Chapter 751
Chapter 751
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 751
>Chapter Title: Pursuit
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Sitting and Forgetting Dao was actually just a bunch of lunatics who’d gone mad from cultivating fakes, but since no one—not even Sitting and Forgetting Dao themselves—had ever seen anyone successfully cultivate either truth or fakes, they all believed this state was the correct one.
“Pitiful, so pitiful.”
Li Huowang murmured to himself. Dice probably already knew about this, but he was in too deep to turn back now.
Li Huowang lowered his head and sliced open the belly of the man in front of him, retrieving the softened stone and placing it beside the abdomen.
A tentacle emerged from his navel, dragging the thing back inside.
This boiled-soft stone that the Dharma Cult followers had been fighting over was actually just a chunk of liver Li Huowang had cut from himself.
He’d tried other substitutes, but Li Huowang still felt this was the most suitable.
“Dad, what have you been up to lately? I don’t quite get it.” Two slits cracked open on Li Sui’s neck, revealing her double-pupiled eyes.
“I’ve been deceiving them.”
“So that’s what deception is.” Li Sui suddenly understood. She’d learned something new from her dad.
With his goal achieved, Li Huowang was ready to leave this place.
He was deep in the heartland controlled by the Dharma Cult, so this commotion naturally drew their attention quickly.
Hearing the footsteps behind him, Li Huowang immediately stepped out into view. He smeared his face, transforming it into the likeness of the dead Hu Biao.
He sliced off his right hand and tossed it to the ground, then collapsed with an agonized expression.
“Quick! He ran that way!” Li Huowang shakily raised his bloody finger, pointing the pursuing Dharma Cult followers in a direction.
Watching the enraged followers chase off in the direction he’d indicated, Li Huowang immediately stood, picked up his hand from the ground, and stealthily followed behind them.
By the time they realized they’d been tricked and turned back, Li Huowang had withdrawn in the opposite direction they’d abandoned.
Once Li Huowang, now wearing a new face, reached a remote county town, the pursuit crisis was resolved.
Li Huowang sat down in the main hall of an inn. After all this hustle, he was hungry. “Innkeeper, some food.”
“Right away! But in these chaotic times, sir, some ingredients are hard to come by. I can only make whatever’s in the kitchen.”
“No matter. As long as it fills the belly.”
Soon, half a fragrant braised lamb head was placed before Li Huowang, accompanied by two pieces of soft, grilled naan.
“Sir, this is bean sauce, this is vinegar. Cut the lamb meat, dip it in the sauce and vinegar, stuff it into the naan, and bite in. It’s delicious.”
Li Huowang stared at the lamb head for a moment. Seeing that it didn’t open its mouth and speak to him like last time, he picked up the small knife beside it and began to eat.
As he continued cultivating falsehood, Li Huowang found that the side effects of his truth cultivation were indeed recovering quite a bit.
At least he no longer had to worry that everyone around him was something he’d hallucinated into existence.
The more he understood the fake, the more he inevitably understood the real.
Compared to Fei Gang and the various spells and divine abilities of Sitting and Forgetting Dao, Li Huowang’s greatest change was in his mindset—that genuine feeling of deceiving others with fake things.
And right now, this was exactly the shift he needed to counter the side effects of truth cultivation.
Whether it was blurring the line between real and unreal, or real and illusory, it was all a matter of mentality.
Truth cultivation and falsehood cultivation were now like two sides of his body pulling on a rope, one left, one right—perfectly balanced.
As his understanding of the false deepened, he gained some control over both the true reality and the realities he himself created.
Cultivating falsehood really could treat the qi deviation from truth cultivation. Whether this was Dice’s hook or the sweet bait he’d dangled, Li Huowang had to swallow it.
Though the troubles from truth cultivation were resolved, he still needed to stay extra vigilant against Dice’s schemes, even if there were no signs yet.
“Dice, what exactly are you trying to do? You’re dead, and all of Sitting and Forgetting Dao is wiped out. What more can you possibly do?”
Lost in thought, Li Huowang raised the small dagger skewering the lamb meat and slowly put it into his mouth.
But just as he pondered this, Li Huowang’s heart stirred. A slit cracked open behind his left ear.
After Li Sui’s eyes quickly glanced at the diners to the left, Li Huowang immediately sensed something off. That couple had just glanced at him.
Glancing at a stranger was nothing unusual, but they’d snapped their gazes away at lightning speed—that was the problem. Ordinary folk couldn’t do that.
“Sir, is the lamb head to your liking?” The kitchen hand bowed obsequiously, grinning at Li Huowang.
As four eyes rapidly scanned the surroundings, gathering details, Li Huowang gripped Violet Tassel and slashed hard. The fawning kitchen hand’s head flew into the air.
Amid the geyser of blood, the head didn’t fall. Instead, it shed its hair and skin, morphing into a Blood Drop Child that lunged toward Li Huowang’s head.
A black tentacle burst from Li Huowang’s neck, yanking out the copper coin sword. With coins flying, it shredded the black Blood Drop Child. The once-peaceful inn instantly turned into a den of killers.
Diners, the accountant, the serving boy—all drew weapons and charged at Li Huowang.
Li Huowang could handle these people easily, but his expression was grim. He couldn’t tell who had sent them. Could it be... Dice?
Just as Li Huowang was about to finish them off, the beams of the three-story inn cracked open. The upper two floors, carrying a thousand jin of weight, crashed straight down onto him.
Amid the rumbling crash, rubble and stones flew. A figure covered in black tentacles stood back up from the collapsed building.
As the dust settled, Li Huowang saw the massive change around him. Everyone in the town dropped their disguises.
They draped black cloth over their shoulders, raised white banners, and carried a massive idol, surrounding the ruined inn in layers upon layers. He was encircled.
Yet when Li Huowang spotted the Dharma Cult markings on them, he inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.
He’d been ambushed by the Dharma Cult. Despite his deliberate concealment of his tracks, they’d still found him. Li Huowang knew this time he’d run into a tough opponent.
At that moment, the crowd to the left parted, and four freakish figures holding umbrellas slowly walked through.
Their faces hidden by black umbrellas, they were enormously tall—at least a zhang high. Their long robes and even longer sleeves completely shrouded their arms down to the knees, revealing not a shred of flesh.
(End of chapter)