Chapter 995: War

Chapter 995: Battle

"Lei?" The moment he heard that voice, Li Huowang felt his scalp crawl, and he flashed to the left with blinding speed.

The next instant, the entire dim, iridescent black sky surged outward. Within the darkness appeared a square, mottled patch of dull platinum, and a gaze, almost tangible, shot directly toward Li Huowang.

The sensation was profoundly bizarre; amidst the firmament, Li Huowang perceived colors spilling from the platinum that defied his very understanding.

Even the mere peripheral light of that gaze forced his eyes to be stained by that hue against his will.

As his eyeballs began to transmute into that color, the iridescent blackness began to ooze incessantly from his eye sockets.

Feeling the anomaly in his own eyes, a sign that his vision was under attack, Li Huowang’s expression twisted into a snarl. He clawed at his own eyes with a single hand, ready to gouge them out.

Just as his fingers were about to tear his eyeballs free, Yi Donglai’s hand clamped down, desperately restraining him. "Xiao Li!

You cannot gouge them! You only have this last pair of eyes left! If you tear these out, you will be truly blind forever!"

"Get lost! If you aren't going to help, don't get in my way! If I don't gouge them out, he will influence me!" Li Huowang shoved him aside and raised his hand once more toward his eyes.

At that critical juncture, a peculiar gaze emanated from the far distance, and Li Huowang’s flesh blossomed like a lotus.

The pain forced him to stop; he could feel his eyeballs cracking from within, and the black fluid ceased its overflow.

As he felt his remaining four senses begin to merge into a singular, unified perception, Li Huowang understood who had arrived. It was the God of Pain, Ba Hui—and not just her; there were other, equally distinct presences surrounding him.

"You’ve finally come! Strike now!" Li Huowang screamed at the top of his lungs into the torrential rain, shouting toward the dark clouds on the left.

Following his perception, the interconnected Gods, like a floating mountain, slammed violently into that patch of blackness.

With a hiss like searing iron plunged into hot oil, the darkness began to boil.

An explosion followed, sending a wave of heat across the sky. When the blast hit Li Huowang, the sheer force stripped a layer of skin from his body.

Seeing the black firmament shatter above, revealing a profound, bottomless void, Li Huowang did not hesitate. He kicked off the air, following the path of the other Gods as he charged toward the breach.

Since they were already engaging the God of Fusheng Heaven, he could not afford to lag behind.

Just as Li Huowang was about to dive into the void, a twisted, gargantuan tree—formed from what looked like a rotting rainbow—erupted from the hole.

The sharp, barbed crown of the tree impaled Li Huowang’s chest, dragging him straight down toward the earth.

The twisted tree grew with terrifying speed, driving Li Huowang deeper as it elongated.

Impaled, Li Huowang struggled frantically, yet his body seemed fused to the tree, unable to move a single inch.

At that moment, he felt a flicker of light behind him. He twisted his head to look downward and saw a slab of white jade floating in mid-air: the Gate of Yak.

In that fleeting instant, the giant tree acted like a massive claw, piercing through the Gate of Yak and plunging into the clouds below.

The tree grew with such velocity that it had soon passed far beyond the Gate, but Li Huowang’s unified senses heard the sound of jade shattering from above.

As he saw shards of jade, large and small, falling alongside him, his heart sank. It had shattered—the Gate of Yak, the bridge between White Jade Capital and the mortal realm, had actually broken!

With a thunderous crash, the tree from the Gate slammed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

Yet this was not the end; it was merely the beginning. The tree, thick at the top and tapering toward the bottom, began to sprout twisted branches that spread in every direction, as if to consume the entire world.

As it grew, it formed a massive pillar connecting heaven and earth, resembling both a mushroom and a giant umbrella.

With a roar, the base of the pillar exploded, and Li Huowang, his body wreathed in flames and draped in a tattered red Taoist robe, stepped out from the wreckage.

Floating in the air, his face etched with fury, he glared at the culprit who had destroyed the Gate of Yak.

With the Gate gone, Li Huowang could clearly feel the influence of the Heavenly Dao spiraling out of control. Natural disasters were already ravaging the mortal world, but the influence was so chaotic that he couldn't even distinguish how many types of calamities were unfolding at once!

"It’s because of you! It’s all because of you!" Li Huowang’s expression grew more savage. At that moment, a fragment of jade the size of an island plummeted toward his head.

Just as the massive jade struck, Li Huowang reached upward. His five flaming fingers gripped a corner of the slab and swung it with all his might, transforming the island-sized shard of the Gate of Yak into a giant axe, sixty fathoms long.

Li Huowang could not wield such a weight alone, but he had a way. He extended his left hand, grasping into the void to his left.

His hand passed through Daliang, through Qingqiu, and finally through the earth, seizing the Lion Dance Palace buried deep underground. "Your time has come! Help me!"

At his roar, the white tassels of the Lion Dance Palace surged over his body. His mangled organs twisted and distorted, and deformed, hyper-proliferating flesh began to swell.

As his body became a grotesque, twisted mass with no front or back, he merged completely with the Lion Dance Palace.

A bloated, monstrous entity, Li Huowang let out an incoherent howl as he swung the giant axe, hacking at the ever-spreading pillar.

The world trembled as a massive gash appeared on the celestial tree. With another surge of strength, Li Huowang severed the pillar.

But before he could rejoice, the pillar dropped a section, and the upper trunk slid down, instantly replacing the part he had just cut away.

The bloated, deformed Li Huowang hacked away, but no matter how many times he struck, the pillar simply descended, entirely unaffected.

Just then, as the air grew scorching hot, a chaotic head—reaching from heaven to earth—roared as it lunged toward them. Gao Zhijian had summoned the Head of Generals and Ministers!

The bloated Li Huowang lunged toward the earth-shaking head. As they collided, the white tassels on his back shivered, and the two began to fuse.

The dragon aura and the baleful energy within Li Huowang merged. Wrapped in a shroud of malice, he gripped the giant axe. As the chaotic head melded with him, he let out a heaven-piercing roar and charged at the pillar with murderous intent.

In the torrential rain, Yi Donglai stood frozen, watching the man—glowing red, veins bulging, his body twisted and mouth pulled into a grotesque snarl—as he swung his blood-stained saber, hacking and dancing wildly in the downpour.

The scene was absurd and macabre, as if Li Huowang were performing some bizarre, ritualistic dance amidst the storm.