Chapter 83: Heart Purity

"Is madness the best outcome for a 'Heart-Pure'?" "Is this truly to be my future?"

Li Huowang had always believed that when others called him a "Heart-Pure" (Xinsu), they merely meant he was a rare material, similar to the rare spiritual roots often mentioned in cultivation novels.

However, the old nun in front of him informed him that this was not the case; the name "Heart-Pure" itself hinted at a profound problem.

Li Huowang took a moment to calm himself, then took a deep breath and spoke again: "Master Jingxin, I once used Black Tai Sui to treat my hysteria, and it worked well. Have you ever given it to your son?"

Li Huowang desperately wanted to hear her say "no," but his hopes were quickly dashed.

"Used it? Of course, I've used it. But Black Tai Sui isn't something you can just consume carelessly. It's easy to ingest but difficult to expel; it just stays in your belly, feeding on your blood and flesh."

"If you eat only a little, it's fine, but if you consume too much, it can occupy your entire stomach and even burrow its way out of your body," Master Jingxin described vividly, as if she had witnessed it firsthand.

Li Huowang touched his own stomach, his expression growing even more grim. He knew he currently had a mass of tentacled Black Tai Sui coiled inside him.

That Danyangzi fellow was never benevolent; even the medicine he prescribed had severe side effects.

However, these minor concerns could wait. He had more pressing matters to inquire about now.

"Master Jingxin, could you please tell me what exactly a 'Heart-Pure' is? And why is it that all 'Heart-Pures' inevitably descend into madness?"

Li Huowang pressed on, his heart filled with urgency. He desperately needed this answer, as it concerned his very survival.

Jingxin, who had been swallowing her food, heard his voice. She looked up again, directing her two pitch-black, hollow eyes towards Li Huowang.

"What is a 'Heart-Pure'? You *are* a 'Heart-Pure'; why ask me? Can't you tell how you're different from others? Let me ask you this then: Where are you from?"

Li Huowang instinctively opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped cautiously.

The fact that he had transmigrated from the modern world was extremely important and private. He absolutely could not tell this strange old nun, whom he had just met, without any precautions.

There was no telling what this plump old nun might think or do if she knew his secret.

"Hehehe, let me guess. You surely believe you don't belong here, don't you? That you're from another vast world? A world completely different from this realm?"

Jingxin's seemingly lighthearted words instantly shattered Li Huowang's mental defenses. "You actually know?!"

Jingxin, unfazed, lowered her head and continued eating the yellow, viscous substance in her bowl.

"Why the panic? Young people lack composure. You wonder how I know this? Didn't I tell you? My son was also a 'Heart-Pure'; he thought the same way back then."

These words made Li Huowang instinctively lean closer, his voice trembling slightly as he asked, "Was your son also a modern person? Did he also transmigrate?"

At this moment, his heart pounded rapidly. Li Huowang felt exceptionally excited when he suddenly realized there might be others like him in this strange and dangerous world.

No matter who they were, male or female, as long as they came from the same world, he would no longer be alone.

The overwhelming pressure he felt would finally be shared.

Most importantly, he couldn't recall how he had arrived in this world, but perhaps they did. Maybe he could even return to his original world through them!

Master Jingxin, however, did not answer immediately. Instead, after wiping the yellow liquid from the corner of her mouth, she "looked" at the young man before her with a renewed smile.

"No, he wasn't. He was born from my womb, and that's the absolute truth. And young man, 'Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly, and a butterfly dreamed it was Zhuangzi.' Don't be so certain about anything, including what's in your own mind."

"What do you mean?" Li Huowang found himself unable to grasp what she was trying to say.

"Why do you think you must be from 'over there'? Why can't you believe you belong to this world? Perhaps those bizarre, vast worlds are merely illusions, and everything you remember is just a figment of your imagination?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!" Li Huowang's eyes turned bloodshot, and his hands trembled as he clenched them tightly, like a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched. He fiercely retorted to the old nun, "I know what happened at Qingfeng Temple was an illusion, but I definitely lived in a real world before! I transmigrated from there!! I'm a transmigrator! I'm not a madman who fantasized about another world!!!!"

Jingxin didn't argue. Her face tilted slightly, as if she were recalling something.

"Heh heh, my son said those very same words back then. Like you, he was sometimes clear-headed and sometimes confused, muttering nonsense and talking to himself."

"But as his mother, I know clearly. He was born from my womb and never left my side. He never went to any other vast worlds; those were all just his fantasies."

As soon as she spoke, Li Huowang froze as if paralyzed, his breathing becoming ragged.

Yang Na, his mother, the hospital, school—everything from his past flashed rapidly through his mind. Were these all nonexistent? Was it possible that even that world didn't exist? Was there no modern world at all?

In that instant, Li Huowang felt everything around him become unreal and illusory. "What is real? What is fake?!"

"I didn't transmigrate? I'm from here all along? There was never a modern world? Everything in my mind about reality is just my imagination? No, this isn't right, something is definitely wrong!"

Li Huowang's emotions began to spiral out of control. His breathing grew more rapid, and his expression turned ferocious.

With his self-identity severely shaken, Li Huowang needed an outlet for the mountainous pressure building within him.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and he glared fiercely at Master Jingxin.

Before he could speak, the plump woman before him pointed a greasy finger at him, mimicking his voice as she began to speak.

"No! You're lying~! You're plotting against me!! Everything you say is false! You want to harm me, don't you~! It won't be that easy!!"

After uttering these words and seeing Li Huowang frozen in place, Jingxin's plump, swollen face once again broke into a benevolent smile.

"Heh heh, you were just about to say those things to me, weren't you? My son actually said the very same words to me. Ah, now that I think about it, it feels like just yesterday. I truly miss those times."