Chapter 176
Chapter 176
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 176
>Chapter Title: Gone Mad
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 176: Gone Mad
>>
> “Stop right now! If you go past, you’ll die too!”
>>
>
> Looking at the Bodhisattva drawing ever closer, Danyangzi’s voice carried a rare depth of terror, yet at this moment, Li Huowang seemed utterly unperturbed.
>>
>
> “No worries! For Master to achieve the path to immortality, this disciple’s life means nothing!”
>>
>
> With Li Huowang’s movements, coupled with the pull from the faint breeze, even as Danyangzi struggled desperately, they still inched slowly but steadily toward the open Lü Gate.
>>
>
> As the Bodhisattva’s circular white halo behind her head shone upon the two of them.
>>
>
> The asphalt-tar-coated feathers enveloping Danyangzi began to molt gradually, transforming into the exact same white gauze draping the Bodhisattva’s form.
>>
>
> Whether it was the writhing flesh or the twisting, everted entrails on Danyangzi’s body, any organ wrapped by the white gauze fell into utter, silent death.
>>
>
> As Danyangzi sensed his own body dying bit by bit, a fierce unwillingness surged within him. He hadn’t achieved immortality yet; he didn’t want to die so pathetically.
>>
>
> “Huowang! Why go this far! Your flesh body is still usable! We can just go our separate ways now—you take your path, I cross my bridge! We’ll never cross paths again!”
>>
>
> But before Li Huowang could respond, one of the bandit-like hallucinations piped up immediately.
>>
>
> “Youngster! Don’t believe him! That old bastard never speaks a word of truth! His heart’s pure venom!”
>>
>
> While Danyangzi glared venomously at the hallucination, a layer of ethereal white gauze draped over his head. That head lolled to the side, falling completely still.
>>
>
> Danyangzi’s other, youthful head witnessed this and was utterly terrified. He instantly cast aside all dignity and began pleading desperately with Li Huowang.
>>
>
> “Huowang! You’ve won, okay? You’ve won! If we keep going like this, we’ll both die! And who knows what that thing is! We might end up worse off than dead!”
>>
>
> “I’ll kowtow to you, alright? You’re my master, right? Have mercy and spare me!”
>>
>
> Specks of thin gauze veiled Li Huowang’s eyes, yet he grinned with utter delight.
>>
>
> “No can do, Master. You promised—we’re ascending to immortality together.”
>>
>
> The words had barely left his mouth when they finally passed through that invisible, intangible membrane. They had entered beyond the door.
>>
>
> The instant they crossed, Li Huowang’s and Danyangzi’s bodies suddenly separated.
>>
>
> Gazing at the distant, translucent form of the other, the unfinished words still hung in the air.
>>
>
> Like a bubble popping with a “pop,” Danyangzi’s horrific body disintegrated in an instant.
>>
>
> Danyangzi, who had tormented Li Huowang for so long, vanished like an ant—silently, without a trace.
>>
>
> Immediately after, objects of various colors scattered from within Danyangzi, drifting deeper into the doorway.
>>
>
> The moment Li Huowang laid eyes on those things, he instantly understood what they were, yet he couldn’t express them accurately with normal language.
>>
>
> If he had to put a name to them, they were desire, greed, obsession, hatred, killing intent.
>>
>
> Though Li Huowang hadn’t died like Danyangzi, his own situation was hardly better.
>>
>
> The mountain-like colossal Bodhisattva emerged from the white gauze, extending a rotting skeletal giant claw toward him.
>>
>
> But just as that immense shadow was about to engulf him, an extraordinarily shrill sound, like a suona horn, echoed from an unfathomable distance.
>>
>
> As the sound rang out, everything in Li Huowang’s vision began to distort. In that instant, he simultaneously possessed five entirely different senses of sight.
>>
>
> In one of them, the Formless Bodhisattva before him was a mound piled high from corpses of the dead.
>>
>
> And beneath her shone an umbilical cord.
>>
> Not just her—everything behind the Lü Gate had an umbilical cord tethered below.
>>
>
> It wasn’t just his vision distorting; Li Huowang’s entire being began to warp. Sensations not his own crammed in as well.
>>
>
> Gradually, Li Huowang realized he was starting to move, drifting swiftly toward the depths of the White Jade Capital.
>>
>
> The deeper he drifted, the more disturbances he perceived.
>>
>
> “No…… No no!! No!!”
>>
>
> Li Huowang was beginning to comprehend this world, but these things were nearly bursting him apart.
>>
>
> Amid Li Huowang’s despairing screams, he—who was gradually understanding everything—plummeted ever deeper into the White Jade Capital.
>>
>
> As everything around him rapidly inverted, the final sight that Li Huowang, now fully comprehending it all, beheld was a mass of agony and torment closing in on him. That was Ba Hui!
>>
> ————————————
>>
>
> In the nation of Siqi, on a scenic hillside, a group of people in hemp mourning garb circled a fresh grave, scattering copper coins and burning paper ingots while wailing.
>>
>
> “Senior Brother Li! Waaah～ How could you just die like that? What are we supposed to do without you?”
>>
>
> Gouwa knelt there, howling loudly with bloodshot eyes. Midway through, he abruptly cut off, sneaking a glance at Bai Lingmiao beside him.
>>
>
> Compared to his theatrics, Bai Lingmiao remained eerily calm, shedding not a single tear as she burned sheet after sheet of paper.
>>
>
> Even with no paper left beside her, she continued making the motions.
>>
>
> Seeing this, Gouwa sighed, sniffed, then threw himself before the tombstone once more, wailing loudly again.
>>
>
> “Senior Brother Li, you were fine as could be—how could you just go? Without you backing us, won’t we get bullied to death?”
>>
>
> As he put his all into the mourning cries, he suddenly saw the grave mound twitch.
>>
>
> “Huh?” Thinking his eyes played tricks, Gouwa rubbed them instinctively—only for a hand to burst from the dirt right in his face.
>>
>
> “My god!! He’s risen from the dead!!” Gouwa tumbled backward in fright.
>>
>
> Bai Lingmiao reacted first, collapsing emotionally as she lunged at the grave and clawed at the soil frantically.
>>
>
> The other fellow disciples snapped to soon after, rushing up to help dig.
>>
>
> But before they could unearth it, Li Huowang—clad in his burial shroud—suddenly appeared atop the mound without warning.
>>
>
> His face contorted, clutching his head desperately as his features twitched with muttered ravings, looking utterly terrifying.
>>
>
> “Senior Brother Li!” As tear-streaked Bai Lingmiao rushed toward him, Li Huowang seized her.
>>
>
> Those bloodshot eyes bored into the girl before him. “They’re alive! Everything’s alive! This world—it’s alive!!”
>>
>
> Seeing this, Xiaoman—who’d been ready to draw her sword—breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s fine. Not a corpse rising—just Senior Brother Li for sure.”
>>
>
> Facing such a bizarre Li Huowang, Bai Lingmiao ignored her fear, gazing at him with deep worry. “Senior Brother Li, what’s happened to you?”
>>
>
> “Listen to me! I know what’s wrong now!!” Li Huowang’s hysterical screams drowned out everything around them.
>>
>
> “This world is alive! If it’s alive, then whatever happens to people happens to it too!”
>>
>
> “I’m not mad!! It’s the world that’s gone mad!! It’s gone mad!!”
>>
>
> With that, Li Huowang flung Bai Lingmiao to the ground.
>>
>
> One finger jabbing at the gloomy sky overhead, the other at his own chest, Li Huowang repeated obsessively, over and over.
>>
>
> “It’s gone mad! It’s gone mad! It’s way madder than me!!”
>>
>
> After repeating it over a dozen times, Li Huowang—taut as a drawn bowstring—suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground.
>>
>
> Volume 1 (End)
>>
>
>
> (End of chapter)