Chapter 419
Chapter 419
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 419
>Chapter Title: Reality
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“Is it possible that this world is real?” Li Huowang pondered these questions in his mind, his gaze blankly scanning everything around the ward.
He was a heart elemental, the heart elemental that could make Danyangzi ascend to immortality! If he really tapped into the innate primordial qi within him by accident, conjuring some gold would be a piece of cake for him!
“But...” A look of pain and hesitation crossed Li Huowang’s face. “Why now, of all times? I was so close to catching Bei Feng, so close to breaking free from the hallucinations. Why did it have to be now...”
The conflict on Li Huowang’s face deepened. At this moment, he was once again trapped in that maddening uncertainty. If this hallucination might actually be real, then what was the point of all his desperate struggles these past days?
“What if this world is real?” The thought burrowed into Li Huowang’s mind like a gu worm, churning his once-steady thoughts into utter chaos.
Li Huowang gritted his teeth and jerked his head up, smashing it toward the wall, hoping the pain would dispel this agonizing feeling.
“No, no! That’s not right! It’s not right!!”
“Son! What’s wrong? Don’t scare me like this!”
Sun Xiaoqin was terrified by Li Huowang’s actions. She quickly set down the lunchbox in her hands and reached out, clutching his head tightly while stroking his short hair over and over.
Calmed by her touch, Li Huowang stopped moving and painfully closed his eyes.
He wasn’t afraid of wasting energy in vain, nor of torment or death. But he dreaded slipping back into that crevice between reality and illusion. That feeling was simply too unbearable.
If he could be one hundred percent sure this world was real, then fine. But right now, it was still just a hunch. No matter how real that hunch felt, there was always the chance it was even slightly false.
“How could that be possible? How could it be? I haven’t even learned that cultivation technique—how could I possibly wield the innate primordial qi so easily?”
“And it doesn’t add up anyway. If both worlds are real, why can I conjure gold here but not there? Does the power of a heart elemental depend on the location?”
Li Huowang thought for a moment, then widened his eyes and glared furiously at the bedside table, trying to manifest a huge chunk of gold with his mind. But nothing happened. Next, he tried to move the bedside table with his thoughts, but it stayed put.
No matter how hard Li Huowang concentrated, veins bulged on his neck, his bloodshot eyes bulged in rage, making him look utterly terrifying.
“Son, don’t scare me. I really can’t take it. What’s wrong with you?”
Sun Xiaoqin’s choked sobs made Li Huowang look up at her, at the crow’s feet around her eyes. It had been so long since he’d seen her, and he suddenly realized how much older his mother had become.
Even if she was fake, seeing her like this filled Li Huowang with heartbreaking pain.
“Mom, I’m fine. I’m really fine.” With his expression softening, Li Huowang comforted her in a low voice. He couldn’t let his emotions run wild with baseless speculation—that would just drag him back into that pit of entanglement.
His mind growing more chaotic, Li Huowang shook his head hard and took a deep breath to steady himself.
If there was even a possibility this world was real, he should seek solid, tangible evidence to refute it, not indulge in wild guesses. At least for now, the odds that this world was real seemed low.
“Then how do you explain how I can bring anything from that world here, but not take anything from here to there? It can’t be that the other world is the fake one, right?”
Li Huowang tilted his head and leaned into Sun Xiaoqin’s embrace, savoring this rare moment of peace. He had longed for this feeling in his dreams back in that other world.
“Mom, how’s Nana doing now?” Li Huowang suddenly asked.
“Nana? Nana’s doing fine.” Sun Xiaoqin’s tone faltered slightly with panic, but she quickly pulled a tissue from her bag to wipe his sweat.
After tangling with those sharp Sit-Forget Daoists for so long, Li Huowang could easily tell truth from lie in Sun Xiaoqin’s words.
“Mom, what’s really going on with Nana?” As if sensing something, Li Huowang’s heart grew heavy.
Sun Xiaoqin tried to hide it a few more times, but Li Huowang saw through her every time. Faced with his persistent questioning, she finally sighed helplessly.
“Don’t blame her. She just can’t come lately. Nana’s a good girl.”
“I’m not blaming her. I just want to know where she is now.”
“Nana dropped out of school. Her parents took her away to see a doctor.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Li Huowang grew tense.
“She’s fine, really. Just a bit depressed, not eating or drinking much.” Sun Xiaoqin picked up the lunchbox again and started feeding Li Huowang.
He chewed mechanically, the food tasteless in his mouth. Thinking of the girl who had always followed him around since childhood reduced to this state made his heart bleed.
She had given so much for him, yet he could give her nothing in return.
“It’s okay, son. I heard it’s a minor illness—medicine can fix it. Don’t blame yourself.”
“Mom, can you untie me for a bit?” Li Huowang suddenly asked Sun Xiaoqin.
Holding the lunchbox, Sun Xiaoqin hesitated for a moment but nodded firmly. “Alright! Being tied up like this all day must be suffocating. Some movement will do you good.”
With that, Sun Xiaoqin began unfastening the restraint jacket around Li Huowang.
She had barely started when a tense male voice blared from the surveillance camera in the upper left corner of the room. “Hey! Aunt Sun, what are you doing? Stop it now!”
“My son’s limbs are tied up—he’s gotta be uncomfortable! Don’t worry, I’m here! He’s very obedient!” Sun Xiaoqin sped up her actions.
“I’m coming right now! Right now!!” The monitor went silent.
Just as Li Huowang regained his freedom, the ward door burst open with a “bang.” Two burly prison guards rushed in, batons in hand.
But facing Li Huowang, whose limbs had atrophied from lack of exercise, they stayed at the door, swallowing hard before nervously calling for backup on their pagers: “Bed 1 needs reinforcements!”
This guy was a notorious martial maniac in everyone’s minds across the entire ward block—extremely hard to handle.
Li Huowang ignored them at the door and instead shuffled his aching, numb limbs over to the window barred with iron grating.
Li Huowang gazed at the patch of sky outside, gripping the bars and reaching out toward it.
A ray of warm sunlight fell on Li Huowang’s overly pale fingertips.
Feeling that warmth, a longing stirred in Li Huowang’s heart. “If everything here is real... that would be wonderful...”