Chapter 408: Emperor

A trembling clang of a gong echoed from the distant doorway, followed by solemn music that drew closer and closer. The Emperor of Great Qi had truly arrived.

Before Li Huowang could react, the official beside him, who had been leisurely drinking vinegar from a small dish, instantly turned pale, stood up, and rushed frantically towards the doorway.

When Li Huowang stepped into the outer courtyard, he saw everyone, including the esteemed Elder Qin and Lord Liang, kneeling on the ground.

The music intensified, and with it, a rich fragrance. The circular top of the Emperor's chariot slowly emerged into view from behind the tall wall.

As the procession drew nearer, four pillars, painted with red cloud dragons and adorned with dark blue satin ribbons, became visible. Between these pillars, canopies featuring black cloud dragon and feather patterns completely enclosed the wooden structure.

Li Huowang thought the procession was complete, but to his surprise, the Emperor of Great Qi's chariot continued to grow taller and larger, seemingly without end. It was laden with an ever-increasing array of items: lanterns, dragon flags, round jade ornaments, movable rings, and bells, all densely covering the magnificent structure.

Accompanied by solemn music, this huge, magnificent, yet strangely top-heavy wooden structure approached like a moving mountain. To Li Huowang and the others, it appeared to grow ever larger, casting an overwhelming sense of oppression.

In the dim light, it resembled a colossal, bloated infant, looking down upon everyone in Lord Liang's courtyard.

At this moment, the fragrance emanating from the Emperor's chariot intensified, becoming so potent it was almost choking.

Just as Li Huowang approached Zhuge Yuan, intending to speak, Jinyiwei guards in red robes poured in from the doorway, completely surrounding the area.

A line of bald old eunuchs, carrying fly whisks, followed. They formed a human wall beneath the main wall, standing motionless with pale faces. Against the darkness of the night, they resembled rows of paper figures.

At some point, the music gradually faded away. The silence that followed was absolute, as if not even a breath could be heard.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang stood in a corner, observing everything before him like a detached spectator. His gaze was mostly fixed on the huge wooden structure, his mind deep in thought.

"Grand Tutor said you were playing here, why didn't you invite me to play?" A tender, childish voice suddenly rang out from behind the multi-layered curtains.

As soon as these words were uttered, the faces of those kneeling instantly turned exceptionally pale. Some weaker individuals looked as if they might collapse to the ground.

"What are you playing? Let me play with it."

As he spoke, a boy wearing an imperial crown and a gold and black dragon robe peeked his head out from behind the layers of curtains.

The sight was exceedingly bizarre; it was as if the enormous, splendid wooden structure before them was the colossal body of this tiny head.

The moment Li Huowang saw him, he knew instantly this was no mere child. No six-year-old could possess such a stark, unsettling gaze.

It was as if he didn't merely see a person's surface, but rather their flesh and the bones beneath.

As Li Huowang gazed at the figure before him, a flicker of bewilderment crossed his mind. "Did Zhuge Yuan truly twist this into existence? It seems too real," he wondered.

At that moment, the eunuchs suddenly spotted the two figures standing incongruously, and their faces contorted with rage. "How dare you!" they roared. "The Emperor has arrived! Why are you not kneeling?"

Li Huowang glanced at Zhuge Yuan, who returned his gaze.

Without hesitation, Li Huowang immediately produced two turmeric-colored talismans, bit his fingertip, and quickly drew symbols on them.

Once the talismans were drawn, Li Huowang affixed one to each leg. He then drew his Purple Tassel Sword and, leaving a blur in his wake, charged directly towards the Great Qi child emperor's massive chariot.

"You've been deceived! This Emperor is fake! It's a Disillusionment Dao impostor!" Li Huowang's shout exploded like thunder within the building.

The instant Li Huowang moved, the surrounding Jinyiwei guards swiftly formed a wall, blocking his path.

Zhuge Yuan's expression, meanwhile, became unusually grave. With a flick of his wrist, he placed an old, faded yellow imperial almanac, roughly two palms wide, on the ground.

He then pulled a white wolf-hair brush from his sleeve, raised his hand, and swayed it from side to side towards the dark sky. The night itself seemed to stain the brush's tip black.

The wolf-hair brush, now imbued with specks of starlight, descended vertically and wrote on a page of the old almanac: "Yi Hai Year, Gui Mao Golden Wall Day, Taboo: Fabrication of Lies, Taboo: Changing One's Appearance!"

The moment the brush tip lifted from the paper, the written characters also lifted from the old almanac.

As the black streak on the brush tip melted back into the night, it carried the yellow characters with it into the pitch-black sky.

Immediately, the child emperor's expression and the faces of some accompanying eunuchs began to twist. The Jinyiwei guards, however, looked utterly bewildered.

"Good! I've waited so long, and you've finally arrived!" Seeing this, Li Huowang unhesitatingly pulled out a pair of pliers and forcefully clamped them onto his own mouth. Several teeth scattered like falling petals.

Just then, several leaf cards shot up from the ground, piercing directly into Li Huowang's abdomen.

Yet, not a drop of blood emerged from Li Huowang's abdomen. Instead, his entire body tilted and sank into the ground, causing the Jinyiwei guards to momentarily lose sight of him.

When they regained their senses, they saw the red-robed Daoist push off the eaves with both feet, leaping towards the Emperor's chariot.

Li Huowang's bloodshot eyes were fixed on the rapidly approaching child's face, the hatred and murderous intent in his heart threatening to consume him.

As Li Huowang pulled out a fire-starter and scraped it against himself, surging flames instantly engulfed his newly healed skin. The intense agony coursing through his body made him throw his head back and scream, "Which damn suit are you?!"

At that moment, Li Huowang was like a kite ablaze, illuminating the entire dim sky. The air around him shimmered and twisted from the intense heat.

Witnessing such a grotesque sight, the Great Qi Emperor, disguised by the Disillusionment Dao, quickly retreated back into the curtains.

But by then, it was too late to hide. As Li Huowang, still airborne, crashed into the curtains, raging flames instantly engulfed the entire bloated wooden structure. Dense black smoke billowed skyward, accompanied by faint, muffled screams.

"Come out! Where are you?" Li Huowang searched within the flames.

Just then, a black shadow flashed from the distant curtains, rushing out of the wooden structure.

"Trying to escape?!" Li Huowang quickly grabbed the rib bone offered by a black tentacle, then crossed his hands and forcefully plunged it into his own abdomen. Instantly, all living beings within dozens of meters around him felt the same searing pain.

The black shadow in the distance immediately let out a shriek and tumbled into the blaze.

Li Huowang, still ablaze, endured the pain and approached the fallen figure. As he reached out to turn the person over, he discovered there was only a burning piece of shadow puppet.