Chapter 953: True

Chapter 953: Truth

"Miaomiao!" As Li Huowang gazed at the Bai Lingmiao held in the creature's grip, a lump of cotton seemed to lodge in his throat, rendering him utterly speechless.

Yet, Zuo Qiuyong’s movements did not cease; bloated, fleshy orbs sprouted from within Bai Lingmiao’s body.

With a sickening "pop," the orbs detonated, and Bai Lingmiao’s body, along with the bone spikes piercing her, was instantly shredded into a gruesome mosaic of gore.

Whether by design or chance, the head of Bai Lingmiao, still impaled by a jagged spike, tumbled through the air and landed directly before Li Huowang.

"Miaomiao!!"

As Li Huowang let out a cry of pure despair, Zuo Qiuyong erupted into thunderous laughter.

"Hahahaha! Savor this agony, for it is merely the beginning! In Daliang, you hold many dear, do you not? They shall all perish."

Zuo Qiuyong turned, stooping to snatch the Fox-Faced Xinpan, which had appeared from nowhere, into his palm.

As the eyelids of the Fox-Faced Xinpan fluttered, a rift leading from Daqi to Daliang manifested before Zuo Qiuyong.

Yet, compared to Zuo Qiuyong’s colossal frame, the aperture appeared insignificantly small.

This, however, posed no obstacle to him; he merely required a stable gateway.

Zuo Qiuyong thrust his massive fingers into the rift and tore it wide with a violent heave, mirroring the jagged fissure recently sealed by Chandu.

Li Huowang stood frozen, staring blankly at the severed head of Bai Lingmiao.

Xuanpin stood beside him, making no move to stop Zuo Qiuyong, for he understood that he alone could never hope to halt this Incarnation of Flesh.

As he pondered their next move, he heard Li Huowang whisper, "Xuanpin, Xuanpin!"

Turning, he found that the man who had been consumed by grief only moments ago now possessed eyes devoid of sorrow, burning instead with an unnatural, chilling calm.

"Miaomiao never followed us to Daqi; that Miaomiao was merely a fabrication of my own cultivation!" As the word "false" left Li Huowang’s lips, the head before him vanished, as if it had never existed at all.

"I merely employed the deceptions of the Sit-and-Forget Path to buy us a moment of time!" Li Huowang fixed his gaze upon Zuo Qiuyong’s retreating back.

"Is a moment of time enough?" Xuanpin countered. "Can this brief respite truly allow us to defeat an Incarnation of Flesh?"

Li Huowang offered no reply, for he had none. He had exhausted every technique at his disposal, even the Cangqiang Ascent, yet he could not so much as stir his foe.

"I never imagined that Zuo Qiuyong would use these passing years not only to unite the Chen Kingdom but to seize control of the Heavenly Dao through his own flesh," Xuanpin remarked with a heavy sigh.

"You are of the Ministry of Heaven! You are the Ministry of Heaven of Daliang! If Zuo Qiuyong reaches Daliang, the realm is doomed. Think of something! Use the final, hidden trump cards of the Ministry!"

Xuanpin shook his head. "The Ministry’s method for dealing with Incarnations was to use the Dragon Veins to prop up the heavens, barring them from descending."

"But Zuo Qiuyong is an Incarnation of Flesh; he is already here, beneath the sky. The Ministry’s methods are useless against him."

A crushing sense of helplessness descended upon him. Li Huowang felt a burning, bitter resentment; he refused to stand idly by and wait for death. He had not lost yet!

"Jizai! Jizai!!" Li Huowang screamed at his own shadow, grasping for any possibility, yet his future self remained silent—if, indeed, he possessed a future at all.

Neither Doumu nor Bahui would offer aid, and his future self, Jizai, was no different.

"No! I haven't lost! I haven't lost!" Li Huowang jerked his head up, glaring at the towering figure.

His skull began to swell uncontrollably; this was the first time since achieving the Six Wheels that he had been pushed to such a breaking point.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, staring with unblinking intensity. Suddenly, with a violent surge of his will, a massive, gaping hole erupted in the chest and head of the mountain-sized Zuo Qiuyong.

Yet, to this mortal wound, Zuo Qiuyong merely laughed, as if it were nothing more than a tickle upon his back.

"Vanish!" With a roar of fury from Li Huowang, his own head burst asunder, and the distant body of Zuo Qiuyong vanished instantly from the spot.

But as flesh and bone rippled and reformed, Zuo Qiuyong grew back into existence.

Flesh might be erased by Li Huowang’s cultivation, but the Heavenly Dao could not. As the Incarnation who governed the Dao of Growth, as long as that Dao remained under his command, he would always be able to regrow.

Li Huowang stumbled and fell. Watching Zuo Qiuyong, who had already crossed the threshold with the better part of his body, he felt total despair. He had unleashed everything, yet he could not inflict the slightest harm.

"Perhaps... perhaps if I reach the Seventh Wheel! If I can only reach the Seventh Wheel, I can surely defeat him!" Li Huowang shouted in defiance.

He looked up at the contemplative Xuanpin. "I recall that you are also a Heart-Element, are you not?"

"The Black Tai Sui excels at absorption. Li Sui has consumed my flesh for so many years—you must be a Heart-Element now, surely?!"

Xuanpin froze, stunned by the suggestion.

After a moment of thought, he nodded slowly. "Then take it back. Let it be a return of bone to the father and flesh to the mother."

A head from the tower of the "Unspeakable" army was raised; tentacles burrowed into the gore, trembling as they channeled divine light and primordial Qi into Li Huowang’s body.

Watching the back of Zuo Qiuyong as he crossed into Daliang, Li Huowang clung to his final hope, crossing his legs to begin his cultivation.

This was his only chance. If he failed to grasp it, the illusion of Bai Lingmiao’s death would become an immutable reality.

Time lost all meaning. When Li Huowang finally surged to his feet, he realized he had not broken through to the Seventh Wheel.

Zuo Qiuyong was gone; he had reached Daliang. Li Huowang dared not even imagine what horrors were unfolding there.

"Why not! Why is it still not enough! Why, even with all this power, can I not protect those I hold dear!!"

As Li Huowang let out a desperate, broken roar, his mind began to fracture. The world around him shifted uncontrollably, scenes and faces flickering like dying embers.

The figure of Zhuge Yuan appeared for a fleeting second. "Brother Li, remember: you do not cultivate the Seventh Wheel. You cultivate the Truth!"

The words detonated within Li Huowang’s mind. He suddenly understood why he could not reach the Seventh Wheel—because he had always defined himself by the Six, and such a self could never achieve the perfection of the Seventh!

"I do not cultivate the Six Wheels. I am already at the Seventh."

As Li Huowang uttered these words with absolute conviction in his heart, images of a forgotten past began to shimmer and fade before his eyes.