Chapter 549: Year

Chapter 549: Year

"Hah... hah..." Blood flowed from the wound across his forehead, sliding down along the scar to the wide-open mouth of Li Huowang, who gasped heavily. It then dripped from his lips onto his charred chin before finally falling to the cracked earth, gradually soaking the dry soil.

At this moment, Li Huowang found himself in an extremely dire situation. Whether it was talismans, the spine sword capable of cleaving historical rifts, the copper coin sword that banished evil spirits, or the purple year sword that cut through iron like mud—none of them could make any impression against the dragon vein.

Even more troubling was that even the forgotten Daoist powers and past unfavorable yaojing techniques had no effect on it.

After spending so long in this mad world, this was the first time Li Huowang encountered such a formidable opponent.

He finally understood what Zhuge Yuan meant when he said the Forgetful Dao would not act upon the dragon vein.

Perhaps using Baxi's Cangqian Denglou might work, but where could one find a heart-wrenching despair at this moment?

Suddenly, the familiar howling sound rang in Li Huowang’s ears once again. A massive shadow whipped through the air with gusts of wind, striking straight for his head.

The force was immense—it would surely shatter bones if struck.

"Bang!" Peng Longteng's colossal body appeared instantly before Li Huowang, catching the shadow with ease.

That shadow wasn't anything else—it was the dragon vein formed by the emperors of Great Qi stacked together.

Though they looked merely stuck together, their collision felt as solid as iron and bronze.

Claws pierced Peng Longteng's chest, yet he wasn’t afraid of this attack.

Yet even with his tremendous strength, Peng Longteng was no match for the dragon vein. His body trembled violently, and he was sent flying backward.

Fortunately, during this brief moment, Li Huowang had already retreated several zhang away, escaping the range of the dragon vein’s assault.

It seemed Li Huowang was now trapped in a death-defying predicament—but he showed no sign of despair, because he wasn’t alone in such a plight.

A roar akin to a lion’s cry and a wolf’s howl came from the other side of the dragon vein, drawing some attention away from Li Huowang.

It was Xun Nian, the one who had fought him earlier. The enemy had now become his fellow sufferer.

Xun Nian, half-man, half-beast, leaped onto the dragon vein with four legs, slashing downward with his sharp claws. Four white-haired, ancient emperor heads shot up into the sky.

"Waaahhh~!" The Great Qi emperor atop the dragon vein, missing a front tooth, howled in pain.

As golden pearls and tassels on his head swayed, the dragon vein twisted rapidly, coiling around Xun Nian like a serpent.

Xun Nian continued attacking the stacked emperors, but they were too old to escape their fate.

Just as his body was about to be crushed flat by the dragon vein, Li Huowang held his spine sword and threw it toward the youngest emperor at the top, with Peng Longteng’s help.

Although Xun Nian had just tried to kill him, Li Huowang had no choice but to save him—he knew that if Xun Nian died, the next target would be himself.

When Li Huowang saw his own reflection in the eyes of the little emperor, the dragon vein twisted, blocking his view with crown-bearing, aged heads.

With a sudden grimace, Peng Longteng slammed into the dragon vein, lunging toward the small emperor behind.

But in the next instant, countless hands reached out, grabbing the airborne Peng Longteng and tossing him aside.

While defending, they still attacked—another long shadow of the dragon vein swept toward Li Huowang.

Li Huowang’s foot was injured, making movement difficult—but he had his own plan.

The surprised Forgetful Dao suddenly appeared before him, acting as a cushion.

Li Huowang didn’t expect this sneak attack to succeed, but it did distract Xun Nian enough to spare him from being crushed.

When Li Huowang pushed away the muddy figure of Forgetful Dao, clutching his wounds, he shouted loudly to Xun Nian far off:

"We’re both fighting alone—we’ll both end up dead! Why not cooperate instead? Honestly speaking, we have no real grudge!"

Xun Nian shook off his human skin and nodded slightly at Li Huowang, speaking again:

"To kill me."

Seeing the dragon vein charging toward him, Li Huowang quickly retreated while saying, "Fine. You hold the old ones below, I'll deal with the young one above!"

Xun Nian nodded once more, then raised her front paw high and stomped hard on the ground.

Her fur instantly turned red and grew rapidly, soon covering her entire body like a dancing lion.

Red hair spread outward into the darkness, as if searching for something, and darkness receded around her center.

She stood motionless for hours, causing Li Huowang, furious and barely holding on, to shout angrily:

"What are you doing?! Stop dawdling!"

At this point, he looked nothing like himself—half his face was gone, one arm severed at the shoulder, and half his waist was missing.

If not for Peng Longteng, who couldn’t die or be broken, he might have perished beneath the dragon vein.

But even that was pushing limits—Li Huowang began feeling dizzy; it meant Peng Longteng could not last much longer.

As soon as Li Huowang finished speaking, Xun Nian finally moved.

Her method of movement was strange—though she charged toward the dragon vein and Li Huowang, a red shadow remained behind her.

And it wasn’t just one shadow—wherever she went, red shadows lingered, connecting into a continuously lengthening red line.

Li Huowang didn’t know what Xun Nian was doing, but he realized this must be her killing move. Whether he lived or died depended on this moment.

As he reinserted the spine sword into his back, Peng Longteng grabbed his shoulder with one hand. At the instant Xun Nian met the dragon vein, he gave a powerful push, launching Li Huowang forward.

A yellow and red pair of giant dragons crashed together—the area around the red shadows transformed completely.

Li Huowang’s wounds healed rapidly, but only for a breath. Then his body began breaking apart again.

Not only him, but the barren land also sprouted grass and trees instantly. The world shifted, oceans turned to fields.

This same strange transformation occurred on the dragon vein itself—the aged, decayed dragon vein began regaining youth.

However, this blessing for the dragon vein was a curse for the tightly connected emperors of Great Qi—they started trembling, as though ready to fall apart at any moment.

———

Next chapter updates at 00:02

(End of Chapter)