Chapter 890: Ambush

Chapter 890: Ambush

Xinsu's cultivation was entirely dependent on the innate essence within his body—a fact that Li Huowang well understood.

What he did not know, however, was that the people of Tianchen Nation could not only easily touch the Dao of Heaven but also pluck out his own innate essence from within!

The yellow fluid slowly oozing from the claw embedded in Li Huowang’s chest was his very own innate essence—his first time seeing it outside his body.

Li Huowang had suffered countless wounds before, yet none had ever been as severe as this one.

Without his innate essence, he would never have been able to cultivate; he might have become nothing more than an ordinary mortal.

"Rip!" The sound rang out again—the talon was about to yank his innate essence from his body.

At that critical moment, dozens of tentacles rapidly sprouted from Li Huowang’s back and tightly wrapped around the hand, preventing the enemy from taking his essence away.

Seizing the rare opportunity created by Li Sui, Li Huowang naturally wouldn’t let it slip—he immediately pulled the spinal sword from his back with a violent motion.

But since the enemy was behind him, no matter how he twisted, he couldn't land a blow.

In desperation, Li Huowang clenched his teeth and grabbed his head, twisting it forcefully to the left.

With a sharp crack of bone, his neck turned, and his face instantly swapped places with the back of his skull.

As his head rotated, Li Huowang finally saw who owned that claw.

It was an old man with a hunchback, one eye large and one small, his white hair parted by a single horn atop his head, revealing a blurred single eye beneath.

His right hand was plunged into Li Huowang’s chest, while his left held a staff adorned with gourds of various sizes.

"Die!" Li Huowang roared, his spine cracking as he reversed the grip on the spinal sword and slashed toward the man.

Before the sword even reached its target, the opponent’s body began to twist and deform—not the spine of Zhuge Yuan, but his own.

Seeing his hand couldn’t pull free and his attack was almost upon him, the one-eyed elder acted decisively, swinging his staff.

His right hand severed instantly, like a lizard shedding its tail, he quickly distanced himself from Li Huowang, narrowly avoiding death.

When Li Huowang gritted his teeth and turned his head back, he saw that the grand theater was filled not just with the staff-wielding elder.

The masked woman who played the lute, the big-eared man who had recruited him earlier, and even several strange-faced strangers—all eight of them stood surrounding him.

Clearly, they had all come here after learning of his presence, sent by the Tianchen Nation to confront him.

Li Huowang looked down at his severed hand protruding from his chest, expression grave. He hadn’t expected the people of Tianchen to arrive so swiftly, nor had he imagined they’d already known so much about him and changed their ambush strategy accordingly.

This time, his enemies weren’t just individuals—they were the entire world. If they found even a single flaw, his situation would be perilous beyond measure.

That had been too close. Had it not been for Li Sui accompanying him, he might have lost his innate essence entirely—and that would’ve brought far greater trouble.

“Master Li, we meet again,” Big-Ear said, bowing respectfully.

“What now? Still trying to talk nonsense?” While speaking, Li Huowang noticed the bandit he had caught had slipped away during the chaos.

Since the sneak attack had failed, logically, Li Huowang should have taken the chance to retreat—but he hadn’t achieved his goal in Tianchen, and he wasn’t willing to give up so easily.

He hadn’t figured out how many dragon veins existed, nor had he gained any useful intelligence. Returning empty-handed would mean the trip had been in vain. If he left now, returning to Tianchen would prove far more difficult.

Big-Ear didn’t seem eager to fight yet, continuing instead to question Li Huowang.

“Master Li, I heard you’re a kind-hearted person. Then why do you aid evil forces? The White Lotus Sect is a cult!”

Hearing this, Li Huowang nearly laughed out loud. “Now you call the White Lotus Sect a cult? Back then, when you all conspired to steal the Heavenly Dao from Mother Wu Sheng, why didn’t you say she was evil?”

Big-Ear looked shocked. “Master Li, what are you talking about? You’ve been deceived by villains! I don’t know who told you that, but it’s false. That wasn’t how things happened.”

Back then, the Evil Mother treated us like beasts, turning all of Tianchen into a hell on earth,” Big-Ear said, raising both fists in prayer toward the south. “Our ancestors had no choice but to fight back in desperation.”

“Master Li, are you going to help that Evil Mother once more and turn Tianchen into another hell?”

Li Huowang stood there, surveying the crowd. “Hmph, so it’s always ‘my way is right’ and ‘your way is right,’ isn’t it? I notice that from your perspective, you all think yourselves good people.”

“You asked me to help you, right? Fine, I’ll help. Just promise me you won’t provoke the White Lotus Sect, and I guarantee they won’t come to Tianchen. I, Li Huowang, keep my word!”

Upon hearing this, Big-Ear fell silent, clearly unwilling to trust Li Huowang’s promise so easily.

“I’ll tell you what—I’m not playing games with you. Your spy in Great Qi gathered plenty of information, but they still haven’t figured out why I support the White Lotus Sect! Li Sui, attack!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Huowang’s body scattered like sand in the wind.

But soon, Big-Ear and the others sensed something amiss. The one-eyed elder raised his gourd staff and lightly swept through the air, and the brilliantly lit theater suddenly opened like curtains.

And there, ablaze in flames, Li Huowang, his body cracked open, charged straight toward him!

The elder raised his staff and swung it down at Li Huowang. The stoppers sealing the gourd mouths popped off, releasing a powerful suction.

Yet as Li Huowang effortlessly passed through the gourd, the one-eyed elder realized he had been fooled by illusion.

By the time he reacted, it was too late—Li Huowang, engulfed in fire, had already appeared behind him.

With the spinal sword, unopposed, he drove it deep into the high hump of the old man’s back.

A sound like pus bursting followed, and foul-smelling yellow pus poured out of the wound.

The flames on Li Huowang’s body burned the pus into thick white smoke.

The sensation from the hilt told him that something else lay buried beneath the pus.

Grasping the hilt and pulling hard, he cleaved through the hump. A divine statue, hidden beneath the thick, stinking pus, emerged.