Southern

**Severing the Three Corpses (斩三尸)**: In Daoist cultivation lore, the "Three Corpses" (or Three Worms) are malevolent entities that live inside the human body, craving decay and tempting the cultivator toward death. A common xianxia trope involves "severing" them as a step toward immortality. Here, Danyangzi twists this concept into a parasitic cohabitation, using it to justify his continued existence inside Li Huowang. It’s a brilliant corruption of a respectable cultivation concept into a body-horror nightmare.

Definition

Story context

“You said I couldn’t do anything, didn’t you?” This chapter is the final, bloody showdown of the Danyangzi arc—and the moment Li Huowang proves that the most dangerous weapon in the Dao-Twisted World isn't a talisman or a mantra, but a man who’s willing to disembowel himself to win an argument. The confrontation erupts when Danyangzi reveals he is *still alive*, physically living inside Li Huowang’s belly alongside the Black Tai Sui. What follows is a chaotic, visceral battle where nuns turn into fly-Bodhisattvas, tentacles drag Li Huowang around like a puppet, and Danyangzi spits "immortal truths" about having seen the Southern Heavenly Gate. But the real punch comes at the end: Li Huowang, locked in a battle of wills and trapped in a stalemate, reaches inside his own gut, yanks out his own stomach, and stabs it, screaming that this isn't over. It’s not a victory. It’s a declaration of war—against Danyangzi, against destiny, and against the very idea that anything in this world is pre-ordained.

Why it matters

*Get ready, folks—this is the chapter where Li Huowang stops being a passenger in his own body and starts acting like a man with nothing left to lose.* The horror here isn't the tentacles or the fly-Bodhisattva (though those are nasty). The horror is Danyangzi’s casual, smug confidence. He calls Li Huowang a “stray dog” he can kick to death. And Li Huowang’s response? He pulls out his own stomach. It’s not a power-up; it’s a **cry of defiance written in viscera**.