The Eldest Princess

Clang! Clang!

Li Huowang swung the spine-blade in his hand, deflecting three fingernails shooting toward his face.

If before it had only been a guess, this time it was enough to confirm his suspicion. The person before him was from the Ao-Jing Sect!

“Don’t you all stay out of mortal affairs, seeking only the ultimate pain? Why get involved in such troublesome matters?”

Hearing Li Huowang’s question, the figure let out a low laugh. Kneeling on the ground, he pressed both hands against a cross-shaped Ao-Sect clay effigy held to his chest.

“Senior brother, instead of asking me, why not ask yourself? Why have you waded into these muddy waters? Since ancient times, favors are easy to owe, but debts of men are hard to repay.”

Whoosh! A wave of heat blew Li Huowang’s cloak back slightly, and a blazing human torch was reflected in his eyes.

His expression began to darken. Not only was this one from the Ao-Jing Sect—there was a good chance he was a high-ranking expert of the Ao-Jing Sect!

No matter how severe the side effects of the Ao-Jing Sect were, at the very least, their raw power ranked among the top compared to other sects.

“Get out of my way!” Li Huowang swung his arm violently, and a fissure of Great Qi’s history shot toward the flames before him.

The man seemed to know that this thing could not be touched. Flames propelled him into midair. He bulged his cheeks, then blew, spewing a torrent of fire that slammed toward Li Huowang.

By the time Li Huowang cut through the raging flame with his Great Qi fissure, he finally got a clear look at the figure within the blaze.

He found it hard to describe whether the charred thing inside the flames still counted as human. At least in his memory, normal people did not have two heads.

This wasn’t even a Luo Sect Nascent Soul. The two heads in the flames, even scorched black, were twisted like stepped-on winter melons.

There were not just two heads—there were also four arms and three legs, as if two people had been forcibly stitched together into one.

“I can’t get tangled up with this bastard! Even if I kill him, if the Eldest Princess ends up dead anyway, this trip will have been for nothing!” Li Huowang turned his head, looking toward the Eldest Princess in the distance, being carried on the back of a eunuch as they fled.

All sorts of thoughts surfaced in his mind. Seeing the surrounding temples beginning to burn, an idea suddenly took shape.

He bent his body and charged straight into the blazing temple on his left. The Ao-Jing Sect follower, covered in flames, pursued him closely without hesitation.

“Amid the black mist, auspicious vapors hang in the void. Gangbo Niebashen! Gudalu Yinghua! Miduoluo Tiancheng!”

The flaming man gripped the darkened red clay idol tightly, pressing it hard against his own abdomen, forcing the dark red clay figure into his navel.

In the next instant, from the massive golden Buddha statue beside him, molten gold water came to life. Wrapping around the surging flames, it flowed down, blocking Li Huowang’s path.

Everything within the temple was burning. Even the air seemed to have turned red. Li Huowang’s cloak spontaneously combusted in an instant.

Just as Zu Yi was controlling the burning molten gold water, preparing to gild this man before him, something unexpected happened.

Beneath the bamboo hat, there was no person at all. Instead, standing there was a skinned dog covered in black tentacles!

“Huh?! Not good!” Zu Yi, in an instant, understood that he had fallen for a diversionary tactic. Bringing the surrounding raging flames with him, he rushed out of the temple.

The moment Zu Yi left, he took all the flames with him, leaving only Li Sui standing alone in the smoking, charcoal-blackened temple.

“How is this different from what Dad said?”

Li Sui pulled a palm-sized piece of human skin from her belly, glanced at it, then tucked it back inside. Then, on all fours like a hunting hound, she sprinted wildly outward.

At this moment, the invisible Li Huowang was stepping across the roof beams, already very close to the Eldest Princess on the eunuch’s back.

“Faster. Just a little faster!” Li Huowang gritted his teeth. The killing intent in his eyes deepened.

Just as he felt the heat beginning to burn his back, Li Huowang drew his sword with one hand and swung it with force toward the Eldest Princess, who was right before him.

Li Huowang watched intently as the Eldest Princess drew closer and closer to the fissure representing Great Qi. But then, her slender body twisted upright at a speed beyond normal human limits. Stepping lightly on the eunuch’s shoulder, she used the recoil to evade Li Huowang’s attack.

Ribbon after ribbon, translucent and deepening in color from pale to rich, floated out from the Eldest Princess’s sleeves, drifting in the wind.

In that instant, from Li Huowang’s angle, the exquisitely featured Eldest Princess, suspended in midair, looked like a celestial maiden descending to the mortal world.

Li Huowang did not know which sect’s technique this was, but he could tell that this was likely the Eldest Princess’s hidden ace.

The way she had seemed unarmed before was entirely an act. Faced with an assassination attempt, she clearly had the ability to fight back!

Whoosh! The flames behind him scorched the scabs on Li Huowang’s body until they crackled. He shifted slightly to the side, and the searing flames continuously licked at his cheeks.

The Eldest Princess and Zu Yi now stood on opposite sides of him, left and right. Meanwhile, from the surrounding temples, soldiers emerged in twos and threes, gradually encircling him. The hunter had become the hunted.

“Who sent you?”

Standing on the pavilion, the Eldest Princess held her chin high with arrogance. The translucent ribbons around her writhed faintly, like snake tongues.

Li Huowang said nothing. He had already begun preparing to fight to the death. Anyone involved in Great Liang’s succession struggle was no pushover. He had mentally prepared himself for being forced into this situation before he even came.

“Although you killed my mother, the Empress, I am not holding it against you. From now on, as long as you work for me, whatever others can give you, I will give you even more.”

The Eldest Princess’s voice was ethereal and devoid of warmth. It only irritated Li Huowang.

“No need. I may lack many things, but the one thing I have in abundance is unwavering loyalty! No matter how much you offer, I will never betray my master!”

Having said this, to everyone’s surprise, Li Huowang charged straight toward the east, where the fewest enemies were gathered.

“Zu Yi, do not scatter his Three Souls and Seven Poppers. I wish to ask who exactly made a move against me.”

“Yes, as you command.” Wreathed in blazing flames, Zu Yi chased relentlessly after Li Huowang.

Just as Li Huowang reached the eave of a building, a dark shadow darted out and pounced directly onto him.

“Dad, that skin didn’t come in handy.” Li Sui’s tentacles, big and small, twisted out from all over Li Huowang’s body.

“That’s even better! Because I can use it right here!”

As the guards from all directions charged toward him with murderous auras and various weapons, Li Huowang grabbed the bloody, mangled flesh on his chest. With a furious roar, he wrenched his hands apart in opposite directions. His internal organs were exposed directly to the open air.