Dao of the Bizarre Immortal

Chapter 442 - Hong Zhong

“Past? Timeline? Great Qi? Great Liang?”

Li Huowang was stunned by Zhuge Yuan’s explanation. Zhuge Yuan's words were even more weird than the fact that he was Hong Zhong all along. “That doesn't make sense at all. How can something that has been set in stone be swapped?”

“Why not? If the history of the Qi Kingdom can be swapped to that of the Liang Kingdom's history, then why can’t your history be swapped with someone else?”

Li Huowang was worried about the accuracy of Zhuge Yuan's words.

Zhuge Yuan had never harmed him, but Zhuge Yuan's words were often just partially correct.

Li Huowang wanted to say something, but he still ended up pondering the possibility that Zhuge Yuan was true.

If Zhuge Yuan's words was true, then he wasn't Hong Zhong...

But... Li Huowang felt a headache coming as he thought, If I’m Hong Zhong, then the other side is fake. Yes, that’s right... I wasn't Hong Zhong before, so does that mean that the other side was real back then?

“Junior Li, are you okay?” Zhuge Yuan asked, sounding worried.

“Don’t worry. Let him sit there and think over your words," said Hong Zhong's illusion. "You're a newcomer, so I'm sure you don't know that he does that often. He just sits there and thinks about many things."

Li Huowang turned to Zhuge Yuan just then and asked, “Senior Zhuge, are you sure about what you said? Can someone's past truly be swapped for someone else's past?”

Zhuge Yuan's words were just too surreal.

What entity was capable of changing someone’s entire past?

Zhuge Yuan nodded and explained, “Ordinary entities can't do it, but we just fought against Doulao.”

As the Siming that controlled two Heavenly Daos, it wasn't strange that it was capable of doing such a thing.

However, Li Huowang wasn’t sure of its motives for doing so. “Senior Zhuge, why? I'd understand it if it had killed me immediately, but why did it have to go through all the trouble to swap my past with a Hong Zhong's past?”

Even a Siming needs a reason to do something. What if the Siming is like the Sitting Oblivion Dao members, who will do anything for no rhyme or reason other than for the sake of fun. Wait, is this even fun?

Even Zhuge Yuan didn’t know how to answer that question and shook his head. “I don’t know. I do know that you're not a Hong Zhong. If you really were Hong Zhong, I would’ve discovered it back in Buddha’s Skeleton Temple.”

Zhuge Yuan could truly figure out the identity of a disguised Sitting Oblivion Dao member just by getting close enough to them. Li Huowang dived into his memories and found no techniques that he could use to hide his identity from Zhuge Yuan.

“Junior Li,” Zhuge Yuan said, and his expression became serious as he continued, “I want you to put aside the matter of reviving me for now. Your substituted past as Hong Zhong is a pressing matter that needs your immediate attention before anything else.

"There must be a reason behind Doulao's decision, and I think there's more than meets the eye here."

“No, no, no. I think we can just ignore my past. I mean, we already know that my identity as Hong Zhong is fake," Li Huowang said. His eyes twinkled in excitement as he got onto the horse and continued, “I managed to find the method to cultivate the ‘Truth’ through Hong Zhong's memories! I have to obtain that first!”

“Really? Does this Hong Zhong know about it? Where is it?” Zhuge Yuan asked, sounding shocked.

“It’s hidden somewhere in a special way, but I just have to go and retrieve it.”

Hong Zhong had hidden it somewhere to make sure that no one else would get their hands on it. Li Huowang traveled for more than a hundred Li to reach his destination, which was a small town south of the Liang Kingdom.

It was a cold day, and it was already nighttime, but there were still many people on the streets. They were burning papers which were inside circles drawn on the floor, and most of them were burning pieces of paper near crossroads.

Li Huowang saw that and realized that it was Qingming[1] once again. He had been living here for an entire year now.

Li Huowang walked until someone's roars caught his attention.

“I'm hitting your head so that you'll be out of breath every day. I'm hitting your face until your family goes crazy, and they'll despise you for all your life. I'm hitting your eyes until you are blind, and you'll end up injuring your hands every day. I'm hitting your ears until they're filled with filth that you have to dig out with your fingers. I'm hitting your mouth until your breath smells like crap!”

Li Huowang followed the roars and saw an old lady. The old lady was sitting on a wooden stool and was using her shoes to beat a human-shaped paper.[2]

The old woman didn’t even raise her head despite hearing the sound of horse hooves next to her. “Two hundred coins to beat the person you hate. My technique is effective, so don't think that it's effective! Don’t believe me? Go and ask someone else!”

Li Huowang looked at the mole on her chin and said, “How about we play mahjong? You, me, and your daughter-in-law—the three of us will play.”

The old woman was stunned. Finally, she looked up, and her expression shifted intermittently as she stared at Li Huowang for a while.

Eventually, the old lady smiled and exclaimed, “Sure! Let’s go! Let’s go and play right now!”

The old woman was all smiles as she led the way for Li Huowang. Soon, they arrived at a room with a mahjong table. The old lady's chubby daughter-in-law was already sitting there in front of the mahjong table.

The three stared at the last remaining empty seat. A fourth person was supposed to sit there, so the three stared at the seat, seemingly waiting for the fourth person.

Tap.

Eventually, Li Huowang placed a Hong Zhong mahjong tile on the center of the table and said, “It seems that we're missing one person. Why don’t you write them out?”

“Sure!” The two ladies said in unison and whipped out writing implements. They hung a massive piece of paper in the room and wrote in sync—one from the front and one from the back.

The ink from both sides glued to each other and transformed into legible words.

The words depicted the cultivation method to cultivate the "Truth" that Hong Zhong had decided to hide. A physical scroll was risky to store, so Hong Zhong decided to hide the cultivation method in the memories of other people.

“Sit down and silence the heart. Be relaxed. Relax the teeth and lips. Then, breathe deeply and slowly. The hands must be clenched naturally, while the eyes must be focused. Gather the light and be one with the surroundings.”

Li Huowang’s hands trembled as he stared at the words on the paper.

The paper was light, but Li Huowang knew that it was far more expensive than gold.

Li Huowang was trembling, as he truly didn't expect that he'd finally obtain the cultivation method that he had been looking for all this while. Li Huowang didn’t even hesitate to follow the instructions on the paper.

“Junior Li, wait," Zhuge Yuan said, "This might be Doulao's trap. The fact that Doulao managed to place this method in your memories means that it might be waiting for you to cultivate it.”

Li Huowang stopped and looked down at the paper in his hands.

“You mean it's risky to cultivate this?” Li Huowang asked.

“Not necessarily. You just need to think first before acting. Don’t forget that you're not Hong Zhong. You're Li Huowang, and your memories aren't supposed to be yours.”

1. A festival to honor the dead. Usually, people will pray to their ancestors, clean their graves, and offer tributes ☜

2. This is a voodoo technique used to curse people by beating a paper cutout with their names on it ☜

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