The Crumbling Point

Chapter 758: The Crumbling Point

Even if Xuanpin had said earlier that his feint had drawn away some of their forces, what remained here—even if they were just the worshippers—was still too much. These were clearly not Fa Sect people.

Li Huowang glanced at the massive red dot on the Xuan-Glow Mirror, then at the incense smoke rising all around him. His grip on the spine-sword's handle tightened with grim resolve.

“Xuanpin said that even if I ordered you to die, you'd do it without a second thought. Well, now's the time!”

“I don’t know what they’re worshipping! But we have to stop it. I’ll charge with you. When we go, life or death is up to the heavens. CHARGE!”

At Li Huowang’s command, none of them hesitated. They followed him into the rain, charging straight at the scattered red lights. In an instant, the sounds of slaughter filled the air.

With a wet shlick, the Purple-Tasseled Sword in Li Huowang’s hand buried itself deep into his opponent’s abdomen. At the same time, the creature’s claw punched through Li Huowang’s gut. Both of them twisted their weapons. The one who couldn’t take it wasn’t going to be Li Huowang.

He opened his mouth wide, and a thick mass of tentacles erupted from his throat, plastering themselves across the creature’s face.

Seizing the moment of its panic, Li Huowang twisted the sword’s hilt, heaved upward, and cleaved the thing in two.

He stomped a nearby incense ball into a mess of powder, but there was no satisfaction on his face. He had only taken down one of them. There were countless more of these chicken-legged creatures to go.

The downpour was torrential. The white smoke from the incense burners had completely smothered the battlefield, turning the entire altar into a hazy, indistinct blur.

Yet no matter where the smoke drifted, it eventually flowed into the massive bamboo hat atop the colossal statue.

The sacrifice was still ongoing. He couldn’t let it continue. No matter the cost, he had to stop this.

Li Huowang dragged over a corpse, ripped open its bloody abdomen, and spat his daughter out inside it. Then, with a whoosh, towering flames engulfed him.

As if sensing him from the Heavens Beyond Heaven, Bashe responded. Li Huowang’s body began to split open, and the flames burrowed into his wounds, digging deeper.

“AAAAH!! BASHE, I’LL FUCK YOUR GRANDFATHER!” Li Huowang, his face twisted in agony, dropped to one knee, spitting out the curse.

He didn’t know why, but it hurt even more than before.

When he saw the flames on his body extinguished by the rain, only to reignite a moment later, he found the reason.

He opened his mouth and licked a falling raindrop. The water was salty.

A terrible thought struck him. His heart sank. Xuanpin was right. It wasn't just the Child-God. He had to hurry.

As Li Huowang stood back up, the flames on his body erupted violently. He had become like a Hanba, a drought-demon, scorching everything around him.

Sensing his transformation, some of the chicken-legged creatures with red cloth curtains hanging from their guts began to realize something was wrong. They closed in, coordinating with each other.

Letting out various animalistic cries, their bodies grew bestial, and with their pulsing red sashes, they charged at Li Huowang from all sides.

Li Huowang pulled out a dagger, sliced open his own abdomen, and tore off a strip of his charred flesh.

The detached flesh flew from his body and wrapped itself around one of the chicken-legged creatures. The sizzling sound of frying skin filled the air. No matter how the creature struggled, the flesh would not let go.

Li Huowang picked up a few broken stones, shoved them into his mouth, and chewed hard. With a violent spit, his teeth—sheathed in flames and blood—came flying out.

The burning teeth exploded mid-air, scattering in a wide, fan-shaped spread.

But just as Li Huowang was killing his way in and out of the crowd, two birds appeared in the rainy sky.

One had a human head. The other had a horse's head. They flapped their wings, circling the massive bamboo hat atop the statue. As they circled, they sang in grating voices: “Sow the seedlings—Receive the blight—Sow the seedlings—Receive the blight—Sow the seedlings—Receive the blight—”

As their terrible song rang out, the red cloth strips falling from the statue’s bamboo hat began to tremble slightly.

It was subtle, but Li Huowang felt it. His heart grew frantic. He struck harder and heavier with every blow.

But these chicken-legged creatures weren't about to stand still and let themselves be killed. When they realized they couldn't win, they started to pull back, to dodge him.

No matter how hard Li Huowang and the others tried, the white smoke in the air only thinned a little. It didn't vanish. The sacrificial ritual was still going on.

“Too slow! Still too slow!” Li Huowang grabbed the flesh of his own chest and wrenched it open. His ribs splayed out like a blooming flower. Worms bred from his five viscera shot out like scattering petals, wrapped in flames, toward the others.

When he heard the sound of the statue shifting above him—a noise that made his skin crawl—he knew that if he didn't find a way to stop it soon, it was really over.

Li Huowang’s mind raced, sifting through everything he knew. But he realized he had no way to turn this around except for the Dung-Beetle Ascension.

Just then, Zhao Jiabao, missing an arm, pushed through the waves of heat to reach Li Huowang. He pulled a piece of paper from his robes. “Patron Li! Here! A strategy pouch from the Sitian Jian!”

“A strategy pouch? Who the hell does he think he is?” Even as he said it, Li Huowang snatched the paper and opened it quickly, reading it before the flames could burn it away.

“What?!” The teleportation ability he had before wasn’t even real? It was just borrowing my cultivation of the false into reality?” Li Huowang’s pupils shrank. He hadn’t seen that coming.

But there was no time to be shocked. He forced himself to keep reading.

“Li Huowang, now that you understand, I’m afraid I can no longer take you with me. This what they call burning the boats. Only when there is no retreat can you unleash your full strength. But don’t panic. There is still a way out. Since you were able to cultivate the false into reality to return from Qingqiu, it means your ability has now reached its peak. If you are in danger, the solution lies within it. Think carefully. What is the one thing you can cultivate into reality that will solve your current situation?”

“Something I can cultivate into reality that will solve this?” Scenes from his own experience flashed through his mind.

Li Huowang’s pupils constricted to pinpricks. He suddenly thought of something. Pressing his temples, he began to cultivate the false into reality, his expression twisted in pain. A white, humanoid outline flickered in the air, half-there.

But no matter how hard he tried, his head bulging with swollen veins until he looked like the God of Longevity, the figure would not manifest.

Just as the red cloth strips above him began to pulsate, Li Huowang suddenly had an idea. He pulled the spine-sword from his back and stabbed it into the ground.

He stared at the spine-sword’s hilt.

As he kept cultivating the false into reality, blood began to drip from his nose. His blood vessels burst. His entire head began to crack open.

And in response, the edge of the spine began to grow new white bone. At first, it was just bone. Then flesh and skin. And finally, the clothes of a scholar.

With a sharp smack, a white folding fan snapped open. Four characters, bold and swirling, appeared before Li Huowang’s eyes.

Heaven gave me the talent.