Chapter 211
Chapter 211
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 211
>Chapter Title: Peng Longteng
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The thief conscripts suffered heavy losses under Li Huowang's attacks. Peng Longteng couldn't just let him rampage like this, so she began splitting her forces.
Half of the thief conscripts continued to encircle Bai Lingmiao, while the other half followed Peng Longteng's lead and launched a counterattack.
"Huowang?" A hazy voice rang out beside Li Huowang's ears as pain nearly made him pass out.
He shook his head, and the voice vanished again.
Li Huowang looked up. When he saw the cavalry charging toward him, he grinned.
"I've read military treatises too. This move of mine is called the bitter stratagem."
Once Peng Longteng, mounted on her horse, loomed over him again from above, Li Huowang shouted at her, "Come on! Let's go one-on-one!"
But what came at him instead was a whistling giant halberd.
"Kid! You really think I can't handle you? I just didn't want to waste the effort! Howl!!"
Peng Longteng raised the heavy halberd behind her. Weapons scattered all around clashed upward in unison.
In the next instant, an excruciatingly shrill sound enveloped the entire frontier pass.
It wasn't the clash of weapons—it was a horrific wail erupting from deep within the throats of all the thief conscripts. That piercing shriek was utterly unbearable. The army was howling.
Amid the shrieks, the thief conscripts began bleeding from all seven orifices, but their blood evaporated as soon as it flowed out.
The steaming crimson mist gradually shrouded them all.
This even included Peng Longteng, as blood slowly seeped from the two eye slits in her faceplate.
Their blood was draining away nonstop, making them look less and less human.
Enveloped in the red mist, the thief conscripts became fiends in the fog, their eyes devoid of any emotion save endless killing intent.
The longsword in Li Huowang's hand suddenly reacted to the murderous aura, trembling with a dragon's roar as if responding to something.
"Hah!!" The thief conscripts thrust their blood-mist-wrapped weapons at him.
Li Huowang tried to reposition.
But this time, they planned to overwhelm him with brute force, no probing his position—they stabbed every inch of space.
A drop of Li Huowang's blood fell to the ground and mixed with the blood mist.
In the next moment, every thief conscript snapped their gaze toward it. They had seen.
Li Huowang saw greed and hunger in their eyes.
They had eaten people—many people. He judged it in that instant.
"Lads! Fresh meat! Eat your fill!!"
Drooling and howling like possessed hungry ghosts, the thief conscripts lunged at Li Huowang. He was in dire straits in no time.
He wanted to counter with the Heavenly Book, but they wouldn't let him.
Every time Li Huowang tried to spread the Heavenly Book on the ground, they disrupted him. He couldn't use it at all.
Li Huowang's situation grew ever more perilous. He was on the verge of death when. "Boom boom boom~!" Drumbeats rang out.
A rider was instantly yanked from his horse by a woman in a red veil and decapitated.
Then two Wandering Lords flew in, piercing through a thief conscript's body.
Bai Lingmiao and the others' arrival gave the encircled Li Huowang a moment to breathe.
"No good! Using the Heavenly Book like this is too vulnerable!"
Without hesitation, Li Huowang sheathed his blood-drenched sword.
Then he grabbed the edge of his skin and ripped it open with force.
Hand Three had inspired him. If he became like him, he could sacrifice to Ba Hui anytime, anywhere.
Amid his agonized screams, Li Huowang shoved the unfurled Heavenly Book straight under his skin.
The entire Heavenly Book was jammed inside his body just like that.
"Hm?" Peng Longteng noticed Li Huowang's oddity and pointed her halberd tip at him.
"Wind has no fixed form—attach it to the heavens!"
At Peng Longteng's command, these mindless thief conscripts actually formed a wind formation and charged straight at Li Huowang.
But just as they neared, roaring black-smoke flames engulfed Li Huowang—and them too.
Li Huowang's skin charred black under the blaze. His appearance grew more and more like the deity worshipped by the Saojing Cult.
Flames surged up from Li Huowang's body, turning the surrounding thief conscripts into living torches.
This move was devastating against them packed so densely.
Peng Longteng, fully armored, charged straight through the flames toward Li Huowang.
Far from afraid, she grew even more exhilarated. "Hahaha! Not bad, kid! But I've seen through your illusion—you're done for!"
The gale from her giant halberd blew Li Huowang's flames backward.
Only when she drew close did Li Huowang realize how truly tall she was—at least two heads taller than him.
"Clang!!" Li Huowang stomped down three inches. He blocked the thousand-jin halberd with his sword.
Flames raced along the halberd's shaft, enveloping Peng Longteng's armor entirely. Her skin inside bubbled and blistered from the heat.
Yet facing this plight, Peng Longteng showed no fear—only a strange delight. As if she were born solely for slaughter and battle.
"Hahaha! Again! That's the stuff! Feels damn good!!"
The halberd shoved Li Huowang's sword aside and slashed toward his legs.
In the inferno, the two frenzied fighters clashed. Every move aimed to kill.
Seeing Peng Longteng's armor turn dull red, Li Huowang had a sudden idea.
He kicked off the ground with his right foot, crouching low and charging under Peng Longteng.
"Again!!"
This time, facing the heavy halberd, Li Huowang didn't dodge. He thrust his longsword straight at the gap below her faceplate—a trade of lives.
The halberd pole smashed into Li Huowang, caving in most of his body. But his sword struck true.
As he'd guessed, the red-hot faceplate's defenses had weakened.
The flame-wrapped sword pierced Peng Longteng's neck—right in the same spot as before.
With Li Huowang's roar, bones cracked. Peng Longteng's head, encased in its faceplate, flew off.
Silence fell. The blood mist on the thief conscripts dissipated rapidly.
They glanced over in terror before mounting up and fleeing swiftly, vanishing from Li Huowang's sight.
The flames on Li Huowang's body vanished along with them.
Li Huowang looked down at his body with eyes scorched white by the fire.
He had no skin left—just a black-smoke-emitting husk, his body shrunken from the burn.
"Plop~" Without skin to hold it, the Heavenly Book hidden beneath dropped to the ground.
Li Huowang felt an itch on his back. He turned sluggishly and saw a round-faced man.
The man looked terrified of him, yet tears streamed down his face as he raised a dagger wrapped in a red handkerchief and stabbed at Li Huowang.
Watching the dagger carve shallow cuts into his mummy-like body, Li Huowang felt a flicker of confusion.
Who is this guy? What is he doing?
"Slash~!" A cold gleam flashed. Li Huowang gutted the man in an instant.
Cao Hai staggered backward, slumping against Peng Longteng's corpse. Staring at the headless body still standing tall, his eyes filled with deep reluctance.
"General…"
Li Huowang steadied himself and staggered back the way he'd come. Agony was fraying his mind.
"It hurts so much. It really hurts too much. Why does it have to be me suffering like this?"
"Is living just for enduring torment? I don't want to live anymore."
"No, I can't die. I have to keep living."
"Mom, it hurts so bad… Can you blow on it for me?"
As the breaking Li Huowang muttered to himself, he sensed movement behind him again.
He turned slowly. The headless Peng Longteng had raised her giant halberd over her shoulder, bringing it down like a mountain crushing him.
(End of chapter)