Chapter 416: Retreat

Li Huowang scoffed at the other Heavenly Stems Inspectors. "Hahaha, you want this Six Luminaries Almanac too? You wish! Such a valuable item, of course, belongs to us, the Forgetful Daoists!"

As Li Huowang spoke, the hallucination of Red Mid, as if celebrating a festival, laughed maniacally, circling him and clapping. Whether alive or dead, Red Mid had never been so joyful.

Everyone fighting paused, their gazes fixed on the large 'Red Mid' character on Li Huowang's face, and then on the Supervising Official he held.

The Heavenly Stems Inspectors who had been cornering Zhuge Yuan were particularly stunned. They had never conceived that this supposed ally was actually a Forgetful Daoist impostor, and one who had directly slain the Supervising Official.

The very next moment, almost all the Heavenly Stems Inspectors abandoned their pursuit of Zhuge Yuan and surged towards Li Huowang. With the Supervising Official dead, they knew they had to capture him to avoid severe punishment and imprisonment from their own bureau.

"Dad, they're coming, they're rushing towards you," Li Sui's voice resonated within Li Huowang's mind from the surrounding darkness. The crazed Li Huowang mentally replied, "Don't panic. Push your eyeballs out and guide me!"

Holding the blood-stained old almanac aloft, Li Huowang followed Li Sui's directions, leaping and bounding towards the distant city wall.

In this strange and chaotic world, anything was possible. Even if the Supervising Official, as one of the Heavenly Stems Inspectors' authorities, wasn't easily killed, Li Huowang didn't care about success or failure. He had done all this merely to express the Forgetful Dao's stance.

He and the Heavenly Stems Inspectors had always been at odds; his true objective remained the "Heart-Pure" Northern Wind.

Since he knew Northern Wind was still in the capital, for his own ends, the Heavenly Stems Inspectors and the Forgetful Daoists *had* to clash. Even if they refused, he would forcefully ignite the conflict.

After being deceived so many times by the Forgetful Daoists, why shouldn't he exploit them in return?

Furthermore, Li Huowang wasn't concerned that the Heavenly Stems Inspectors would verify the "Red Mid" claim with the Forgetful Daoists. The Forgetful Daoists had become like the boy who cried wolf; after numerous false alarms, even if they spoke the truth, no one would believe them.

With the Supervising Official now dead, attributed to "Red Mid," the Forgetful Daoists were in a truly compromising position; they would be implicated regardless. This tactic, too, was something Li Huowang had learned from them.

Across the rooftops, Li Huowang, with talismans affixed to his knees, leaned forward, enduring the intense pain in his face. He laughed maniacally as he sprinted, occasionally shouting taunts back at his pursuers.

The instigation had worked. Now he only needed to evade the Heavenly Stems Inspectors' blockade and revert to his true identity, "Ear-Long."

Just as he cleared a rooftop, a sudden surge of killing intent, seemingly from nowhere, made Li Huowang's hair stand on end.

Suddenly, Li Huowang felt his body move on its own, executing a sharp twist in mid-air. Blinded, he could only sense a powerful gust of wind, carrying something, graze past him.

"Dad, someone on the wall is swinging a big stick at us," Li Sui informed him, helping Li Huowang dodge the attack.

"Don't panic, the city wall isn't far; we'll be out soon!" Just as Li Huowang was about to say this, he suddenly felt an extremely strange aura emanate from behind him, locking onto him.

This eerie shift made Li Huowang's heart tighten. "Li Sui, what is it? What's happening behind us?"

"Dad, the person you just killed, he's standing up again! He's looking at your head."

"What?! The Supervising Official isn't dead?! No! He must be completely gone; what's inhabiting his body now is definitely not him!"

Even a seemingly ordinary person could possess more unusual capabilities than Li Huowang had ever imagined.

Li Huowang couldn't decipher what it was from Li Sui's description, but one thing was certain: this wasn't over.

"Go!" Li Huowang commanded, blindly manipulating his body to dislocate and become invisible, then charging with all his might towards the capital's city gate.

As he ran, Li Huowang suddenly felt a chill on his head, immediately followed by the sound of something dropping to the ground. Then, the strange aura that had been clinging to him vanished.

In this critical moment, Li Huowang disregarded all else. Noticing his body was still mobile, he continued his frantic retreat.

"Come on, lads! Let's go help Boss Red Mid!"

"Boss Red Mid, go on! We'll avenge you!"

"Boss Red Mid, you absolutely must deliver that almanac you're holding!"

Hearing the indignant cries of the Forgetful Daoists behind him, Li Huowang couldn't help but sneer inwardly, "You deceivers, who knew you'd have your own day of being deceived."

Whether the Forgetful Daoists were truly acting as a rear guard or not, the pressure around Li Huowang suddenly plummeted, and he swiftly reached the city gate.

The heavy city gate was already closed, but it posed no challenge to Li Huowang. Wielding his copper coin sword, he sliced through the gate as easily as if it were paper.

After expending considerable effort, Li Huowang felt a surge of elation as his hand brushed against dense foliage; he had finally escaped the city.

"Li Sui! Keep a close watch! Are there still pursuers behind us?" Li Huowang silently prompted Li Sui in his mind.

"No," Li Sui replied, "they seem to have been blocked by those people in iron armor."

Despite receiving the best possible answer, Li Huowang remained vigilant. He continued to weave through the forest, occasionally becoming invisible or diving into water.

Several hours later, only when his body was utterly drained of energy did Li Huowang finally slow to a stop. He slumped onto a stone, drenched in sweat, to recover his strength.

"Given the current situation, the capital must be in chaos and under heightened security. It seems I'll have to wait outside for a while before returning."

"But I can't wait too long, or else if the Heavenly Stems Inspectors and the Forgetful Daoists begin fighting, I might miss my chance."

Just as Li Huowang pondered this, the rustle of footsteps on dry leaves suddenly broke the silence to his left.

Li Huowang was about to listen intently when, the next instant, a terrified scream pierced the air: "Ghost!!"

However, after that lone scream, which sent birds scattering through the trees, silence returned. This left Li Huowang, who had been bracing himself for a desperate struggle, completely bewildered.

"Li Sui, who made that sound?" Li Huowang mentally asked Li Sui again.

"An old man," Li Sui replied. "He's carrying a lot of wood and is now lying motionless on the ground."

A puzzled Li Huowang groped his way towards the spot. He soon felt an old man dressed in burlap, whose deeply wrinkled face testified to his advanced age.

The firewood on his back and the chipped hatchet in his hand suggested he was merely an ordinary woodcutter.

His pulse was still beating at his neck, so he was likely just scared unconscious, not to death.

Li Huowang then realized the man had probably been terrified by his 'Red Mid' face. After all, ordinary people wouldn't have seen such a gruesome sight.

With this thought, Li Huowang pulled a dagger from his tool pouch, preparing to restore his facial features.

But as his hands reached for his head, he found the space where it should have been was empty, save for a few of Li Sui's tentacles swaying there, with other tentacles wrapped around two eyeballs bobbing erratically.

"Where's my head?" The question abruptly sprang into Li Huowang's mind.