Chapter 43: Burning Incense For Directions
Li Jiahong did not know what identity the towering giant beast that was wreaking havoc and devouring the city possessed, but judging from recalling the last words of the deceased Huo Gu, a syllable repeatedly mentioned in his words was “Kuthuen,” which might be the name of this abnormal god feared by the Huo Gu.
“Kuthuen,” Li Jiahong silently recited. He tried his best to imitate that Huo Gu’s pronunciation, but could barely call the ruler of that dimensional entity this way after filtering out sounds humans could not produce.
Amid the ruins, Li Jiahong called out the names of others, how earnestly he hoped that in this city ruins filled with death and cold silence, he was not the sole survivor…
“He has finally encountered fatal danger.” Wei Jiang, dressed in red, seemed to sense something and suddenly stood up from his chair, saying to Lin Ling, who remained as calm as ever with a face full of fake smile.
Lin Ling slowly closed the books, shooed the black cat that was teasing the lycoris radiata off the table, and leisurely said, “Since you gave him the business card, it’s time for you to make your choice.”
Wei Jiang let out a long breath and calmly said, “The good should not die easily; those recognized by me as good should enjoy longevity and good fortune.”
“Mm.” Lin Ling nodded lightly. “Then do what you want to do.”
Wei Jiang respectfully bowed, then walked toward the shop’s door, placing one hand on the crimson ghost mask on the door. Red light began extending from his fingertips the moment they touched the crimson ghost mask, continuously spreading, and the red light slowly outlined the shape of armor and battle robes on his body.
“Venerable, I take my leave.” Wei Jiang pushed the door and went out.
……
Li Jiahong dug through the surrounding ruins, looking over one shocking corpse after another with horrifying deaths. He endured the discomfort and continued searching for traces of living things.
Immediately after, Li Jiahong seemed to hear a girl’s crying voice. He instantly stopped his movements of clearing debris and listened carefully, soon locating the direction from which the sound came.
He vigorously dug through the broken walls and black stone, finally seeing a huge fleshy wing.
Li Jiahong’s heart shook. Like a madman, he cleared away the building debris pressing on the wings, then saw a Ushi-Oni covered in wounds desperately protecting a girl. She knelt on the ground, using her wings and lower limbs to build a space for survival for the girl.
Perhaps sensing Li Jiahong’s arrival, the Ushi-Oni also lost her last strength to hold on. Her swollen body gradually shrank, and the feathers on her body scattered like blown dandelions, falling to the ground in an instant, covering the crying girl like a blanket.
“Wife!” Li Jiahong, eyes red, held Jiang Gu, who had returned to human form, in his arms.
Death surged onto Jiang Gu’s pale face. She smiled faintly at Li Jiahong and said, “Our child is gone. Among the children I killed with my own hands, one of them was our child…
Husband, you must live on with this child…”
After saying that, Jiang Gu’s body lightened. In Li Jiahong’s sad and despairing gaze, the corpse in his arms turned into pieces of black-edged white feathers and drifted away with the wind.
Li Jiahong cried bitterly while holding the girl on the ground in his arms. He embraced her as if she were the warmest and softest thing in this world, murmuring incoherently, “That’s great… That’s great… You’re still alive… Really… That’s great.”
Perhaps Li Jiahong’s tight embrace gave the girl, who had endured boundless fear tonight, great comfort in her heart. The terrified crying girl quieted down, murmured “Father” once, then suddenly leaned on Li Jiahong’s shoulder and fell into slumber.
“Li Jiahong!” Just as Li Jiahong held the girl and slowly solidified his belief in surviving, another voice that brought him joy appeared. Yu Lianyun, who had somehow luckily survived, discovered him and stealthily ran toward him. Apart from some fatigue and dishevelment, she seemed to have no serious injuries.
Li Jiahong borrowed strength from Yu Lianyun and successfully climbed out.
“What about Captain He and Detective Li?” Li Jiahong inquired.
Yu Lianyun showed a bitter smile and shook her head. “I can’t contact them either. In any case, we’ve found the child. Let’s hurry and escape this world.”
Hearing this, Li Jiahong understood Yu Lianyun’s implication: He Jia’an and Li Yingqi were probably more dead than alive. The deaths of his wife and unborn child had already dealt him a heavy mental blow. At this moment, he could no longer grieve for anyone else. He just wanted to take this innocent child in his arms and escape. He gritted his teeth and nodded. “Alright, let’s go now.”
Yu Lianyun’s tactical night vision goggles were not damaged. She could still see the recorded spatial coordinates, so she led the way ahead while Li Jiahong followed closely behind.
Boom boom boom…
The earth shook once more. Yu Lianyun and Li Jiahong merely glanced toward the source of the tremor, instantly terrified to death on the spot by the horrifying harmful beast so massive it seemed to blot out the sky.
Kuthuen, this ancient abnormal god, the winged evil beast destined to devour everything in this dimension, now smelled the unique “fragrance” on Yu Lianyun. It unhesitatingly tried to seize her and swallow her into its mouth.
Facing the giant claw shadow gradually approaching, Yu Lianyun and Li Jiahong both felt immense despair, but the next moment, shadows rippled under Yu Lianyun’s feet. Two pitch-black evil shadows, incarnations of blessing, crawled out from the shadows and fearlessly charged toward the harmful beast’s giant claw.
The giant claw of the abnormal god Kuthuen did not seem purely composed of flesh and blood; it contained unknown and mysterious ancient power, such that the blessing incarnations, which should not be harmed by any physical attacks, were actually touched by the opponent’s giant claw.
After the blessing incarnations exerted all their power to push the giant claw back a certain distance and suddenly dissipated, the harmful beast’s giant claw deviated from its descent trajectory and landed beside Yu Lianyun and Li Jiahong.
Though it did not directly strike the two, the intense wind pressure from the giant claw’s slam still sent them flying.
Li Jiahong tightly protected the child in his arms and flew backward several meters with Yu Lianyun.
Yu Lianyun, losing the protection of the blessing incarnations, was unfortunately pierced through the collarbone by a sharp black stone during the tumble, her life or death unknown on the spot.
Li Jiahong was no luckier than Yu Lianyun. His armored gear was long damaged, and now countless pebbles and sharp stones densely embedded in the large exposed area of his back, with blood flowing out.
His arms had little strength left, so he could only let the slumbering child in his arms quietly lean against his body.
“To die so ignorantly like this is also a kind of luck.” Li Jiahong thought, looking at the innocent child, then watched as Kuthuen approached them again, towering above, its huge shadow burying his hope of escape.
“Hiss.” In desperation, Li Jiahong suddenly felt intense burning pain in his thigh. His right hand tremblingly pulled a wrinkled red business card from his thigh pocket, discovering that the business card was emitting red light and transmitting immense heat through his fingertips.
“Business card?” Li Jiahong suddenly remembered the unique business card given to him by the shop assistant in that small shop, his expression astonished.
The glowing business card suddenly shattered, turning into two rays of red light. One fell before his eyes and transformed into an incense burner, while the other gathered in his hand, forming three burning incense sticks.
“Li Jiahong.”
Li Jiahong heard a voice from another dimension, transmitted across thousands of mountains and rivers, through otherworld spacetime into his mind, and he recognized the owner of this voice: “Mr. Wei Jiang?”
“Recite after me.” Wei Jiang said indifferently.
Li Jiahong had no doubts and, like grasping the last hope, held his breath and concentrated, following Wei Jiang’s instructions completely.
As the evil demonic claw descended once more, Li Jiahong’s heartbeat raced. He repeated the unknown incantation transmitted by Wei Jiang. The instant the giant claw was a hair’s breadth from him, Li Jiahong had recited the final sentence along with Wei Jiang—this was also the only sentence Li Jiahong clearly remembered reciting.
“General Zeng… Set forth!”
Insert the incense!
Li Jiahong fiercely inserted the three burning incense in his hand into the incense burner. Suddenly, a crimson flame thunderbolt appeared out of nowhere. Beneath the incense burner, a patch of red floating light emerged. A divine power arm seized a soft tentacle of the falling giant claw, halting the heavy evil beast claw in mid-air.
The blazing temperature of the light made Li Jiahong, kneeling on the ground, feel fire in his heart. He couldn’t help but look up, seeing a warrior with a crimson ghost mask painted on his face, a crimson gold-edged burning incense golden crown on his head, clad in crimson flame armor. With one hand, he powerfully held up the evil beast’s demonic claw, slowly emerging from the red light underfoot.
The Crimson General’s angry eyes flashed with golden light. Red light illuminated his crimson face, fangs bared from his mouth startling with his furious expression…
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