Door Gods

Chapter 717: Door Gods

The Fa Sect had clearly prepared for the possibility of a beheading strike.

The moment Li Huowang stepped out of the building, three dark shadows shot toward him.

"Boom!" A low, muffled impact. They collided directly with Peng Longteng's hardened armor.

The towering Peng Longteng lowered her head slowly. Under Li Huowang's gaze, her head regrew, and a massive halberd had somehow appeared in her hand.

"Suffocating me to death! KILL!!!" A bloodthirsty grin spread across Peng Longteng's face, the flesh tattooed with "loyal service to the nation." She lunged at the Wu Minister like a rabid tiger.

With her weapon back in hand, she was like a tiger with wings. The Fa Sect's hidden ambushers couldn't even get close to her.

"Give me my horse!!"

Mounted on her warhorse, Peng Longteng crashed into the yamen gate like a boulder.

"BOOM!" A thunderous roar. The entire gate, along with the eaves, the plaque above, and even the people standing behind it, were all smashed into a pulp.

Peng Longteng charged through the debris, carrying the wreckage with her. Whether out of a need to vent, she didn't bother dodging any of the buildings inside. She simply used her enormous body to smash through walls and houses, bulldozing everything with devastating force.

While Peng Longteng drew their attention out front, Li Huowang had already circled around to the rear courtyard.

To avoid being detected, he didn't even reveal his body this time. He simply submerged himself into the earth and swam through it.

A hidden sentry was maintaining his post. A long sword erupted from the wall, pierced through his body, and then retracted back.

He had to admit, after his breakthrough, Li Huowang found his control over the Innate Pneuma within him growing increasingly refined and effortless.

Having silently eliminated all the hidden sentries, Li Huowang finally walked slowly into the main hall.

He spotted the people he was looking for: several gray-haired officials with black cloth draped over their shoulders, gathered around a sand table, continuously directing military units.

"This should be them, right?" Li Huowang thought to himself.

He didn't strike immediately. Instead, he stood there silently, staring at the ground, his right hand gripping both sides of his temples.

Suddenly, the entire floor instantly softened. Everything inside the room sank directly into the earth, leaving nothing behind. They were all buried alive.

The room, which had been bustling with activity moments ago, fell into an instant, absolute silence.

"Just like that? That's it?" Li Huowang was momentarily stunned. It had all happened so fast.

Was that it? He had just taken out the entire heart of the city in one fell swoop?

Li Huowang half-suspected it was a trap. But when he heard the commotion truly starting to rise from the city gate area, he realized that he was no longer the same person he had been.

Just as he was about to swim back out through the earth, he felt someone stomp their foot on the ground directly above his head.

"Heh heh. Killed your men, and now you're just going to leave without a chat?"

The ground split open. Li Huowang's three swords burst through the floorboards as he shot up from the soil.

But what made his heart sink was that none of the three swords had drawn blood.

He scanned his surroundings. No one was there.

"Little one, stop looking. I'm right here!" Li Huowang followed the voice and quickly found its source, plastered onto the door panels. The Door Gods.

They looked just like the Door Gods pasted up during the New Year. Both were bare-chested, with protruding bellies, curly beards, and tiger-like whiskers. They wore armor, carried halberds, and had bows and swords hanging from their waists. Horns grew from their heads, and they held peach-wood swords in their hands.

There was only one difference. These Door Gods also had a square of black cloth painted on their shoulders.

Clearly, in Siqi, even the Door Gods were now under the management of the Child-God.

"You may call me Shentu. I've come today to negotiate your surrender," the Door God plastered on the door said, glaring at Li Huowang with wide eyes.

"Negotiate my surrender? The Fa Sect wants to negotiate my surrender?" Li Huowang almost thought he had misheard.

"That's right. Though you have ruined many of Great Li's plans, the State Preceptor believes you are a man who understands the times."

"Heh." Li Huowang almost laughed out loud. "You've killed so many people. You've done so many atrocious things. And now you want to recruit me?"

"Do you have any family members who died in this calamity? As long as you surrender, the State Preceptor can bring them back to life immediately."

"Do you really think I'd believe that? Even the Siming can't do that! How could you?!" Li Huowang charged forward without hesitation and drove his sword into the door panel.

"The Siming here can't do it. But a Siming from somewhere else might not be unable. This time, we are genuinely trying to persuade you to surrender."

Hearing this, Li Huowang frowned. He pulled his sword back and studied the Door God on the door. "What did you say?"

He was in no hurry to attack now. This being seemed to know things he didn't. Maybe he could pry some information out of it first.

"The Siming govern the Great Daos of the world. In theory, they are all gods. But the Great Dao has fifty paths, and they are not all-powerful. Bringing the dead back to life violates the Heavenly Law."

"If they can't do it, then the Child-God can? Isn't he also in charge of a Heavenly Law?" Li Huowang feigned disbelief, trying to bait the other into continuing.

"The Child-God can do it, because he is in charge of a Heavenly Law from elsewhere. The Great Nuo's Heavenly Law cannot accomplish it, but a Heavenly Law from elsewhere can."

"Elsewhere?" Li Huowang was momentarily confused. If the Great Nuo referred to this living world, then where was this "elsewhere" he was talking about?

"It seems you really don't know anything. Look, Xuanpin didn't even tell you this. He has always been on his guard against you."

After saying this, the Door God continued, "In fact, you think you know a lot. You know about White Jade Capital and the Siming, things that ordinary mortals could never know. But there is still so much you don't know."

"Under the Great Nuo's Heavenly Law, life and death are clearly divided. They cannot be crossed. But it's not like that elsewhere. In other places, the dead can return to the realm of the living. The boundary between Yin and Yang is not so strictly drawn."

"You have only ever lived within the Great Nuo. You are like a frog at the bottom of a well, completely unaware of how vastly different the Heavenly Laws are in other grotto-heavens compared to here."

Li Huowang stared at the Door God, pondering its words. The fact that it was telling him all this suggested it was genuinely trying to recruit him.

"Think about it carefully. Everything I've said is true. Don't you want to resurrect Zhuge Yuan? Or Bai Lingmiao's family, whom you killed by mistake?"

Li Huowang's pupils instantly contracted to pinpricks. It even knew about that!

"You stubborn fools are always talking about saving the world, aren't you? Once the Child-God descends to the mortal world, every single person who has died can come back to life. Isn't that saving the world?"

"Cut the bullshit!" Li Huowang roared in fury. "Do you really think I'm blind? The Child-God has already taken over Great Qi! Have you seen what Great Qi has become? Do you think I haven't?!"

The strange liquid flowing from those fissures flashed through Li Huowang's mind. That world was already completely covered by that substance which could twist living people into monsters.

"Hmph! Ignorant child! Have you even been to Great Qi as it is now? Or are you just listening to rumors? In Great Qi today, not only have all the people who died come back to life, but from now on, they will never go hungry and never die again! The people live and work in peace. The old have someone to rely on, and the young are cared for. The world is one great harmony!"