Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 168
>Chapter Title: Melee
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> “Once the ritual’s maintenance time is up, I should be dead, right?”
> Li Huowang slowly raised his sword. The bugs in his abdomen crawled up along his Daoist robes onto his severed arm, wriggling into place.
> In just a few breaths, he had a new left hand formed from the worms entwining one another.
> Testing his new hand, Li Huowang nodded in satisfaction. He looked toward the distance again, at the five Sitting Oblivion Daoists locked in combat with Danyangzi.
> In Li Huowang’s eyes at that moment, Danyangzi was still his terrifying self, while the other five had faces that were completely transformed into blood-flesh mahjong tiles.
> The thought that he was about to die soon calmed Li Huowang’s heart instead. Gripping his sword, he walked toward them in the distance.
> Charging forward, Li Huowang swung once and cleaved off the central head of Danyangzi.
> “Master, don’t panic! Your disciple is here to help you!!”
> Seizing the moment of Li Huowang’s sneak attack on Danyangzi, the distant Sitting Oblivion Daoists instantly capitalized on the opening. The five swiftly sat cross-legged in midair around the pair and began chanting.
> “What is Sitting Oblivion!”
> Their voices echoed repeatedly through the vast cavern, growing louder and louder.
> At those words, Li Huowang and Danyangzi tacitly kicked off each other’s bodies at the same time. One to the left and one to the right, they each lunged toward a Sitting Oblivion Daoist.
> A black pai gow tile flew over, smashing straight toward Li Huowang’s wrist. Just as he moved to dodge, One-Bamboo in the distance crossed two fingers and snapped crisply.
> The black shadow beneath the pai gow tile sliced apart in an instant. The shadow became the pai gow tile, and the pai gow tile became the shadow.
> Caught off guard, the tile pierced straight through Li Huowang’s wrist, leaving a perfect square hole.
> With the wrist bone gone, his hand seemed about to droop powerlessly. But soon, the square opening was filled by those bugs, and the sword in his grip steadied once more, firm and secure.
> “Heh, you get what you pay for. Looks like sacrificing your organs and entrails gets you something special.”
> With that, Li Huowang stamped his feet and charged toward Seven-Wan in the distance.
> This time, no matter what the foe threw at him, Li Huowang simply didn’t dodge. He took it all directly with his body.
> Any damage or loss was instantly replaced by those wriggling bugs anyway.
> Relying on the power borrowed from Ba Hui, Li Huowang matched them evenly for the moment.
> Li Huowang, Danyangzi, Sitting Oblivion Daoists—these three parties with utterly conflicting goals descended into chaotic battle.
> One moment it was Li Huowang and Danyangzi against the Sitting Oblivion Daoists; the next, Danyangzi and the Sitting Oblivion Daoists against Li Huowang.
> Danyangzi, wielding the blood-flesh copper coin sword, was astonishingly powerful. Even after losing one head, he still pressed the Sitting Oblivion Daoists.
> It seemed the Sitting Oblivion Daoists excelled more at toying with hearts and minds; they weren’t as adept at direct clashes. Shockingly, even five of them were being suppressed by Danyangzi.
> Of course, that was also thanks to Li Huowang’s efforts.
> Though Danyangzi was the strongest, the three sides now checked one another. None wanted either of the other two to win.
> In this melee, Li Huowang always aided the weaker side and struck the stronger—his life was already on the line, so there was no reason not to drag a few more down with him.
> If Danyangzi and the Sitting Oblivion Daoists went down with him, that would be the best possible outcome.
> Shockingly, this fierce clash stalemated for the moment, as each side calculated their own interests.
> While Danyangzi pinned down the others, One-Bamboo swiftly closed in on Li Huowang, his voice laced with obvious urgency.
> “Boss! Stop messing around! Can’t you see how strong this half-immortal is? Keep this up and people are gonna die!”
> “Heh, calling me ‘Boss’ and expecting me to let you go? You could call me ‘Ancestor’ and it still wouldn’t work!!”
> Li Huowang grabbed the edges of the wound on his chest and yanked hard.
> Crimson wriggling worms exploded from his abdominal cavity like a tidal wave crashing toward One-Bamboo.
> These bugs were all under Li Huowang’s control now. The slightest touch, and they’d burrow instantly beneath the skin, churning guts and bursting bellies.
> “Red Dragon Boss! Really, stop fighting! Feel what’s under the skin at the back of your neck! See if I’m telling the truth!”
> Li Huowang reached to the back of his neck. A worm burst through the skin, pushing out a hard object from within.
> It was a mahjong tile—Red Dragon.
> A flicker of hesitation showed on Li Huowang’s face. One-Bamboo hurriedly explained in panic.
> “Your true identity is Red Dragon, one of Sitting Oblivion Dao’s three bosses. You got bored with everything, felt like you’d played it all out, so you sealed your own divine sense to have us keep you entertained.”
> “Now you’ve played Two-Circles to death. We can’t keep going— we’re all brothers here. Fighting on like this is too much, and you can’t just throw away our lives for your amusement, right?”
> “Everything you’re saying is true?”
> Li Huowang’s expression was one of utter bewilderment as he stared straight at the Red Dragon mahjong tile in his hand.
> “Ai! Didn’t you see this tile get dug out from your own flesh? How could that not be—”
> No sooner had he spoken than One-Bamboo sensed something wrong. He looked down to see several worms had burrowed into his calf at some point.
> As his attention shifted to his leg, a cold gleam flashed before him. Li Huowang’s longsword plunged straight into his neck.
> Looking at One-Bamboo before him, Li Huowang’s face twisted into a mocking smile as he played along with the lie.
> “Yeah, I remember now. I’m Red Dragon, one of Sitting Oblivion Dao’s three origins. And I remember you stole my woman back then, so now you’re getting personal revenge.”
> As long as he could confirm they were Sitting Oblivion Daoists, dealing with them was simple: treat everything that came out of their mouths as pure bullshit.
> “Boss, everything I said is true!”
> One-Bamboo clutched desperately at Li Huowang’s sword with both hands, shouting in unwillingness.
> “I fucking believe you!!”
> Li Huowang yanked hard with one hand. One-Bamboo’s fingers and his square head flew into the air together.
> Once the worms inside One-Bamboo burrowed back into Li Huowang’s chest, he whipped around and charged toward the distant battlefield.
> One of the Sitting Oblivion Daoists’ liars down—that ought to weaken Danyangzi.
> “Master! Xuanyang’s here to help you!”
> Li Huowang charged at Danyangzi, sword in hand.
> Under their combined assault with the Sitting Oblivion Daoists, with a wet “thud,” the child’s head on Danyangzi was instantly lopped off.
> But before Li Huowang could catch his breath, a blood-smeared, malformed infant head—like one stunted in growth—regrew from the neck stump.
> Seeing this, nearby One-Wan whipped his head toward Li Huowang and said rapidly,
> “Your master has a half-immortal body like this—wearing him down is pointless! Hold him off for us a bit! We’ll help you finish him!”
> Li Huowang’s reply was a gob of blood-flecked spit.
> “Fine! Sure, we tricked you before, but you’ve killed Two-Circles and One-Bamboo now. That square things up, right? Two lives should cover anything, yeah?”
> “And compared to us outsiders, shouldn’t you hate your master way more?”
>
>(End of chapter)