The Blow

1,290 words

Chapter 206 The Blow

Wang Wei spoke in fragments, his tone growing heavier with each word.

"Of course, besides your mother, there's your girlfriend! They'll all end up hating you, because no one wants to be around a lunatic."

Seeing Li Huowang glaring at him from the bed, Wang Wei continued, "Do you know how long the train ride takes her every time she comes here? How many times she has to transfer? How many excuses she has to make up to avoid her parents? No, you don't know. You only think about yourself."

"That girl, Yang Na, has been giving everything for you. And what have you done in return?"

"You've been passive in your treatment the entire time, preferring to hide in your comfort zone, unwilling to take a single step for her. Li Huowang! What kind of man are you?!"

Veins bulged on Li Huowang's forehead.

"Li Huowang, you're not worthy of her. Yang Na should have given up on you a long time ago and found someone better. In the end, she'll bear another man's children and start a family. And you'll just be lying on your hospital bed, imagining what they're doing together in bed!"

"Shut your mouth!"

A creaking sound followed as the cloth strips binding Li Huowang strained and swayed. He stared at Wang Wei with a murderous look.

Wang Wei saw the hostility in his eyes but showed no fear. Instead, he walked directly to the bedside and undid all the restraints.

With a rustle, Li Huowang lunged forward, grabbing Wang Wei by his nurse's uniform and slamming a fist into him.

"What do you know?! You're just a hallucination! Do you have any idea what I've been through?! You don't know a damn thing!"

Wang Wei started fighting back. A fist connected with Li Huowang's face, and blood began to drip from his nose.

At that moment, his expression seemed to become as frenzied as Li Huowang's, his teeth clenched as he glared back.

"Let me tell you something, Li Huowang! I do know! You think you're the only person in the world trapped in hallucinations? Wrong! I used to be one too, but I got out. And now I'm a qualified doctor! So that makes me better than you! You coward!"

Just as their fight escalated, a syringe was jabbed into Li Huowang's arm from the side.

Li Huowang immediately felt his mind rust over. Everything he did became unbearably slow, and his body lost all its strength.

Wang Wei, along with his student, helped Li Huowang up and tied him back to the bed.

Then, panting and disheveled, Wang Wei stuck a finger into his mouth and felt around a loose tooth.

"This kid hasn't exercised his muscles in a long time, but he's still got some strength."

"Teacher, this..." Dr. Hou's face showed discomfort. He had heard about this man's unorthodox methods, but getting into a fistfight with a patient right off the bat? That was just too much.

Wang Wei stood by the bed, looking down at Li Huowang's youthful face, scarred by the bullet wound.

Li Huowang stared dullly at the man before him, his mind blank, not even knowing what he was thinking.

Slowly, the two figures before him changed. They grew tall and huge. Their voices echoed in the room, vague and hazy, as if accompanied by the sound of a drum.

"His condition is very special, and his psychological defenses are high. His emotions are almost completely shut down. So our first step has to be increasing his interaction with the real world. Let him use his own senses to interfere with this world."

"But that's not what the textbook says."

"The textbook doesn't have this kind of case either, does it? Don't just memorize books. You need to learn to be flexible. Double the Haldol."

Li Huowang didn't remember what happened after that. He only recalled chaos, pure chaos. When he woke up again, he found the world was upside down. A huge, full moon hung beneath him.

It took him a while to realize: the moon hadn't fallen. He was the one who was upside down.

He must have used his new ability while he was unconscious.

After slowly righting himself, he began to follow the scattered tracks on the ground, walking back step by step.

He hadn't gone far when he saw Gouwa poking his head out from behind a rock.

"Didn't I tell you to bury me? How did I get out again?"

Hearing this, Gouwa's face was full of innocence. "Senior Brother Li, we did bury you. But the problem is, you just walked out of the dirt."

"Walked out? What does that mean?"

"It's like that time. When we were crying at your grave, and you crawled out of it."

Gouwa's words made Li Huowang's face darken. He really hadn't considered this aspect before.

Having this new ability did make him much stronger. For anyone else, that might have been a good thing.

But for him, it wasn't necessarily so. Because Li Huowang understood that he was a madman.

If there was anything more dangerous than a madman, it was a violent madman holding a knife.

With great power comes great responsibility—that was for other people. For him, it was only: with great power comes great harm.

"No. No matter what happens in the hallucination over there, I have to stay as calm as possible from now on."

Thinking these thoughts, Li Huowang silently made his way back.

Along the way, he saw others holding torches. They were all looking for him. It seemed he had wandered quite far.

He saw the fear in their eyes when they looked at him. He said nothing and kept walking.

When he finally reached their previous camp, everyone else had gathered.

Li Huowang spoke to Bai Lingmiao's back. "I'm back."

Bai Lingmiao's body trembled. She turned around slowly, revealing the right side of her face, swollen and bruised.

When he saw this, a wave of intense self-blame crashed down on Li Huowang, crushing him until he couldn't breathe. It was obvious—he was the one who had done this.

Bai Lingmiao rushed over, tears in her eyes, and threw her arms around him. "Thank goodness, Senior Brother Li. I was so scared I'd never see you again!"

Li Huowang wrapped his arms around her, his hands trembling. His embrace was so tight it felt like he was trying to press her into his own body.

As the self-blame eased slightly, a powerful aftershock of fear surged up. This time, it was just a punch. But what if, next time, he had a knife in his hand?

Some horrifying images flashed through Li Huowang's mind, making his pupils tremble.

Even though Li Huowang didn't say a word, Bai Lingmiao could clearly sense what he was thinking. She reached out her jade-white hand and gently stroked his back.

"Senior Brother Li, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to. It's just a little bruised. It'll go away in a few days."

Her words did little to ease his guilt. He pressed his lips close to her ear and whispered, "Promise me. If there's a next time... stay as far away from me as you can."

"Alright." Bai Lingmiao nodded obediently. But what she was really thinking in her heart, only she knew.

Li Huowang's gaze moved slowly over Bai Lingmiao's shoulder, looking into the distance. The emotion in his eyes grew more and more resolute.

Finally, his gaze fixed on the line of words he had carved into the dirt with his knife.

A high-ranking member of the Zuowandao, also a Heart-Element. He lived for 190 years and completely escaped the hallucinations. (?)

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Reading Guide Decoding

A Fist of Rage, a Bruise of Guilt

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

The "Real" World as a Therapeutic Battleground: This chapter is a masterclass in using the "mundane" half of the story. Wang Wei's tactic is a raw, emotionally manipulative form of "reality therapy" or "provocative therapy." He's not trying to soothe Li Huowang; he's trying to force him to feel something real, even if that feeling is rage. The goal is to break through emotional dissociation—a common symptom in severe trauma and psychosis. The "hallucination" of the Dao-Twisted World is Li Huowang's comfort zone; the sterile, confrontational hospital room is the battlefield for his sanity.

The Power of a "Violent Madman": This is a crucial thematic beat that inverts the classic xianxia power fantasy. Normally, gaining a new ability like phasing through the ground is a level-up. Here, it's a terrifying liability. The phrase "a violent madman holding a knife" drives home the novel's core horror: power without stable identity is not empowerment; it's a weapon aimed at everyone the protagonist loves. Li Huowang's reaction (self-loathing, the plea for distance) is the opposite of a triumphant cultivator's.

The Zuowandao Question: The final line, carved in the dirt, is a rope thrown across the abyss. A 190-year-old Heart-Element who "escaped the hallucinations." Is this a genuine historical fact from the Dao-Twisted World, or another cruel lie from the Zuowandao to give Li Huowang false hope? The question mark at the end (?) is the novel's signature—leaving the answer ambiguous, forcing the reader to inhabit Li Huowang's own inability to trust any narrative.

Chapter Overview

This is not an action chapter. It is a surgical chapter. A chapter where the scalpel's edge is turned inward—on Li Huowang's psychology, on the cost of his new ability, and on the fragile bonds that still hold his group together. Wang Wei, the unorthodox psychiatrist, delivers a brutal, targeted psychological attack designed to break Li Huowang out of his emotional shell, and it works—by provoking a violent reaction that becomes a gruesome object lesson. The chapter pivots from a tense psychiatric breakdown to the quiet, devastating aftermath: a bruised face, a whispered promise, and a chillingly lucid realization about the danger of giving power to a mind that can't control itself. Get ready for some serious emotional damage, fellow travelers. This one hurts.

Key Plot Points

Wang Wei, Li Huowang's new psychiatrist, uses a confrontational, personally targeted provocation, attacking Li Huowang's relationship with his mother and Yang Na. He accuses Li Huowang of being selfish, a coward, and completely unworthy of their sacrifice.
The provocation succeeds. Li Huowang breaks free from his restraints and physically attacks Wang Wei.
Wang Wei fights back, revealing he was once a patient himself, creating a chilling parallel to Li Huowang's current state. He is then sedated by the staff.
Li Huowang regains consciousness in the Dao-Twisted World, hanging upside down. He has unconsciously used his ability to phase through the earth where he was buried, confirming a disturbing new facet of his power.
The horror of this ability sinks in. Li Huowang realizes he is a "violent madman holding a knife." The power is not a gift; it's a potential catastrophe.
He returns to camp and sees the face of Bai Lingmiao, which he has bruised in a violent fugue state. This physical evidence of his danger is the chapter's emotional climax.
Overwhelmed with guilt and fear, Li Huowang begs Bai Lingmiao to stay away from him if it happens again. She agrees, but her silent refusal to truly accept this is deeply telling.
The chapter ends with a chilling internal resolution as Li Huowang's gaze falls on the question he carved in the dirt: a legendary Zuowandao Heart-Element who lived to 190. The implication is clear—he is now actively seeking a path forward, one that might not be heroic.

Reading Guide

This chapter is a emotional gut-punch. Don't skim the fight sequence; feel the raw, ugly desperation of it. Wang Wei isn't a villain; he's a doctor with a ruthless diagnosis. The real horror isn't the punch Li Huowang throws at him, but the one he throws at Bai Lingmiao when he's not looking.

Pay close attention to Li Huowang's internal monologue after he sees her bruised face. The shift is immediate and profound. The fantasy of "having power" crashes head-on into the nightmare of "losing control." The whispered promise he makes to Bai Lingmiao is heartbreaking, but it's a promise he's already planning to break—he's looking for a cure, and that cure might involve becoming even more of a monster.

And that final line? It's not hope. It's a threat. A threat to his own sense of self. The safety of the group has just been found wanting, and Li Huowang is about to start looking for answers in darker places.