Chapter 521
Chapter 521
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 521
>Chapter Title: Ao Jing
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Chapter 521: Ao Jing
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> “Golden Lungs!”
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> With a ferocious expression, Li Huowang grabbed his own lungs with both hands and ripped them out forcefully, slamming them down hard onto the Great Thousand Record lying on the ground.
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> Accompanied by Li Huowang’s furious roar, the half-remaining moon in the sky was swiftly shrouded by dark clouds, making the massive Bodhisattva statue built into the mountain look as if it had closed its eyes.
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> “Wooden Liver!”
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> The guards rushing to Li Huowang’s side suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground, writhing as they let out agonized screams that tore at the soul.
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> Zuoyi, who had just reached Li Huowang, was filled with shock. “It’s... it’s the Intercalary Five Elements?!”
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> The dharma artifact crafted from an entire skin of a heart elemental could not only substitute for one’s life, but in Li Huowang’s hands, it could also unleash those powerful sacrificial secret arts that could only be used once.
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> The blood-colored bamboo slips transformed into wriggling flesh-colored worms, burrowing into Li Huowang’s body through his scars, with some even climbing onto Li Sui’s tentacles.
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> Once all the emptiness within his body was completely filled, the utterly exhausted Li Huowang finally let out a long breath, and the pain in his body vanished.
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> He slowly pushed himself up, looking calmly at the Ao Jing cultists standing amid the surging flames. “Come on.”
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> The situation had completely reversed from moments ago. As Li Huowang advanced toward Zuoyi, the latter, engulfed in flames, began to retreat slowly.
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> Gradually, both sides moved faster and faster. Li Huowang pursued, while Zuoyi fled.
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> Spotting the Eldest Princess standing in place, Zuoyi hurriedly shouted a warning.
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> “Princess, be careful!! This man has used the Ao Jing Cult’s secret art! He’s immortal and indestructible for a short time! And don’t engage him in close combat! Watch out for the worms on his body!”
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> “Hmph!” The Eldest Princess snorted coldly in displeasure, lifting her chin slightly. Whoosh whoosh whoosh—several black shadows whistled through the air at extreme speed, flying toward Li Huowang.
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> At this moment, Li Huowang didn’t even bother dodging. He let a black shadow pierce right through him, but the bowl-sized hole was swiftly filled by flesh-colored worms.
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> “Li Sui! Let’s go!!”
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> As Li Huowang gritted his teeth and charged toward the Eldest Princess, Li Sui quickly pulled out two sheets of turmeric paper and wrote talismans on them, slapping them onto his two thickest tentacles.
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> Those two tentacles instantly swelled thicker, slamming against the ground with tremendous force that propelled Li Huowang like a crossbow bolt toward the Eldest Princess on the rooftop.
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> The Eldest Princess kept swinging her sleeves, her surrounding ribbons flying up to form a constantly shifting three-dimensional array in the air.
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> Li Huowang ignored it all. Gripping his spinebone sword with one hand, he slashed fiercely, while Li Sui’s tentacles whipped forcefully toward her, worms dropping from them and flying over.
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> Seeing the rift effortlessly sever her ribbons, with worms burrowing through the gap, the Eldest Princess’s expression grew grave. Her opponent’s strength had surged in an instant.
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> She immediately wrapped a ribbon around the tall seven-layered bronze tripod behind her and yanked hard, her lithe body drifting backward.
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> Just as Li Huowang’s worms prepared to pursue, they were blocked by a mass of burning molten gold.
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> “Eldest Princess! Our only option now is to stall! Once the Intercalary Five Elements ends, he’s dead!” Zuoyi, as an Ao Jing cultist, explained to the Eldest Princess.
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> “How annoying. In that case, you hold them off here. This palace is returning to the palace first!”
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> The moment the Eldest Princess lifted her foot, Li Huowang blocked her path. “Want to leave? After I’ve paid such a heavy price, you still think you can leave!!”
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> His teeth cracking from the bite, Li Huowang thrust his chest forward, gripped it, and tore it open. His white ribs split apart like blooming petals, clumps of wriggling worms scattering like celestial maidens toward the Eldest Princess.
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> Sensing immense danger, a gold-threaded sachet at the Eldest Princess’s waist opened on its own, puffs of clouds drifting out to block Li Huowang’s worms.
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> The Empress Dowager’s previous guards arrived as well, joining the Eldest Princess and Zuoyi in surrounding and attacking Li Huowang.
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> Yet against Li Huowang in his intercalary state, these people were no match. One after another fell, and gradually Li Huowang gained the upper hand, with the Eldest Princess starting to sustain injuries.
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> Soon, it reached a life-or-death moment. For their own survival, everyone fought desperately.
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> “National Advisor!!” The cry of “National Advisor” made everyone on the scene halt, turning simultaneously to look.
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> It was an old man riding backward on a green ox. Dressed simply with a bamboo hat, holding a fishing rod, he slowly walked into the center of the battlefield.
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> Li Huowang stared intently at the old man’s face. He had seen this man before—he was truly the National Advisor of Great Liang from the imperial temple. Countless thoughts flooded his mind.
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> “National Advisor! Save me!!” Tears streamed down the Eldest Princess’s face, her disheveled state making her look pitifully like a pear blossom in rain.
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> Huangfu Tiangang walked indifferently into the fray. He glanced at the utterly transformed Li Huowang, then at the pitiable Eldest Princess, and suddenly seemed to understand what had happened.
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> With a light pat on the green ox’s back, he quickened its pace slightly, gradually leaving the battlefield behind.
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> “National Advisor! It’s me! You carried me before!”
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> As Li Huowang stared at his retreating back, he heard a weary, aged voice.
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> “Sigh, the seas turn to mulberry fields... Better to end it quickly, better to end it quickly.”
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> The instant the green ox vanished into the night, just as Li Huowang prepared to act, he saw a mass of flaming molten gold splashed directly onto the defenseless Eldest Princess’s face. “Aaaah!!”
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> Li Huowang glanced in surprise at the Ao Jing cultist who had inexplicably turned traitor mid-battle but said nothing, charging straight toward the screaming Eldest Princess.
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> Zuoyi’s betrayal was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Under their combined assault, the wounded Eldest Princess was quickly defeated.
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> In the Eldest Princess’s crystalline pupils reflected Li Huowang’s terrifying figure, drawing closer and closer until he reached out with his right hand and picked up the head from the ground, eyes still wide open in death.
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> Once the worms had riddled the entire head with holes, confirming death, Li Huowang tossed the skull aside and looked toward the now-extinguished Ao Jing cultist in the distance.
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> “Zuoyi pays respects to the Grand Elder.” Zuoyi respectfully saluted Li Huowang.
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> “Calling me Grand Elder now? Weren’t you earlier?” Li Huowang sneered, eyeing the deformed charred lump before him.
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> Zuoyi offered no explanation, swiftly retreating backward.
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> Li Huowang didn’t pursue, as the pain within his body was growing increasingly intense. The time for the Intercalary Five Elements had ended.
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> “Li Sui, let’s go.” Li Huowang headed in the opposite direction.
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> An incense stick later, Li Huowang, now an empty husk without vitality, leaned lifelessly against a large tree.
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> A palm-sized piece of human skin crawled out from his abdomen and, under Li Sui’s gaze, rapidly expanded.
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> (End of chapter)