Chapter 518: Killing

The old eunuch, standing at the door of the meditation room, gently nodded after hearing what the palace maid said.

“I see. Wait here. I need to report this to the Empress Dowager first.” He opened the meditation room door just enough to slip inside.

A moment later, he emerged from the room with two handsome monks in neat robes. “Alright, carry them in. The Empress Dowager is waiting.”

“Father, what are they doing?”

Li Sui’s question rendered Li Huowang speechless. How could they brazenly do such things under the gaze of such a colossal Bodhisattva overhead? Did they have no reverence in their hearts?

Li Huowang ultimately offered no explanation to Li Sui, slowly making his way forward.

As he made his way along the roof beam, Li Huowang witnessed a scene of debauchery he had never encountered, even at Zhengde Temple. His eye twitched.

He had just imagined she felt shame for having to deal with her own son, but how could such a depraved woman harbor even a shred of shame?

After scanning the room, Li Huowang pushed off the wall with both feet and leaped towards the large bed.

To prevent the Empress Dowager from escaping the pile of people, Li Huowang, mid-air, didn't hesitate to gouge out his left eye and crush it violently in his hand.

A strange light instantly enveloped everything on the bed, freezing everyone’s movements. The next moment, Li Huowang violently brought down the spinal sword in his hand.

Just as the rift in the history of Great Qi was about to tear the Great Liang Empress Dowager in half, the entire bed suddenly shifted three meters to the left, narrowly dodging Li Huowang’s attack.

Opportunities were fleeting; Li Huowang couldn’t give up. He opened his mouth, and molars tumbled out, spitting towards the Empress Dowager.

As a figure emerged from the shadows to block the Empress Dowager, waving a white silk sleeve to deflect the molars, Li Huowang's severed hand incredibly swiftly pierced her abdomen and then plunged into the Empress Dowager’s chest.

Watching the Empress Dowager’s gaze dim as blood trickled from her lips, Li Huowang charged towards the door without hesitation. “Let’s go! To the Grand Princess!”

Li Sui’s tentacles emerged from Li Huowang’s severed arm, stretching out to retrieve the short hand that had flown off, reattaching it to Li Huowang’s body. Fine tentacles swiftly stitched the edges of the severed limb. “Father, your hand.”

By the time Li Huowang rushed to the Grand Princess’s door again, he found only the rear guard. In the distant Jade Pavilion, the Grand Princess was already fleeing, surrounded by various guards and eunuchs.

This was unexpected for Li Huowang. The enemy had no intention of fighting; they retreated immediately upon seeing the assassin.

“Get out of the way!” Li Huowang swept his spinal sword forcefully through the crowd in front of him, while behind him, Li Sui performed the same action with the copper coin sword.

To protect the Grand Princess, these eunuch guards charged at Li Huowang, risking their lives, but they couldn't even delay him for a moment.

As Li Huowang, eyes bloodshot, drew closer to the Grand Princess, crisp bell sounds, “Ding-dong, ding-dong,” chimed. A small, alluring foreign courtesan, her face covered by a translucent, hazy veil, gracefully danced towards him.

As she danced, clear, mesmerizing melodies continuously emanated from the bells on her wrists and ankles. Golden threads grew from her hair, and her entire body, covered in these threads, swayed with the music.

Li Huowang’s expression flickered in a daze. When he looked at the courtesan again, an inexplicable, powerful urge arose within him. All his feelings for Bai Lingmiao and Yang Na had now transferred entirely to her.

The courtesan approached Li Huowang, dancing provocatively close to him. The golden threads on her body, swaying with her movements, vibrated and pierced into Li Huowang's flesh.

Although his entire body was riddled with holes, Li Huowang felt no pain; instead, he experienced a strange pleasure, as if the golden threads were Bai Lingmiao’s and Yang Na’s small hands, gently caressing his whole body.

The courtesan suddenly lifted her veil and leaned in to kiss Li Huowang. Each twist and subtle movement drew the struggling Li Huowang deeper into her spell, and he completely failed to notice the pill at the base of her tongue.

However, the next moment, barbed tentacles burst out from Li Huowang’s mouth, swarming onto her face and violently tearing off the courtesan’s entire face.

As the courtesan shrieked, clutching her face, the tentacles dragged the skin back into Li Huowang’s throat. Coming to his senses, Li Huowang pulled out a dagger and plunged it into his own thigh.

The intense pain instantly sharpened Li Huowang’s mind. He struck down the courtesan with a single slash and relentlessly pursued the Grand Princess in her direction of escape.

“What kind of tactics are these? I’ve never seen anything like them before!” Li Huowang was fully alert, daring not to be careless again.

It seemed the Grand Princess had many capable people around her. If not for Li Sui’s help just now, she might have truly escaped!

Seeing two more eunuchs, each wielding a “blood drop” weapon, blocking his path, Li Huowang decided not to waste any more time on these rear guards.

“Li Sui! Ribs!” At Li Huowang’s synchronized cry, Li Sui, from within his body, decisively used tentacles to break off the two lowest ribs and push them out through his navel.

As the ribs crossed and violently impaled Li Huowang’s abdomen, the eunuchs wielding the blood drops immediately collapsed, screaming.

Four black tentacles, emerging from Li Huowang’s body, suddenly pushed off the ground. Li Huowang leaped, directly onto the rooftop, and pursued the Grand Princess by stepping on the tiles.

Subsequent groups were incapacitated by the intense pain Li Huowang inflicted, and he drew closer and closer to the beautiful Grand Princess.

When he was close enough, Li Huowang once again pulled out a blunted rib from his body. “Not enough pain! Li Sui! Skin!!”

The tentacles swaying outside Li Huowang’s body instantly pressed against him, hooking onto the edges of his scars with their barbed suckers.

As Li Huowang violently reinserted the rib into his body, Li Sui simultaneously peeled back all the scars on his body like inverted scales.

“Aaaah!!” The near-shock-inducing pain drove Li Huowang into a frenzy, but the price paid was effective. The Grand Princess’s entire retinue collapsed to the ground, screaming along with him, utterly losing their ability to resist.

However, just as Li Huowang released his grip on the rib and staggered forward with the spinal sword, a person wearing a black veil blocked his path.

Seeing the layered scars on the back of this person’s hand and the blood slowly seeping from beneath their large robe, Li Huowang’s heart sank.

“To endure such pain and still stand, this person must be from the Zoroastrian Cult!”