Chapter 560
Chapter 560
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 560
>Chapter Title: Huangfu Tiangang
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Five li outside the suburbs of the capital, Li Huowang madly dashed through the woods with Li Sui. Shadows flitted through the forest behind them, their numbers making for an impressive pursuit.
Just as those behind them were about to catch up, a black-robed arhat clutching a Demon-Subduing Hoop burst suddenly from a nearby tree trunk. The hoop engraved all over with Buddhist scriptures smashed viciously down toward Li Huowang and Li Sui.
Amid a flash of dark light, the Demon-Subduing Hoop struck their bodies squarely. In an instant, the two shattered inch by inch like rotten wood.
Soon a group of people closed in, staring at Li Huowang's severed head gripped in the arhat's hand.
"Something's not right!" A man dressed as a Daoist flipped his hands over, smearing two leaves across his eyes.
In the next moment, as he reached out to peel the skin from Li Huowang's head, he discovered that beneath the face lay a dead man's visage with a talisman pasted onto it.
"It's an illusion trick! Chase them down, quick!" The clustered group scattered in all directions.
Meanwhile, from the distant mountainside, Li Huowang watched the scene unfold from afar.
"The Sitting Oblivion Dao's tricks are more useful than I imagined. They've bought me some time to hold off those guys."
"Dad, how much longer do we have to keep getting chased?"
"It's not up to us—it's up to when the Sitianjian comes back." Without another word, Li Huowang yanked out one of his own collarbones and began drawing a divination talisman on it.
The subject of his divination was naturally the Sitianjian who had yet to return. Li Huowang knew full well he couldn't divine such an exalted figure with mere talismans.
But performing the divination on him would surely draw his attention. That was precisely what Li Huowang wanted—to use that awareness to remind him that the task was complete.
After finishing the divination, Li Huowang shoved the cracked collarbone back into his flesh and turned to Shangguan Yuting at his side.
"At a time like this, can you finally tell me where Lord Sitianjian went?"
Shangguan Yuting, her head covered in eyeballs, showed no panic whatsoever.
"I don't know. He didn't tell me. If the Lord's delaying, then he has his reasons."
Faced with this hallucination that might not even count as alive, Li Huowang couldn't even muster any anger.
Fortunately, the experts that Ji Lin had scrounged up from god-knows-where were formidable in both encirclement tactics and divination arts, but Li Huowang wasn't unprepared. His spinebone sword was his greatest trump card.
He could always flee to Da Qi with it right before getting pinned down.
No matter how strong these people were or how bizarre their divine abilities, they had no good way to counter him slipping into another layer of history.
It was just this constant dashing about, with barely any decent food or sleep, that was pure torment.
Li Huowang pulled a mantou from his robes and handed it to Li Sui.
"Eat up quick. Once you're done, we move spots. One of those guys has a compass that's scarily good at tracking."
Li Sui sat up, took the mantou, and shoved it into her mouth. Her cheeks bulged as she chewed diligently.
"Dad, I don't want mantou. Can I go hunt meat in the woods? I just saw tons of meat in there."
"At a time like this, don't be picky. Hunting would just waste time and scream our location to them. Make do with this." Li Huowang reached into his red Daoist robes and pried off a wide strip of bloody scab flecked with bits of skin, passing it over.
Li Sui took it and chomped down with audible crunches, her eyes narrowing in delight.
"Thanks, Dad. I like this way more than meat."
Watching the blooming young woman gnaw away at his scab made Li Huowang feel profoundly strange. Ever since Li Sui had taken on a human appearance, he still hadn't adjusted to it.
It was as if her looking human now made her actually human.
Once they shook off this mess, he should make her shed all that skin and flesh.
Just as Li Huowang reached out to pat her head, a sharp warning surged in his heart. His brows locked tight as he gripped the spinebone sword.
"Li Sui, over here quick! Someone's coming!" Li Sui jammed the remaining scab into her mouth and leaped onto Li Huowang's back.
The instant he heard robes brushing through leaves, Li Huowang slashed a rift open with the spinebone sword without hesitation.
But just as he was about to plunge inside, the sky abruptly darkened. The rift linking the two layers of history severed right there.
It hadn't vanished on its own—it was as if something had cleaved it clean in half from the middle!
"In all of Great Liang, who could possibly do such a thing?!" The question had barely formed in Li Huowang's mind when the answer strode out from the woods: Great Liang's National Preceptor!
Unlike the old man previously perched backward on his green ox with fishing rod in hand, this Huangfu Tiangang—clad in solemn ceremonial Daoist robes and gripping that astral mansions longsword—emerged slowly from the forest.
"Ji Zai, what are you doing here?"
Li Huowang shielded Li Sui firmly behind him.
"Naturally, protecting my rightful liege! Even a wise bird chooses its branch wisely—does the National Preceptor mean to meddle in this too?"
"You think those parlor tricks can fool me? Anping died long ago! That skin of hers is stuffed with the evil abomination you raised!"
"His Majesty has already won, making him the Emperor. Who do you think you are, to kick up storms in affairs of state? Deceivers of the sovereign—off with their heads!"
The words landed, and Li Huowang instantly felt an entire mountain crushing down on him, pinning him utterly immobile.
As the wide-eyed National Preceptor advanced with sword raised, on the verge of slaying him, Li Huowang blurted out at top speed:
"National Preceptor, hold! Since you're so supernaturally perceptive, surely you've noticed Lord Sitianjian's hallucination right beside me? This matter's tied to Lord Sitianjian!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the air around them congealed. But seeing the sword stay its course, Li Huowang knew his gambit had worked.
He had figured that even if the National Preceptor shared a camp with the Sitianjian, they wouldn't consult on every little thing.
Huangfu Tiangang formed a Daoist mudra with one hand—one Li Huowang had never seen before—and jabbed downward at the ground. His gaze snapped to Shangguan Yuting, who was bowing to him off to the side.
The instant he spotted the eyes carpeting her head, Great Liang's National Preceptor jolted in shock.
"This thing actually exists? Hold on—could the Sitianjian be scheming to..."
Seizing the opening, Li Huowang spilled the full plan involving the dice.
Yet this Great Liang National Preceptor's demeanor mirrored the Sitianjian's to a tee. Even after hearing of the dice's plot, he stayed utterly serene—instead growing ever more fixated on the eyes blanketing Shangguan Yuting's head.
As he furrowed his brows in contemplation, footsteps echoed anew from all directions. Ji Lin's men had arrived.
Dozens surrounded them on every side, yet none dared strike—they had spotted Huangfu Tiangang standing there.
After a beat, a fat man clutching a golden ingot edged forward cautiously.
"National Preceptor, this brat—"
"Stand down."