Chapter 683
Chapter 683
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 683
>Chapter Title: Water
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Not long after, the blood trickling down from his forehead covered Lv Xiucai's entire face as he rapidly chanted the spirit possession incantation from his mouth.
“Disciple comes with sincere heart to pay respects. Honored deity of this altar, descend swiftly! Body turns to spirit, spirit turns to body, transforming mountains and rivers to open the path of light! Step by step to guide! Inch by inch to support the child! Raise the medium to spark divine light, open the golden mouth to speak clearly, divine soldiers and divine fire, hasten as per the command!!”
Just as Lv Xiucai was invoking the spirit, those torches had already arrived not far from Li Huowang and the others. At this point, their appearances were perfectly clear.
They were the very ones who had fled earlier. Unexpectedly, after so many deaths, they still dared to come back.
Li Huowang quickly spotted their reason for daring to return. At the forefront of the crowd stood several elders clad in fish-skin Daoist robes.
These people, distinct in their attire from the others, wore solemn expressions as they clutched a massive incense stick as thick as a rice bowl, continuously bowing in reverence to all directions while mumbling something under their breaths.
Li Huowang could hear them, but he couldn’t understand. It was some local dialect.
The white incense smoke didn’t scatter. Instead, it coalesced around them, hovering indistinctly to form a single mass.
And behind them, these people shouted in cadence as they hauled out a mural.
No, to be precise, they had torn down an entire wall and brought it with them.
“What kind of evil spirits are these?”
Gazing at these fishermen adorned with dragon-scale tattoos, Li Huowang couldn’t help but recall the water bandits he’d encountered on the great lake back then.
“Whatever, screw them!” Li Huowang paid them no mind. He stomped his feet and charged toward them sword in hand, while the bloodied Lv Xiucai, clad in his paper bellyband, followed close behind.
As Li Huowang closed in, those old boat-dwellers in fish-skin robes thrust their giant incense sticks into the ground. The white smoke hovering in the air instantly condensed into a dragon’s head that lunged straight at him.
Li Huowang didn’t dodge in the slightest. He gripped the purple-tasseled sword in one hand and the copper coin sword in the other.
The instant it made contact with the dragon smoke, he crossed the two demon-banishing blades and thrust them forward.
The dragon-shaped smoke was instantly cleaved into a cross. Without hesitation, Li Huowang plunged through the incense smoke toward the boat-dwellers. But in that moment, the mural on the wall—along with the entire wall itself—came crashing down toward him.
“Boom!” Amid earth-shaking tremors, the whole wall shattered into fragments, burying Li Huowang completely beneath it.
Yet when the smoke cleared, Li Huowang stepped out from behind Peng Longteng’s massive frame. At the critical moment, she had served as his shield.
Gripping his two swords, he glanced at the shattered mural on the ground, then at the boat-dwellers in the distance who kept kowtowing toward the sea.
“That’s it? Just this little bit?”
The thought had barely crossed his mind when he sensed the distant black sea surface growing even darker, as though a row of utterly oppressive mountain ranges had risen there.
“Mountain ranges?” The notion had just formed in Li Huowang’s head when cold sweat drenched his body.
“No! That’s no mountains—that’s a tsunami!!”
In the next instant, that distant tsunami swept up the boat-dwellers’ boats and their wooden huts erected out at sea, crashing toward Li Huowang with world-shattering force.
“Watch out!”
Li Huowang hurriedly reached out to steady the water bucket in the staggering Yang Na’s hands. Close call—the filthy water inside didn’t all spill out.
“Hey, missy, can’t you just stay put? No need to do chores.”
Li Huowang carried the bucket over to the toilet and dumped its contents inside.
Yang Na pouted, looking aggrieved.
“I just wanted to help, that’s all. Why snap at me like that? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Look at you. I was just joking around—why take it to heart?”
Li Huowang set the bucket down, walked over to her side, and gently pulled her into his arms.
“Nothing to worry about! It’s all fine! You all get out of here now—this place is seriously wrong!!
In the pouring rain, Li Huowang shouted to the others.
“Senior Brother Li, you need to go too!”
Standing half-submerged in the water, Li Huowang wiped his face forcefully with his hand and yelled at the others once more.
“No time for talk—this rain’s coming down way too hard, something’s seriously off! I’ll cover the rear! Move!”
The words had barely left Li Huowang’s mouth when pain stabbed through both his legs. Something was in the water!
He yanked out a few pieces of fluorite and hurled them into the water. As the dim glow spread, the black shadows encircling him scattered in an instant.
Seeing some of those shadows charging toward the carriage, Li Huowang thrust his hand into the water and yanked hard.
The knee-deep rainwater on the ground rolled up like a bedsheet being pulled, blocking any approach to the carriage.
Li Huowang’s cultivation had advanced to the third revolution. He had naturally picked up some new techniques along the way.
Though Li Huowang’s abilities had grown stronger, they were useless without pinpointing the enemy’s location.
What the hell is this thing?
Li Huowang’s brows furrowed as he scanned his surroundings, baffled by the foe’s tactics.
Such a massive display—it sure didn’t seem like any ordinary evil spirit.
“With rain this heavy, it can’t be the Dragon King who commands the clouds and rain, can it?”
As the thought crossed his mind, he spotted several more black shadows skimming along the water’s bottom with the help of the fluorite’s glow, charging straight at him once again.
“Sui Sui! Ribs!”
As Li Huowang crossed his arms, gripping the ribs and plunging them into his own chest, those black shadows froze in place and began writhing.
One tentacle drew out the copper coin sword and lashed viciously at a shadow in the water. Coins rattling as they extended, it dragged the figure up from the depths.
The man was bare-chested, his tattoos confirming he was with the earlier group. But now a wooden mask covered his face—a dragon’s head.
“Who’s working the ritual?! Where is he?!”
The enraged Li Huowang seized him by the throat and demanded.
The man spat back furiously.
“The Dragon King has manifested! You dare offend the Dragon King—you’re as good as dead!”
“Fuck your mother!”
Li Huowang roared, his mouth gaping wide as barbed tentacles burst from his throat, clamping over the man’s neck and tearing away half the flesh in one brutal yank.
“You Fa Cult scum! Show yourselves!”
Lv Xiucai stood in the water nearby, bellowing in fury.
And in that moment, the boat-dwellers crawled up from the water. Scattered amid the rain, they cursed furiously at Li Huowang and Lv Xiucai.
The downpour mingled with their vile shouts only fueled Li Huowang’s explosive rage. In his mind, there was just one thought now: slaughter this trash first!
He tightened his grip on his sword, on the verge of charging in to kill them all—when the dense beat of drums rang out.
The rhythmic drumming began to overpower the rain and the curses. Bai Lingmiao arrived at his side, beating the drum as she pressed her back to his.
“Li Huowang! What the fuck is wrong with you?! I told you to get going! What are you dragging your feet for?!”
Hearing Bai Lingmiao’s furious scolding made Li Huowang’s heart lurch. He realized something was wrong.
He didn’t know when it had started, but violent rage had overtaken everyone—including him. In that instant, they were all puppets to this emotion. Something was controlling their ten emotions and eight sufferings!
(End of chapter)