The Assassination

Standing at the entrance of the meditation chamber, the old eunuch listened to the palace maid’s report, then gave a slight nod.

“I see. You wait here. I shall report to the Empress Dowager first.” He cracked open the chamber door and slipped inside.

After a moment, he emerged with two neatly dressed, handsome monks. “Mm, carry her in. Her Majesty is waiting.”

“Father, what are they doing?”

Li Sui’s question left Li Huowang speechless. Beneath the gaze of such an immense bodhisattva above their heads, to still brazenly conduct such acts—did they not harbor even a shred of reverence in their hearts?

In the end, Li Huowang did not explain anything to Li Sui. He slowly felt his way forward.

When he crept along the beam and entered the room, Li Huowang witnessed a scene of debauchery more depraved than anything he had seen at Zhengde Temple. The corners of his eyes twitched.

And he had actually thought earlier that she might be feeling shame for moving against her own son. How could a woman this depraved possibly have even a shred of shame left in her heart?

After scanning the room, Li Huowang kicked off the wall with both feet, leaped, and dove toward the large bed.

Fearing that the Empress Dowager in the pile of people might escape, Li Huowang, midair, did not hesitate. He tore out his own left eye and crushed it in his hand.

A strange light instantly enveloped everything on the bed, freezing everyone’s movements. The next moment, Li Huowang raised his spine-blade and slashed downward with all his might.

Just as the fracture in Great Qi’s history was about to tear the Empress Dowager of Great Liang in two, the entire bed suddenly slid a full zhang to the left, narrowly evading Li Huowang’s attack.

Opportunity was fleeting. How could Li Huowang let it go? He opened his mouth and spat a volley of molars, tumbling toward the Empress Dowager.

But a figure emerged from the shadows, standing before the Empress Dowager. Swinging a sleeve of white silk, it blocked the molars. At that same moment, one of Li Huowang’s severed hands pierced straight through the figure’s abdomen and stabbed into the Empress Dowager’s chest.

Watching the Empress Dowager’s gaze dim as blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, Li Huowang did not hesitate. He charged toward the door. “Let’s go! Kill the Eldest Princess!”

Li Sui’s tentacles shot out from Li Huowang’s stump, stretching far and long to snatch the severed hand he had thrown, then reattached it to Li Huowang’s body. The edge of the broken arm was quickly stitched together by fine, thread-like tendrils. “Father, your hand.”

By the time Li Huowang rushed back to the Eldest Princess’s door, he found only the rearguard. In a distant pavilion, a crowd of guards and eunuchs was escorting the Eldest Princess as she fled outward.

This was something Li Huowang had not anticipated. The other side had no intention of fighting; the moment an assassin appeared, they simply withdrew.

“Out of my way!” Li Huowang swung his spine-blade in a wide arc toward the crowd ahead. Behind him, Li Sui mimicked the motion with her copper-coin sword.

To protect the Eldest Princess, these eunuchs and bodyguards threw themselves at Li Huowang, heedless of their lives. But they could not hold him back for even a moment.

Just as a bloodshot-eyed Li Huowang was closing in on the Eldest Princess, “Clang—clang clang—” the crisp sound of bells rang out. A petite Hu Ji, her face veiled by a translucent, blurry gauze, came swaying gracefully toward him, her movements a seductive dance.

With every gesture, the bells at her wrists and ankles rang out crisp, intoxicating notes. Fine golden threads sprouted from her skin, and her entire body, now covered in them, swayed in time with the music.

Li Huowang’s mind blurred for a moment. When he looked at the Hu Ji again, an inexplicable, powerful impulse surged through him. All his feelings for Bai Lingmiao and Yang Na were now transferred entirely onto her.

The Hu Ji pressed herself against Li Huowang, dancing in an incredibly alluring manner. The golden threads on her body swayed with the dance, piercing into his flesh.

Though his body was riddled with wounds, Li Huowang felt no pain. Instead, he experienced a strange pleasure, as if those golden threads were the small hands of Bai Lingmiao and Yang Na, gently caressing his entire body.

Suddenly, the Hu Ji lifted her veil and leaned in to kiss him. Every twist and subtle movement of her body sank the struggling Li Huowang deeper, and he never once noticed the pill at the base of her tongue.

But the next moment, barbed tentacles burst forth from Li Huowang’s mouth, swarming out and plastering themselves across her face, ripping her entire visage clean off.

As the Hu Ji screamed, clutching her face, the tentacles dragged the torn skin back into Li Huowang’s throat. Snapping back to his senses, he pulled out a dagger and stabbed it deep into his own thigh.

The searing pain instantly cleared his head. He cut down the Hu Ji with one swing and, without a moment’s pause, resumed his chase toward the direction the Eldest Princess had fled.

“Where are all these moves coming from?! I’ve never seen them before!” Li Huowang focused with every ounce of his energy, daring not to be careless again.

It seemed the Eldest Princess had no shortage of capable people around her. If not for Li Sui’s help just now, he might have actually let her get away!

Seeing two more eunuchs blocking his path, each holding a blood-drop weapon in hand, Li Huowang decided not to waste any more time on these rear-guards.

“Li Sui! Ribs!” With Li Huowang’s synchronized shout, Li Sui inside him immediately used her tentacles to snap off his two lowest ribs, sending them out through his navel.

The moment the ribs were driven crosswise into Li Huowang’s abdomen, the eunuchs holding the blood-drop weapons screamed and collapsed to the ground.

Four black tentacles sprouted from Li Huowang’s body and slammed against the ground, propelling him in a leap onto the roof. He ran across the tiles, chasing after the Eldest Princess.

One after another, the waves of pursuers were pinned down by his shared pain, and he drew closer and closer to the beautiful Eldest Princess.

When he was near enough, Li Huowang once again pulled the blunted ribs from his own body. “Not enough pain yet! Li Sui! Skin!!”

The tentacles writhing outside Li Huowang’s body instantly pressed against him, their suction cups and barbs latching onto the edges of his scars.

As Li Huowang drove the ribs back into himself, Li Sui flipped open every scar on his body like the upturned scales of a dragon.

“AHH—!!” The near-shocking agony drove Li Huowang to the brink of madness and ecstasy, but the price he paid was worth it. The Eldest Princess and her entire entourage collapsed to the ground, screaming along with him, completely stripped of their ability to resist.

But just as Li Huowang released his grip on the ribs and stumbled, spine-blade in hand, toward them, a figure wearing a black veil blocked his path.

When he saw the layers of scars on the back of the man’s hand and the blood slowly seeping from beneath his long robe, Li Huowang’s heart sank.

“To be able to endure such pain and still stand… This one must be from the Ao-Jing Sect!”