The Dice

"Red Center~ hahaha!" The twisted features in the air laughed maniacally. Gao Zhijian stared at Li Huowang, his eyes unblinking.

"It had to be you! Without your help, how could I have snatched the Great Qi Emperor's incredibly rare Hundred-Soul Transformation Body? Without you, the Ji clan of Great Liang would never have been wiped out. Without you, how could Zhuge Yuan have done things our way?"

"Don't worry, I, Dice, remember my friends! All the schemes we cooked up together—if I get a share, you get a share!" Gao Zhijian descended slowly, extending his dragon claw toward Li Huowang as if to lift him up.

Li Huowang's eyes were bloodshot. He swallowed with difficulty and stretched out his left hand in return.

Just as their hands were about to touch, Li Huowang swung the knife in his right hand across the root of his left arm with force. In an instant, he severed his own left hand.

The severed hand immediately sprouted bone spurs, forming a claw that raked toward Gao Zhijian's face.

The protruding bone spurs scraped across Gao Zhijian's dragon scales, showering sparks. The smile gradually faded from his face. "Red Center, that's a bit unreasonable. I was trying to help you out here. How can you repay kindness with enmity?"

When he saw the headless woman tossing the sword-wielding Li Huowang toward him, Gao Zhijian didn't block the gleaming Purple-Tasseled Sword in Li Huowang's hand. Instead, he spread his arms and lunged forward to meet him.

The moment they made contact—CLANG!—Gao Zhijian ducked his head, using his forked dragon horns to hook and flip upward. The Purple-Tasseled Sword in Li Huowang's hand was sent flying high, leaving his entire front wide open.

The dragon claw, etched with patterns of dragons and phoenixes and wrapped in a golden chain at the wrist, drove straight toward Li Huowang's chest.

At the critical moment, Li Huowang gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. Peng Longteng's towering, heavily armored figure appeared like a massive shield, instantly blocking the space between them.

But the next second, a wet thud rang out. Gao Zhijian's twin claws plunged directly into Peng Longteng's chest.

Then, with a twist and a shove of his elongated body, Gao Zhijian ripped a huge hole straight through Peng Longteng's chest.

Now the dragon's spine, like a pole, pierced Peng Longteng's chest, carrying her body with it, its speed undiminished as it hurtled toward Li Huowang.

When he saw Li Huowang raise the Purple-Tasseled Sword again, Gao Zhijian didn't hesitate. He tilted his head back and smashed his own skull against the weapon. His dragon horns were harder than the Purple-Tasseled Sword.

"I can't keep this up. I have to think of something!"

Just as this thought crossed Li Huowang's mind, alarm bells clanged in his heart. He quickly gouged out his own left eye and crushed it.

Gao Zhijian, who was charging at him from the left, was instantly covered in a strange color. He became terrifyingly slow.

But before Li Huowang could catch his breath, a section of the dragon's spine whipped through the air from behind, slashing toward his back.

Gritting his teeth, Li Huowang leaped high, barely dodging the treacherous sneak attack. But then a dragon claw shot down from the sky and clamped around his neck.

Before Li Huowang could struggle, dragon claws came from all directions, grabbing his hands and feet. Once they had complete control of his body, they dragged him high into the air and spun him around at dizzying speed.

The world went black before Li Huowang's eyes. He felt five immense forces tearing at his neck, hands, and feet, pulling them outward.

With a crack, the bones in Li Huowang's neck, hands, and feet were dislocated. But this was just the beginning—his flesh and sinew couldn't withstand the pulling force and began to tear.

"Hahaha! Citizens of the capital! Take a good look! Today, I'm going to tear this man apart by five horses! If you've got money, throw some in the ring! If you're broke, just cheer me on!" Gao Zhijian's voice boomed across the entire city of Shangjing.

"AHHH!!" Li Huowang, wracked with pain, struggled wildly, trying to escape this death trap. But he still couldn't stop his body from being stretched longer and longer.

Just as blood began to spray from the tearing wounds on Li Huowang's body, lotus-shaped sky lanterns, each the size of a house, had somehow drifted all around the dragon's spine.

In each lantern sat a Lotus Child, their legs crossed. They began to chant in unison.

"The Azure Yang rises, the White Yang ascends, Wusheng Laomu saves all beings! The Red Yang falls, the Purple Yang dies, Nurtured Ease, Ultimate Bliss, Eternal Still Light!"

The black clouds in the sky began to churn, forming something indescribable. The scales on the dragon's spine seemed to sense it and began to bristle.

Gao Zhijian, who had been torturing Li Huowang, temporarily dropped him. He coiled his entire dragon body and lunged at the sky lanterns.

This was a good chance to escape. The veins on Li Huowang's temples bulged. Peng Longteng suddenly appeared in front of him, grabbing the dragon's claws with both hands and prying them open. Li Huowang, covered in wounds, fell weakly toward the ground.

During the free fall, Li Huowang suddenly felt as if he were seeing things. A woman in flowing white robes seemed to walk toward him through the air, as gracefully as an immortal. And her face—why was it so familiar?

She flicked her wrists, and long silk ribbons drifted out, gently wrapping around Li Huowang as he was about to hit the ground. She pulled him lightly toward one of the sky lanterns.

A medicinal paste, greasy like lard, was gently applied to Li Huowang's wounds. For a moment, the pain vanished rapidly, and he felt as if he were floating on a cloud.

When Li Huowang came to his senses, he found himself lying in a woman's arms. Bai Lingmiao's arms.

"Miao Miao?" Li Huowang looked at the girl before him as if seeing her for the first time.

A white lotus was painted on her brow. Her delicate, pale face was expressionless, and her eyes were covered by a long white silk band.

"Miao Miao! It really is you!" Li Huowang hugged her excitedly. Bai Lingmiao hesitated for a moment, but finally wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Where have you been all this time? I've been so worried I could die!" Li Huowang held her tightly, almost trying to press her into his chest.

"Brother Li, didn't I send you a letter? Didn't you receive it?" Bai Lingmiao's voice was still soft, but there was no warmth left in it.

Hearing this, Li Huowang's heart tightened. He looked at Gao Zhijian, who had already torn apart most of the sky lanterns in midair.

"Red Center, see? What did I tell you? I said I didn't kidnap your woman, and I didn't. We're Zuowandao—doing something as low as kidnapping would be an insult to the ancestors~"

"But then again~ hehehe~ don't forget our old trade. So I could lie to you. I could make you think I kidnapped her."

"You can't blame me for this. You did it all to yourself. I actually didn't do a thing~ hehehe~"

Li Huowang stared at his face. "Aren't you supposed to lie only with the truth? Is that your truth?"

"Hahaha! You believe the words of a Zuowandao? Hahaha!" The Dice in the air laughed wildly.