Baolu

1,393 words

Chapter 223: Baolu

“Senior Brother Li? Did you need something?” Sun Baolu’s voice was wary as he asked.

Li Huowang tilted his chin toward the outside, repositioned his crutch under his armpit, and limped off in that direction. “Come. You and me. A private word.”

Sun Baolu stood there for a moment, his expression uncertain. Finally, he lifted his foot and followed.

As night fell, the paths between the tents became very dark. Figures out walking were few and far between.

A biting cold wind lifted the hem of Li Huowang’s robe, and the sleeve of Sun Baolu behind him.

Sun Baolu’s face was a little strained now. He was trying to figure out how to answer Senior Brother Li’s question. He hadn’t expected that a lie he’d tossed out so casually would be caught this fast.

“Don’t dawdle. We’ve still got a long road tomorrow. Why did you say that piece of human bone was a horse bone? How much else are you hiding from us?”

Sun Baolu hesitated, then let out a light sigh. “Senior Brother Li, I wasn’t trying to hide it on purpose. I just thought—since you’re only passing through—some of Qingqiu’s customs don’t need too much explanation. If I told you, I was afraid you’d start imagining things.”

“Chopping people up to feed the vultures, then smashing their bones to decorate yourself. Are you sure that’s ‘just a custom’? I don’t think so.”

The scene he’d seen this morning had hit Li Huowang hard.

Hearing the suspicion in Li Huowang’s voice, Sun Baolu quickly defended himself. “It might seem shocking to outsiders, but this really is a Qingqiu custom. Other than dying of illness, everyone in Qingqiu gets a sky burial.”

“Burying people in the dirt rots them just the same. Better to let the creatures of the sky take them away. At least it feeds someone. We’ve been used to it for a long time.”

“Anyway, in the end, it’s always the Heavenly Eternal who decides. The reincarnation and rebirth of all living things.”

Li Huowang looked calmly at Sun Baolu as he said this. “Heavenly Eternal? That’s the god the people of Qingqiu believe in? Where is It?”

This was the second time he’d heard that name.

Sun Baolu raised a hand and pointed at the moon in the sky. “There. The Heavenly Eternal cannot touch us, cannot find us. But It always has what we long for.”

“Huh?” Li Huowang looked up and followed his gaze to the full moon.

“That’s the Heavenly Eternal’s navel. The whole black sky is Its shadow! A shadow cast by two candles!”

“The whole night sky is Its shadow? What about the day?” Li Huowang pressed.

“The sun during the day—that’s the two candles in the Heavenly Eternal’s hands! The Heavenly Eternal is silently watching us from behind those candles. Everything we have, everything we live for—it’s all thanks to the Heavenly Eternal.”

Sun Baolu spoke with absolute certainty, as if what he was saying was the undeniable truth.

Li Huowang’s expression grew thoughtful.

The monks at Zhengde Temple talked about the Five Buddhist Realms. The Nuo opera people talked about the Great Nuo. He himself had seen the White Jade Capital with his own eyes. And now Sun Baolu was talking about this so-called Heavenly Eternal.

In this world, everyone’s view of reality was different. Some of them even directly contradicted each other.

Li Huowang had seen certain things with his own eyes. There was no Heavenly Eternal. There was no Great Nuo. There were no Five Buddhist Realms.

In his eyes, there was only one completely insane world. The humans living below, and the beings above that he dared not imagine—all of them suffering together along with the whole world.

He should have rejected these completely baseless worldviews with absolute certainty. But he forced himself to think differently.

“Maybe what I saw was the illusion. Maybe what they say is true. After all, no matter how you look at it, those worlds are far, far better than the mad world I saw.”

Seeing Li Huowang standing there unmoved, Sun Baolu spoke with a bitter expression. “Senior Brother Li… you don’t believe me, do you?”

Li Huowang was silent for a while, then spoke slowly. “I believe you. Let’s say you’re right. So what about wearing dead people’s bones as decoration?”

“That’s another rule passed down from ancient times in Qingqiu. They say human bones store a person’s courage and strength. Wearing them on your body gives you more power and bravery. They also ward off evil.”

“And only the truly impressive people are worthy of having their bones fought over. The ones who lived and died unknown—they only deserve to be buried in the ground.”

“Are all of Qingqiu’s customs this… twisted?”

“They’re not twisted. Isn’t this perfectly normal?” Sun Baolu said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

After Sun Baolu explained the customs and myths of Qingqiu to him, the horrifying scene from before almost seemed to make sense.

But Li Huowang still looked at Sun Baolu with a trace of suspicion in his eyes.

Sun Baolu felt that suspicion, and a bitter look spread across his face.

“Senior Brother Li, we’re fellow disciples who escaped Qingfeng Temple together. You’ve done so much to help me get home. I could deceive anyone, but I could never deceive you.”

“If I really had bad intentions, wouldn’t it have been easier to act back when you were still unconscious? You’re so strong—if you could move even a single finger, how could I possibly have fought you?”

Li Huowang nodded. “That’s true. Since you trust me so much, can you tell me why your clothes are bundled up so tightly?”

There was definitely something about Sun Baolu. Li Huowang had never pried before, but now he wanted to know what Sun Baolu was hiding.

Sun Baolu’s face changed color instantly. He clutched his clothes tightly with both hands and quickly stepped back in alarm.

How had the conversation suddenly veered onto this? How did the other man know?

“What are you so afraid of? What’s the big deal about showing a little? Everyone in this group has their own defects. Do you really think we’d mock you for a flaw? Are you in a worse state than me right now?”

A look of intense humiliation spread across Sun Baolu’s face. His eyes reddened as his voice trembled. “Senior Brother Li! I really am different from the rest of you! I’m begging you—if you push me any further, I’ll have no choice but to die!”

Seeing such a strong reaction, Li Huowang leaned on his crutch and walked over to him.

“You’re leaving soon. We’ll probably never see each other again. Even so, you still have to keep it hidden?”

Sun Baolu took a deep breath, mustering his courage. “Fine! Once I get home, I’ll tell you. Only you! And you have to swear you’ll never tell anyone! Otherwise, I’ll die right in front of you now!”

Seeing how serious Sun Baolu was, Li Huowang came back to his senses. After all, Sun Baolu wasn’t his enemy—he was a companion. There was no need to push things this far.

Ever since he’d been tricked by the Zuowandao, Li Huowang realized he’d become far too suspicious.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then forget it. I was just asking.”

For now, he would take Sun Baolu at his word. Li Huowang leaned on his crutch and headed back into the tent inn.

Sun Baolu wiped the corner of his eyes with his sleeve, then came over to support him as they walked inside.

Just as they were almost there, Li Huowang’s right ear twitched. He turned his head toward the dark street on the right, where a light was moving toward them.

Li Huowang pulled back the foot that was about to step into the tent and stood still. “Wait. That light… it doesn’t look right. Too scattered.”

As the distant light drew closer, Li Huowang’s eyes grew wider and wider.

“Baolu. Didn’t you say there were no evil spirits in Qingqiu? So tell me—what is that?”

“That’s not an evil spirit. That’s a lion dance, Senior Brother. You mean there’s no lion dance where you come from?” Sun Baolu was visibly surprised.

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Reading Guide Decoding

The Sky as a Shadow, the Dance as a Threat

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Let’s unpack the Heavenly Eternal (Chang Sheng Tian, 长生天). This is not a random name. It’s a direct reference to the supreme sky deity worshipped by the Mongol tribes of the steppe, also known as Möngke Tengri. Throughout history, different cultures on the fringes of China—like the Mongols, the Xiongnu, and the northern nomads—worshipped a vast, impersonal sky-father who was the source of all life and power. Sun Baolu’s description—the sun as a candle, the sky as a shadow—is a terrifyingly poetic, animistic reduction of that old faith. In the context of this novel, it’s yet another pure, organized, beautiful lie that the broken people of this world cling to, directly contradicting the hellish, screaming reality of the White Jade Capital and the Great Nuo.

And then there’s the Lion Dance (Wu Shi, 舞狮). In our world, it’s a festive, celebratory performance for Lunar New Year and grand openings, meant to scare away evil spirits with noise and martial movement. But in the Dao-Twisted World? Nothing is just festive. When an ancient exorcistic tradition appears in a town at night, and the only person who doesn’t see it as a threat is a local who grew up with it… you know the author is setting up a double-barreled shotgun of a scene for the next chapter. Trust your instincts, Li Huowang. That thing probably isn’t supposed to be here without a crowd watching it.

Chapter Overview

Alright, fellow cult-traveler, buckle up. Chapter 223, “Baolu,” is a tense, quiet-fire chapter that does what Dao Gui Yi Xian does best: it lures you into a character moment, then drop-kicks you into a reality-check. Li Huowang finally confronts Sun Baolu about the human bones, and what follows isn’t a fight—it’s a clash of worldviews. We get a full, chilling exposition of the Qingqiu cosmology and the Heavenly Eternal, a glimpse into Sun Baolu’s hidden trauma, and a closing panel that is so perfectly ominous it feels like a jump scare delivered through cultural dissonance. Get ready for a lore dump that actually hurts, a character almost breaking, and the slow, creeping realization that in this world, normal is just another word for something you haven't learned to fear yet.

Key Plot Points

The Bone Confrontation: Li Huowang corners Sun Baolu about the “horse bone” lie. Sun Baolu, cornered, is forced to give a real answer: Qingqiu sky burial is a normalized practice where the dead are fed to vultures and their bones are worn as trophies of courage and strength. It’s not malice; it’s a cultural constant.
The Heavenly Eternal’s Cosmology: Sun Baolu reveals the core of his faith. The Eternal Sky is the shadow of a god called the Heavenly Eternal, cast by two candles. The sun is one candle, the moon is the god’s navel. This is a desperate, animistic view of a universe held in a deity’s hands, in stark contrast to the fragmented, suffering reality Li Huowang has witnessed.
The Lie of a Better World: Li Huowang’s internal monologue falters. He has seen the insane, agonizing truth behind all these worldviews. But he forces himself to consider the unbearable alternative: maybe his insanity is the lie, and the beautiful lies of others are the truth. It’s a devastating moment of self-doubt.
Baolu’s Hidden Secret: Li Huowang pushes one step too far. He asks why Sun Baolu keeps his clothes wrapped so tightly. The reaction is violent—not physically, but emotionally. Sun Ba禄 threatens suicide if pushed further, revealing a trauma he cannot share, not out of malice, but out of shame.
The Closing Frame: The chapter ends not with an answer, but with a question. Li Huowang stops at the tent entrance, because a light on the street is “too scattered.” Sun Baolu’s baffled reply? “That’s a lion dance. You don’t have those where you’re from?” The horror of the mundane has arrived.

Reading Guide

This is one of those chapters where the absence of violence does all the heavy lifting. Pay attention to the psychological trap Li Huowang sets for himself. He has irrefutable, cosmic-level proof that the universe is a broken, screaming asylum. But his own isolation is so profound that he considers doubt a viable survival strategy. “Maybe the pretty lie is better than my ugly truth.” That is the real horror of the Heart-Element: you can never trust your own perceptions, so every divine cosmology you hear becomes a potential home you are forbidden to enter.

Also, keep an eye on Sun Baolu. The boy is carrying something that makes him react to a simple question about his clothing with a suicide threat. In a world of flesh buds and gut-churning alchemy, a purely psychological scar hidden under a wrapped coat is a rare, deeply human kind of terror. And finally, brace yourself for the lion dance. In the economy of Dao Gui Yi Xian, a chapter that ends with “oh, that’s not a monster, it’s just a folk tradition” is a chapter that is lying to you.