The Monster

The Renxiao conducting the ritual in the distance spotted Li Huowang. With a swift roll, it hurled two black banners, planting them on either side of him. Then it drove the black-qi-shrouded peachwood sword hard into the ground.

The black qi on the sword surged instantly into the earth. A circular talisman, formed from some kind of esoteric script, rapidly materialized with Li Huowang at its center.

Seeing this, Li Huowang knew he couldn't wait to be taken. He immediately tried to leap out of the circle’s range.

But at that very moment, as the Renxiao formed a hand seal, the two triangular black banners beside him shot up. With lightning speed, they pierced straight through Li Huowang’s feet, nailing him to the spot.

His legs were now as if welded to the ground. No matter what he did, he could not move a muscle.

The black banners seemed to possess a power that even sealed off the very place he could shift to.

Seeing Li Huowang trapped, the Renxiao’s morale soared. All kinds of talismans, sticky rice, and copper coins flew through the air toward him.

Though Li Huowang swung his sword to parry, his body, which had only just begun to heal, was steadily being torn apart.

Clang. A fire striker made of flint appeared in Li Huowang’s hand. His face twisted with ferocity, he brought it toward his own skin.

This should have been Tuoba Danqing’s job. For him to be forced to act meant this was no small matter, and Li Huowang’s current predicament was almost inevitable.

Sacrificing the skin of his entire body to Bashe in exchange for power was an excruciating process. But before coming, he had already steeled himself for a fight to the death.

However, the lead Daoist Renxiao at the front seemed to see what Li Huowang was about to do. It quickly took the black horsetail whisk from around its neck, made a hand seal, and rapidly wrote a few characters on it.

The normally soft strands instantly transformed into the shape of a Guan Dao, flying straight toward Li Huowang.

Just as Li Huowang set his own palm alight, the Guan Dao arrived, cleaving his flame-wreathed left hand clean off.

A string of more obscure chanting followed. The Guan Dao, formed from the whisk, carried Li Huowang’s severed hand and flew swiftly back, returning to the Renxiao’s grasp.

Seeing the fire striker on the severed arm, the Renxiao’s hideous mouth split into a grin. It gave a vicious laugh, kicked off the ground, and leaped high, raising the Guan Dao to cleave Li Huowang’s head.

A few purple talismans drifted in from behind, plastering themselves onto the black Guan Dao. A dense black qi instantly appeared, and in a flash, the arm-length blade took on the crushing weight of Mount Tai.

Li Huowang didn’t know if he could withstand it, but he had to try. With a look of grim determination, he raised the copper coin sword.

Just as the blade was about to fall, a fragmented voice echoed in Li Huowang’s mind. “What in the hell are you saying?!”

But seeing the Guan Dao hurtling toward him, Li Huowang roared. He steeled his heart, gripping the copper coin sword with both hands. His impending doom and the searing pain made him look utterly crazed.

“BREAK APART!”

With a furious surge of force from his single arm, his expression wild, he ended up in the same state as the Jin Shan Zhao beside him.

Then, from the torn stump, countless black tentacles, slicked with crimson blood, shot forth. A dense mass of these appendages pushed off the ground, shoving Li Huowang’s upper body clear of the Guan Dao’s trajectory.

The Guan Dao sliced through the lower half of Li Huowang’s body he’d left behind, smashing heavily into the ground.

A deafening BOOM shook the entire cavern. Stalactites rained down from above as black qi spread across the floor, corrupting everything it touched.

Fortunately, Li Huowang had dodged. If he hadn’t, that single blow would have been the end.

His strike having missed, the Daoist Renxiao clambered up from the ground, its whisk now nearly bald. Its expression was one of pure rage as it stared at the enemy who had evaded its attack in such a grotesquely unnatural way.

The man was now nothing but a torso. From the gaping wound at the bottom, a tangle of twisted tentacles, slick with mucus and studded with suckers, had emerged. They acted like the legs of a stool, propping him upright.

His body had a hole that large in it, yet it only bled. Not a single piece of his heart or liver fell out.

Staring at this horrifying creature—half-man, half-octopus—the Renxiao finally understood it had found a real tough nut to crack.

It snatched the peachwood sword from the disciple beside it, performed a flourish, and stabbed it into the ground, flicking a black talisman onto the tip of the blade.

On one side stood Li Huowang, a raving madman—half human, half tentacle—clutching a red-string copper coin sword.

On the other stood the Daoist Renxiao—limbs contorted, fingernails impossibly long, holding a black-talisman peachwood sword.

This horrifying tableau sent a chill straight through the skulls of the surviving old folks. “This… this… what the hell is this?…”

Li Huowang’s bloodshot eyes were fixed on the Daoist Renxiao before him. He could see it now: whether it was the stolen infants or the horde of Renxiao, the entire affair was instigated by this one.

Only by eliminating this Renxiao could the matter be truly resolved.

“Go!” The Black Tai Sui beneath Li Huowang instantly moved. It rapidly pumped its tentacles, propelling him forward, charging straight at the Daoist Renxiao.

The Daoist Renxiao, unflustered, led its kin in a counter-charge toward Li Huowang.

In a situation where one slip meant death, the Black Tai Sui seemed to have no other ideas. It and Li Huowang were in the same boat now. If Li Huowang died, it wouldn’t survive either.

“Om! Sacred! Load! Fierce! Light! Seize!”

As Li Huowang chanted, the red-string copper coin sword in his hand instantly transformed into a long whip. It lashed out preemptively at the Daoist Renxiao, winding itself around its peachwood sword.

As soon as the copper coin sword touched the peachwood sword, it was as if they repelled each other. A constant crackling sound erupted from the point of contact.

Seeing the enemy’s weapon was bound, Li Huowang immediately tossed the copper coin sword aside. He drew the Purple-Tasseled Sword from his back and sliced it fiercely toward his own abdomen. The large patch of newly grown skin and flesh was once again peeled away.

That piece of skin, complete with its navel, swelled rapidly in the air. It became like a fleshy hood, hurtling toward the group of Renxiao.

The Daoist Renxiao, as if knowing Li Huowang’s weakness, bellowed those filthy, chaotic words. The other Renxiao immediately abandoned their leader and swarmed toward Li Huowang.

A single pair of hands could not fight four. Once the man was surrounded, everything else would be simple.

A Daoist sword, its hilt bearing a Taiji symbol, whistled through the air, stabbing toward Li Huowang. But he did not dodge or avoid, simply charging straight into it.

Shhhh~! The sharp tip of the sword pierced Li Huowang’s head, emerging from the back of his skull.

But there was no blood on the blade. Li Huowang’s body was an illusion. His true, hidden form was ten feet away.