Chapter 213
Chapter 213
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 213
>Chapter Title: Black Scabbed Rotten Flesh
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“No!”
Facing Bai Lingmiao’s request, Li Huowang’s answer was resolute.
Seeing the grievance appear on Bai Lingmiao’s face, Li Huowang softened his breathing as he explained,
“There’s no such thing as divine powers at all—only extreme torment. Believe me, compared to enduring that kind of experience, losing one hand is nothing.”
To earn Ba Hui’s gaze, one had to suffer torment of both mind and body.
Li Huowang had already gone through it twice. He knew full well what it took to reach that point.
He didn’t want that sort of despairing ordeal to happen to his companions.
Otherwise, he was genuinely afraid Chun Xiaoman might go insane.
“Oh. I just feel bad for Sister Xiaoman—losing an arm at such a young age.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find a way later. This world is so unreasonable; there has to be some way to reattach her hand.”
Li Huowang wasn’t sure whether he was comforting himself or Bai Lingmiao.
At that point, Li Huowang sniffed hard.
“Do you smell that? There’s a stench.”
“Senior Brother Li, there’s some dead flesh on your body. Of course it stinks if it’s rotting.”
“Rotting? Stinking?”
Hearing this news so suddenly, Li Huowang laughed. It was a genuine laugh.
Rotting had returned. In this world, that bizarre heavenly law was back to normal.
Since rotting had come back, a new idea surfaced in Li Huowang’s mind.
If rotting was back, could the Abbess live again? Li Huowang speculated wildly.
It might be nothing but delusion, but it really could be possible.
In this unreasonable world, nothing that happened would come as a surprise.
At that moment, a powerful impulse welled up in his heart—he wanted to turn around right then and head back to the An Ci Nunnery in Siqi to take another look.
But impulse was just impulse. Li Huowang knew he couldn’t return in his current state, to say nothing of...
He had just killed Peng Longteng. Unless he was looking to die, he probably couldn’t set foot in Hou Shu again for years.
“Did rotting return on its own, or did some existence bring it back?”
Li Huowang’s thoughts began to branch out.
In his mind, he recalled what he had seen at the An Ci Nunnery before—the Black Insect Bodhisattva formed from a dense swarm of green-headed flies.
Zhengde Temple burned incense and bowed to that fleshy Buddha ancestor. Those monks gained powers over flesh by doing that thing with the pile of meat.
Meanwhile, the Fiery Robe Cult sacrificed suffering to Ba Hui in exchange for various transcendent abilities.
So did that mean there was some existence in charge of rotting as well?
Had rotting’s disappearance meant that It had run into trouble? And its reappearance mean that It had returned to Its place?
Li Huowang’s mind raced with these questions.
Now that he thought back carefully, the Abbess’s strange death had been awfully peculiar. A woman as powerful as her had actually died in a pigsty.
“Could those existences be fighting each other? Was the Abbess nothing more than collateral damage?”
Almost on instinct, Li Huowang recalled the things inside White Jade Capital.
Back then, through that hazy Lü Gate, Li Huowang had seen the things inside seemingly devouring something.
“Could it be them?”
As he began recalling what he had seen that day, pain appeared on Li Huowang’s face. His breathing gradually grew rapid.
“Senior Brother Li, what’s wrong?”
Bai Lingmiao sensed something off and hurriedly grabbed Li Huowang’s hand.
Li Huowang struggled to interrupt his own train of thought. His mouth repeated over and over,
“Don’t listen... don’t think... don’t think...”
In order to force himself to stop thinking, Li Huowang quickly looked up at Bai Lingmiao and said,
“The book! Where’s the True Scripture of the Fiery Robes? The one wrapped in wax—hurry and bring it over!”
Bai Lingmiao rummaged around nearby. Soon, the True Scripture of the Fiery Robes wrapped in translucent white wax was placed in front of him.
As Li Huowang recited the incantation from the book, the wax ignited. It gathered into a millipede.
It slowly crawled up onto Li Huowang’s charred body, healing his wounds.
It crawled very slowly. Superficial burns gradually replaced the deep burns. The two kinds of injury blended together, indistinguishable from each other.
A pungent, distinctive odor filled the ox cart.
The pain made Li Huowang breathe a sigh of relief. He needed the pain right now to disrupt his thoughts.
He shouldn’t be thinking about those things now. Those matters were already set in stone, and they had nothing to do with him anyway. Those were things for the big shots to worry about.
What he should be thinking about now was how to struggle on and survive.
Perhaps once he was strong enough, he could worry about those things.
Suddenly, Li Huowang thought of something. He craned his neck toward Bai Lingmiao and asked,
“Where’s the Great Thousand Record? The red bamboo slips.”
The burning millipede vanished along with Li Huowang’s incantation. It suddenly scattered, becoming a puddle.
When she heard Great Thousand Record, hesitation appeared on Bai Lingmiao’s face. But in the end, she turned and climbed down from the cart.
With his keen hearing, Li Huowang vaguely caught voices arguing outside.
Some time later, Bai Lingmiao returned, hugging the red bamboo slips.
Li Huowang tensed his whole body and exerted himself. Amid Bai Lingmiao’s cry of alarm, he flipped over.
“Come, tear off the black scabs on my back. Then paste that thing onto my back.”
Since his skin hadn’t grown back yet, this was the perfect chance to cover the Great Thousand Record over his body.
By the time his skin grew back, the Great Thousand Record would be embedded right inside.
That way, he wouldn’t have to take it out and unfurl it every time he wanted to use it. And it would be even more of a surprise in battle.
Li Huowang had previously wondered why the Fiery Robe Cult’s Hand Three had hung the Great Thousand Record from his chest.
Now he suddenly understood. Everything existed for a reason.
Bai Lingmiao clearly understood why Li Huowang wanted to do this.
“Senior Brother Li, do you really have to do it this way? It’s going to hurt so much. And if you do, no one else will ever be able to use the Great Thousand Record again.”
Li Huowang nodded firmly.
“That’s right. That’s exactly the effect I’m going for.”
This time, it had been Chun Xiaoman who’d lost an arm. Who knew who it would be next time.
The Great Thousand Record was too easy to use. There were definitely people who would imitate it. In that case, he might as well hide the Great Thousand Record permanently under his skin once and for all.
Bai Lingmiao bit her lip and did as instructed. As her extremely pale hand trembled while prying the black scabs off Li Huowang’s back, his agonized screams echoed through the ox cart.
Beneath the black scabs was bloody flesh constantly oozing blood and tissue fluid. The red Great Thousand Record was carefully spread out and laid over it.
Li Huowang flipped back over. Grimacing in pain, he pressed backward hard, forcing the Great Thousand Record into his body.
Now that it was finally over, Li Huowang—utterly spent—could get some proper rest. He slowly closed his eyes.
In his half-awake, half-asleep daze, Li Huowang opened his eyes again and looked toward Bai Lingmiao.
“Did Peng Longteng have anything on him? Did you take it?”
Bai Lingmiao nodded.
“Gouwa said those armor plates could all be sold for money, so they loaded them onto the ox cart. They even brought the giant halberd.”
“He said it’s a divine weapon. Even if they can’t use it, they can melt it down later and reforge it into weapons.”
“Apart from the armor and halberd on Peng Longteng’s body, did you find anything else on her?”
(End of chapter)