At that moment, Jiang Yingzi disappeared without any prior warning.
Li Huowang was left stunned as he thought about what Jiang Yingzi had just told him.
"The elders of the Ao Jing Sect had been replaced by the members of Sitting Oblivion Dao? Dan Yangzi is still alive and is not an illusion?" mumbled Li Huowang. He would normally have just ignored her words since she was an illusion, but he found her words to be reasonable.
The Sitting Oblivion Dao hadn't just appeared suddenly. They had already been there and had infiltrated the Ao Jing Sect.
"Impossible! How did you find out?!"
At that moment, Li Huowang lowered his head to see Er Bing shouting hysterically. Even though Er Bing had been able to laugh throughout the torture earlier, now she was visibly distressed after knowing that Li Huowang had found out the truth about the Ao Jing Sect.
Li Huowang finally realized what the Abbess meant when she advised him to think like the Sitting Oblivion Dao and work backward to resolve their plots. At the same time, he also realized why they were so dangerous and had to be killed on sight.
These crazy bastards didn't fear death or pain, and only wanted to entertain themselves. Their perspective was so twisted that to them fooling someone was even more important than their own lives.
Now that Li Huowang knew what they cared about the most, he also knew how to exact his revenge on them.
"Do you want to know how I managed to see through your tricks?" asked Li Huowang as he stabbed his sword into Er Bing's chest.
"Cough~ Cough~" Blood flowed out from Er Bing's mouth, the few remaining pieces of flesh on her face twitching. "How ...?"
Li Huowang lowered his body and whispered into her ears, "Hehe... Take a guess."
As he said those words, he twisted his sword, causing Er Bing's body to twitch in pain.
Then, Li Huowang withdrew his sword and slashed downward, splitting Er Bing's head in half.
But that was not enough for him.
Li Huowang continued to slash Er Bing, over and over. Hatred filled his eyes while pieces of flesh were flung into the air until Er Bing's body was turned into nothing more than a pile of minced meat.
Meanwhile, everyone else stood a distance away as they stared at the enraged Li Huowang, not daring to move a single step closer to him.
Just as Bai Lingmiao was about to approach Li Huowang, Chun Xiaoman stopped her. "Don't go! What if ... "
"I'm not afraid!" said Bai Lingmiao as she pushed Xiaoman away and hugged Li Huowang.
"Senior Li! Senior Li! Please snap back!" Bai Lingmiao started crying as she hugged Li Huowang's arm, stopping him from hacking up Er Bing.
Gradually, Li Huowang gradually regained his sanity and sheathed the bloody sword in his hand. Then, he slowly raised his head and stared at Dan Yangzi's illusion.
Dan Yangzi was floating in the air, his three faces displaying different emotions—one displayed happiness, one anger, and one sadness. All of the faces stared at Li Huowang before creeping into an eerie smile.
After a while, Dan Yangzi slowly drifted downward and into the ground.
"Senior Li, please stop. She's already dead and we are safe. Everything is over," said Bai Lingmiao.
Li Huowang took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, everything is over."
Then, he stared at the minced meat on the ground and asked the others, "Does anyone have a flint? Burn this motherfucker into ashes."
Li Huowang was wary; he needed to make sure that Er Bing was well and truly dead. Burning her to ashes was one way to do this.
The others immediately followed his orders. They used a part of the broken horse carriage as fuel to burn up the bodies of Er Bing and the rest. As the flames burned brightly, a plume of black smoke could be seen rising atop the dunes.
Li Huowang did not leave. He just stared at the flames, making sure that nothing but ashes remained of Er Bing. Anything could happen in this bizarre world; he didn't dare to be complacent.
Meanwhile, Lu Zhuangyuan stood at the side hesitantly before making up his mind. "Young Taoist, my daughter-in-law was startled very badly yesterday. Now that she is pregnant, it might not be wise for her to travel. We will go to the town and find a doctor to check on her first."
However, he was telling only half the truth.
It was not only Luo Juanhua who was frightened yesterday, but the entire Lu family! Lu Zhuangyuan had originally thought that they had gotten a free Taoist bodyguard, but after he witnessed the things that happened yesterday, he realized that he was wrong. If they were traveling alone, then at most they would lose their money or maybe Luo Juanhua would have to suffer. But if they were to travel with Li Huowang, then their very lives could be lost!
The Young Taoist is crazy! To think that he hid it so well.
At that moment, Li Huowang turned around causing Lu Zhuangyuan's face to instantly turn pale as he took a few steps back, ready to explain himself.
"Alright. I hope you have a safe journey. Puppy, give Troupe Leader Lu two of the camels for their journey," said Li Huowang.
"N-n-no, no need for that!" said Lu Zhuangyuan as he instantly turned to leave, bringing his family with him. He was too afraid of Li Huowang. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Li Huowang ignored them and continued to monitor the flames which burned from morning to afternoon before finally dying out. Then, he approached the pile of burnt residue and confirmed that nothing but ashes remained . Only then did he finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Is everything okay?" asked Li Huowang as he inspected the wound on Bai Lingmiao's shoulder.
"Yes, it's just a minor injury." Bai Lingmiao forced a smile when she saw Li Huowang had returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
She extended both her hands and carefully inspected Li Huowang's amputated arm, her eyes revealing deep sorrow.
"No need to worry. It will grow out soon enough." Li Huowang carefully patted her head.
"Really?" Bai Lingmiao's eyes lit up.
"Of course," assured Li Huowang before turning toward the rest.
Everyone else also looked disheveled, but Li Huowang ignored their wounds; he was more concerned about those who had died.
One of the guiding drug ingredients had died. He had only one arm but good eyesight.
The other one who had died was a fat assistant.
At this moment, the two bodies were lying side by side, and Monk's illusion was praying for them.
As he looked at their lifeless faces, Li Huowang felt numb. He doubted himself as a leader; if things had been different, maybe they too would have been able to go back to their homes.
"Burn their bodies. Do we have a jar? If not, then we can use a cloth to store the ashes," instructed Li Huowang.
Once everything was ready, Li Huowang took the rest of them and departed.
"Senior Li, I think we are going the wrong way. This path leads to the kingdom of Si Qi," pointed out one of them.
Li Huowang nodded. "Yes, and we must hurry."
In a guest room, Li Huowang sat in a wooden tub, completely naked. He held onto a three-barbed spike in his lone arm, breathing deeply as though in preparation for something.
Whoo~ whoo~ whoo~
Li Huowang panted, trying to calm his nerves. Once he was completely composed, he stuffed a piece of cloth into his mouth, and raised the three-barbed spike in his hand, aiming it at his abdomen.
Blood started to flow into the bathwater, staining it a deep red.
The veins on Li Huowang's forehead throbbed as he endured the excruciating pain that almost caused him to pass out. Even as he trembled from the pain, he continued to dig deeper.
Finally, he reached inside his stomach, intending to create an opening to see what was inside.
However, at that moment, Li Huowang realized that he only had one arm left, and thus he could not perform such an action.
Just as he was considering if he should call someone for help from the outside, a hand with long and black fingernails grazed his skin and reached for his waist.
"Thank you," said Li Huowang as shuddered as he raised the three-barbed spike.
The Second Deity's hand exerted slight pressure, causing the contents of his stomach to be slowly squeezed out. Apart from some half-digested food, there was nothing else—there was no Black Taisui nor Dan Yangzi's half face. He was gone.
Upon seeing this, Li Huowang smiled. He had guessed correctly. That day, in the cave in order to confuse him, those members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao had taken care of the still alive Dan Yangzi.
Next, to tease him further, they had further hidden the Immortal Dan Yangzi, to an extent that even the Abbess hadn't been able to detect him.
Those liars wanted to see him continue walking down this path and get replaced by Dan Yangzi under unexpected circumstances.
This was all for their amusement.
But this had inadvertently helped him. Back then, the reason Abbess and the nuns hadn't been able to completely get rid of Dan Yangzi was because a part of him was still alive. That portion of Dan Yangzi which had still been alive was now completely dead. He just needed to return to the Benevolent Nunnery and look for Abbess; then, he could be completely rid of Dan Yangzi.
He let the three-barbed spike fall into the water, and picked up the Golden Wound medication before pouring it into his abdominal wound.
At that moment, the hand with the black fingernails quickly spun as the Second Deity held two red threads and inserted them into the flesh around Li Huowang's wound.
The red threads intertwined and swiftly closed up the wound. This process was still quite painful, causing Li Huowang to almost bite through the cloth.
"Thank you," said Li Huowang as he turned to look behind; however, there was nobody in sight.
His expression was somewhat pale, as he stepped out of the bathtub to dress himself.
"Taoist, are you going back this time just to resolve the matter about your Master? What about those liars? You should think about taking care of them, otherwise they will continue to deceive people and cause suffering. Enforcing justice is also a good deed," asked Monk.
Hatred flashed through Li Huowang's eyes as he listened to Monk's ravings. However, he could not be bothered to reply, and continued to put on his clothes.
Of course he hadn't forgotten about those from the Sitting Oblivion Dao pretending to be from the Ao Jing Sect. At the same time, he also thought of his two juniors who had just died because of them, and the many things they had done to his body.
Li Huowang wanted nothing more than to carve out their heart and bones. Even if he ignored Jiang Yingzi's dying wish, he still had unfinished business with them. This matter was almost as important to him as taking care of Dan Yangzi.
"But they are very powerful. Taoist, can you beat them?" asked Monk, still looking worried.
"I have my own ways. Now, can you give me at least some moments of silence?!"
He could not take care of the other five people from the Sitting Oblivion Dao with his own strength. However, during his travels, he had thought about it, and found out that he did not need to fight alone.
Firstly, it was likely that the entire Ao Jing Sect was being fooled and controlled by those from the Sitting Oblivion Dao, just like Jiang Yingzi—with Shou San at the top, those Ao Jing Sect members had all been fooled, just like her. As long as he could make them aware that they were being lied to, then they would become his allies.
Second, Abbess Jingxin's son was also a Strayed One like him. The reason behind his current condition was also likely linked with those from the Sitting Oblivion Dao. As long as the truth was revealed, he trusted that the Abbess would be more than happy to seek revenge for her son.
But first, he had to get rid of Dan Yangzi.
Dressed neatly, Li Huowang took out the translated version of the Fiery Admonishment and struggled to read the text on it. At that moment, he realized that he could recognize even fewer characters than before.
Previously, Li Huowang had thought that his ability to read had been taken away along with Dan Yangzi. But now that he thought about it, he realized that wasn't the case. It was simply because Dan Yangzi had yet to die.
Based on the number of characters I still recognise, I guess I should be able to reach the kingdom of Si Qi before being completely assimilated by Dan Yangzi.
Li Huowang thought to himself before closing the book and stepping out.
Once outside, he noticed that everyone was looking at him with concern.
"I need to go back to the Benevolent Nunnery to ask the Abbess about some matters." Li Huowang explained the reason why they were going back to Si Qi.
They had all visited the Benevolent Nunnery before, and everyone knew that there was something wrong with Li Huowang's words; however, they did not question him. Perhaps some of them had other thoughts in mind, but now, they could only follow him without dissent.
One reason for this was because Li Huowang had saved their lives, but there was also an increasingly intimidating aura starting to emanate from him.
"Gao Zhijian, how's your head?" Li Huowang clutched his stomach as he looked up at the tall figure with his covered head.
"No... no... no..."
"It's good if you have no problems. Rest well, and eat more in this period to heal your body," said Li Huowang.
Li Huowang was very shocked when he learned that Gao Zhijian was still alive. After all, he had personally seen the iron die penetrate Gao Zhijian's temple.
When the others had gone through the battlefield, they found out that he was still breathing. Bai Lingmiao had then requested the assistance of the Immortals from the Bai Family, allowing him to eventually wake up.
Drowning was one thing, and this was another. Li Huowang found it rather hard to believe that this was just a coincidence. After all, he had seen far too many bizarre events here.
However, he stopped asking questions after Gao Zhijian told him that he did not know what was going on either.
No matter what, being alive was preferable to being dead.
Even so, there was still an iron die buried in his head. In that regard, Li Huowang did not dare ask for too much either.
"Has the new carriage been bought? Let me take a look. No need to support me, I can walk by myself," asked Li Huowang.
As Puppy watched Li Huowang's figure gradually growing distant, he couldn't help but shiver. He turned to Zhao Wu and asked cautiously, "Hey, do you guys feel like Senior Li is becoming more and more like that Baldy?"
Li Huowang used his lone hand to stuff a piece of golden-brown bun into his mouth, chewing it slowly. He looked lifelessly at the bonfire before him as he mentally calculated where they should stop for a break after this.
Currently, they were on their way to the kingdom of Si Qi, and had purchased three more second-hand carriages. They were acquired by selling off a few camels and then exchanging the silver. The carriages were indispensable to their long journey ahead.
At that moment, a chopstick carried some cooked meat along with some piping-hot noodles toward Li Huowang's mouth, waiting for him to open it.
Seeing this, Li Huowang frowned slightly and shook his head. "I can eat on my own; there's no need to feed me."
"Senior Li, how can you eat with just one hand? Let me feed you while you wait for your hand to grow back. Right, how much longer will it take?" asked Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing the worried tone of her voice, Li Huowang raised his right arm and looked at that empty sleeve. He smiled bitterly and mumbled, "Soon, very soon."
"But it has already been three days, and yet there don't seem to be any changes." Bai Lingmiao reached out to roll up Li Huowang's sleeve and examine the healed wound.
"It's already been three days?" Li Huowang's pupils contracted as though he had remembered something. He immediately stood up and looked around the barren dunes, as though looking for something.
He found his target quite quickly before heading toward a large rock in the distance.
"Senior Li, where are you going? The noodles will get cold soon!" asked Bai Lingmiao.
"I'm going to pee, don't follow me!"
Soon, he arrived at the large rock and walked toward the shadow it casted onto the ground.
There was only a patch of barren ground behind the rock—this was exactly what he wanted.
At that moment, he faced the rock and sat down cross-legged. He hesitated for a moment, but pulled out his sword and drew a human figure on the wall.
"Mom, it must have been hard for you in this period," Li Huowang spoke gently to the human figure. "Mom, I'm finally awake. Can you pass me my phone? It's her birthday today, and I want to give her a call. Don't untie me, just help me dial her number. It's on the second row of the contacts list."
Then, he took out a small, sharp shovel and gently used it to carve on the human figure's face. Not long after, a simple but rather familiar face appeared before him. Li Huowang did not know how to draw, causing it to be rather ugly. Even so, in his eyes, there was nothing more beautiful than what he saw on the wall.
"Happy birthday, Nana. Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~"
All alone, he sat there and smiled at the drawing he had made on the giant rock while gently singing aloud.
The sound didn't travel too far; it was muffled by the unforgiving winds.
"Sorry, Nana. I can't be with you for your birthday this year. The only thing I can do is send you my wishes like this. I'll make it up to you when I have the chance," said Li Huowang as he reached out with a smile before caressing the face of the wall drawing.
Then he leaned across and kissed it, before standing up by supporting himself with his single hand.
When he turned around, he was faced with a red-veiled person; it was Bai Lingmiao's Second Deity, and she had witnessed the heartwarming yet eerie scene that had taken place.
"Keep your mouth shut," said Li Huowang before leaving her behind, and turning toward the carriages in the distance.
By the time he returned, everyone had eaten their fill, and were chatting to pass time.
Li Huowang reached out to take his bowl of noodles from Bai Lingmiao's arms. Then, he placed it on the ground, picked up his chopsticks and began to slurp them up with his one hand.
After devouring the noodles, a crisp, metallic sound caused his body to instinctively tense up. He seemed to have heard of this sound before.
Li Huowang looked toward the direction where the sound originated from and found that it came from Puppy; he was sitting on the ground, and using his knife as though he was trying to pry something out from the ground.
Li Huowang stood up and walked up to him. "What are you doing?"
Li Huowang's words startled Puppy, causing him to sheepishly look toward Li Huowang. Then, he reached out and picked up the object on the ground.
"Nothing much. Since we're spending so much money, I'm trying to help us save some," said Puppy. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
There were rows of blackened bronze coins in front of him—they seemed to have been burned recently. Li Huowang recognized that these were from the bronze-coin veils that the dwarfs performing the shadow play were using. He still remembered that Er Bing had taken it and even worn it on her face.
The burnt bronze coins had many scratches on them. Obviously, Puppy wanted to pry out these coins to put them to use.
"I feel that it's such a waste to just leave them in the pile of ashes like that. There are at least a hundred coins here. I'm not planning to keep them for myself. Once I pry them out, I will pass these to Junior Bai for safekeeping. But who knew that even the thin chains passing through the coins would be so hardy, and couldn't be pried out easily."
Hearing this, Li Huowang took it and wiped away the black dust on the coins quite easily.
The flames hadn't been able to harm this object in the slightest. There were thin, old chains that passed through each coin to form a strange coin veil.
These bronze coins seemed ordinary, and were all round with a square hole in the center. Each of them was imprinted with four large words which Li Huowang could not read.
"Dao... dao... dao guang... tong... Ah... tong... Tong bao!" Gao Zhijian translated for Li Huowang.
"Daoguang Tongbao[1]?" Li Huowang did not know which currency this country came from, nor did he care. What mattered was their actual value.
Li Huowang examined the coin veil carefully before calling Bun over, and placing the veil on its head to see if there were any hidden issues.
At that moment, a surprising scene happened—even though Bun was shaking its head and trying to use its front paws to scratch its head, Li Huowang felt like there was no dog in front of him.
Back then, the dwarf had worn this veil while sneak attacking him. If not for the Second Deity warning him in advance, he might have suffered from the sneak attack.
After that, when Er Bing wore this item and hid amongst the crowd, he hadn't been able to locate her.
From these two points, it seemed that this item could help conceal one's presence.
"This... might actually be useful for me." Li Huowang looked at the item, his gaze gradually brightening, "It's actually extremely useful!"
Although he did not understand why, it seemed like anyone in this world with some level of ability could easily tell that he was a Strayed One.
And this object might be able to prevent that from becoming a repeated occurrence—he would no longer be treated like a piece of highly sought after meat!
Chapter 163 - Arrival
The bronze coins rustled as Li Huowang donned the veil of bronze coins on his face. The distinctive burnt smell emanating from the coin veil gave Li Huowang an unprecedented sense of security.
Once at Benevolent Nunnery, if this thing is even able to conceal me from Abbess, then it would be shockingly valuable.
Wearing the mask, Li Huowang stood up and shouted excitedly to the people behind him, "Let's go! Hurry to the Henghua Mountain!"
With his shout, the carriage wheels started to roll once again, this time toward the kingdom of Si Qi.
As they gradually approached the kingdom of Si Qi, which had a lot more lakes and rivers, the landscape around them also grew more lush, with even the air feeling more moist.
However, their journey was not completely smooth-sailing. The border guard of the kingdom of Si Qi had started to become a lot more strict.
Fortunately, the border between the kingdom of Si Qi and Hou Shu was quite long to begin with. Some of the border troops had already been moved away, leaving gaps in their defenses.
They used the time when the guards changed their shifts to re-enter the kingdom of Si Qi.
One morning, Li Huowang was bound tightly to a tree with chains that were as thick as a bowl.
His fellow disciples silently looked on as he rambled on nonsensically. They had already grown accustomed to this after having experienced it multiple times. Now, they were no longer as surprised as before; they were quite familiar with his illness now.
After a while, Li Huowang's eyes gradually became clear. He looked up to see the bright sunlight, then glanced at the greenery by the roadside. Then, he heaved a sigh of relief.
No matter what they had gone through during their journey, they were finally about to arrive at their destination.
"Let's have lunch, and then we'll leave. We should be able to reach Henghua Mountain before nightfall," Li Huowang said to Bai Lingmiao, who was untying him.
There was a hint of sadness in Bai Lingmiao's eyes as she inspected his empty left sleeve. There were still no signs of improvement even after so many days.
After a moment, she turned around, picked up a wooden bucket, and went to the nearby river to fetch water.
The river water was very clean. The wooden bucket fell into the stream, along with Bai Lingmiao's tears.
"Do you feel sorry for Senior Li?" Chun Xiaoman, who had followed her, asked softly.
"He's disabled now! His hand cannot grow back!" Bai Lingmiao choked up.
Chun Xiaoman seemed to want to comfort her, yet found that she didn't know where to begin.
At the same time, seeing as how she was so sad, it pointed toward the fact that she had already accepted Senior Li as her own man.
"It's just his arm this time, but what if it happens again? Why is it so difficult for us to just go home?" sobbed Bai Lingmiao.
Seeing her closest friend so heartbroken, Chun Xiaoman felt quite sad for her.
Even though Li Huowang did not explain anything to them, in the time they had spent together, Chun Xiaoman had understood that the red bamboo slip on his waist was used to sacrifice a part of his body to exchange for supernatural abilities.
As long as Li Huowang was in possession of that thing, he would eventually have fewer and fewer organs.
Chun Xiaoman watched as Bai Lingmiao grew more and more distressed, causing her heart to waver as she hugged her.
In the end, it was all because their strength was not enough. If they had enough strength to easily resolve such situations, then such outcomes wouldn't happen.
However, it was almost impossible to persuade Senior Li to discard the bamboo slip. Even though the price to use that thing was quite large, it had enormous power.
I should get Senior Li to teach me how to use that bamboo slip.
Since anyone could use that thing, she might as well use it herself.
Be it Bai Lingmiao or Senior Li, they would both feel pained if either of them got injured. And since she had already made the decision to never get married, her appearance didn't matter anymore.
If it was my hand that was cut off...
Chun Xiaoman glanced at the dejected Bai Lingmiao, and then at her hand covered in black hair.
...it's alright!
After Xiaoman consoled Bai Lingmiao for a while, the two of them continued filling the water.
The rest of them were still waiting to eat, and they could not delay their journey further.
After a moment, the wooden bucket was filled with the refreshing river water.
"Hold on," said Chun Xiaoman as she dipped her hairy hand into the water before gently wiping the corners of Bai Lingmiao's eyes. "There's some ash here. Let me clean it off."
"Thank you, Sister Xiaoman," thanked Bai Lingmiao.
"Don't mention it. We're like sisters. I'm going to be your future child's godmother." Chun Xiaoman smiled.
At that moment, she saw Bai Lingmiao's expression suddenly become terrified
"Sister Xiaoman! Look behind you!" shouted Bai Lingmiao.
Xiaoman quickly reached for the hilt of her sword and spun around, only to see several corpses slowly floating down the clear river.
Soon after, everyone gathered by the river bank, silently staring at the corpses.
From their clothing, it could be inferred that these were soldiers belonging to the kingdom of Si Qi—likely casualties from a battle occurring in a region upstream.
Amidst the chaos of war, the commoners couldn't have fared much better either; there were quite a few commoners amongst the corpses, their eyes filled with despair.
"So many bodies... Just how many people must have died?" Puppy sighed as he leaned against a tree trunk.
"The river water is probably no longer fit for drinking. We'll have to look for wells in the future," said Li Huowang. He was busy considering other matters, different from the worries of the other disciples. "Does anyone feel that these bodies seem unusually fresh?"
Li Huowang's words caused everyone to pay closer attention to the corpses. Under normal circumstances, as long as a person had not died that day, their corpse would look a lot more terrifying after a while in the water—they wouldn't look like this.
"Yes, look, these corpses still have color in their faces!" commented one of them.
"If they were not motionless, they could easily be mistaken as being alive."
Li Huowang squinted as he continued to observe. These corpses were causing him to feel a strong sense of unease.
Were they killed with some special ability to become like this? Or did some sect get involved in this war among mortals?
Or maybe I'm overthinking it. In this world, normal wars are probably fought with those strange sects joining in.
Li Huowang stood by the river and pondered for a while before bringing the others away.
Maybe it was because so many had died, but everyone's mood was rather heavy. Nobody really spoke during their journey to the small town at the base of Henghua Mountain. They were only able to relax after seeing the familiar scenery of the small town around them.
"Senior Li, it's already so late. Are you going up the mountain now? How about going tomorrow after breakfast?" suggested Bai Lingmiao.
"Hold on," said Li Huowang as he walked into a pastry shop with fragrant aromas.
When he returned, he had a large stack of snacks on his back. It seemed like he had nearly emptied the entire store.
"I'm leaving. You guys can stay at the same inn as before, and I'll meet you guys there. Right, where's Puppy? I saw him just now," asked Li Huowang.
"He went to the restroom," replied someone.
At that moment, a contented-looking Puppy walked out from a nearby alley. "Ah... this restroom is clean enough. There's not even a single fly or maggot."
Chapter 164 - Goodbye Abbess
At this moment, Li Huowang was carrying a load of pastries on his back, panting heavily as he struggled up the dirt road on Henghua Mountain.
With only one hand now, and the burden of carrying so many snacks, this trip up the mountain was even more arduous than the ones before.
Li Huowang had tried to keep the pastries away from his body to avoid dousing them in his own sweat. However, this only served to tire him out even more.
Finally, after turning a corner, he couldn't continue. He put the pastries down, and leaned against a crooked tree to catch his breath.
Li Huowang had rushed up the mountain immediately after reaching the town below, causing him to start feeling hungry. He gave it some thought, and then reached into the snacks box and took out a green bean pastry before munching on it.
The pastry was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and it soothed Li Huowang's empty stomach. He had never eaten such a pastry before, but found it to be unexpectedly delicious. Given its taste and fragrance, he had a feeling that it was freshly made that day. It was even more delectable than those cream cakes and chocolates he used to eat before his transmigration.
Li Huowang didn't think too much about him eating some of the Abbess's snacks. It was not his first time here, and there was no need to be too polite with her. He was certain she wouldn't mind.
There are so many pastries here... they should be enough for the Abbess, right?
Li Huowang thought as he looked at the stack of pastries and chuckled. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
Nope... it's not enough. Even if the amount is doubled, it's probably still not enough to feed her.
As he thought up to this point, Li Huowang smiled, before feeling stunned. When did he have such a close relationship with Abbess Jingxin?
When he thought about it, the Abbess was greedy, lazy and dirty. But ever since coming to this world, aside from his fellow disciples, she was the person who had treated him the best.
She had not harmed him because he was a Strayed One, and even tried to help him to dispel Dan Yangzi. Before he left, she even gifted him with a sword to help him deal with danger during his journey.
If not for having to send Bai Lingmiao and the others home, staying in the town at the bottom of this mountain wouldn't be a bad choice. This is the Benevolent Nunnery's territory, and other powers wouldn't cause trouble for me over here.
Lost in these thoughts, he finished more than half of the box of green bean pastries, causing him to immediately stop.
He looked around at the lush surroundings of Henghua Mountain and relaxed. He suddenly thought of something, and reached into his pockets to retrieve the translated version of the Fiery Scripture.
He flipped through it, wanting to see how much influence Dan Yangzi currently had on him. To his astonishment, he found that he couldn't even recognize a single word.
This change caused his heart to drop.
I need to hurry! The speed at which Dan Yangzi is wresting control of my body is increasing! If there are any further delays, then I am going to be completely assimilated by Dan Yangzi!
Li Huowang quickly put the book back into his pocket, then picked up the pastries and continued to climb up the dirt path.
Finally, when the moon had risen high up in the sky, Li Huowang returned to the mountain gate of the Benevolent Nunnery.
When he saw the rhombus-shaped couplet written using Women's Script, Li Huowang felt a sense of familiarity.
"Abbess, I'm back! Look what I brought you guys!" Li Huowang shouted excitedly toward the pitch-black Benevolent Nunnery.
None of the lamps are on? Looks like they are too lazy to even light them up.
As he stepped foot into the dilapidated nunnery, Li Huowang suddenly felt that something was amiss.
How come... It's not smelly anymore?
Li Huowang tossed aside the pastries in his hand, then took a few deep breaths while standing on the spot. He was shocked to find that the smelly stench that was a characteristic of the Benevolent Nunnery had vanished without a trace!
Something's wrong!
Feeling somewhat flustered, Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to care about other things as he dashed toward the depths of the nunnery.
"Abbess Jingxin! Miao Yu! Miao Xin! Where are you guys!!" shouted Li Huowang, his voice reverberating throughout the nunnery. Even so, no one responded, causing him to start panicking.
Suddenly, Li Huowang heard some commotion in the distance. He dashed across, only to find that the commotion was caused by pigs oinking.
When he came to the pigsty located behind the washroom, the scene before him caused him to freeze on the spot.
A fat person about the size of a small house could be seen within the pigsty. The black-haired fat pigs could be seen surrounding her. They seemed like baby pigs that were suckling milk.
However, they were not suckling milk—instead, they were eating human flesh!
Their teeth that were usually used to eat feces were now being used to tear off the fatty flesh of the obese person before they swallowed it into their stomach. Every pig's snout was stained red as they enjoyed their meal.
"Get away!" shouted Li Huowang with bloodshot eyes as he unsheathed his sword and dashed toward them. He directly slashed at them before the pigs could even turn around, slicing one of them in two.
Frightened by the intense killing intent, the other black pigs quickly scattered away.
When Li Huowang arrived before the deceased fatty, he slowly knelt down and lifted the head that had half of its face chewed away.
It was Abbess Jingxin's face.
"Ahh!! Ahh!!"
At that moment, Li Huowang's agonized screams echoed throughout the Benevolent Nunnery. He clutched the Abbess's face as his tears rolled onto the floor.
Abbess Jingxin was dead.
The only person who had been good to him in this world, had departed from this world, and so had the hope in his heart.
"Who did this?!"
The almost-berserk Li Huowang maniacally charged out of the pigsty with his sword raised as he looked for the enemy within the nunnery.
However, aside from the corpses of the other nuns, he did not find anything else.
By the time he found her, Abbess Jingxin had been dead for some time already. The culprit had probably left a long time ago.
Who killed them?!
This was the only thought going through Li Huowang's brain. He dashed out toward the mountain gate, but gradually came to a stop.
With bloodshot eyes, he once again came before Abbess Jingxin and took out his long sword before starting to dig out a pit beside her.
He wanted to bury the Abbess, so that her body wouldn't be nibbled on by the pigs.
The hole required to bury the Abbess was quite large. He continued digging for a long time, all the way until the middle of the next day, before finally completing it.
Just as Li Huowang was about to push the Abbess in, he found something abnormal. Her corpse had been here for an entire night, yet there were no signs of it starting to smell or attracting any flies.
Seeing this, Li Huowang subconsciously thought back to the corpses they had seen floating in the river water. They had similarly not decomposed, and looked quite lifelike.
Could they have been killed by the same people? Those killed by the culprits do not rot? Who are they?!
Something is wrong! Hold on!
Li Huowang suddenly realized that he had overlooked something. He paused, then dashed toward the pigsty to examine the black-haired pig he had killed previously.
After an entire night and a day, the pig he had killed had similarly not attracted any flies or started to smell.
After a moment, Li Huowang stumbled out of the pigsty, looking at his surroundings disbelievingly.
There were no signs of any struggle or battle.
In any world, "decay" was an inevitable part of life.
However, at this moment, it seemed like something was not working properly with the process of decay in this world.
Perhaps... the Abbess wasn't killed by someone.
Li Huowang turned to look toward Abbess Jingxin. By now, her skin should have started decomposing and become filled with pus and maggots. Yet, it still appeared extremely smooth and fair.
The "decay" in this world had vanished.
Chapter 165 - Have Not Won
Veins bulged on Li Huowang's solitary arm as he exerted force to push Abbess Jingxin's corpse into the pit he had just dug out. Next, he knelt down on both knees and began filling the pit with soil to bury the Abbess's body.
Then, he drew some pastries on a wooden board, and placed it before her grave.
With an ashen expression, he took out the pastries that he had brought up the mountain and arranged them as offerings before her grave.
Abbess Jingxin had died, along with the "decay" of this world.
From here on, anything and everything made of flesh and blood would no longer decay or disintegrate; any dead person would remain in the same state that they were in at the time of their death.
Abbess Jingxin's death was definitely related to this. Previously, whenever the nuns used their supernatural abilities, they seemed to be connected to "decay".
The disappearance of "decay" seemed to be the true cause of Abbess Jingxin's and the others' deaths.
No matter the time, "decay" was always repulsive, and yet it was something unavoidable.
In a world where "decay" vanished, there would be a huge amount of problems.
If corpses did not decay, the cycle of life would be broken, and corpses would start accumulating in the world.
However at this point, Li Huowang couldn't be bothered with pondering over what was going on; he himself was about to be a goner.
The Abbess was dead, and there would be nobody else like her that would help him deal with the matter of Dan Yangzi.
There was no one else he could turn to now; he was nearly out of time.
At this point, he had turned completely illiterate, which foreshadowed that he was on the verge of being completely assimilated by Dan Yangzi.
If he did not want Dan Yangzi to succeed in his schemes, then there was only one path he could take.
"Abbess, wait for me at the Bridge of Helplessness. I will come down to join you guys shortly!" said Li Huowang. Then, he kowtowed three times toward the grave before dispiritedly looking toward the rat mountain.
Abbess had previously told him that he could prevent Dan Yangzi from taking over him by being nibbled to death by those rats.
He did not want Dan Yangzi to come back to life, even if that meant that he himself would have to die!
However, when Li Huowang arrived before that black tower again, he was stunned by the black objects that littered the ground.
He walked across and lifted the black objects, slowly prying them open with his fingernails. Cockroaches and flies fell out from in between his fingers, and floated down like black-colored snowflakes.
With the death of the nuns, these flies and cockroaches had followed suit. After all, they were the lowest level of decomposers.
Li Huowang suddenly stood up. His breathing quickened as he dashed toward the black tower.
However, what he saw was a shocking scene. The black rats inside had similarly died, and those dead rats were the same as the others—they showed no signs of decay or foul odor.
"Damn!" Enraged, Li Huowang smashed his fist onto those dead rats, causing their innards to be squeezed out from their mouths and flying everywhere.
"What immoral deeds did I do in my past life?! Why can't I even die when I want to?!"
"Hehehe... Child..." A low laughter rang beside Li Huowang.
When Li Huowang looked up, he saw that it belonged to Dan Yangzi's three terrifying faces.
"What did I tell you? At this point, whatever you do is in vain. You can still help me if you turn back now," said Dan Yangzi.
"Do you think you've won?" Li Huowang stood up, his eyes filled with boundless hatred. "As long as this body still belongs to me, you have not won yet!"
Li Huowang suddenly stood up and rushed toward the mountain gate of Benevolent Nunnery before running down the mountain as though in a frenzy.
Once he got down, he collided with Yang Xiaohai, who had two pieces of fried sweet potato in his mouth.
Seeing Li Huowang, Yang Xiaohai said ingratiatingly, "Senior Li, you've returned? Have you finished your matters on the mountain? Shall we go back together?"
However, Li Huowang completely ignored his flattery, and continued to dash onto the road. He glanced around and directly seized the horse of a scholar nearby before climbing onto it.
With bloodshot eyes, he quickly turned the horse around, and then jabbed a sharp screwdriver onto the horse's butt. The horse neighed and screamed in pain before dashing toward the direction of the Ao Jing Sect.
"My horse!! That's my horse!!" The scholar cried and chased, but Li Huowang soon vanished from his field of vision.
Seeing this scene, Yang Xiaohai panicked. Still holding the oily paper bag, he hurried back toward the inn. "Seniors! Senior Li is having an episode again!"
The mountain range where the Ao Jing Sect resided was over 200 miles away from the Benevolent Nunnery that was located on Henghua Mountain, and thus it required some time to traverse this distance when traveling via carriages.
However, with Li Huowang constantly using his torture instruments to stimulate the horse, they got there within just two days.
Once they returned to the ghost town, the horse finally could not continue any further. It started frothing at the mouth and fell onto the ground, its behind mangled from the repeated stabbing.
Li Huowang passed through the graves he had dug for the residents of the ghost town, and dashed up toward the mountain cave.
By now, it was already his third day without any sleep, and without anything to eat or drink. His current expression looked very bad.
However, Li Huowang had already cast aside all his worries about life and death. He just wanted Dan Yangzi dead! He was willing to do whatever it took, as long as he achieved his objective.
When Li Huowang returned, a few large-robed Ao Jing Sect disciples immediately blocked him without hesitation. "Shou San has orders, you—"
However, before they could even finish, a cold glint flashed through the air, and two heads fell to the ground simultaneously. Their eyes were filled with disbelief; they had never thought that the other party would attack first.
Covered in blood, Li Huowang dashed into the cave and shouted, "Sitting Oblivion Dao! Come out now!"
His voice reverberated within the cave, attracting everyone's attention.
Soon after, Li Huowang was completely surrounded. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
But it did not matter to him, since he did not plan to leave this place alive.
At that moment, Shou San stepped out from within the crowd, his body wreathed in flames. "You can't be reasoned with. Do you really think that we won't do anything to you?"
Meanwhile, as those words were uttered, Li Huowang looked toward the five elders that stepped out. Seeing the five people from the Sitting Oblivion Dao who were in disguise, he started chuckling, "Come, show me the strength of your Sitting Oblivion Dao!"
After saying this, Li Huowang raised his sword and sliced it across his own neck.
Beside him, Dan Yangzi was filled with anger as black clouds gradually enveloped his terrifying body before he lunged directly at Li Huowang.
However, Li Huowang did not care as he felt his blood pour out along with his life.
Splash~
At that moment, the Profound Records were unfurled onto the ground, and Li Huowang stood directly on it.
After a moment, the blood that flowed down his neck and down his clothes completely soaked the Profound Records.
Chapter 166 - Five Elements Intercalation
"Little brat, you're pushing your luck too far. Do you really think that just because you could massacre an entire town, you are above everyone else?" Elder "Shen Benyou" said while looking toward Li Huowang with a hint of displeasure on his face.
At that moment, his body trembled slightly, causing the rusty nails embedded within his body to quickly shoot out toward Li Huowang.
But as the long nails were flying toward him, Li Huowang dodged them with surprising agility, all while cutting his own neck.
A sinister smile then appeared on Li Huowang's extremely haggard face. He stepped onto the Profound Records, and then dashed toward the five elders, with a slight gust behind his back.
"Protect the elders!"
Flames quickly lit up on the bodies of some of the Ao Jing Sect disciples like Shou San and Tou Qi. As they raised their hands together, the blaze seemed to become contagious as it also appeared on Li Huowang's body, causing his red Taoist robes to start burning as well.
It seemed like "Li Huowang" was in a dire situation. But in the very next moment, he tilted his head and the situation was completely reversed. The flames on "Li Huowang"'s body were extinguished, and at the same time, the charred bodies of the Ao Jing Sect members that were ablaze began to swell up inexplicably. Soon, their charred skin split apart like scorched rice, revealing their grotesque flesh. The blood that spewed out from the gaps quickly caused the flames on their body to be extinguished.
Then, "Li Huowang" held his sword in one hand and slashed down, directly cutting down two of the deformed Ao Jing Sect members; these Ao Jing Sect members were no match for him—for him, dealing with them was as easy as cutting vegetables.
"No! That's not the brat! He has been possessed by his half-Immortal Master, Dan Yangzi!"
When the five elders of the Sitting Oblivion Dao realized this, they quickly sat down cross-legged, and began to chant. "As for joy, the pinnacle of elegance~ The beginning of the Dao, the fulfillment of accomplishment, the mastery of delight~ One should find joy in all things..."
As he heard them chanting, Li Huowang started laughing. However, it was not just his mouth smiling, but his eyes, fingers, and all the other organs on his body were laughing as well.
As his laughter rang out, his facial features began to loosen.
The very next moment, Dan Yangzi's counterattack began. Some illusory black clouds appeared out of nowhere and shrouded Dan Yangzi, gradually suppressing his laughter.
At that moment, Li Huowang looked over to where Dan Yangzi was locked in fierce combat with the "Sitting Oblivion Dao".
Even though his neck was throbbing with immense pain, the smile on his face was even brighter than before. What he wanted was to use himself to incite Dan Yangzi and Sitting Oblivion Dao into killing each other—no matter which side suffered casualties, he would have achieved his objectives.
No, it's not enough. Just a bit more!
As he thought up to this point, Li Huowang raised a dagger and plunged it half-an-inch deep into the skin on his chest. He trembled as he gripped the hilt tightly, then gritted his teeth before sliding it downward.
Seeing this, the illusory Monk who had been following beside him, took a breath of cold air, and started gesturing frantically. "Taoist, don't do this. Let's think of another way!"
However, Li Huowang did not think so. He did not want to risk giving Dan Yangzi a chance to take over his body after he died, and use it to commit heinous crimes.
With a low growl, Li Huowang pulled the hilt down firmly. Fresh blood splattered out from his chest and onto the Profound Records beneath him, causing the color of the bamboo slip to turn even more vibrant.
At this moment, between his enhanced perception of pain and the near-dissembowelment caused Li Huowang to almost faint.
But he didn't dare to let himself faint now. If he did, then by the time he woke up, the wounds on his body would have recovered. If Dan Yangzi managed to take over his body during that time, everything he had done before would have been in vain.
Now that Dan Yangzi had come out and shown himself, there would be no second chances for him.
With a clang, the blood-stained dagger fell onto the ground. Then, Li Huowang staggered as he raised his remaining hand and inserted it into the wound he had just cut open.
"Ahh!! Ahh!!!" He cried out as he knelt onto the ground with one knee. At the same time, veins began to bulge on the back of his hand as he forcefully pulled at the edge, causing his innards to be exposed to the cold air just like that.
"Wood Liver!"
Red roots extended from the Profound Records and burrowed in, restoring life to the liver that had lost far too much blood. Then, more roots extended from it, and followed along Li Huowang's knee before burrowing in once again, going even deeper than before.
"Gold Lungs!"
As so continued, the roots extending from the Profound Records became even thicker.
"Earth Spleen!"
Thunder started echoing, while some sort of aura expanded within the cave. Everything around Li Huowang began to distort.
At this moment, everyone present before Li Huowang had turned into horrifying fleshy monsters, while the Profound Records on the ground had similarly transformed into parallel rows of wriggling worms.
"Water Kidneys!"
As Li Huowang continued, the crowd from Ao Jing Sect dashed toward him to try and stop him. However, as soon as they approached him, the Profound Records hanging on them all flew over and surrounded Li Huowang, forming a protective barrier around him.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang was slowly turning empty from within, and yet he was smiling more happily than ever before.
The entire process was painful, in fact extremely so. But he was truly happy—he was finally about to die. As long as he died, then he would not need to feel any more pain, and Dan Yangzi would not be able to take control of his body.
He took a deep breath, and his voice that was filled with sorrow and hatred spewed out along with fresh blood. "And lastly... Fire Heart!"
At this point, the Profound Records, which had now connected with his five organs burst with vitality.
Li Huowang had completely sacrificed his most important organs to Ba-Hui. With this, his body was almost reduced to an empty shell, and he fell to the ground, his pupils dilated.
However, this was not the end. This was not the Cang-Qiang Ascension that was used to summon Ba-Hui, but a different ritual recorded on the Profound Records—the Five Elements Intercalation.
And now that Li Huowang had completed it, he watched the wriggling worms on the ground that formed the Profound Records. They quickly gathered together and burrowed toward his empty body.
Soon after, his body, which had been nearly completely torn apart, was once again filled up, overflowing with them. Those worms burrowed freely within his body, not leaving any empty spaces.
Li Huowang staggered to his feet while holding his sword, and then looked down at the worms that were wriggling inside his body. At this moment, he could feel these worms wriggling inside his body.
It was an extremely strange feeling; he felt like these worms had already become a part of himself, and he could even feel the peculiar strength that was contained within their bodies.
He was already starting to have trouble distinguishing whether these things were worms or just a part of himself.
Most importantly, Li Huowang no longer felt any pain.
Chapter 167 - Chaotic Battle
When the ritual is over, I should be dead, right?
Li Huowang slowly raised his sword, and the worms in his abdomen climbed along his robes before wriggling toward his broken stub of an arm.
In just a few moments, he had a new left hand that was formed with wriggling worms.
After testing his new hand, Li Huowang nodded in satisfaction. Then, he once again looked into the distance, where Dan Yangzi was locked in battle with the five people from the Sitting Oblivion Dao.
From what he could see, Dan Yangzi still had the same terrifying appearance, while the faces of the other five had morphed into fleshy mahjong tiles.
When he thought about his imminent death, Li Huowang's heart began to calm down. He lifted his sword before walking toward them.
When he got closer, he charged forward and sliced off Dan Yangzi's central head. "Master, don't panic, your disciple is here to assist you!"
Meanwhile, the five from the Sitting Oblivion Dao seized the opportunity created by Li Huowang ambushing Dan Yangzi to quickly start levitating in a sitting position. Then, they began to chant while circling the two of them, "What is sitting in oblivion?"
Their voices continuously reverberated throughout the spacious cavern, becoming louder and louder.
On the other hand, as soon as they said those words, Li Huowang and Dan Yangzi pushed off each other, and simultaneously leapt toward one of the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao on either side.
At that moment, a black domino flew toward Li Huowang's wrist. Just as he was about to dodge it, Yao Ji[1] put his fingers together and snapped. In an instant, the black shadow beneath the domino and the domino switched their positions—the shadow became the domino, and the domino had turned into the shadow.
This caught Li Huowang off-guard, causing the domino to pierce through Li Huowang's wrist, leaving behind a square gap in its wake.
Without the support of his wrist bones, Li Huowang's hand was about to droop powerlessly. However, that square hole was quickly filled up by those worms, allowing him to once again hold his sword firmly.
Hehe, we get what we pay for. Looks like I gain quite a bit from sacrificing my internal organs.
Li Huowang thought to himself as he dashed toward Qi Wan[2] in the distance.
This time, Li Huowang did not bother with dodging anything the enemy threw at him, using his body to meet it all head-on. Any damage or loss of body parts was quickly filled in by the wriggling worms. With the strength he borrowed from Ba-Hui, for the moment Li Huowang was evenly matched with them.
Li Huowang, Dan Yangzi, and the Sitting Oblivion Dao—these three parties had completely different goals, and were engaged in a chaotic battle.
At times, it was Li Huowang and Dan Yangzi fighting off the Sitting Oblivion Dao, and at others, it was Dan Yangzi and the Sitting Oblivion Dao fighting off Li Huowang.
Dan Yangzi was wielding a fleshy coin sword, and had terrifying strength. He could still suppress the Sitting Oblivion Dao, even though he had lost one head.
On the other hand, it seemed like the Sitting Oblivion Dao was more adept at psychological games, and not as good at direct confrontations. The five of them were even being suppressed by Dan Yangzi.
But this was partly thanks to Li Huowang.
Though Dan Yangzi was slightly stronger, their three sides mutually balanced each other out; none of them wanted to let either of the other parties win.
In this chaotic battle, Li Huowang always chose to help the weaker side, and fight against the stronger side; he was already giving up his life, and so there was no reason to not take down a few more with him. The best outcome would be if both Dan Yangzi and the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao could die with him.
Soon, this intense battle reached a temporary stalemate, with each person calculating their own interests.
Taking advantage of the moment when Dan Yangzi was pressuring the others, Yao Ji quickly approached Li Huowang and said urgently, "Boss! Don't mess around anymore! Can't you see how powerful this half-Immortal is? Continuing will only lead to everyone dying!"
"Hehe, do you think calling me 'Boss' will make me spare you? Even calling me "ancestor" is not going to help you at all!" said Li Huowang. As he spoke, he reached out toward the edges of the wound on his body, and abruptly pulled them apart.
Immediately, the blood-red worms burst forth from his abdomen and crashed toward Yao Ji.
Currently, these worms were all under Li Huowang's control. As long as a worm managed to come into contact with someone, it would immediately burrow into their body and pierce through that person's intestines.
"Boss Hong Zhong! We really have to stop fighting! Feel the skin at the back of your neck! Tell me if I'm lying!" said Yao Ji.
Hearing this, Li Huowang reached behind his neck. Then, the worms burrowed through his flesh before propping up a hard object from within.
It was a mahjong tile—Hong Zhong[3].
This scene left Li Huowang feeling somewhat hesitant.
Yao Ji hurriedly explained, "Your true identity is that of one of the three bosses of the Sitting Oblivion Dao. It was you who felt that you had played through everything possible and felt that everything was boring and meaningless. And so, you sealed up your consciousness for us to play with you. Now, Er Bing is dead because of you. We can't play any further; after all, we're all brothers. Any more will be too much, and we can't lose our lives just to satisfy your desires."
"Are you speaking the truth?" Li Huowang looked very confused as he stared at the Hong Zhong mahjong tile.
"Ah! Didn't you see that this mahjong tile was dug up from within your flesh! Could there still be—" said Yao Ji before coming to an abrupt stop. He suddenly felt that something was amiss as he spoke. At that moment, he looked down, only to see that several worms had already burrowed into his leg. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Just as Yao Ji's attention shifted onto his leg, there was a cold flash in front of him, and then Li Huowang's sword had directly pierced through his neck.
Li Huowang smiled mockingly at Yao Ji before continuing to act in accordance with his lies. "Yes, I recall now. I'm one of the three leaders of the Sitting Oblivion Dao, Hong Zhong. I even recall that back in the day, you stole my woman, and so I'm publicly seeking revenge now."
As long as he could ascertain the identity of a member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao, it was very simple to deal with them—treat anything and everything they said as worthless.
"Boss, I'm speaking the truth!" shouted Yao Ji as he desperately clutched onto Li Huowang's sword.
"I believe you!" said Li Huowang as he exerted force with one hand, slicing off Yao Ji's fingers and his square-shaped head.
After that, the worms within Yao Ji's body burrowed back into Li Huowang's chest before he turned around and dashed toward the distant battlefield.
One of the liars from Sitting Oblivion Dao had died, and it was time to handicap Dan Yangzi a little.
"Master! Xuan Yang is here to help you!" shouted Li Huowang as he dashed toward Dan Yangzi.
Sploosh!
With the combined efforts of the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao and Li Huowang, Dan Yangzi's child-like head was cut off quickly.
However, even before Li Huowang could catch his breath, an indistinct fleshy and immature infant head had started to grow out from the wound on Dan Yangzi's neck.
When Yi Wan saw this happen, he quickly turned toward Li Huowang. "Your Master is semi-Immortal, so it's completely futile to keep going on like this! Help us fend him off for a moment, and we'll help you take care of him!"
But all he got in response was Li Huowang spitting a mouthful of blood at him.
"Alright, fine! We did fool you before, but you have already killed Er Bing and Yao Ji. Shouldn't two lives be enough to soothe some of your anger? And besides, compared to us outsiders, shouldn't you hate your Master even more?" asked Yi Wan.
Swoosh!
Dan Yangzi swung his coin sword, forcing Li Huowang and Yi Wan to step back and dodge it.
At the same time, the other three from the Sitting Oblivion Dao quickly stepped forward to intercept Dan Yangzi.
Taking advantage of this rare moment of respite, Yi Wan looked at Li Huowang, "How about it? Help us deal with Dan Yangzi, and then we can part ways peacefully after that."
However, Li Huowang simply ignored his words, all while steadying himself on the ground, preparing to help the other three Sitting Oblivion Dao members against Dan Yangzi.
Seeing this, Yi Wan spoke once again, this time, his words making Li Huowang grind to a halt, "You still think it's not enough? Then let me give you a final offer! Li Huowang, you are a Strayed One, aren't you? It must not be very pleasant to occasionally end up in a state of bewilderment, right? As long as you help us, then we will tell you the method to free yourself from a Strayed One's bewilderment and help you become a regular person!"
Looking at the surprise on Li Huowang's face, Yi Wan continued to explain, "That's right, Strayed Ones can indeed free themselves from their bewilderment. It's just that the method to do so is extremely difficult! Ordinary people simply cannot hope to find it!"
"Quit lying! Even Abbess Jingxin couldn't find it, and you think you can?" Li Huowang spoke firmly. However, he still did not leave.
As Yi Wan saw his comrades struggling, he spoke rapidly, "Chen Hongxiu, that old nun, knew nothing! I'll tell you the truth! One of the four Joys of the Sitting Oblivion Dao, Bei Feng[1], is also a Strayed One! He has managed to live to a ripe old age of 190, and he's still doing well! None of a Strayed One's bewilderment or confusion bothers him!"
As Li Huowang was deep in thought, the other three Sitting Oblivion Dao members could no longer hold out. At that moment, Dan Yangzi's bronze coin sword pierced one of their chests, and his chest immediately started to swell up.
The very next moment, his body exploded, turning into a huge pile of bloody, grotesque flesh that splattered everywhere.
"Look! Now three of us are dead! If you don't completely restrain Dan Yangzi, then after our deaths, he'll be the one to reap all the benefits! Will you be happy then? Let's be honest, even if I openly admit that I deceived you, so what? Do you hate him more or us? Three of us are already dead, while your Master Dan Yangzi has yet to lose even a single strand of hair! Think it through!" shouted Yi Wan.
This speech finally seemed to convince Li Huowang. If he had to choose who he hated more, it was very easy for him to select between Dan Yangzi and the Sitting Oblivion Dao.
Once he made his decision, Li Huowang looked at Dan Yangzi who was chasing after the two remaining members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao, and then nodded. "Hurry! I'll hold him off for now!"
Just as Dan Yangzi opened his enormous mouth and was about to bite off the square head of one of the members of Sitting Oblivion Dao, Li Huowang arrived in front of him.
At this moment, Li Huowang didn't bother dodging, instead choosing to directly stomp his feet toward Dan Yangzi's open mouth.
The wriggling worms that formed the Profound Records were like bloodthirsty leeches. They directly burrowed out of Li Huowang's chest as they flashed their fangs while heading toward Dan Yangzi.
Clang!
However, Dan Yangzi's mouth closed down before Li Huowang could reach him.
At that moment, with his entire body filled with wriggling worms, Li Huowang crashed heavily onto Dan Yangzi's terrifying face.
Immediately all the worms opened their mouths, ready to burrow into Dan Yangzi's flesh.
But unexpectedly, all Dan Yangzi did was just pinch his fingers, which were made of wriggling tentacles, together.
In an instant, Dan Yangzi's flesh and blood twisted in reverse before directly leaping onto Li Huowang's body, attempting to swallow him.
Flesh, blood, bones, organs, and worms—all these objects were confined together in a very limited space as they tried to tear and devour each other.
Dan Yangzi could see that Li Huowang was hard to deal with, and thus he wanted to take care of the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao first;
However, Li Huowang did not allow that.
Gradually, both sides began to intertwine with one another.
While it seemed that Dan Yangzi was stronger than Li Huowang, it was not so easy for him to just swallow Li Huowang like that. After all, Li Huowang had sacrificed his body's five elements and organs. The thing he had received from Ba-Hui in exchange was not something that could be dealt with so easily.
Those worms were not affected by Dan Yangzi's abnormal body; they just held onto Li Huowang's flesh firmly, preventing themselves from being swallowed.
From the perspective of Yi Wan and the others, Dan Yangzi and Li Huowang who were fighting in the distance, looked like they had morphed into a mass of constantly wriggling flesh.
"Master, hope you're doing well!" Li Huowang smiled and greeted the head that was now about the size of an orange, and seemed to have had its skin peeled. Even though he was smiling, Li Huowang actually really wanted to eat Dan Yangzi's flesh and drink his blood!
Hearing this greeting, Dan Yangzi revealed a mocking smile on his face. "Evil disciple, do you really think that you can beat me? I'm a half-Immortal now. So, what can you, a mere mortal, do?"
"Then why are you still unable to beat a mere mortal like me? Seems like your status as a half-Immortal is quite lousy!" retorted Li Huowang.
Just as both of them were entangled with each other, the remaining three Sitting Oblivion Dao members began to move. They quickly surrounded the master and disciple pair and sat down cross-legged, then closed their eyes and started to chant. "Embark on the path of cultivation! Practice until it turns natural! Cast away the confusion! Sit in oblivion! Unmoved by silence! Explore the subtle brilliance! Follow a unique path! Find virtue with no bounds! Expect the marvels that lie ahead! Look for efficiency! Marvelous! Hahaha!"
As they chanted, patterns of mahjong tiles flowed down from their clothes like water before quickly spreading out onto the ground.
These patterns and lines then swiftly formed strange symbols. The strokes between them began to tremble, emitting high and low sounds of laughter.
Gradually, the laughter grew louder and louder, infecting the onlookers from among the Ao Jing Sect members, as well as Dan Yangzi and Li Huowang in the distance. Soon, everyone's voices began to echo within the cave as they grew increasingly louder.
At that moment, Li Huowang's ears finally picked up on something hidden within the laughter.
It was something that felt dark and obscure, something that the senses of normal people could not understand. Though Li Huowang could not understand what it was, he felt a sense of familiarity from it.
"This is the God of Happiness! I remember now! This is the same God of Happiness from back at the Hu Family's ancestral hall! The members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao are summoning the God of Happiness!" said Li Huowang.
However, beside him, Dan Yangzi sensed something that Li Huowang couldn't. "No, kid, you're wrong! They're not summoning! They are deceiving it! Not only have they managed to deceive Ba-Hui, they have even deceived their own God of Prosperity! None of their supernatural abilities are their own, and they were all acquired by deceiving others!"
Li Huowang felt like something was drawing him toward the laughter, toward where that thing in the walls was staring at himself. It was the God of Happiness.
The laughter by his ears grew louder and louder, and Li Huowang understood that no matter what they were doing , now was a critical moment.
Just as the laughter reached its peak, Li Huowang's lips curled up as he glanced at the three members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao, his body suddenly shrinking back.
At the same time, all the worms that had been entangled with Dan Yangzi's flesh withdrew from his body before flying back to Li Huowang.
This sudden situation caused everyone present to be caught off guard.
Dan Yangzi, who had now regained his freedom, did not hesitate. He immediately stepped onto the dark clouds and pounced toward the three people in the distance, looking like a ferocious tiger descending down a mountain.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang just remained standing on the spot, watching everything happening in the distance as though it was all just a play. When he saw Yi Wan staring at him in disbelief, he suddenly slapped his head in frustration with both hands. "Oh no, look at what I've done! How could I let Dan Yangzi escape so easily? I'm quite inexperienced, so please forgive me, Senior."
"You actually dare to deceive me!" shouted Yi Wan.
Hearing these words, Li Huowang chuckled, "Now I can somewhat understand why you guys from the Sitting Oblivion Dao like to do this. It's really quite fun to deceive others, hahaha!"
No matter what the others thought, the situation was now spiraling out of control.
Just as one of the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao had their head sliced into half by Dan Yangzi's sword, three figures representing the Gods of Happiness burrowed out from within the smooth walls of the cave.
The three masses were sticky and chaotic, and semi-transparent, resembling a bunch of rotten grapes.
The moment they appeared, the onlookers from Ao Jing Sect were no longer able to escape. Everyone present started rolling on the ground as they burst out laughing, their laughter growing more and more terrifying. Eventually, blood started to flow out of their seven orifices, leading them to their deaths.
After the newly emerged figures had gotten used to their surroundings, they locked onto their targets and flew straight toward Dan Yangzi and Li Huowang.
At the same time, with the addition of another faction, the battlefield once more became chaotic.
However, Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to move, as he watched Dan Yangzi dismember yet another one of the members from the Sitting Oblivion Dao. With that, he felt that he had achieved what he had wanted, and it was time for things to come to an end.
Suddenly, darkness enveloped him from above—Li Huowang had been enveloped by one of the figures of the God of Happiness.
As the layers of the God of Happiness' body brushed past Li Huowang, he suddenly felt like many things had been taken from him.
The emotions in his heart, his will to die, as well as a trace of reluctance. A great portion of these things had been taken from him.
At that moment, a splattering sound rang out, and some lifeless worms helplessly fell out from inside Li Huowang's chest.
Li Huowang sluggishly looked down at the dead worms. He understood that the duration of the Five Elements Intercalation was almost over.
At the same time, a chattering sound came from above his head; one of the God of Happiness' figures was about to attack again, an attack that would likely spell his doom.
But Li Huowang did not plan to hide anymore. Without those worms, and with his internal organs gone, he was destined to die sooner or later.
But it was alright as well, since, at this point, Dan Yangzi's plan to take over his body had completely failed.
"Ah, I'm exhausted. I can finally rest," muttered Li Huowang, his robes fluttering in the wind as he closed his eyes and waited for his end.
"Get lost!"
At that moment, a thunderous sound rang out, causing Li Huowang to look up in confusion. There, he saw Dan Yangzi's figure, still covered with his peculiar flesh.
He was shrouded within the dark clouds and firmly holding off the God of Happiness; he had actually managed to save Li Huowang this time.
As he saw this, Li Huowang scratched at his chest, causing some more dead worms to slip out and onto the ground. At this point, his missing sense of pain was gradually starting to return. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
"Why try to save me? Do you think I won't die just because you saved me?" Li Huowang said as he stood on the spot and watched the scene above him unfold.
At this point, given that he could see the other two Gods of Happiness swim over as well, it was likely that Dan Yangzi wouldn't have a good ending either.
Before his death, Li Huowang stood on the spot, planning to watch Dan Yangzi suffer. However, he suddenly thought of something, and turned to look toward the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao.
There, he saw bodies scattered all over the ground—all of them except for one was dead.
At this moment, one of the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao was clutching at his stomach as he stumbled out of the cave.
"Damn! One of them got away!" muttered Li Huowang.
Letting the member of Sitting Oblivion Dao escape alive was even more unbearable for Li Huowang than death itself.
Just a moment ago, he had been ready to die. But now, it seemed like he suddenly saw a ray of hope as he dashed toward the last member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao.
From the looks of it, that person had been injured during his battle with Dan Yangzi, and was not able to move fast.
On the other hand, Li Huowang was not particularly fast either; after all, his sense of pain had started to return. Every step he took at this moment was excruciatingly painful, almost as though countless needles were piercing him. His body was slowly collapsing.
One chased, while the other hurried away. Then, the member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao suddenly turned a corner, and vanished from Li Huowang's field of vision just like that.
With his sword in hand, Li Huowang dragged his collapsing body around the corner, only to be stunned by what lay before him.
It turned out to be a dead end. At this moment, some women were hiding here, huddled together while holding their children, as they trembled in fear.
These people were likely the family members of the Ao Jing Sect's disciples, and were hiding here to seek refuge.
That member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao seemed to have changed his appearance before hiding among them.
After a moment, Li Huowang bent his aching back before staggering toward them, the sharp sword tip scraping against the ground and causing a piercing friction noise.
To the women hiding here, this noise seemed like a death knell, causing them to cry out in terror.
For a moment, Li Huowang looked through these people as he tried to search for the member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao hiding among them.
However, this was no easy feat, since there were far too many people here.
Sploosh~
At that moment, Li Huowang's left hand crumbled and fell to the ground, turning into a broken red bamboo slip.
There's not much time left for me to find the bastard! Since he won't come out, then I'll just kill them all!
As Li Huowang's thought reached this point, he gritted his teeth and raised the blade in his hand toward the elderly, women and children.
"Hold on! Taoist, what are you doing?! They are innocent! They haven't done anything wrong!" shouted the Monk from his hallucination as he suddenly tried to persuade him.
Upon hearing this, Li Huowang's eyes showed some hesitation, but then he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and swung it down forcefully.
In an instant, blood splashed, and screams filled the air. At the same time, Li Huowang's robes were stained with an even deeper shade of red.
Witnessing this horrifying scene, Monk cried out. He started jumping around frantically as he tried to go over and stop all this, but couldn't touch Li Huowang at all.
Amidst the bloodbath, one of the women's bodies suddenly twisted, and her face quickly morphed into a new one as she tried to use the chaos to escape.
However, just as she had taken a few steps, some worms flew out from the blood on the ground and entered her body.
She fell to the ground and started howling in agony, while something started to slowly prop up her flesh.
As her struggling ceased, some spluttering sounds rang out as distorted red bamboo slips burrowed out from her face like a screw.
With this, the final member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao had died—all six of the Sitting Oblivion Dao members who had deceived Li Huowang were now dead.
Monk furiously watched as Li Huowang stopped his massacre, and then tore off the cloth from his sleeve before throwing it on the ground. Then, he pointed at Li Huowang with trembling fingers and shouted, "Taoist! It seems that I've misjudged you! We're no longer related! The Li Huowang I knew would never have done such a thing!"
Hearing this, Li Huowang, who was almost completely exhausted, slowly looked up slowly at him; it was as if he was coming to a slow realization. He lowered his head to look at his own battered body, his expression suddenly becoming ecstatic as he shouted, "That's right! Li Huowang would definitely not have done something like this. But I, Dan Yangzi, definitely would! Hahaha! I've made it!"