The Gift

1,316 words

“Kill!”

With yellow talismans plastered across his knees, Li Huowang plunged into the crowd like a bloody afterimage, dragging a thick stench of gore behind him. He stirred up a storm of blood and flesh, and the crimson Daoist robe he wore turned an even deeper red.

Though Li Huowang stood in enemy territory, surrounded by foes on every side, the advantage was clearly his.

Suddenly, he caught the sharp tremor of the ground. He spun around and saw a four-horse chariot charging toward him with overwhelming momentum.

He twisted his wrist. A flash of cold light. The chariot rushing at him was instantly cleaved in two.

The next moment, a black shadow burst out from Li Huowang's own shadow, raising an obsidian dagger high and striking at his waist from an extremely treacherous angle.

But after dealing with the Fa Sect for so long, Li Huowang had seen this trick before. How could he not be prepared? A Li Sui eye had long since grown on the back of his head.

He twisted his body, dodging the attack, and then raised his longsword, cutting directly into his assailant.

Whoosh.

The world around him suddenly darkened. The surrounding Fa Sect followers, as if answering some summons, all leaped into the air at once.

They blotted out the sunlight, covering the sky. They raised their sharp weapons and roared as they launched themselves down at Li Huowang.

At the same time, the Wu Minister he had just cut, ignoring his own life and death, hooked his legs around Li Huowang's wrist with all his might, trying desperately to lock him in place.

From beneath the ground, two sharp, hooked spikes pierced through the earth, firmly snagging Li Huowang's feet.

They couldn't beat him in a straight fight, so they had begun to scheme.

Thud, thud. The sharp weapons stabbed into Li Huowang's body one after another.

His eyes bloodshot, Li Huowang clenched his fists and roared at the sky. His skin and flesh split open like fish scales. Countless densely packed tentacles, entwined with various instruments of torture, burst from every part of his body, rapidly piercing through everyone around him.

Li Huowang jerked his body to the left. With a crack, he snapped his own spine, and his entire body, covered in writhing tentacles, spun like a top.

The instruments of torture and his three swords spun with him. A curtain of cold light flashed in every direction.

When the sounds of tearing flesh and screaming died away, the sky above Li Huowang was clear once more. The sunlight fell on his head again.

He lifted his right foot and stomped the head beside it into pulp. Without even a moment to catch his breath, he charged toward Lyu Xiucai, who was on the verge of collapse.

This small-scale skirmish was over in the time it takes to burn two sticks of incense. Li Huowang stood by a stream, washing his blade and his hands at the same time.

He remembered when he had first brought his junior brothers to this very place, setting up a stove to cook. Now, he had become this. A flash of rueful nostalgia passed through him.

Just then, a jet of water shot up past his head and splashed back into the stream. Then another, and another. The thing in the water was having a grand old time.

“Suisui, stop playing. Let's go.” As Li Huowang walked toward the bank, Li Sui surfaced—half of her wet, graceful body emerging from the water, a still-writhing carp clamped in her mouth. She quickly followed him.

As he walked, Li Huowang frowned at the corpses strewn across the ground. Many of them still wore the uniforms of government runners.

Si Qi was not the Later Shu. If the Later Shu was a place where the Fa Sect and the imperial court were still fighting for control, then Si Qi was territory that the Fa Sect, under Da Li, had long since occupied.

You could say that in the Later Shu, you only had to worry about being caught in the crossfire between two warring factions. But in Si Qi, it felt like trudging through deep mud. Everywhere you looked, there were enemies.

Ever since crossing into Si Qi, he had run into this kind of small-scale skirmish several times already.

“If it's this troublesome for me with so few people, I doubt things are going well on your end either,” Li Huowang said to Xuanpin beside him.

“That is correct.”

“How's the fighting on the front line? Going smoothly?” Li Huowang asked.

Xuanpin shook his head and said nothing more. Li Huowang couldn't tell if the man didn't want to say, or simply didn't know.

“If you're going to be this useless, then I really don't know what the hell you're following me for. Don't tell me you actually think we're buddies now.”

“Li Huowang, a man who achieves great things does not fuss over trifles. You're being a bit petty.”

“I don't want to achieve great things! I just want this world to settle down. I want to live a few peaceful days!” As Li Huowang glared at Xuanpin, his body began to involuntarily disintegrate.

If he wanted Xuanpin to not exist, then Xuanpin would not exist.

“Wait a moment. I have a gift to give you.” Just then, with a quick turn of his six arms held around his belly, a mirror appeared beside Li Huowang.

The monk beside him, curious, walked over and poked the mirror with a finger. When nothing happened, he simply picked it up and held it up to the sun, peering at it.

“Don't touch that!” Li Huowang yanked the monk away and examined the translucent mirror floating in mid-air, and the things inside it.

At first, he couldn't understand what he was seeing. There were lines, some flags, and points of red light blinking.

But Li Huowang had just come from Si Qi, and soon he understood. This was a complete map of Si Qi.

“This is a map of Si Qi? These red dots are the battlefields?” Li Huowang asked in surprise, pointing at the dots.

“It is more than that. The magical artifact I refined has more uses than this. Try putting your hand inside.” Xuanpin said this, and Li Huowang, half-doubting, reached his finger in.

The moment he touched one of the points, he felt himself being yanked into the middle of a slaughtering battlefield. Screams and shouts of battle raged on all sides. The killing intent wrapped around him, blurring all distinctions.

“Woooo—” The low sound of a war horn rang out, making Li Huowang's scalp crawl involuntarily.

The ground began to tremble. At first, it was faint, but it quickly grew louder and louder, shaking the earth.

The iron cavalry of Qingqiu charged toward the distant Fa Sect followers carrying a massive deity statue, spurred on by the horn's call. The sight made Li Huowang's blood boil, surging upward in his chest.

Li Huowang took a deep breath and pulled his finger back out, finding himself back where he had started.

Glancing at Xuanpin, Li Huowang reached his hand into the triangular flag again. He immediately saw, in front of a leather command tent, several elderly Qingqiu generals and strategists locked in heated debate.

Listening to their words, they were clearly discussing troop deployment. Li Huowang suddenly understood the weight of this thing.

“Well?” Xuanpin said to Li Huowang as he re-emerged.

“With this, you can not only know the real-time situation of the entire war, but also see the layout of our own offensives.”

Xuanpin's hand reached out from his red Daoist robe and patted Li Huowang gently on the shoulder. “I told you, we are allies now. So... how about we let bygones be bygones over that little matter with the Earth Dragon?”

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Reading Guide Decoding

War Games: The Overhead Map Opens, and Li Huowang Flinches

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

The "Magic Mirror" as a Classic Trope Turned Tactical Weapon In traditional xianxia, the "mirror" is often a tool for seeing one's true form, scrying distant events, or trapping demonic souls. It’s a classic piece of faqi (magical artifact/法器) furniture. Xuanpin, however, has weaponized it into a literal war-room tool. This isn't just a "show me the future" item; it’s a real-time RTS minimap that allows the user to touch the data and feel the battle. It’s a brilliant literalization of the "overview" a general needs, transforming a mystical object into a piece of logistics and intelligence equipment.

The "New Gift, New Alliance" Dynamic in Wuxia/Xianxia On the surface, this is a classic "making peace with a gift" scene. Xuanpin offers the mirror to smooth over their earlier conflict. But in Dao Gui Yi Xian, no gift is without a hook. By giving Li Huowang the power to see the entire war, Xuanpin is also giving him the responsibility to win it. This is a common narrative device in wuxia: a mysterious mentor gives the hero a tool that changes his role from brawler to leader. The question now is whether Li Huowang can handle that shift without shattering.

The "Cracked Spine" as Combat Logic Li Huowang deliberately snapping his own spine to execute a full-body spin attack is insane, but also perfectly in line with the novel’s logic. The body is a resource—a tool that can be broken and rebuilt as long as it serves the immediate goal of survival. This isn't a cultivator conserving his qi; it’s a man treating his own skeleton as a bearing for a meat-grinder.

Chapter Overview

Another day, another bloodbath. Li Huowang wades through yet another Fa Sect ambush in the occupied territory of Si Qi, and it’s a viscous, tentacled, spinal-cracking affair that spares no one. But the real meat of this chapter isn’t just the gore—it’s the gift. Xuanpin, Li Huowang’s unsettling six-armed “ally” from the Siming ranks, finally delivers on his promise of aid. He presents Li Huowang with a more-than-magical map: a battlefield mirror that grants a terrifyingly omniscient view of the war. It’s a shift from dirty, close-quarters survival to… grand strategy? Get ready, folks, because the game board just got a whole lot bigger, and Li Huowang is being handed a seat at the table he never asked for.

Key Plot Points

The chapter opens with Li Huowang cutting through a Fa Sect ambush like a blender. He’s brutal, efficient, and sacrifices his own spine for a devastating spin attack—classic Li Huowang tactics.
The assassination attempt by a Wu Minister is foiled by Li Huowang’s paranoia and a Li Sui eye growing out of his own skull. Teamwork is beautiful.
After the fight, we get a rare moment of melancholy as Li Huowang washes his hands in a stream and recalls a simpler time with his junior brothers, now long gone.
Li Sui is having fun playing in the water with a carp. Domestic horror.
The conversation shifts to the campaign map. Li Huowang, exhausted, grills Xuanpin about the war’s progress. Xuanpin is frustratingly vague.
Xuanpin, sensing Li Huowang’s frustration—and his ability to erase him from existence—produces a floating mirror that acts as a real-time tactical map of the entire Si Qi front.
Li Huowang tests the artifact, experiencing the battlefield firsthand through a single touch, witnessing the Qingqiu cavalry charge and the generals’ war council.
Xuanpin offers the map as a peace offering, hoping to mend fences over a previous “little incident” involving the Earth Dragon, which is deeply concerning in its own right.

Reading Guide

This chapter is a major pivot point. The constant, grinding skirmish warfare of the past few arcs is about to be elevated to high command. Li Huowang is being offered a seat at the table, and with it, a view of the war that is as horrifying as it is helpful. The character dynamic to watch is Li Huowang vs. Xuanpin. Li Huowang is tired, raw, and openly hostile—he threatens to erase Xuanpin from existence. Xuanpin, for his part, is playing a very long game. He’s not scared; he’s manipulating. The gift of the mirror is an attempt to buy loyalty, or at least, tolerance. Pay attention to how Li Huowang handles this new tool. Will he use it to become a general, or will he see it as just another chain tying him to a war he never wanted? Also, the mention of the “Earth Dragon incident” lingers. That’s a debt Xuanpin is paying off, and debts in this world are never cleanly settled.