The Vanished Heavens

High Wisdom was not the only one in the Capital; the Supervisory Heavenly Office was also here.

It seemed that many people had died this time, and the Capital had been thrown into chaos, but even more of the Fa Sect’s followers had perished.

After this purge, the hidden abscesses had all burst. Though it was terrifying, the Great Liang’s Fa Sect probably couldn’t amount to much anymore.

No matter how Li Huowang thought about it, he couldn’t figure out their objective.

“And… wasn’t there supposed to be a Heavenly Calamity? Where is it? Which Heavenly Law changed? Why don’t I feel anything?”

Just as Li Huowang was thinking this, the city wall beside him emitted a faint trembling sound.

When he raised his head to look at the wall, a single blue brick fell down with the tremor, followed by a second, then a third.

The next moment, the entire wall split open. A massive stone statue, over ten zhang tall with a tiger’s head, squeezed in from outside.

The instant it breached the city gate, the entire statue slammed itself into the ground. A cloud of yellow smoke surged out from beneath its base, spreading rapidly in all directions.

Anything that touched the yellow smoke instantly petrified, turning into stone sculptures.

Whether it was a living person or the black smoke swaying from a flame.

Just as the yellow smoke was about to engulf the entire Capital, a sound rang out from deep within the Imperial City.

“……”

With the sound, the yellow smoke inexplicably collapsed inward at that point, piling up on the spot, unable to spread any further.

Just as Li Huowang thought the Sitian Jian’s method was holding it back, row after row of stone figurines emerged from the yellow smoke with a single, uniform sound.

They all held identical stone spears and stone daggers, wearing uniform stone helmets and stone armor.

The color of the loess, combined with their uniform movements, vaguely reminded Li Huowang of something.

“What is this? The Terracotta Army?”

As one of the chariot figurines pointed its right hand forward, the stone warriors began to advance, charging madly forward.

Standing in the crowd, You Zixiong charged ahead without hesitation. He performed a backflip, flinging the four massive modao blades off his back.

The four heavy blades flew through the air, embedding themselves into the Terracotta Army.

As the chains suddenly snapped taut and he swung hard, a large swath of stone figurines was instantly sliced in half.

But no matter how many You Zixiong cut down, a seemingly endless stream of stone warriors poured out from the yellow mist.

That stone statue was the key! If they didn’t smash it, these soldiers would never stop!

Li Huowang took a deep breath and stood up, shaking his throbbing head. Peng Longteng appeared beside him, grabbed him, and hurled him directly toward the stone statue.

As Li Huowang got closer and closer to the statue, he pulled out his spine-sword and slashed at it with all his might.

A fissure flew out. Just as Li Huowang thought the crack would sever the statue’s head, something unexpected happened.

A hideous, dark, metallic-colored liquid of all kinds of malformed shapes gushed out like flowing water.

“What’s going on! What’s happening on the Great Qi side!!”

Li Huowang had never seen anything like this before. It seemed that in this period, something had happened on the Great Qi side that was beyond ordinary understanding.

But soon, Li Huowang had no time to think about Great Qi.

The dark, iridescent liquid dripped and splashed onto the stone statue. Wherever it landed, lotus flowers bloomed.

But the color of these lotuses, a rotting hue, shifted constantly, making anyone who looked at them feel dizzy and nauseated.

More than half of the massive stone statue’s body was now covered in this substance, making it even more terrifying than before.

“Fall back!” Peng Longteng appeared beside Li Huowang again and, with one arm, threw him back.

As he retreated, Li Huowang wasn’t willing to give up. With one hand, he pulled out the murderous Purple-Tasseled Sword and swung it with all his might at the statue’s head, which was the size of a house.

A sky-scraping murderous aura, like a curved blade, sliced into the statue’s body.

The strangely colored lotuses were cut open, and liquid of the same color spread down the statue’s veins.

As the veins spread across the statue’s entire body, with a ground-shaking rumble, the stone statue suddenly began to move.

It was at this moment that the Chief Astrologer of the Four Qi, Zheng Boqiao, descended from the rosy clouds in the sky.

Mid-air, he formed a hand seal with one hand and gently breathed towards the moving statue. A puff of white smoke shot from his mouth, enveloping the statue’s head.

Seeing the Imperial Preceptor charge towards them, riding his flying sword, Li Huowang knew this was a good opportunity. He charged forward again.

“Supreme Jade Purity King, Commander of the Thirty-Six Heavens, Universal Salvation! Transforming throughout the ten directions, with unbound hair riding a qilin, barefoot treading on layered ice! Holding the Nine Heavens in hand, whistling wind and whipping thunder!”

With the Preceptor’s incantation, over a dozen bolts of purple lightning struck the stone statue.

Yet even so, the statue could still move, seemingly not greatly harmed.

Taking advantage of their entanglement, Li Huowang tried his best to get close to the statue’s body.

But, as if the statue had some kind of感应, every time Li Huowang was about to get close, it would shift slightly, keeping him just out of reach.

“Closer! Just a little closer!” Li Huowang strained to stand on his tiptoes, his fingers reaching for a balloon floating on a tree branch.

When he felt his hand was about to touch the string, he jumped with all his might, slamming the colorful balloon down as if he was dunking a basketball.

But the moment he gathered the balloon into his arms, there was a soft pop. The balloon burst.

Li Huowang scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed at the two siblings in school uniforms not far away. “Sorry, I think I used a bit too much force… How much was this balloon? I’ll pay you back.”

Seeing them walk away with委屈 without saying a word, Li Huowang shook his head. He picked up his handheld console and sat down on the altar, about to continue his game, only to find it was over.

Inside the Capital, everyone stared at the shattered head of the stone statue before them, momentarily unsure what to say.

Li Huowang looked at what was in front of him, thought for a moment, then asked tentatively, “Ji Zai?”

“Mmm.” A familiar voice sounded in Li Huowang’s ear.

Hearing this, a fire blazed up in Li Huowang’s heart.

“You still have the nerve to show up! Let me ask you! Where the hell were you just now?!”

“I was gone.”

“What do you mean, ‘gone’! The Fa Sect entered the Capital, and you just disappeared! Do you know how many people died because of you? The Lyu Opera Troupe is all dead!!” Li Huowang roared.

“No. I didn’t harm them. The karmic consequences rest with you.”

“Bullshit!”

“Think carefully. What did you tell the Sitian Jian before?”

“I told him—”

He stopped abruptly, suddenly understanding why Ji Zai had disappeared.

And the Heavenly Calamity the Sitian Jian had mentioned. If his guess was right, the earlier Heavenly Calamity must have been because Bewilderment had disappeared.

He himself had said that Ji Zai was only a delusion of his own, and so Ji Zai had disappeared.