A Way Out

1,307 words

Days had passed. Whatever earth-shattering events had occurred before, Li Huowang had managed to calm himself down once more.

He stood by the window, his face dark and gloomy as he silently stared at the Zuowandao floating in the air in the distance.

Across the way, that faceless, eyeless Zuowandao sat perched on Peng Longteng's shoulder, a half-smile playing on its nonexistent lips as it stared right back at Li Huowang.

"There's no point in getting worked up. It's just a hallucination, nothing special. It's not the first one. Too many debts, no worries; too many lice, no itch." Li Huowang comforted himself inwardly.

"Given his personality, he's bound to mess with me later. But since I know this bastard's a liar, as long as I treat everything he says like a fart in the wind, he won't be able to affect me."

"Is that really the case? Are you so sure?" The Zuowandao raised a hand, examining its own palm. "All of us lot hanging out in your divine awareness... that's a big fucking problem, wouldn't you say~"

"And right now it's four. Before you know it, it'll be more than forty~"

Li Huowang pretended he couldn't see or hear a thing, holding onto the wall as he slowly shuffled toward the table.

"Come on, talk. Why'd you stop?"

Just as the Zuowandao was still pestering him, the monk stepped in to block him. "Hey, stop bothering the Taoist, will you? Can't you see he's feeling awful inside?"

"Oh? And who might you be, great master?"

"I'm no great master. I'm a monk. What's your name?"

"What's my name?" The Zuowandao looked at Li Huowang's back, another sneer curling onto its face. "My name's Red Center."

Li Huowang turned his head and shot it a cold glare. "You call yourself Red Center? Looks to me like you've gone crazy wanting to be Red Center."

Just then, with a creak, the door suddenly opened, and Bai Lingmiao walked in carrying a tray of food.

When she saw Li Huowang shuffling along the wall, her face filled with alarm. She quickly set down the food and rushed over to support him. "Senior Brother Li! Your injuries haven't healed yet! Don't go running around!"

After settling him at the table and fretting over him for a good while, Bai Lingmiao picked up a bowl of oily chicken soup, scooped up a spoonful, brought it to her lips, gently blew on it, and then lifted it toward Li Huowang's mouth.

"I'm injured, not crippled."

Li Huowang reached out, took the spoon and the bowl from her, and began gulping it down noisily.

One drank, one watched. The room was unusually quiet for a moment.

"Miaomiao, that immortal of yours finally came in handy this time. Being able to pull me back from the gates of hell—looks like keeping you by my side was the right call. How many of those Life-Span Pills from the gourd did they take?"

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Senior Brother Li, actually, the immortals..."

Before she could finish, a woman's hand with long, black-painted fingernails landed on Bai Lingmiao's shoulder.

The spoon in Li Huowang's hand paused. When he saw that the hand belonged to Bai Lingmiao's Great Spirit, he resumed drinking. "Something wrong?"

As far as Li Huowang knew, seeing the Great Spirit appear in broad daylight was extremely rare. If he remembered correctly, this was the first time it had ever happened.

Under his watchful gaze, the Great Spirit's head, covered by that red bridal veil, slowly lowered until it enveloped the startled Bai Lingmiao.

Watching the red veil now tented over two heads, Li Huowang's face showed a hint of confusion. He strained his keen hearing, trying to catch what the two women were whispering about under there.

But aside from some faint rustling sounds, he couldn't make out anything.

"What the hell are they up to? Pressed that close together, they might as well be glued on. Do they have something they need to hide from me?"

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Bai Lingmiao's hand grabbed a corner of the red veil and pulled it away. Beneath it, there was only her head.

"Heh. Tell the Great Spirit for me that was a pretty good magic trick." Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks and started eating the remaining dishes.

Bai Lingmiao looked a bit unnatural. Her smile was strained.

"Everything alright? What did she just say to you?" Li Huowang asked as he chewed.

"It's nothing, nothing at all."

"Then eat. Don't just stand there staring."

She definitely wouldn't tell him if he asked directly. He'd have to find time to ask Chun Xiaoman, Bai Lingmiao's closest friend.

Just as Li Huowang was thinking this, Bai Lingmiao's eyes suddenly went wide, and she pointed at his nose. "Senior Brother Li! Inside your nose..."

Puzzled, Li Huowang reached up and touched it, instantly feeling a writhing, mucus-covered little tentacle.

But he showed no panic at all. With a light pinch of his fingernail, the tentacle quickly retracted back inside.

"Senior Brother Li, I've been meaning to say this for a while—that thing you ate before, it's really not right! Let's get it out of you."

Any normal person, seeing what just happened, would know there was something wrong with Li Huowang's body. Something seriously wrong.

Without a moment's hesitation, Li Huowang's reply was absolute. "No."

Seeing the hurt look on Bai Lingmiao's face, Li Huowang took a deep breath and softened his tone. "I can handle it. It's a small problem."

Li Huowang knew perfectly well that the Black Tai Sui inside him had undergone some new change, and it was very likely a change for the worse.

But even so, he couldn't stop taking the Black Tai Sui. To block out the hallucinations, he would endure any side effect, no matter how severe.

And compared to everything else, the Black Tai Sui in his belly was indeed a small problem.

Li Huowang used his hand—the one missing its fingernails—to gently pat the back of Bai Lingmiao's soft hand. "There there. Eat. It's nothing."

Bai Lingmiao wanted to say something but couldn't get the words out. Her face full of worry, she picked up her chopsticks again and ate mechanically, unable to taste a thing.

After the meal, Li Huowang lay back down on the bed. According to Bai Lingmiao, what he needed now was rest.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. But Li Huowang had a problem hanging over his head, and his mind couldn't find any peace.

"Let's talk." Li Huowang abruptly said to the ceiling beam above him.

"Red Center, is he talking to you?" The monk, whose body was half-stuck in the wall, asked in surprise.

Red Center shook its mangled, bloody head. "No. He's talking to the Black Tai Sui in his belly. Heh, now this is fucking interesting."

Li Huowang completely ignored the conversation between his two hallucinations, silently waiting for a response from the other party.

Even though he couldn't stop consuming the Black Tai Sui, he still had to find a way to deal with the situation. At the very least, he needed to find some way to slow down the side effects.

From the fact that it had saved his life earlier, maybe communication could actually work.

But whenever he didn't need it to appear, it was always showing up. Now that Li Huowang was actively seeking it out, it didn't make a single sound.

Suddenly, an idea struck Li Huowang. He reached into his own ear canal, hooked a finger, and pulled. Out came a thick wad of cotton batting that had been stuffed in there.

In an instant, Li Huowang's ears were nearly deafened by a cacophony of sounds.

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Reading Guide Decoding

Quiet Horrors: The Body Keeps Score

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Red Center (红中, Hongzhong): This is the name of the "Red Middle" tile from the classic Chinese tile game Mahjong. In the novel, it's a perfect name for a Zuowandao—a liar who wears borrowed identities like costumes. The Zuowandao's choice of this alias is a deliberate mockery: it's a name from a game, a symbol of luck and chance, which fits their philosophy of treating life as a performance to be rigged. For Western readers unfamiliar with Mahjong, think of it as the Zuowandao equivalent of a joker card wearing a tuxedo and laughing at the table.

Black Tai Sui (黑太岁): We've encountered this before, but its new behavior is worth highlighting. The Black Tai Sui is no longer just a passive parasite inside Li Huowang; it's developing agency. The tentacle emerging from his nose suggests a growing symbiosis—or parasitism. In Chinese folk religion, Tai Sui is traditionally a star deity associated with the passage of time and annual fortune. Inverting this sacred figure into a writhing, organic entity that lives inside someone is a classic Dao Gui Yi Xian move: taking something holy and making it viscerally, horribly alive.

The Great Spirit's Silence: The Second Spirit's intervention by covering Bai Lingmiao under the bridal veil is a fascinating supernatural detail. In Chinese spirit-medium traditions, the veil is often a tool of transition—a barrier between the mortal and the spiritual. That the Great Spirit uses it to physically shield Bai Lingmiao from Li Huowang's perception hints at a power dynamic even Bai Lingmiao may not fully control. The spirits have their own agenda, and they're not shy about keeping secrets from the "master."

Chapter Overview

Our boy is back to his old tricks: compartmentalizing horror like it's a day job. The dust has settled from the last catastrophe, and Li Huowang is trying to convince himself—and everyone else—that he's fine. But his body isn't cooperating. Between a floating Zuowandao hallucination that won't shut up, a monk half-stuck in a wall, and a Black Tai Sui tentacle casually poking out of his nose like it owns the place, "fine" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Bai Lingmiao is worried sick, the Great Spirit is hiding secrets under a wedding veil, and Li Huowang's own belly is becoming a battleground. This chapter is a masterclass in atmospheric dread—no monsters attacking, just the quiet, gnawing horror of a protagonist realizing the enemy might already be inside him.

Key Plot Points

The Persistent Hallucination: A Zuowandao (calling itself "Red Center") has taken up permanent residence in Li Huowang's field of vision, floating on Peng Longteng's shoulder and mocking him. Li Huowang resolves to treat everything it says as meaningless noise, but its mere presence is a psychological weight.
The Great Spirit's Secret: During a quiet meal, Bai Lingmiao tries to tell Li Huowang something about the immortals, but her Great Spirit (the veiled Second Spirit) stops her by physically covering her under the red veil. When the veil drops, Bai Lingmiao's expression is strained, and she refuses to say what was discussed. Li Huowang decides to ask Chun Xiaoman later.
The Black Tai Sui Mutation: Li Huowang casually pulls a slimy, writhing tentacle from his own nose—a clear sign that the Black Tai Sui inside him is changing. Bai Lingmiao begs him to get rid of it, but Li Huowang refuses without hesitation. The hallucination-suppressing benefits of the Black Tai Sui outweigh the body horror, in his cold calculation.
A Failed Attempt at Communication: After the meal, Li Huowang tries to call out to the Black Tai Sui directly, hoping to negotiate or at least understand its intentions. It doesn't respond. In a final gambit, he removes the cotton batting from his ears—letting the full sensory noise of the world flood in—an act that signals either a desperate new strategy or a resignation to madness.

Reading Guide

This chapter is a slow burn of dread disguised as a recovery scene. Pay close attention to Li Huowang's internal calculus: he's not in denial about the Black Tai Sui's danger; he's making a conscious, cold-blooded choice to keep it because the alternative (unfiltered hallucinations) is worse. That's the kind of moral calculus that makes Dao Gui Yi Xian so compelling—there is no clean option, only degrees of horror.

Also, keep an eye on the Zuowandao hallucination. It's not just background noise. Every word it says is a psychological pressure test, probing Li Huowang's defenses. And the final image—Li Huowang pulling the cotton from his ears, letting the world scream back in—is a powerful metaphor. He's not trying to silence his madness anymore. He's trying to listen to it. And that's either a breakthrough or a breakdown.