Chapter 636: Law and Religion

With a ripping sound, the man in front of Li Huowang was instantly bisected by the Violet Wheat Sword, which effortlessly cut through metal.

However, before Li Huowang could even rest, an unending stream of Dharma Sect followers poured from the village entrance, fearlessly rushing towards him. Just moments before, they had been ordinary flesh-and-blood villagers, but now, they had all transformed into monsters unafraid of death.

The bearded man from the Celestial Monitoring Bureau beside him swung his crescent shovel, roaring as he fought his way in and out of the crowd. As Li Sui, controlling the copper coin sword, once again ripped open the skull of a Dharma Sect follower, Li Huowang's gaze swept into the distance.

Li Huowang had dealt with the Dharma Sect before; he knew it was futile to waste time fighting these cannon fodder. If he didn't eliminate their leader, these people probably wouldn't stop even if they were all dead. There had to be a leader among them!

Six tentacles abruptly pushed against the ground, propelling Li Huowang high into the air. From his vantage point, the entire mountain village lay before him. The two pupils in his single eye moved apart, one to the left and one to the right, rapidly scanning his surroundings for something.

After several consecutive leaps, his separated pupils converged again. A faint, shimmering character for "Witch" (巫) appeared on the mountain behind the village within his sight. "No wonder I couldn't find them!" he muttered. "These people weren't hiding in the village at all!"

Peng Longteng's tall figure instantly appeared beside Li Huowang, grabbed him with both hands, and forcefully threw him in that direction. Li Huowang's bag of torture tools rattled loudly in the strong wind as he hurtled like a stone towards the growing "Witch" character.

Just as Li Huowang was about to reach it, a cold flash of light pierced through the "Witch" character and, with extreme speed, leaving a trail of afterimages, instantly stabbed into Li Huowang's body. By the time Li Huowang landed, the cold light had already passed through his body, leaving only a wrist-thick bloodied hole in his abdomen.

"Sui Sui! Are you alright?" Li Huowang asked Li Sui, who was inside him, nervously while scanning his surroundings.

"Father, I'm fine. I dodged it."

Li Huowang, who was halfway up the mountain, frowned as he looked at the surrounding bushes and trees. Aside from the recent sneak attack, the opponent made no further moves, which was truly unexpected for Li Huowang. It seemed the Dharma Sect wasn't entirely reckless. After realizing he wasn't easy to deal with, they had actually hidden.

"Do they think I can't find them just because they're hiding?" Li Huowang immediately had Li Sui help him extract a bone fragment, then pulled out another piece of turmeric paper, and skillfully began to perform divination. After carefully examining the cracks on the bone fragment, Li Huowang began searching the surroundings.

Time passed bit by bit, but he found nothing. Just as Li Huowang thought his divination had failed this time, he stopped beside a rock face. Li Huowang carefully observed the direction of the vines on the rock face, then, gripping the hilt of the Violet Wheat Sword, he forcefully struck the rock face. The Violet Wheat Sword, which cut through iron like mud, instantly split the rock face, and a dark cave appeared before Li Huowang.

"In the mountain? So these guys were hiding in the mountain, and it's related to rocks," he pondered. "Could it be a technique of the Great Qi Dharma Sect?"

But before Li Huowang could widen the cave entrance, a flying locust stone shot out from it and hurtled towards his forehead. By the time Li Sui's tentacles steadily caught the flying locust stone, Li Huowang had already raised his sword, leaned forward, and charged into the cave entrance.

In the darkness, various hidden weapons continuously flew towards Li Huowang. With a thump, Peng Longteng's body heavily crashed in front of him, then continuously pushed forward like a massive shield. Using Peng Longteng as cover, Li Huowang moved forward along the cave, pushing directly to the end. It was too dark to see; he only felt numerous shadowy figures in the darkness.

"Kill!!" Li Huowang roared, fearlessly charging into the darkness, spilling the blood of Dharma Sect followers like a storm, destroying everything in his path. The current Li Huowang was no longer the Li Huowang of the past. Facing these Dharma Sect shamans, he fought his way in and out with unparalleled bravery, akin to Zhao Yun. A formidable murderous aura filled his dual pupils. These Dharma Sect followers had to be dealt with, otherwise, they would spread like a plague.

Just as Li Huowang forcibly twisted off the head of a dwarf, the surroundings suddenly brightened intensely. His single eye squinted, and for a moment he could only see a vast expanse of white. Just as Li Huowang rubbed his eyes, preparing to open them again, a tremendous force came from his left, sending him flying. He hit the wall and then fell to the ground. Li Huowang opened his mouth wide and spat out some slender tentacles wrapped with fragments of internal organs.

Reaching out, he stuffed the tentacles into his mouth and swallowed them. Li Huowang, who had been on one knee, stood up and looked at what had attacked him.

"Is that... a Xu Nian?"

Li Huowang looked at the massive four-legged beast in front of him with a shocked expression. This was the very Xu Nian he had joined forces with in Great Qi to fight against the Dragon Vein. Some of the scars from that battle were still visible on its body. The only difference was that it had no head. The woman's head was gone, leaving only the beast's body.

A woman with a "Witch" character on her face was riding on the Xu Nian's back like a horse, staring intently at Li Huowang as if waiting for something, not pressing her advantage.

"Father, your hair is turning white," Li Sui suddenly warned, prompting Li Huowang to look at the back of his hand. Wrinkles were rapidly accumulating there.

"Oh no! I was just hit by Xu Nian's sneak attack!" Li Huowang immediately pulled out his gourd and poured longevity pills into his mouth. After swallowing dozens of them, when Li Huowang saw the wrinkles on the back of his hand rapidly disappearing, he finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. Fortunately, he was a 'Heart-Elemental', with no restrictions on taking longevity pills; otherwise, that sneak attack would have killed him.

However, looking at the Xu Nian not far away, Li Huowang knew that this situation likely wouldn't be so straightforward. He had fought the Xu Nian once before, and even though Zhuge Yuan had set the trap, he couldn't deny the opponent's mysterious ability to steal age. Li Huowang truly hadn't expected Zhuge Yuan's friend to be captured and controlled by the Dharma Sect.

Becoming vigilant, Li Huowang quickly scanned his surroundings. It appeared to be inside a mountain cave, with stalactites resembling dental calculus covering the ceiling. The ground was uneven and sloped generally to the left. What greatly puzzled Li Huowang was that he had clearly killed many people in the darkness just now, yet now, there were no bloodstains anywhere, only knife marks on the ground.

But soon, Li Huowang saw shadowy figures in the distant darkness—things hiding in the darkness. The distant darkness was very strange; even with Li Huowang's excellent eyesight, he couldn't penetrate it to see what was inside.

The next moment, the recently lit cave began to plunge back into darkness inch by inch, and the Xu Nian in the distance, along with the things in the darkness, advanced towards Li Huowang. The cave, which had just been empty, suddenly seemed to be filled with people, attacking Li Huowang from all angles.