The Calamity of the Sky Dog

“Brother Li!”

Li Huowang had just raised his sword, ready to strike, when Zhuge Yuan’s unusually grave voice stopped him.

“Don’t look at me, and don’t talk to me! There’s something wrong with the woman beside you! You cannot let her know that you have hallucinations!”

Li Huowang questioned Zhuge Yuan in his mind, confused. “Brother Zhuge, what are you talking about? Isn’t she Shangguan Yuting?”

“Think again. Has Shangguan Yuting been around you lately?! She’s fake!” As Zhuge Yuan finished, the monk and the Zuowandao apparition joined in urging him.

“Taoist, this woman just popped up out of nowhere. She wasn’t here before.”

“Boss Hong Zhong, hehe. If you can be fooled by something like this, then I’d really look down on you.”

“Senior Ear? What’s wrong? Aren’t we going to Great Qi?” Shangguan Yuting tilted her head, looking at Li Huowang with confusion, the crystal-clear hairpin in her hair swaying gently with the movement.

Breathing in the heart-soothing fragrance at the tip of his nose, Li Huowang took another careful look at this familiar confidante.

He had clear memories of everything about this young woman. But if no one had pointed it out, it would have been one thing. After his other apparitions reminded him, however, Li Huowang immediately saw the flaws in this woman everywhere.

What was more, this woman was wearing the face of the Princess Anping, and he hadn’t even noticed anything strange about it before.

“So this is the power of the Director’s Office? To be able to project a person before someone else’s eyes, and have that person be completely unaware of it?”

Li Huowang never thought he would be glad to be a Heart-Element. If not for the apparitions’ reminder, he might have truly fallen for the Director’s Office’s trick. His wariness of that person grew even heavier.

“What now?” That was the question Li Huowang had to consider next. Everything had been going well in the conversation. Why had the Supervisory Heavenly Office suddenly placed someone like this beside him? What were they trying to do?

“Li Sui, what’s wrong with your father? Does he often space out like this?” Shangguan Yuting asked softly, turning to Li Sui beside her.

Hearing this, Li Huowang steeled himself. He stepped forward, placing himself in front of Li Sui.

Li Huowang didn’t think continuing to hide this would benefit him. He cut straight to the chase, asking the Shangguan Yuting beside him, “Director! Why are you doing this? Or do you still not trust me?”

To his surprise, Shangguan Yuting showed no embarrassment at being exposed. Instead, she said, quite frankly, “Senior Ear, what are you saying? Didn’t you say that to trade with the Upper Extremity Gateway, you need enough secrets?”

She pinched the skirt of her gown, then turned a full circle in front of Li Huowang with a smile. “I’m the secret I’m bringing in exchange.”

“You?!”

“Exactly. After all, Senior Ear might not have enough secrets to trade, right? If I didn’t come along, wouldn’t that have been a wasted trip?”

Shangguan Yuting said it so matter-of-factly, as if this was exactly how things were supposed to be, and Li Huowang was the one overreacting.

But Li Huowang understood very well: if he hadn’t seen through this woman’s identity, what she might do next would be anyone’s guess. She could say whatever she wanted, twist the truth any way she liked.

If she happened to deduce from his strange behavior that he was a Heart-Element, and then went back and told the Director, he would be in serious trouble.

“These people are all sly old foxes, one more cunning than the next. Dealing with them requires my full attention, or I’ll get tricked before I even know it,” Li Huowang thought to himself.

“Senior Ear, let’s hurry to Great Qi. The sooner we finish the Lord Director’s errand, the sooner everything will be settled.”

Hearing her urging, Li Huowang silently nodded. He opened his mouth toward Li Sui beside him.

When she saw Li Sui burrowing into Li Huowang’s body, Shangguan Yuting’s eyes went wide with shock.

“Try to keep up. I won’t wait for you!” Li Huowang tightened his grip on the sword hilt.

“Senior Ear, what are you talking about? Wherever you are, that’s where I’ll be. See? I don’t leave any footprints either.”

Watching Shangguan Yuting slowly walk past him, leaving no trace at all on the ground, Li Huowang couldn’t quite figure out what this woman actually was, or how the Director had managed to do it.

“Forget it. Consider it part of the deal with the Director’s Office. I’ll trade a secret of the Upper Extremity Gateway for him, and he’ll take care of the Dice.” With that thought, Li Huowang hesitated no longer. He gripped the sword hilt and swung it with force. In an instant, two talismans were pressed against his legs, and he shot through like a gust of wind.

The moment he entered, the sky went dark. It was so dim all around that Li Huowang couldn’t even see where he was. “Why is it already night in Great Qi?”

Just as he instinctively began to look up, Zhuge Yuan’s warning voice rang out beside him. “Don’t look up! This isn’t night! This is a Heavenly Calamity! It’s the Sky Dog Devouring the Sun!”

The moment Zhuge Yuan finished speaking, Li Huowang forcibly stopped himself from looking up.

That had been close. Very close. Just one more second and he would have had to gouge out his own eyeballs again, just like last time.

Suddenly, a giant claw, larger than a human, shot out from the left, swiping toward Li Huowang.

“Shhh—!” With a powerful swing, Li Huowang cleaved through the giant claw. A strange screech rang out from the darkness, and the claw quickly retracted its severed stump.

Li Huowang did not let his guard down. He could sense many more pairs of eyes staring at him from the darkness.

Clearly, with the Heavenly Calamity’s arrival, Great Qi had completely become a world of evil spirits. The only reason they weren’t attacking was that they were momentarily intimidated by Li Huowang.

“Senior Ear, what’s going on with this Great Qi? Should we head back to Great Liang and wait for this Heavenly Calamity to pass?”

Gripping his spine-sword, Li Huowang stood there steadily for a while before speaking. “No need. It won’t stop me from finding the Upper Extremity Gateway. These malicious spirits are nothing to worry about. Who knows how long this Heavenly Calamity will last? I can’t wait for it to end!”

With that, Li Huowang clutched his sword and began sprinting through this dim world. Any spirit foolish enough to get in his way was cut down with a single strike.

Still, this was too dangerous a place to stop and rest. Fortunately, for eating or sleeping, he could always return to Great Liang.

A day passed. Two days. Three. The Heavenly Calamity showed no sign of disappearing. Li Huowang realized this Heavenly Calamity in Great Qi was probably different from the one in Great Liang.

And as time went on, the evil spirits appearing within Great Qi’s borders were no longer small fry.

“Die!!” Li Huowang squeezed his eyes shut, gripping the Purple-Tasseled Sword as he swung it with all his might forward.

Feeling the slippery, slimy sensation, Li Huowang violently thrust his left hand into the thing’s body, then unhesitatingly severed his own hand.

The next moment, the severed hand detached from Li Huowang’s body. Sharp bone spurs burst from the arm, drilling wildly into the thing inside.

Hearing the heavy thud of something collapsing in the darkness, Li Huowang let out a huge sigh of relief.

He didn’t know what he had just cut. Over this time, he had learned that some spirits must not be looked at. Looking would trigger an abnormality in the Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings within him. Everything under this Heavenly Calamity was becoming more and more bizarre.

Just as Li Huowang felt Li Sui using her tentacles to retrieve his severed hand, his expression froze. He quickly dropped to the ground, pressing his ear against the earth.

—-

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(Chapter end)