Chapter 453
Chapter 453
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 453
>Chapter Title: Child
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How could he prove he wasn’t sick while locked up in a mental hospital?
Pretend to act normal in front of the doctors? What if something happened in the other world during the observation period?
Or pull out objects right in front of everyone to prove the other world was real? If he actually did that, he’d probably never get another shot at freedom.
This dilemma was utterly unsolvable for Li Huowang. Anyone who saw him treating both worlds as real would say he was seriously ill.
After racking his brains, Li Huowang realized that no matter what he said or did in his current situation here, it wouldn’t help.
Since there was no way out here, he had to tackle the root cause on the other side.
To escape this constant restraint, the only option was to perfect his cultivation technique and use it to regain his freedom.
This was the simplest and most straightforward method, far better than trying to outsmart the hospital doctors.
From that moment on, Li Huowang threw himself into cultivating that technique with even greater fervor, forgetting to eat or sleep.
This cultivation technique wasn’t just about whether he could save Zhuge Yuan—it also determined his freedom in the real world. It was killing two birds with one stone.
After what had happened before, Li Huowang naturally wouldn’t practice such a dangerous technique in Oxheart Village. A deep, secluded cave in the towering Oxheart Mountain behind the village was the perfect spot he’d found.
After all, no matter how the rocks and trees here twisted and warped, Li Huowang didn’t feel the slightest bit of heartache.
In this dark, remote place unknown to anyone, Li Huowang didn’t just cultivate. He also handled some things he didn’t want his fellow disciples to know about.
With a ripping sound, flesh tore open, followed by Li Huowang’s agonized scream echoing through the entire cave. Li Sui used three tentacles to hold a bowl brimming with mercury and slowly poured it down.
“Heaven and Earth Profound Sect, root of all vital energies. Extensive cultivation over billions of kalpas, proving my divine powers. Within and without the three realms, the Dao alone reigns supreme. My body cloaked in golden light, enveloping and shielding me.”
As he chanted the incantation, Li Huowang watched the human skin stuffed with straw in front of him emit white smoke and gradually shrink, ultimately collapsing into a palm-sized little skin doll.
This was already the second time, and it was clearly much better than the first.
Ignoring Zhuge Yuan’s expression with eyes nearly popping out, Li Huowang gripped his own human skin and immediately felt much more at ease. With this, even if his head were chopped off, he could still survive.
And even more importantly, this magic tool could be replicated. As long as he had enough time, he could endlessly produce these heart-element artifacts. No matter how powerful the enemies he faced in the future, he wouldn’t have to live in constant fear like before.
Li Huowang used a small dagger to slice open a gash in his abdomen and pressed the skin doll inside with two fingers.
After Li Huowang healed all his wounds with the Fiery Coat True Scripture, Li Sui beside him couldn’t help but speak up.
“Dad, what is this? Can you teach me? I want one too.”
Li Huowang shook his head as he looked at him.
“You can’t use this. You’re not a heart-element. Your skin wouldn’t work.”
With that, Li Huowang donned his red Daoist robe from the ground, strapped on his weapons, and headed toward the cave mouth.
“Dad, but I want to help you.” Li Sui still hadn’t given up, but Li Huowang didn’t appreciate it.
He didn’t think a Black Tai Sui could help him with anything.
“From now on, you stay put in the village. Don’t wander off, got it? There are bad people outside. If they catch you, they’ll refine you into pills and eat you.”
“You’re lying. I’ve been outside. It’s more fun out there than in the village. In the village, they’re all scared of me—even Mantou is scared of me. I think it’s more fun cultivating with you, Dad. Can’t I go back inside your belly from now on?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If you stay any longer, this body will become yours.”
But seeing Li Sui’s two eyeballs filled with longing, Li Huowang thought for a moment and finally pulled a book directly from his robes.
“If you’re bored, practice this to pass the time. Ask me about any characters you don’t understand.” What Li Huowang took out was the compendium of talismans that Blind Chen had given him back then.
Though the sight of a mass of sticky black tentacles solemnly chanting incantations while drawing talismans was indeed a bit too bizarre.
But if it actually worked, Li Sui might really turn into a helper for him.
“Remember, these talismans have a lot of restrictions.”
As Li Huowang, radiating bloody energy, patiently instructed him, he led Li Sui along the rugged mountain path toward Oxheart Village below, where cooking smoke rose.
“Dad, why are they afraid of me? What if I throw off these clothes wrapping my body and show them my real appearance? Would they stop being scared then?”
“No, absolutely not.”
“Why not? What if I’m nice to them? What if I give them silver and food?”
“Where’d you pick up all that? Never show them your true form in front of them. You’re different from them. You’re not human.”
Listening to Li Sui’s barrage of questions, Li Huowang immediately regretted his earlier decision.
Raising it wasn’t any easier than raising a troublesome brat that even dogs shunned. It hadn’t been this chatty before.
“I don’t have time for this. I need to find someone to teach it. Li Sui still has no grasp of even the basics.”
As they walked, they reached the edge of the rice paddies. Li Huowang’s adopted son and daughters were toiling diligently in the fields, along with some of his fellow disciples.
“Senior Brother Li! You’re down from the mountain?” The half-grown Yang Xiaohai, feet caked in mud, excitedly led the ox over.
“Aren’t you in charge of everyone’s meals? Why are you out in the fields too? Who made you work so hard?”
“No one told me to. I came on my own! Look, Senior Brother Li—from here to there, a full two mu, all mine! My very own!”
“Senior Sister Bai said all the grain from these fields is mine! Two whole mu! Think of how much food that’ll produce! Once it’s harvested, I’ll never go hungry again!”
In his excitement, Yang Xiaohai suddenly felt something odd on his calf. He reached down, yanked off a bloodsucking leech as thick as half an arm, and tossed it casually to the ground.
The leech caught the scent of blood on Li Huowang and instinctively crawled toward his feet.
Li Huowang’s brows furrowed instantly. He wasn’t afraid of other beasts or bugs, but this thing really got to him.
The thought of hundreds of bloodsucking leeches covering his entire body with their slimy, cold forms, using their sharp mouthparts to bite through skin and burrow halfway into his flesh...
Seeing Li Huowang frozen in place without speaking, Yang Xiaohai asked in surprise,
“Senior Brother Li, what’s wrong? Haven’t you seen a cow rot-crotch before? You must not come down to the fields much.”
(End of chapter)