your robes. This will never happen again.”

Hearing this, Gao Zhijian’s face showed no joy. He continued watching the Li Senior Brother before him.

Li Huowang’s actions resumed. He took what he had pulled from inside and looked up at the sun, smiling happily.

At that moment, the entire dragon vein seemed to lose its spine, collapsing limply from the sky to the ground.

“Brother Li! Is Great Qi saved?” Zhuge Yuan asked beside him.

Li Huowang turned to him and replied calmly, “Great Qi is saved.”

Hearing this, Zhuge Yuan’s face relaxed, and he vanished completely from sight.

At that moment, Bai Lingmiao, the Astronomical Officer, the Grand Master, and others from the military sect surrounded Li Huowang.

Whether their intent was to protect the dragon vein or the figure standing upon it was obvious.

“Senior Brother Li, are you alright?” Bai Lingmiao, who bore two upper halves, anxiously examined him.

“I’m fine. I’m better now. My illness has truly been cured. Don’t worry,” Li Huowang said without a head, with a calm tone.

In the next moment, something resembling radiant light emerged from within his body.

These lights floated from his form, rising into the sky and vanishing instantly.

“What were those things? What came out of Senior Brother Li?”

“They must be the work of Doumu. I was right—the man was indeed targeted by her.”

“Since the die betrayed Yin-Yang Doumu, I had hoped to use her hatred for the die to let them fight first. But Doumu herself didn’t appear. It was the die that acted.”

“Who is she?” Gao Zhijian pressed.

“She is a rather special Star Master. She taught me my illusionary arts. In this world, there are only a few dragon veins sustaining the heavens, and ordinary Star Masters are forbidden from descending. But she is different.”

“Although she granted me the power of illusion, she paid little attention to me—or anyone else.”

“Even two hundred years ago, when Great Li was crumbling, I offered everything to seek her aid, yet she never glanced at me.”

Gao Zhijian felt dizzy. The words were clouded and confusing, and they contradicted what he had heard from the dragon vein itself. “Didn’t you say there are no Star Masters?”

“If they teach Your Majesty, then listen. If they say there are none, then there are none.”

Hearing this, Gao Zhijian stopped pressing further. “Senior Brother Li, things should be better now. Let’s go directly to him and ask him ourselves. What he says with his own mouth should be clear.”

The Astronomical Officer did not object, following Gao Zhijian toward Li Huowang’s dwelling.

Li Huowang’s residence was not far—so that Gao Zhijian might visit anytime.

Soon, they saw Bai Lingmiao returning with a food box.

When Bai Lingmiao saw the Astronomical Officer beside Gao Zhijian, her eyes widened in shock, her white lashes trembling slightly. “What’s going on?! Why another one!”

“What? Another one? One more?” Gao Zhijian asked nervously.

“I already had one Astronomical Officer inside when I brought him soup!”

Hearing this shocking news, the Astronomical Officer acted quickly, raising three fingers in a gesture, his body leaving a blur as he rushed toward the heavily guarded door.

Before he reached it, he heard voices from within—there was someone in there.

As he pushed open the door, he saw Li Huowang sitting on the bed, his lotus-shaped head turned toward him. No one else was in the room.

“Who were you talking to just now?”

Li Huowang frowned, thinking hard for a while, then answered, “The Seasonal Calamity.”

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