NOVEL NEXT Chapter 166: Unlikely Intervention
The scarred lieutenant stepped forward, voice booming. "Li Wuji! You've led us to slaughter for your greed! Tonight you fall!"
Li Wuji merely laughed.
Not a loud enough to startle, yet audible enough for those present.
A soft, cold chuckle that chilled the marrow.
He didn't bother drawing his black saber, the blood cultist merely spread his arms slightly.
"Come," he said. "Let the weak test their worth." Yuan Yi stood at the edge of the chaos, her expression unreadable to the masses. The woman was composed and observed her surroundings carefully, as though weighed by choices she alone understood.
Li Wei watched, unmoving.
The storm had begun.
And he needed to decide,
Whether he should intervene now?
Or let the vipers devour each other?
He inhaled slowly.
"When two tigers fight, the mountain shakes," he murmured. "But when one tiger is rabid…" His gaze hardened. "…a third will often opt to strike, or to wait."
The cloud drifted silently above the battlefield like a god's unblinking eye.
Below, the conspirators charged.
Li Wuji didn't move.
Not at first.
He simply raised one hand.
[Blood Path Art—Vein Sundering Wave]
A crimson shockwave burst from his palm.
It rolled outward in a circular blast, like a ripple on water. It had all the properties of a typical liquid except every ripple carried a razor's edge.
The first row of rebels screamed as blood erupted from their pores. Their blades dropped. Their knees buckled. Everyone in the second row was utterly staggered, which caused the third row to muster their courage and force themselves forward with a roar in unision.
And Li Wuji smiled.
"You think numbers matter that much?" he said softly.
He flicked a finger.
A tendril of blood qi quickly lashed out like a whip.
It pierced a rebel's chest completely shredding through armor and his ribcage, straight into his heart. The man convulsed fervently before collapsing like a puppet with cut sstrings.
Another tendril.
Another body fell to the ground.
Another life came to an abruptended.
Li Wei narrowed his eyes. "He's grown stronger rapidly. It is almost absurd."
But the young master knew he had not yet become invincible.
Far below, the rebels pushed themselves even harder. The scarred lieutenant broke through the shockwave, blade raised high. "LI WUJI!!! FACE ME—!"
Li Wuji simply tilted his head, before vanishing like a mist of smoke. He then reappeared behind the lieutenant, whispering into his left ear "Your courage is admirable." His hand plunged into the man's back. "Pity it is wasted on a campaign fueled by folly."
The lieutenant choked up a bountiful amount of blood.
Before falling flat on his face.
The rebels faltered.
Yuan Yi closed her eyes briefly for a mere moment, just enough to feel the weight of what she'd helped shape.
Li Wei felt the shift in her spirit.
"This woman…" he murmured. "A blade caught between two whetstones."
Below, Li Wuji's aura erupted.
"Enough."
The ground cracked beneath him.
"You dare challenge me? Then die knowing your rebellion was as useless as your lives."
He lifted both arms.
Blood-mist swirled.
The apparition rose behind him was growing skeletal, towering, its empty sockets burning red.
Yuan Yi stepped back as the specter solidified.
Li Wei tensed.
"That thing's presence alone is giving me a bad feeling grows deeper. If it takes root—"
Suddenly—
Yuan Yi moved.
Not toward Li Wuji.
But toward the rebels.
She grabbed the nearest man.
"RUN!" she hissed.
The man froze. "W-What—?"
"RUN. Now!"
But it was too late.
Li Wuji unleashed the apparition's maw.
A wave of bloody energy swept outward like a tide.
The ridge exploded with light.
Rebels screamed as their life-force was torn from their bodies.
And Li Wei… had seen enough.
He stood.
The cloud stilled beneath him, obeying his killing intent.
He closed his eyes once, lifting his right hand.
[Earth Talisman Art—Heaven-Breaking Seal.]
Golden characters formed along his palm, swirling, merging, igniting with a fierce light that parted clouds for miles.
Below, the ravine shook. The apparition's hunger filled the night like a howl.
Li Wei breathed deeply. "A rabid beast has no place among the sages."
Then he struck.
His hand descended like a falling star.
A beam of golden brilliance cut through the sky.
It slammed into the ravine with enough force to fracture stone.
Li Wuji staggered, eyes widening in rage.
"WHO—?!"
His aura surged.
He glared upward aiming straight at Li Wei.
Their eyes met.
Two men.
Two visions.
Two blades fated to cross.
Li Wei's voice drifted down like distant thunder. "Li Wuji."
The Blood Lotus inheritor bared his teeth in fury.
"YOU—"
Li Wei raised a hand.
"Enough of this rampant slaughter. Tonight, you answer to me."
Li Wuji roared, qi erupting skyward.
The cloud beneath Li Wei trembled, but held steady beneath the talisman's glow.
Yuan Yi stared upward, stunned.
"That man was here all along… Why does he look familiar…"
The remaining rebels looked up with awe and fear.
Li Wuji pointed at the sky, shouting
"LI WEI!!! COME DOWN AND WITNESS THE MIGHT OF BLOOD LOTUS—!"
Li Wei stood up with a grin plastered on his face.
The cloud began to descend.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Like a sovereign descending from the heavens.
His eyes never left Li Wuji's.
"A day will come when I end you," Li Wei said. "But tonight…"
He glanced at the corpses, the terrified stragglers, the trembling Yuan Yi.
"…tonight I save who you sought to bury."
Li Wuji snarled, aura flaring crimson.
"COME THEN—!"
Li Wei shook his head.
"No."
Golden light flared around him.
"I did not come to fight you tonight, Li Wuji."
The Blood Lotus inheritor froze.
Li Wei raised a glowing seal.
"I came to take back what you and your collaborator stole."
He slammed the seal into the ground.
Light erupted beneath the rebels' feet.
A giant sigil blazed to life.
Yuan Yi gasped.
"A—A mass teleport seal?!"
Li Wei pointed toward them.
"Live."
The sigil detonated in light.
Every surviving rebel vanished in a burst of golden brilliance—swept away from Li Wuji's slaughter.
When the light faded—
Only Li Wei remained standing above the ravine, golden aura fading.
Li Wuji trembled with pure hate.
"You dare aid their escape, this will not go unanswered."
"I dare," Li Wei replied calmly. "And I will again."
Li Wuji's killing intent surged skyward.
But Li Wei was already rising, borne upward by his cloud.
"This war is only beginning," Li Wei said quietly. "Sharpen your fangs, Li Wuji."
He turned.
"For when I return… it will be to break them."
The cloud lifted him into the night sky.
Below, "COME BACK AND FIGHT!!!!" Li Wuji roared, shaking the ravine.
Above, Li Wei vanished into the clouds—
Leaving darkness in his wake.