Void Nian

1,295 words

Chapter 638: Void Nian

Li Huowang dared not let his guard down, especially when any one of these attacks could be the Void Nian's strike.

Facing the Void Nian, Li Huowang knew he had to get serious. He had already eaten all the Yang Life Pills in his gourd. If the Void Nian touched him again, he was afraid he'd die of old age on the spot.

As the attacks from all directions grew denser, a scrape sounded—a fire sickle sliced across Li Huowang's skin. A towering flame instantly illuminated everything around him, and some things in the darkness swiftly dissolved under the fire's light.

When Li Huowang saw the Void Nian standing still, with red afterimages beginning to emerge around its body, even though he had just sacrificed his skin to Bashe in exchange for power, he still felt his scalp tighten.

Back then, the Void Nian had used this very move to subdue the Grand Liang Dragon Vein alongside him!

"No! Can't let it finish!" Li Huowang's flaming feet kicked off the ground, charging toward the Void Nian.

In the flickering firelight, shadows leaped from the stalactite cast onto the ground, lunging at Li Huowang. But before they could even make contact, they burst into flames and tumbled to the earth.

Seeing the Void Nian not far away, Li Huowang yanked out the bone sword and slashed hard at it. A rift shot forward.

Just as the rift was about to cut into the woman on the Void Nian's back, the ground beneath the creature suddenly collapsed. Dropping a full body length, it dodged the attack.

By the time the Void Nian climbed out of the pit, still carrying that never-fading red afterimage, the tide of battle had begun to turn.

Li Huowang dared not let the Void Nian's afterimage touch him. He didn't want either time reversal or bodily aging. He retreated, counterattacking with the bone sword.

The real trouble was that the red afterimages around the Void Nian didn't disappear. They kept occupying more and more space in the cavern, forcing Li Huowang to fall back step by step.

But a turning point soon arrived. Shwish! A black-bladed long-bladed saber shot in on a chain, stabbing directly into the Void Nian's scales.

The chain went taut, and a figure was dragged flying into the cavern from outside.

Seeing the figure getting closer to the Void Nian, Li Huowang shouted urgently, "Watch out! You can't get close to that thing!"

Clang! Another long-bladed saber stabbed deep into the ground, and the figure came to a steady halt three zhang from the Void Nian.

Now Li Huowang could see the person's appearance. To his surprise, it wasn't the bald man with the crescent-bladed staff he had met before.

This man wore tattered black armor, looking like a soldier. He seemed young, but appeared to have been through a lot—his stubbly face was lined with hardship.

"Kill the Fa Sect believer riding on that thing's back!" Li Huowang shouted at the man.

The black-armored man glanced at the purple-tasseled sword on Li Huowang's back. He flicked both wrists, and both the saber stuck in the Void Nian's back and the one in the ground retracted simultaneously, sliding neatly back into the sheaths on his back. "Give me the Tai'a Sword!"

Before Li Huowang could figure out what this "Tai'a Sword" business was, the Void Nian was already charging at them again.

Backpedaling quickly, Li Huowang yelled at the other armored man, "Find a way to pin it down! I'll deal with the problem!"

Hearing this, the black-armored man stomped his feet, executed a backflip, and flung his arms backward. With a sweep of his cape, the four long-bladed sabers on his back flew in unison toward the Void Nian.

The moment he saw the Void Nian's four hooves tangled in chains, Li Huowang seized the opportunity and sent a rift straight at the witch-faced woman on its back.

Seeing her about to dodge, Li Huowang pulled out a rib and stabbed it into his own chest. In an instant, everyone near him shared the burning pain from his body.

The next moment, the woman's head was carried away to the Great Qi by the rift. At the same time, the red afterimages around the Void Nian gradually faded.

Clatter! A chain whipped over from the armored man, wrapping around the hilt of Li Huowang's purple-tasseled sword. He yanked it free and hurled it at the hole in the Void Nian's head.

"Wait!" Li Huowang vanished and reappeared in midair, a zhang away. Li Sui's tentacles shot out, wrapping tightly around the purple-tasseled sword.

"Don't kill it! This thing is a friend of a friend! It was just being controlled by someone else! It didn't mean to fight us!" Li Huowang explained the situation to the black-armored man.

Hearing this, the man glanced again at the now-still Void Nian. He pulled back abruptly, and the four sabers entangling the creature flew back to him, re-sheathing behind his shoulders.

Freed, the Void Nian swiftly turned and vanished into the darkness. After a moment, it returned—but now a woman's face was on its neck.

The face was still broken. Beneath the wound, like the pages of a book, some tattered writing was visible. This time, Li Huowang recognized it. It was Zhuge Yuan's handwriting.

"Is it you?" the Void Nian stared at Li Huowang and asked.

Li Huowang looked at her, his expression complex. He seemed to want to explain something, but his mouth felt as heavy as a thousand jin.

"No. It's not you. You're gone." The Void Nian shook its head in utter disappointment. It backed up a few steps, then bolted toward the cave entrance, startling the bald, bearded man running in, who hurriedly raised his crescent-bladed staff.

Li Huowang started to chase after it but was pulled back from behind. Turning his head, he saw Li Sui locked in a tug-of-war with someone. "Li Sui, let go!"

"No! This person is trying to take our sword! It's ours! I won't give it to him!" Li Sui said, enduring the pain of the burns.

Between them, a chain on one side and a tentacle on the other had the purple-tasseled sword suspended taut in midair.

Hearing this, Li Huowang shifted his thoughts from the Void Nian to the black-armored man before him.

"Brother, could you return the sword to me?" Li Huowang's flames gradually died out, leaving his body charred black.

"Return it to you? On what grounds! This is my sword!" You Zixiong's bloodshot eyes glared at this strange, evil-looking cultivator as he roared.

"Zixiong, Lord Er, we're all on the same side here. No need for this. Let's talk it out." The bald, bearded man stepped between them, trying to smooth things over.

Li Huowang didn't want to get into a real fight either, especially since this man had just helped him. "Brother, I'm not a petty person. If it were anything else, I'd let it go. But this sword, I absolutely cannot give it to you. It's a keepsake from an elder of mine."

"Elder? Who?"

"Anci Nunnery. Abbess Jingxin."

Upon hearing this, You Zixiong's eyes flickered. The chain binding the purple-tasseled sword loosened and retracted under his cloak.

Seeing this reaction, suspicion rose in Li Huowang's heart. "What? Do you know Abbess Jingxin too?"

"No. But I'm from the Four Qi. My sword was indeed pawned to the nuns of Anci Nunnery. Since the Four Qi has already fallen, I suppose they couldn't trade it at the Ministry of Revenue for cash, could they? Heh heh…"

The black-armored man, who had been bristling with killing intent moments ago, seemed to have lost all his spirit, slumping into profound dejection.

—

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Reading Guide Decoding

A Desperate Cave Duel and the Weight of a Fallen Kingdom

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Void Nian (虚年): A corrupted form of the legendary Nian beast. In Chinese folklore, the Nian is a monster that emerges at the end of the year, famously scared off by loud noises, fire, and the color red. Here, the concept is twisted: "Void" suggests an absence or corruption of time itself, making this creature an ontological hazard rather than a seasonal pest. Its ability to reverse or accelerate aging through red afterimages is a terrifying reimagining of the Nian's original power.

Yang Life Pills (阳寿丹): A staple resource in xianxia, these pills extend a cultivator's natural lifespan. In Dao Gui Yi Xian, however, they are not a luxury item—they are a tactical necessity. Li Huowang's panic upon running out is not greed; it's a very real fear of being aged to death in seconds by a touch from the Void Nian. The scarcity of these pills serves as a constant reminder that every encounter carries a permanent, biological cost.

Fa Sect (法教) and the Wu Minister (巫臣): The Fa Sect is a secretive, brutal cult in this novel's universe, often associated with mind control and grotesque sacrifices. The "Wu Minister" is a high-ranking vassal of this sect, suggesting the woman riding the Void Nian was not just a random cultist but a significant operative. Her decapitation breaks the possession, but the implication that the Fa Sect has access to such powerful corrupted beasts is deeply unsettling.

Tai'a Sword (泰阿剑): This is not just a fancy name. The Tai'a Sword is one of the legendary Ten Famous Swords of ancient China, historically associated with the state of Chu and later the Qin dynasty. In this novel, its invocation as a "keepsake from Anci Nunnery" links it not to imperial conquest but to a fallen kingdom (the Four Qi) and a defunct institution, lending it a weight of tragic history rather than raw power.

Chapter Overview

Fellow Daoists, strap in. Chapter 638, "Void Nian," delivers exactly the kind of high-stakes, body-horror boss fight that makes Dao Gui Yi Xian so gloriously unhinged. Li Huowang, fresh out of Yang Life Pills and running on fumes—or rather, on sacrificed skin—is locked in a desperate duel with the Void Nian. This isn't just any beast; it's the same corrupted creature that helped him pin down the Grand Liang Dragon Vein. The stakes are brutally simple: one touch from those red afterimages, and Li Huowang either ages to dust or gets his personal timeline reversed into goo. But the chapter isn't just a punch-up. A mysterious soldier in black armor crashes the party, a familiar face from the past shows up wearing a woman's face like a lost book cover, and a sword dispute threatens to turn allies into enemies. It's a masterclass in pacing—claustrophobic cave brawls, tactical self-mutilation, and a gut-punch of melancholic recognition that leaves you aching for what was lost.

Key Plot Points

Li Huowang, having exhausted his Yang Life Pills, is forced into a desperate fight against the Void Nian. He sacrifices his skin to Bashe for fire power, but the creature's red afterimages—capable of temporal manipulation—push him onto the back foot.
The tide turns when a black-armored soldier, You Zixiong, intervenes with his signature chain-saber technique. After a coordinated effort, Li Huowang severs the head of the Fa Sect witch controlling the Void Nian, breaking its mind-control.
Freed from possession, the Void Nian reveals a mutilated woman's face bearing Zhuge Yuan's handwriting. It asks Li Huowang a heartbreaking question—"Is it you?"—and leaves in despair when he cannot answer.
A tense standoff erupts over the purple-tasseled sword. You Zixiong claims it as his own, but Li Huowang identifies it as a keepsake from Abbess Jingxin of Anci Nunnery. You Zixiong relents, but only after revealing he is a displaced survivor from the fallen Four Qi kingdom.

Reading Guide

This chapter exemplifies what makes Dao Gui Yi Xian a hit for cultivators of the weird and grim. If you're here for smooth, clean power-ups, you're in the wrong cave. Li Huowang's victory is ugly, costly, and leaves him charred. The real punch comes from the emotional fallout: the Void Nian's desperate search for Zhuge Yuan, its utter disappointment at finding only a shadow, and the soldier's defeated confession that he has no home to return to. Pay attention to the small details—Li Sui's possessive tug-of-war over the sword, the way the black-armored soldier's aggression immediately deflates upon hearing the nunnery's name. These moments build a world where even fights are heavy with grief. Also, keep an eye on that half-broken face writing: the connection between the Void Nian, the fallen scholar Zhuge Yuan, and the ruins of the Four Qi kingdom is a lore thread that will likely unravel in later chapters. Get ready for more pain, fellow Daoists.

The Weight of the Fallen Kingdom

The Four Qi kingdom is a recurring ghost in this novel's machinery. Its fall left behind orphans like You Zixiong—soldiers with no war, swords with no master. The fact that he pawned his sword to a nunnery, and that the nunnery is now also defunct, paints a grim picture of a world where institutions crumble faster than people. This isn't just world-building for flavor; it's a direct challenge to the protagonist's moral compass. Li Huowang keeps bumping into the debris of this lost state, and each encounter asks him: "What are you even fighting for, when everything you touch turns into ruin?"