Chapter 722
Chapter 722
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 722
>Chapter Title: Method
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Cultivation had undoubtedly boosted Li Huowang's strength by a lot, but the side effects that came with it were equally massive.
“Really? Is it real?” Li Huowang stared at Bai Lingmiao in front of him with rapid breaths, his expression doubtful.
“Senior Brother Li? Why do you—” “Don’t come any closer!” Li Huowang hurriedly shouted to stop Bai Lingmiao from walking toward him.
“I’m asking you! Back then in Clear Wind Temple... No! Asking like this won’t work!! If she’s really something I cultivated into existence, then she definitely knows that too!”
Li Huowang paced anxiously in the river water. Even after achieving great success in cultivation, he couldn’t tell real from fake for the moment. As long as he wanted something to be real, anything could be.
“Heh heh heh...” Taishan Stone watched the scene with a mocking smirk. “Not bad for Ji Zai’s heartworm.”
“Smack!” Li Huowang slapped him hard, making his left cheek swell up fast. “Shut up! You’ll be crying soon enough!”
“Miaomiao, don’t worry. Here’s what we’ll do.” Li Huowang pondered for a bit before speaking.
“We’ll walk back the way we came. You go back however you got here before.” It was a dumb method, but at least it was useful.
As long as they retraced their steps, if there was no other Bai Lingmiao over there now, then this one was real. If another Bai Lingmiao appeared behind them, then she was the fake.
Bai Lingmiao neither agreed nor disagreed with the suggestion. Instead, she went straight to the heart of the issue. “Senior Brother Li, can you tell me what exactly happened? Did you have another episode?”
Li Huowang looked completely mad right now, and it really worried her.
“I didn’t... Fine, maybe.” Li Huowang didn’t want to explain too much to this Bai Lingmiao, who was somewhere between real and fake.
He didn’t want to invest too many emotions either. If they got too close and it turned out this Bai Lingmiao was fake after all, would he make her vanish or just live with two Bai Lingmiao’s for the rest of his life?
Just as Li Huowang turned around, pulled out his torture tools, and started pressing Taishan Stone, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Bai Lingmiao’s reflection in the water through the ripples. Something was off.
At first, he thought he’d seen wrong, but as he stared intently, the reflection stopped moving. The water surface was no longer water—it had turned into a mirror.
Li Huowang slowly turned around and was shocked to see the current Bai Lingmiao’s body swaying back and forth like a shadow submerged in water!
“So you really are the fake?!” As soon as Li Huowang said this, Bai Lingmiao’s body started flickering in and out, gradually fading into nothingness.
“Senior Brother Li! Li Huowang! What are you doing?! Save me quick!” Facing the changes in her body, Bai Lingmiao frantically beat the drum while chanting the White Lotus Cult’s possession incantation.
As Bai Lingmiao’s body vanished completely, the double lotus between her brows instantly emitted a soft glow that blocked Li Huowang’s vision.
The light enveloped his sight. In the blur, Li Huowang suddenly sensed that familiar presence—Mother of No Life.
The sensation came fast and left just as quick, but Li Huowang learned something extremely important from her. He immediately lunged forward and hugged Bai Lingmiao tightly in lingering fear.
He’d never been afraid through all the past hardships and torments, but just now, he really had been a little scared.
If Mother of No Life hadn’t tipped him off like that, he would’ve almost truly cultivated Bai Lingmiao out of existence!
With his current abilities, of course he could cultivate Bai Lingmiao back, but would the one who returned really be the previous Bai Lingmiao?
Bai Lingmiao reached out to push Li Huowang away, but he held on so tight it was like iron clamps—she couldn’t budge him. “Li Huowang, what’s wrong with you?! Explain clearly! Did you have another episode? If you did, just say so!”
Seeing this, the group of White Lotus believers could no longer heed the saintess’s orders and rushed forward. “How bold! How dare you disrespect the saintess!”
After his emotions settled a bit, Li Huowang released Bai Lingmiao and lifted her red veil with lingering fear.
He reached out and gently stroked Bai Lingmiao’s fur, her scales, those spikes, and all those big and small eyes.
After this, Li Huowang finally understood how serious his situation was. He knew the side effects of achieving great success in cultivation couldn’t be left unchecked.
If he didn’t resolve this problem, never mind how the things he randomly cultivated would disrupt his mind—not to mention, anyone near him could be deemed fake and erased on the spot. That alone was a massive danger.
Though Bai Lingmiao had Mother of No Life’s protection to resist his cultivation, what if it happened to someone else next time? What if it was Sui Sui?
Li Huowang recalled the fake Sui Sui that had appeared for a few breaths while he cultivated in the woods earlier, and his heart tightened.
“What exactly happened? What did you go through while I was gone? Say something!”
Hearing Bai Lingmiao’s question, Li Huowang—who had temporarily sorted out real from fake—explained everything to her in detail.
Half an hour later, by the campfire, Li Huowang put on the red Daoist robe Bai Lingmiao handed him. “That’s how it all went down. I’m not sick. I just achieved great success in cultivation. I know every gain comes with a price, but I didn’t expect the price to be this huge.”
And this trouble would probably intensify as his cultivation grew stronger. It was already this dangerous now—what might happen later? He didn’t even dare imagine.
Bai Lingmiao, sitting beside him, nodded. She finally understood Senior Brother Li’s bizarre behavior from before. “So, Senior Brother Li, how do you plan to solve this problem?”
“Sigh, I want to know how to solve it too, but solutions don’t come from just staring and thinking.” Li Huowang decided to ask Ji Zai first.
As Bai Lingmiao furrowed her brows and propped her chin, helping Li Huowang brainstorm solutions, the surroundings fell quiet for a moment.
Li Sui tried to help her dad too, but she didn’t quite get all that real-fake stuff he was talking about.
Just as Li Huowang returned from the riverbank after shouting for Ji Zai at his reflection to no avail, he heard Bai Lingmiao ask him, “Senior Brother Li, do you remember that guy from before? The one who sold breakfast.”
“Sold breakfast? Who?”
“You know, the chubby one. The one who made youtiao and sticky rice cakes.”
“Dice?!” Li Huowang immediately recalled who she meant. That guy had targeted him back then to achieve his own goals.
“Didn’t he shout something to you when you left the city gate?”
“‘If you cultivate the real without cultivating the fake, you’ll fall into qi deviation.’”
“‘If you cultivate the real without cultivating the fake, you’ll fall into qi deviation.’” They said it in unison.
“Right! Senior Brother Li, that’s exactly what he meant. Isn’t your current state basically qi deviation?”
Hearing this, Li Huowang looked troubled. Logically, it made sense, but the guy who said it was a huge problem.
Dice was the head of Sitting Oblivion Dao. Who knew what schemes lay behind his words? Even if he was dead now, who said a dead Sitting Oblivion Daoist couldn’t deceive people?
(End of chapter)