It Moved

The massive armored horse leaped over the corpses, carrying its master as it charged straight at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang dodged by the narrowest of margins. The moment he turned back, sword raised, Peng Longteng had already lifted her heavy halberd and brought it down toward his face.

The whistling wind pressure blasted Li Huowang’s hair backward.

With that kind of weight behind it, Li Huowang didn’t dare try to block with his own weapon. Even if he could catch it, the impact would pulp his body.

No sooner had he dodged than the enormous halberd swept sideways with a flick of her wrist, chasing after him.

Suddenly a tall figure surged in from the side—Gao Zhijian. Roaring, he lifted his spiked club and smashed it toward the halberd.

Clang. The dull ring reverberated. The halberd was knocked slightly off course.

But the halberd hooked, and with a single motion, the sturdy Gao Zhijian was sent flying.

Ring~ ring~ ring~! The bell sounded again. The Wandering Lord descended from the sky, flying straight at Peng Longteng.

Yet just as its line-formed hands were about to touch her, the entity pivoted and shot away again. Faced with the killing intent radiating from Peng Longteng’s full armor, the Wandering Lord didn’t even dare graze her.

Li Huowang shot a quick glance back. He saw a gash on Gao Zhijian’s right arm—so deep the bone was visible—pouring blood onto the ground.

“I’ll hold this woman off! You all go! She wants me!”

But no one listened. Everyone stood firmly behind Li Huowang.

The clop-clop of hooves sounded again as Peng Longteng paced her horse in a short circle, reining it back and forth. Through her visor, she saw this and a mockingly amused grin spread across her savage face.

“Little brat. Seems these people value you a lot. How about this—you and me, one-on-one. If you can beat me, I’ll let you and your people go. How’s that?”

Without waiting for his answer, she yanked the reins and charged again, bearing down like a low mountain.

Staring at the oncoming Peng Longteng, Li Huowang threw himself hard to the left.

No. I have to unhorse her. I can’t fight from a disadvantage like this.

He dropped into a quick backbend, dodging the sweeping halberd. As they crossed paths, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and swung his sword at the horse’s hind leg.

He could swear he saw—maybe it was his eyes playing tricks—but the horse’s body seemed to have eyes watching him too. The vein-bulging leg moved as if it had precognition: it pulled back first, then kicked out.

Li Huowang was launched into the air and crashed through a low earthen house beside them.

When he staggered back out, Peng Longteng laughed. “Not bad. Looks like this Siqi spy of yours actually has some skill. Come on, let’s go again.”

Li Huowang spat several mouthfuls of blood onto the ground. This woman was far above him in martial skill; he was being crushed. If he didn’t get ruthless, he wasn’t getting out of here alive today.

Rustle. The bamboo slips spread across the ground. Li Huowang steeled himself and placed his left hand on top. Then he pulled a dagger from the pile of torture implements and aimed it at his wrist.

Peng Longteng’s expression tightened. She gave a slight tilt of her chin.

The next instant, a black shadow shot straight at Li Huowang’s face.

He twisted his head to dodge, but it had only been a distraction. With a wet thud, a black iron spear pierced clean through his palm, pinning his hand to the ground.

Peng Longteng rode slowly up to him, dragging the tip of her halberd across the dirt. With a sweep, she flicked the spread Thousand Greats Record onto a rooftop nearby.

“Didn’t expect a spy like you to be mixed up with those rabid Ao-Jing lunatics.”

“Is this what you call ‘one-on-one’?” Li Huowang ground out through clenched teeth.

“Heh. Kid, you actually believed that?” She chuckled. “Let me teach you the first rule of military strategy: all’s fair in war. Whatever works, there’s no reason not to use it—like right now, for instance.”

“Let me teach you another one: feint east, strike west. Come on, boys! Go kill those performers.”

“And don’t kill them fast. Drag it out. Make them scream as loud as possible. Let this brat’s mind be everywhere but here—can’t look after his head and his tail.”

The words made the veins bulge on Li Huowang’s forehead, a fire of rage kindling in his chest. “You—”

Before he could finish, Peng Longteng lifted her sword and smashed the flat of it across his face.

I can’t die! If I die, who knows what these people will do to Bai Lingmiao and the others!

He tried to dodge, but his body was pinned by the iron spear. He couldn’t move.

He could only watch as the halberd hurtled closer and closer to his face.

“Move! Move! MOVE!”

In his roar, the halberd slammed into Li Huowang’s skull.

But then—it slid right back out, striking the ground.

His head, which should have been utterly crushed, showed not a single scratch.

Suddenly, Li Huowang felt he could move again.

Forgetting everything else, he drew his sword in a flash, stomped hard on the horse’s body, and thrust the blade straight at Peng Longteng’s visor.

She raised her halberd to counter, but now she was only hacking wildly at Li Huowang’s left side.

Clang! A crisp ring. The military sword that had never failed him before couldn’t pierce her faceplate!

A flash of insight. Without hesitation, Li Huowang pulled out the True Sutra of the Fire Vestments and slapped it over her face.

He gazed down at Peng Longteng with pity as he chanted the unfamiliar incantation.

The wax on the book melted, fire dripping through the gaps in her visor, seeking out the wounds that needed healing.

A sizzling sshhh sound rose. Peng Longteng cursed. “Fuck! It’s going into my eyes!”

She flipped open her visor in a hurry and clawed at her own face.

But Li Huowang’s sword followed her hand in.

Sensing the danger, Peng Longteng jerked her chin up hard and swung her halberd again at the space beside Li Huowang.

With her guard completely open, how could Li Huowang let the chance slip? He stomped on the horse’s head, drove his sword forward, and sent it home.

Thud.

Peng Longteng’s body went rigid. Her massive frame toppled off the horse.

“Captain! CAPTAIN!” Both the convict-soldiers and the short-swords went pale with terror, dropping everything to charge forward.

Li Huowang leaped off the horse’s back, snatched the Thousand Greats Record from the roof, and sprinted toward the supply cart.

“Go! Break out while they’re in chaos! That woman’s bones are too hard—I didn’t pierce clean through!”

Chun Xiaoman shook the bell and her head like a madwoman. Dozens of Wandering Lords descended from the sky, charging at anyone blocking their path.

With Peng Longteng down, the other convict-soldiers had no heart for the fight. Under the Wandering Lords’ cover, they made their escape.

But no one dared relax. Those convict-soldiers could catch up at any moment. Li Huowang stabbed the cart-horse’s rump, sending all the carts racing down the main road.

Then he led the others, grabbing only essential supplies, and sprinted into a side path. The hoofprints would confuse their pursuers’ direction.

They ran for a long time. Only when the others could run no further did Li Huowang let them rest at the base of a mountain slope, where several large boulders had tumbled down—just enough to conceal them.

He was surprised they’d actually gotten out.

What just happened? That woman was swinging madly at my left side, like she had a nerve condition. What’s there?

Li Huowang turned to look at his left. Nothing—only barren mountain rock.

“Li-shixiong! Li-shixiong! Where are you?!”

He felt a jolt of panic. Is Bai Lingmiao’s eyesight failing? She can’t see me right in front of her?

He stood and hurried toward her.

But the moment he moved, everyone flinched back in unison, recoiling.

Watching the direction of their terrified gazes, Li Huowang turned to his left again.

This time he saw it.

A figure in red, seen from behind. A back-of-the-head. Half of the body was outside a boulder, the other half stuck inside it—profoundly wrong.

Li Huowang instinctively grabbed his sword hilt and backpedaled to create distance.

But as he retreated, the figure retreated too, pulling itself out of the stone.

When he got a clear look at the clothes, and the bag of torture implements hanging at the waist, he suddenly understood.

That was his body.

Li Huowang looked down. Beneath him was nothing but empty air. He was like a camera hovering in space.

Stunned, he looked up again at the red figure in front of him. Words fell from his lips in a mutter.

“My god… it really moved…”