Chapter 242: Symbol

Deep within the nested caves beneath Qingqiu, Li Huowang and his companions stood in a patch of silver light, looking at the exit.

"It's so high, and almost vertical. How are we supposed to climb that?" Gouwa said with difficulty, craning his neck to look at the sparse starlight outside the cave.

This might have been a major problem for others, but for Li Huowang, it was easily solvable. Even if he couldn't handle it, someone among his companions would have another way.

Li Huowang turned to glance at Bai Lingmiao, nodding towards her. Bai Lingmiao showed a hint of hesitation, but she eventually nodded back, covering her head with a red veil.

Seeing this, Li Huowang's expression subtly tightened, but he said nothing.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Headscarf on, treading Ziwei ground! Today's ascent is auspicious; the Southern Dipper leans on the Northern Dipper! The sixty-one elders of the Southern Dipper reside, and within the Northern Dipper, Ziwei stars are many!"

Accompanied by drumbeats and the divine chant, Bai Lingmiao, possessed by the celestial spirit, suddenly tilted her head back, gazing at the sparse starlight in the sky through her red veil.

Bai Lingmiao's body began to convulse briefly. When the spasms ceased, she snatched the iron chain from Gao Zhijian that was meant to bind Li Huowang. Immediately afterward, her body seemed to lose all its bones, collapsing to the ground.

Twisting her soft, boneless body, she slithered up the smooth cave wall like a human snake.

Bai Lingmiao ascended the nearly vertical cave wall as if it were flat ground, reaching the cave entrance with extreme speed.

Soon, the chain meant to bind Li Huowang was tossed down, landing before the others. The problem was easily solved.

"You go first, I'll cover the rear." Li Huowang stood firm in the moonlight, warily watching the darkness beyond its reach.

"Senior Brother Li, you're so badly injured. You should go first," Sun Baolu said with great concern, looking at Li Huowang's wounds.

His concern was understandable; Li Huowang's appearance was truly gruesome. His mangled left fingers were still dripping blood, and much of the skin on his chest was gone. There wasn't a single uninjured spot on his body.

"Stop dawdling! Go when I tell you to go!" Li Huowang flatly rejected his good intentions.

He understood that in this situation, he was the strongest. If any unexpected trouble arose during their retreat, he would be able to handle it.

However, if someone else covered the rear and encountered real trouble, they might not make it.

Under Li Huowang's repeated commands, the others began to climb the chain.

The others were easy to handle, but the most difficult was the constantly squirming Black Grand-Emperor. It took considerable effort to bind its twisting mass to the chain, and Gao Zhijian had to practically drag it up.

As Li Huowang watched the others struggle to climb the chain, estimating how much more time they needed, his expression suddenly became gravely serious. He abruptly turned to face the darkness to his left.

A somewhat disheveled Han Fu emerged from the darkness, his two deformed heads prominent. His yellow Taoist robe was stained with a lot of blood, clearly from Li Huowang's previous attack.

He did not step into the moonlight, instead stopping at the boundary between the light and the shadows.

Han Fu looked at Li Huowang, who gripped his sword hilt, with a mocking smile. "Fellow Daoist Xuanyang, it seems the unimportant ones have all left?"

"Yes, they're all gone," Li Huowang replied, his right hand's five fingers clenching, making a creaking sound.

"Senior Brother Li! Is everything alright down there?! Who are you talking to?" Gouwa's shout echoed from the cave entrance.

Hearing the hollow echo from above, a grim-faced Li Huowang shouted back, "It's nothing! I'm talking to illusions! Keep climbing!"

Then Li Huowang looked coldly at the Taoist before him. "You were here earlier, weren't you? You waited all this time just for me to be alone. Do you really think you can defeat me?"

Han Fu shook his head, a hint of triumph on his face. "Heh, didn't you notice? Those few talismans on your sword earlier, I've already stabbed them into your body, wrapping around your internal organs, haven I?"

As he spoke, he spread his arms wide. His voluminous sleeves swished through the air as a massive, ten-meter-long demonic talisman suddenly appeared on the ground around Li Huowang.

The moment the talisman, identical in color to the rotten teeth they spoke of, appeared, it engulfed Li Huowang entirely. Instantly, Li Huowang found himself unable to move an inch.

"Om Tida Binnaji Jilishe!!"

With Han Fu's low cry, the giant talisman on the ground seemed to come alive. Twisted black and yellow lines instantly crawled all over Li Huowang's body, burrowing into his wounds.

Seeing Li Huowang frozen in place, no longer moving, Han Fu's face showed a hint of triumph. "A living Xin Su obtained so easily! It's clearly simple to catch. I truly don't know why those people always say not to use force against a Xin Su."

"What do they know? Xin Su is so rare. A bunch of people who've never seen a pig are trying to figure out how to butcher one; of course, they won't come up with anything useful," Han Fu's fist-sized head chimed in, echoing his other self.

Han Fu walked over and continued to scrutinize the motionless Li Huowang. "This Xin Su, it doesn't look any different from the outside. Why is it so rare? Who should we sell it to?"

"It's not suitable to sell it to others, is it? They might see that we're weak and just snatch our Xin Su. Perhaps it's better if we use it ourselves."

"How would we even use it? Just strip it bare and boil it to eat? We only hear that Xin Su is rare, but not why it's rare. Let's just sell it."

"If we don't know why it's rare, who knows its price? What if we sell it at a loss? Let's go back and ask our master. He's knowledgeable."

"But what if our master kills us to take our Xin Su?"

While Han Fu's two heads were still discussing what to do with Li Huowang, the frozen Li Huowang suddenly extended a hand.

Before Han Fu could react, with a wet thud, Li Huowang plunged his longsword into the other man's stomach.

"This... this is impossible! I clearly sealed your..." Han Fu, blood slowly oozing from the corner of his mouth, stared in disbelief at the malevolent Li Huowang before him.

"Boy! If you haven't mastered your skills, don't try to rob others!" With Li Huowang's low growl, he rotated the sword stuck in Han Fu's stomach to a vertical position. His hands, gripping the hilt, yanked it forcefully upwards. The blade tore through the navel, slashing directly upwards towards Han Fu's head.

Even at this critical moment, Han Fu still refused to give up struggling. He raised his hands to form a hand seal, but just as he was about to bring them to his chest, Li Huowang's longsword had already reached him.

Along with the spurting blood, several severed fingers flew into the air.

"How is this possible!" Amidst Han Fu's unwilling shriek, the longsword in Li Huowang's hand swiftly yet steadily sliced across his Adam's apple, then his mouth, his nose, and finally his forehead.