Blood

A single drop of blood splashed into Li Huowang's slightly open mouth, frozen by extreme shock. "Saltiness, rankness... and bitterness."

He didn't have time to taste more. The cold gleam of the halberd had already pierced Jin Shanzhao's body and was swinging toward his face.

The attack had been aimed at him all along. Jin Shanzhao was merely collateral.

Instinctively, Li Huowang shifted positions, moving his true body two inches to the left.

Boom! The halberd tore through Li Huowang's head and slammed into the ground behind him, shattering the earth into a web of cracks.

Unscathed, Li Huowang looked down at Jin Shanzhao on the ground, watching the smile fade from his face, replaced slowly by confusion.

Jin Shanzhao opened his mouth, as if to say something, some last instruction. But the light in his eyes dimmed rapidly.

Li Huowang stared at Jin Shanzhao's body, cut in two on the ground. His chest was tight. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Jin Shanzhao, who had just been planning to change their fortunes, was dead. Silently. Like a joke.

Clatter-clatter-clatter. The endless thunder of hooves rose in the distance. Li Huowang lifted his head to look, and the fire in his heart burned hotter and hotter.

When it reached its peak, he roared at the familiar faceplate. "PENG LONGTENG!!"

Leading over a hundred cavalry, Peng Longteng rode her personal ironclad warhorse slowly into the pass. She had been hiding for so long, but in the final moment, she had finally caught up.

Through the slit in her visor, her single eye found Li Huowang, completely unharmed. A cold smile spread across her tattooed face.

"Not bad, you've got some skills. I underestimated you before. But this time won't be the same," she said. "To have wounded me, you have some real ability. For that, I'll grant you a whole corpse. Hyah!"

The hundred iron cavalry roared as one, their thunderous charge carrying a momentum that felt like an avalanche, bearing down on the lone, outmatched Li Huowang.

Just as they reached the halfway point, Peng Longteng raised a finger and pointed directly at Li Huowang. "Loose!"

Every rider drew their bow simultaneously. A curtain of arrows arced directly toward Li Huowang's position.

Facing this absolute dead end, Li Huowang did not dodge. He planted his right foot, raised the Heavenly Scripture above his head, and charged directly at the iron cavalry.

This was open plains, the cavalry's home turf. Running was impossible. All that was left was a fight to the death.

Swoosh! An arrow shot from a cunning angle, piercing clean through Li Huowang's chest.

It made no difference. Once again, Li Huowang separated his real body from the phantom.

He was close now. Close enough to see their faces.

"It's a trick! The bastard must be nearby! Use the same method we used on that black-faced monk to smoke him out!"

With a crash, Li Huowang watched the entire column of cavalry scatter, circling around him in a gallop.

As they ran, the convict-soldiers kept firing arrows into the ground all around Li Huowang. They didn't miss a single spot. It was as if they wanted to fill the entire area with arrows, forcing him out.

Squelch. A sharp, barbed spike pierced straight through the center of Li Huowang's palm.

With a quick twist and a yank, accompanied by Li Huowang's agonized scream, the marrow was pulled from his forearm. It mixed with his blood as it splattered across the Thousand Greats Record.

The fast-galloping warhorses suddenly stumbled as if they had hit a hidden pit, their front legs folding in unison with their riders, crashing to the ground.

This triggered a chain reaction. In an instant, the charge collapsed into a tangle of men and horses. The rain of arrows was forced to stop.

Suddenly, the light above Li Huowang went dark. Peng Longteng was swinging her giant halberd down at him.

She wasn't aiming for him. She was aiming for the Thousand Greats Record in his hand.

Li Huowang rolled left, grabbing the Record out of the way. He made a snap decision—pushing off the armor plating of a fallen horse, he lunged with his sword, driving it straight at the slit in Peng Longteng's visor.

He planned to do it again, just like before.

Ding! Metal struck metal with a crisp sound.

But this time, Peng Longteng didn't attack Li Huowang's body. She used one hand to swing her halberd in a wide, horizontal sweep.

A whistling sound filled the air as everything around Peng Longteng was caught in her attack range.

Li Huowang, still in mid-air, strained to arch his body backward, barely, impossibly dodging the blow.

In the next instant, Peng Longteng seemed to sense his position. She kicked out with her right foot, catching Li Huowang square in the stomach.

Spitting blood, Li Huowang was sent flying into a mud-walled house by the roadside. The force collapsed the dilapidated structure, sending up a cloud of dust.

Peng Longteng's steed slowed to a walk as she circled forward cautiously. When the dust settled, she was surprised to find no sign of Li Huowang inside.

"An earth-escape technique?" The thought had barely crossed her mind when her long years of battlefield instinct screamed a warning of extreme danger. She rolled sideways, dismounting in a flash.

The next moment, the belly of her warhorse split open without any warning.

Only then, as the horse fell into two halves just like Jin Shanzhao had, did Li Huowang's blood-soaked phantom form emerge from underground, languidly.

In that moment, Li Huowang had discovered a new use for his ability. By shifting the position of his phantom downward, burying it in the earth, his body standing above was rendered invisible.

This might be the key to defeating Peng Longteng.

As Li Huowang landed heavily, sword in hand, the blood-wrapped body beneath him sank back underground.

Watching Peng Longteng, who had already dismounted, Li Huowang circled toward her, invisible, sword ready.

But just as he was about to reach her, Peng Longteng strode forward, grabbed one of the convict-soldiers, and hauled him off his horse, climbing back into the saddle.

A cold laugh echoed from behind her faceplate. "Kid, don't think some cheap tricks make you untouchable. Those parlor games aren't foolproof. The military arts are far more useful than your nonsense. Take the 'feint to the east, attack to the west' ploy, for example!"

With that, Peng Longteng pulled on her reins and led the remaining convict-soldiers galloping toward the distance.

Li Huowang froze for a second, then a violent shudder ran through his entire body. The direction they were heading—it was where Bai Lingmiao and the others were!

Li Huowang immediately turned to rush after them, but a man on foot can't outrun a horse. He hadn't even gotten close before the cavalry had already arrived.

Hearing the distant screams of women, Li Huowang hurriedly unfurled the Thousand Greats Record.

A bone-piercing pain was answered by the sound of men and horses tumbling in the distance.

A sharp bone spur burst from his swollen finger, spinning as it flew in that direction.

Then, Li Huowang tore open his clothes. He grabbed the edges of a wound on his body, his face a mask of bulging veins. With a furious roar...

A lump of bloody, mangled flesh was slammed heavily onto the Thousand Greats Record.