The Cost of Ascension

Through the gap Li Huowang had pried open, everyone poured out. The moment they felt the sudden, immense emptiness around them, genuine relief appeared on every face. They had escaped!

It seemed the Earth Dragon was no longer underground but had surfaced. It was very dark here, empty, as if the disaster hadn't passed yet.

Yu'er Shen was overhead. Li Huowang didn't dare look up. He couldn't tell where this was, but he was certain it wasn't Yunze anymore.

"Aaah!" A scream rang out. Li Huowang turned to see some people being dragged back into the gap by the malevolent entities that had squeezed out.

"Quick, move! The bugs in our stomachs are still multiplying! The Earth Dragon is still affecting us!"

Hearing this, Li Huowang pulled Bai Lingmiao and led the others to quickly distance themselves from the gap in the Earth Dragon's belly.

They walked fast, soon leaving the entities behind. Everyone's expressions had improved considerably.

Walking along, Li Huowang suddenly stopped, staring blankly at a figure flickering in the darkness ahead.

The man wore a filthy cyan-blue Daoist robe, his hair pinned with a crown, white hair at his temples. His underbite revealed a few scattered yellow teeth in the open air.

"Hehehe... boy~ You did well, you did very well!!"

"Get lost!" Ignoring whatever this Danyangzi was, Li Huowang roared and, pulling out his spine-sword, hurled it in that direction.

The gap flew over and broke Danyangzi apart. Danyangzi silently dissipated, leaving nothing behind.

"Brother Li? Brother Li, what's wrong?" Bai Lingmiao looked at Li Huowang with concern.

"What? You didn't see that Danyangzi just now?!"

"Brother Li, what Danyangzi? What's wrong with you? Didn't you say your illness was cured?" Bai Lingmiao grabbed Li Huowang's hands, asking anxiously.

"Bai Lingmiao can't see it? Only I can see it... Is it happening again?"

As this thought crossed his mind, Li Huowang suddenly turned to the monk beside him. "Monk! Did you see that? The old Daoist with the scabby head!"

Before the monk could answer, a voice from the crowd interrupted him.

"Li Huowang! What nonsense are you spouting now?" Zheng Boqiao, frantic, walked over, his three heads looking at Li Huowang. "Let's go! This Earth Dragon is incredibly sinister! The bugs inside us haven't been removed yet!"

"Dad, the bugs in my stomach are getting worse..." Li Sui's voice carried a hint of grievance.

Glancing one last time at where Danyangzi had vanished, Li Huowang, unable to spare time for whatever fresh problem his mind was having, led the others forward.

Compared to his immediate crisis, the recurring hallucination of Danyangzi seemed unworthy of his time right now.

Everyone rushed forward, trying to get away from the Earth Dragon and lessen its effect on their bodies.

After half a stick's worth of incense this way, Li Huowang saw another unexpected person not far away.

"Hehehe~ Hong Zhong, long time no see. Locked in that illusion for so long, isn't it time you woke up?" The man in dragon robes with a Dice head spoke to Li Huowang.

"What the hell is wrong with me?!" After the last time, Li Huowang simply ignored this Dice, wherever he'd popped up from, and kept walking.

But this time, he wasn't the only one who saw.

"Dad? Mom?" Tears flowed from under Bai Lingmiao's red bridal veil. She stood frozen, staring blankly into the distant darkness. Bai Lingmiao seemed to hear or see something; her face became terribly haggard.

When Li Huowang followed her gaze, he saw nothing but blackness.

"Miao Miao! What did you see?" Before Li Huowang finished speaking, the others began reacting to the darkness around them with varied expressions.

"I didn't kill him! Go away! Find someone else!"

"Master, your disciple is unfilial!"

"Mirage projections? Who? Xuanpin, where are you! Come out!"

In that instant, Li Huowang suddenly understood. There was nothing wrong with him at all!! The problem was this accursed place!!

"Don't panic! This is all just an illusion! It's all fake!" Li Huowang shouted a warning.

At this, many began to act, trying to break the illusion. But no techniques worked.

Some tried attacking the illusions, but it was futile.

"First, let's go! Get away from the Earth Dragon's corpse!" These illusions, no matter how many, wouldn't kill them. But the multiplying bugs in their bellies would.

The others complied. After being saved just a moment ago, Li Huowang had tacitly become their leader.

They ignored the hallucinations and kept walking, but they all stopped after barely half a cup of tea's time. The exact same stomach wall appeared before Li Huowang and the others. They were still inside.

"How is this possible!" Li Huowang gouged out one eye from his left head, and along with two pieces of luminescent stone, hurled them into the sky.

When he saw what was above, he understood. They had never walked out from the beginning. This was just another one of the Earth Dragon's stomachs!

"Hahahaha~ Fooled you, didn't I~" The Dice appeared again, pointing at Li Huowang, laughing heartily.

"Is this... is this the ability of this stomach?! What the hell is this Earth Dragon!" Looking at the distant illusions, a frustrated Li Huowang scrambled for a way out.

"Dad, it hurts. The bugs... there are more and more. I can't hold on much longer..." All sorts of lurid green worms began to crawl out from inside Li Huowang, constantly consuming his flesh and blood.

When the malevolent entities surged towards them like a tidal wave, everyone was utterly hopeless. They knew this was it. This was truly the end.

"I... I won't accept this! I won't accept this!" An old man clutching a soul-collecting staff fell backwards in despair. The moment his body touched the ground, it completely disintegrated, sending lurid green maggots splattering everywhere.

Li Huowang tried to rally the others to break through the stomach wall again, but besieged by maggots, entities, and illusions, it was impossible.

The maggots inside everyone grew more numerous, the hallucinations more intense, the entities closing in.

Li Huowang refused to give up. He struggled with all his might. He refused to die here with Miao Miao and Li Sui! There had to be a way!

The situation worsened by the second. More people died. Collapse was imminent.

But Bai Lingmiao stood motionless, listening to the apparitions of her family speak the most venomous words.

"Gutter trash! He's your father's murderer! Why don't you take revenge?! Are you even human?"

"Little girl, your mother was wrong about you. How could you be like this? Is your heart black?"

"Sis, are you a whore?"

Bai Lingmiao cried. She rose, crying, and looked at Li Huowang, who was fighting with everything he had. He seemed to be at his limit; most of his body had turned completely into worms.

"Brother Li, using the Dung-Beetle Ascension can get us out." Bai Lingmiao pointed to the red bamboo slip in Lyu Xiucai's hand.

"I want to! But I can't do it!" Li Huowang roared. Of course he knew the Dung-Beetle Ascension could turn the tide. But the problem was, where was he supposed to find the ultimate inner anguish right now?!

Bai Lingmiao pursed her lips and gently shook her head, then revealed a very warm smile. "It's okay, Brother Li. I'll help you."

With that, Bai Lingmiao turned around, tossed a piece of human skin to a White Lotus believer, and spread her arms, jumping without hesitation into the tide of malevolent entities.