Chapter 737
Chapter 737
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 737
>Chapter Title: Soul
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Looking at his own arm passing straight through the hand of the dried-up lama corpse so easily, Li Huowang instantly understood something. As he raised his head, his entire body plunged downward sharply, landing directly on the ceiling below.
Standing firm, Li Huowang looked up at the dried-up lamas above him, along with the Li Huowang they were surrounding. Clearly, Fengdu was no place for flesh and blood.
Li Huowang could still hear the lamas chanting, but it was muffled, as if filtered through a layer of gauze.
This sensation was utterly bizarre. Walking felt light and floaty, as if his body had no weight at all.
“Is this what it means for the soul to leave the body? Does this world really have souls? Then why are there no ghosts?”
Thinking back to what the lama had said, Li Huowang didn’t delay. He clenched his fist and headed toward the door.
When he emerged from the inverted Bardo Temple, everything outside had changed. It was like stepping into an utterly barren wasteland—vast and empty, with nothing in sight.
Having heard about this from Little Yang Kid beforehand, Li Huowang wasn’t surprised. He pondered for a moment, then headed in the direction Little Yang Kid had described as where the red middle would be.
He only had three hours. He needed to find the Sitting Oblivion Dao’s red middle as quickly as possible. If he couldn’t find him there, he’d circle back with the Bardo Temple as the center.
Li Huowang walked through this desolate world between heaven and earth, his eyes constantly scanning his surroundings.
“Little Yang Kid said that strange seawater from Yu’er God is completely gone now—not a single drop left. What does that mean? Has the Death Sima held back Yu’er God’s invasion?”
Yu’er God surely hadn’t taken control of the Death Sima, or a change in the Heavenly Dao would bring catastrophe.
This might be good news for them. Anything that thwarted Yu’er God was a win.
What puzzled Li Huowang, though, was that he’d been walking for a while now, yet not only had he not found the red middle, he hadn’t even spotted any of those wandering dead souls that Little Yang Kid had said were everywhere.
No souls, no enormous bizarre ghostly bailiffs, no bottomless pits. Aside from Li Huowang himself, none of what Little Yang Kid had described was anywhere to be seen.
Just as Li Huowang began wondering if he’d gone the wrong way, he suddenly sensed something emerging from the black mist in the distance.
“What’s that...” Li Huowang leaned forward, staring suspiciously at the hazy shadow gradually materializing from the fog.
But as that thing’s shadow in the black mist grew larger and larger—until it filled his entire field of vision—Li Huowang realized exactly what it was! Great Black Heaven! The Death Sima! He couldn’t look!
Li Huowang immediately lowered his head, staring fixedly at the uneven ground as he shuffled sideways.
The next instant, a bone-chilling low hum pierced through, freezing Li Huowang in place like he’d been electrocuted. His legs didn’t even have the strength to lift.
All he could do now was squeeze his eyes shut, clamp his hands over his ears, and curl his body as small as possible.
“Don’t see me... don’t see me!”
Another low hum reverberated, its immense pressure pushing Li Huowang to the brink of death.
He felt as if a mountain were crushing down from above.
Finally, after who-knows-how-long, the sensation faded. Li Huowang scrambled to his feet, gasping for breath. He saw that his body had melted away like a candle—more than half gone.
And that was just from it passing by, without even touching him.
“So this is Great Black Heaven? This is Kuixuan?” Li Huowang murmured, staring into the distant black mist.
Compared to Ba Hui, who ruled over pain, or the true and false Dou Mu, Kuixuan, the ruler of death, felt entirely different. It was like facing eternity’s deathly silence itself.
He hadn’t understood before why this place was so empty. But after that brush, he got it.
Compared to his earlier doubts about whether Dice had lied to him, Li Huowang was now more worried about whether that red middle’s memories were even still alive.
A few more encounters like that, and even with the dried-up lama corpses protecting him, he wouldn’t hold out—let alone the Sitting Oblivion Dao’s red middle.
“Could he really have reincarnated already? Does this world even have reincarnation?” Li Huowang couldn’t help but start thinking of the worst-case scenario.
But just as the thought crossed his mind, Li Huowang looked up sharply. In the southeast corner of the ceiling, something darted quickly into the black mist ahead.
“Wait!” Li Huowang kicked off and rushed toward the ceiling.
His feet hit the uneven surface, and he immediately bolted after it, arms pumping.
In this utterly barren realm of death, that was the first moving thing he’d spotted. He had to catch it and get some answers.
Li Huowang chased as fast as he could. Soon, he caught sight of its back—a child’s silhouette, its body pale and glowing faintly.
“Wait! Don’t run!” But at the sound of Li Huowang’s shout, it fled even faster.
Following its footsteps, Li Huowang’s surroundings began to change. Enormous pillars rose between heaven and earth, towering and vast, dividing the sky from the ground. The child vanished behind one.
Just as Li Huowang sighed in frustration, a teasing voice drifted down from above.
“Why are you chasing him?”
Li Huowang looked up to see a Li Huowang identical to himself hanging upside down from the ceiling.
That was the Sitting Oblivion Dao’s red middle—Li Huowang could tell at a glance. His own face would never wear an expression like that.
“Great! You’re not dead!” Li Huowang exclaimed in relief, marveling at his luck in finding him so quickly.
“What? Do you want me dead that badly? Well, you’re not wrong. After all, to the current you, I’m just a chunk of memories fabricated by Dou Mu. Heh, even I want me dead.” The upside-down Li Huowang swiped a hand across his face, instantly turning it into a red middle mahjong tile.
“Let me guess. You went to all this trouble, dragging yourself all the way to Fengdu to find me. Must be because you’re in some kind of bind, right?”
“What kind of trouble could force the renowned Li Huowang to come begging a fake memory for help?”
“You know, I’m just a segment of memory!”
The fleshy red middle leaped down, splitting its mouth open in laughter.
“Do you know what that means? It means no matter what I do now, everything resets in an hour, and I start over—repeat, repeat, repeat! Do you get how that feels? Do you?!”
With that shout, the red middle—stitched together from flesh and blood—began crumbling apart, ultimately dissolving into a writhing puddle of gore.
(End of chapter)