Chapter 694: Stomach

Chapter 694 The Stomach

"Stop overthinking! You aren't going to die!" Li Huowang sharply refuted his daughter's pessimistic thoughts. "Come! Focus with me! There are no worms in my body! There are no worms in my body!!"

As Li Huowang channeled his Primordial Qi, the worms within him gradually reverted back into his own flesh and blood.

Though the immediate crisis was resolved, the danger outside remained; the current Li Huowang did not fear evil spirits, but an endless onslaught of them was an entirely different matter.

Accompanied by ghostly wails and howling wolves, the surrounding spirits lunged toward him. Whish! His copper coin sword, forged to slay demons and break evil, slashed in a wide arc, instantly dissolving the nearby spirits into black mist.

Before the black mist could even dissipate, all manner of vile spirits surged forward once again.

"Miamia!" Li Huowang held the fluorite high, searching for his own people within the earth dragon.

"Senior Brother Li, I'm here!" Li Huowang rushed toward the sound, quickly locating the White Lotus believers sitting cross-legged in a lotus formation.

Their upper bodies were bare, revealing white donkey tattoos upon their backs as they chanted in perfect unison. "A thing exists, chaotic yet complete, born before heaven and earth. Silent and solitary, standing alone and unchanging, revolving without end, it can be considered the mother of all under heaven..."

To Li Huowang's astonishment, neither these White Lotus believers nor Bai Lingmiao, who sat cross-legged at their center, bore a single worm upon them, and the surrounding evil spirits dared not approach even by a fraction.

At this moment, Bai Lingmiao, possessing two upper bodies, sat cross-legged as well, her two mouths chanting in tandem with the other believers while the twin lotuses upon her brow faintly shimmered with light.

Li Huowang's tentacles violently kicked against the ground, propelling him in front of Bai Lingmiao. "What is it? Does the White Lotus Sect have a way to break this deadlock?"

Her two heads, both covered by red bridal veils, shook gently. "No, this place is too bizarre."

Hearing this, Li Huowang understood that if they could not escape this wretched place in time, the situation would only deteriorate step by step.

"How do we escape?" Pondering the question, he scanned the chaotic surroundings.

The moment he spotted the others fighting their own separate battles, an idea struck him; this godforsaken place was not entirely devoid of a chance for survival.

"Everyone! Rallly toward me!" Li Huowang's roar echoed through the stomach. "We cannot fight individually at a time like this! Only by working together can we escape! The worms won't grow inside you near the White Lotus!"

Those who could survive under these conditions were all skilled experts; seeing that the people beside the White Lotus believers remained unchanged, they understood instantly.

Under Li Huowang's rallying cry, anyone who was still drawing breath scrambled toward him one after another.

Furthermore, Li Huowang did not forget the two dragon veins. Exploiting the chaos, he rescued the second dragon vein; even if it was meant to be bait, things had already come to this point, and he would swallow the bait first.

As they drew closer, the chanting of the White Lotus believers became exceptionally strained, and a few worms began to sprout from their own bodies.

It seemed that the influx of these outsiders made it difficult for them to hold the line.

The situation was critical. Li Huowang immediately spoke to Bai Lingmiao, "Can your people move? Have them shift toward the side!"

Bai Lingmiao nodded with great effort. "...Alright."

Seeing all the White Lotus believers moving toward the south, Li Huowang extended a dozen tentacles, lifting the cross-legged Bai Lingmiao above his head to keep up quickly.

Forced to move while chanting, the White Lotus believers walked very slowly, but thankfully, they reached the edge without further mishap.

With danger imminent, Li Huowang kept his words brief for the others. "As you can all see, we've fallen into an ambush. If we want to live, we must get out of here! And to get out, we have to dig a hole through this earth dragon!"

Finishing his words, Li Huowang raised his Purple Tassel Sword and carved a large circle directly onto the nearby stomach wall. "Don't think it's impossible. I just dug into it earlier; this wall isn't that hard. Those who've survived this long are all masters. If we work together, we will definitely escape with our lives!"

Driven by the instinct for survival, no one opposed Li Huowang. They drew various magical treasures and unleashed all kinds of divine abilities, blasting the circle he had drawn.

Bo Qiao, the Director of the Astronomical Observatory of the Four Qi, held nothing back either; opening his massive mouth, he spat out various pills and distributed them.

Under their combined assault, the circle Li Huowang had just drawn vanished, leaving a rapidly expanding crater in its place.

"It's working!!" Witnessing this, Li Huowang finally saw a glimmer of hope for escape.

"Move! We press inward!" At Li Huowang's command, everyone converged on the crater, forcing it deeper and deeper.

"Senior Brother Li! Hurry! The others can barely hold on!" The White Lotus believers were deathly pale, their bodies swaying on the verge of collapse.

Seeing that Bai Lingmiao's red veil was completely drenched in sweat, Li Huowang pinched his fingers together, glaring at the cavernous hole before him.

Under his intense gaze, the cavity parted rapidly like modeling clay, its excavation speed doubling.

Witnessing Li Huowang's bizarre ability, Bo Qiao stopped holding back as well; he rolled up his sleeves, revealing an arm bulging with tumor-like growths.

Bo Qiao used his fingernail to slice open one of the swellings, reaching in with two fingers to dig something out.

"Take it!" He thrust a still-writhing, blood-red nodule in front of Li Huowang. "Quickly swallow this immortal elixir I've treasured for years! It can grant you temporary parity with the immortals!"

Li Huowang opened his mouth, and two tentacles shot out from within, binding the fleshly nodule and dragging it back down his throat.

The moment he swallowed the thing into his stomach, Li Huowang felt his gut violently churn.

Before he could clasp his stomach, the raw force in his belly surged straight into his mind. The next instant, bits of flesh splattered as his entire head split down the middle, revealing a fist-sized head within.

That tiny head grew upon meeting the wind, quickly reaching normal size, while the two split halves of his original head rapidly regenerated. In the end, Li Huowang's three heads rested together upon his shoulders.

With two wet squelches, two pairs of bloody, mangled arms burst from his back; Bo Qiao's pill had actually transformed Li Huowang into a literal entity of three heads and six arms.

Sustaining three heads was a surreal sensation; he felt as though the Primordial Qi within him had split into three distinct pools.

As Li Huowang raised his right hand, the stone-hard stomach wall no longer merely parted, but tore open at a furious pace.

"Go!" As Li Huowang's three heads spoke in unison, they quickened their pace and forced their way inside.

Led by Li Huowang, the group's progress was noticeably faster, yet the stomach wall of this earth dragon seemed boundless, exceptionally thick.

"Faster! Faster!!" Burning with anxiety, Li Huowang threw himself forward desperately. As the pressure intensified, all three of his heads began to throb with a bursting pain.

Right then, Li Huowang caught a sound behind them. When the head on his left turned to look, he discovered that a wall had sealed the path they had just traversed, pressing down upon them. It was made of evil spirits! A wall constructed entirely of vile spirits!!

"Pfft!" A White Lotus believer coughed up blood and collapsed outright. The stable environment around them began to disintegrate, and Li Huowang felt things beginning to churn in his belly once more.

There was no turning back now; he could only lead the others in a desperate, mad dash forward!

With the first came a second, and then a third; as more and more White Lotus believers fell, the worms within everyone's bodies reemerged, and the wall of spirits behind them pressed closer and closer.

"Faster! Faster!!" Just as the wall of spirits was about to swallow them whole, Li Huowang's mind went blank, and the oppressive weight ahead vanished! They were out!

(End of Chapter)