The Scholar

Chapter 695: The Scholar

Color. Hue. Li Huowang lost every trace of color from his body.

Lowering his head to look at himself, now reduced to only black and white, Li Huowang drew his dagger and sliced his palm. The blood that flowed out was not red, but pitch black.

This was clearly no mere illusion. It was some strange, specialized divine ability from a specific sect.

“Jade Purity summons the plain; Great Brahma divides the spirit; Primal Barrier flows and spreads; Star-Pearls fix the realm; Long Yang dissolves Yin; Middle Prime conceals the shadow!”

As an aged voice rang out by Li Huowang’s ear, the black on his body began to recede. His entire form became a strange, eerie white.

And as the color faded, the contours of his facial features began to waver and dissolve.

Li Huowang turned his head toward the source of the sound. He saw an old scholar wearing a silk headband and a purple robe embroidered with green patterns, with a flowing black beard.

One hand rested on a long sword at his waist. Another hand held a feather fan. A third hand lifted a brush, rapidly painting onto a suspended scroll aimed in Li Huowang's direction.

Li Huowang had no idea who this three-handed scholar was, or which sect he belonged to. But the black cloth on his shoulder told him which side the man was on. No further words were necessary.

Clearly, the Dragon Vein had its guardians. It would have been strange if there weren't any.

Shiiiink! Li Huowang raised his spine-sword and swung it hard. A rift shot toward the scholar at terrifying speed.

CLANG! A massive guandao blade with a black tassel slammed down, shattering the spouting rift directly.

The wielder was a general, eight feet tall, standing imposingly before the scholar. He pressed his middle and index fingers together and pointed sharply at Li Huowang.

“Hah!! Villain, you force my angry countenance! I denounce you, shameless cur! Who told you a crow could steal the phoenix’s nest? Who told you to press and plot at every turn?!”

Li Huowang initially thought this man was a Mushroom Corpse Immortal. But as the general moved, he realized that wasn't the case. The general's side was as thin as paper, as if he had stepped straight out of a painting. And his colors were only black and white.

Staring at the scholar's brush, Li Huowang seemed to understand where this general had come from.

“Sink!” Li Huowang roared. The ground beneath the scholar and his general instantly liquefied, dragging them down like quicksand.

Facing Li Huowang's assault, the three-handed old scholar remained completely unflustered. He raised his feather fan and gave a hard wave in Li Huowang's direction.

A gentle breeze blew. The burly general's feet immediately left the ground. He was blown into the air like a kite, floating toward Li Huowang.

When the general drifted close, he spread himself out in midair like a massive New Year painting, raised his guandao, and smashed it down toward Li Huowang's head.

“Fire!” Click. Fwoosh. As Li Jiangeheng’s thumb scraped the flint wheel of a plastic lighter, a flame—orange above, blue below—sprang to life, reflected in Li Huowang's pupils.

BOOM! The entire general burst into flames. The paper figure became a man of fire in midair.

The next moment, Li Huowang burst through the general's shattered body. The red of the flames gave his body new color. Like a fireball, Li Huowang hurtled toward the old scholar.

Seeing this, the old scholar knew he had run into someone formidable this time. He immediately pulled out his trump card, raising his brush to paint rapidly on his feather fan.

“Utmost above the utmost! Heaven within Heaven! Mystic Origin, one Pneuma! Chaos comes first! Open the light of the Three Luminaries! Transform and give birth to the Heavens! Great Luo, Jade Purity! Void and Nothingness, Natural and Spontaneous!”

With each stroke of his brush, the fire on Li Huowang rapidly lost its color, turning into a shifting gray.

But soon, even that gray was erased. Nothing remained. He was about to lose every color on his body, to be completely wiped clean.

Li Huowang didn't know which Siming's power this guy was borrowing. But it was clear to him that if he was completely wiped out, he would vanish for good!

Just as Li Huowang's body was about to turn transparent, he gritted his teeth and chanted wildly in his mind. “I have color! My body has color! My hair is black! My blood is red!”

Li Huowang's body began to recover quickly. But under the opponent's influence, it began to fade again just as fast.

As the two reached a stalemate, Li Sui's voice entered Li Huowang's mind. “My dad has color! My dad’s body has color! My dad’s hair is black! My dad’s blood is red!”

What Li Huowang never expected was that his body actually began to recover slowly. Li Sui was able to help him in this situation.

This was the first time Li Huowang had encountered this. No, the second time. Back then, Danyangzi had also been inside his stomach, borrowing his Heart-Element power.

In this situation, he couldn't afford to think about anything else. He had to deal with the enemy first.

Seeing that none of his own trump cards had been used, the old scholar knew he was about to lose.

Just as Li Huowang raised his spine-sword under the scholar's despairing gaze, Xuanpin appeared out of nowhere beside the old man. He flicked his wide sleeve, and the scholar's head vanished into it.

Watching the old scholar's body go limp and collapse to the ground, Li Huowang felt as if he had punched empty air. Frustration churned in his chest.

“You deal with the Dragon Vein. Leave the rest to us,” Xuanpin said to Li Huowang.

“Where the hell were you before?! I almost had him! Why do you have to pop up now?” Li Huowang's voice was frantic. He was reminded of those moments in games when a teammate would steal the kill just as you were about to finish an enemy.

“Don’t act like I haven't done any work. The fact that you could take your time dueling this Minglun Hall gentleman one-on-one proves that we’ve already held back the other problems for you.”

Looking at the chaos all around him, Li Huowang had no time to argue. He turned and strode toward the muddy pit in the distance.

With the old scholar's death, the colors near the pit slowly returned to normal. Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to dawdle. He pulled out his bronze coin sword and flicked it toward the stone pillar pinning the Dragon Vein.

The bronze coin sword lengthened rapidly, coiling around the pillar like a whip.

“Up!” Li Huowang roared. The massive stone pillar binding the Dragon Vein was wrenched from the ground.

A dragon's cry echoed out. The Dragon Vein, mostly covered in mud, struggled even more violently.

Li Huowang saw hope of saving the Dragon Vein. He immediately pulled out the remaining pillars.

As each one came free, soon the first Dragon Vein rose up from the mud pit.

Seeing the panicked expression on the fat emperor sitting at the top of the Dragon Vein, Li Huowang paused for a moment. So the Fa Sect hadn't managed to control the Dragon Vein like The Dice had done back then? Was it because they couldn't contain it?

The Dragon Vein had been saved. And the Fa Sect hadn't found a way to control it. That was the best news in a while.

But that was something Li Huowang was more than happy to see. He wouldn't have to fight the Dragon Vein.

He was just about to say something to the fat emperor when he saw the man, his face full of terror, dragging the long Dragon Vein beneath him, fly straight up into the air.