Come and Get It

With a casual flick of her hand, the Big-Headed Doll tossed the two tattered Door God puppets to the ground. Her eyes, wide and curious, fixed on Li Huowang.

“So you’re Li Huowang? I’ll ask you one more time. Are you truly refusing to surrender to our Great Li Kingdom?”

Li Huowang couldn’t even be bothered to reply. Over a dozen tentacles sprouted from his body, slamming against the ground as he launched himself, sword in hand, toward the Big-Headed Doll.

Just as his longsword was about to strike the doll’s body, the roof-ridge beast beneath her feet suddenly came to life, its maw gaping wide as it lunged for Li Huowang’s abdomen.

But Li Sui’s tentacles burst from Li Huowang’s gut, bracing the roof-ridge beast’s body and pinning it in place, freeing him from having to waste energy on the thing below.

Now, the Purple Tasseled Sword in his hand was less than three inches from the Big-Headed Doll’s head.

With a soft pop, the Big-Headed Doll’s cranium flew up as if it had grown wings, revealing the face of a middle-aged woman beneath.

Staring blankly at Li Huowang as he tried to kill her, the woman’s gaze met his. The instant their eyes were about to connect, a chill shot down Li Huowang’s spine.

He didn’t know what this woman was, but every instinct screamed that she was deadly.

The moment their eyes were about to meet, a flash of recognition hit him. Shit! A Heart-Turbid!!

A trap.

“Close your eyes!” Li Huowang roared. The old woman instantly obeyed, shutting her eyes tight.

Under Li Huowang’s glare, the skin of her eyelids fused to the skin of her face in a rush, sealing her eyes shut and robbing her of any chance to open them again.

“Hahaha!” The Big-Headed Doll’s head rolled across the ground, cackling. “Li Huowang, you think that’s the end of it?! Since we laid an ambush for you, of course we prepared for everything! Today, you die here!”

BANG! A horse’s hoof, shod with iron, stomped down hard, crushing the Big-Headed Doll’s head into pulp.

“Hahaha! Come on! All of you! Let me see what you’ve got!” Peng Longteng swung her halberd, bellowing at the encircling enemies.

While Peng Longteng was taunting them, Li Huowang dared not let his guard down. He immediately turned and fled toward the breached city gate in the distance.

Since he knew they had set a trap for him, there was no point in staying any longer.

Li Huowang’s figure darted between rooflines, fleeing the area as fast as he could.

But soon, he spotted a black-robed monk sitting cross-legged on a roof ridge, his back to Li Huowang, blocking his path. A strip of black cloth hung from his sleeve.

“A Lama?” The thought had barely crossed his mind when he saw a prayer wheel appear in the monk’s hands, beginning to spin. As it turned, the monk chanted syllables that were completely incomprehensible.

“Om…”

As the low hum of the prayer wheel reached his ears, Li Huowang felt something pulling at his body, and his gaze was drawn irresistibly toward the spinning wheel.

“A Zhongyin Temple monk?! What the hell is the Siming of Death doing, hedging its bets?!” Li Huowang raised his sword hand, and a rift shot toward the monk.

SHHHH—! Roof tiles shattered. A howling wind rose from below, and countless white figures shot up, circling Li Huowang’s body. They left several gashes on him, wounds so deep the bone was visible.

As another white figure glided past him, Li Huowang pulled out his Bronze Coin Sword and swung it in a wide arc, striking the shapes.

To his surprise, the white figures were easily pierced by the bronze coin sword. Fragile.

As the copper coins and red thread quivered, the white figures instantly dissolved into swirling confetti.

When he saw two three-handed scholars carrying fans on their backs blocking his path from either side, Li Huowang finally understood who had been ambushing him.

It was clear he wasn’t just up against these few. Soon, more members of the Fa Sect, in all their varied forms, revealed themselves, encircling him completely. He was surrounded.

Li Huowang didn’t know how his movements had been leaked, but it was obvious they had come prepared.

Soon, a man stepped forward. The familiar face and the white headband around his brow instantly gave him away. A Fa Sect believer from the Great Qi. Taishan Shi.

“So that’s why I hadn’t heard from you,” Li Huowang said, buying a moment to scan his surroundings. “Turns out you came all the way here.”

Packed in from all sides. There was no chance of sneaking away now. He would have to fight his way out.

“Do you really think this is enough to stop me?” Li Huowang asked slowly.

“Don’t bluff. You barely got out of that Earth Dragon last time because you used the Dung-Beetle Ascension. Now you’re alone. You’re not getting away.”

Taishan Shi finished coldly, then gave a slight tilt of his chin. Everyone surged forward at Li Huowang.

With a BOOM, Peng Longteng, mounted on her warhorse, crashed down from above. She landed squarely on two men, crushing them into pulp in an instant. The next second, she threw her head back with a wild laugh, yanked the reins, and charged at the rest.

“Burn!” Li Huowang spread a single hand, and flames quickly engulfed his body, offering his skin as a sacrifice to Bashe.

But this level of sacrifice didn’t seem to satisfy Bashe.

The flesh of his body split open like fish scales, and the flames licking at his skin burrowed into the cracks.

Sensing something was wrong, Li Huowang immediately spat Li Sui out.

The blood seared on the scorching flames, hissing and crackling. For a moment, Li Huowang endured pain several times worse than before, feeling the fire consume him from the inside out.

But there was a price, and there was a reward. The black-smoked flames on his body flared several times higher.

“Bashe! You son of a bitch!” Li Huowang roared up at the sky, then charged toward Taishan Shi in the distance, wreathed in the flames that now penetrated deep into his flesh and blood.

It was impossible to tell if Li Huowang was the fuel or the flame itself. Everything he passed, flammable or not, caught fire. The blazing heat warped the very air around him.

“HYAAH!” Peng Longteng leaped over Li Huowang’s head, charging straight through the flames.

Her heavy armor, her massive halberd, and even the warhorse beneath her were now wreathed in the same flames as Li Huowang.

Ever since she had become Li Huowang’s hallucination, she had never been this happy.

“Come on!!”

Peng Longteng hooked her halberd backward, catching Li Huowang’s body on the blade. Then, with a massive surge of strength from her arms, she flung him like a fireball toward the enemies in the distance.