Chapter 123 - Who Was It?

The clump of rusted nails almost resembled an assassination weapon. Seeing what he had vomited, Li Huowang instinctively knew that this was the ‘chocolate’ he had eaten in his hallucination.

After a moment, he raised his right arm only to feel a stinging pain from his shoulder. When he checked, he saw a massive gash, so deep that it revealed his white bones.

That was where Yang Na had hit him with her satchel just now!

“Someone tried to kill me while I was stuck in the hallucination!” Li Huowang instantly realized what was happening.

He endured the pain and scanned his surroundings with bloodshot eyes. Around him, he saw rows upon rows of members of the Ao Jing Sect, all standing still like gravestones, watching him.

Seeing this, Li Huowang growled and unfurled the Profound Records on the ground, his blood dripping from his lips onto the blood-red bamboo slip.

Jiang!

At the same time, Li Huowang unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the sect members surrounding him.

“What is the meaning of this? Is this what you mean by adhering to the rules? Do you think that I’m some pushover?!” Li Huowang roared in anger.

Li Huowang’s voice echoed throughout the cave, but no one answered him. They just stood there motionless, staring at him with eyes filled with curiosity and mocking laughter.

Just as Li Huowang was about to go all out against them, Yingzi ran out from the crowd and tried her best to take him away.

“Sir, let’s go. Let’s quickly leave this place. Don’t look at them anymore,” Jiang Yingzi’s voice was filled with panic as she tried to haul his bloody body away from the place.

Hearing this, Li Huowang just stared at Yingzi, his gaze as cold as when he had been glaring at the others.

After a moment, he took out a few Blood Nourishing Pills from the gourd on his waist and popped them into his mouth.

After a while, Li Huowang ignored the gazes of everyone in the Ao Jing Sect and returned to their cave with the support of Yingzi.

The pain in his body was still fresh. Li Huowang knew that his stomach was a mess after having eaten a bunch of rusty nails. But there was nothing he could do other than rest on the bed, and wait for his reinforced healing to kick in and help him recover.

After calming down, Li Huowang inspected his body and found that not only had he sustained internal injuries, but there were slash wounds on his body as well.

They were in the same spots that Yang Na had hit him with her satchel.

As Yingzi saw Li Huowang's wounds, she felt conflicted. After thinking for a bit, she took out a wax-covered book from her bag. “Sir, let me heal you; however, you will need to endure some pain.”

Just as she approached him, Li Huowang swung his right arm and threw away the wax-covered book in her hand.

“You were the only one beside me just now. Tell me what happened?” asked Li Huowang.

Yingzi gripped the edge of her robes tightly while panicking. “I... I can’t say... otherwise, they will kill me...”

At that moment, Li Huowang stared at her lowered head and realized that he had never really seen what she looked like.

“Raise your head and look at me,” commanded Li Huowang.

On the other hand, when she heard his command, Yingzi became nervous. She kept lowering her head and averting his gaze, afraid of looking directly into Li Huowang’s eyes.

“What are you afraid of? Were you assigned to me just so they could spy on me? Was everything you said yesterday fake? What’s your goal, you self-mutilating bastards?” Li Huowang pressed on.

“No, it’s not like that. It really isn’t...” Yingzi’s breathing started becoming erratic; it was as if she was enduring something.

“Since you are not one of them, then who was the one who injured me just now?! Talk! Didn’t you say that you always adhere to the rules? Is this one of the rules as well? Will all of you die if you don’t do something wicked?!”

By this point, Yingzi was so shaken and conflicted that she started bleeding from how hard she was biting her lips.

Just as she was about to say something, there was a knock on the door.

Li Huowang and Yingzi turned around at the same time. Standing at the door were two members of the Ao Jing Sect, one of them wearing black and the other white. Both of them were at least two meters tall. They just stood there motionlessly without uttering a word.

Yingzi knew what it meant for them to appear here. Her body started trembling intensely as she walked out.

What’s going on? They aren’t even going to sugarcoat it anymore and just want to capture me?

Seeing the situation, Li Huowang closed his eyes and attempted to recover as much as possible.

If his wounds were to deteriorate any further, then Dan Yangzi would be forced to come out once more.

However, at that moment, he felt a strange sensation on his wounds.

He opened his eyes and saw it was Bun who had secretly walked over with its ears downturned; it was licking the wounds on Li Huowang’s body.

“Bun, how about coming with me the next time we go out? No need to guard the room anymore. I really need someone or something to be by my side,” Li Huowang patted Bun while mumbling to himself.

At that moment, Bun’s skinny body suddenly shrunk a little as it looked toward the door. Seeing that there was no one at the door, Bun continued to lick Li Huowang’s wound.

However, Li Huowang had also picked up on what Bun had heard. He had also heard the same scream that Bun did. Li Huowang's heightened sense of hearing had allowed him to hear a minute sound—the sound of a woman screaming in pain.

He knew that the scream belonged to Yingzi; after all, she had been taken away not too long ago.

After considering it for a moment, Li Huowang patted Bun on the head before gritting his teeth to endure the pain as he stood up.

“It’s just one thing after another. Can’t I get some good rest?” mumbled Li Huowang.

Then, he slowly started hobbling his way out of the cave and toward the source of the sound.

The sound of screaming continued to become louder and louder until Li Huowang arrived at the large cave he had seen just earlier.

At this moment, a naked Yingzi had two massive hooks stabbed in her pectoral girdle as she was hung high up in the cave.

The two sect members in black and white from earlier that had taken her away previously were circling around her, each of them holding a thin blade that they used to slice thin pieces of flesh off her body.

Sou~

At that moment, one of Li Huowang’s fingernail flew out and cut the chains that Yingzi was being hung with, causing the bloody girl to fall onto the floor hard.

Then, Li Huowang walked forward and covered her, shielding her from the gazes of the others.

He glared at Shou San with his burnt body and asked angrily, “Does the Ao Jing Sect treat their promises as nothing? Do we still have our deal or not?!”

Shou San was somewhat surprised to see Li Huowang appearing here, but the tone of his reply was one filled with amusement. “Of course. I still have to respect the Abbess’s request. Our deal is still effective, and we will naturally honor our words.”