Chapter 323: Doing Things

As if a bomb had gone off, all the human-demons attending morning class instantly reacted and scattered in all directions.

"What's going on? What did they find?" Li Huowang's heart sank. Whatever it was, the situation seemed to have changed, and things were accelerating.

Not only did their actions resemble those of Qingfeng Monastery, but even their setup was like a Taoist temple. Li Huowang wove through the crawling human-demons, searching for the infants.

As he searched, Li Huowang suddenly stopped. In this dim, damp underground environment, sound was the quickest way to determine direction, so Li Huowang removed the cotton wads from his ears.

In an instant, the sound of water waves, the scuttling of human-demons, the dripping of stalactites – a cacophony of jarring sounds – flooded Li Huowang's ears.

Li Huowang closed his eyes, trying to distinguish something amidst the chaotic sounds. Gradually, he heard some human voices. "Uncle...?"

"This sound..." Just as Li Huowang was trying to follow the voice, a wailing cry suddenly erupted beside his ear.

"Found it!" Li Huowang abruptly opened his eyes and rushed towards the sound.

After navigating through various caverns and puddles in low-lying areas, Li Huowang finally found the infants in a brightly lit cave.

Some disheveled, cane-wielding elderly individuals were trembling as they cared for children whose foreheads were marked with cinnabar dots.

The white-haired old woman from earlier was also there. She was holding a baby girl, her expression devoid of its previous joy, appearing somewhat fearful and uneasy.

There appeared to be twenty or thirty children. In a nearby corner were several cradles emitting a putrid smell, and what was inside them was painfully obvious.

At the monk's urging, Li Huowang slowly revealed himself and whispered to the elderly people, "Don't panic. It's going to get chaotic in the cave soon. Stay here quietly, and I'll come back to take you out in a moment."

The elderly people looked up and saw Li Huowang; the numb gaze of some of them gradually brightened.

An elder, who appeared to be at least a hundred years old, tremblingly raised their cane and shouted in a muddled voice, "Son! Water son! Come quickly! Someone has snuck in!"

As soon as these words were spoken, it instantly caused a chain reaction, and most of the elderly people began to shout.

"Swish!" As the grim-faced Li Huowang charged forward, he lifted the sword in his hand, and three white-haired heads flew into the air.

However, killing all of them now would be useless, as the human-demons had already been alerted.

Moments later, a handful of black glutinous rice, emitting black smoke, was scattered from outside the cave towards Li Huowang.

As Li Huowang quickly shifted his position, the glutinous rice instantly passed through his body and struck an old woman.

Accompanied by a scream, the old woman's flesh rapidly melted, and in no time, she became a white-haired mummy emitting black smoke.

"Go!" Li Huowang raised the long sword in his hand and sliced at his left hand. His freshly grown fingernails were all shaved off, spinning out of the cave.

Accompanied by the human-demons' screams, Li Huowang quickly shifted his body, hiding his color underground and becoming invisible.

Before long, the black-robed human-demons crawled in from outside the cave on all fours. They seemed to be searching for Li Huowang, but couldn't find him anywhere.

Just then, some of the surviving elderly struggled to get up from the ground and warned the human-demons, "Good sons! That person went underground! They might have burrowing magic, so be careful!"

A strong surge of murderous intent welled up in Li Huowang's heart. He had never so strongly detested the existence of certain people, even more than the human-demons themselves, he loathed these 'old geezers'.

Hearing the elders' warning, one of the human-demons gripped two dry yellow leaves with their long-nailed, filthy fingers and swiftly wiped them across their hair-covered eyes.

As a kind of mournful wailing sound came from its mouth, all the human-demons rushed towards Li Huowang, carrying black dust, bronze-patina-covered Taoist bells, and dark-red peach wood swords.

"Nán Líng Nà Zhèn Guāng Jí Jí Shè!!" The copper coins of the copper coin sword in Li Huowang's hand quickly separated, pulled by red ropes, striking the human-demons like a long whip.

In an instant, a chaotic flurry of blades and shadows erupted in the small, dark cave.

While Li Huowang was entangled by two human-demons, one on his left and one on his right, another human-demon, holding a wooden umbrella with purple talismans serving as its canopy, attempted to sneak attack Li Huowang from behind.

Li Huowang's ears twitched slightly. He immediately turned and looked at it. The next moment, a cluster of black tentacles pushed open the bronze mask on Li Huowang's face and covered the human-demon's face, instantly ripping off half of it.

Li Huowang quickly pulled out a long, barbed awl and thrust it directly through his palm. Then, with a sudden pull, white marrow was forcefully extracted.

"Get out of here!!" Li Huowang roared. The two human-demons in front of him immediately clutched their left hands and stumbled to the ground.

At that very moment, the copper coins, tied with red ropes, quickly coiled around the necks of several human-demons.

Then, Li Huowang pulled hard on the copper coin sword in his hand, and heads fell to the ground.

As Li Huowang continuously harmed himself, the number of human-demons rapidly decreased; these beings were no match for him.

Seeing they were no match, the human-demons made a new move.

An incense burner made from an old man's head was placed on the ground, and three pale candles were lined up. The black-headed human-demon who had led the morning class earlier crawled up from the ground.

It first pulled out several constantly wriggling pills and stuffed them into its mouth. Then, its deformed feet stepped in a ritualistic gait, and it suddenly began to perform a ritual, holding a peach wood sword with black talismans inserted into it.

The incantation coming from its mouth was not human speech and was extremely indistinct, yet it had a peculiar cadence and charm.

A creature with twisted limbs, blind eyes, and a protruding mouth was actually performing an incantation like a human—this scene was truly terrifying.

What was even more terrifying was that Li Huowang didn't know what kind of ritual the other party was performing, but he was certain that it absolutely couldn't be allowed to continue chanting.

He forcefully pushed off the ground with both feet and charged towards the human-demon, once again drawing the Purple Tassel Sword and savagely slicing at his left hand.

Two fingers were directly severed, spiraling towards the human-demon, bones included.

With two "clang" sounds, Li Huowang's fingers were blocked by other human-demons.

The human-demon performing the ritual saw Li Huowang, quickly flipped over, and threw two black flags, planting one to Li Huowang's left and one to his right. Then, it forcefully plunged the black-mist-emitting peach wood sword in its hand into the ground.

The black mist from the peach wood sword instantly surged into the ground, and a peculiar circular talisman, formed by some special characters, rapidly emerged, centered around Li Huowang.