The Bingjie Immortal Squad

Within the sodden, treacherous mire of the Cloud Marsh, the rain continued to fall relentlessly. Li Huowang led the others, forcing a path forward across ground that could barely hold their weight.

The deeper they pushed, the more dangers they encountered. Cult members of the Fa Sect kept emerging from every unexpected direction.

Beyond these men, Li Huowang also saw statues toppled at odd angles. They appeared varied in form, but they were not made of stone. Inside each one, writhing green insects squirmed.

More peculiar still, they were not standing on separate foundations. Instead, long, root-like tendrils grew from their bases, burrowing into the earth, where they intertwined and connected with one another.

As more and more of these figures appeared, Li Huowang felt as though he were caught in an inescapable net cast by the Fa Sect. Though the statues did not move, he could not shake the feeling that they could spring to life at any moment.

Suddenly, Li Huowang's legs, caked in mud, came to a halt. This was clearly a trap. If he kept going forward, he would be walking straight into the enemy's snare.

“Are you sure the Dragon Vein is inside this marsh?” Li Huowang asked Xuanpin. “Don’t let the Fa Sect fool you.”

“The Zuowandao couldn’t deceive me. I trust they won’t be able to, either. Three Dragon Veins are enough to alter the feng shui of an entire region. That’s an undeniable fact.”

Xuanpin's words did little to improve Li Huowang's expression. Knowing it was a trap and walking into it anyway was hardly a pleasant prospect.

Rubbing his temples, he summoned Peng Longteng, the monk, Qiu Chibao, and Jin Shan Zhao into physical form.

At his command, they took point, forging a path for the rest of them. Rain began to fall harder. As the downpour thickened, a veil of mist settled over the bog, cutting visibility to nearly nothing.

“Thump… thump… thump…” The rhythmic beat of Bai Lingmiao's waist-drum sounded, carrying far through the heavy rain.

With Li Huowang at the center, the surroundings gradually unfurled within Bai Lingmiao's mind. Several surprise attacks from the Fa Sect were foiled, amounting to nothing.

Just when Li Huowang expected the enemy’s assaults to intensify, the Fa Sect's offensive abruptly ceased. “Brother Li, to the left! About a li to our left, someone’s under attack!”

“Let’s move! Help them!” Li Huowang led the group, rushing toward the sound. He couldn’t allow the Fa Sect to pick them off one by one.

Upon arrival, Li Huowang saw that the person under assault was the Altar Lord of the Supervisory Heavenly Office from the Later Shu Kingdom. Under the torrential rain, the stone statues seemed to come alive, flickering in and out of sight within the mist.

Fangs extended from beneath the mask on the Altar Lord’s face. These yellow-white teeth clashed together, vibrating at a high frequency, emitting a rapid tatatata sound. An identical sound answered him from deep within the fog.

Abruptly, the ground split open. Five statues rose from the earth like fingers of a giant hand, then closed inwards, enveloping the Altar Lord completely.

Seeing this, Li Huowang gave a brief instruction before charging without hesitation into the mist. Raising his bronze coin sword, he plunged in to rescue their ally.

He had assumed this was merely a rescue for a companion. But just as he passed a fallen statue, it exploded. A flash of cold steel shot out from within—a longsword arcing straight for his face.

Clang! A piercing clash of metal rang out, sparks flying. When Li Huowang saw that his purple-tasseled sword hadn’t left so much as a scratch on the enemy’s weapon, his heart tightened. He’d run into a tough one.

The figure stepped slowly out of the mist, weapon in hand. Dressed in a douniu robe and high-soled shoes, his head hung low, tangled black hair plastered over his face by the rain. His chest was pierced through with seven or eight swords from front to back.

“What the hell is this?” Li Huowang’s brow furrowed deep.

“Be careful. That’s a Bingjie Immortal from Siqi,” Xuanpin’s illusory form answered.

“An Immortal? What in the world is a Bingjie Immortal?” Before Li Huowang could even finish the thought, the thing hurled a sword in his direction and charged.

As Li Huowang prepared to parry, his body suddenly shifted an inch to the left on its own, letting a curved blade whistle past him.

Peng Longteng’s massive body placed itself like a shield, blocking the Bingjie Immortal in front. Turning his head, Li Huowang saw another Bingjie Immortal emerge from behind him. Unlike the previous one, this one wielded an oddly curved saber.

That was close. If Li Sui’s eyes hadn’t grown on the back of his skull, letting him see the ambush, his head would’ve been rolling on the ground by now.

“Two of them?” The thought had barely formed when a spear thrust up through the earth, piercing straight through Li Huowang’s left foot. They were even coming from below.

When Li Huowang looked up and saw a third Bingjie Immortal descending from the sky like a falling star, he finally understood: they were here to kill him specifically!

Shluck! Li Huowang used his own body to take the curved blade from the Bingjie Immortal on his left. Raising his spine-sword in his right hand, he whipped it through the air.

The gap it tore open forced back the Immortal descending from above. The six tentacles inside Li Huowang’s body shoved violently against the ground, launching him into the air.

Spotting the Bingjie Immortal he had just repelled not far off, Li Huowang’s body flickered and warped directly above him. Drawing his bronze coin sword, he slashed with brutal force, cleaving the Bingjie Immortal’s head clean off.

But at that moment, cold light erupted from all directions at once. Whoosh! The curtain of rain itself seemed to freeze midair. All the Bingjie Immortals surged out of the mist in afterimage blurs, converging on Li Huowang.

“Break!”

The weapons of four Bingjie Immortals crashed together deep inside Li Huowang’s body. A grating metallic screech filled his ears. The rain began to fall again.

Gritting his teeth against the agony burning through him, Li Huowang, suspended midair by their blades, drew a ragged breath. Then he roared:

“YOU’RE HURTING MY DAUGHTER, YOU BASTARDS!!”

In the next instant, he reached up, tore his own eyeball from its socket, and crushed it in his hand. A grotesque sheen washed over everyone present.

BOOM! Flames spread from Li Huowang’s body, racing outward to engulf the Bingjie Immortals around him, turning them into mirror images of himself.

His skin ignited at a furious pace. Towering flames violently vaporized the falling rain into steam.

The Bingjie Immortals tried to retreat, but Li Huowang’s sacrifice of his own eye had slowed them to a crawl.

Seeing no escape, they fought back with suicidal desperation, wreathed in flames. But that was exactly what Li Huowang wanted.

Caught inside the blaze like this, they couldn’t last long. They called themselves Bingjie Immortals, but he doubted they were true ones. A real Immortal wouldn’t be afraid of being burned.

Soon, the four Bingjie Immortals collapsed one after another, sitting cross-legged on the ground. Nothing remained of them but four charred, dark-red weapons thrust into the soil.

(Chapter End)