Chapter 835: Ambush

Chapter 835: Ambush

“Swish!” A blade as black as ink, trailing afterimage, thrust straight toward Li Huowang’s chest.

Li Huowang jerked his head sharply and glared. The spear-like blade froze mere inches before his brow, then, with a sudden snap of his eyes wide open, the blade and its wielder were twisted into a grotesque spiral, their screams echoing in a grating screech.

Though the enemy was swiftly dispatched by Li Huowang, the situation did not improve much. They were numerous, and each one was formidable—no ordinary adversaries.

And to boot, they had stolen his weapon upon first strike, clearly having planned this ambush.

A peasant nearby, seeing the twisted meat on the ground, quickly inserted two small fingers into his mouth and blew a piercing whistle.

Beside him, an old man swept his leg in a broad arc, sending up a cloud of black earth. Then another man raised both palms and slapped the airborne soil with force, causing dust to billow all around.

Li Huowang, who had been slaughtering enemies, suddenly lost his target. A gust of wind swept through, and the dust in the air seemed alive, constantly drilling into his eyes.

Taking advantage of Li Huowang’s momentary blindness, a Wu Hook suddenly emerged from the sandstorm, hooking his left ankle and cleanly snapping his lower leg.

“Who the hell are you?!” Li Huowang opened his eyes violently, letting his eyeballs be pummeled by grit and pebbles.

He spun around, leapt on one foot, and charged at full speed toward where the Wu Hook had vanished.

The lean man wielding the hook smiled slightly upon seeing the severed limb, but the next moment, Li Huowang burst from the sandstorm, striking him hard on the head. The man’s skull bounced like a ball and rolled to the ground.

Ignoring the arrow protruding from his chest, Li Huowang bent down and picked up his broken leg, forcing it back into place and stamping it firmly into the earth before sprinting toward the direction from which the arrows came.

“You! Who are you?!” Li Huowang grabbed the archer’s ear and yanked, tearing the man apart like paper.

His eyes, bloodshot from the sand and stones, burned more intensely than if red-hot tongs had been shoved into them.

The more he suffered, the hotter his rage became.

Just as a spinning blood drop descended upon his head, he finally snapped.

“Fire!!” With a roar, flames erupted across his skin, cracking and burning.

Arrows shot at him were instantly melted and turned red, falling to the ground.

Even from such a distance, they were already seared; how much more so the blood drop above him, which had already melted away.

The sandstorm intensified, as if trying to smother the fire on his body, but failed.

Under Li Huowang's gaze, the sand began to transform into fluffy reeds.

With fuel, the fire on his body roared even stronger, spreading rapidly in all directions.

"Burn! Let everything burn!"

The scene in his mind began to swirl around him, replaced by endless waves of burning reeds.

The fire grew larger, and men ablaze screamed as they fled from the reeds, stepping on black earth that had turned to pottery.

Among them were those who had ambushed him earlier—and some of the Bai family.

A woman collapsed before him, her eyes locked on a point. “Nannan…”

“AAAAHHH!!” A wall of flame rose skyward, leaving behind charred corpses in every direction. All were dead.

As Li Huowang bent over, gasping for breath, he suddenly remembered something. He began frantically searching among the bodies.

But after a full sweep, his face darkened. Gone. His four swords were nowhere to be found. Their target was the Spine Sword, capable of traversing between Daqi and Daliang!

Li Huowang scanned the area, hoping to find traces, but everything had been reduced to ash. Not a single clue remained.

He didn’t know what they intended to do with his weapons—but without the Spine Sword of Zhuge Yuan, he would be trapped in Daqi forever, unable to return.

At that moment, new movement came from Youdu. Leading the group was the abbot Chan Du of Zhengde Temple. They had arrived.

Seeing Li Huowang’s cracked, burning body and the devastation around him, everyone knew what had happened. Silence fell, broken only by the crackling of his burning flesh.

When Li Huowang’s eyes suddenly shot toward Chan Du, the abbot clasped his hands tightly and hurriedly explained, “Master Li, this could never have been our doing! You saved our lives! How could we repay such kindness with betrayal?”

“Heh... That’s uncertain. After all, they took my sword that leads to Daliang!”

“I know you had no intention of helping us in matters of the dragon vein. So perhaps you resorted to this to free yourselves from my influence—to go fetch grain yourselves?”

“Immortal! That is too much!” The leader of the Mo Clan stepped forward. “The Mo may do many things, but once a rule is set, Mo people will never transgress! Your words insult the Mo!”

“Get out!” With a roar, the flames on Li Huowang’s body flared higher, and the Mo leader immediately retreated into the crowd.

“Buddhist monk!” Li Huowang stood before the abbot, his robes curling from the heat.

“You said this was my Daqi, right? Everything here belongs to me?”

“Yes! This is Master Li’s Daqi! Master Li has done great good for it!”

“Fine!” Li Huowang’s voice rose sharply, startling everyone.

“I don’t care how you got it. I want my swords back! Bring them to me, or I’ll burn all the grain I brought!”

With that, the flames on his body died out instantly. He turned and rushed toward Zhengde Temple.

“Master Li, you can’t do this! It will starve many people!”

Li Huowang turned to glare at Chan Du. “What? Isn’t all Daqi mine? If I can’t even decide what to do with some grain, is Daqi really mine?”

“Or… were your words just empty promises, meant to use me?”

Without waiting for a reply, Li Huowang strode away. “And one more thing—your people in Daqi can’t use the Spine Sword! Don’t forget how you came back before! You’re not heart-penetrators—you can’t reach Daliang!”

He found the heavily guarded granary of Zhengde Temple and sat directly atop it, waiting for news.

If he wished, he could turn all the grain beneath him to ash. Whether these people had truly taken his swords, he wasn’t entirely certain.

He didn’t believe Chan Du wanted to kill him. In this world, he had seen everything, and always assumed the worst of others.

Yet something about this felt off. Just recently, he had told Chan Du he wouldn’t interfere with the dragon vein.

And yet, within half an hour, he had been ambushed in the fields. Too fast.

The attackers were well-coordinated and powerful. If they had managed to find and ambush him so quickly, it defied logic.

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