The Assembly

Clop-clop-clop. The sound of hooves rang out without pause as Li Huowang rode his horse through the mountain path. Skeletons and corpses appeared beside the road from time to time, proof that this place was far from peaceful.

Both sides were using Siqi as a battlefield. Whether the common folk living in the middle of that battlefield lived or died depended entirely on their own luck.

Li Huowang was heading toward the location Xuanpin had given him. As for everything that one had said earlier, he was still half-believing, half-doubting.

If he truly wanted to know what they were up to, he had to go and verify it himself, one thing at a time, before he could be sure it was real.

Don't be fooled by the fact that he had forced some information out of Xuanpin. Everything that came out of that one's mouth was distorted. It could all be fake.

No matter what, though, Xuanpin was right about one thing: he had to help with this. The Fa Sect's plan had to be destroyed.

Suddenly, the dense sound of many footsteps came from up ahead. A sea of Fa Sect followers with black cloth draped over their shoulders surged toward him like a dark tide.

Li Huowang glanced at them, then spurred his horse forward, speeding past them. The Fa Sect followers acted as if they hadn't seen him at all, continuing on their own way.

This wasn't the first time he had run into Fa Sect people. Now that he was back in the area where both sides were clashing, if he was exposed, he could be ambushed again at any moment.

After his last ordeal, Li Huowang was on high alert this time, not daring to be the least bit careless.

When Li Huowang saw that his position overlapped with the red dot on the Xuanguang Mirror, he stopped. He found himself in a battlefield littered with corpses.

Corpse-eating dogs covered in ticks and pus-filled cysts, along with all kinds of vultures, black crows, and wriggling white maggots and flies, were feasting on this grand banquet. For humans, it was death, but for them, it was life.

Beasts ate however they pleased, tearing the corpses apart and scattering them everywhere, making this place look like a hell on earth.

The stench here was naturally unbearable, but Li Huowang couldn't afford to care about that now.

He calmed the startled horse and looked around, a little confused as to why Xuanpin had chosen a place like this to meet.

As Li Huowang waited patiently, the sky gradually darkened. There was no moon tonight, and everything around him was pitch black. The only thing Li Huowang could sense from the darkness was the hair-raising sound of crunching—the sound of bones being snapped and marrow being sucked out.

Now that a few hours had been lost from each day, Li Huowang had no idea what time it actually was. He only felt that when the blackness above his head became deepest, he heard footsteps coming from his left. Someone had arrived.

Li Huowang pulled a pale green fluorescent stone from his bosom and tossed it toward the sound. A strange figure appeared before him.

It was a man dressed very oddly, with pale skin and an effeminate expression. More importantly, a braid was tied behind his skullcap. His demeanor reminded Li Huowang of those eunuchs in the palace.

There wasn't anything particularly special about his clothes—just an ordinary gray long gown paired with a somewhat ill-fitting wax-yellow cloak.

Then Li Huowang noticed something off behind him. Logically speaking, he had heard the sound of footsteps, but there wasn't a single mark on the ground behind the man. It was as if he had floated over.

“Zhao Jiabao, Deputy Director of the Sitian Jian of the Later Shu, pays respects to True Man Li.” The strange man saluted Li Huowang with great reverence. The way he bowed made Li Huowang even more certain that he was a eunuch. It seemed the imperial family had sent someone this time too.

“Why choose a place like this to meet?” Li Huowang asked with a furrowed brow.

“Because this place is already occupied by other things. The things the Fa Sect send can't get through here. They can't see us, and they can't hear what we say.” An aged voice rang out.

Soon, three old lamas who looked like triplets walked into the green light. They simultaneously pressed their palms together and bowed to Li Huowang.

The only difference between these three and the lamas of Zhongyin Temple was that their wrinkled faces and hands were densely covered in Buddhist scriptures.

Seeing the various gold-and-jade-inlaid bone ornaments hanging from their bodies, Li Huowang knew that these three must hold a very high status in Zhongyin. Back when he had gone to Zhongyin Temple, the dried corpses he had been brought before had been dressed in a similar fashion.

As these two stepped forward, others also emerged from the darkness one after another.

There weren't many of them—only a few dozen—but from the special feeling they gave off, Li Huowang could clearly sense that they were not to be underestimated. It seemed Xuanpin was really going all out this time.

“Greetings, True Man Li!” These people, dressed in all manner of attire, spoke to Li Huowang in unison.

Li Huowang surveyed the men and women, old and young, before him. Aside from the monks from Zhengde Temple whom he could still recognize, the attire of the others was basically unfamiliar. They must be from sects he had never seen before.

“Xuanpin said you know where the Fa Sect is holding their sacrifice to heaven?” Li Huowang asked them.

“That is correct, True Man Li.” Zhao Jiabao pulled a map from his bosom and laid it out before Li Huowang.

Glancing at the map, which was constantly shifting, Li Huowang withdrew his gaze.

“Since you're all here, Xuanpin should have told you what we're up against this time, right?”

“I know you're all formidable, but are you sure you can handle that thing?” Li Huowang asked them again.

Anyone with half a brain knew that even with a diversion, the place where the Fa Sect had stashed their trump card would be heavily guarded.

“We naturally cannot compare to True Man Li, but the Director of the Sitian Jian said that we only need to do our best to assist True Man Li. With True Man Li's vast supernatural powers, you can surely handle this task with ease.”

Those words had to be Xuanpin's. He was the only one among the people Li Huowang had dealt with who liked to heap flattery on him like that.

“Alright. Let's talk as we go. Now's not the time for idle chatter.” With that, Li Huowang swung himself directly onto his horse.

Just as Li Huowang was pulling on the reins, a plump woman with a mole at the corner of her mouth stepped forward, holding out a black-headed zongzi wrapped with red string.

“True Man Li, this item will let you conceal yourself, preventing them from knowing in advance that we are about to ruin their plans.”

Li Huowang took it, examined it for a moment, and tucked it into his belt. “Which sect are you from?”

“Aiyo, little woman has no sect or school at all. I'm just a tiny little matchmaker, nothing presentable.” The woman giggled, speaking to Li Huowang with a touch of ingratiating flattery.

“A matchmaker? A devotee of the Double Joy God?” Li Huowang looked down and noticed that the woman really did have bound feet. He couldn't tell if it was a coincidence or something else.

“You wouldn't happen to be a piece of filth that managed to wangle a verbal title, would you? Giving you this human-like form now?” Li Huowang asked, half-jokingly.

The plump woman pulled a red handkerchief from her sleeve, held it by two corners, covered her mouth, and began to giggle.

“Giggle, giggle, giggle~ True Man Li is such a joker. I thought all you Daoists were supposed to be so stuffy.”

Li Huowang's face went expressionless. He gave the reins a hard tug, and the horse beneath him reared up sharply before charging out of this reeking battlefield.