Chapter 961: Fight

Chapter 961: The Clash

Li Huowang lay prone in the bamboo grove, shielded by the brush, waiting for Qing Wanglai’s assistance.

Yet as the moments bled away, Li Huowang began to feel a searing pain in his hand, growing sharper with every passing second.

Yang Na, clutching the enemy’s firearm she had just seized, immediately noticed his distress and asked with concern, "Are you alright? Let me help you get out of here."

Li Huowang gritted his teeth and shook his head; as he flung his severed limb against the ground, the violent agony brought him a sudden, piercing clarity.

"No, I cannot trust them right now. Besides, if we fail this time, I fear even Baiyujing will be lost. Where else could we possibly flee?"

As he spoke, he leaned closer to her. "It is nothing, just pain. As long as you are here, I cannot die."

Catching the worry etched on Yang Na’s face, he added with a feigned lightness, "Do not fret. Once we slay the Si-ming of Fusheng Heaven, my hand shall return to me."

In truth, Li Huowang felt no such certainty; he had no idea which deity of Fusheng Heaven held the causality of his severed limb.

Hearing this, Yang Na’s heart leaped. "And your eyes? If we win it all, does that mean your eyes will return as well?"

Li Huowang froze, reaching up to touch his hollow, empty socket. "I do not know. Perhaps, I suppose."

"Yes! They will surely return!" Yang Na nodded firmly, a silent vow hardening in her heart: she would exhaust every means to reclaim the eyeball that represented chaos for him.

Suddenly, a fierce humming descended from above. Drones with flashing green signal lights streaked across the sky, drawing the attention of everyone present.

Seeing the three drones, Li Huowang’s heart jolted; he realized the Sanqing had finally begun their move.

He rolled rapidly through the bamboo, dialing his phone while guiding Yang Na toward the ground-floor window of the villa.

"I am moving! Have your people cover me! The Dao of Death is with me! The kills made by others do not count! Only those I slay matter!"

Gunfire erupted, and the drones above were quickly brought down, but Li Huowang had already reached the window of the villa.

Gripping his military knife with one hand, he smashed the hilt against the glass; hearing the shatter, he vaulted inside.

The interior was dark and filthy, seemingly unfinished. Listening to the gunfire overhead, Li Huowang tightened his grip on the blade and crept toward the roof via a ladder.

As his heart tightened, the pain in his body vanished, his nerves stretched to their absolute limit.

Just as he neared the attic, the distant wail of sirens reached his ears. "I must be quick. The rules are coming!"

He could not accept that, under the interference of two colossal rules, the conflict would end in such a fashion.

He quickened his pace. Reaching the attic, he found a window on the sloped roof; clearly, those two had climbed out that way.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, preparing to slip out and ambush the two Si-ming.

But as he raised his head, he saw a thread, nearly invisible, snap against his movement. "A trap!"

Before he could react, a gunshot rang out. A piece of Li Huowang’s skull was instantly shorn away, the sheer force of the impact sending him reeling backward.

Yang Na braced him from behind, preventing him from collapsing.

"I am fine! I... I am fine!" Blood streamed down his bangs, flooding his only remaining eye until everything he saw was a sea of crimson.

"No! They have been alerted! We must storm them!" Li Huowang tore off his jacket and hurled it through the opening.

As the sound of bullets shredding fabric subsided, he lunged with all his might toward the window.

Through the blood-red haze, he caught a fleeting silhouette and pounced without hesitation, driving his knife toward the throat.

Feeling a warm, viscous liquid soak the laces wrapped around his blade, his heart surged—he had cut through!

Having dispatched one, he immediately sought the second, but the roof was empty.

Suddenly, a wire whipped around his neck from behind, cinching tight and choking the breath from his lungs.

A gunshot rang out—not from the enemy, but from Yang Na’s weapon. As the shot echoed, Li Huowang felt the wire slacken.

Seeing both foes dead, he exhaled, tearing the wire—now embedded in his flesh—from his neck and collapsing to his knees in a fit of coughing.

"With them dead, the pressure below should ease significantly."

Thinking this, he leaned toward the edge of the roof. Seeing that Qing Wanglai and the others were no longer suppressed, he finally let out a long breath.

Though the sirens of the rules were closing in, at least the Si-ming of Fusheng Heaven would gain nothing today; their ambush had failed.

He bowed his head, wiping the blood from his eye with his arm, preparing to descend and assist.

Yet at that moment, a massive force struck him from behind, shoving him violently over the edge.

Suspended in mid-air, Li Huowang flailed until his fingers locked onto the gutter, preventing his fall.

"Nana, be careful! Do not show yourself! There is one more!" But as he spoke, a figure appeared before him: an old beggar wielding a dog-beating staff.

With a thud, the staff slammed into his right hand gripping the gutter, the sharp edge of the metal slicing his web of flesh into a mangled mess.

Seeing Li Huowang grit his teeth and refuse to let go, the old man tremblingly reached into his robes, as if to draw something else.

Li Huowang tried to haul himself up, but his hand was shattered, devoid of strength.

Just as all seemed lost, red flooded his lone eye once more. Li Sui, draped in red Daoist robes, stood between Li Huowang and the old beggar.

The sight made Li Huowang’s eyes widen in horror. "Sui Sui! What are you doing? Get away! Run!"

"The Si-tian Jian, received by Zhuanxu, commanded the Southern Rectifier to oversee the heavens and its spirits!" The red robes were cast aside, revealing the true form of the Xuanpin. "The Monitoring Bureau was established for this very day!"

All the heads began to chant in unison. "The ruler’s scale cannot be questioned; who is the true master is hard to discern. Some find refuge in the celestial gods, some create suffering in the mortal realm, some are possessed by spirits in the upright path!"

As two tiger-head seals were raised high, entwined by tentacles, a sky-piercing malevolence poured forth, enveloping Li Huowang.

Accompanied by the soul-shaking beat of war drums, the cries of the military strategists echoed from every direction, joining the Xuanpin. "Support our celestial commander’s sword, guard the four gates of the heavenly jade!"

Before anyone knew it, millions of soldiers, clad in armor and wielding blades, stepped into the territory of the Tianchen Kingdom, shrouded in a towering, murderous aura.