"You deceitful scoundrels!"
Li Huowang's furious roar echoed through the air.
In a matter of moments, the once-pristine white rice surrounding him transformed into a putrid black mess, as if it had decayed over a thousand years in a single instant.
From this, it was evident that even if the Great Qi wanted to cooperate, the Tianchen Kingdom had no intention of keeping their promises. Their strategy of sowing discord was so blatant that they couldn’t even be bothered to use proper bait.
Li Huowang’s sudden appearance shocked both the people from the Tianchen Kingdom and the Great Qi, but it seemed that the Tianchen Kingdom had been prepared for this. The rotting rice suddenly surged like a turbulent sea.
The black rice covered Li Huowang, making him feel a sharp pain. When he lifted his right foot, he saw nothing but bare white bones below his thigh.
The woman floated above the black rice, smiling as she spoke to Li Huowang. “Zhuge Yuan, since you’re here, you might as well stay for today.”
“Zhuge Yuan?” Li Huowang uttered, his rage instantly subsiding as he looked around in shock.
He saw that there was no trace of white around him, and a hint of False Qi surged in his mind.
He quickly realized two things. Firstly, the woman was talking to him, not the deceased scholar. She mistakenly believed that his name was Zhuge Yuan. Secondly, the sudden appearance of False Qi and the woman’s use of that name were both unintended consequences of his actions.
This was all because he had casually referred to himself as Zhuge Yuan when he had delivered the food, leading many in the Great Qi to believe that was his name.
Subsequently, whenever someone mistook him for Zhuge Yuan, he inadvertently accumulated False Qi.
As Li Huowang pondered this, the woman with the zither gently waved her red nails. This caused the bloodwood tree on the table to pour blood into the black rice, causing the rice to bubble up with blood-red foam.
The rotting black rice on the ground quickly became dark red. Suddenly, an urgent melody filled the air, and the dyed black rice danced around Li Huowang like a living creature. It surged upwards like a colossal tsunami, completely engulfing him.
Li Huowang noticed the woman plucking her strings in the distance.
He firmly grasped the handle of his spine sword and coldly smiled. “Zhuge Yuan, right? Alright! Then I’ll give you Zhuge Yuan!”
As the tsunami of black rice approached him, he pulled out his spine sword from his back and forcefully hurled it toward the woman.
Some hidden agents from the Tianchen Kingdom couldn’t help but take action since the spine sword was a crucial artifact for transportation to the Great Liang.
Thanks to this incident, the next time the Tianchen Kingdom tried to use tactics to sow discord in the Great Qi, no one would believe them even if they offered better conditions.
“What are you standing there for!? Hurry up and help!”
Li Huowang's words snapped everyone back to reality. Without hesitation, they nodded in agreement and armed themselves with various weapons. They hurriedly rushed over to assist Zhuge Yuan, even though they had just entertained the idea of betraying Li Huowang.
The opponents were originally no match for Zhuge Yuan, and with the addition of these twelve people from the Great Qi, the balance shifted even further. The situation turned decisively in favor of Zhuge Yuan.
Before long, the surging black rice diminished as Zhuge Yuan turned it into black ink. He splattered it across the valley walls, transforming it into artistic landscape paintings.
Just as Li Huowang thought the battler was ending, a new type of forest came into view around them, gradually blending into the surroundings.
It seemed that this vast area was filled with forests on the Tianchen Kingdom’s side.
Figures suddenly emerged from these forests and rushed towards Zhuge Yuan and his group.
The Tianchen Kingdom is sending reinforcements? That’s even better. I’ll see how many more people they have to die!
Li Huowang had expected the reinforcements to be strong, so he was taken aback when he realized they were still no match for Zhuge Yuan. They were even weaker than the woman from before.
While their arrival added more figures to the landscape painting, it didn’t change the overall situation. The Tianchen Kingdom seemed unaware of this, continuously sending more people.
Li Huowang wanted to direct Zhuge Yuan through these areas to discover what was happening in the Tianchen Kingdom, but the enemy seemed very cautious. Whenever he approached, the changing environment would quickly disappear.
He frowned as he saw the landscape painting nearly become a depiction of the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival.[1]
Something’s not right. These people aren’t here to turn the tide. It’s more like they’re here to delay me.
Li Huowang realized the possibility of an ambush and prepared to retreat.
However, a voice filled with dramatic lamentations stopped him.
1. A painting by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan. ☜