The Unruly Immortals

Seeing Zhuge Yuan risking his life for him, Li Huowang couldn't continue to wallow in the confusion over his own identity—he just couldn't do it!

No matter who he was, he owed Zhuge Yuan his life! He couldn't possibly run away before repaying that debt!

Clenching his teeth, Li Huowang looked around and leapt towards where the Emperor of Da Liang and the Astronomical Bureau officers were entangled with the Touzis when he caught sight of them.

Each time his shoe soles were about to touch the liquid ground, a leaf card would fly out with a flip of Li Huowang's hand, serving as stepping stones like lotus leaves on water, providing him with places to land.

He moved as swiftly as a dragonfly skimming the water's surface, quickly closing the distance.

It was evident that the Touzis weren't engaged in a fight to the death with these men, merely toying with them, seemingly waiting for Doumu to be free and deal with these nuisances once and for all.

Li Huowang reached the edge of the battle and yelled, "Is there a living Heart Turbidity inside the Formation's focal point?"

He didn't harbor any hope for an answer, but upon noticing an extremely subtle change in the expression of one of the junior officers from the Astronomical Bureau, he immediately relied on years of experience in deceiving people to quickly deduce the warning concealed behind that expression.

His reaction to the question was one of wariness, not the bafflement or confusion one would expect, which confirmed there had to be a living Heart Turbidity within the formation's focal point!

Indeed, with the principle of Yin and Yang opposition, if a dead Heart Turbidity was used as the formation's focal point, it made sense there would be a living one too!

Without another word, Li Huowang dashed off in all directions, a movement clearly noted by those from the Oblivion Path.

One of the Touzis looked at Li Huowang, jumping away into the distance with some surprise, and then turned to another Touzi asking, "Hey, what did you send that Hong Zhong to do?"

"How should I know? That's obviously Da Liang's Hong Zhong; he's one of your people, why are you asking me?"

"Bullshit! Are you blind? That's clearly a Hong Zhong from Da Qi!"

While they talked, Li Huowang had already arrived at a side hall to the east.

There was supposed to be a Golden Hall here, but as the gold was drained away to make the Divine Mountain Ghost Masks, now only some empty frameworks remained floating above the ground.

Li Huowang charged to the center of the hall only to find at the heart of the formation a crystal-clear dead white fox, making it clear the formation's focal point was this enigmatic creature.

He leaped up into the air, and with a fierce shake, pieces of Yaoji Mahjong skipped across the surface like striking stones across water, spinning out in all directions. The eyes on these mahjong tiles blinked rapidly as if they were alive.

The scenes seen by the Yaoji were quickly transmitted into Li Huowang's mind, and with that, he swiftly learned of the focal points of the other side halls.

Half an incense stick's time later, Li Huowang stood on a piece of driftwood, looking down at an old man buried in the earth who resembled decayed wood, sewn up with gold stitches, just like the previous Heart Turbidity, the only difference was that there was a Swastika pasted on his chest.

Glancing at Zhuge Yuan, who was continuously falling from the sky, Li Huowang took a deep breath, twisted his body, and directly scooped up the living Heart Turbidity.

After catching it, Li Huowang wasted no time. He flipped his right hand, producing four white tiles and slapped them hard against the creature's back. "Kong!"

The tiles entered the Heart Turbidity's body, and a massive force propelling the creature's body hurried through the air towards Doumu in the sky.

However, it wasn't over yet. While the living Heart Turbidity flew towards Doumu, Li Huowang quickly located the dead Heart Turbidity he had seen in Gang Huang City.

This Heart Turbidity was the very one he and Record of Appearance had found before.

With two pairs of Pai Gow entering his body, Li Huowang executed a move, the inverted golden hook kick, and ferociously kicked towards Heart Turbidity's back.

The defeated Heart Turbidity, carrying a shadowy afterimage, rapidly collided with the living Heart Turbidity in mid-air.

Witnessing the mighty power of the living and dead Heart Turbidity, Li Huowang immediately thought of using the object to confront Doumu. At this moment, the only thing that could harm Doumu's Nirmanakaya, other than Zhuge Yuan, was this very move.

"Brother Zhuge! Get out of the way! The living and dead Heart Turbidity are about to collide!" Li Huowang shouted into the skies.

At this moment, seeing the scene unfold, Zhuge Yuan, whose veins were bulging all over his body, let out a sigh of relief. He exhausted all his strength to throw the Judge's brush into the air and fell back powerlessly toward the ground.

Just as an incredibly anxious Li Huowang caught the falling Zhuge Yuan, a black light of extreme darkness flashed in the sky—the living and dead Heart Turbidity had collided.

The light appeared quickly, and it disappeared just as fast.

Once the light had vanished, Li Huowang looked up and noticed a huge hole had appeared in Doumu's body.

It wasn't just on Doumu's body; it appeared as if everything within a massive sphere in the sky had been hollowed out.

As a big chunk went missing from its body, Doumu's form started to become unstable, at times clear and at other times illusory.

Li Huowang could feel it looking at him, but now, it was unable to pull him up anymore.

With one last deep gaze, the Doumu covering the entire sky gradually disappeared.

Seeing this, Li Huowang laughed, uncontrollably shouting with excitement. "Brother Zhuge! Brother Zhuge, we did it! We succe—"

But when Li Huowang looked down at Zhuge Yuan's condition, his excited voice suddenly stopped. He had aged a lot, his whole body seemed cracked, on the verge of falling apart.

It wasn't just his body; with the powers of the Oblivion Path, Li Huowang also saw his Ten Emotions and Eight Miseries, in poor state, sticking together, turning into a deathly grey.

Facing this scene, Li Huowang started to feel helpless. He kept searching through the memories of Hong Zhong and his own, trying to find a sliver of hope to save him.

However, as much as Li Huowang wanted to resist this reality, his reason told him that Zhuge Yuan was truly beyond saving.

Now, Zhuge Yuan's body was like a bowl with a hole in the bottom, relentlessly leaking everything within.

The ability to resist Doumu's Nirmanakaya for so long had utterly drained Zhuge Yuan's body of everything.

Just as Li Huowang was frantically looking for Ginger Yellow Paper, planning to try his luck with Talismans as a last resort, Zhuge Yuan stopped him.

"Brother Li, don't waste your energy," Zhuge Yuan called out. "I'm not afraid of death. You don't have to feel guilty. I didn't do this just for you; it was also for the common people of the world."

Watching Zhuge Yuan irreversibly approach Death, tears welled up in Li Huowang's eyes. Breathing heavily and in a fury, he said, "This damned place is already a wreck! What's the use of being so noble! If you had run, who could have blamed you! Did I ask to be saved? I am the Oblivion Path! What are you saving anyway!!"

Zhuge Yuan smiled with liberating laughter. "It's not about being noble; it's just that I've read a few more Sage Books than others. I know what should be done and what should not. Though I dare not claim to be a gentleman, the prospect of running away while a friend is in trouble is something I absolutely cannot do."