Manifestation

As the sharp blade cut through the air, a whistling sound immediately rose above Li Huowang’s head.

Seeing the ragged robe, covered in blades and descending like a blood-stained hatchet toward his skull, Li Huowang sliced off two of his own fingers and flung them outward.

The instant the severed fingers knocked the robe aside, Li Huowang surged toward the purple-lipped woman—but Hong Da’s familiar face blocked his path, and the tattered robe from above settled steadily onto his shoulders.

Even though Hong Da couldn’t see Li Huowang’s form, he seemed to have some method of detecting someone nearby. “Who’s there?! Get out here!”

Li Huowang had no desire to waste time tangling with Hong Da. He ripped off his face and slapped it directly over Hong Da’s.

But before it could land, the distant Daoist swept his Judge’s Brush in a light arc. The face split cleanly in two. Then, with a single hand seal, the invisible Li Huowang was forced back into view.

When he saw the woman chop the thing from his shadow into four pieces and then free her hand, raising the Marrow Sword to strike at him, Li Huowang immediately drew his dagger, slashed open his own chest, grabbed the lowest two ribs, snapped them off, and drove them hard into his breastbone.

At the center of the blast, everyone around him—including the woman—bent over simultaneously, groaning in pain. Her attack was interrupted.

The same wave of agony struck them all, but Li Huowang, battle-hardened by countless such exchanges, adapted faster than the others. While they were still clutching their chests, he pushed through Hong Da’s obstruction and reached the purple-lipped woman.

As the Chief Recorder of the Supervisory Heavenly Office—a position tasked with preventing Heavenly Calamities—Li Huowang didn’t want her life. He only wanted the remains of Zhuge Yuan she held. He tightened his grip on the dagger and swung it hard at the slender fingers gripping the sword.

Clang!

With a metallic ring, Li Huowang’s dagger snapped in two.

Then, a thumb-sized golden Buddha, identical in appearance to the woman, crawled out of her sleeve and began wailing mournfully at Li Huowang.

It was that tiny figure that had used its gleaming golden head to shatter Li Huowang’s weapon.

Are you kidding me! This woman is actually a Buddhist disciple! Li Huowang cursed inwardly, but his hand shot toward the purple-tasseled sword hilt, ready to draw it.

But when a rust-covered long blade appeared at his side, Li Huowang was forced to stop. He quickly wiped his hand across the sword’s tassel, changing the purple tassel to black and hanging a few mahjong tiles from it.

No good. Hong Da has seen my sword. If I draw it, he’ll recognize me.

Shifting position rapidly to dodge Hong Da’s attack, Li Huowang prepared to end the fight quickly—only to realize that the woman’s body was now completely covered in those thumb-sized golden Buddhas.

The Buddhas wept and laughed, writhing across her face like a swarm of golden maggots, and at last, they barely managed to form a man’s expression.

Staring at Li Huowang, the thumb-sized Buddhas spoke in unison: “Amitabha. Lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha on the spot!”

The moment those words reached him, a strange impulse surged in Li Huowang’s heart—a desire to drop every weapon he carried and surrender.

But just as a dazed Li Huowang began to unbuckle the two swords at his back, his hands spun, seized the ribs still embedded in his chest, wrenched them out, and drove them back in again with brutal force.

The searing pain instantly cleared Li Huowang’s mind—and flipped the situation on its head.

“Aghhh!” Li Huowang ripped the ribs out again and jammed them back into his chest, charging headlong toward the woman doubled over in agony.

In the process, he pulled out the ribs and drove them back in three full cycles. Except for Li Huowang himself, everyone else could only clutch their chests and collapse to the ground in screams.

Transformed into a frenzy by the excruciating pain, Li Huowang lifted his right foot and stamped down hard on the woman’s sword-wielding wrist.

The golden Buddhas on her arm raised their hands to support the blow—but then Li Huowang twisted the ribs sharply, and the Buddhas around her wrist fell into chaotic disarray.

As his sole slammed down with tremendous force, the little golden figures were crushed into her flesh.

Her wrist so badly damaged, the woman could no longer hold the Marrow Sword. Her five fingers went slack.

Li Huowang hooked the sword with his foot and lifted it. When he grasped the hilt—still carrying a lingering warmth—a deep calm settled over him. This was Zhuge Yuan’s bone.

With the prize in hand, Li Huowang prepared to withdraw without further hesitation.

But at that moment, four palm-sized triangular apricot-yellow banners flew out of the treeline and struck the four corners of Li Huowang’s shadow on the ground.

Instantly, his feet seemed glued to the earth. He couldn’t move an inch.

Turning his head, he saw that the Supervisory Heavenly Office agents who had been surrounding the Dharma Sect had all returned.

And the Dharma Sect, taking advantage of his perfect distraction, had already vanished without a trace.

What now? Li Huowang’s expression darkened as he studied their faces. Am I really going to have to go all out?

If he truly exerted his full strength, Hong Da would certainly recognize him. And if that happened, to protect the secret of his identity, he’d have to kill every single one of them.

To be honest, Li Huowang genuinely didn’t want to do that. These Office agents hadn’t done anything wrong—they were just diligently hunting down a cult.

This wasn’t a life-or-death moment yet. He could try another approach first.

As Li Huowang’s belly expanded and contracted in a steady rhythm, a hoarse, grating voice emerged from his abdomen. “Back off now, before I lose my temper. Everything just now was just me playing with you lot.”

But Li Huowang’s bluff didn’t frighten the five Office agents in the slightest. Two of them, dressed as ascetic monks, somersaulted over his head and spread a net soaked in filthy blood across the area above him, sealing off his escape.

Then the Daoist, holding his Judge’s Brush aloft with both hands, gritted his teeth and strained forward, aiming the brush tip at Li Huowang’s body. His temples visibly grayed from black to white.

Just as the color was about to be smeared off Li Huowang’s body onto the brush tip, he clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. A towering, headless figure suddenly appeared before him—Peng Longteng, the convict-soldier general of Siqi!

“Watch out!! He really does have reinforcements!”

At the abrupt appearance of the headless female general, the Office agents tightened their grips on their weapons, their expressions turning deadly serious, as if facing a major threat.

But none of their reactions compared to the Daoist holding the Judge’s Brush.

His mouth hung wide open. He stared at Peng Longteng in utter shock.

“How is this possible! That’s Zhuge Yuan’s Kui Star Brush! How can this man still be standing!”