Chapter 325
Chapter 325
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 325
>Chapter Title: Monster
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Chapter 325: Monster
Far off, the human fiend performing the ritual spotted Li Huowang. It flipped rapidly, hurling two black flags that stabbed into the ground one to Li Huowang’s left and one to his right. Then it slammed the peachwood sword billowing with black qi straight into the earth.
The black qi from the peachwood sword surged into the ground in an instant. A circular, bizarre talisman formed from some kind of special script rapidly emerged, centered on Li Huowang.
Seeing this, Li Huowang wasn’t about to just sit there. He immediately tried to leap out of the circular talisman’s range.
But right then, as the human fiend pinched a hand seal with both hands, the two triangular black flags beside him floated up and shot forth like lightning, piercing straight through the soles of Li Huowang’s feet and nailing him firmly in place.
Now Li Huowang’s legs were like they’d been welded to the ground. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t budge an inch.
Those black flags seemed to possess some special ability—they’d even sealed off Li Huowang’s ability to switch positions.
Seeing Li Huowang trapped, the human fiends’ morale soared. Talismans, glutinous rice, and copper coins came flying at him from afar.
Though Li Huowang swung his longsword to fend them off nonstop, his body—which hadn’t fully recovered—was steadily wearing down.
“Clang!” A fire striker made from flint appeared in Li Huowang’s hand. With a savage expression, he moved it toward his own skin.
This job was originally meant for Tuoba Danqing. For anything big enough to require his intervention, Li Huowang ending up in this situation was almost inevitable.
Though sacrificing his entire body’s skin to Ba Hui in exchange for power was an excruciating process, he’d steeled himself for a fight to the death before even coming here.
Yet the lead human fiend, a Daoist among them, seemed to realize what Li Huowang was up to. He swiftly yanked the black whisk from around his neck and pinched a seal with one hand, scribbling a few characters on it at high speed.
The whisk’s hairs, which should have been soft, instantly morphed into the shape of a guandao and flew straight toward Li Huowang.
The moment Li Huowang ignited his palm, the guandao arrived and chopped off his flame-wreathed left hand.
Another burst of obscure incantation followed. The guandao formed from the whisk, carrying Li Huowang’s severed left hand, flew swiftly back into the human fiend’s grasp.
Seeing the fire striker on that severed arm, the human fiend’s grotesque mouth split into a grin. With a savage cackle, it kicked off powerfully with both feet and leaped high, raising the guandao to cleave down at Li Huowang’s head.
Several purple talismans drifted over from behind and stuck to the black guandao. Thick black qi instantly erupted, and in a flash, the one-arm-length blade took on the momentum of a mountain crashing down.
Li Huowang had no idea if he could withstand it, but he had no choice now but to try. With grim resolve, he raised the copper coin sword in his hand.
At this moment of utmost peril, a fragmented voice echoed in Li Huowang’s mind. “What nonsense are you spouting!”
But staring at the guandao hurtling toward him at breakneck speed, Li Huowang roared it out before clenching his jaw. Gripping the copper coin sword with both hands, the desperate straits and searing pain made him look utterly deranged.
“Open for me!!”
As the savage-faced Li Huowang thrust forth with his single arm, he instantly met the same fate as the Jinshan Cuo beside him.
Then, one after another, black tentacles wrapped in crimson blood extended from the stump. The dense cluster of tentacle-like appendages kicked out fiercely, propelling Li Huowang’s upper body and instantly dodging the guandao’s attack range.
The guandao sliced past Li Huowang’s lower half left in place, smashing heavily into the ground.
“Boom!” A deafening crash shook the entire cavern. Stalactites rained down from above one after another, while black qi rapidly spread across the floor, corroding everything in its path.
Luckily, Li Huowang had dodged it. If he hadn’t, that single blow definitely would’ve been too much for him.
Missing its mark, the Daoist human fiend clambered up from the ground clutching his now mostly hairless whisk, glaring murderously at the distant foe who’d evaded his strike in such an eerie fashion.
The enemy was nothing but a torso now. Twisted tentacles lined with mucous suckers protruded from the stump, propping him up like several bench legs.
Despite such a massive gash in his body, not a drop of blood spilled from it—let alone any organs tumbling out.
Staring at the horrifying monster before him—human from the waist up, octopus from the waist down—the human fiend finally realized he’d met a tough opponent.
He snatched the peachwood sword from his nearby disciple’s hands, twirled a sword flower, and stabbed it into the ground to skewer a black talisman onto its tip.
On one side stood the half-human, half-tentacled, frenzied Li Huowang wielding his red-string copper coin sword.
On the other was the twisted-limbed, uniformly long-nailed Daoist human fiend hefting his black-talisman peachwood sword.
This spine-chilling scene made the surviving elders’ scalps crawl with dread.
“Wh-what the hell is that?”
Li Huowang’s bloodshot eyes locked dead onto the Daoist human fiend before him. By now, he’d figured it out—whether it was stealing infants or deploying all these human fiends, this one was the root of it all.
Eliminate this human fiend, and the whole mess would finally be resolved.
“Forward!” The Black Tai Sui beneath Li Huowang sprang into motion, whipping its tentacles to shove him charging toward the Daoist human fiend.
The Daoist human fiend showed no fear whatsoever, leading his cohort in a countercharge at Li Huowang.
In circumstances where a single lapse could mean death, the Black Tai Sui didn’t dare entertain any other thoughts. Right now, it and Li Huowang were in the same boat—one dead, both doomed.
“Om sheng tuo meng pu guang she!”
The red-string copper coins in Li Huowang’s hand transformed into a long whip amid his incantation. Striking first, it lashed out at the Daoist human fiend and coiled around his peachwood sword.
The instant the copper coin sword touched the peachwood sword, they repelled each other like oil and water, crackling noisily from the point of contact.
Seeing the enemy’s weapon restrained, Li Huowang immediately flung down the copper coin sword, drew the purple-tassel sword from behind his back, and slashed hard at his own abdomen. The large swath of freshly regenerated flesh was peeled off once more.
That patch of skin bearing his navel ballooned rapidly in midair, becoming a leather canopy that draped down over the human fiends.
As if the Daoist human fiend knew Li Huowang’s weakness, he bellowed in that foul, chaotic tongue. The other human fiends instantly abandoned him and swarmed toward Li Huowang instead.
Two fists couldn’t beat four hands. Once they had him surrounded, the rest would be easy.
A Daoist sword with a taiji-handled hilt stabbed toward Li Huowang amid whipping winds. Yet he didn’t dodge or evade—he charged straight into it.
“Shua~!” The razor-sharp tip pierced into Li Huowang’s skull and protruded from the back of his head.
But not a drop of blood stained the blade. That body was an illusion—his true, cloaked form stood a zhang away.
(End of chapter)