The Unruly Immortals

From a distance, the demon performing the ritual saw Li Huowang. With a swift somersault, he threw two black banners, planting them to the left and right of Li Huowang and then thrust the peach wood sword, emanating black qi, fiercely into the ground.

Black qi from the peach wood sword instantly flooded into the earth, and a mysterious talisman formed of special characters rapidly emerged centred around Li Huowang.

Seeing this, Li Huowang couldn't just sit back and wait for death. He immediately tried to leap out of the circle's range.

However, just at that moment, as the demon clasped and twisted his hands in a gesture, the two triangular black banners next to him fluttered swiftly through the air and impaled Li Huowang's feet, nailing him firmly in place.

Now, Li Huowang's legs were as if welded to the ground, and no matter what he did, he couldn't budge an inch.

The black banners seemed to possess some ability to block all of Li Huowang's escape routes.

Seeing Li Huowang trapped, the demons' morale soared. A barrage of talismans, sticky rice, and copper coins flew through the air towards him.

Although Li Huowang kept swinging his longsword to defend himself, his recently healed body began to deteriorate again.

With a clanging sound, a fire sickle made from flint appeared in Li Huowang's hands, and with a ferocious expression, he moved it towards his own skin.

This task should have been Tuoba Danqing's responsibility. Anything that required his involvement was sure to be no small matter. It was almost inevitable for Li Huowang to end up in his current predicament.

While sacrificing his skin to Bahu in exchange for power was an excruciating process, he had already prepared himself for a do-or-die battle before coming here.

Yet, the leading Taoist demon in the distance seemed to have guessed what Li Huowang was intending to do. He quickly took the black horsetail whisk from around his neck and with one hand inscribed several characters on it.

What should have been soft strands suddenly transformed into a Guan Blade, flying straight towards Li Huowang.

Just as Li Huowang ignited the palm of his hand, the Guan Blade arrived, chopping off his left hand engulfed in flames.

Then, a series of complex chanting incantations began, and the Guan Blade, formed from the horsetail whisk and carrying Li Huowang's left hand, swiftly returned to the demon's hand.

Seeing the fire sickle on the severed arm, the demon's hideous mouth cracked into a sinister smile. With a powerful leap and raising the Guan Blade high, he brought it down towards Li Huowang's head.

A few purple talismans wafted from behind and adhered to the black Guan Blade. Dense black qi instantly appeared, and in a blink, the blade, as long as an arm, possessed the crushing force of a mountain.

Li Huowang wasn't sure if he could withstand it, but now he could only try. With a resolute expression, he raised his Copper Coin Sword.

At this critical juncture, Li Huowang's mind was filled with intermittent voices, "What the hell are you talking about!"

But as the swiftly approaching Guan Blade neared, Li Huowang's roar was followed by a heart-hardened grip on the Copper Coin Sword, his dire situation and intense pain making him look possessed.

"Open for me!!"

As Li Huowang, with his ferocious expression, exerted force with his single arm, he instantly transformed into the same fate as Jin Shanzhao beside him.

Then, a multitude of black tentacles sprouted from the stump, wrapped in crimson blood, fiercely propelling Li Huowang's upper body, avoiding the attack range of the Guan Blade in an instant.

The Guan Blade grazed past Li Huowang's remaining lower half and crashed heavily into the ground.

With a "boom", the whole cave trembled as if in an earthquake, stalactites fell continuously from the ceiling, and black qi rapidly spread across the ground, corrupting everything it touched.

Fortunately, Li Huowang dodged, else had he not dodged, that blow would have definitely been too much to withstand.

A miss, and the Taoist Renxiao, lifting his nearly hairless horsetail whisk, got up from the ground with a ferocious expression, looking towards the enemy who had evaded his attack in an extremely eerie manner.

That person had only the upper half of his body left, with several twisted tentacles, complete with sticky suction cups, stretching out from the severed part, supporting him like the legs of a stool.

Even though such a large hole had been ripped through the enemy's torso, only blood flowed out, with not even a single piece of innards falling out.

Facing the terrifying creature with the upper body of a human and the lower half of an octopus, Renxiao realized he had encountered a tough opponent.

He snatched the Peach Wood Sword from the hand of his apprentice, performed a flashy sword move, and stabbed it into the ground, lifting a black talisman onto the tip of the sword.

On one side was Li Huowang, half human, half tentacles, crazily wielding the Red String Copper Coin Sword.

On the other side was Renxiao, the Taoist, with twisted limbs and long, uniform nails, holding the black-talismanned Peach Wood Sword.

This horrifying scene sent chills straight to the heavenly spirit cover of the surviving old man. "What... what... what is this..."

Li Huowang, with bloodshot eyes, stared intently at Renxiao in front of him, realizing now that everything, from stealing babies to the many Renxiao, was all incited by the Renxiao before him.

Only by eliminating this Renxiao would the matter be completely resolved.

"Go!" The Black Taisui beneath Li Huowang moved instantaneously, its tentacles propelling him rapidly towards the Taoist Renxiao.

And the Taoist Renxiao, far from being flustered, led his kind in a counter-charge towards Li Huowang.

In a situation where a moment's inattention could lead to death, Black Taisui seemed to have no other plans in mind, as it was now bound to Li Huowang as tightly as a grasshopper tied to a string. If Li died, it wouldn't survive either.

"Om Saint Thō Meng P'u Guang She!"

As Li Huowang chanted, the Red String Copper Coin in his hand instantly turned into a long whip and preemptively lashed out at Taoist Renxiao, binding his Peach Wood Sword.

The moment the Copper Coin Sword made contact with the Peach Wood Sword, they seemed to repel each other, crackling noises erupting from the point of contact.

Seeing the opponent's weapon restrained, Li Huowang immediately tossed down his Copper Coin Sword, drew the Purple Tassel Sword from behind, and forcefully sliced towards his own abdomen. The large chunk of flesh that had not long grown was once again peeled off.

The piece of skin, belly button and all, rapidly expanded in mid-air, turning into a skin canopy that swooped down onto the Renxiao.

Taoist Renxiao seemed to know exactly where Li Huowang's weakness was, howling in those filthy chaotic languages, causing the other Renxiao to immediately abandon him and encircle Li Huowang.

With fists outnumbered, once surrounded, everything else would be easy to handle.

A Taoist Sword hilt adorned with the Taiji symbol thrust toward Li Huowang, cutting through the air with force, yet the target did not dodge or avoid, and simply collided with it head-on.

"Shua~!" The sharp tip of the sword pierced Li Huowang's head and emerged from the back of his skull.

However, there wasn't a trace of blood on the sword blade; Li Huowang's body was an illusion, his actual physical form a full ten feet away.