Chapter 166: Melee

Chapter 166: The Melee

"Once the ritual's duration runs out, I'll be dead, won't I?"

Li Huowang slowly raised his sword, and the worms from his abdomen crawled up his Daoist robe, wriggling onto his severed arm.

In a matter of breaths, he possessed a new left hand formed by writhing, intertwined worms.

Testing his new hand, Li Huowang nodded in satisfaction, then looked again into the distance at the five "Zuowangdao" locked in combat with Danyang Zi.

At this moment, in Li Huowang's eyes, Danyang Zi still wore that terrifying visage, while the faces of the other five had completely transformed into flesh-and-blood mahjong tiles.

Thinking of his imminent death, Li Huowang's heart instead began to calm; gripping his sword, he walked toward them in the distance.

Charging forward, Li Huowang swung a single sword strike, severing the central head of Danyang Zi.

"Master, do not panic! Your disciple is here to aid you!!"

Seizing the moment Li Huowang ambushed Danyang Zi, the "Zuowangdao" in the distance instantly seized the opportunity; the five swiftly sat cross-legged in mid-air, surrounding the two and chanting, "What is Zuowang!"

The voice echoed endlessly through the vast cavern, growing louder and louder.

At these words, Li Huowang and Danyang Zi simultaneously and tacitly kicked off each other's bodies, the two darting left and right to pounce upon a Zuowangdao member each.

A black Pai Gow tile flew over, swiftly striking at Li Huowang's wrist; just as he was about to dodge, Yao Ji in the distance crossed two fingers and snapped them rapidly.

The black shadow beneath the Pai Gow instantly shifted; the shadow became the tile, and the tile became the shadow.

Caught off guard, the Pai Gow pierced through Li Huowang's wrist, leaving a perfectly square notch.

Without the support of his wrist bone, just as Li Huowang's hand was about to fall limply, the square hole was quickly filled by the worms, and the sword in his grip was held steady and firm once more.

"Heh, you get what you pay for; it seems the power gained by sacrificing one's internal organs is indeed different," Li Huowang said, before stomping his feet and charging toward Qi Wan in the distance.

This time, facing anything thrown at him, Li Huowang simply stopped dodging, taking the hits directly with his body.

After all, any damage or loss to his body would be instantly replaced by those wriggling worms.

Relying on the power borrowed from Ba Hui, Li Huowang was momentarily a match for them.

Li Huowang, Danyang Zi, and the Zuowangdao—these three factions with entirely different goals—fought in a chaotic melee.

One moment it was Li Huowang and Danyang Zi against the Zuowangdao, and the next it was Danyang Zi and the Zuowangdao against Li Huowang.

Wielding his flesh-and-blood copper coin sword, Danyang Zi's strength was astonishing; even with one head severed, he still managed to overwhelm the Zuowangdao.

It seemed the Zuowangdao were more adept at manipulating minds and less skilled in direct confrontation, yet astonishingly, all five were being pushed back by Danyang Zi.

But this was also partly due to Li Huowang's efforts.

Although Danyang Zi was the stronger of the three, the factions were now in a mutual stalemate, with neither side wanting the other two to win.

In this melee, Li Huowang always helped the weak and attacked the strong; having already staked his life, he saw no reason not to drag a few more down with him.

If Danyang Zi and the Zuowangdao were to follow him into death, that would be the best possible outcome.

The fierce battle surprisingly reached a temporary stalemate, with everyone calculating their own interests.

Taking advantage of Danyang Zi suppressing the others, Yao Ji swiftly closed in on Li Huowang, his voice laced with obvious anxiety: "Boss! Stop playing around! Haven't you seen the strength of this Half-Immortal? If we keep playing, people are going to die!"

"Heh, calling me Boss and expecting me to let you off? You could call me Ancestor and it still wouldn't work!!"

Li Huowang grabbed the edges of the wound on his chest with both hands and violently tore it open.

Blood-red worms instantly burst from his abdominal cavity, surging toward Yao Ji like an overwhelming avalanche.

These worms were now entirely under Li Huowang's control; the slightest touch would cause them to instantly burrow beneath the skin and flesh, churning the victim's intestines to ruin.

"Boss Hong Zhong! Really, stop fighting! Feel what's under the skin at the back of your neck! See if what I'm saying is true!"

Li Huowang reached back to touch the nape of his neck; the worms burrowed through the flesh, pushing out a hard object from within.

It was a mahjong tile; it was the Red Center.

A hint of hesitation just appeared on Li Huowang's face when Yao Ji hastily and anxiously explained, "Your true identity is Hong Zhong, one of the three bosses of the Zuowangdao. You felt you had played every trick, grown bored of it all, and found it meaningless, so you sealed your divine consciousness and had us play along with you."

"Now Er Bing has been played to death by you, we can't keep playing anymore. We're all brothers; fighting further would be going too far. You can't let us lose our lives just for your amusement."

"Is everything you're saying true?" Li Huowang's expression showed profound confusion as he stared straight at the Red Center mahjong tile in his hand.

"Ah! Can't you see this mahjong tile was dug out of your own flesh! Could there possibly be any—"

Before he could finish, Yao Ji felt something was wrong; looking down, he saw several worms had somehow burrowed into his calves.

As his attention shifted to his legs, a cold flash of light appeared ahead, and Li Huowang's long sword thrust straight into his neck.

Looking at Yao Ji before him, a mocking smile appeared on Li Huowang's face as he played along with the other's lies.

"Yes, I remember now. I am Hong Zhong, one of the three bosses of the Zuowangdao. I also remember that you stole my woman back in the day, which is why you're using your public position to settle a private grudge."

As long as the identity of the Zuowangdao was confirmed, dealing with them was simple: just treat everything spewing from their mouths as shit.

"Boss, everything I said is true!" Yao Ji tightly grabbed Li Huowang's sword with both hands, shouting in refusal to accept his fate.

"I fucking believed it!!"

With a sudden surge of strength in one hand, Li Huowang sent Yao Ji's fingers and his square head flying into the air together.

As the worms from Yao Ji's body burrowed back into Li Huowang's chest, Li Huowang turned and charged toward the distant battlefield.

One of the Zuowangdao's deceivers was dead; now it was time to weaken Danyang Zi.

"Master! Xuanyang is here to help you!" Li Huowang charged toward Danyang Zi with his sword.

Under the concerted siege with the Zuowangdao, with a squelch, Danyang Zi's child-like head was instantly severed.

But before Li Huowang could even catch his breath, a bloody, seemingly malnourished infant head regrew from the severed neck.

Seeing this, Yi Wan beside him quickly turned and said to Li Huowang, "Your master has a Half-Immortal body; exhausting him like this is completely futile! Hold him off for us for a moment! We'll help you finish him!"

Li Huowang's reply was a mouthful of bloody spit.

"Fine! We did deceive you before, but you've also killed Er Bing and Yao Ji; shouldn't that be enough to vent your anger? Two lives should pay for anything, right?"

"And compared to us outsiders, shouldn't you harbor more resentment toward your master?"

(End of Chapter)