Chapter 757: Thing

Chapter 757: The Thing

Li Huowang’s headache had eased slightly, yet his eyes were wide with disbelief as he stared at the scene unfolding within the Whirling Light Mirror. He almost thought he was seeing things.

The massive red dot that had previously represented the military formation of the soldiers was now torn away by something forceful and violent.

“This… impossible! How could this be?! I definitely interrupted the ritual to invoke the gods!” Li Huowang looked up at the statue above him—there was no sign of disturbance—and then swept his gaze across the grotesque figures sprawled in pools of blood around him.

His expression darkened sharply. Without hesitation, Li Huowang reached into the mirror, aiming at a small red dot beside the battlefield, hoping to understand what was happening there.

In an instant, the perspective shifted. Li Huowang found himself seated upon a warhorse, galloping toward the horizon.

When he turned his head back toward the battlefield, he beheld a sight so shocking it left him stunned. The enormous formation of the soldiers was locked in combat with something invisible.

Though unseen, its presence was unmistakable—the slightest movement caused the surrounding space to twist and warp, causing everything nearby to sink inward as if pulled into nothingness.

From the distorted contours of space-time, Li Huowang could barely make out that whatever it was had four legs, appeared colossal and flat, and was covered with various elongated appendages.

Yet beyond that, he could discern no further details.

“What is this? What exactly is this?” Li Huowang gritted his teeth until they nearly shattered. Whatever it was, clearly the cultists’ scheme had succeeded. They must have prepared for two contingencies.

Even though he had interfered, the ritual performed elsewhere by the cult still succeeded.

The memory of the Stone of Mount Tai had been flawed! Whether the cult had anticipated his interference or whether this was simply a trap laid for them, none of that changed their current dire situation.

Li Huowang quickly withdrew his hand from the mirror and shouted loudly to those around him: “Go! All of you, go! Head southwest to provide reinforcement!”

Upon hearing Li Huowang’s command, Zhao Jiabao and others who had been patrolling immediately acted without delay, following his orders without question.

Li Huowang also prepared to depart. Even though his head throbbed like it would burst, even though he did not know if he could face that creature, he had to go. If that thing slaughtered the allied forces of the soldiers, then the Great Liang might fall entirely under the control of the cult.

“I need to get there fast! I need to get there now!” Li Huowang clutched his head in agony, shouting aloud.

With a sharp *pierce*, a gleaming spear tip pierced through his chest. As Peng Longteng roared with burning fury, the spearhead lifted sharply, tossing Li Huowang high into the air, launching him directly from the wooden city toward the southwest.

Rain continued falling from the sky, and in the midst of the storm, Li Huowang couldn’t open his eyes while suspended in the clouds. He could only rely on the Whirling Light Mirror to judge direction after falling to certain heights.

He didn’t know how long he flew. When his scorched, blackened body finally froze solid, his position aligned perfectly with the giant red dot in the mirror.

“I’ve arrived!” With a sudden contraction of limbs, Li Huowang plummeted rapidly toward the ground.

As he broke through the clouds and returned to the mortal realm, he saw a strange, ancient object squatting in the center of the war-torn battlefield.

It resembled a toad, but far more deformed than any ordinary amphibian. It bore some resemblance to the divine statue before, yet not quite.

It crouched half-buried, its form constantly shifting and changing. Its previously invisible body was now crawling with writhing metal and flesh.

Only when he heard the sounds of battle echoing from above did Li Huowang realize—those appendages weren’t just random growths. They were the soldiers, completely covering its body!

Suddenly, a roar emerged from its mouth—a sound neither tiger nor wolf, but something between both. All the soldiers clinging to its body suddenly exploded outward like raindrops, scattering in all directions.

As the soldiers retreated, the creature reverted to its previous state—still distorting spacetime, yet now completely transparent.

It seemed the soldiers hadn’t harmed it at all—or perhaps they had, but its blood was translucent, invisible to the naked eye.

The soldiers who scattered attempted to reform their formation, but Li Huowang could sense that their strength was waning.

“Xuan Pin, Xuan Pin!” Li Huowang cried out anxiously. “I don’t care where you are right now—you must come here immediately! This is serious! You can’t miss such a big deal!”

“You tell me you didn’t prepare a backup plan, you old fox! Don’t hold back anymore! The cult bastards really summoned this thing!”

Li Huowang’s voice echoed across the empty battlefield, yet no reply came. It was as if Xuan Pin cared nothing for such a life-or-death matter.

Though furious, for some reason, Li Huowang felt no surprise. He clenched his fists and strode forward with determined steps toward the creature.

“Xuan Pin, if I survive this trip back, you wait for me—I’ll be waiting too!”

As Li Huowang roared, the thunderous hoofbeats of his horse rang behind him. Peng Longteng’s great spear descended, hooking Li Huowang onto his horse and charging toward the battlefield.

They say that mountains appear closer than they are, but Li Huowang rode for half a stick of incense before finally reaching the creature’s vicinity.

Only now did he truly comprehend its power. A strange aura radiated from it, attempting to infect everything around it, to assimilate all into itself.

It was bestiality and ambition.

While people said it wasn’t the Guardian of Fate, Li Huowang believed this creature was no different from the Guardian—it possessed the same unconscious ability to absorb everything around it.

With a terrifying squeal, its invisible maw opened and closed. Corpses of soldiers, torn apart and soaked in blood, fell like rain from its mouth.

The soldiers once again covered most of its body, wielding weapons against it, yet their attacks proved ineffective.

Its body seemed impervious to anything the mortal world could inflict.

“What should we do?” A question formed in Li Huowang’s mind. Facing such a being, how could he watch soldiers charge forward one after another?

He took a slow, deep breath. “No matter what, I’ll try.”

He hesitated, reaching out to grip the hilt of the Spine Sword, but feeling his headache still unrelieved, he reconsidered and let go.

“No, Zhuge Yuan won’t be able to repair it. I’ll have to create something else.”

(End of Chapter)