Chapter 758: Death

Amidst the pouring rain, a scholar in white stood there, looking completely out of place amidst his surroundings.

It was Zhuge Yuan, the very Zhuge Yuan who had died, now resurrected by Li Huowang with the help of the Spinal Sword.

Zhuge Yuan scanned his surroundings, immediately understanding what had transpired. He held his long-handled brush, lightly touching a point of red with it. Then, tightening his grip, he powerfully swept the brush across the chicken-legged figures before him.

At this moment, the brush in Zhuge Yuan's hand was like that of an underworld judge. Wherever it touched, the chicken-legged figures collapsed, silent and lifeless. The incense in the censers was instantly extinguished and could not be re-lit.

Zhuge Yuan turned to face Li Huowang. "Brother Li," he said, "long time no see. I trust you've been well?"

Li Huowang, whose head was throbbing, heard this. A painful smile was about to form on his face, but he suddenly remembered something and, with a pained expression, doubled over again.

He had to make it clear to himself: although this figure resembled Zhuge Yuan, he was not the real Zhuge Yuan. He was merely something he had forcibly cultivated through Daoist practice.

Now that his Daoist cultivation had reached a high level, he could use the Spinal Sword to cultivate Zhuge Yuan. But what was cultivated was ultimately false; the real Zhuge Yuan was dead, and he had to accept that reality.

He had only cultivated him as a tool, just like Peng Longteng! He couldn't transfer the feelings he held for the real Zhuge Yuan onto this fake.

He tried to distinguish between true and false, but as Li Huowang thought this, Zhuge Yuan's body began to rapidly disintegrate, on the verge of retreating back into the Spinal Sword.

The existence of anything cultivated through Daoist practice depended solely on Li Huowang's thoughts. He couldn't be so clear-cut; if he didn't truly believe from the bottom of his heart that the Zhuge Yuan before him was real, then Zhuge Yuan couldn't be cultivated into existence.

Zhuge Yuan noticed the predicament and immediately reminded him: "Brother Li, regardless of whether I am fake or not, if you truly believe I am fake, then I will cease to exist."

Li Huowang let out a pained roar, violently raising his head, his tear-filled eyes looking at Zhuge Yuan.

And the body that had been disintegrating gradually stabilized, as Zhuge Yuan reappeared before Li Huowang.

Gazing at the familiar face, Li Huowang's trembling fingers extended, pointing towards the enemies around them.

"Help me! Help me kill them! Kill them all!!!"

Zhuge Yuan nodded gently. As he turned back around, he once again wielded the brush in his hand.

The chicken-legged figures in the heavy rain fell in swathes, like stalks of wheat. They immediately sensed something was wrong.

All of them, with unspoken understanding, converged on Li Huowang from all directions. They did not attack the powerful Zhuge Yuan; instead, they targeted Li Huowang, who was kneeling in pain.

It was clear that they had witnessed Li Huowang's recent Daoist cultivation and understood the causal link between him and Zhuge Yuan.

However, with Zhuge Yuan present, these figures were clearly mistaken in their strategy; they couldn't even get close to Li Huowang.

Once Zhuge Yuan appeared, the outcome of this engagement seemed to be sealed.

The chicken-legged figures seemed to want to struggle further. No matter what methods they devised, Zhuge Yuan always managed to neutralize them one by one. The disparity in power between the two sides was simply too great.

Faced with Zhuge Yuan's power, these chicken-legged figures were clearly no match. With each stroke of his brush, the surrounding chicken-legged figures rapidly vanished. The incense smoke in the air gradually dissipated, and not a wisp of white smoke drifted into the white bamboo hat.

Amidst the heavy rain, on the blood-soaked altar, Zhuge Yuan stood alone in the center as the surroundings gradually quieted.

"Brother Li," he said, "let go. I am a false Zhuge Yuan. The true one is already dead."

Hearing these words, Li Huowang, who had been clutching his head in the heavy rain, suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground, lying face down in the rainwater, gasping for breath.

Maintaining Zhuge Yuan's existence was incredibly painful every single moment; his entire head felt as if it were about to explode.

Without Li Huowang's sustainment, Zhuge Yuan's body, standing nearby, rapidly began to dissipate. He looked at Li Huowang and slowly said: "Brother Li, may I ask you one more thing? Has Great Qi truly been saved?"

After seeing Li Huowang nod gently, a contented Zhuge Yuan transformed back into the Spinal Sword, which then stuck diagonally into the ground.

"Father." Li Sui, now visible, crawled over. Her tentacles clumsily helped Li Huowang up. "Father, don't be scared. Your head is still there. Your head is still there."

Ignoring Li Sui's words, Li Huowang stood up, surveying the aftermath of the battle around him.

The altar was strewn with fallen chicken-legged figures. Most of them were dead, and any who weren't were quickly meeting the same fate, pursued by Zhao Jiabao and his people.

The entire wooden city, with rainwater from above and blood from below intertwined, had transformed into a city of blood, standing in the deep mountains.

Above the viscous, muddy blood was the colossal four-legged idol, draped in red cloths and squatting centrally in the city.

Although it looked even more terrifying, submerged in the blood, at least it was no longer moving. This allowed Li Huowang to breathe a complete sigh of relief.

Despite this, Li Huowang remained cautious. He turned to Zhao Jiabao, who was nearby, and ordered: "Send everyone out! Search the entire city, inside and out! Kill anything that's alive! Leave no one!"

It was precisely at such a moment that extra caution was needed, as it concerned defeating the Dharma Sect. Li Huowang dared not be careless.

He even wanted to struggle to his feet and join them, but his head, feeling as if it were about to explode, wouldn't allow it.

As a Heart-Worm, the energy required to cultivate Zhuge Yuan was undoubtedly immense. Even with the help of the Spinal Sword, cultivating Zhuge Yuan had been an extremely strenuous undertaking.

"Xuanpin! Get out here!" Li Huowang's tone was extremely displeased at this moment. However, the Xuanpin apparition, which could appear beside Li Huowang at any time in the past, did not emerge this time.

"Xuanpin, get out!" Li Huowang yelled loudly in the heavy rain, but there was still no movement.

"Do you think hiding will solve everything? Just you wait! When I get back, you'll have to give me an explanation!" Li Huowang then muttered a curse to himself.

Feeling his head slightly better, Li Huowang stood up and walked to the left, watching the blood slowly seeping out from under the windows.

Previously, it seemed there were others in this city besides the chicken-legged figures, though he didn't know what they were doing here.

But that was before; now they were gone.

Li Huowang looked up again at the enormous, mountain-like idol in the heavy rain. After confirming there were no signs of movement, he looked at the rotating mirror inside his own mirror.

"Now, the Dharma Sect should be out of tricks, right?"

That's what he thought, but when he noticed the scene on the rotating mirror, Li Huowang's pupils instantly contracted.

The military faction, which should have been clustered as a large red dot, now looked as if it had been savagely bitten, a large chunk forcibly torn away by something.