Chapter 790
Chapter 790
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 790
>Chapter Title: Believed
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The turbulent river water surged down continuously. On the battlefield, whether warhorses or war chariots—even the soldiers’ formations—were all swept away by the water, drifting downstream. The soaring murderous aura from moments ago was quickly dispersed before the might of heaven and earth.
However, one thing amid all this was the exception: Abbot Zendu’s several-zhang-tall Thousand-Handed Blood-Flesh Two-Faced Bodhisattva.
The massive blood-flesh Bodhisattva stood in the river water, barely exposing its upper body. One giant hand of blood and flesh rose from underwater on its back, cradling Li Huowang in its palm and lifting him up.
At this moment, Li Huowang paid no attention to what was happening around him. He touched the spinning light mirror with his hand, checking what exactly had occurred behind him.
Soon, he withdrew his hand from the spinning light mirror. His face turned ghastly as he spoke.
“These lunatics actually breached the river dyke!”
Siqi already had countless rivers and abundant water. The cult’s breaching of the dyke flooded the entire battlefield, washing away the allied army’s hard-won advantage until nothing remained.
As for how many people downstream would die once this uncontrolled floodwaters raged on, clearly the cult gave it no thought whatsoever.
At that very moment, the massive blood-flesh Avalokitesvara suddenly staggered, nearly toppling over. Both abbots’ expressions darkened simultaneously.
“Be careful! Enemy attack in the water!”
Hearing this, Li Huowang hurried to the edge of the giant palm and peered into the water. But aside from the murky yellow flow, he saw nothing.
The rain from above continued pouring down, shattering Li Huowang’s reflection into scattered fragments.
“Swish!” A black rope burst from the water, hooking straight onto Li Huowang’s neck and yanking him forcefully downward.
“What the hell is this!”
Li Huowang seized it with one hand to keep it from escaping. His mouth then gaped wide as Li Sui’s over a dozen tentacles plunged instantly into the water to hunt the foe.
Once the tentacles dragged the thing back by force, Li Huowang laid eyes on a grotesque creature. It resembled a monkey, yet had round white fish eyes and what looked like gills behind its ears.
“Water monkey?”
Li Huowang had encountered a water monkey once aboard ship, but this one was utterly different. If any distinction existed, it was that this water monkey’s expression was far more savage and deranged.
No sooner had Li Huowang spoken than Zendu’s colossal Avalokitesvara lost its balance entirely, toppling rigidly into the yellow water.
“The water holds more than these petty evils! Watch yourself, True Person Li! Things far larger lurk within!”
The moment Zendu finished speaking, a splash enveloped Li Huowang’s entire body in icy river water.
Countless tentacles erupted from every part of Li Huowang’s form, thrashing rapidly to restore his mobility underwater.
Whatever truly hid in these depths, this was enemy territory. Li Huowang had no intention of battling them here.
His body’s tentacles thrust downward in unison, propelling him toward the surface.
Yet the instant his hand breached the surface in an attempt to rise, he realized he could not escape. It was as if he were sealed beneath this yellow water.
No matter his efforts—even as the surface bulged high under his push—he remained trapped below.
“This is just the water’s surface! I can break through! I absolutely can!”
Li Huowang pressed both hands flat against it, muttering affirmations of reality over and over.
Just as his palms pierced the surface and joy surged in Li Huowang’s heart that his affirmations worked, innumerable gazes suddenly lanced up from below.
Li Huowang jerked his head down to see four figures standing amid the turbid yellow river water. He did not recognize three of them, but Rusuo’s four umbrellas were unmistakable.
Clearly, these were here for him. Whoever won or lost the greater battle mattered not—as long as they seized him, they emerged victorious.
Xuanyin was dead. Naturally, he was next on the cult’s list.
“I can get out! I can get out!”
Li Huowang’s hands strained ever outward beyond the surface.
But the moment his forearms emerged, a cold gleam flashed. Both arms severed clean. Li Huowang’s hands and forearms, trailing murky blood, swayed as they slowly sank.
To the left of those four shadowy clumps, the one trailing a long, bar-like shadow gaped wide and devoured Li Huowang’s two arms.
No retreat possible, Li Huowang eyed them through the water. His severed stumps rose slowly, blood spilling from them to dilute into the river.
As two black tentacles wormed out from the wounds, his face twisted into a savage snarl. With grim resolve, he lunged straight at them.
“Show me what you’ve got!!”
The four shadows in the water scattered at once, surging back toward Li Huowang in counterattack.
As they closed in, dense bubbles rushed toward Li Huowang’s face alongside them. A stone mask entwined with water weeds smashed straight for him.
Under Li Huowang’s gaze, the face beneath the mask gradually fused wholly with the stone, petrifying as it sank into the depths.
Yet in that instant, Li Huowang’s legs wrenched apart—as though seized by some force—stretching longer, longer still. A crack rang out as bone snapped. Any further pull, and he’d be torn asunder!
Li Sui’s tentacles clutched the purple-tasseled sword as they burst from Li Huowang’s body, slashing toward his legs. They circled once, twice—touching nothing.
“It’s not invisible! It’s this water! The water’s alive!”
The next instant, amid the excruciating rip of tearing flesh, Li Huowang’s legs tore clean from his body.
“Pfft!” A folded broken umbrella materialized from nowhere, thrusting rigid into Li Huowang’s chest.
As it poised to snap open and burst him into ragged chunks, Li Huowang’s tentacles coiled iron-tight around the canopy, denying it purchase.
Such resistance proved futile, though. The other cult sorcerers swarmed in.
Li Huowang glanced at the narrow lone eye within his cracked urn of ashes. He burst into laughter—loud, booming peals.
“Since I knew you lot were watching, scheming to do me in—how could we possibly lack countermeasures? How was my performance??”
“Hahahaha! You actually bought it!”
“You thought you were ambushing me? Truth is, we were lying in wait for you! Didn’t you notice Zendu’s vanished? I was merely the bait—to hook you fools!”
At these words, the cult sorcerers in the water grew alert at once, scanning all around for the enemy’s next move.
Seeing their panic, Li Huowang’s grin widened impossibly. He threw his head back in the water and roared with laughter, tears nearly spilling forth.
“Hahahaha! I was just messing with you! And you fell for it again!! Hahahaha!!”
(End of chapter)