North Wind

Chapter 430: North Wind

"What? A Heart-Element named North Wind? Boss Hongzhong, what business do you have with him?" A Zuowandao dressed as an old beggar asked, a look of surprise on his face.

"Where is North Wind now?" Li Huowang's tone grew heavier. The Purple-Tasseled Sword in his hand was already pressed against the Zuowandao's neck.

Another Zuowandao, dressed as a pretty young wife, saw this and quickly tried to smooth things over. "Aiyah, we're all brothers here, why pull a knife? Boss Hongzhong, I know. North Wind and his crew should be at the East Gate of the Imperial City right now, planning to sneak in and see what the Great Liang Emperor is up to. And it's not just North Wind and his three; the other Three Yuans and Four Joys are mostly all there."

"The East Gate of the Imperial City." Li Huowang's grip on the sword tightened. With a slight flick of his wrist, the beggar Zuowandao's head was instantly separated from his body.

Li Huowang fixed his gaze on the last Zuowandao, enunciating each word slowly. "Now. Say it again. Where is North Wind?"

The pretty young wife stared at the fallen body, her eyes wide, the corners of her eyes glistening with tears. "Boss Hongzhong, why did you do that? We... we really didn't mean you any harm!"

Seeing her pitiful, tearful expression, Li Huowang was immediately filled with rage. He kicked her down, and the sharp edge of his blade slit open the skin of her chin from below, revealing the fleshy lan flower beneath, a twisted mass of facial features.

"Heh! A pai tile, huh? Fine! Let's see what tricks you Zuowandao can still play! I'll ask you one more time, where is North Wind?!" Li Huowang shouted through gritted teeth, his hands already strangling her neck.

"Boss North Wind and the others... they really did go to the East Gate... I really..." Gasping for breath, the lan woman spoke in fits and starts.

As Li Huowang's hands tightened, the lan woman began to struggle. But after a peak of resistance, her strength waned. Yet even so, she didn't change her story or beg for mercy.

At the moment of her death, she gently rubbed her lan head against the back of Li Huowang's hand, which was bulging with veins from the strain. The twisted face showed no trace of fear or despair, but rather a reluctant affection.

With her last shred of breath, she whispered, almost inaudibly, "The mountain has trees... and the trees have branches... My heart yearns for you... but you do not know..."

After saying this, Li Huowang felt her body go limp. The lan flower on her face also began to wither.

"Huff... huff... huff..." Li Huowang breathed heavily. Li Sui's tentacles curled around a piece of clothing from a nearby corpse and wiped the blood from Li Huowang's face.

"These Zuowandao are so damn annoying. Even on their deathbed, they have to mess with me. The act was so real, it even made me waver for a second!"

After catching his breath, Li Huowang stood up again. He was still only half-convinced by the tile-woman's words. But regardless of whether North Wind was at the East Gate, he decided to go check it out.

Things outside were getting more chaotic by the minute. He had to hurry. Neither North Wind being killed nor North Wind escaping was something he wanted to see.

Li Huowang bent down to pick up the face-skin from the ground, ready to stick it back onto his own face.

Just as he was about to do it, he stopped. "Wait. If I walk around wearing Er Jiu's face from now on... is that maybe not such a good idea?"

He looked around, then bent down again, picked up the pai tile-woman's face-skin, and pressed it onto his face like a facial mask.

Afterwards, he took some nails from his torture kit and hammered them around the edges to secure it. In an instant, Li Huowang's appearance was completely transformed into someone else's.

Since he was going to play a part, he might as well play it to the hilt. Li Huowang quickly burned his red Daoist robe and changed into the dead man's clothes.

Now with a completely new appearance, Li Huowang slung six swords, scavenged from other corpses, across his back, pushed open a wooden door in the wall...

After a quick check of his bearings, he leaped onto an ownerless horse by the roadside and spurred it at full gallop toward the Imperial City gate. "The Imperial City... if it's where the Great Liang Emperor lives, it should be the most tightly guarded place in all of Liang, right..."

Along the way, to be sure the information was correct, he deliberately grabbed two other Zuowandao. One wouldn't talk, the other also said it was at the Imperial City's East Gate.

Just as he was about to reach the Imperial City, Li Huowang leaped onto a rooftop and peered into the distance toward the East Gate.

It looked like a fight had already broken out. Amidst the white, blinding snow, figures would crash together and tumble out of the air from time to time.

Li Huowang crawled forward, inching closer. Although the abilities and appearances of the combatants were bizarre, it was clear that those inside the palace were the Imperial Guard, while those outside were the Zuowandao.

The Zuowandao were all dressed differently and looked different, making it hard to tell who was who, and just as hard to tell if the Heart-Element, North Wind, was among them.

One Zuowandao tried to sit cross-legged and chant something, but an eerily accurate arrow nailed him right in the forehead.

Watching the stalemated battle scene, Li Huowang didn't side with anyone. He silently searched among the Zuowandao.

"Is that him? No... no..." Li Huowang recalled the files he'd checked earlier at the Supervisory Heavenly Office. This Heart-Element, North Wind, had the ability to swap bodies with others.

At this thought, Li Huowang's gaze shifted away from the Zuowandao and towards the Imperial Palace, sizing it up.

There, the Imperial Guard were putting up a fierce fight, with some people wearing green masks helping them on the defensive. Things looked normal enough.

As Li Huowang watched silently, the tightly shut Imperial City gate suddenly opened. An Imperial Guard wearing a helmet squeezed out and started waving frantically towards the outside.

Seeing an opening, the Zuowandao outside rushed in instantly. The battle situation fell into total chaos.

"Is it him? Is that the Heart-Element, North Wind?" Li Huowang's heart pounded. He stared intently at the Brocade Guard who had opened the gate in the distance.

As if sensing something, the Brocade Guard glanced back in Li Huowang's direction, then turned and walked back through the city gate.

With a whoosh, Li Huowang kicked up the snow around him. He immediately phased into invisibility and, stepping on the roof tiles, moved stealthily over.

By the time Li Huowang reached the East Gate of the Imperial City, the small-scale skirmish had apparently ended in a decisive victory for the Zuowandao. The bloodstained, half-open gate was the evidence.

The man suspected to be North Wind had definitely gone inside! Li Huowang quickened his pace and slipped through.

He wasn't the only one who noticed the commotion. People were occasionally darting inside, following the blood-covered path littered with corpses.

Whether they were Zuowandao or from the Supervisory Heavenly Office was impossible to tell.

Following behind them, Li Huowang quickly entered the palace. It was clearly vast and sprawling.

But Li Huowang didn't need a map. The bloodstains and the sporadic trail of bodies were enough to point the way.

Just like outside the palace, on the date-red walls, there were massive human face masks, each one man-sized. They seemed to be made of bronze, with green patina in spots.

With their square faces, hollow, wide-set eyes, triangular noses, and broad ears, these silent watchers gave the entire Great Liang Imperial Palace an atmosphere of profound solemnity.

As he walked on, the bloodstains and footprints grew sparser. A golden light shone from around a corner ahead.

When Li Huowang cautiously reached the turn, the sight before him left him utterly stunned.

Gold. A whole area covered in gleaming gold. The golden throne hall in the distance, the golden bricks on the ground, even the roof-ridge beasts, the hanging-beasts, the ridge-beasts on the rooftops—all of it was gold.