A Tsunami of Rage

Before long, the blood streaming down his forehead had covered Lyu Xiucai's entire face. His lips moved rapidly, chanting the invocation for possession.

"A disciple comes in sincerity to pay respects to the departed. The honored deity of this altar descends swiftly—body transforms into spirit, spirit transforms into body, transforming into mountains and rivers to open the path of light! Step by step, I am guided! Inch by inch, the child is lifted! Lift the possessed medium and let spiritual light shine forth, open the golden mouth to speak clearly—divine soldiers and divine fire, swift as the law!!"

By the time Lyu Xiucai had begun his invocation, the torches were already not far from Li Huowang and the others. At this distance, their forms were clearly visible.

They were the same people who had fled earlier. Who would have thought that, after so many had died, they would still dare to come back.

Li Huowang quickly spotted the source of their courage. At the very front of the crowd stood several old men wearing robes made of fish-skin. These people, distinct in both dress and bearing from the rest, held their postures solemnly, their arms wrapped around a massive incense stick as thick as a bowl. They bowed and worshipped in every direction, their mouths murmuring something.

Li Huowang could hear them, but he could not understand. It was some kind of dialect.

The white incense smoke did not dissipate. Instead, it gathered around them, coalescing into a haze that drifted between near and far.

Behind them, the others shouted in unison as they carried out a mural—no, to be precise, they had torn down an entire wall and hauled it here.

"What kind of evil is this?"

Looking at these fishermen with their dragon-scale tattoos, Li Huowang could not help but recall the river bandits he had encountered on the great lake.

"Forget it. Whatever." Li Huowang could not be bothered to think further. He stamped his feet and charged forward, sword in hand, with Lyu Xiucai—his head bloodied and still wearing his paper bib—following close behind.

As Li Huowang approached, the old Dan-min in fish-skin robes thrust their massive incense sticks into the ground. The white smoke that had gathered in the air instantly coalesced into a dragon's head, lunging at him.

Li Huowang did not dodge. Gripping the Purple-Tasseled Sword in one hand and the Bronze Coin Sword in the other, he crossed both blades just as the smoke-dragon reached him, and drove them forward.

The dragon-shaped smoke was cleaved apart in a cross. As Li Huowang, still within the incense haze, rushed without hesitation toward the Dan-min, the mural on the wall—the entire wall itself—came crashing down toward him.

Boom! The ground trembled as the wall shattered into pieces, burying Li Huowang beneath it.

But when the smoke cleared, Li Huowang stepped out from behind Peng Longteng's towering body. At the critical moment, she had served as his shield.

Clutching both swords, he looked at the shattered mural on the ground, then at the Dan-min in the distance who were kowtowing to the sea. "That's it? That's all you've got?"

Just as he thought this, he sensed that the pitch-black sea in the distance had grown even darker. A row of oppressive, mountain-like forms stood there.

"Mountains?" The thought had barely surfaced when a cold sweat broke out all over his body. "No! Those aren't mountains—that's a tsunami!!"

The next moment, the distant tsunami, carrying the Dan-min's boats and their wooden houses standing on the sea, surged toward Li Huowang with the true force of mountains toppling and oceans overturning.

"Watch out!" Li Huowang quickly reached out and caught the bucket from Yang Na's wobbling hands. At least the dirty water inside hadn't all spilled out.

"Hey, Miss, just stay put, alright? Don't try to work." Li Huowang carried the bucket to the toilet and dumped the water in.

Yang Na pouted, a little aggrieved. "I… I just wanted to help. Why are you being so mean to me? I didn't do anything wrong."

"Look at you. I was just saying something, and now you're upset." Li Huowang set down the bucket, walked over to her, and gently pulled her into his arms.

"It's nothing! It's all nothing! You need to get out of here now—this damn place isn't right!!" Li Huowang shouted to the others through the pouring rain.

"Senior Brother Li, you come too! Hurry!"

Standing waist-deep in the water, Li Huowang wiped his face hard with his hand and shouted again, "Stop wasting time! This rain is completely wrong! I'll hold the rear! Get moving, now!"

The moment the words left his mouth, a sharp pain shot through both of his legs. There was something in the water!

He pulled out a few pieces of fluorite and threw them into the water. The dim light had barely begun to glow when the several dark shadows circling around him instantly scattered.

Seeing some of the shadows rushing toward the carriage, Li Huowang reached directly into the water and pulled hard.

The waist-deep rainwater on the ground was wrenched up like a blanket from a bed, blocking their path to the carriage.

Li Huowang's cultivation ability had advanced to the Third Wheel, and he had naturally acquired some new techniques.

But even though his power had increased, he still had no way to use it effectively without knowing where the enemy was.

What the hell was this? Frowning, Li Huowang scanned his surroundings, unable to figure out their method.

A setup this big didn't look like an ordinary evil spirit. "With rain this heavy, it couldn't be the Dragon King himself doing rain and clouds, could it?"

Just as he was thinking this, the fluorite light revealed several more dark shadows skimming along the waterbed toward him again.

"Sui! The ribs!" As Li Huowang crossed the ribs and thrust them into his own chest, the dark shadows came to an abrupt halt, writhing on the spot.

A tentacle pulled out the Bronze Coin Sword and swung it hard toward one of the shadows in the water. With a rattling sound, the coins stretched out, hoisting the figure out of the water.

The tattoos on this man's bare upper torso proved he was from the same group as the others. But this time, his face was covered by a wooden mask carved into the shape of a dragon's head.

"Who's performing the ritual?! Where is he?!"

Furious, Li Huowang grabbed him by the throat and demanded. The man spat back angrily, "The Dragon King has revealed himself! If you offend the Dragon King, you're dead!"

"Fuck you!" Li Huowang roared, opening his mouth wide. A tentacle covered in barbs shot out from his throat, latching onto the man's neck and tearing away most of the flesh in one pull.

"You Fa Sect garbage! Come out here!" Lyu Xiucai stood in the water, bellowing furiously.

Just then, the Dan-min crawled up from the water. Scattered across the rain-soaked ground, they glared at Li Huowang and Lyu Xiucai, cursing them with rage.

Curses mixed with the torrential rain, stoking Li Huowang's fury until only one thought remained in his mind: kill these pieces of trash first, and then figure things out!

He gripped his sword, about to charge and slaughter them all, when the dense beat of a drum rang out.

The rhythmic drumming began to suppress the sound of the rain and the curses. Beating the drum, Bai Lingmiao came to his side, standing back-to-back with him.

"Li Huowang! What the hell is wrong with you?! I told you to leave! What are you dawdling for?!"

When he heard Bai Lingmiao's furious shout, Li Huowang's heart lurched. He realized something was wrong.

At some point—without him even noticing—everyone, including himself, had been consumed by rage. It was as if, in that moment, they had all been taken over by this emotion. Something was controlling their ten emotions and eight sufferings!