Chapter 292
Chapter 292
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 292
>Chapter Title: The Source of the Auditory Hallucinations
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Chapter 292: The Source of the Auditory Hallucinations
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> In the dim farmhouse courtyard, Li Huowang trembled as he clutched the blade tip protruding from his chest, staring in shock at the double-pupiled Li Huowang who looked exactly like him.
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> “You and I……” Li Huowang staggered backward, his face pale from blood loss.
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> The sudden turn of events scrambled his mind—one moment it was the red middle in the other’s words, the next it was his own impending death.
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> Just as Li Huowang was about to hit the ground, the other fellow disciples rushed to his side and frantically supported him.
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> Long black fingernails trembled as they reached toward the blade tip in Li Huowang’s chest, but before they could touch it, they snapped back and heavily struck that pale drum surface.
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> “Thump thump thump! Ox-Face and Horse-Face hold the locks. Black and White Impermanence hold the sails! Thump thump thump!! Dragging the naughty child to the underworld, life and death a hair’s breadth apart. No need to say it, the naughty child has reached Ghost Gate Pass! Thump thump thump! Today we invite no one else, the helper soldiers summon the Sorrowful King to the hall!”
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> As the Moving Troops Incantation rang out, the bright red veil atop the head writhed suddenly, and chilling winds swirled around, as if something were about to take form.
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> Bai Lingmiao wanted to save Li Huowang, but the double-pupiled Li Huowang wasn’t about to just stand by. With a flick of his hand, three mahjong tiles shot toward Li Huowang in an umbrella shape.
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> “Clang clang clang!” The tiles struck the stone slabs with a crisp ring. Gao Zhijian’s massive body, clad in heavy armor, blocked the dying Li Huowang. His honest eyes now stared firmly at the enemy before him.
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> “Huh? Red Middle boss, where’d you scam these guys from? So loyal, but heh~”
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> The double-pupiled one lightly snapped his fingers, and all the clay statues on the surrounding rooftops stood up with a clatter. “But they’re not as good as mine. Why don’t you step down and let me be Red Middle instead?”
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> No sooner had the words left his mouth than the clay statues leaped down, smashing toward them like raindrops.
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> So these things had been listening to him all along—good guys, bad guys, all him. The so-called trouble in Ganyuan Village was nothing but a trap set by Sit-Forget Dao from the start.
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> “Jingle jingle jingle!!” Piercing bell tolls rang out nonstop. As Chun Xiaoman’s body rapidly grew taller, dozens of Wandering Lords pounced forward.
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> “Rawr!” Gao Zhijian swung the spiked club looted from the bandit lair with all his might, a stifled murderous aura leaking from his body.
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> Though they tried their hardest to hold the line, the sheer number of clay figures overwhelmed them. They fought while retreating, their situation growing increasingly dire.
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> The drumbeats of the Moving Troops Incantation quickened, sweat or tears soaking most of the two red veils.
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> Yet seeing the two blades in Li Huowang’s chest slowly pulled out, his wounds gradually closing, Bai Lingmiao clung to that sliver of hope.
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> “It’s okay! Senior Brother Li can still be saved! He won’t die!”
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> Gradually, with the immortals’ help, the two blades piercing Li Huowang’s chest were finally and steadily extracted. The wounds were barely sealed.
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> “Ding ding ding~!” As the blood-soaked knives clattered to the ground, Bai Lingmiao suddenly saw someone standing abruptly before her.
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> It was Senior Brother Li with double pupils—the Sit-Forget Dao who could change appearances, just as Senior Brother Li had described!
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> Gazing at the Great God and Second God veiled in red before him, he curled his lips into a cruel smirk. “Heh~ heh~ Got some skills, huh? Fixed him up?”
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> “Schwick schwick.” Three razor-sharp daggers plunged straight into Li Huowang’s mangled chest.
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> Hearing the devastated sobbing from beneath the red veil, the double-pupiled Li Huowang threw his head back in manic laughter. He doubled over, clutching one eye with one hand and his belly with the other, convulsing with mirth.
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> Li Huowang, who had passed out from pain, was jolted awake again. He took a deep breath and regained control of his rapidly cooling body.
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> “Fire water. Mouth.” The hallucinated voice returned amid the bells and drums, drowning out all surrounding sounds.
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> “Shut up! Shut up!! Be quiet!!” Li Huowang roared with his last strength, and surprisingly, the voices actually stopped.
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> With the hallucinations gone, Sit-Forget Dao’s voice reached Li Huowang’s ears once more. “Red Middle boss~ heh heh heh~~”
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> With the voice came Sit-Forget Dao’s face right up to Li Huowang’s, face-to-face. Li Huowang stared at him like staring into a mirror.
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> The drums pounded again as Great God and Second God charged, only to be smashed away by a whistling mud wall from behind.
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> “Come on, come on, Red Middle boss, don’t lie on the ground. It’s so dirty down there.”
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> Sit-Forget Dao gripped the dagger hilts in Li Huowang’s chest and pried upward with force, hoisting him up bodily.
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> Looking at the gasping Li Huowang, a hint of emotion flickered in Sit-Forget Dao’s eyes. “Tsk tsk tsk, had enough fun? Red Middle boss, how about…I help you change back?”
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> Li Huowang stared at the face inches away but couldn’t hear a word, for the hallucinated voices had returned to his ears.
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> “What are you…where exactly did you come from?” Li Huowang asked the voice sluggishly.
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> Seeing Li Huowang silent, Sit-Forget Dao sighed lightly. “Alright then, in that case, farewell, Red Middle boss. From now on, I’ll impersonate you, trick the other tiles, and I’ll be the new Red Middle! Heh heh heh~”
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> His hands seized the dagger hilts, arms bulging like a butcher slaughtering a pig as he slowly sawed the blades toward Li Huowang’s head.
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> Not content with gutting him, he meant to cleave Li Huowang’s head into three pieces.
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> The more Li Huowang struggled against it, the more savagely the double-pupiled face grinned.
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> The pain intensified the hallucinations until Li Huowang felt the voice right beside him. “Who the hell are you!! What the hell are you?!”
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> With Li Huowang’s final mental scream, a violent urge to vomit surged. In the next instant, his neck swelled to the thickness of his head.
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> Li Huowang’s nearly blood-drained hands shot out, seizing Sit-Forget Dao’s arm. His jaws gaped wide toward the startled face.
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> In that instant, black tentacles laced with viscous fluid and dark red blood erupted from Li Huowang’s mouth, splattering directly onto Sit-Forget Dao’s face.
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> Neither Sit-Forget Dao nor Li Huowang himself had anticipated this. The hallucinated voice in his ear had come from the Black Tai Sui inside his body!
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> Somewhat panicked, Sit-Forget Dao jerked his head back, but the Black Tai Sui’s tentacles latched onto his face like hooks. The stitches Bai Lingmiao had sewn at the edges burst one by one.
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> The serpentine tentacles writhed rapidly, burrowing into Sit-Forget Dao’s seven orifices. The double-pupiled Li Huowang released the daggers and clawed frantically at his face.
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> “Slash!” Sit-Forget Dao flipped his hand, four mahjong tiles fanning out like an umbrella to slice at the tentacles.
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> Sensing the razor edges of the tiles, Black Tai Sui retracted sharply into Li Huowang’s mouth.
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> Amid ripping sounds and Sit-Forget Dao’s screams, the face identical to Li Huowang’s—complete with those double pupils—was torn clean off.
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> (End of chapter)