Chapter 528: 斩

Li Huowang, observing everything from the rafters, silently reached out and removed the two eyeballs entangled in Li Sui's tentacles. "What an elaborate show King Ren is putting on."

King Ren's face, lacking vitality, was now adorned with the makeup of a young male opera character. He was intensely performing an opera scene with the leading female role, though they were currently lying in bed, moving and singing simultaneously.

Listening to their undulating stream of vulgarities, Li Huowang's right hand was gripping so tightly that his knuckles were white. He wished he could pluck Li Sui's ears off if he could find them.

Li Huowang remained vigilant, ready to strike the moment his target was most vulnerable. As the operatic cries intensified, reaching their climax, a murderous glint flashed in Li Huowang's eyes. He pushed off with his feet, drew his sword, and plunged downwards.

His Spine Bone Sword left a blur as he forcefully brought it down towards King Ren on the bed.

The fissure, representing the Great Qi, sliced downwards. With a grating rip, a transparent mosquito net, finely woven from metal threads, suddenly appeared, interposing itself between Li Huowang and King Ren. This was clearly King Ren's contingency plan against assassins, yet whatever its purpose, it was utterly futile against the fissure, which effortlessly sliced through it.

The leading female role, still lying on the bed, spotted the abnormality above them faster than King Ren, who was crawling. Her face, adorned with opera makeup, instantly blanched in terror, as she cried out, "Oh, my Lord!"

Uttering a sorrowful lament, the female lead pushed with all her might, shoving King Ren off the bed. However, Li Huowang had anticipated this, deliberately extending the fissure. Without a sound, both the female lead and King Ren, who had fallen from the bed, were instantly severed in two, their blood gradually staining the surrounding floor.

"Is that it? Was it too easy?" Just as Li Huowang thought he had finished the job, a palm-sized yellow "skin-man" emerged from King Ren's hair. It didn't even wait to grow larger, instead swaying its light body and rushing outwards. "King Ren actually had something like this on him!" Li Huowang gritted his teeth, drew his sword, and gave chase.

But just as Li Huowang's weapon was about to strike the fleeing King Ren, a large group of shadow puppet figures emerged from under the bed. They frantically grabbed Li Huowang's shadow, immobilizing him for a moment. When Li Sui's tentacles swiftly extinguished all the candles on both sides, the shadow puppet figures vanished, and Li Huowang regained his freedom.

Yet, in that brief interval, the palm-sized King Ren had already grown back to normal size, though his body remained thin and flat. Accompanied by a rapid gong beat, white smoke rapidly spread in through the surrounding wooden windows, concealing King Ren's thin body.

"Die!" Li Huowang forcefully swung his Spine Bone Sword towards the direction where King Ren had vanished. The flying fissure swiftly cut through the white smoke.

To Li Huowang's disappointment, the cut smoke did not reveal King Ren's body. Instead, a grotesque figure appeared, holding a massive gold ingot and wearing a white-faced, black-bearded mask. The large copper coin official's hat on its head swayed back and forth. Its legs, as if lacking joints, waddled and bounced towards Li Huowang in time with the gong beat.

Upon seeing the two copper coins at the mask's eye holes, Li Huowang instantly recognized the figure. "A Hopping God of Wealth, then?"

Gritting his teeth, Li Huowang tightened his grip on his Spine Bone Sword and charged directly towards the masked God of Wealth before him, without any attempt to evade. Since the ambush had failed, he now had no choice but to confront them head-on. He had to eliminate King Ren before other reinforcements from King Ren's manor arrived.

As the two drew closer, Li Sui acted first. A tentacle, thick as a bowl rim, emerged from Li Huowang's left neck, wrapped around the copper coin sword on Li Huowang's back, and swung it towards the God of Wealth.

"Brother Li, put that sword away quickly! It's covered in copper coins!" Zhuge Yuan's warning was cut short. With a "swish," individual copper coins, propelled by red threads, rapidly elongated, lashing out like a whip towards the opponent.

The moment the copper coins struck the enormous gold ingot, all the coins on the copper coin sword trembled violently and instantly broke free from Li Sui's control. As if drawn by a powerful magnet, the scattered copper coins all stuck to the gold ingot. Immediately after, as the God of Wealth forcefully raised the gold ingot in its hand, the copper coins re-formed into a sword and flew towards Li Huowang. Li Huowang, who had used the copper coin sword for so long, found it controlled by the opponent in that very instant.

"Whoosh!" Li Huowang instantly swung his Spine Bone Sword, delivering another powerful slash that sent the copper coin sword flying into the Great Qi.

The next moment, an alarm suddenly blared in Li Huowang's mind. He instinctively turned and abruptly raised his Spine Bone Sword above his head, blocking. "Boom!" The floor beneath Li Huowang's feet instantly splintered, sending dust flying. Li Sui's eight tentacles likewise plunged into the ground, barely resisting the immense pressure. A massive silver mace, composed of various sizes of fragmented silver, pressed down on the Spine Bone Sword like a mountain.

"Li Sui! Take the sword!" The moment the black tentacles wrapped around the Spine Bone Sword's hilt, Li Huowang, now with a free hand, drew his Purple Tassel Sword and swiftly brought it down onto his own left hand. His arm broke off, instantly forming a claw that lashed out at the enemy before him. Seizing this opportunity, Li Huowang retrieved his Spine Bone Sword and widened the distance between himself and his opponent.

Having escaped immediate danger, Li Huowang looked at his attacker. This person wore the same mask as the "hopping God of Wealth" from before, but their attire was vastly different. This eight-foot-tall man rode a growling leopard adorned with coins. He was clad in heavy copper coin armor, wielded a heavy silver mace made of fragmented silver, and had four yellow banners, each inscribed with the character for "wealth," stuck into his back.

"God of Martial Wealth? God of Civil Wealth?" Li Huowang's gaze swept over the two enemies concealed within the white smoke. As he spoke, the two Gods of Wealth—one civil, one martial—began to circle Li Huowang from left and right, the piercing, rapid gong beat continuing in his ears.

"This won't do," Li Huowang thought. "Even if I can defeat these two, King Ren will surely be long gone by then." Li Huowang thought anxiously, various ideas appearing and vanishing in his mind.

When he saw several other dark figures emerging from the white smoke, Li Huowang tightened his grip on the Spine Bone Sword's hilt and swung it powerfully before him. This time, the fissure was enormous, large enough for a person to enter. "Li Sui! Get in there!"

Li Huowang's body swiftly shifted, bringing him to the edge of the fissure. The Great Qi's rift was within arm's reach; he could even see what lay inside. This was the solution Li Huowang had suddenly devised: using the Great Qi as a springboard to escape the encirclement of these Daliang people.

As Li Sui produced two talismans and affixed them to Li Huowang's legs, Li Huowang exerted all his strength, inching closer to the fissure. But it still wasn't enough!