Chapter 369
Chapter 369
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 369
>Chapter Title: Hope
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Bai Lingmiao nestled in the arms of the terrifying Li Huowang with a faint smile and gently rubbed against him to find a more comfortable angle.
"Look how scared you are. Hurry and lie down. I'll explain it to you slowly."
Li Huowang's tense body relaxed, but at that moment, his heart clenched tight. Was the Bai Lingmiao before him the Big God or the Second God?
He absolutely had to clarify this. It would determine what he needed to do next.
Bai Lingmiao closed her eyes and pondered for a moment, then suddenly burst into inexplicable laughter.
"Why are you laughing? Hurry up and speak!"
"Sigh, I really don't know how to explain it to you. That feeling is hard to put into ordinary words."
"Then use the simplest words possible. The simpler, the better."
Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao thought carefully before slowly speaking. "Huowang, do you know what's inside a person? Or rather, what a person is made of?"
This made Li Huowang frown involuntarily. He had no idea what this nonsensical talk was supposed to explain.
"Sigh~ Huowang, take a guess~ Come on, guess~" Bai Lingmiao's deliberate coquettishness made Li Huowang deeply uncomfortable. The Bai Lingmiao of the past would never have acted this way.
"A mortal body of flesh?"
"Uh-huh~" Bai Lingmiao shook her head slightly. "How should I put it... If I have to say, a person is formed from the ten emotions and eight sufferings. The ten emotions are joy, anger, sorrow, greed, aversion, delusion, fear, love, and hate. The eight sufferings are birth, old age, sickness, death, meeting those one resents, parting from the flesh, unfulfilled desires, and the flourishing of the five skandhas."
"Everyone has these ten emotions and eight sufferings—some more, some less—but everyone has them. No matter what anyone does, it's all caused by these things."
Li Huowang's heart stirred slightly. "Who taught you this? The immortals?"
"What's the rush! Listen to me finish." Bai Lingmiao glared at Li Huowang in dissatisfaction and continued. "When a person no longer needs certain ten emotions and eight sufferings, they don't just disappear—they hide away."
"For ordinary people, if they're hidden, they're hidden. But spirit dancers are different. They generally have two sides: a Big God and a Second God."
Li Huowang silently gazed at the two women, one on each side of him, waiting for Bai Lingmiao to continue.
"Though we share the eight sufferings, the ten emotions are divided. Back then, the immortals took my hidden ten emotions, mixed in some of their own scattered bits, and formed the Second God."
"So that means..."
"So that means we're one person. Our memories differ somewhat, but we are both truly Bai Lingmiao. It's just that because of the baleful aura, I used up too much joy, anger, aversion, hate, and greed, so naturally she had none left."
"The past Bai Lingmiao didn't use much joy, anger, aversion, hate, or greed, so naturally the Second God used them."
Li Huowang stared at the face right before him, his mind a whirlwind of chaos. These were all things he'd never heard before.
"Who told you this? The immortals? Don't trust them too much! Maybe they're deceiving you!"
"What are you saying? The immortals aren't Sitting Oblivion Dao. Tricking you with something everyone knows isn't fun at all."
It was Hongzhong who spoke. The instant he appeared, Li Huowang instinctively wrapped Bai Lingmiao's body in the quilt.
"You know about these so-called ten emotions and eight sufferings too?" Li Huowang asked him hesitantly.
"What's so novel about it? It's common knowledge everywhere. Weren't you hiding in the Bureau of Surveillance? Just ask around a bit, and you'll know if I'm telling the truth."
After all this time in this world, Li Huowang was shocked to only now learn about these so-called ten emotions and eight sufferings.
"That Luo Cult kid with the nascent soul seemed to mention them before, but I didn't pay attention."
Li Huowang recalled that his cultivation philosophy seemed to involve shedding all ten emotions and eight sufferings to become that singular one.
"So, Huowang, do you get it now? I just have a bit more joy, anger, aversion, hate, and greed, but I'm still Bai Lingmiao. And this Bai Lingmiao is even freer, even more... at ease!"
"No! The original one—that's the Bai Lingmiao I know!"
Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao showed no agitation. She simply pointed at the Second God beside her. "Isn't that her? That timid, spineless, weak Bai Lingmiao."
Li Huowang looked up at the Second God. When he saw the pitiful gaze amid those enormous beast pupils—that familiar yet alien look—his hands reached out involuntarily to gently pull her into his arms.
"Fine then, you two get busy. I'll make some room for you." After slipping on her dudou and underpants, Bai Lingmiao lifted the bed curtains and left.
Li Huowang gently pressed his face to her, feeling the cold snake scales and sharp hedgehog spines scrape across his skin.
"Don't worry. I'll make you return to normal—I promise!" Li Huowang's words rang with ironclad resolve.
In the days that followed, under the care of Bai Lingmiao and the Second God, Li Huowang's body gradually recovered. But his mood grew more restless with each passing day.
After so much time with no word from the Chronicler, Li Huowang couldn't help worrying that something had gone wrong.
Another predawn hour, and Li Huowang woke. As he propped himself up on the bed board, a soft little foot kicked him hard.
"Hey! You're so annoying! You woke me up again!"
Li Huowang was long used to it. He lifted the quilt to get out of bed, then quickly tucked it back to trap the warmth.
He pushed open the window and vaulted onto the tiles. Then he patted his abdomen, pulled out a primer, and began reading aloud.
A tentacle coiled around a double-pupiled eyeball slithered out from his belly button eye and peered intently at the book.
Hearing the voice by his ear perfectly overlapping his own recitation, Li Huowang realized the primer's task was nearly done. It was time to find something new to teach Li Sui.
But choosing what to teach next proved difficult. At his level, all he could really teach Li Sui were primers.
Those higher-level tomes of obscure classical prose? He truly had no idea how to teach them.
"Why not just call it quits? I'm not aiming for him to top the imperial exams. He speaks fluently now, and our bond is solid—that's already met my original goal."
"Dad, I want to learn this." Li Sui extended a tentacle-rolled sheet of ochre paper before Li Huowang.
"You want to learn talisman drawing?" Leaving aside whether it would even work, the image of a writhing tentacle monster drawing talismans was bizarre however he pictured it.
Just as Li Huowang hesitated whether to try, a black shadow streaked across the sky. The moment he looked up, a stack of letters rained down.
"This is..." Li Huowang's heart pounded wildly. He tore one open, and upon seeing the opening "Erjiu Tai Jian," his pupils contracted to pinpricks.
"This is the thing the Chronicler promised me!"
Thrilled, Li Huowang pored over every character, repeatedly scanning for the words "North Wind."
As he searched, he suddenly froze. His breathing grew ragged, his palms slick with sweat.
"Since parting in Yinling, over twenty days have passed, now..."
From the Bureau of Surveillance's records, this Sitting Oblivion Dao's North Wind was just like him—a pure heart!
Precisely because he was a pure heart, he could use the bewilderment within to dispel the obsessions that grew with age. In the end, he lived to 194!
Not only that—from the Bureau of Surveillance's long dealings with him, North Wind truly had a way to break free of hallucinations!
In that moment, Li Huowang's eyes brimmed with hot tears of excitement. After all the trials and tribulations of this journey, at last he felt hope!