Chapter 243
Chapter 243
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 243
>Chapter Title: Talisman
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Chapter 243: Talisman
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> In the mutually nested rock caves beneath Qingqiu, Li Huowang and his group stood under a patch of silver light, gazing toward the exit outside.
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> "It's so high up, and almost straight vertical. How are we supposed to climb that?" Gouwa said with difficulty, craning his neck to peer at the scattered stars beyond the cave mouth.
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> This sort of problem might stump others, but for Li Huowang right now, it was easy to handle. And even if he couldn't manage it, the people around him had other ways.
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> Li Huowang turned his head to glance at Bai Lingmiao and jerked his chin at her. A flicker of hesitation crossed her face, but she ultimately nodded and covered her head with the red veil.
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> Seeing this, Li Huowang's expression tightened slightly, but he said nothing.
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> "Thump thump thump~!! Head wrapped in kerchief, feet treading the Purple Forbidden Palace~! Today the upper gate favors the South Dipper close to the North, South Dipper Star hosts the Sixth Elder Brother, Purple Tenuity in the North Dipper's mouth, hey~!"
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> With the beat of drums and the divine tune, Bai Lingmiao—now possessed by the Xianjia—threw her head back sharply and peered through the red veil at the starry sky above.
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> Bai Lingmiao's body began to twitch briefly. When the twitching ended, she snatched the iron chain that had been used to bind Li Huowang from Jian Dun's body. Then her form collapsed bonelessly to the ground.
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> She writhed her limp body, slithering up the smooth cave wall like a human serpent.
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> The near-vertical cave wall was no obstacle; Bai Lingmiao scaled it with ease, reaching the cave mouth at tremendous speed.
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> Soon, the chain that had bound Li Huowang was tossed down, landing before the others. The trouble was resolved effortlessly.
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> "You all go first. I'll cover the rear." Li Huowang stood firm in the moonlight, eyes warily scanning the darkness beyond.
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> "Senior Brother Li, you're hurt so badly. You should go first." Sun Baolu eyed Li Huowang's wounds with deep concern.
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> It wasn't hard to see why. Li Huowang looked utterly wretched—his mutilated left fingers still dripped blood, more than half the skin on his chest had been peeled away, and there wasn't a single intact spot on his body.
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> "Quit dawdling! Get up there now!" Li Huowang rejected his kindness outright.
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> He knew full well that in this situation, he was the strongest. If something went wrong during the retreat, he could handle it.
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> But if anyone else brought up the rear and trouble hit, they might not make it.
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> Under Li Huowang's repeated orders, the others began climbing up the chain.
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> The rest managed fine, but the wriggling Black Tai Sui proved the hardest. It took considerable effort from its constant twisting before it could be secured to the chain and hauled up bodily by Jian Dun.
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> Li Huowang looked up, watching the others struggle upward along the chain. As he gauged how much time remained, his expression turned gravely serious in an instant. He whipped around to face the darkness to his left.
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> The disheveled Han Fu emerged from the shadows, propping up his two malformed heads. His yellow Daoist robes were stained with much blood—clearly from Li Huowang's earlier attacks.
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> He did not step into the moonlight but halted right at the border between light and dark.
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> Looking at Li Huowang with his hand clenched on his sword hilt, Han Fu regarded him with a mocking smile.
>“Fellow Daoist Xuanyang, it seems all the irrelevant people have gone?”
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> "Yeah, they're all gone." Li Huowang's right hand gripped so tightly that his knuckles cracked.
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> "Senior Brother Li! Everything okay down there?! Who are you talking to?!" Gouwa's shout echoed down from the cave mouth.
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> Hearing the hollow echoes from above, Li Huowang bellowed back with furrowed brows,
>“It's fine! I'm talking to a hallucination! Keep climbing!”
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> Then Li Huowang fixed the Daoist before him with a cold stare.
>“You've actually been here the whole time, haven't you? You've been waiting just to catch me alone. You really think you can take me?”
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> Han Fu shook his head, a smug look crossing his face.
>“Heh, didn't you notice? Those few talismans on your sword earlier—I already stabbed them into your body. They're wrapped around your organs now.”
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> With that, he flung his arms wide. His billowing sleeves whipped through the air with whooshes as a massive, three-zhang-long scribble of a talisman appeared on the ground around Li Huowang.
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> The talisman, identical in color to the rotten teeth in their mouths, sprang up the instant it formed, enveloping Li Huowang entirely. He immediately felt rooted in place.
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> “Om! Ti! Da! Pin! Na! Hurry hurry, bind and seize!!”
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> With Han Fu's low shout, the massive ground talisman came alive. Twisted lines of black and yellow snaked over Li Huowang's body in an instant, burrowing into him through his wounds.
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> Seeing Li Huowang frozen in place and unmoving, a smug grin spread over Han Fu's face.
>“Live heart essence, right in my hands so easily. You're not that hard to catch at all. No idea why everyone says not to go hard against heart essence.”
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> “What do they know? Heart essence is so rare, and these guys who've never even seen a pig are sitting around debating how to slaughter one. They're not figuring anything out.” Han Fu's fist-sized head chimed in, harmonizing with the other.
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> Han Fu approached and appraised the rigid Li Huowang.
>“This heart essence doesn't look any different from the outside. Why's it so valuable? Who should I sell it to?”
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> “Doesn't seem right to sell it to outsiders. What if they see we're weak and just rob us of the heart essence? Better to use it ourselves.”
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> “How do we use it? Strip it naked and toss it in a pot to boil and eat? We've only heard it's rare—no one's said what's so special about it. Better to sell it.”
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> “Who knows the price if we don't even know what's special? What if we undersell it? Let's go back and ask Master. He's seen it all.”
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> “What if Master kills us to steal the heart essence?”
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> As Han Fu's two heads continued debating what to do with Li Huowang, the frozen Li Huowang suddenly thrust out his hand.
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> Before Han Fu could react, with a "squish," Li Huowang drove his longsword into the other's belly.
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> “How... how is this possible?! I clearly sealed you...” Blood trickled from Han Fu's mouth as he stared in disbelief at the malice-filled Li Huowang before him.
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> “Kid! If you're not skilled enough, don't try to play highway robber like the pros!” With Li Huowang's bellow, he twisted the sword in Han Fu's gut vertical, gripped the hilt with both hands, and yanked upward viciously. The blade tore from navel to crown, splitting straight toward the heads.
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> Even now, Han Fu refused to give up. He raised his hands to form a mudra, but before they reached his chest, Li Huowang's sword arrived.
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> Amid the spraying blood, several severed fingers flew out as well.
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> “How is this possible?!” In Han Fu's unwilling scream, Li Huowang's longsword sliced methodically yet relentlessly across his Adam's apple, mouth, nose, and forehead.
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> (End of chapter)