The Changing of Heaven

Chapter 573: The Changing of Heaven

Since everything was over, it was time for him to get on with his own business. As for making a special trip just to say goodbye—they were all grown men, and Li Huowang didn’t want to be so awkward about it.

“Dad, I’m hungry.” After leaving the Imperial Temple, Li Sui repeated herself.

“Alright, I know. Let’s go eat first. After we’ve eaten, we’ll go rescue your mother.”

“Mm!” Li Sui nodded vigorously, her hair bouncing playfully with the motion. Against her small, delicate face, it looked quite adorable.

“What are you still doing hanging around with these corpses? Come on out. Aren’t you afraid of bad luck?” So saying, Li Huowang reached out to pluck Li Sui’s head off.

“Ah~ No! I don’t want to!” Seven or eight tentacles shot out from inside Li Sui’s clothes, weaving themselves into a basket that firmly guarded the head of Princess Anping.

“Dad, I like this. It’s fun. And besides, now that I look human, people won’t be afraid of me anymore.”

Seeing Li Sui’s resolute attitude, Li Huowang lowered his hand. He didn’t really mind, actually. His only worry was that if this corpse started to rot, stink, and grow maggots, Li Sui might still throw a tantrum and refuse to get rid of it. That would be even scarier.

“But Princess Anping has been dead for so long, and there isn’t even a single liver spot on Li Sui’s face. Could it be that the Black Tai Sui has preservative properties?” Li Huowang studied his daughter’s smooth, fair cheeks, pondering the question to himself.

“HAHAHA~!!” The loud laughter made Li Huowang turn his head with displeasure to look at the Zuowandao hallucination beside him.

“What? Was my conversation with Li Sui just now that funny to you?”

Hearing Li Huowang’s question, the hallucinatory Zuowandao didn’t answer. Instead, he clutched his stomach, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

“Psycho.” Li Huowang ignored him, leading Li Sui toward the palace gates.

But the laughter rang out again. And this time, it was immense. It was vast, so vast it almost enveloped the entire city of Shangjing. In an instant, Heaven and Earth changed, the wind and clouds churned, and the ground began to tremble violently.

“Li Sui, hold on to me!” Li Huowang drew his Purple-Tasseled Sword and drove it deep into the ground, bracing himself against the shaking. This familiar scene made his heart sink.

The situation lasted for a full half hour before it finally began to stabilize.

It was much better than the last time in Great Qi. At least the palaces around him hadn’t collapsed, and he wasn’t standing on the edge of a cliff.

Just then, “HAHAHAHA~!!!” The wildly arrogant laughter sounded again. And this time, Li Huowang noticed its source. It came from the Great Liang Imperial Temple!

“HAHAHAHA!!” Under the disbelieving gaze of Li Huowang and every civil and military official, every eunuch and palace maid, the magnificent Imperial Temple suddenly collapsed. A long human figure rose from the dust, ascending into the sky.

It was the Great Liang Dragon Vein! And at the very top of that Dragon Vein was none other than the newly ascended Gao Zhijian!

He was utterly manic. He burst into the same wild laughter as the Zuowandao hallucination beside Li Huowang.

“What… What the hell is going on!?” Li Huowang tightened his grip on the sword hilt and sprinted toward the Dragon Vein.

“HAHAHA!! You actually thought the Dice Boss, who can calculate Heaven and Earth, would die that easily? HAHAHA! Think about it—what was planted in Gao Zhijian’s brain! HAHAHAHA!” The Zuowandao hallucination finished speaking and burst into frantic laughter.

At these words, Li Huowang’s mind raced. Suddenly, his pupils contracted. Two years ago, when Gao Zhijian had fought the Zuowandao member Erbing, an iron die had been forced into his brain!

Connecting everything that was happening now, Li Huowang’s face twisted with horror. He instantly understood what had happened.

The Dice wasn’t dead! Everything before had been an illusion! Using that die as a medium, he had taken control of Gao Zhijian!

“You think that storyteller’s abacus could beat the Dice Boss? Don’t make me laugh! HAHAHA! He was on the Dice Boss’s chessboard the whole time! He never left it, not even in death! The Dice Boss had already calculated that he would definitely go to save Great Qi! HAHAHA!”

“Aaah~ So satisfying!! Satisfying!! HAHAHA!! I’ve been waiting all this time for this day! The Dice Boss played it so well!! I’m so satisfied I could die! HAHAHAHA!!” In the next moment, the hallucinatory Zuowandao, in the throes of his mad laughter, slowly faded away.

Li Huowang’s breathing grew heavy. His eyes reddened as he charged toward the Dragon Vein ahead, shouting at the top of his lungs. “Zhijian! Wake up! Wake up! You’re not the Dice! You’re Gao Zhijian!”

But at this moment, Gao Zhijian didn’t seem to notice Li Huowang running toward him at all. Instead, he was pointing ecstatically at the darkening sky and shouting.

“Yin-Yang Doumu!! You old fart! HAHAHA!! Never thought I’d pull this shit, did you? You wanted to make me your Heart-Pan! That’s a nice dream you had! I control my own fate, not Heaven!”

“Now that I’ve got the Mandate of the Human Sovereign on my side, what can you do to me? What’s so great about you anyway? You were just luckier at the start, weren’t you?”

“If you can do it, why can’t I! Stand up straight and watch closely! The Great Change is near! This old man is going to make Heaven itself change!”

Gao Zhijian, dragging the chain of emperors from past dynasties behind him, slowly rose into the air. He twisted and coiled like a true dragon, and the roars of dragons echoed from the mouths of those dead emperors.

“Well? Doumu, you turtle-son bitch! I tricked you and cursed you! You can’t do a damn thing about it now! Your true body can’t get in here~ You must be dying of holding it in, huh? Hehehe, keep holding it~ Hope it chokes the life out of you!”

“You’re out of moves now! All the Zuowandao have been killed! You can’t find a new Heart-Pan! So when that thing from over there arrives, you’ll just have to sit there and wait to die! HAHAHA!”

“Don’t worry! When that happens, I’ll be right here waiting! And to show my respect for you, I’ll kick you while you’re down and snatch your Heavenly Dao!”

“Gao Zhijian! Wake up!!” Li Huowang, his body engulfed in flames, was hurled high into the air by Peng Longteng, thrown toward the Dragon Vein.

But this time, before Li Huowang could even get close, a dragon’s roar rang out, and the flames on his body were instantly extinguished.

A golden chain lashed out, a blur of afterimages. Li Huowang’s body tried to phase-shift, but he found that his displacement ability was useless against the Dragon Vein!

The sound of cracking bones filled the air. Li Huowang was sent flying. Just before he hit the ground, Li Sui lunged and caught him securely with her tentacles.

“Dad, are you okay!”

Spitting blood, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and stood up, shoving Li Sui away. “Run! It’s dangerous here!”

“Dad! I’m not leaving! I want to help you!” For the first time, Li Sui disobeyed his order.

Li Huowang was about to say something else when the sky darkened instantly. He looked up slowly. The entire Great Liang Dragon Vein was writhing and twisting, forming a massive coiling dragon that blotted out the entire sky before his eyes.

And there, hanging upside down only a few yards away from him, was Gao Zhijian, his features horribly twisted.