Chapter 719: 阵

With a whoosh, Li Huowang, having been thrown into the air by Peng Longtang, crashed heavily into the crowd. Centered around Li Huowang, a wave of fire erupted. Everything engulfed by this fiery wave turned into intensely burning torches along with him.

At this very moment, Peng Longteng, also engulfed in flames, charged forward, wielding her massive halberd and crushing the followers of the Dharma Sect. Her heavy armor had been completely scorched dark red by the fire. Among the crowd, she was an unstoppable force, slaying all in her path. Many attacks struck Peng Longteng. Even though she sustained fatal injuries, she simply refused to fall. The last weakness of the military strategists had been compensated for by Li Huowang's ability.

"Die! Damn you all, die!!"

Peng Longteng now felt the thrill of galloping across battlefields from years past return. She loved this feeling; she loved killing, loved seeing living people trampled to a pulp beneath her horse's hooves.

Clearly, these people were caught off guard by Li Huowang and Peng Longteng's assault. Many, engulfed in flames, fell to the ground motionless before they could react. However, facing Li Huowang's ferocious onslaught, these individuals were evidently well-prepared.

"Heavenly Crystal, Radiant Jade Pond East, Allied Might's Saint commands the Verdant Child! Throw fire ten thousand miles, Kan-Zhen Palace, rain cavalry swiftly arrive from the Great Mist, Wood Lord Taiyi, three mountains mighty, thunder rends stone, springs gush forth! With one sound, the four seas shed their gloom, where the rain formation reaches, rivers swell!"

As three peach wood swords, each adorned with a purple talisman, pointed skyward, dark clouds gathered. As the oppressive clouds descended, a torrential downpour began to drench Li Huowang, who was engulfed in flames. Although the heavy rain from above couldn't extinguish the great fire on Li Huowang's body, which originated from Bahui, it could, however, suppress the flames' spread.

Amidst the heavy rain, a shaman (Wucheng) wearing a mask with the character 'Wu' emerged from Li Huowang's shadow, clutching an obsidian dagger, and aimed for his calf, ready to strike. However, at that very moment, a tentacle shot out, firmly coiling around the shaman's hand. "Don't you dare touch my father!" The shaman turned his head and saw more black tentacles lunging towards him. The tentacles, made even more slippery by the rain, smoothly slid in from the edge of his mask and quickly burrowed into his seven orifices.

Once Li Sui quickly adapted to this new body, she immediately turned around, raised the obsidian dagger in her hand, and began assisting Li Huowang. Under the combined assault of Li Huowang, Sui Sui, and Peng Longteng, bodies fell one after another. Yet, the distant Taishan Stone showed no sign of urgency, standing with his hands behind his back, silently calculating something. As his fingers behind his back rapidly performed calculations, the Dharma Sect followers around Li Huowang began to move around him in a specific pattern.

"This Taishan Stone still seems to be in charge! I haven't seen him in months, and this fellow from Great Qi has managed to do so well here!" Li Huowang stared intently at Taishan Stone, muttering inwardly. "Killing more of these cannon fodder is useless! Let's take out this guy first!" Thinking this, Li Huowang gave Peng Longteng a signal.

Peng Longteng, a veteran of countless battles, instantly understood his meaning. She immediately raised her halberd with both hands, and the heavy, flaming weapon spun with a "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" as it flew towards Taishan Stone. Seeing the heavy weapon flying towards them, an old man beside Taishan Stone suddenly moved his sleeve. Several dark figures emerged from his shadow and lunged at the weapon. But just as the dark figures were about to strike the halberd, Li Huowang frowned in the distance, and the halberd instantly transformed from solid to ethereal, passing directly through the dark figures.

The halberd, now a mere illusion again, did not stop. Instead, it continued its trajectory towards Taishan Stone at its previous speed. Now, at this moment, no one could see this halberd except Li Huowang. The instant the illusion was about to strike Taishan Stone's face, with Li Huowang's gaze, the halberd once again transformed from ethereal to solid. At such close range, even a Great Luo Immortal would likely be unable to dodge. The halberd solidly struck Taishan Stone's body.

However, the fate of Jin Shanzhao was not replayed on Taishan Stone. When the halberd struck Taishan Stone, it produced a dull thud, a sound that no mortal body could ever make. Immediately after, Taishan Stone reached out and firmly caught the halberd. Under the gaze of Li Huowang and Peng Longteng, he gripped the halberd with both hands and, with a creaking sound, forcefully snapped the halberd, which was as thick as a bowl's mouth, in half.

Taishan Stone tossed the broken halberd to the ground, looking at Li Huowang with indifference. "Form ranks!"

No sooner had he spoken than the Dharma Sect followers around Li Huowang uniformly stripped off their clothes, revealing the dense, intricate tattoos covering their bodies. Those tattoos were peculiar, not resembling ordinary writing, but rather an odd script formed by circles of various sizes. Amidst the torrential rain, these followers, their faces adorned with 'Wu' character masks, began to move rapidly, their bodies contorting.

Their contorted bodies, along with their tattoos, formed a massive living magic array. Li Huowang was at the very center of this array. Unlike the decoy in the swamp earlier, this array was noticeably larger and more profound. Strange sounds immediately emanated from their mouths. These seemed to be some kind of scripture or chant, but some of the interspersed sounds were incredibly difficult for a human mouth to produce.

"Om na li luo mou duo ma he, the Heavenly Gate opens from this point; Om ma li duo dou luo suo he, the secluded door never closes; Om tuo su li duo ma ji suo he, transcending life and death..."

Gradually, these sounds subtly harmonized, and faint crane calls began to emerge within them. Li Huowang didn't know what they were planning, but it was clear that if he didn't stop them soon, the trouble would only escalate!

The Spined Sword was drawn, and streaks of fissures shot out, cutting into the flesh-and-blood array, slicing the Dharma Sect followers, who seemed ready to dodge, into two pieces. Yet, even so, the Dharma Sect's array remained unaffected. Even if a person died, their tattoos strangely peeled off their skin, remaining suspended in mid-air and connected to the others.

A faint crane cry echoed in Li Huowang's ears, and he felt a gaze fixed on him from above. This familiar sensation made Li Huowang's heart sink. "Surely not? To deal with me, they're trying to summon the Yu'er God to the mortal realm?!" Back in the capital of Daliang, Li Huowang remembered the power of the Yin-Yang Doumu. And that was merely an avatar; even Zhuge Yuan couldn't withstand it back then. If this Yu'er God truly descended, even if he was the Heart-Bound of Ji Zai, he would surely die!

Li Huowang knew this, Peng Longteng knew it, and even Sui Sui knew it. They rapidly slaughtered most of the people within the array, yet the crane cries only grew clearer. Li Huowang raised his sword and tried to sever the strange tattoos floating in the air. These tattoos were easily cut, but once the blade moved away, they reconnected themselves.

"Li Huowang, since you refuse the toast and choose the forfeit, then today marks your demise!" The gloomy-faced Taishan Stone shouted at Li Huowang. "You should feel honored! Not just anyone gets to see the true face of Grandfather Shidu!"

"Want me to wait for death? Dream on!" With fierce resolve, Li Huowang casually tossed aside the long sword in his hand, pushed off Peng Longteng's palm with his feet, and leaped directly into mid-air. In mid-air, Li Huowang hung upside down, his eyes, bleached white by the flames, observing the living human array below.

As the saying goes, 'the higher you stand, the farther you see.' At this moment, Li Huowang had the entire array fully within his sight. The twisted array seemed to form a massive character 'Dian'. The crane cries in his ears became increasingly distinct. A grim-faced Li Huowang extended one hand to grasp the upper half of the 'Dian' character, and extended his other hand to grasp the lower half.