Chapter 211

Peng Longteng, despite being headless, could still move. This was completely unexpected by Li Huowang, who had no defenses ready.

Moreover, at that moment, he was entirely skinless, his consciousness blurred by pain, and his movements incredibly slow. He couldn't react in time and could only watch helplessly as the massive halberd swung down towards his head.

"Am I... going to die?" This thought crossed Li Huowang's mind. Surprisingly, he felt no fear; instead, there was a sense of relief.

In this critical moment, a figure roared and leaped high, crashing into Peng Longteng's left shoulder, causing her tall, heavily armored body to shift slightly.

The massive halberd, like a door plank, slashed down almost grazing Li Huowang's left side. Li Huowang himself was astonished that he had survived such a deadly situation.

He squinted through his blurred vision and saw that the one who had collided with Peng Longteng was Gao Zhijian.

The next moment, a red figure pounced towards Li Huowang. The beast head beneath its red veil suddenly opened its large mouth, gripped Li Huowang's charred neck, and swiftly moved away from Peng Longteng, scurrying on all fours.

Dragged along the ground like this, Li Huowang looked at the white clouds in the sky and smiled inexplicably. The feeling of someone risking their life to save him was truly wonderful.

The charred Li Huowang was dragged aside. The beast head beneath the red veil opened its mouth, then immediately turned and charged into the distance.

The enemy was still active, and Li Huowang was unwilling to just wait. He struggled to sit up and said to Gouwa, who was coming over, "Go, help me retrieve the Great Thousand Records."

Gouwa swallowed nervously. He wanted to reach out and help Li Huowang but didn't know where to start. "Senior Brother Li, what are the Great Thousand Records? Where are they?"

"There... there..." Li Huowang had just raised his mutilated finger to point at Peng Longteng's feet when a figure darted out and picked up the Great Thousand Records from the ground. It was Chun Xiaoman.

Before Li Huowang could speak, the battle took a sudden turn. With a squelch, Gao Zhijian's stout body hung limply on the heavy halberd.

The power disparity was too vast; he was simply no match.

"Quick, give me the Great Thousand Records!" Li Huowang, his eyes bloodshot, stumbled and fell after taking just two steps towards them. His body was too weak.

At that moment, he looked like a charcoal man, made entirely of black cinders, shedding pieces with every two steps.

Chun Xiaoman glanced at the utterly miserable Li Huowang, then at Peng Longteng, who had just flung Gao Zhijian off the halberd.

With a resolute heart and gritted teeth, she spread the Great Thousand Records on the ground, raised the longsword in her hand, aimed it at her left arm, and brought it down forcefully.

Chun Xiaoman's severed left arm quickly turned iron-grey. The hairs on the arm continuously grew thicker, longer, twisting and waving, eventually transforming into tentacles that, along with the arm, twisted and burrowed into the soil.

Just as Peng Longteng raised the massive halberd with both hands and prepared to rush towards Li Huowang, this thing twisted out of the ground and slammed hard into Peng Longteng's breastplate, sending her towering body flying backward with great force.

The force was immense, almost knocking the massive halberd from Peng Longteng's hands.

At that moment, the red-veiled woman, who had just arrived, pushed off the ground with all four limbs and leaped into the air. The outlines of three decaying wolf skulls suddenly emerged from beneath her red veil, biting fiercely onto the heavy halberd in Peng Longteng's hands.

In the distance, a divine melody and drumbeats resonated at just the right moment.

"Boom, boom, boom! The ao fish holds the earth, the earth holds the sky; a pair of orioles watches it. When the ao fish blinks, the earth moves; when the ao fish turns over, the earth moves, and the sky turns over! Boom, boom, boom!"

The woman swiftly twisted in mid-air, her body contorting to an extent impossible for an ordinary person. Using this torque, she finally wrested the massive halberd from Peng Longteng's grasp.

The headless Peng Longteng was now weaponless, and her fate was sealed. The tentacles from Chun Xiaoman's severed arm continuously waved, firmly wrapping around her entire body.

The red-veiled woman spat the heavy halberd onto the ground, then, with her three beast heads, advanced towards Peng Longteng.

After her hard armor plates were torn away, Peng Longteng's body was next. Her flesh, ripped by sharp fangs and teeth, began to expose deep white bones.

Once he saw that everything was over, Li Huowang, who had been clinging to life almost solely by willpower, quickly fell into a coma.

His last words before losing consciousness were, "Go quickly and save Gao... Zhijian..."

In a daze, Li Huowang slipped into a near-death state, his consciousness very blurry.

"So tired. No, I can't give up. Someone is waiting for me."

"Others paid such a great price to save me. I absolutely cannot die..."

"Who is it? Who is looking at me? Who are you?"

After an unknown amount of time, the extremely weak Li Huowang slowly opened his single eye. The familiar rocking sensation of his body told him he was lying in an ox cart.

He shifted his gaze downwards and saw Bai Lingmiao, her eyes a bit red, holding a ceramic pot. She was gently dabbing a cotton cloth in something resembling butter and brushing it onto his body.

Li Huowang struggled to open his lips, which were already stuck together. A thin trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. "How is Gao Zhijian?"

His hoarse voice made Bai Lingmiao's body tremble. Holding the pot, she leaned towards Li Huowang's head, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

"Where is Gao Zhijian?" Li Huowang asked again. His greatest concern now was Gao Zhijian, who had been impaled on the halberd.

Bai Lingmiao gently pulled up her sleeve, wiping away her emotional tears. "He's fine. I asked the immortals to save him. The strike didn't hit any vital points."

"That's good... That's good..." Li Huowang smiled. He struggled to sit up but was quickly stopped by Bai Lingmiao.

"Senior Brother Li, you still can't move yet. I'm applying mouse oil on you. My mother said mouse oil is the best for burns."

Li Huowang complied, lying charred on the cart as she applied the oil repeatedly.

Through Bai Lingmiao's account, Li Huowang learned everything that had happened after he fainted.

No one knew what Peng Longteng had cultivated or why she could still move without a head. The only thing known was that this blood-stained executioner was finally dead—a righteous act.

Peng Longteng's bones were incredibly hard, making dismemberment impossible. She only stopped moving once all her flesh had been stripped away, leaving her as a complete skeleton.

The others, having resolved the crisis, hastily passed through the checkpoint and entered the territory of Qingqiu, to avoid retaliation from the remaining rogue soldiers.

The ox cart was silent for a while. Bai Lingmiao then spoke with some hesitation: "Senior Brother Li, can you teach Sister Xiaoman your divine ability to regrow limbs? She lost an arm."

"Although she keeps saying she's fine, she's still so young, and she has a long life ahead of her."