Chapter 977: Clear

Chapter 977: Clarity

After several attempts, Li Huowang turned around, yet that colossal Gate of Yak remained suspended there, unchanged in every way.

Li Huowang did not try again; he finally understood that it was not that he could not enter, but that someone was blocking his path. Something was definitely amiss inside White Jade Capital!

"Who is it? Has a deity of the Blissful Heaven come to ambush me?" Li Huowang immediately discarded this option. If a deity of the Blissful Heaven were truly inside White Jade Capital, the deities within would never have had the leisure to watch him like a spectator.

"Could it be a deity from within White Jade Capital itself? But the question is, who could it be? And what exactly are they trying to achieve?"

After a moment of contemplation, an idea struck him. He looked at the massive jade gate and shouted, "Zhao Shuangdian! Qing Wanglai! Can you hear me? I am speaking to you now!"

"Do not answer me! I do not know what you are saying, but listen: observe each other's actions. See who is acting strangely or behaving abnormally! I must find out who is preventing me from entering White Jade Capital!"

To avoid misunderstanding, Li Huowang quickly added, "Do not get the wrong idea. I am not suspecting you; I am merely using the process of elimination. If you are all fine, then it must be another deity within White Jade Capital stopping me!"

"Help me this once! If you ever want me to help you in the future!"

Having said this, Li Huowang took a deep breath, waited in silence for a few seconds, and kicked off with both feet, charging toward White Jade Capital once more.

Just as he was about to enter, that peculiar sensation of stagnation returned.

Watching himself being repelled again, Li Huowang roared, "Keep your eyes on the others! See who is sabotaging me!"

The moment Li Huowang shouted these words, the stagnation vanished, and he finally surged into White Jade Capital.

In an instant, the space before him erupted into a series of kaleidoscopic, wondrous visions.

Presented before Li Huowang were more than a dozen manifestations of Zuo Qiuyong, each larger than a mountain and deeper than the sea, writhing and wailing as their bodies slowly melted.

Their forms dissolved and reformed repeatedly, enduring excruciating agony.

"Zuo Qiuyong?! I thought he was dead!" But soon, Li Huowang realized what this was: it was Zuo Qiuyong’s Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings!

The rotting remains on the ground were merely a shell; the true Zuo Qiuyong had been dragged into White Jade Capital long ago!

Zuo Qiuyong’s physical form was already immense, let alone eighteen of them intertwined, forming a pulsating, melting planet of flesh before Li Huowang’s eyes.

Listening to Zuo Qiuyong’s wails and watching his suffering melt away, Li Huowang finally understood: this was the torture of Zuo Qiuyong’s soul, meant to amuse Bahui! Only the agony of a deity could make her laugh with such abandon!

As Zuo Qiuyong’s body melted, wisps of white substance were being filtered out, vanishing into the void.

It was something extraordinary, yet as a deity himself, Li Huowang recognized it instantly: it was the Dao of Growth!

Though the surroundings appeared empty, it was clear that something had ambushed Zuo Qiuyong and was attempting to usurp his Dao of Growth!

"No! I must help Zuo Qiuyong!" Without a second thought, Li Huowang charged forward.

As he rushed, he shouted into the void, "Do you not see the enemy? What are you doing? Strike now!"

But just as Li Huowang reached Zuo Qiuyong, he felt something brush against his body in the empty air.

Li Huowang instinctively reached out and grabbed, feeling strands like hair dissolving into his palm.

At that very moment, a dark shadow flashed past, slamming into Li Huowang and hurling him out of White Jade Capital, back into the sea of stars.

Before he could react, the world trembled and shifted rapidly. Moments later, he was back in Yi Donglai’s study, where everyone was staring at him.

Bahui’s shrill laughter continued, but Li Huowang’s gaze was locked firmly onto Qing Wanglai.

Li Huowang raised his right hand, feeling the phantom sensation of what had brushed his palm, and said to Qing Wanglai, "Though you blocked me, I touched you. Three Purities! It was you! It was you all along!"

"Li Huowang, what has happened to you? You cannot fall apart now," Qing Wanglai said, looking at him with concern.

"Stop playing dumb! I saw it with my own eyes! It was you! You killed Zuo Qiuyong! You are stealing his Dao of Growth! I couldn't see you, but I touched you!"

"Qing Wanglai! What are you trying to do? You hold the Dao of Secrets! Why steal Zuo Qiuyong’s Dao?"

"Are you not a clever man? With the Blissful Heaven looming, how dare you engage in infighting now!"

Qing Wanglai adjusted his glasses and looked at Yi Donglai with dissatisfaction. "Dr. Yi, what have you done to him? Do you think we threaten you, so you use your psychological tricks to sow discord between Li Huowang and us?"

"Let me tell you, it won't work. If Li Huowang isn't better today, I am truly sorry," Qing Wanglai said, pulling a pistol from his pocket.

A grim-faced Li Huowang stepped forward, blocking the path between them. "Stop changing the subject! Qing Wanglai, you must give me an explanation!"

Li Huowang had long suspected Qing Wanglai; during their battles with the Blissful Heaven, the man had barely lifted a finger!

Rather than viewing him as a useless ornament, Li Huowang feared the man had secretly defected to the Blissful Heaven long ago!

"Tie him up. Li Huowang has completely lost his mind. Zhao Lei, Sister Chen, give me a hand."

But just as Qing Wanglai and the others stepped forward, Yang Na rushed to the front with a military knife, followed closely by Zhao Shuangdian, who clutched her notebook. "Qingzi, I am also curious about the answer to Li Huowang’s question."

Looking at the woman blocking his way, Qing Wanglai smiled helplessly. "You can't be serious? Zhao Shuangdian, you don't actually believe him, do you?"

Zhao Shuangdian looked at Li Huowang and nodded naturally. "That's right, I do. At the very least, the parameters he provided are mostly correct. You, on the other hand, I have never been able to see through."