Chapter 517
Chapter 517
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 517
>Chapter Title: Enhancement
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When he saw Li Sui carrying the water jar full of soil into the room, Li Huowang used his sword blade to scrape off the white wax on the box. Then he forcefully pried it open along the edges.
A drop of silver liquid splashed out onto Li Huowang's red Daoist robe. It dripped along the robe to the ground and condensed into a small silver droplet.
"Really didn't expect the knowledge Master taught me back then would come in handy here. Liquid mercury evaporates easily at room temperature. If I hadn't sealed it with wax before, skinning it would take extra effort."
As Li Huowang spoke, he began taking off his clothes. He hugged the box of mercury and walked toward the jar full of soil.
This was the first task Ji Lin had assigned him. If he wanted to borrow Ji Lin's help to deal with Dice, he had to do it perfectly.
The Empress Dowager and the Eldest Princess held such noble statuses that even without Sitian Division's involvement, they likely kept some experts by their sides.
If he truly planned to strike, he still needed to stay cautious. The substitute ritual tool crafted from Heart Elemental skin was undoubtedly a powerful safeguard.
Li Huowang stuffed the iron box into Li Sui's arms. Then his body lay down into the large pit within the soil jar.
"Li Sui, after so many times, you should know how by now, right?"
"Yeah, I do! I do!"
Li Sui's voice brimmed with excitement. Her sharp nails scraped toward the center of Li Huowang's scalp.
"Dad, since I can help you with this, does that mean I'm useful?"
Feeling the sharp nails split his scalp in two, Li Huowang nodded lightly.
"Yeah, you're very useful."
Hearing this, Li Sui grew delighted. The black tentacles on her body waved about like blooming flowers.
Dad rarely praised her. Being able to help him made her so happy.
Just as he felt Li Sui pulling open his scalp, preparing to pour in the mercury, Li Huowang suddenly spoke up to stop her.
"Hold on first."
Buried deep in the soil jar, he thought for a moment. Then his voice turned gentle and soft as he addressed the empty space before him.
"Mom? Mom, are you there?"
"I might get a bit noisy soon, so don't worry. I'm just... just bungee jumping. Yeah, a really long bungee jump. Don't panic."
After softly reassuring her a few times, Li Huowang turned his head toward Li Sui and nodded firmly.
"Come on."
Though he had gone through this process several times already, Li Huowang still hadn't grown accustomed to it. He tried desperately to hold back his screams, but in the end, he couldn't.
A long while later, Li Huowang—who had nearly passed out from the pain—lay on the ground, gasping for breath in huge gulps. He watched the distant hallucinations huddle together, chattering about him.
Thanks to the treatment from the *Fire Robe True Scripture*, Li Huowang had escaped danger. Yet the excruciating pain from head to toe tormented him all the same.
"This is just too unbearable. If I get the chance, I still need to find a way to skin without the pain. Prolonged physical torment like this is bound to affect the mind eventually."
"Dad, does it hurt? Should I not have helped you?"
Li Sui's tentacles wrapped around the blood scabs on Li Huowang's body.
"If it hurts, then we just don't do it."
"Heh, but some things have to be done no matter how much they hurt. Stroke Dad for me, okay? If you do, Dad won't hurt anymore."
Hearing this, Li Sui gently wrapped her mucus-covered tentacles around Li Huowang's body, twisting them about. Feeling one wasn't enough, she added another, then yet another.
In the end, Li Sui's body split completely apart. It draped over Li Huowang like a piece of clothing.
"Dad, does your whole body feel better now?"
"No pain. No pain at all."
Li Huowang softly coaxed Li Sui while a trace of drowsiness welled up in his heart. He tore a strip of red cloth from his Daoist robe and covered his eyeless sockets.
In his hazy drowsiness, Li Huowang fell asleep. When he awoke the next day, he discovered his body was carrying the water jar downstairs.
"Li Sui?"
"Dad, did I wake you? The jar isn't needed anymore. I'm taking it back to its spot."
"It's fine. We were getting up early today anyway. Might as well prepare ahead."
After Li Huowang helped the tentacles return the jar to its original place, he walked to the well in the courtyard and habitually began washing up.
But upon seeing his reflection in the well, Li Huowang suddenly realized—did he even need to wash his face anymore?
Li Huowang stared silently at his reflection on the water's surface in a daze. As he watched the tentacles drilling in and out of his body, inspiration suddenly struck him.
"Li Sui, can you still drill inside me now?"
"Didn't you say not to go inside you, Dad? You said I'd end up eating you."
"Not the kind where you go in and stay. Just hold it briefly. If the Luo Church can use their Nascent Infants to boost their strength, why can't I?"
Faced with an enemy of unknown power, no number of contingencies was too many. Besides, Li Sui had cooperated seamlessly with him before. One extra presence inside his body meant one extra bit of strength.
"Oh, I'll give it a try."
As Li Huowang opened his mouth, Li Sui's tentacles kept drilling inside. Some of her finer limbs followed suit.
The more that drilled in, the more Li Huowang felt a tearing sensation within his body. He could sense tentacles swaying beneath his flesh, near his organs. The feeling was utterly bizarre.
As for the pain, Li Huowang could bear it. His entire body already ached anyway. He just couldn't tell anymore whether it came from outside or within.
Once it finished, Li Huowang looked down at himself in the well water.
His skinned form had already been terrifying. With Li Sui now added, it grew even more horrifying.
He now resembled a fat man crammed forcibly into clothes not his own—except he was the clothes, and Li Sui was the fat man.
Moreover, every blood vessel exposed to the air on his body now teemed with black tentacles.
Draped across that bloated, massive, flesh-and-blood-smeared corpse of a body hung vast swathes of black webbing. Even knowing this thing was himself, Li Huowang felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Li Huowang tried taking a few steps. He spoke to Li Sui.
"No need to cram all the tentacles inside. Extend some of the longer ones out."
Like bamboo shoots after spring rain, the black tentacles burst through Li Huowang's freshly crusted blood scabs. They twisted wildly in all directions.
Though his body was still somewhat larger than before, it no longer felt bloated. Walking, jumping—none of it was hindered.
Li Huowang gripped the Purple-Tasseled Sword and swung it rapidly through the air. Meanwhile, Li Sui's tentacles coiled around the Copper Coin Sword and held talismans aloft to assist from the side.
After all, they had spent so much time together day and night. Now reunited, nothing had been forgotten. Li Huowang realized this setup truly worked.
It not only gave him an extra companion at his side and somewhat bolstered his own strength, but it also concealed his identity. Forget others—no one could recognize this as Li Huowang. Not even he could have guessed it.
"Dad, but now we can't fit into that red robe of yours."
"If we can't wear it, we won't. We're heading out to kill soon. Wearing such flashy clothes—do we want everyone to know exactly who we are?"
Li Huowang rummaged out a grayish, dusty bedsheet. After slashing at it haphazardly a few times, a tattered greatcloak draped over his body.
(End of chapter)