Out-of-body experience

Story context

Alright, buckle up, fellow Daoists, because this chapter takes us on a field trip to the *literal underworld*. Li Huowang finally steps into Fengdu—not as a physical body, but as something much more vulnerable: a soul. And this Fengdu? It's not the bustling bureaucracy of ghosts Yang Xiaohai described. It's a barren, empty wasteland. The kind of emptiness that makes your bones ache. Our boy Li Huowang is on a tight three-hour clock to find the Zuowandao Red Center, a living *memory* of himself. But this isn't a simple fetch quest. He has a close encounter with the Death Siming—the Great Black Heaven—and learns that some things are so vast, just *passing by* can melt half your soul away. The chapter ends with a reunion that's less "helpful ally" and more "screaming, existential collapse," as Red Center confronts the horror of his own repetitive, meaningless existence. It's bleak, it's metaphysical, and it's classic *Dao Gui Yi Xian*.

Why it matters

This chapter is a masterclass in "show, don't tell" horror. The horror isn't a monster jumping out; it's the *absence* of everything that should be there. The emptiness of Fengdu is a more terrifying statement than any graphic description of torture could be. Pay close attention to how Li Huowang's body *melts* just from the proximity of the Great Black Heaven. This is the novel's core mechanic: the higher-order entities don't attack; they simply *are*, and their being is corrosive to lesser existences.

Quick facts

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Source novel

Dao Gui Yi Xian