Chapter 358: 大神二神

"Put this on; you look unsightly naked." Hong Da handed his reeking beggar's robe to the naked Li Huowang.

Li Huowang thanked him and draped the robe, covered in rusty blades, over himself.

As he reached out, preparing to put on the clothes, Li Huowang noticed his own mangled forearm.

Something seemed to have been carved into the skin there, but it was burned and completely fused together.

"Strange, what's going on?" Li Huowang slowly lowered his hand in confusion, pulling Hong Da's robe over himself.

No longer naked, Li Huowang was about to turn and follow Jixiang and the others, but after just two steps, he suddenly stopped. "No! Something's wrong!"

Li Huowang quickly rolled up his sleeve, revealing the fused wound. He pulled out a dagger and sliced open the skin next to it.

He grabbed the skin and pulled hard. With a sound like tearing leather, the flesh and tendons underneath were revealed.

The words carved there were deep and clearly visible on the flesh.

After reading the words in shock, Li Huowang quickly turned and shouted to Jixiang, "It's Xinzhuo!"

Jixiang's expression immediately brightened upon hearing this. "Oh! I remember now! We came looking for you to help us catch Xinzhuo!"

However, the very next moment, all three of their expressions changed, and the atmosphere instantly became exceptionally tense.

"Xinzhuo is already out! They're hiding our memories of him!"

Li Huowang drew his Purple Ear Sword, scanning his surroundings with extreme caution.

"Maybe it's more than that. Perhaps Xinzhuo has already hidden some of our people, and we just don't remember. Whatever you do, don't look into his eyes."

"Clack, clack, clack," Jixiang moved the abacus beads, seemingly calculating something.

When the abacus fell silent, three of the five beads in a set had been moved upwards.

"Three people. Xinzhuo has hidden three people," Jixiang stated, making Li Huowang and Hong Da's scalps tingle with unease. They hadn't realized three companions were missing.

Li Huowang's right hand moved swiftly, carving Jixiang's words onto his arm, so Xinzhuo couldn't hide them.

"I'll try to force it out; you two stand guard!" Jixiang slammed the abacus onto the ground and began to clack away furiously.

Hong Da walked over with a grave expression, pulling out rusty blades and arranging them quickly around Jixiang in a lotus shape, with the blades facing inward.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang, unable to do anything else, remained vigilant.

Time passed, and as Jixiang continued working the abacus, the numbers once again lost their meaning. However, this time it wasn't as effective as before.

Even though Jixiang was sweating profusely from his efforts, Xinzhuo remained nowhere to be seen.

Li Huowang scanned his surroundings with a grim expression. Just then, he suddenly noticed several more lines of text on his arm, which he couldn't remember carving.

They were his own notes, but the memory of writing them seemed to have been hidden by Xinzhuo; he had no recollection of when he had written them.

"Jixiang's efforts are working, but they're weak! Listen carefully with your ears! Hurry! Xinzhuo hasn't just hidden Tuobadanqing and Liuzongyuan; Miaomiao is also gone!"

"Er Shen never left! She secretly took Miaomiao to help us! Go save them! We absolutely cannot let them suffer the same fate as Xinzhuo's family!"

Li Huowang's body trembled, and goosebumps erupted all over him.

Without hesitation, Li Huowang removed the cotton wads from his ears, using his extremely sharp hearing to perceive everything around him.

At first, Li Huowang was almost deafened by the roar. Each clack of the abacus beads sounded like a deafening crash in his ears.

"Dad... it's so loud, so loud!"

"Bear with it, it'll be over soon! We need to save your mother!" Li Huowang gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and focused all his energy on discerning the sounds.

Initially, it was incredibly noisy, but as Li Huowang gradually calmed himself, he began to hear other sounds.

"Uncle... crazy..."

"No, that's not it!" Li Huowang gritted his teeth, clutched his head with both hands, and pressed hard inward.

Finally, some sounds began to clear, specifically a set of footsteps that appeared and disappeared suddenly.

"Over... here!!" Li Huowang's eyes snapped open, a cold glint in them. He slashed directly behind a tree.

The tree, wide enough for a man, was split in two by a single sword stroke, revealing a raggedly dressed man.

The man looked at Li Huowang with dull eyes, and Li Huowang's Purple Ear Sword instantly vanished from his hand.

"Here we go again, huh!" Li Huowang plunged his hands into his abdomen, deliberately breaking two more ribs.

With a squelching sound, Xinzhuo doubled over and screamed along with Li Huowang.

Li Huowang endured the intense pain, roaring as he charged at Xinzhuo.

The male Xinzhuo glared intensely at Li Huowang, but to his surprise, his ability, which had always worked, suddenly failed.

By the time he recovered, Li Huowang was only ten feet away, and Li Sui's tentacles were already flailing, ready to cover the opponent's eyes.

In this critical situation, the male Xinzhuo showed no panic. He suddenly raised his left hand, and a figure appeared out of thin air, hurtling towards Li Huowang. It was Tuobadanqing, who had disappeared earlier.

That wasn't all; immediately afterward, Liuzongyuan was also thrown out.

When the third person was thrown out, Li Huowang's tense heart finally inexplicably...

...relaxed. It was Miaomiao.

Ignoring the male Xinzhuo, Li Huowang instinctively spread his arms to catch her.

But as Li Huowang caught her steadily, their eyes met. Neither spoke, yet their gazes conveyed a wealth of unspoken emotion.

Just as Li Huowang was setting the girl down, Miaomiao gradually vanished, hidden once more.

"Xinzhuo!!" Li Huowang roared, veins bulging on his forehead, as he charged at the opponent.

But just as he was about to get close, another figure collided with him; this time it was Er Shen.

In this manner, the male Xinzhuo continuously threw the hidden individuals around like stones.

Various vanished items were alternately tossed and then disappeared again.

In terms of using his abilities, this male Xinzhuo was clearly far more skilled than the female one.

Li Huowang knew this couldn't continue. If this went on, Jixiang wouldn't be able to hold out.

If Jixiang gave out, finding Xinzhuo again would be harder than scaling the heavens.

He had to find a way to counter his opponent.

Seeing the two women being thrown at him again, Li Huowang quickly winked at them. Bai Lingmiao nodded slightly.

Soon, Bai Lingmiao and Er Shen gradually vanished again. The moment they reappeared, entangled with various debris, Li Huowang grabbed the ribs protruding from his chest and twisted them violently.

Xinzhuo immediately doubled over in pain. At that moment, Er Shen, still mid-air, quickly inverted herself and forcefully stomped on the sole of Bai Lingmiao's foot with her embroidered shoe.

Using the recoil, Bai Lingmiao launched herself towards the male Xinzhuo.

In that instant, Bai Lingmiao reached for a long sword nearby.

"Don't take it!!" Li Huowang shouted to stop her. It was his vanished Purple Ear Sword!

Bai Lingmiao knew, but in this situation, she had no choice.

Just as Xinzhuo painfully lifted his head, the Purple Ear Sword accurately pierced the male Xinzhuo's forehead.

The moment Xinzhuo died, everything around them fell silent.

Li Huowang's eyes widened, staring fixedly at Bai Lingmiao's hand clutching the Purple Ear Sword.

"Hehe..."

Bai Lingmiao suddenly began to laugh. Her body slightly hunched, she laughed along with Er Shen, and then their laughter grew louder and louder.

"Hahahahahaha!!!"