Chapter 855: Breaking the Big Ear

The old man with the broken ear, dragging miscellaneous bits through the air, swiftly planted himself directly onto the neck of a burly man who was watching the scene. Immediately after, he raised his right hand and casually pulled off the screaming man's head, claiming the body as his own.

In his new body, the old man with the broken ear addressed Li Huowang, urging him not to be hasty and stating that they had sent him for a truly sincere discussion. He then added that everything could be negotiated and there was no need for such rigidity.

Li Huowang stopped, his brows furrowed, as he gazed at the old man before him. It seemed they had realized that force wouldn't work, and so they had finally decided to take a softer approach. Li Huowang did not refuse. He could kill this old man at any time; what was more important now was to understand exactly what was happening. Despite being clearly entangled in the matter, he was still utterly confused.

Li Huowang told him to speak and make everything clear today, emphasizing that he was always a reasonable person and truly didn't know how he had offended them to the point that they hadn't even said a word and went straight for the kill.

As Li Huowang spoke, the Da Qi Imperial Court had already received news that the street was surrounded by the Da Qi Celestial Monitoring Bureau. Facing menacing gazes from all directions, the old man with the broken ear showed no fear. He looked at Li Huowang, neither subservient nor arrogant, very calmly. The old man then calmly asked Li Huowang whether he truly did not know or was pretending not to know.

Li Huowang, attempting to coax more information out of the old man, admitted that he knew, but questioned what his saving Da Qi had to do with them, and if they couldn't just live their own lives.

"Naturally, no," the old man responded. He explained that just as a flower was a world and a tree a life, the 'flower' where he resided was withering. He questioned Li Huowang, saying that if with his compassionate heart he couldn't bear to see the people of Da Qi starve, could he then bear to watch millions of people from the Tianchen Kingdom die unnatural deaths?

Li Huowang furiously retorted, warning him not to use moral blackmail, saying he didn't fall for that. He demanded to know what their world's big trouble had to do with him, telling them to find whoever had bothered them, and questioning the meaning behind their attempts to kill him.

The old man with the broken ear formally bowed to Li Huowang, expressing deep regret and apologizing on behalf of the crude individuals from before. He stated that he had not approved of their actions but had been unable to stop them. The old man affirmed that Li Huowang was right and they would indeed seek out whoever bothered them. He explained that they needed to go to the 'flower' on another 'tree' and happened to require passage through Da Qi. He added that if the Da Qi Imperial Court were to be supported by Master Li again, their passage would become very troublesome.

After repeatedly pondering the old man's words, Li Huowang realized that this fellow intended to use all the power from their world to make a big move. The old man with the broken ear stroked his white beard and chuckled, proposing a deal, since Master Li was so reasonable.

Hearing this, a skeptical Li Huowang inwardly sneered, pondering why they only thought of being reasonable after seeing that force wouldn't work. What had they been doing earlier?

The old man continued, suggesting that since they fundamentally had no irreconcilable conflict, they should turn hostility into friendship and shake hands in peace. He offered that as long as Li Huowang allowed them passage through Da Qi, the Tianchen Kingdom was willing to open its granaries and send three years of harvest to relieve the people of Da Qi.

At these words from the old man with the broken ear, the Da Qi people around immediately stirred. Da Qi was severely lacking grain at the moment, and everyone understood what these words implied.

Li Huowang paused him, telling him not to just talk about benefits without mentioning the drawbacks, and to first explain where they were going and what they were doing. God knew what this Tianchen Kingdom was all about. The greater the benefits this fellow spoke of, the more uneasy Li Huowang felt, as he hadn't forgotten that this group had been trying to kill him not long ago.

Hearing Li Huowang's question, the old man with the broken ear chuckled again, complimenting Li Huowang's god-like foresight for having already figured this out, and confirming that they indeed needed his help. After speaking, he pointed to the Spine Bone Sword behind Li Huowang. He then requested to borrow Li Huowang's Feijing Mountain-Shattering Sword, hoping Li Huowang would grant their request.

"Don't give my sword random names," Li Huowang retorted as he reached out and gripped the sword hilt. He immediately remembered the previous group's attempt to seize his Spine Bone Sword. Li Huowang then questioned the need to borrow his Spine Bone Sword, asking if their world's great trouble was, by any chance, in the Daliang world.

The old man with the broken ear nodded very firmly in affirmation, explaining that the astronomers of the Imperial College had observed the stars at night and discovered that the Evil Mother of Nurturing and Transformation had returned to her position. He stressed that they must kill the White Lotus demonic woman as soon as possible, otherwise, the Tianchen Kingdom would never have peace.

After a moment of stunned silence, Li Huowang slowly walked towards the old man with the broken ear, repeating the names "White Lotus... demonic woman... Evil Mother of Nurturing and Transformation?" He then asked if the old man had just said there was no irreconcilable conflict between them. The old man confirmed it.

"Well, now there is!" Li Huowang declared. As he finished speaking, his body suddenly shifted, instantly appearing before the old man with the broken ear, plunging the Spine Bone Sword straight into the old man's brow.

Just as the old man with the broken ear's head was split in two by Li Huowang, the empty body shell that had been lying on the ground suddenly stood up and leaped backward. It turned out that this fellow's head was not the most important part; the body lying on the ground was.

Seeing the opponent about to flee, Chandu, who was already prepared nearby, quickly sat cross-legged. He reached up, removed the nine tonsure scars from his head, and sent them flying towards the old man with the broken ear. In mid-air, the dark, scarred knot suddenly swelled, turning into a gigantic ball of flesh covered in various distorted growths. Just as the scarred knot was about to hit the old man with the broken ear, a hole suddenly appeared in mid-air and directly sucked in the flesh ball.

Seeing the old man with the broken ear about to fly into the hole, Li Huowang's eyes widened sharply. The old man's body instantly froze in mid-air and began to continuously collapse inward. Just as the old man with the broken ear was about to be completely reduced to a pulp by Li Huowang's cultivation ability, a translucent jade hand suddenly emerged from the hole. It gently took hold of the old man with the broken ear, tossed him aside, and Li Huowang's gaze uncontrollably shifted to the side.

One of Chandu's scars, instead of the old man with the broken ear, was reduced to a pulp. Meanwhile, the old man himself slipped into the hole in the air, vanishing without a trace.

Li Huowang stood stunned, taking a while to come back to his senses. If he had seen correctly, that hand had taken away the 'true' cultivation essence he had manifested? That kind of ability, which could misalign two worlds, was clearly a power of a Heart Demon. But this ability to directly touch 'the true' essence was absolutely beyond a mortal's reach! Even he could only cultivate it, but he fundamentally couldn't touch it like that jade hand, let alone discard it!

Li Huowang knew his own strength. He had always believed that he had few opponents left in the mortal realm, but it now seemed that was not the case. Whose hand was that jade hand? How did it do that?! Such a feat could probably only be achieved by a Sīmìng!