Chapter 913: Growth

"Brother Li, are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?" Bai Lingmiao, her eyes blindfolded with white silk, approached Li Huowang. She tugged on his sleeve, her face etched with deep concern as she asked.

Li Huowang stared at Bai Lingmiao, his mouth agape, momentarily at a loss for words. He instinctively knew that this wasn't the real Bai Lingmiao; it was Dice in disguise.

Dice's disguise was otherwise flawless, but he couldn't replicate the deep-seated animosity Bai Lingmiao felt after her family's murder. That lingering bitterness was the one thing he couldn't fake.

Others might have been deceived by Dice's performance, but having dealt with the Sitting-Forget Path so often, Li Huowang had long since recognized the deception.

Dice clearly knew Li Huowang had seen through his ruse, yet he paid no mind to Li Huowang's thoughts, continuing his performance. Bai Lingmiao stepped forward, positioning herself between Li Huowang and Zuo Qiuyong.

With a furrow of her delicate brows, she angrily retorted to Zuo Qiuyong, "If you want to lay a hand on Brother Li, you'll have to step over my dead body first!"

Zuo Qiuyong gazed at Bai Lingmiao, momentarily lost in thought. Soon, a faint smile played on his lips, which quickly blossomed into boisterous laughter.

Slapping his thigh, he pointed at Bai Lingmiao and cackled, "Hahahaha! What a delightful coincidence! I was worried you'd hide somewhere difficult to find, but you've come right to me!"

As soon as Zuo Qiuyong finished speaking, the surrounding 'Unsightly' army and a group of bandits converged on Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao, encircling them.

Li Huowang tightened his grip on the spine sword hilt and glanced at Bai Lingmiao's silver hair. He couldn't decipher Dice's true intentions, but since he had appeared, it was highly probable he was there to assist.

From the perspective of a trickster, there was no logical reason for him to willingly enter an encirclement just to die.

"Be careful; don't underestimate them. These individuals can draw out everything from within you, and Zuo Qiuyong might even be able to wield the former Heavenly Dao of the Unborn Mother," Li Huowang cautioned, ostensibly speaking to Bai Lingmiao, but in reality, he was addressing Dice.

"Brother Li, I'm fine. I know; the Unborn Mother has already revealed this scoundrel's true nature through a divine oracle."

Hearing Bai Lingmiao's words, Zuo Qiuyong's smile slowly vanished, replaced by a flicker of irritation. "Such bravado! Let's see how long you can keep that up!"

He flicked the pink handkerchief in his hand. The translucent fabric instantly unraveled, splitting into numerous fine threads that shot towards Li Huowang like slender needles.

Li Huowang stomped his feet and lunged ferociously towards Zuo Qiuyong. As he passed Bai Lingmiao, he quickly instructed, "I'll hold him off; do whatever you came here to do, quickly!"

Before Bai Lingmiao could even move, Li Huowang was already facing the deluge of fine threads from the attackers.

He swung the spine sword with force, and a rift swiftly materialized. The edges of this rift, containing two layers of history, struck the incoming threads.

To Li Huowang's astonishment, the threads didn't sever; instead, they produced a metallic clang. This was a phenomenon he had never encountered before.

The long threads in the air rapidly descended, showering down on Li Huowang's body like heavy rain. Yet, despite their multitude, they failed to impede him in the slightest.

He swiftly shifted his body, closing the distance to Zuo Qiuyong. His actual form had already moved, and what was pierced was merely the illusion of his displaced body.

In a flash, the two combatants rapidly closed in. Just as they were about to collide, Li Huowang's body abruptly sank, disappearing into the earth. His sharp spine sword then burst from the ground, slashing upwards towards Zuo Qiuyong's legs.

Just as the battle-hardened Li Huowang felt the familiar sensation of his blade cutting through flesh, a resounding "clang" echoed, followed by a tremendous force that nearly ripped the spine sword from his grasp.

Li Huowang emerged halfway from the earth, watching Zuo Qiuyong slowly descend nearby.

He had been absolutely certain he'd severed the man's legs! Yet, Zuo Qiuyong showed no signs of injury, just as when Li Huowang had previously stabbed him in the chest.

"Oh, Li Huowang, is that all you've got? I'm truly disappointed," Zuo Qiuyong sneered at him.

Li Huowang glanced at Bai Lingmiao, who was embroiled in the chaotic battle with the 'Unsightly' army, then snarled through gritted teeth, "You barren eunuch! Stop prattling and let's fight!"

Zuo Qiuyong showed no anger at Li Huowang's retort; a dismissive smile played on his lips. "Eunuch? What of it? Nowadays, eunuchs can be emperors, eunuchs can be kings!"

"You mortals need to procreate because you die. As long as I'm immortal, there's no need to pass down a lineage."

As Zuo Qiuyong spoke, his face was alight with smug satisfaction, seemingly content with his own identity.

"Alright, enough chatter. It's time to get serious." As Zuo Qiuyong raised his right hand, Li Huowang finally noticed three intricately carved white jade finger sheaths on his last three fingers. These slender, pointed sheaths, adorned with dragons and phoenixes, were the kind typically worn by empresses in the palace.

Seeing Zuo Qiuyong raise the finger sheaths and point them at him, Li Huowang swiftly dodged the attack.

However, just as Li Huowang prepared to counterattack, a bizarre sensation overcame him: his fire-scorched body was healing at an incredibly rapid pace.

Before he could even register relief, his body began to change in an uncontrolled manner.

The hair on his head, the beard on his chin, and even his fingernails and toenails began to grow wildly at an alarming rate.

"This... this is the Heavenly Dao once wielded by the Unborn Mother?!" Li Huowang exclaimed, watching his rapidly growing nails twist and twine around the spine sword like vines, becoming an extreme hindrance.

"Supreme Yin is austere, supreme Yang is resplendent; austerity emanates from Heaven, splendor bursts forth from Earth; their interaction creates harmony, and all beings are born," Zuo Qiuyong intoned, a triumphant expression on his face as he watched Li Huowang's hair drag on the ground, as if he had completely outmaneuvered him.

"Is that all? Is that your only trick?!" With a furious roar, Li Huowang's overgrown nails, hair, and beard instantly shattered, freeing him from the restrictions of the rapid growth.

He charged at Zuo Qiuyong, sword in hand, but after only a few steps, a sudden pain shot through both of his hands.

Li Huowang quickly glanced down, horrified to see his previously overgrown fingernails rapidly retracting. All ten nails swiftly receded back into his fingers, leaving his nail beds raw and bloody.

If it were merely his fingernails retracting, that would be one thing, but more alarmingly, Li Huowang felt his newly grown skin rapidly thinning! Everything that had grown on his body was now receding at an alarming rate.

All of Li Huowang's past injuries began to reappear on his body. Every bone that had ever been broken reverted to its fractured state.