The Heavens

No, that wasn't a crane's call!

When Li Huowang's five senses fused into one, when he used that brand-new sensory organ to perceive the crane's cry from the depths of the void, when he sensed the immensely complex content contained within that call—he finally understood what it was.

That wasn't a sound. That was one of Yuer Shen's hands! Or perhaps one of Yuer Shen's branches! Yuer Shen was formless, colorless, without hope, without forward. When Li Huowang heard the crane's cry, Yuer Shen had touched him!

The crane's call came again. Li Huowang felt it take his throat! It took his voice!

Now completely wrapped in agony, Li Huowang immediately reached up his blood-and-flesh-mangled hand and clamped it tightly around his own throat, preventing it from making any sound at all!!

In the black void of the night sky, they were falling deeper and deeper. Li Huowang almost felt like he had arrived at the Heavens Beyond Heaven. If they kept falling like this, they might end up back in the White Jade Capital!

But Li Huowang had no intention of trying to escape right now. As the crane's call grew louder and louder, his expression twisted into a savage roar. He opened his mouth wide and shoved his hand straight down his own throat.

With a single pull and a yank, Li Huowang dragged everything out of his throat and hurled it upward toward the sky with all his might.

In the next moment, Li Huowang felt his own shredded throat—still dangling in midair—unfurl its body like a butterfly and continue to emit that strange, eerie crane's cry.

That throat seemed to take the lead. Everything around opened its mouth at the same time, and the screams in their mouths gradually transformed into that same crane's call.

Just as the crane's cry was about to reach its peak, a female voice filled with compassion cut in from not far away. The voice was sorrowful, heartbroken, laced with the sound of weeping and an extremity of merciful emotion.

A lament for a child who left home, gone without a trace—why, to this day, is there no shadow, no sign?

A lament for a child who left home—where did you fall? No letter sent, no news passed, no wish for rebirth.

A lament for a child who left home—no meeting face to face. When will you return, to claim your root and your line?

A lament for a child who left home—hard to turn back. How could you know that the sin you made, the Jambudvipa cannot forgive?

A lament for a child who left home—the great limit has come. At that moment, to see your mother—utterly impossible.

As this voice rang out, Li Huowang immediately felt the crane's call diminish significantly. The sounds from the mouths of the people and evil spirits around him turned back into desperate screams.

Using his fused sensory organ, Li Huowang peered into the darkness again. He saw the boundless, endless night begin to transform into a lotus.

Li Huowang grabbed the starry curtain and pulled it shut with force, covering the pitch-black neighborhood outside that had gone dark from a power outage. "Hey! Huowang! Look, the power's finally back!"

In an instant, the heavens and earth turned upside down. Li Huowang and the others fell downward. When he saw that the new starry sky was once again filled above, he understood: the Heavenly Calamity was over.

Amid the howling wind in midair, they were getting closer and closer to the ground. A tentacle emerged from Li Huowang's throat, coiled around his throat—which had stopped moving—and yanked it back quickly.

Bam!

Li Huowang crashed heavily in front of an inn. Lying on the ground, he watched as blood and chunks of flesh rained down from the sky, dyeing the inn a bloody red.

Right then, the trembling fleshy scales on Li Huowang's body reattached themselves to his skin, turning into ordinary wounds.

Li Huowang felt like his body was about to fall apart. He used what little strength he had left to climb to his feet and shout at the reflection of his own blood pooled on the ground in front of him: "Ji Zai! Get the fuck out here! I don't care what the hell you're doing!"

"What? What is it?" The shadow finally moved again. "Sorry, I was busy before. I think I was… rescuing someone? Probably."

Li Huowang clenched his fist and smashed it into his own reflection, screaming with a voice torn from his soul: "I'm telling you! Miaomiao is dead! Bai Lingmiao is dead!"

"Why did I become your Heart-Pan? Why did I hand my fate over to someone as unknown as you and willingly become your Heart-Pan? Because I wanted to protect Miaomiao and the others!"

"But what about you?! Is this your reward? Is this your answer?! Why?! Why are all the other Siming so powerful, but when it comes to you—you, who controls three and a half Heavenly Laws—you're absolutely useless! Can't even protect one woman!!"

"When I was ambushed and trapped inside the Earth Dragon's belly, I eventually had to use Dung-Beetle Ascension and borrow Bashe's power to get me out! What the hell are you good for?!"

Ji Zai's voice was still calm and even. "I told you before. You can't rely on me. Besides, I'm very busy too. My situation isn't great either. Even if you're about to be killed, you have to rely on yourself."

"Only by relying on yourself like this can we both win."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Supported by the tentacles, Li Huowang staggered to his feet, raised his hand, and pointed straight at the shadow.

"Miaomiao is dead! Find a way to bring her back! Otherwise, this useless Siming's Heart-Pan can go fuck itself! Whoever wants it can have it!"

"Hmm." Ji Zai's shadow in the blood puddle seemed to be thinking. "Not quite. I think she might not be dead at this point."

"Not dead?" A flicker of hope rose in Li Huowang's heart as he staggered, looking around at the corpses soaked in blood.

"Let me think… Right. Stretch your hands out in front of you."

"Out in front?" Just as Li Huowang extended both hands, a mass of bloody, mangled flesh fell from the sky, slamming directly into his arms. With a crack, it broke both his arms.

Li Huowang hurriedly looked down. It was Miaomiao. Or more precisely, half of Miaomiao. Her body had been gnawed into pieces. The girl who was always clean and neat now looked utterly miserable, wrapped in blood and filth, with hardly any good flesh left on her.

And where she used to have two upper bodies, now only one remained—and that one was grotesquely broken.

Bam!

Just then, the other half of the upper body fell from the sky.

This time, Li Sui was quick. Dozens of tentacles shot upward, catching it swiftly.

Li Huowang used his teeth to lift the red bridal veil covering this half-body, revealing a beast's face covered in fox fur. Among the fur were scattered hedgehog quills and snake scales. Mismatched animal eyes were open wide, staring at him as life flickered weakly.

Seeing the shock on Li Huowang's face, the beast's mouth—filled with sharp fangs—opened, and a forked tongue flopped out, limp and dry. "I only meant for you to use Dung-Beetle Ascension to escape. I never said I had to die. I haven't had my fill of living yet!"

Tears streaming down his face, Li Huowang controlled the tentacles to hold her securely in his arms.

He quickly bent down to check the other half of Miaomiao. When he discovered that even this half—though it looked horrifically damaged—still had breath, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Miaomiao, hold on. You have to hold on!" Li Huowang's hands trembled as he pulled out the wax-sealed Hymns of the Fire Vestments and reattached the Er Shen's two severed halves back into place.

As Li Huowang began to chant the incantation, the Er Shen also used what little strength she had left to pound the white drum, summoning the Great Immortal of the Bai Clan.