Chapter 128: Rise

Chapter 128: The Beginning

"Mom, push me back. I might get a bit noisy later, so please bear with me. I'll come back to see you when I have time. Just tell me if you run out of money."

Watching Li Huowang enveloped in flames, his charred face broke into an eerie smile as he muttered these words to himself.

Frowning slightly, Shou San took another step back. "The Elder was right indeed. This kid is truly different from ordinary Pure Hearts. This is going to be tricky."

Just as he felt at a loss, he suddenly heard a commotion behind him.

As he turned around, his expression immediately tensed. The flames burning on his body rapidly diminished, burrowing back into his flesh.

"Elder Yanjianxi, Elder Ertin'nu, Elder Bixiu'ai, Elder Shechangsi, Elder Yijianyu, Elder Shenbenyou, why have you all descended the mountain?"

"What is the situation?" Shenbenyou, with his square face, looked somewhat displeased.

"The Pure Heart is standing right there, as you can see. He isn't playing by our rules," Shou San said irritably, pointing a charred finger at Li Huowang in the distance.

After the six exchanged glances, a tall woman among them stepped forward and said, "It's about time. Give him one last push."

No sooner had she spoken than the six raised their hands and clenched their fists. The flames engulfing Li Huowang instantly yanked him, pinning him ruthlessly to the ground.

"Mom, could you push a little faster? Something feels off. Remember to gag me."

Staring at the moon in the sky, Li Huowang continued to mutter to himself.

"Let me do it." Ertin'nu, dressed entirely as a top courtesan from a brothel, formed an orchid finger and gently pinched it into the lush hair atop her head, then began to pull outward.

A silver needle gleaming with a cold light was slowly dragged out.

As it was pulled further, the needle's length reached nearly an inch, revealing just how deeply it had been embedded in the woman's skull.

With a light flick from Ertin'nu, the bloodied silver needle shot out with a lingering afterimage, plunging straight into Li Huowang's already charred skull.

"What did you inject into him? Don't just mess around, or something might go wrong," Yanjianxi warned from the side.

"Just a memory from four years ago. I was afraid his heart wasn't bitter enough, so I added a little more, hehe." As she spoke, her blood-red lips curled upward, her expression thoroughly smug.

The instant the long needle pierced him, Li Huowang immediately snapped back to consciousness. The sudden influx of bloody scenes in his mind compelled him to clutch his stomach and vomit involuntarily.

He saw it clearly. It was truly himself, laughing maniacally while slaughtering indiscriminately within the town.

To be precise, it wasn't just murder; the people around him were inexplicably splitting open, their skulls caving in, and their bodies catching fire.

And it wasn't just a dozen or so people—it was tens of thousands!

Across the entire town, men, women, old, and young of all ages met the exact same gruesome fate in his mind.

Except for one person, Jiang Yingzi, because her appearance back then bore a slight resemblance to Yang Na as a child.

The simultaneous explosion of tens of thousands of people dying effortlessly by his own hands in his mind was simply beyond what Li Huowang could endure.

"Did I really kill the people in this town?" Li Huowang asked himself once more. It seemed there was no need for an answer; only he would have shown mercy to the childhood visage of Yang Na.

This time, there was no Danyang Zi to find excuses and share his agony.

Coupled with the effects of the drug, almost in that very instant, accompanied by an agonizing scream from the charred Li Huowang, the sky tore apart.

Everyone looked up simultaneously. Deep within the sky, in an unfathomable, vast abyss of darkness, where countless deeper black worlds and suns spun, something was moving.

The sensory perceptions of everyone present began to change simultaneously.

Their sight, taste, smell, and hearing fused together, forming an entirely new perception incomprehensible to ordinary mortals.

Only in this way could they truly "see" Ba Hui.

"It's finally done." Though his body was enveloped in fear that had almost taken physical form, Shou San shouted in excitement.

"Begin immediately! Everyone get ready!" No sooner had the words fallen than the other Xuan Jing Cult followers, sitting cross-legged around Li Huowang's legs, began mutilating themselves in various ways.

In unison, they "looked" up at Ba Hui in the sky, their eyes filled with a morbid yearning.

Blood-red blood dripped from everyone's skin onto the ground, forming extremely complex hook-shaped blood runes.

The blood runes intertwined with one another, gradually forming a massive runic circle.

Just as the runic circle was about to be completed, Li Huowang at its center lightly raised his hand. Instantly, all the blood runes lying on the ground stood up, slowly encircling his body.

Ba Hui had been summoned by Li Huowang; at least at this moment, he had briefly gained a fraction of Ba Hui's power.

With their plan thwarted, the six elders glared furiously at Li Huowang, who was shrouded in despair. Yanjianxi spoke first. "Young man, what is the meaning of this?"

Li Huowang knelt weakly on the ground, his body swaying as if he might collapse at any moment, his eyes utterly devoid of vitality.

Feeling the dual agony, Li Huowang's heart was nearly overwhelmed by a dense intent to die. Thinking was exceedingly difficult for him now, yet he still forced himself to speak, "I've done what I was supposed to... now... it's your turn," he murmured.

"Now? Are you insane? Do you have any idea how long we've waited for this moment!"

"Stop this nonsense! Return the blood runes at once!"

"Who do you think you are, daring to threaten us?"

A furious roar from Li Huowang silenced everyone.

"It must be now! If I don't get what I want, none of you will get yours either!!"

Even at this point, Li Huowang understood perfectly that he had no rapport with them whatsoever. He was still the Pure Heart; if he didn't trade while holding a winning hand,

once he lost the power of Ba Hui, there would be no room for negotiation at all.

"You can kill me right now! But then all your hard work these past days will be for nothing!"

"Just help... help me get rid of Danyang Zi!... After that, I couldn't care less what you do!"

With the last of his mental strength, Li Huowang stated his conditions.

Immediately after, his body began to tremble, and the physical and mental agony radiated outward in all directions.

All the Xuan Jing Cult followers collapsed to the ground with agonizing screams. This pain was far, far more intense than anything they could inflict upon themselves.

When any existence can no longer endure pain, the one solution that comes to mind is release. Involuntarily, they turned the various sharp weapons in their hands toward their own necks.

"Stop! We will help you eliminate Danyang Zi right now!"

Swaying, nearly crushed by the agony, Li Huowang smiled.

Just as everyone's attention was fixed on Li Huowang, no one noticed that Ba Hui in the sky cast another glance at him.

(End of Chapter)