Chapter 437 - Doulao

Hou Shu, Qing Qiu, Si Qi, and the Emperor of the Great Liang. Those who had been deceived by the stone tablet started giving off a faint purple light from their glabella.

They hadn't lost anything tangible, but it could be said that they had "lost" by getting deceived. The purple lights gathered, converging toward Shangjing's palace, attracting the attention of many different organizations at the same time.

The faint purple light pierced the black dots on the four Shai Zis. The square heads of the four Shai Zis became larger and more purplish. Their bodies began to fade away as if they had always been fake.

The chanting of the Shai Zis grew louder as they vanished until no noises could be heard except for the Shai Zis' chants.

“They want to withstand the Siming with their mortal bodies? That is impossible!” exclaimed the Emperor of the Great Liang. He looked up at the unfinished mask, and his expression became solemn. It was unlikely, but he dared not ignore the possibility.

He waved his hands adorned with reversed dragon scales, and the black clouds in the sky rolled in the direction of the Shai Zis.

The members of the Great Liang's camp jumped into the fray, and the battle that had cooled down erupted once again. Meanwhile, the Sitting Oblivion Dao members threw themselves recklessly against the enemies to stop the black clouds' encroachment.

The chanting of the Shai Zis ceased just then.

“When beings are in distress, invoke the name; the great beings will come to alleviate suffering. Great compassion, great vows, great saints, great benevolence, Holy Spirit, giant light, Heavenly Empress, Maricideva, and the Great Saint.

"Doulao—Celestial Sovereign!"

When the final word was uttered, the six dots on the Shai Zis' faces detached from their bodies. A purple light engulfed them, and they disappeared into the dense clouds overhead.

The Sitting Oblivion Dao members looked up and shouted, “Sovereign Doulao! Come here, quick! Da Nuo is about to awaken!”

Boom!

The thick clouds dissipated as if they were bubbles that had collided with something solid.

Li Huowang decided to leave. He stepped forward but almost keeled over as the solid ground had transformed into some kind of special liquid. No, it wasn't just the ground; even Li Huowang's fleshly body became soft and sagged.

If it weren't for the maggots inside of him, he would have melted into the ground.

What is this?

Li Huowang looked up and saw a yin-yang taiji fish in the distance. It was so far and radiant as if it had become a sun in the sky. No, there were two suns—No, there were four suns!

Li Huowang stared closely at the four suns and saw that his vision had split into four as well. Just as Li Huowang’s thoughts were about to split into six, the triumphant laughter of the Shai Zis in the distance echoed in his ears.

“Hahaha, you got bamboozled! Da Nuo has yet to awaken, so how come you look so scared?” A deafening noise echoed just then. The Shai Zis' laughter continued as they stared unabashedly at the sky, showing zero respect for their Siming. “Look at what I’ve brought you. Weren’t you missing an eye? I found one for you!”

Swish!

The huge yin-yang taiji fish expanded, and it became like a lid that blotted out the entire sky in an instant. Shangjing became extremely unstable; those in existence had vanished, while those that were not supposed to exist had materialized into existence.

Li Huowang was struggling as well. His Five Elements Intercalation was still active, but he still seemed as insignificant as a mere ant in the face of the entity before him.

Li Huowang looked up again and saw that he hadn't been staring at a yin-yang taiji fish.

He had been staring at two intertwined seas!

What's that under the black-and-white seafloor?

Li Huowang saw something, and he grabbed his head in pain. Dark red blood flowed out of his seven orifices, and his head swelled up in the blink of an eye. Li Huowang had just seen a Siming for the first time, and he had finally realized just how powerful Simings were.

A glance was enough for Li Huowang to understand many things.

Li Huowang's existence itself seemed to be under corrosion, but an extremely sharp pain brought him back to reality.

A grotesque noise echoed as Li Huowang’s fleshly body cracked open; scars appeared out of nowhere, bringing a seemingly endless agony to Li Huowang. However, the pain had also forced his consciousness to remain grounded.

When he came back to his senses, Li Huowang found himself on a scroll. The scroll was under Zhuge Yuan's control. Li Huowang looked up at Zhuge Yuan and saw that the latter's face was incredibly solemn as they moved on the undulating ground.

The scroll was like a wooden boat carrying them away from danger.

“Brother Li, sit tight; let's leave first before talking about anything,” Zhuge Yuan said as he stared at the discolored skies, but he wasn't panicking at all.

Zhuge Yuan's composure allowed Li Huowang to relax a bit. He had come here to find the Strayed One Bei Feng, so he didn’t expect that he'd get involved in such a big incident.

Was that the Siming Doulao of the Sitting Oblivion Dao? What were they trying to achieve?

Li Huowang stared at the colossal vertical pupil and saw that it had been covered with a golden mask and was flying toward the yin-yang taiji symbol in the sky. The colossal vertical pupil struggled, and it fell into the sea overhead.

The sea boiled instantly when the eye plunged into it, but a mere eye was no match for what lay beneath the sea.

“Brother Li, I hope I’m just overthinking, but if not...” Zhuge Yuan trailed off, staring at the sea overhead.

“What?”

“Nothing. Let’s leave here before anything else.”

Zhuge Yuan took out his brush and wrote the character "Swift" in the air.

The scroll beneath them moved even faster.

An unknown amount of time passed until they saw the gates of the imperial palace. Li Huowang’s heart thumped wildly at the sight. He couldn't care less about what was happening; all he knew was that he would soon be free from the Strayed One’s hallucination..

“Brother Zhuge, can I borrow your old almanac once we're out of here? I want to question—” Li Huowang stopped mid-sentence and trembled as he stared at the taiji sea overhead.

The same colossal vertical pupil behind the golden mask was floating in the white circle of the taiji sea, and it was staring at Li Huowang!