Chapter 998: Painting

Chapter 998: The Drawing

The torrential rain continued to pour from the heavens as Li Huowang gripped Yang Na’s hand, staring fixedly at her once-severed finger, now miraculously healed.

This was no mere matter of a finger; if the loss of Yang Na’s finger had been real, then everything else must be real as well!

The realization that those desperate, suffocating visions had solidified into reality sent a profound terror through Li Huowang’s eyes. The Si Ming of Fusheng Heaven had rewritten his past, altered the very fabric of his history! His entire life had been overwritten!

"No, no! It shouldn't be like this! I must kill it! I must rewind to what was before! I must make everything return to how it was!" Bloodied and broken, Li Huowang struggled to his feet, dragging his wounded body toward the ruins of the dilapidated temple.

"Xiao Li! Your injuries are too severe! Lie down! Stop moving!" Yi Donglai, drenched to the bone, blocked his path and shouted in a desperate attempt to dissuade him.

"Get out of my way! You have no idea what I’ve been through!" Li Huowang roared, veins bulging on his forehead, as he reached out to shove him aside.

But Yi Donglai was faster; he lunged forward, pushing Li Huowang back into the arms of Yang Na. "No! I do know!"

Perhaps it was the rain, but Yi Donglai’s eyes were bloodshot. "I was your attending physician! I know everything you’ve experienced! Including exactly what you are thinking right now! I understand it all!"

"Don't forget, I am a doctor! I know far more than you realize! Stay put! Leave this to me!"

With that, Yi Donglai turned and faced the ruins through the downpour. He bent down, picked up a shard of roof tile, and without waiting for Li Huowang to react, stepped into the wreckage.

The collapsed temple was a chaotic mess of broken bricks, shattered tiles, and splintered wood, a treacherous path for anyone.

Yet Yi Donglai ignored the danger, clawing through the debris, shoving aside the rubble to reveal the uneven blue bricks beneath, clearing a wide space.

His arms were slashed by the jagged shards, but he felt nothing. He raised the tile fragment and began to carve forcefully into the pitted stone floor.

As the edge of the tile scraped against the stone with a piercing screech, lines began to intersect, and shapes emerged from the chaos.

Supported by Yang Na, the battered Li Huowang approached. Just then, a bolt of lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the world as if it were day.

In that fleeting, silver-white radiance, Li Huowang finally saw what Yi Donglai was drawing: a crude, humanoid figure. Yet, specific, unmistakable features revealed exactly who it was.

It was a gaunt woman, her left side covered in tattoos. Seeing the forked tongue and the lip piercing, Li Huowang knew:

It was the projection of Ba Hui, Ba Nanxu.

But this Ba Nanxu looked grotesque. Whether due to Yi Donglai’s lack of artistic skill or something else, her body was unnaturally elongated, twisted in a way that defied humanity.

The Ba Nanxu he had drawn seemed to be crawling out of some blurred, distorted void, her mouth agape like a serpent’s, as if attempting to swallow the surrounding rubble.

And this was only the beginning. As Yi Donglai continued to carve, the other Si Mings who had followed Zhao Shuangdian were drawn onto the ground in equally bizarre fashion.

Though the sketches were rough, a few strokes rendered them hauntingly vivid.

"What are you doing?" Li Huowang shouted over the roar of the rain.

Yi Donglai’s hand never stopped. He drew with a frantic intensity, answering, "They couldn't get through before because they couldn't find the way! They need a medium! Don't you understand, Li Huowang? Qing Wanglai was right! They are projections! And if they are projections, they need a canvas!"

A flicker of hesitation crossed Yi Donglai’s eyes, but when he caught sight of his own youthful reflection in a puddle, the last of his doubt vanished. He gripped the tile shard tighter.

"It’s fine! We won't lose! I finally understand everything! I am a projection of the Great Nuo! That is correct! But there is one difference: it is insane, and I am not!"

Yi Donglai’s new understanding did not shock Li Huowang as much as the next figure he drew: a bloated youth, his body appearing as if stuffed with something bulging beneath the skin.

The rest was strange, but the smile on the face was so familiar that Li Huowang recognized him instantly: the projection of the Three Purities, Qing Wanglai!

The Three Purities had not left; he had been hiding in the vicinity all along!

Seeing that loathsome face, a fire ignited in Li Huowang’s chest. Every despicable, shameless act the man had committed flashed through his mind.

Without hesitation, Li Huowang grabbed a brick fragment and smashed it against the head of the graffiti-Qing Wanglai. Stone struck stone with a sharp, ringing crack.

Now standing close to the drawing, Li Huowang noticed something wrong. This figure was too close to Zhao Shuangdian—so close that their bodies partially overlapped.

"What is he trying to do? What does he want? At a time like this! How dare he!"

A cold sweat broke out over Li Huowang. He pushed Yang Na aside, leaped high into the air, and dove headlong into the drawing.

With a dull thud, he felt himself submerged in a frigid liquid. He was inside!

Before he could even register his surroundings, he opened his mouth to scream: "Zhao Shuangdian! Watch out! Qing Wanglai is stealing your Heavenly Dao!"

As the icy fluid poured into his mouth and he felt his internal organs begin to stir, he realized what he was immersed in: the same dim, iridescent blackness as before!

Only a Da Qi assimilated by the past would be filled with such liquid. He had arrived in Fusheng Heaven.

A chill ran down his spine, for this revealed a terrifying reality.

For some reason, Fusheng Heaven was now incredibly close to the White Jade Capital—as close as the Qing Wanglai and Zhao Shuangdian in the drawing.