Chapter 964: Encounter

Li Huowang lay in the bamboo forest, hidden by the bushes, waiting for Qingwanglai's help.

However, as time slowly passed, Li Huowang's hand began to hurt, and the pain intensified.

Yang Na, holding the enemy's firearm she had just picked up, immediately noticed Li Huowang's discomfort. She quickly asked with concern, "Are you alright? Is everything okay? Or should I help you leave here first?"

Li Huowang stubbornly shook his head. As he flung his severed hand to the ground, the intense pain instantly sobered him up significantly.

"No, I don't trust them right now," he said. "Besides, if we fail this time, even the White Jade Capital might be gone. Where would we even run to?"

As he spoke, Li Huowang leaned closer to her. "It's nothing, just a bit of pain. As long as you're here, I won't die."

Seeing the worry on Yang Na's face, Li Huowang immediately added, feigning ease, "It's fine. As long as we can kill the Si Ming of Fusheng Heaven, my hand will come back."

But Li Huowang was actually unsure; he didn't know which Si Ming of Fusheng Heaven was connected to the karma of his severed hand.

Hearing this, Yang Na's heart suddenly lifted. "What about your eye then? If we win everything, does that mean your eye can come back too?"

Li Huowang was momentarily stunned by her question. He reached up, touching his empty eye socket. "I don't know... maybe."

"Yes! It definitely will come back!" Yang Na nodded firmly, silently resolving in her heart that she must find every way possible to retrieve Li Huowang's eye, the one symbolizing chaos.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound filled the air above them. Drones, their green signal lights rapidly flashing, quickly swept across the sky, capturing everyone's attention.

Upon seeing three drones, Li Huowang's heart lurched. He immediately understood that the Three Pure Ones had finally made their move.

He immediately rolled quickly through the bamboo forest, simultaneously making a call while rushing with Yang Na towards a first-floor window of the villa.

"I'm making my move!" he yelled into the phone. "Have your people provide cover for me! The Heavenly Dao of Death is with me! The people you kill won't count! Only those killed by me will count!"

Gunfire erupted, and the drones that had just ascended into the air were quickly shot down. But by then, Li Huowang had already reached the villa window.

Gripping his military knife in one hand, he slammed the hilt against the glass several times. Hearing the glass shatter, Li Huowang immediately jumped inside.

Inside, it was dark and dirty, appearing not yet fully renovated. Listening to the gunfire overhead, Li Huowang clutched his military knife and slowly ascended a ladder towards the roof.

As his heart tightened, the pain in his body rapidly receded, and his entire nervous system became incredibly taut.

Just as he was about to reach the attic, distant police sirens reached his ears. "I have to hurry; the rules are coming!"

He could not accept the conflict ending this way, under the interference of the powerful, overarching rules from both sides!

Speaking, Li Huowang quickened his pace towards the attic. Upon reaching it, he discovered a window on the attic's sloping roof. Clearly, the two individuals had climbed onto the roof through there.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, quietly preparing to sneak out through the same window to ambush the two Si Mings.

But as soon as he looked up, Li Huowang saw an almost invisible thin line snap as he brushed against it. "A trap!!"

Before Li Huowang could react, a "bang" echoed, and a piece of his skull was instantly blown away. The powerful impact sent him reeling backward.

Yang Na, behind him, held Li Huowang firmly, preventing him from falling.

"I'm fine! I... I'm fine!!" Blood dripped incessantly from his bangs, completely saturating his sole remaining eye, making everything he saw a blur of crimson.

"No!!" he roared. "They've been alerted! We have to force our way in!" Li Huowang ripped off his upper garment and threw it through the opening.

When the sound of bullets tearing through fabric briefly ceased, Li Huowang gathered all his strength and lunged violently towards the window.

Through the crimson haze, Li Huowang saw a fleeting shadow. He pounced without hesitation, raising the knife in his hand and thrusting it towards the person's neck.

Feeling warm, viscous liquid soak the laces wrapped around his military knife, Li Huowang's heart instantly rejoiced. He had cut them!

Having dealt with one, Li Huowang immediately prepared to find the second, but as he scanned the area, the entire rooftop was empty.

Just then, a wire wrapped around his neck from behind, tightening relentlessly and choking him.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. It wasn't the enemy's gun, but Yang Na's. With the shot, Li Huowang immediately felt the wire around his neck loosen.

Seeing that both of them were dead, Li Huowang finally let out a sigh of relief. He pulled the wire, which had dug into his flesh, from his neck and knelt on the ground, coughing violently.

"With these two dead, the pressure downstairs should be much less, right?" he thought.

Thinking this, Li Huowang leaned towards the edge of the roof. When he saw that Qingwanglai and the others were no longer suppressed, he finally breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Although the sirens of the rules were now very close, at least the Si Mings of Fusheng Heaven would gain nothing from this attack; their ambush had failed.

Lowering his head, he wiped the blood from his eye with his arm, then prepared to go down and help.

However, just then, an immense force came from behind, violently pushing him outwards.

Mid-air, Li Huowang frantically flailed his hands, finally gripping onto the drainpipe with all his might, preventing himself from falling to the ground below.

"Nana, be careful! Don't show yourself! There's still one more!" But just as Li Huowang finished warning her, a figure appeared before him: an old beggar holding a dog-beating stick.

With a "bang," the stick slammed heavily onto Li Huowang's right hand gripping the drainpipe. The blow left the web of his thumb raw and bloody from the drainpipe's sharp edge.

Seeing Li Huowang grit his teeth and refuse to let go, the opponent tremblingly reached into his embrace, seemingly preparing to pull out something else.

Li Huowang wanted to use his right hand to grip the drainpipe and climb back up, but his hand was already severed, unable to bear any weight, making it impossible to pull himself up.

Just as this critical moment, red once again obscured Li Huowang's single eye. Li Sui, clad in a red Daoist robe, stood between Li Huowang and the old beggar.

This sight made Li Huowang's eyes feel as if they would split. "Sui Sui! What are you doing! Get away!! Quick, get away!!"

"The Celestial Supervisor, bestowed upon Zhuanxu, commanded the Southern Steward to oversee the heavens for the spirits!" The red Daoist robe was tossed aside, revealing Xuannv's true form. "The Bureau of Celestial Observation was established for this very day!"

All the heads simultaneously began chanting: "The measure of generals and ministers cannot be questioned; for whom is true righteousness difficult to obtain? Perhaps it is in the celestial officials where gods find refuge, or in the mortal realm where all suffering is wrought, or in upright places where spirits are absorbed!"

As two tiger-head seals were raised high, entwined by tentacles, a towering malevolent aura poured forth from them, enveloping Li Huowang.

Accompanied by the resounding beat of war drums, the shouts of the military strategists, echoing Xuannv's, came from all directions. "Aid my Upper Realm Commander's Sword, guard the four gates of Heavenly Jade!"

At some unknown point, millions of densely packed military strategists, clad in armor and wielding military knives, entered the territory of Tianchen Kingdom, enveloped in an overwhelming malevolent aura.