Chapter 734: Soul

Chapter 734: Soul and Spirit

Staring at his own arm, which had effortlessly passed through the dry corpse of a lama, Li Huowang instantly understood something. As he raised his head, his entire body plummeted downward, crashing directly onto the ceiling below.

After steadying himself, Li Huowang looked up toward the mummified lamas above him, as well as the figure of himself surrounded by them. Clearly, this was not a place for mere flesh and blood to venture.

He could still hear the chanting of the lamas, but it seemed to be muffled behind a veil of mist, hazy and indistinct.

This sensation was quite extraordinary—walking felt as if he were weightless, as though his body had no substance at all. “Is this what they call soul projection? If so, does this world truly possess souls and spirits? Then why are there no ghosts?”

Recalling what the lamas had said earlier, Li Huowang did not hesitate. He clenched his fist and walked toward the door.

Once he emerged from the upside-down Zhongyin Temple, everything outside had changed completely—as if he had entered an endless desert with nothing in sight.

Having already learned from Yang Xiaohai that such a thing might happen, Li Huowang was not surprised. After pondering for a few breaths, he followed Yang Xiaohai’s instructions and headed toward where the red zhu (red center) would be found.

Only three hours remained; he must find the Red ZHU of the Seat Forgetful Sect quickly. If he couldn’t find it here, he’d have to circle around the center of Zhongyin Miao.

Li Huowang wandered through this desolate realm, his eyes constantly scanning the surroundings.

“Yang Xiaohai once said that the strange sea of Yu’er God now contained not even a single drop. What does that mean? Has Death’s Mandate successfully blocked Yu’er God’s invasion?”

Yu’er God likely didn’t control Death’s Mandate. The shift of heavenly authority should bring about natural disasters instead.

Perhaps this was a good thing—for them. Anything that could hinder Yu’er God was welcome.

Yet what puzzled Li Huowang was that, despite having traveled for some time, he hadn’t found even a trace of the soul fragments or the countless dead spirits that Yang Xiaohai claimed were everywhere.

No souls, no monstrous ghost officers, no bottomless pits—everything Yang Xiaohai had described was gone. Except for Li Huowang himself, nothing else remained.

Just as he began to wonder whether he had taken a wrong turn, he suddenly sensed something emerging from the black mist in the distance.

“That’s...” Li Huowang leaned forward, staring intently at the vague silhouette forming within the fog.

But as the shape grew larger, nearly surpassing his field of vision, he immediately realized what it was! It was the Great Black Sky! It was Death’s Mandate! Don’t look!

Li Huowang immediately lowered his head, fixing his gaze on the uneven ground, and shuffled sideways.

In the next moment, a low, terrifying growl pierced through the air, causing Li Huowang’s body to freeze like struck by lightning. His feet lacked even the strength to lift.

All he could do now was close his eyes, cover his ears, and curl into the smallest possible ball. “Don’t see me… don’t see me!”

Another low growl rang out, and the overwhelming pressure made Li Huowang feel as though he were teetering on the edge of death.

At that moment, it felt as though a mountain had crushed down upon his head.

After an unknown length of time, that sensation faded. Li Huowang gasped for breath and crawled to his feet. Looking down, he saw that his body had melted like wax, half of it dissolved.

And this was only a passing encounter—without even touching him.

“So this is the Great Black Sky? This is Kui Lei?” Li Huowang murmured to himself, gazing into the distant black mist.

Compared to Ba Hui, who governed suffering, or Dou Mu, who embodied truth and falsehood, Kui Lei, who ruled over death, evoked an entirely different feeling—one as if facing the eternal silence of death itself.

Now he finally understood why the place had seemed so empty before. Compared to doubting whether the dice had lied to him earlier, Li Huowang now worried more about whether his memory of Red ZHU was still alive.

Just that moment—repeated several times—would have overwhelmed even him, protected by the mummified lamas. How much more so for the Red ZHU of the Seat Forgetful Sect?

“Could it really be that I’ve been reincarnated? Does this world even allow reincarnation?” Li Huowang began to fear the worst.

But just as he thought that, Li Huowang suddenly raised his head. He noticed something darting into the black mist from the southeast corner of the ceiling.

“Wait!” With a sudden burst of speed, Li Huowang leaped toward the ceiling.

When his feet touched the uneven surface, he immediately stretched out his arms and chased after the movement.

In this desolate land of death, the thing he had just seen was the first moving entity he'd encountered. He had to catch it and question it thoroughly.

Li Huowang ran as fast as he could. Soon, he glimpsed the back of the figure—a child’s silhouette, white as snow, glowing faintly.

“Wait! Don’t run!” But hearing his voice, the figure sped up even more.

Following its footsteps, Li Huowang’s surroundings gradually shifted. Massive pillars rose from the earth, towering high and wide, splitting heaven and earth in two. The child vanished behind one of those pillars.

Just as Li Huowang sighed in frustration, a mocking voice came from above him. “Why are you chasing him?”

Li Huowang looked up and saw a version of himself hanging upside down from the ceiling.

It was the Red ZHU of the Seat Forgetful Sect. Li Huowang recognized him instantly—the face he wore was impossible on his own person.

“Great! You’re still alive!” Li Huowang exclaimed in relief, marveling at his luck. He had found him so quickly.

“What? Do you want me to die? That makes sense, since for you now, I’m merely a memory created by Dou Mu. Haha, I wish I could die too.” The upside-down Li Huowang wiped his face, and his features instantly transformed into a red zhu mahjong tile.

“Let me guess—after all this hardship and long journey to Fengdu to find me, you must have run into trouble, right?”

“What kind of trouble could be so severe that the mighty Li Huowang would seek help from a false memory?”

“You know, I’m just a memory, after all,” the blood-flesh Red ZHU said, jumping down and laughing heartily.

"Do you understand what this means? It means that whatever I do will reset in an hour, and then I’ll start all over again—repeat, repeat, repeat! Do you understand how that feels? Do you?!"

With a scream, the blood-mass Red ZHU began to crumble, eventually dissolving into a pool of writhing blood.

(End of Chapter)