Chapter 233: Death

Chapter 233 Death

Within the dim, pitch-black rock cave, "Ding ding ding~ Dong dong dong!" The echoes of bells and drums merged into one.

Accompanied by these sounds, Master You, Er Shen, and the other senior brothers and sisters fought together against that lion dancer.

Li Huowang did not go over to help, for he saw that the lion dancer previously atop had also descended; he could not let that ghostly thing rush over to flank them.

With a "Clang," Li Huowang drew his sword, rushing toward that side with killing intent reaching the heavens.

Beneath the lion body covered in white tassels, dozens of pitch-black bare feet swung wildly, charging aggressively toward Li Huowang.

Soon both sides saw each other's faces, saw the killing intent in each other's eyes.

As the two crossed paths, the huge lion body wrapped in a stench crashed heavily onto Li Huowang, the white tassels on its body brushing against him.

Yet the Li Huowang who was struck felt no damage upon his face, directly raising his long sword to slash toward the empty space beside him.

The two quickly parted ways, the final result being that Li Huowang remained unharmed, while several pairs of naked human feet were left beneath the lion dancer, all cut off by Li Huowang.

Just now Li Huowang was merely an illusion; the lion dancer hadn't attacked him at all. Long before rushing over, Li Huowang had already switched the positions of his physical body and illusion.

Looking at the unharmed Li Huowang, the lion dancer's huge lantern-like left eye gradually shifted upward, revealing a pitch-black round hole.

Seven or eight withered black hands resembling monkeys stretched out from inside, lying under the eye like extended eyelashes.

Immediately after, more than ten eyes of various sizes crowded into that huge eye socket, the expression of the entire man's face becoming sinister, using those ten-plus eyes to stare at Li Huowang's true body.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, coldly watching this thing before him; no matter what this was, it was not a lion dance! Absolutely not!

"Da." Throwing away the crutch under his armpit, Li Huowang stabbed his broken foot heavily into the ground, glaring at the thing before him with eyes full of killing intent. "Come on!"

He held his long sword horizontally before his face, hardened his heart, and directly raised his left hand to crash against the blade.

With a light swish, two fingers carried splashing blood, tumbling and flying into the air, swelling up, carrying sharp bone spurs piercing through skin and flesh, spiraling toward that lion dancer.

The flying fingers were extremely fast; before the lion dancer could dodge, two bleeding red moles appeared on its huge round face.

Li Huowang's two fingers piercing the face continued to drill inward, accompanied by constant sounds of tearing flesh and blood, thick black blood slowly flowing down along those naked feet.

The person controlling the lion dancer was injured, yet they still didn't want to give up; the lion body shook violently like a beast shaking its hand, the strips of white tassels on its body flew up, beginning to drift toward Li Huowang.

This naturally wouldn't stump Li Huowang; a pair of cast-iron pliers appeared in Li Huowang's hand, he reached into his mouth and pulled hard, pulling out two molars.

The white teeth tumbled and flew over, exploding suddenly; the white tassels were easily severed by the splashing tooth fragments, falling weakly toward the ground.

The lion body was also cut open by the tooth fragments, red blood staining the white lion body red, looking quite miserable.

Seeing this scene, the lion dancer seemed to know cowardice, yet it made no sound; instead, the human legs beneath the lion body kept swinging, attempting to retreat into the darkness with that broken body.

Li Huowang naturally wouldn't let him just run away, once again putting the pliers into his own mouth.

Facing Li Huowang's assault, the injured lion dancer couldn't hold out much longer, soon killed by Li Huowang.

Not bothering to catch his breath, Li Huowang tirelessly helped others break the siege; with Li Huowang joining, the fight there was equally without suspense.

As Li Huowang jumped onto the lion head, raising his sword to chop down fiercely, following the edge of the huge dead face directly making a circular cut, peeling off the entire skin right then.

Without a face, the entire lion dancer collapsed. Accompanied by a loud "Boom!", the huge lion dancer fell heavily to the ground, black viscous blood gradually seeping out from under the lion body, staining everything on the ground red.

Li Huowang on the lion back drew his sword, flipped and jumped down, panting as he looked at the others still shaken. "Everyone okay?"

"Nothing, just Gao Zhijian's left ear got touched by a white tassel, moved down an inch; those white tassels must be the things that touched Sun Baolu back then." Chun Xiaoman opened her mouth to answer.

Glancing at Gao Zhijian with one ear high and one ear low, Li Huowang nodded, then used his hem to wipe the blood off the sword, sheathing it again.

Then he turned around, re-examining these two lion dancers with very strange appearances.

Behind that huge flat human face was not a Qingqiu person holding the lion head, but a lump of swollen, bloody corpse meat.

The entire lion dancer was one piece; whether the hands supporting the lion body or the moving feet below, they all originated from a twisted, fearful creature.

Inside the bloody lion dancer were various organs suspended by blood vessels, perfectly confirming Li Huowang's conjecture.

Li Huowang didn't know if this grew like this or was made by humans like this, but no matter which truth it was, this could only represent either a bad outcome, or another even worse outcome.

Even more chilling was that they existed not only in this dark underground, but also appeared openly outside in Qingqiu, and were even treated as part of life by the Qingqiu people.

Moreover, what made Li Huowang feel sad himself was that he found himself not surprised at all.

"Oh my god, what is all this?" Terrified Gouwa stood aside, staring with wide eyes and gaping mouth.

"Clearly... clearly it wasn't supposed to be like this..." Sun Baolu looked at everything before him with a very complex expression; his understanding over the past decade-plus years was overturned by this scene.

"Senior Brother Li, they... what exactly is going on with them?"

At this moment, Li Huowang standing beside the male lion was too lazy to care about the Lion Dance Palace issue in Qingqiu; anyway, he was just a passerby, whatever happened outside had nothing to do with him.

He was currently considering a problem closely related to himself.

Li Huowang carefully poked at the organs inside the flesh and blood with his sword, as if searching for something.

"Senior Brother Li, what are you looking for?" But Li Huowang's next words made the questioning Gouwa somewhat not understand.

"Looking for death."

"What?"

Li Huowang explained nothing, frowning tightly as he looked at this huge carcass before him, thinking.

"Something isn't right. Zhengde Temple worships the Flesh Buddha, so they can use flesh and blood; An Ci Nunnery's nuns' bodies rot, so they utilize rot; and earlier that giant cauldron worshipped death, but this lion dancer just now didn't utilize death."

Connecting this, Li Huowang turned his head to look again toward the direction of the giant cauldron, "Could it be besides the Lion Dance Palace... there are other sects beneath this grassland??"

Once this thought emerged, Li Huowang's body inexplicably chilled; this place was far livelier than he imagined.

(End of Chapter)