One of Us

Since what happened last night, Li Huowang's relationship with his hallucinations had changed.

In the past, nothing could threaten them except Li Huowang killing himself.

But it was different now. Li Huowang could Cultivate the False, letting them temporarily gain physical bodies.

They could not only be hit; if pushed too far, Li Huowang could even make them experience pain worse than death.

Seeing the Zuowandao hallucination had quieted down, Li Huowang looked at Li Sui. He reached up and tore a piece of dead skin from his scar, tossing it out the window.

Li Sui immediately let out a wang and leaped out the window after the dead skin. But when she excitedly returned with it in her mouth, she found Li Huowang was gone. On the table was a piece of paper.

"Guard the house well. It's dangerous outside. Don't wander off. I'll bring you something good to eat when I get back."

Li Huowang hadn't gone anywhere else. He found a secluded spot outside the city to Cultivate the False.

Having seen more on his journey, Li Huowang could now judge just how powerful this cultivation art was—one that only a Heart-Element could practice. It could wield a portion of the Heavenly Dao's power, which was extraordinary, placing it on the same level as the Siming.

He had to master this ability as soon as possible. Not just to resurrect Zhuge Yuan, but also for self-preservation.

However, Li Huowang didn't stay outside the city long. Once it got dark, he returned, because he had an appointment today—with that School of Diplomacy man named Dong Zhongshou.

In the night of Shangjing, a frowning Li Huowang sat in a purple sedan chair, looking out through a crack in its curtain.

The curfew hour had passed, and Shangjing was under lockdown. But besides his own sedan, there were many others on the empty main street.

The patrolling guards, however, seemed not to see them, marching in neat formation right past the chairs.

These sedan chairs were like wooden boats, drifting with the current in the darkness.

There seemed to be an unspoken understanding between the chairs, each keeping a great distance from the others. From afar, one could only see white or red lanterns bobbing up and down in the darkness—a tacit understanding tinged with an uncanny strangeness.

Dong Zhongshou had invited him. So who had invited all these others?

Li Huowang had initially thought he would arrive at the School of Diplomacy's residence quickly. Yet as his sedan crossed a high stone arch bridge, he spotted a half-sunken sedan floating on the dark river below. Wisps of red gradually seeped out from its collapsed form.

"What does that mean? Someone died? Killed by who?"

The thought had barely crossed his mind when, the next second, he understood what had happened to the sedan in the river.

Shluck! Three straight miao blades, piercing the thin sedan wall from three different directions, stabbed directly into Li Huowang's body and emerged from the other side.

Half an hour later, the riddled sedan chair slowly stopped at a mansion flanked by two stone lions guarding its gate. A servant wielding a lantern bent over and said respectfully to the sedan, "Sir, please alight."

One foot stepped down from the sedan, leaving a bloody footprint on the ground. Then another foot came down, its immense force nearly cracking the stone pavement.

With a flash of cold light, the stone lion beside the gate, along with an entire wall, was cleaved off.

As the high brick wall collapsed with a thunderous roar, Dong Zhongshou, who had been enjoying the moonlight with his wives and concubines in his arms, spotted that "Er Jiu."

"Ah, Er Military Counselor! Come, come! This lowly official has been waiting for you!"

Seated around low tables nearby were quite a few people. These, it seemed, were the "own people" he had mentioned before.

"The hell do you think you're doing!" As Li Huowang charged furiously toward Dong Zhongshou, brandishing his sword, two monks—one lean, one fat—blocked his path.

"Heheh, Er Military Counselor, calm down. Since you boasted so grandly before the Emperor, saying that killing was your job, we had to test your skills, didn't we?"

"Besides, those people truly weren't sent by me. The other princes have very good sources of information. They were all their men."

Seeing Li Huowang stop, Dong Zhongshou chuckled again and pointed a finger lightly at the table at the very end.

"Come, come, Er Military Counselor. That's your seat. Please, be seated. Let me introduce your other colleagues."

"This is the Prime Minister's son! Situ Bowen. As his father's most favored son, he has already begun assisting in the governance of world affairs. Although he holds no official post, his connections in the court are extensive."

The man referred to was a short, fat man with a bare chest, a flower tucked behind one ear. He didn't even look up, holding a woman in each arm as he sipped from a "Skin Cup."

"And this is the great calligrapher, Gongsun Yan. His disciples are found everywhere! His original Gongsun style of calligraphy is unparalleled in the world. Anyone who sees it will yield in respect."

An old man with pure white hair and beard trembled as he lifted his wine cup for a small sip. He glanced at the several swords on Li Huowang's back, a hint of displeasure in his eyes.

"And this is my junior disciple, also of the School of Diplomacy. A while back, the two of us worked together in a vertical-horizontal alliance, foiling the conspiracy between Third Prince and Princess Guangning."

The cleanshaven middle-aged man, hearing himself mentioned, immediately cupped his hands toward Dong Zhongshou but did not spare Li Huowang a single glance.

Listening as Dong Zhongshou finished introducing them one by one, Li Huowang silently assessed them in his mind.

After the introductions had gone full circle, Dong Zhongshou cleared his throat and spat gently to his left. A stunning young woman who had been kneeling there immediately opened her mouth to catch it.

By that point, Li Huowang had stopped listening to Dong Zhongshou's words. What he couldn't figure out was how Ji Lin had managed to hold on for so long with a bunch of useless trash like this.

"Come! We're all our own people now. Don't take it to heart, Er Military Counselor. I raise a glass to you!"

But everyone present saw Li Huowang sitting there like a statue, his wine cup untouched.

"I just want to ask one question. Where are the working people? The people who kill?" This remark drew low laughter from the courtyard.

"Er Military Counselor." Dong Zhongshou forced a smile onto his face. "Working people naturally have their own place. How could it be proper to put them together with those who plan and devise?"

"Of course, you're different, Er Military Counselor. You're the apple of His Majesty's eye, deeply favored by the Imperial Grace. Your future is certainly boundless."

"Too pathetic. Even after devouring the Spiritual Aberration, is this all it amounts to?" a voice muttered. "It seems Ji Lin never understood the situation. At this rate, he'll never become the Gu King..."

"Hm? What did you say, Er Military Counselor? Could you still be upset about earlier? Heheh, a manly man shouldn't be so petty. This lowly official has already apologized, haven't I?"

"Fine~! We are all His Majesty's men. I'll apologize to you again today." So saying, Dong Zhongshou raised his wine glass, drank it dry, and showed Li Huowang its empty bottom. "There. How about it?"

"I don't think any of you understand what's really going on here."

Clenching his jaw, Li Huowang let out a neurotic laugh. Then, with one hand pressing against his temples, he slammed the index finger of his other hand heavily onto the table.

The armored, towering figure of Peng Longteng materialized beside Dong Zhongshou. Before anyone could react, her iron-gloved hands had shot straight into his mouth.

Her left hand hooked his upper jaw, her right hooked his lower. Gathering her strength, she pulled.

Dong Zhongshou's frail body tore in half like a thin sheet of paper.