The Great Qi

Chapter 555: The Great Qi

The Great Qi had completely changed. Following Zhuge Yuan's guidance, Li Huowang moved quickly through the rugged mountains, searching for the second Upper-Stage Filling Gate.

This place had once been a mountain, but now it had split in two, turning from a peak into a valley. Earthen spikes of various sizes jutted out haphazardly from the cliff faces on either side, looking like the fangs of some giant beast.

Li Huowang had thought he was close, but it seemed that the earlier turmoil of the world had completely altered the feng shui patterns of the entire Great Qi. Zhuge Yuan needed to reassess the geomantic currents, re-examine the waterways, and study the mountains.

The only thing Li Huowang could be grateful for was that, without the Heavenly Calamity, the journey so far had been relatively easy, free from any danger.

"Brother Li, let's rest for a while. The Upper-Stage Filling Gate requires a specific time of day to align, so we need to wait for the right hour."

Hearing this, Li Huowang led Li Sui over to sit in the shade of a tree. He pulled out some dry rations and began to eat, taking large gulps from his gourd.

"Dad, I don't like this. I want meat."

"Don't be picky. Eat what you're given. This isn't the time to be fussy."

Just as he finished saying this, Li Huowang's brow furrowed slightly as he looked towards the forest on his left. There was movement over there.

His hand went to the hilt of his sword as a grimy, tattered little girl crawled out from among the trees.

She looked to be only four or five years old. Mud, snot, and two deep tear tracks were caked onto her dirty face, and her padded jacket was ripped to shreds.

The little girl staggered over to Li Huowang, grabbed the edge of his robe where his torture implements were hanging, and tried to drag him towards the woods.

Her grip slipped, and she stumbled, falling to the ground.

Lying face down, her mouth opened and closed. The expression on her face suggested she was crying, but no sound came out. She had apparently already cried herself hoarse.

Li Huowang walked over and helped her up. Then, letting her pull him along, he followed her into the woods.

The sparse forest wasn't large, and Li Huowang soon arrived at the foot of the mountain under her guidance.

He saw the little girl throw herself forward, desperately tugging at a hand that was pinned beneath the mountain, a silver bracelet still around its wrist. Li Huowang immediately understood why she had brought him here.

It wasn't just a single house. Judging by the traces all around, there had once been a village here. When the mountain had split in two, it had collapsed right onto the whole village. This little girl was the only survivor.

The girl ran back to Li Huowang, pointed at the arm trapped beneath the rock, and grabbed hold of his red Daoist robe, shaking it frantically.

Li Huowang's chest felt tight. There was little in this world that he feared, but he found it hard to face the desperation and hope in this child's eyes.

He had actually been deliberately avoiding it, avoiding thinking about it, avoiding contemplating the immense suffering the people of the Great Qi were enduring under this Heavenly Calamity.

But now that this scene was laid bare before him, Li Huowang suddenly realized the full scope of the human tragedy unfolding in the world of the Great Qi.

This was just one small example. Things far worse and far greater were likely a common sight out there.

Li Huowang bent down and picked up the little girl, silently asking Zhuge Yuan in his heart, "Brother Zhuge, will your old methods still work? This Great Qi... can it still be saved?"

With his back to Li Huowang, Zhuge Yuan let out a deep sigh. He said nothing.

Li Huowang looked down at the girl in his arms again. He set her down on the ground. He couldn't save everyone, but this one child he wanted to try.

Just as she started running back towards the trapped arm, Li Huowang gripped his spine-bone sword and swung it with force. A wide rift opened up and instantly swallowed her.

"Brother Li, it's useless. She is ultimately a person of the Great Qi; she cannot go to the Great Liang." Zhuge Yuan's words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Li Huowang's head.

"Why? I can come here; why can't she go to the Great Liang?" Li Huowang felt a fierce unwillingness to leave a living person behind in this hell on earth.

"I told you before. It's because, in the end, the Great Qi is the real one, and the Great Liang is the fake one. So, the Great Liang can come to the Great Qi, but the Great Qi cannot go to the Great Liang."

Li Huowang clenched his spine-bone sword. He swung forward and cut directly back into the Great Liang, bringing the little girl back with him.

But after returning, he found himself frozen, unsure of what to do next.

Find a good home for the child? In this Great Qi, who could even say how many living people were left, let alone who would want to take on a burden like her?

Take her with him? But once he found the Upper-Stage Filling Gate, he would have to return to the Great Liang.

"It's useless, Chief Hong Zhong. You can't save her. Just throw her away. Who knows how many whelps like this there are in the Great Qi? You can't save them all," the Zuowandao member said, trying to persuade him.

As soon as he said this, the monk and Foothold Gold took a menacing step forward.

"Maybe... I could turn her into a hallucination and keep her by my side?" Li Huowang was startled by his own thought.

"No! That's too risky. How could I even think that? What if she doesn't become a hallucination and just ends up dead!"

Finally, Zhuge Yuan proposed a solution. "Brother Li, draw a talisman according to my instructions. I will summon a friend of mine to come and take her away. There's a chance she might survive."

"In this situation, are you sure your friend is still alive?" Li Huowang asked.

"He is still alive." Zhuge Yuan's answer was matter-of-fact.

"Alright, I'll do as you say." Li Huowang immediately complied. As the golden glowing talisman was pressed onto the little girl's body, she immediately stopped crying and struggling, becoming as still and unresponsive as a wooden doll.

Li Huowang raised his spine-bone sword and cut a gap into the mountain, tucking her inside. After placing his remaining rations and fresh water in with her, he looked at the child in the crevice of the rock, let out a sigh, then turned and sped away, continuing on his way.

This time, the Upper-Stage Filling Gate was found in a cracked Earth God Temple. The statues of the Earth God and Earth Goddess should have been there, but now they had merged into one strange clay sculpture with a single, enormous eye.

Though he had found his target, Li Huowang couldn't bring himself to feel any joy.

"Zu mi huan yi mi."

Hearing this familiar voice, Li Huowang turned to look at Shangguan Yuting, who had been following him.

"Elder Er, truly impressive. You managed to find me even in a place as secluded as this. If I had come here alone, I certainly would have missed it."

Shangguan Yuting, her face wreathed in a beaming smile, bowed to Li Huowang and then walked gracefully towards the Upper-Stage Filling Gate. As if descending a staircase, she stepped, one foot after another, into the shadow cast by the gate.

Just as Li Huowang thought everything was over, the clay statue suddenly cracked, a clear difference from last time.

And from the black shadow on the ground that Shangguan Yuting had just walked into, a series of obscure, incomprehensible sounds began to emanate.