Enough Secrets for Another Secret

Underneath the freezing, pitch-black deep pool, after the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, Li Huowang’s face was flushed crimson, and it was turning towards a deep purple.

But the descent continued, as if the deep pool had no bottom.

He glanced worriedly at Li Sui beside him, and found that compared to himself, she seemed entirely at ease, showing no signs of discomfort. Her tentacles writhed in the water, swimming with the casual freedom of a fish.

“Brother Li, hold on! We’re almost there!” Zhuge Yuan called out, peering around, trying to find something in the darkness.

Just as Li Huowang was about to reach his limit, a temple swaying with the currents appeared to his left.

“There!”

Li Sui wrapped her arms around Li Huowang, her tentacles pushing back simultaneously, carrying him swiftly towards the temple.

When Li Huowang crashed into the temple, the entire structure swayed and dissolved, revealing a black hole before him.

He dropped the stone in his arms and dove into the black hole. The next moment, Li Huowang burst out from a spring, gasping for air. Inside the cave was an inverted hollow, filled with air.

“Cough, cough—” Li Huowang coughed violently, spitting out the spring water. He swam to the edge and climbed out.

Without pausing to rest, he raised the glowing fluorescent stone high, drenched, and looked around the cavern. But he saw nothing—only a stretch of gray rock wall.

“Brother Li, turn around.”

Li Huowang spun around and saw the ripples in the spring he had just exited slowly coalesce into his own reflection.

“That’s not my reflection!” Li Huowang’s heart tightened as a chill ran down his neck.

The Li Huowang in the water was wearing a red Daoist robe and a copper coin mask, but his coloring looked strange. If he had to describe it, it was like a humanoid sancai glazed figurine.

“Throw a stone in.” Li Huowang complied.

As the ripples spread again, a crack sounded. The Li Huowang in the water split open from the brow. As the fissures spread across his entire body, a third eye burrowed out from the center of his brow.

Is this the Supreme Guankou? Li Huowang was stunned.

Before he could speak, he saw that third eye say something to him. “Zu mi yi yi mi.”

“Enough secrets for another secret.” Li Huowang understood the meaning of this sensation immediately.

The Supreme Guankou required nothing else—it only needed more secrets. As long as the secrets were sufficient, it would trade any secret in return, even the whereabouts of the Dice!

There was no need to be discreet within Great Qi. Li Huowang spoke directly to the Supreme Guankou in the water. “I am a Heart-Element!”

As soon as he said this, the cracks on the Supreme Guankou’s body healed a small part, but still not completely.

“It works!” Li Huowang’s spirits lifted. He continued speaking. “I’m not from this world. I actually traveled here!”

But this time, the cracks on the Supreme Guankou showed no change at all. Instead, that third eye stared at him with a strange expression.

“What? That doesn’t even count as a secret?” Just as Li Huowang was about to blurt out more, Zhuge Yuan walked over.

“Brother Li, don’t worry. Let me handle this.”

Li Huowang looked at him with a complicated expression. “I already owe you so many favors. I didn’t expect to owe you even more after your death. I’m afraid I’ll never be able to repay them in this lifetime.”

“Brother Li, saying that makes it sound like we’re strangers. Was our sworn brotherhood a lie?”

Hearing this, Li Huowang didn’t waste any more time. He was about to risk his life once more to Cultivate Zhuge Yuan into reality.

“Brother Li, no need. Just bring this fan of mine from illusion to reality. I borrowed a bit of blood from General Peng’s neck and already wrote it down.” Zhuge Yuan handed his fan to Li Huowang.

“Just the fan is enough?” Li Huowang was taken aback, but he immediately did as he was told.

What surprised him, however, was that even though it was just bringing a single fan from illusion to reality, the process drained nearly all his strength.

Seeing Zhuge Yuan’s folding fan become real and fall to the ground, Li Huowang, sweating on his forehead, bent down and picked it up.

Holding the closed fan in his hand, an uncontrollable thought surfaced in his mind. Just how massive a secret must be written here to have taken so much out of me?

Thinking this, Li Huowang had just opened the first fold when he saw a large character on the first line, and a si character on the second. Before he could read further, Zhuge Yuan hastily called out to stop him. “Brother Li! Don’t look!”

Seeing Li Huowang turn to him, Zhuge Yuan let out a breath of relief. “Brother Li, it’s not that I don’t want you to see, but anything involving a Siming comes with karmic consequences. Even the secret of a Siming carries such power?”

Astounded, Li Huowang decisively closed the fan, afraid to look any further. He already had enough trouble; he couldn’t add any more.

As Li Huowang threw the fan into the water, the cracks on the Supreme Guankou healed rapidly.

When all the fissures had closed, everything returned to calm. Li Huowang’s true reflection reappeared in the water. The only difference was that the Li Huowang in the water now had a third eye in the center of his forehead.

“Brother Li, if one day you wish to know the Dice’s location, just reach into the water, pull out that eye, and press it to your own brow.”

“Is this the secret the Supreme Guankou returned to me?” Li Huowang couldn’t help but feel excitement rising within him. Finally, finally, he held a card to play against the Dice!

It was far from enough, but at this moment, Li Huowang could finally see a glimmer of hope.

“Let’s go, Li Sui! Out of the water!” Li Huowang eagerly dove back into the water.

Although he could use the Spine Sword to return directly to Great Liang, heaven knows what was on the other side over there at such a depth. If it was all dirt, he might be buried alive the moment he crossed over.

With a splash, the bone-chilling pool water enveloped Li Huowang’s entire body. He took a deep breath and, with Li Sui, plunged deep beneath the surface.

Now, his mind was entirely occupied with how to use this hard-won trump card to defeat the Dice.

“First, the Dice’s location has been found. Next, I need to find allies who can fight him—people capable of defeating the Dice.”

“My first choice is certainly the Astral Supervisor, the head of the Supervisory Heavenly Office. But if I say I know where the Dice’s true body is, will he believe me?”

“Right! There’s also the State Preceptor! The ones who fought the Four Dice back then—they all have a grudge against him.”

As Li Huowang was mulling over this question, a streak of white drifted past his face.

“What was that!” He instinctively tightened his grip on his sword hilt and turned to look, only to find that it was the fan he had just thrown into the water! And the fan was now fully open, facing him!