Chapter 638
Chapter 638
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 638
>Chapter Title: Illusory Year
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Li Huowang didn't dare to let his guard down, especially since any one of those attacks could be from the Illusory Year.
Facing the Illusory Year, Li Huowang knew he had to get serious. After all, he'd used up all the Lifespan Pills in his gourd. If the Illusory Year touched him even once more, he might just age to death on the spot.
Just as the attacks from all directions grew denser, with a scrape, the fire striker slid across Li Huowang's skin. Towering flames instantly lit up everything around him, and some things in the darkness rapidly melted away under the firelight.
When Li Huowang saw the Illusory Year standing in place, red afterimages flickering around its body, even he—who had just sacrificed his skin to Ba Hui for power—felt his scalp tingle.
Back then, the Illusory Year had used that very trick to help him subdue Da Qi's dragon vein!
"No way! I can't let it finish!" Li Huowang's flaming feet slammed into the ground as he charged toward the Illusory Year.
In the swaying firelight, some shadows leaped out from behind the stalactites, pouncing toward Li Huowang. But before they could make contact, they burst into flames and plummeted to the ground.
With the Illusory Year now just a short distance away, Li Huowang yanked out his spinebone sword and slashed hard. A rift instantly shot toward it.
Just as the rift was about to slice into the woman on the Illusory Year's back, the ground beneath it collapsed. It dropped sharply and dodged the attack.
By the time the Illusory Year crawled out of the pit, trailing that eternal red afterimage, the tide had turned.
Li Huowang didn't dare let a single afterimage touch him—neither time reversal nor bodily decay appealed. He retreated while countering with his spinebone sword.
The problem was, those red afterimages around the Illusory Year never faded. They kept filling the cavern, forcing Li Huowang to give ground step by step.
But soon, a turning point came. "Whoosh!" A black modao with chains shot over, embedding directly into the Illusory Year's scales.
As the chain went taut, a figure was yanked flying into the cavern from outside.
Seeing the man hurtling closer to the Illusory Year, Li Huowang shouted urgently,
"Watch out! Don't let it get close!!"
"Clang!" Another modao slammed into the ground, and the man steadied himself three zhang from the Illusory Year.
In that moment, Li Huowang got a look at him. To his surprise, it wasn't the bald guy with the crescent shovel he'd met before.
The man wore tattered black armor, dressed like a soldier. He looked young, but his stubbled face was etched with the weariness of countless hardships.
"Kill that Dan teachings follower riding on its back!" Li Huowang yelled at him.
The black-armored man glanced at the Purple Tassel Sword on Li Huowang's back. With a flick of both hands, he yanked back both the modao in the Illusory Year's scales and the one in the ground, slotting them firmly onto his back.
"Give me the Tai'e Sword!"
Before Li Huowang could figure out what this Tai'e Sword was, the Illusory Year lunged at them again.
As he backpedaled rapidly, Li Huowang shouted to the black-armored man on his other side,
"Find a way to hold it down! I'll deal with the problem!"
Hearing this, the black-armored man stomped the ground and flipped backward through the air. His arms yanked back sharply, his cloak whipping out as all four modao on his back shot toward the Illusory Year in unison.
The instant the charging Illusory Year's four hooves were bound by chains, Li Huowang seized the moment and sent a rift straight at the witch-faced woman on its back.
As the woman tried to dodge, Li Huowang plunged a rib bone into his own chest. Everyone nearby shared the searing agony burning through his body.
In the next instant, the woman's head was sliced away by the rift, whisked off to Da Qi. At the same moment, the red afterimages around the Illusory Year began to fade.
With a clattering of chains, one whipped over from the armored man, wrapped around the hilt of Li Huowang's Purple Tassel Sword, and yanked it free—shooting straight toward the gap in the Illusory Year's neck.
"Wait!" Li Huowang's body flickered, reappearing a zhang away in midair. Li Sui's tentacles followed, wrapping tightly around the Purple Tassel Sword.
"Don't kill it! This thing is a friend of a friend! It was just being controlled—it didn't really mean to fight us."
Li Huowang explained to the black-armored man before him.
Hearing this, the man glanced at the now-still Illusory Year. He yanked his body back sharply, and the four modao binding it flew back to him, slotting into place on his back.
Freed, the Illusory Year spun and leaped into the darkness. Moments later, it returned—this time with a woman's face atop its neck.
The face was still broken, tattered text like book pages visible beneath the wounds. This time, Li Huowang recognized the handwriting as Zhuge Yuan's.
"Is that you?" the Illusory Year asked, staring at Li Huowang.
Li Huowang looked at it with a complicated expression, as if he wanted to explain something, but his mouth felt weighed down by a thousand jin.
"No... it's not you. You're gone."
The Illusory Year shook its head in profound disappointment and backed away a few steps before bolting toward the cave mouth. The incoming bald, bearded man yelped in fright and raised his crescent shovel.
Li Huowang started to give chase but was yanked back. Turning, he saw Li Sui in a tug-of-war with someone else.
"Li Sui, let go now!"
"No! This guy's trying to steal our sword! It's ours! We can't give it to him!"
Li Sui said, enduring the pain of her burns.
Between them, chains on one side and tentacles on the other held the Purple Tassel Sword suspended in midair.
Hearing this, Li Huowang shifted his attention from the Illusory Year to the black-armored man before him.
The flames on his body gradually died down, leaving his skin charred black.
"Brother, could you return my sword?"
"Return it to you? Why should I? It's my sword!"
You Zixiong's bloodshot eyes glared at the monstrous cultivator as he bellowed.
"Zixiong, Er Daren, we're all on the same side here. No need for this—let's talk it out."
The bald, bearded man who'd just arrived stepped between them, trying to smooth things over.
Li Huowang didn't want to escalate either—after all, the man had just helped him.
"Brother, I'm not stingy. With anything else, fine, but this sword? No way. It's a keepsake from one of my elders."
"An elder? Who?"
"An Ci Nunnery. Abbess Jingxin."
At those words, You Zixiong's eyes flickered. The chain around the Purple Tassel Sword loosened, retracting into his cloak.
Seeing this, Li Huowang's suspicions grew.
"What? You know Abbess Jingxin too?"
"No, but I'm from Si Qi. I did pawn that sword to the nuns at An Ci Nunnery back then. Now that Si Qi's gone, I guess they can't cash it in with the Ministry of Revenue anymore, huh? Heh."
The once-fierce You Zixiong seemed to deflate, plunging into deep despondency.