Chapter 949: End

Chapter 949: The End

As Zuoqiu Yong relentlessly carved away his own flesh, the discarded meat writhed and surged upon the ground, and within a mere few breaths, a new, squirming, and rapidly knitting Zuoqiu Yong had emerged.

Every sliver of flesh and every shard of bone he excised became, through the influence of the Heavenly Dao of Growth, yet another Zuoqiu Yong.

"Sowing flesh to reap soldiers?"

Seeing this, Li Huowang’s expression turned ghastly. Though the Heavenly Dao of Growth could no longer be applied to his own body, Zuoqiu Yong was using it upon himself with terrifying efficiency.

Watching as a dozen more Zuoqiu Yongs sprouted from the earth in such a short time, Li Huowang lunged forward, legs driving with explosive force, desperate to stop the man from carving any further.

The newly formed, half-formed Zuoqiu Yongs lunged to intercept him, but Feng Erniu appeared behind Li Huowang, clicking his abacus as he stepped forward to parry the onslaught.

The two sides clashed in a chaotic melee, the air filled with the din of slaughter as each combatant unleashed their unique, otherworldly arts. Li Huowang ignored the rest, his focus locked solely on the original Zuoqiu Yong, the one harboring the dragon veins.

The others were mere distractions; the sixteen dragon veins within that single body were the only things that mattered.

Li Huowang’s body flickered through space, but this time, he did not merely shift a few feet; he displaced himself directly before Zuoqiu Yong.

As his hands clamped firmly onto the arm clutching the bone blade, the tentacles erupting from his own body surged toward the dragon veins embedded in Zuoqiu Yong’s flesh.

At that very moment, two pristine Zuoqiu Yongs leaped from the fray, charging toward Li Huowang.

"Die, Li Huowang!" As the two versions of Zuoqiu Yong roared and lunged, their hands suddenly twisted, plunging not into Li Huowang, but directly into the original Zuoqiu Yong.

"Hm?" Zuoqiu Yong looked at his attackers, stunned, only to see their faces melt away in an instant, revealing the heads of two dice.

The two Dice-men struck from both sides, four hands clawing at the dragon vein tattoos; they shoved a false one inside, while forcibly tearing a real one from Zuoqiu Yong’s body.

The roar of a dragon echoed, shaking the very fabric of the surrounding space.

Seeing that brute force was not enough, Dice immediately resorted to chaos, pulling out several dice and forcing them into the heads of the dragon veins.

The dragon veins within Zuoqiu Yong seemed to develop a will of their own, straining to tear themselves free from his flesh.

Zuoqiu Yong opened his mouth to chant a spell, desperate to regain control, but Li Huowang, standing inches away, would not grant him the chance.

Li Huowang opened his maw wide, and with a retching sound, he vomited Li Sui, slick with blood and bile, directly into Zuoqiu Yong’s mouth.

As Li Huowang’s distended body began to shrink, Zuoqiu Yong’s frame began to swell and bloat.

With a wet pop, two slime-covered black tentacles burst through Zuoqiu Yong’s face, forcing his eyeballs out to dangle and twitch in the air.

Li Huowang’s expression hardened. The others who had been fighting the clones vanished from the distance and reappeared at his side, pinning the bloated Zuoqiu Yong down with absolute force.

In the past, cultivators would have seen their resolve shatter at the mere sight of dragon veins, but things were different now—because in Li Huowang’s heart, they were real, absolutely and undeniably real.

While Zuoqiu Yong was pinned by Li Sui’s suffocating grip, Li Huowang and the others tore all sixteen dragon veins from his body.

Finally, as Bai Lingmiao infused the body with the essence of death, the chaos consuming Shangjing City at last fell silent.

With the gateway between Tianchen and Daliang sealed by the Heart-Parasite, the demoralized Tianchen forces were routed by the counter-attacking Daliang military.

As the dragon veins were driven deep into the earth, Li Huowang let out a long, shuddering breath. With these, the heavens of Great Qi might finally be brought back to life.

After such a long and grueling ordeal, he could finally find a moment of peace.

"I didn't help for free. I want one dragon vein; that was the deal I made with your daughter," Dice said, walking over to Li Huowang.

Li Huowang wiped the blood from his face, looking at Dice with a complex expression. "Why did you help? I still can't quite fathom it."

Zuoqiu Yong was dead, and in this matter, at least, Dice had not played any tricks.

Dice chuckled, his tone remarkably candid. "I always side with the winner."

Faced with such brazen honesty, Li Huowang found himself speechless.

"You can have one. Consider it your payment. Next time you have information, don't wait until the very last second to share it."

"Yes, yes, Lord Jizai is absolutely right," Dice replied, heading off to pick his prize.

Li Huowang looked at the remaining fifteen veins with a troubled heart. There were plenty, but not enough to go around, especially since Great Qi currently possessed none.

Furthermore, they could not take all the veins from Tianchen; there were innocent people there, too. If they stripped the land bare, the people of Tianchen would suffer the same fate the people of Great Qi had endured.

As he pondered this, the sky above him darkened. He looked up to see the tower of heads, wrapped in a dense thicket of tentacles.

It was Li Sui—his daughter.

"Sui Sui, we won," Li Huowang said, smiling at her.

"Yes, we won," Li Sui repeated, echoing his words.

Just then, Bai Lingmiao walked over and leaned gently against Li Huowang.

At that moment, one of Li Sui’s tentacles reached out and slipped into Bai Lingmiao’s ear.

Bai Lingmiao froze for a second, then gave a soft nod and walked toward the White Lotus hall.

"Why did you send her away? Do you have something to say to me?"

Seeing the faces embedded in Li Sui’s form, Li Huowang turned his gaze back to the dragon veins.

"Right, look at these. Since you’re part of the Directorate of Celestials, help me figure out how to distribute these across the three layers of history."

"How many veins does Daliang have now? Is there still time? Do we need to restore the count to eleven?"

"Tell me, how many do you think are the bare minimum to sustain a single layer of history?"

Thud. The tower of tentacles slammed down in front of Li Huowang.

"Father, looking at me like this... is there nothing you want to ask?"

Li Huowang’s heart trembled. He looked at the faces on Li Sui’s body and opened his mouth, but he didn't know where to begin.

Father and daughter stared at one another, neither speaking.

It was Xuanpin who finally broke the silence. "Even if I don't say it, I believe you have already guessed."

"Let's talk later. Shangjing is in ruins; this is no time for idle chatter."

Li Huowang turned to leave, but a single sentence from behind him brought him to a halt.

"Father, I fear that for a very long time now, I have no longer been your Li Sui."