Chapter 160: Return

Chapter 160 The Return

In a guest room, a naked Li Huowang sat in a wooden tub, using his single arm to grip a three-edged spike, taking deep breaths as he prepared himself.

"Hoo... hoo... hoo..." Li Huowang breathed slowly, calming the tension in his heart.

Once he had completely composed himself, Li Huowang stuffed a folded cotton cloth into his mouth, then immediately raised the three-edged spike in his hand.

Blood and water flowed from within into the bathwater in the tub, dyeing a large patch crimson.

With veins bulging on his forehead, Li Huowang ignored the excruciating pain that nearly made him faint, his hand trembling as he dug relentlessly.

He finally located his stomach and tried to pierce a hole in it to see what was inside.

Yet Li Huowang suddenly realized he only had one arm now, making such a maneuver utterly impossible.

Just as he hesitated whether to call for help from outside, a pair of hands with long, black, pointed nails brushed against his skin, reaching around from behind his waist.

"Thank you," Li Huowang said, trembling as he raised the three-edged spike in his hand.

Er Shen's hands began to exert a gentle force, slowly squeezing out the contents of his stomach; aside from some mushy food, there was no Black Taisui, nor the half-face of Danyangzi—he was gone.

Seeing this, Li Huowang smiled; he had guessed right. That day in the cave, to deceive him, those people from the Zuowang Dao had indeed eliminated the living Danyangzi.

Afterward, to toy with him, they had hidden the immortal Danyangzi so thoroughly that even the Abbess could not detect him.

Those deceivers simply wanted to watch him, step by step and completely off guard, be replaced by Danyangzi, savoring the pleasure of such a cruel trick.

Yet this had inadvertently helped him; the Abbess had once said that the reason they hadn't eliminated Danyangzi was because a part of him was still alive.

Now that the living part of Danyangzi was completely dead, all Li Huowang had to do was return to the Anci Nunnery to find the Abbess, and he could completely eradicate Danyangzi.

The bloodied three-edged spike fell into the water; Li Huowang tremblingly picked up the nearby wound medicine and poured it over the gash on his abdomen. Just then, the hand with black nails swiftly flipped, pinching two thread ends tied with red cords and thrusting them into the flesh of Li Huowang's wound.

The red threads quickly intertwined, rapidly stitching the wound shut, the agony of which made Li Huowang nearly bite the cotton cloth in his mouth to shreds.

"Many thanks." When Li Huowang turned his head to look behind him again, there was no trace of anyone.

Looking somewhat pale, Li Huowang stepped out of the tub and began to dress.

"Daoist, on this trip back, are you really only going to deal with your master? What about those frauds? You're going to handle them, aren't you? You can't let them keep deceiving people; who knows how many will suffer if they continue. Executing heaven's way is also doing a good deed."

Hearing this, a flash of hatred crossed Li Huowang's eyes; too lazy to reply, he continued putting on his clothes.

He certainly hadn't forgotten those disguised members of the Zuowang Dao within the Ao Jing Cult.

Thinking of the two junior martial brothers who had died because of them, and the myriad things they had done to him.

Li Huowang wanted to rip out their hearts and dig their bones. Even without Jiang Yingzi's dying wish, he was far from finished with them; this matter was almost as important as eradicating Danyangzi.

"But they are incredibly powerful. Can you really fight them, Daoist?" the monk asked, his expression deeply worried.

"I have my own methods. Can you just keep quiet for once!"

Five members of the Zuowang Dao could not be dealt with by his strength alone, but after careful thought during his journey, Li Huowang realized he didn't need to fight alone.

First, since Jiang Yingzi had also been deceived by the Zuowang Dao, it was clear that the Zuowang Dao controlled the Ao Jing Cult in those mountains through deception.

The lower-level members of the Ao Jing Cult, led by Shou San, had also been deceived by the cult; if he could find a way to make them realize they had been fooled, they could become his allies.

Second, the son of Abbess Jingxin was, like him, a Xin Su; why had he ended up the way he was?

It was obviously related to those people from the Zuowang Dao; if he explained the truth, the Abbess would surely be more than willing to avenge her son.

However, he first needed to deal with Danyangzi as quickly as possible.

Fully dressed, Li Huowang took out the translation of the True Scripture of the Fire Ao and struggled to read the text, as the number of characters he recognized had dwindled even further.

Previously, Li Huowang had always thought his ability to read characters had been taken away by Danyangzi, but thinking back now, he realized that wasn't the case at all; it was simply because Danyangzi wasn't dead.

"Based on the number of characters I can still read, I should be able to return to Siqi before being completely assimilated by Danyangzi," Li Huowang said, closing the book in his hand and walking out.

The moment he stepped out, he saw everyone looking at him with anxious expressions.

"I need to go back to the Anci Nunnery to ask the Abbesses a few things." This was Li Huowang's explanation to everyone for returning to Siqi.

Having been to the Anci Nunnery several times, everyone clearly knew something was off about Li Huowang's words, yet they didn't ask anything.

Perhaps they had other thoughts in their hearts, but unfortunately, now they could only follow along, daring not to raise any objections.

On one hand, Li Huowang had saved all their lives; on the other, the increasingly terrifying aura emanating from him was another reason.

"Gao Zhijian, is your head alright?" Li Huowang asked, holding his stomach and looking up at the tall man whose head was heavily bandaged.

"No... no... no..."

"Good that it's fine. Rest well and eat some good food during this time to replenish your strength."

Li Huowang was equally astonished that Gao Zhijian was actually still alive, considering he had watched with his own eyes as that iron die drilled into his temple.

But later, when the others were cleaning the battlefield, they surprisingly found he still had a pulse, and after Bai Lingmiao invited the Old Immortal of the Bai family to help, he actually woke up.

It was the same when he was drowned before, and now this again; Li Huowang really couldn't believe this was just a coincidence.

However, he had seen far more bizarre things in this place; after asking Gao Zhijian himself, and finding that even he didn't know what happened, Li Huowang stopped asking.

No matter what, being alive was better than being dead.

Though he was alive, the iron die remained buried in his head, and Li Huowang didn't dare to hope for too much regarding that.

"Has the new carriage been bought? I'll go take a look. No need to support me, I can walk."

Watching Li Huowang's gradually receding figure, Gouwa, who hadn't dared to breathe, suddenly shivered and cautiously said to Zhao Wu opposite him, "Hey, don't you guys feel like Senior Brother Li is looking more and more like that bald guy?"

(End of Chapter)