Chapter 244
Chapter 244
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 244
>Chapter Title: Li Huowang
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The spurting blood plasma sprayed all over Li Huowang's body and face. Li Huowang, looking like a blood-soaked man, stared blankly at the tattered remains in front of him.
This Daoist who had tried to kill and rob him, this latent threat to his own Sitting Oblivion Cult, Han Fu, had been dealt with just like that.
For a moment, Li Huowang found it hard to believe. Compared to the enemies he'd encountered before, this guy was nothing. It was like a game, to the point where he even suspected if this was just the other's false body.
Li Huowang lifted his foot and kicked at Han Fu's bloodied and mushy head, repeating with a disgusted expression, "You don't even know your own weight, and you want to try your hand at robbing people?"
He suddenly understood that in this world, it wasn't just the strong who coveted the heart elements—some clueless fools without the matching ability were after them too.
Gouwa, who had already climbed to the cave mouth, looked down at Li Huowang below and cupped his hands into a megaphone shape, shouting downward, "Senior Brother Li! Are you really okay?!"
When he saw Li Huowang slowly raise his head, topped with that bloody skull, looking toward him, Gouwa shuddered violently and swallowed hard with difficulty. "Sh-should we... go down?"
"I'm fine! Coming up right now!" Under the moonlight, after Li Huowang spoke, he grabbed the swaying chain with both hands and prepared to climb up.
But soon he stopped again, squatted down, and searched Han Fu's body thoroughly. In the end, he found some yellow talismans stacked together.
"What's the use of these? I haven't learned talismans."
Li Huowang rummaged again, pulling out over a dozen small balls wrapped in talismans.
"Hm?" Li Huowang gently pried one open, and a familiar item appeared before him. "This is Lifespan Pills?!"
Li Huowang had seen these things before and naturally knew their value.
Seeing the Lifespan Pills about to dissipate and vanish, Li Huowang quickly shoved them into his mouth, immediately feeling his body lighten.
He quickly rummaged a few more times and pulled out nineteen Lifespan Pills. Li Huowang's heart leaped with joy as he swiftly stuffed these spoils into his embrace.
He continued searching and groping, finding only cinnabar and such for drawing talismans—useless stuff.
Finally, he stuck that copper coin sword into his back, and Li Huowang decided to leave.
With several fingers missing and his whole body covered in blood, his grip on the chain was slippery, making the climb very inconvenient. Li Huowang climbed slowly.
His mind was still replaying the recently deceased Han Fu.
"I was planning to learn more about this world from his mouth, but now that he's dead, there's no way to find out."
"Senior Brother Li! Climb faster! Hurry up!!"
Li Huowang looked up and saw those faces full of tension and worry.
"Hm?"
Li Huowang instantly looked downward. Han Fu, whom he'd nearly cleaved in two with his sword, had actually stood up!
A shrill little girl's voice came from his corpse. "You killed him! How am I supposed to live now?! Waaah!!"
That voice was extremely piercing, stabbing at Li Huowang's ears with pain, and the echoing reverberations carried extremely far.
"He's still not dead!" Li Huowang raised his sword again and slashed at his own nearly gone left hand, chopping off the last fingers.
Those fingers swelled upon falling, sharp bone spurs bursting through skin and flesh as they spiraled downward, nailing Han Fu's corpse firmly to the ground.
Ignoring whether Han Fu was dead or alive, Li Huowang continued his difficult climb upward.
But at that moment, the entire cave mouth suddenly began to tremble. The pitch-black depths below the cave mouth were illuminated by white light.
Li Huowang looked down and saw a massive white writhing serpent, larger than the cave mouth itself! It had been drawn by Han Fu's voice just now!
The serpent's body wasn't covered in white scales, but was formed from the white tassels from the previous lion dance!
Seeing all this, Li Huowang suddenly understood. The previous lion dance—the deathly face that didn't matter, or the chaotic blood and flesh inside—those were all fake! Puppets! The white tassels on their bodies were their true forms!
When Li Huowang saw that massive serpent, the serpent formed of white tassels also saw him.
The entire serpent instantly dispersed, surging upward like raging seawater at extreme speed from below.
"Senior Brother Li!!" At this moment, everyone who had escaped danger sprang into action, grabbing the chain and yanking it upward with all their might.
Li Huowang was climbing, and they were pulling from above. It just matched the upward-floating speed of those white tassels.
Ten zhang! Five zhang! Three zhang!!
Just as Li Huowang was about to climb out of the cave mouth, the white tassels instantly coalesced into a hand that shot upward and grabbed, clutching Li Huowang tightly.
Amid everyone's despairing shouts, Li Huowang on the chain was dragged back down.
The chain that everyone had been gripping tightly went slack powerlessly, clattering as it slid rapidly from their hands and fell back into the cave mouth.
Bai Lingmiao collapsed limply to the ground, two trails of clear tears slowly sliding from the corners of her eyes.
For a moment, everyone stood frozen in place, at a loss. With Li Huowang gone, what were they to do?
Suddenly, Bai Lingmiao moved. She abruptly crawled up, grabbed Ershen's hand beside her, and the two rushed toward the cave mouth together.
Just as Gouwa grabbed Bai Lingmiao's legs with both hands, the tall and burly Jian Dun charged over and hugged both of them tightly.
Chun Xiaoman, eyes bloodshot, came before the struggling Bai Lingmiao and slapped her across the face. "Can you snap out of it? Have you gone mad?"
Those words seemed to drain Bai Lingmiao's vitality, leaving her slumped there like a puppet.
As the oppressive atmosphere enveloped everyone's hearts, a faint clattering sound caught Gouwa's attention.
"Wait! Look! The chain's moving! Senior Brother Li isn't dead!! Hahaha! I knew it! Senior Brother Li knows so many divine abilities—how could he die?!"
His words drew everyone's attention. They instinctively looked toward the chain, which was indeed swaying lightly.
Gouwa was just about to grab it when Chun Xiaoman stomped on his hand. "Be careful! It might not be Senior Brother Li!"
"Pull me up quick." When Li Huowang's voice transmitted from below, everyone went berserk, grabbing the icy chain with both hands and yanking upward.
Finally, with everyone's combined effort, a trembling hand extended from the cave mouth and slapped heavily onto the vibrant green grass outside.
It was a deformed hand, fingers splayed outward, skin adhered together. Compared to a human hand, it looked more like a claw stitched from flesh and blood.
The surface of this claw was still draped with swaying white tassels, thoroughly fused onto it.
As this deformed hand dug its nail-less fingers desperately into the grass and trembled with effort, it slowly dragged the body behind it out.
Li Huowang's figure once again appeared, reflected in the shocked and terrified pupils of everyone.
It was Li Huowang, no mistake—if this could still be called Li Huowang.
(End of chapter)