Chapter 234 - Death
The sounds of the bronze bell and drums filled the dark cave.
Ring~ Ring~ Ring~ Dong~ Dong~ Dong~
Amidst the harmony of the two sounds, the Wandering Gods, the Second Deity, and all of Li Huowang’s companions were fighting off against the female Lion Dance.
Li Huowang did not run to help them. Instead he focused on the Lion Dance on the ceiling that was falling downward. He couldn’t let the two Lion Dances trap them!
Jiang!
Li Huowang unsheathed his sword and ran as fast as he could toward the male Lion Dance.
Meanwhile, the various black legs of the Lion Dance under the white tassels and white sheet of the Lion Dance started to tap aggressively as it ran towards Li Huowang.
Soon both of them were close enough to see each other's faces, and both of them saw the killing intent contained within the other’s eyes.
Both of them clashed. The giant Lion Dance rammed into Li Huowang, brushing the white tassels on its body toward Li Huowang.
But both of its attacks missed. On the other hand, Li Huowang raised his sword and sliced it downward toward the side of the Lion Dance.
Both of them quickly ran past each other. Li Huowang was unharmed while several feet of the Lion Dance were cut off.
What the Lion Dance saw was just an illusion of Li Huowang. Li Huowang had already separated his main body and illusion before he ran over here.
Staring at the unharmed Li Huowang, the Lion Dance’s massive lantern-like left eye moved upward, revealing a round black hole. Then, seven to eight arms resembling dried up monkey paws extended outward from behind and placed themselves neatly into rows like eyelashes.
Soon, several irregularly-shaped eyes filled the empty eye socket. At the same time, the man’s face became very scary with the several small eyes all staring at Li Huowang’s true body.
Li Huowang clenched his teeth, feeling a chill run down his spine. Regardless of what it was, it was definitely not a Lion Dance!
Li Huowang nodded when he saw Gao Zhijian now have one ear lower than the other. Then, he wiped the blood off his sword and placed it back into its sheath before turning around and inspecting the two Lion Dances.
Behind the flattened faces of the Lion Dance were not live humans, but masses consisting of fleshy corpses.
The entirety of the Lion Dance was just one body. It didn’t matter whether they were the hands or the feet, all of them originated from a single, grotesque body. Underneath the white sheet, various organs were connected to each other with blood vessels, confirming Li Huowang’s suspicions.
Li Huowang didn’t know whether these beings were born like that, or whether they were made by humans. But no matter what, their situation was quite bad; in fact, it might have just gotten even worse.
The truly scary thing about the Lion Dances was the fact that they were not confined to the underground, and that they could appear in the open in Qing Qiu. They were even accepted as a part of life by the people of Qing Qiu!
But while Li Huowang was sad, he was no longer surprised anymore.
“Heavens... What is this...” Puppy was too shocked to even speak properly.
“Im... im... impossible! This cannot be right!” Sun Baolu stared at the Lion Dance corpse with a complicated look on his face. Everything that he had learned to accept in the past ten years was toppled over just like that. “Senior Li, what... What are they?”
At this moment, Li Huowang was standing beside the male Lion Dance corpse. He didn’t have the luxury to think about what would happen to those living within Qing Qiu. In the end, they were just passers by who were passing through Qing Qiu so it didn't matter to him.
Instead, he was thinking about another problem.
Li Huowang stabbed the organs and flesh of the Lion Dance as he tried to find something.
“Senior Li, what are you finding?” asked Puppy.
“I’m finding Death,” answered Li Huowang. However, Puppy didn't understand what he was saying.
“What?”
Li Huowang was too lazy to explain and just continued examining the massive corpses in front of him.
Something’s not right here. The RIghteous Monastery had the lustful flesh Buddha and those monks could use powers related to flesh. The Benevolent Nunnery had the decaying Bodhisattva and they could use powers related to decay. But these Lion Dances... They did not use any powers related to death even though this place worships it... Unless... there’s another sect underneath here?!
As his thoughts reached this point, Li Huowang turned to look toward the giant cauldron. His body felt numb from the cold. This place was far more crowded than he had originally thought.