The Stomach Rupture

Chapter 307: The Stomach Rupture

Looking at the indifference in their eyes, Li Huowang let out a quiet sigh. Nothing he said now would work.

If he pushed any further at this point, blood would definitely be spilled. He didn’t want to shed the blood of Bai Lingmiao’s family.

Putting himself in her shoes, he understood what family meant to her.

With that thought, Li Huowang turned on his heel without another word, plunging back into the thick reeds to retrace his steps.

“Let’s see if that masked kid is still around. If he is, I need to find a way to keep him busy. Buy some time for the Bai family to retreat.”

But as he walked, the expression on Li Huowang’s face flickered with uncertainty.

Based on how long he’d been at it, he should have already cleared this dense reed marsh by now. Yet he couldn’t even see the edge of the reeds.

He immediately recalled what Bai Sai had said earlier—it was very easy to get lost in this marsh.

“What, am I trapped in here?” Li Huowang stopped abruptly, slowly rotating his body as he examined the identical scenery around him, trying to discern a difference.

Swish! A flash of cold light shot from the reeds. Li Huowang twisted out of the way.

But in the next moment, a burst of searing pain exploded in his lower back.

As the pain forced his mouth open, black, writhing tendrils extended from deep in his throat, trembling with agony.

Feeling the tentacles sweep across his mouth, Li Huowang’s heart lurched. “Shit! He injured my stomach!”

Before he could react, more flashes of cold light came from the reeds. Giant arrows, over two meters long, converged on him from all directions, drowning him in a volley.

When the arrows had stacked into a pile, Li Huowang slowly emerged from the wooden heap, one hand pressed against his bleeding abdomen.

As he looked at the silent reeds around him, all warmth had vanished from his eyes.

The sheer number of arrows told him the Bai family had stashed weapons here long before. This was probably their territory. Bai Sai hadn’t been honest with him earlier.

The color of Li Huowang’s body slowly bled into the ground beneath the reed marsh.

In his invisible state, he walked toward the edge step by step. “This time, I’m getting a clear answer out of Bai Lingmiao!”

He walked slowly. Finally, the area fell quiet, with no new disturbances.

After walking for about two hours, a panting Li Huowang stopped. He took his hand away from his abdomen, looking at the bloody, pulpy mess inside.

A worried thought crossed his mind. “The Black Tai Sui isn’t dead, just injured. That shouldn’t affect its ability to suppress the hallucinations, right?”

Just as he was thinking this, a slight tremor in his surroundings made his face drain of color.

When he saw that nothing around him had actually changed, he let out a relieved breath.

“Don’t do this to me. Falling into a hallucination right now would be the last thing I need.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a blurry shape burst from the ground, passing straight through his abdomen.

In the next instant, it felt as if his intestines had been ripped apart. Cold sweat poured down his face.

Another blurry Wandering Lord emerged from the ground, ready to repeat the trick. Li Huowang drew his sword in a flash and slashed. The Wandering Lord dissolved with a faint gust of wind.

The remaining Wandering Lords kept their distance, circling him like specters, waiting for an opening.

“What’s going on! I’m invisible! How are they finding me!”

His gaze dropped to the ground—and froze. Blood. Drops of blood on the ground had given away his position.

In that split second, as if sensing the weakness, all the Wandering Lords surged in at once.

Li Huowang sheathed his sword and drew the Coin Sword in a single motion. With a sharp incantation, the Coin Sword exploded, scattering coins into the bodies of the Wandering Lords, making them dissipate one by one.

“What do you people want?! Don’t forget, I saved your lives before!!”

A bitter frustration welled up in Li Huowang’s heart. He had done this much; why were they still treating him like this?

Just then, a mound of earth bulged beside him. The next second, a man raised a saber and swung it down at Li Huowang with one hand.

Li Huowang’s expression twisted with ferocity. He was done holding back. Even killing someone was better than dying himself.

But the moment his hand touched the torture instrument, he froze—when he saw the man’s face. This was Bai Lingmiao’s father.

“No!” Li Huowang raised his hand instinctively. In the next instant, half his palm was cleaved off.

Then, spears gleaming with cold light flew from the reeds. Like a tattered ragdoll, they pierced through his abdominal cavity and pinned him to the ground.

As he was pinned, the outcome seemed sealed. With wet chunks, his limbs were also pinned.

His entire body wracked with pain, Li Huowang looked at the utterly indifferent faces around him. He forced the words out. “Was this necessary? What did I even do to you?”

Hearing this, one of the Bai women said with disgust, “You have no idea how deep our hatred runs for the imperial dogs! Since you’re one of them, nothing we do to you is too much!”

Li Huowang swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva with difficulty. His mind was growing hazy. A bitter smile crossed his face.

“You’ve won now. Why not carry me back to Niuxin Village and ask Bai Lingmiao how she wants to deal with me? I am her husband after all.”

A murmur rippled through the crowd at these words.

Then Bai Lingmiao’s mother rushed to the front, her expression severe. “A marriage is decided by the parents! Who she marries is for us to say! We will never let our daughter marry an imperial dog!”

Bai Lingmiao’s father glanced at the miserable Li Huowang. He flicked the blood from his saber, tugged at his wife, and whispered something in her ear. He seemed to have a different idea.

Then he walked over, looking down at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang stared at his face. The more he looked, the more it reminded him of an orange. Despite the pain, he couldn’t help but laugh.

But as his laughter rang out, the man’s head really did begin to turn into a moldy, rotten orange in his own hand.

“An orange?”

In the next instant, a torrential downpour fell from the sky, stinging Li Huowang’s face.

Soaked by the rain, Li Huowang crouched dazedly next to a trash bin, shuddering as he clutched the rotten orange in his hands.

Like an electric shock, he leaped to his feet. The rotten orange fell into a puddle nearby, bobbing in the rain.

The next moment, he realized where he was. “Shit—the Black Tai Sui in my stomach was hit. The hallucination-suppressing effect is gone!”

Another thought followed. “But why am I on the street? Shouldn’t I be locked up in the psychiatric hospital? What the hell happened during this time??”

Stunned, Li Huowang looked down at his clothes: a filthy, oversized coat, waterlogged pants, a leather shoe with a hole on his left foot, and a single sock on his right.

His entire vagrant-madman getup was soaked through by the pouring rain.

Before he could figure this out, an overwhelming wave of hunger seized his consciousness, radiating from his abdomen.

He had never felt such hunger in his life—as if he hadn’t eaten in over ten days.

He immediately crouched by the puddle, picked up the moldy rotten orange, and stuffed it into his mouth, peel and all.

Just then, a car tire hit a puddle, splashing a wave of water all over him. He didn’t even flinch.

Shivering, curled up against the green public trash bin, Li Huowang swallowed mouthfuls of the moldy orange.