Cao Hai gingerly opened the door and saw Peng Longteng lying down on a bed. At this moment, there were two doctors bandaging the wound on her neck.
"Aiya~!" Cao Hai approached her and started to stomp the ground beside her bed in frustration. "Are you crazy? You just killed thousands of civilians!"
Peng Longteng replied with her eyes closed, "Who would want to fight for the country if they don't pay us? It's so much harder to ask them for money than it is to kill them. Since the nation is having such a difficult time paying us, I might as well as take matters into my own hands. After all, I cannot mistreat my soldiers after fighting the war for so long!"
"You! You—" Cao Hai was infuriated.
"It's just a small town of a few thousand people... why are you so anxious about it? I'm already very merciful for not plundering a city instead," said Peng Longteng.
"You talk as if it were that easy! Those were all the civilians of Hou Shu!" shouted Cao Hai as he wiped his tears. "Everyone within the palace is busy dealing with the Natural Disaster and you are just adding to their troubles! You just offended all of them!"
When she heard this, Peng Longteng sat up and pushed the doctors away, "I don't care about the Natural Disaster. Even if the Heavens were to fall, the soldiers need their money! And why are you so afraid? It's not like this is not the first time a Natural Disaster has occurred."
"If you wanted money, you could have just taken it. Why did you kill all of them?" asked Cao Hai. However, even as he complained, he still used his handkerchief to wipe the blood off of Peng Longteng's armor.
"We just came back from the battlefield and had lost quite a few men. Then, we didn't even get our money. My soldiers were starting to reach their breaking point, and if I hadn't done anything then it would have caused a mutiny within my camp," said Peng Longteng.
Hearing this, Cao Hai's voice became soft, "There's no way you will be able to cover this up. Those within the palace should already know about this by now..."
"So what if they know about it? You think I don't know how they would act? They already embezzled the money that was meant for my soldiers, so they should have already known how I would act. Relax, they won't make a big deal about it and their superiors will even work to cover it up. If word of this got out, then everyone would be at a disadvantage. This is the best situation for them. Not only do they not have to pay us, we still receive our money too. It's a win-win situation. Plus, I have my own justification. We already discovered that there were several Si Qi spies within our kingdom," said Peng Longteng. As she recalled the spies, her face became gloomy and she touched the left side of her face.
The tattoo on the left of her face had mostly been burned off, leaving behind only the character representing 'loyal'. Even this tattoo had become distorted, giving her a much more fearsome appearance. Her left eye was also blinded. It was now white in color.
"Damned brat! Not only did he escape, he even managed to injure me! Officer, go and find the Surveillance Bureau. Tell them to find the location of the spy and let me know immediately so that I can go and kill him!" commanded Peng Longteng.
"Sigh, just let it go. Since he's from the Ao Jing Sect, it's no longer under your jurisdiction. Let's head back to the camp," said Cao Hai.
"No! I am Peng Longteng, and I refuse to leave this grudge alone! Since he offended me, then I will kill him!" said Peng Longteng.
"But what are you going to do? You can't just bring your soldiers and mobilize all of Hou Shu. You are not the Emperor," asked Cao Hai.
"I am a General, someone that protects the people from their enemies. I will destroy all of the enemies of Hou Shu," declared Peng Longteng.
Cao Hai was speechless. "Since when did they harm Hou Shu? Weren't they just beaten and chased off by you?"
"No, they are the enemy!" retorted Peng Longteng as she smashed the bed with arm. Her immense strength caused the solid wooden frame of the bed to break apart.
——————————————
At that moment, a mace was swung downward, instantly killing a two-meter long snake just like that.
Gao Zhijian took the snake and smiled happily. Then, he placed it on his shoulder and walked back to their resting place.
The mountains were filled with boulders and stones, but at least it was not as barren as before; there was some green vegetation here.
Soon, Gao Zhijian returned and saw everyone inside a cave.
"Make... Make... Make..." stuttered Gao Zhijian as he brought the snake inside the cave.
"Make what? Senior Li told us we can't light up a fire. Go and eat your ration," reminded one of them.
However, Jin Shanzhao thought otherwise. He cheerfully took the snake and said, "We can still eat this without needing a fire. We can use it to make sashimi."
As he spoke, he took out a small knife before carefully skinning the snake and slicing the flesh into small pieces. Then, he plated the neatly cut pieces of flesh nicely.
When he was done, Jin Shanzhao took a pair of bamboo chopsticks, and used it to dip a piece of snake flesh into a chili dipping sauce and ate it. "Mm~ It's delicious. Come and try it yourselves."
Hearing this, everyone huddled together and started eating.
Puppy was eating happily with everyone else when he suddenly stopped and shouted for Li Huowang, "Senior Li, come and eat. It's surprisingly tasty. It reminds me of fatty pork."
But Li Huowang ignored him. At this moment, he was in the middle of training himself to utilize his newfound power.
Shua!~
When Li Huowang opened his eyes again, he saw that everything around him had turned upside down. Directly below him was his own head.
Closer... Closer... Careful... Don't go too fast now...
Li Huowang carefully willed himself to get back to his original position as his line of vision slowly became one with his body.
This time, he managed to overlap himself perfectly.
Li Huowang could finally overlap his illusion and himself perfectly after training for so many days.
He then looked around and saw Bun. After a moment of thought, he willed his illusion to appear directly in front of Bun.
Bun was surprised by Li Huowang's sudden appearance and fell backward. Then, it crawled back up and started wagging its tail at Li Huowang's illusion.
Li Huowang was happy with the results of his training.
I don't know how I got it, but this power is very useful. At least I will be able to use it to confuse and surprise the opponent next time around. But I still need to practice more to become used to it.
Li Huowang's current limit was projecting his illusion anywhere within ten feet of himself. During this time, he wouldn't be injured even if the enemy attacked his illusion, just like how the General failed to injure him before.
But he knew that he wouldn't be able to use it frequently; the opponents he would be faced with will not be idiots. They wouldn't be surprised a second time.
"Senior Li, how is your training coming along?" asked Bai Lingmiao as she brought him a bowl of snake sashimi.
"Not bad," replied Li Huowang as he picked up his chopsticks and began eating.
Even though snake sashimi wasn't that delicious, it was still a much better meal than eating dried rations.
"Senior Li, how much longer until we are out of Hou Shu?" asked Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing this question, Li Huowang stopped eating and took out Jin Shanzhao's map. "We can't walk on the main paths anymore, and so we have to take numerous detours. We probably can't travel through some of the smaller paths either. However, given that they don't know where we are, we at least have the advantage in that regard. We will arrive at this place in two days, and then we have to travel for another week before we arrive at the border. And since we cannot go through the official gate, we will have to take yet another detour and hike out of Hou Shu. After that, we will be safe."
"But... we can't travel for that long. Even if we eat our rations sparingly, our food supply will at most last another two days," pointed out Bai Lingmiao, worried.
Having returned their appearances to normal, Li Huowang's group continued to travel along a muddy dirt path. At this point, it had been several days since they had escaped from that town.
Currently, all of them had weary looks on their faces; they had not been eating well and were not dressed properly, so this outcome was inevitable.
When they got to a slightly flattened area, Li Huowang used his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Let's take a break."
Hearing this, everyone immediately sat down on the ground, panting heavily.
Bai Lingmiao carefully took out their last yellow biscuit and broke it into half, and kept one of the halves. Then, she passed the remaining half to Li Huowang, "Senior Li, have some food."
Li Huowang looked at her and pinched her shrunken tummy.
This action made Bai Lingmiao feel embarrassed, but she didn't deny him.
"Don't hold yourself back; I know that you have a large appetite. Eat while you can, and don't go hungry. I'll figure the rest out," said Li Huowang.
"I'm really not hungry. You can have it," said Bai Lingmiao as she once again pushed the biscuit over.
However, Li Huowang didn't bother to take it. Instead, he opened the map while trying to think of ways for them to re-stock. They were running out of supplies and needed to find ways to replenish them soon.
He had considered robbing those bandits, but dismissed the idea when he thought of the relationship between the bandits and the outlaw soldiers.
It was difficult to tell whether or not those bandits were acting as that woman's sentries.
Given how difficult it was for them to shake them off earlier, he felt that it was not worth it to provoke the outlaw soldiers just for some food.
Robbing the commoners?
However, Li Huowang immediately dismissed that notion. He would definitely not do such dastardly things like his own Master. He was Li Huowang, not Dan Yangzi.
He suddenly found that it was indeed quite challenging to obtain enough funds and food, yet not rob the bandits or oppress the commoners.
At that moment, Puppy snickered as he walked over, and reached for the biscuit in Bai Lingmiao's hands before being smacked away by her.
"Senior Bai, please give it to me. Senior Li is not hungry, but I definitely am," said Puppy.
"No. There's only a small amount of ration left. Eat your own," replied Bai Lingmiao.
"I've finished mine," said Puppy.
"Then you'll have to go hungry for a few days. You won't die from starvation so quickly," said Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing this, Puppy dejectedly scratched his ribs under his clothing. He turned around to look at the others nearby. But this time, he didn't find anyone else eating. Even the most accommodating Yang Xiaohai didn't have any spare food for him. Gradually, his eyes focused on the group of women they had rescued from the bandit hideout.
"If I had known that it would come down to this, then we should have left these ladies behind. They don't do anything besides waste our food. They are just a burden," muttered Puppy.
Those words instantly caused the women to feel afraid as they huddled together helplessly.
"Are you even a man? Why are you so full of complaints?" said Chun Xiaoman, unable to stand his complaints.
"I'm just saying it as it is. Am I wrong?" retorted Puppy.
"Don't... abandon us! We can be useful! We know a place where there's food. It's quite close to this place. We can take you there," interjected one of the women.
Those words caused everyone to look toward the group of women.
The speaker was a woman with a big mouth. From the looks of it, she could easily attract the attention of the bandits, evidently not just because of her big mouth.
As she felt everyone staring at her, she drooped her head uneasily.
"Is what you are saying true? Can you really help us find food?" Li Huowang walked over and asked. He suddenly realized that he had been wasting his time and energy. With the help from this group of locals from Hou Shu, he did not even need a map.
"There's a village nearby... And my fourth aunt has fields there... We can go and ask..." said the woman.
Hearing this, Li Huowang studied the map in his hands once again, but found that there were no markings close to their location.
"Hehe... There are too many small villages around here. I can't mark them all," Jin Shanzhao was embarrassed as he came over and explained himself. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
"Why bother pretending if you don't know. Don't delay our Daoist's matters," ridiculed Lu Zhuangyuan.
Hearing this, Jin Shanzhao's face turned red. "I'm not lying! Do you know how many such villages there are in Hou Shu?!"
"Alright, stop chatting. Let's go over and see. Bring us to your fourth aunt's place," said Li Huowang, his words causing everyone to stand up.
The entire group followed the big-mouthed lady as she led them toward a distant rocky mountain. When they arrived at the barren foot of the mountain, she did not stop, and continued climbing up the empty mountain.
Initially, there was still a semblance of a path, but later, it disappeared completely, and they had to get on four limbs to continue climbing upward.
There were several times when Li Huowang wondered whether this woman was lying to them. After all, this place did not seem like it had a village.
After a lot of effort, when they finally reached the top, they were greeted with a paradise-like scene.
This was a flat-topped mountain, and there was actually a village at the peak.
More importantly, there were lush green fields, a rare sight in the barren lands of Hou Shu.
"Which lunatic... Did they have nothing better to do? Why would they build a village all the way up here? I'm exhausted," Puppy complained as he rubbed his aching legs.
"I'm guessing that it's probably to avoid heavy taxes, levies and conscription. There are quite a few possibilities," conjectured one of them.
"Ah, when you think about it, the people suffer a lot. There are so many things to worry about," said Puppy.
"Are the Hou Shu officials really so strict? They even force people up the mountains. Our officials are a lot more understanding, and they only collect half of the harvest each season. The farmers are also exempt from forced manual labor," asked Lu Zhuangyuan. He found a cheap sense of satisfaction when he compared himself to others.
As they conversed, Li Huowang had already confirmed the location of the fourth aunt of that big-mouthed lady, and started heading in that direction.
This place appeared to be quite peaceful, and each house was bright and clean. It was like a paradise that was unaffected by the turmoil outside.
"Senior Li, our village is quite similar to this. Even though we only have a few people, they are all good folk," said Bai Lingmiao. She seemed to recall something as a faint sense of joy appeared on her face.
When we finally settle down, living with others in a place like this seems like a good choice.
Li Houwang thought to himself.
At that moment, he heard noises coming from within the houses with his keen senses.
A big group of outsiders suddenly entering the village drew the attention, as well as hostility of the villagers. But as the big-mouthed lady accurately reported her fourth aunt's name, the hostility on their faces lessened.
Things seemed to be progressing quite smoothly until they heard that this distant relative had come here to borrow food; as soon as they heard that, they refused to open their doors.
Seeing this, the big-mouthed lady stood before the closed door and pleaded with tears streaming down her face, "I... I don't know... where else to go..."
On the other hand, the people standing around were starting to get impatient and frustrated. They had to continue to endure their hunger as they had nothing to eat.
Chapter 202 - Harvest
The atmosphere turned heavy in an instant.
Just then, Chun Xiaoman noticed that Li Huowang had no reaction, and was about to speak but stopped.
"Shh," Li Huowang placed a finger on his lips, motioning for her to be quiet. Then, he tilted his head toward the south and listened carefully. After a while, a rare smile appeared on his face. "Don't worry, the food issue has been resolved."
As the others watched him, Li Huowang's body gradually shifted and slowly phased through the nearby wall.
"Wait here for me; I'll be back shortly," his voice echoed from nowhere.
"Ah, this is what my second uncle mentioned, the art of passing through walls. The gentleman is truly exceptional in every way," commented Lu Zhuangyuan.
On the other hand, Li Huowang concealed his illusion within the wall, while his body continued to remain in a hidden state. He stayed close to the wall and headed toward another building. On the way, he passed through the courtyard where they reared chickens and then stepped into the room. This allowed him to hear the conversation of the people inside more closely.
"Son, you aren't there yet. Your skills are not fully developed. Go and read the Liar's Scripture ten more times," said a man.
"Yes..." replied a youth.
"Don't blame your father for being strict; this is the foundation of our Wu Family. All of our family's assets were amassed by our ancestors by swindling them from others one at a time," said the man.
Li Huowang sighed softly. From the looks of it, this place was not the utopia it seemed. People here actually used their skills of deception to make it big.
But this fact just worked in Li Huowang's favor. Now, he wouldn't need to worry about his conscience when engaging in illegal activities to take care of their urgent needs.
Who knew that the first time I made use of my new ability would be to steal things. I had originally thought of earning money through honest means such as escorting goods and people. But now I'm actually doing things like this. Perhaps legitimate work is not meant for me.
As he contemplated this, he began to search through the entire building.
Soon, he found a hidden compartment and opened it. It was filled with all sorts of silver and gold ornaments, with various styles and varying levels of wear and tear. It was obvious that these were ill-gotten goods.
Seeing these items, Li Huowang's face lit up in delight; he had just found their travel expenses! After a moment, he quickly found a bag and filled it up with the pieces of silver and gold.
As this was happening, the father and son duo were still discussing their arts of deception in the next room over.
"Son, you're the only seedling of our family. You must learn well. If you don't, then our family's legacy will be at risk," said the man.
"I have memorized all of it, Dad. I will study hard and not let you down," replied the youth.
Hearing this, a trace of disdain appeared on Li Huowang's face. This bunch of liars actually felt proud about being from a family of liars.
After making one round, Li Huowang found their cellar and walked in. Here, he found all sorts of preserved meats and salted vegetables. He quickly brought all these outside, and then tossed them behind the wall to the people there.
This was a very strange scene. The vegetable jar would float up by itself, come to the corner of the wall, and then run off once again.
If others were to witness this, they would definitely be very shocked.
Meanwhile, the father continued to speak to his son. "When you go down the mountain this time around, use your arts of deception to find yourself a wife. I will only consider you a worthy disciple when you succeed in this endeavor."
"Dad, can you actually deceive someone into marrying you?" asked the youth.
"Nonsense! As long as you put your heart and mind to it, you most certainly can. Back then, your mom was also hoodwinked by me, and she's still in the dark even now," said the father.
The more Li Huowang heard them talk, the angrier he felt. After a while, he suddenly stopped what he was doing.
Should I just kill them?
Because of his past with the Sitting Oblivion Dao, Li Huowang felt extreme hostility toward any and all liars, to the point that he felt that it was best to kill off all liars.
"Daoist, you can't do that. They are indeed in the wrong, but that doesn't mean that they deserve the death penalty."
The appearance of a sudden voice beside caused Li Huowang to jump. When he turned toward the voice, he saw that the voice belonged to Monk, someone he hadn't seen for quite some time.
Monk circled around Li Huowang and started nagging him with his little pearls of wisdom.
After a while of contemplation, Li Huowang finally decided to give up on the idea.
Monk was right; he shouldn't kill them. He couldn't just go around killing to deal with issues. That would only make him more and more radical; if he only held a hammer in his hands, then everything he saw would look like nails.
While a death sentence could be avoided, a life sentence was inevitable. He had decided that he would completely empty their house and allow them to savor the feeling of losing everything.
After coming to his decision, Li Huowang emptied everything from their house, taking away everything as long as it was edible or worth some money.
"Son, when you deceive others, you can't just make things up. It is necessary to use a mixture of truth and falsehoods. That's how you will get others to believe you," explained the father.
"Dad, I know that. But how much truth should be mixed with falsehoods? The Liar's Scripture does not elaborate on that," questioned the youth.
"Fool! That obviously depends on who you are dealing with. When dealing with those that are easier to deceive, use less truth and more lies. Against those that are less believing, especially the more stubborn types, speak more truth in front of them. Then, they will believe you when you try to deceive them later. Remember: a competent liar's words must have some truth within!"
"I understand."
Li Huowang was about to leave, but after overhearing their conversation, he went back into the room. When he emerged again, he was holding a slightly worn out book with the words "Liar's Scripture" written on it.
I'll let you guys lie even more!
"How's it going? Did you guys get everything?" asked Li Huowang as his illusory body merged with his actual body and he appeared before the others once again.
"Yes, we got everything; it's to the point that we can't fit anymore. But, Senior Li, where did you get all these items from?" asked Puppy, already munching on a piece of cured meat.
"That's good. Come, we will talk on the way," said Li Huowang.
As they left the village, the miserable cries of the father-son duo rang out in Li Huowang's ears before gradually fading away.
"Dad! Our Liar's Scripture has been stolen!"
"Dad! Our chickens have been stolen!!"
"Dad! The pots on our stove have been stolen!!!"
After a lot of effort, they finally managed to move everything down from the rugged mountain path.
When they looked at all the heavy things that they were holding, everyone's faces were filled with joy; they wouldn't need to go hungry anymore.
The first thing they did when they got down the mountain was to find a source of water, make a fire, and enjoy a meal.
After they had eaten their fill, their anxieties disappeared, and even their tempers improved.
"Sister, I apologize for my thoughtless words from before." Puppy beamed as he once again approached those women.
"Get away! Who doesn't know what your actual thoughts are at this point? Once you're full, you directly start thinking about dirty things," said Xiaoman, shooing him away.
"Sister Xiaoman, look at the way you're talking. My words were not intended to harm anyone, but were for the greater good..." said Puppy, trying to defend himself.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang listened to them bickering before reaching into his pocket and passing the heavier bags to Bai Lingmiao, "This is the loot from those liars. There are quite a few pieces of gold and silver; you can count them."
"Okay," replied Bai Lingmiao.
As watched the others who were now full after their meal, Li Huowang finally felt at ease.
They had managed to resolve their worry about supplies, and now all they had to do was to get out of Hou Shu. Then, their current troubles would be over.
He pondered for a moment, then flipped through the Liar's Scripture that he had gotten earlier.
There's actually a manual that specializes in teaching people the art of deception. It's my first time seeing something like this.
Heh, there are even tactics and strategies for deception here.
Originally, Li Huowang had just been planning to pass some time by flipping through the book. But as he continued to look through it, his expression became more solemn.
He found that the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao had also used some of the tactics mentioned in the book.
The Sitting Oblivion Dao's words had indeed contained a mixture of truth and falsehoods!
Chapter 203 - True? False?
"What happened to Senior Li?"
"I don't know, he was fine until just a moment ago. How come he seems like he suddenly got possessed after glancing through that book?"
"Junior Bai, do you want to go and take a look? Is his illness acting up again?"
Under their urging, Bai Lingmiao nervously walked over and squatted beside Li Huowang. She asked, "Senior Li, are you... alright?"
As she spoke, Bai Lingmiao sneaked a glance at the rows of words that Li Huowang was staring at. She was illiterate and did not know what they meant, but from the looks of it, they seemed to be important to him.
When she saw that Li Huowang didn't respond, Bai Lingmiao paused, then took out the whip that she used to knock the drum. Then, she used it to knock the book aside, sending it flying.
Senior Li had been reading this book before he became like this. Perhaps it is something ominous.
She then asked him again, "Senior Li, are you alright?"
On the other hand, Li Huowang, who usually had heightened senses, now could not hear what the others were saying. He was entirely focused on the lines of text that he had written on the ground.
I am Peng Zhi, one of the Three Corpses. (False)
I am Hong Zhong, one of the three leaders of Sitting Oblivion Dao. Earlier, the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao lied to me because I instructed them to do so. (False)
I killed the people in the dead town. (False)
Among the members of Sitting Oblivion Dao, there is a high-ranking person who is also a Strayed One. He has lived to the age of 190, and has completely shaken off the hallucinations brought about by being a Strayed One. (?)
As Li Huowang looked at the fourth line, he contemplated various possibilities.
Could this be real?
Since everyone wanted to capture Strayed Ones, he knew that they were clearly valuable. If they could make use of Strayed Ones, then why could the Strayed Ones themselves not use their own powers?
Due to his newly acquired abilities, Li Huowang deduced that the potential of a Strayed One far surpassed what he had imagined.
If there's a way, then that would mean that this illness can be cured! Then, I can become a normal person. No, I may even be able to completely control this strength. If that were the case, then no one would dare to deceive or harm me anymore!
With excitement bubbling within him, Li Huowang felt a surge of strength course through his body. Even his mood turned from being gloomy to becoming more impassioned.
However, he gradually calmed himself down. Everything hinged one major premise—that the Sitting Oblivion Dao member was speaking the truth back then.
But based on their past interactions, it was rather uncertain.
Li Huowang did not know the probability of the last statement being true. But even if there was only the tiniest sliver of a chance, it was already extremely tempting for him.
After all, he was desperate.
His desire was not just for more power, but it was for a way out of his suffering.
His random bouts of switching between reality and hallucinations was too tormenting. He did not want to go through the excruciating pain he had gone through before; it was something that was even worse than death.
I can't do anything right now, but after we escape from Hou Shu, I can start gathering information on this slowly, and analyze it rationally.
I also need to be cautious, and not rashly believe any of the words uttered by the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao. Be it true or false, I need to take things one step at a time, only using the truths as my reference.
After sorting out his thoughts, he stood up. When he looked around, he noticed that the others were watching him with strange expressions.
"Why is everyone staring at me? Is there something on my face?" asked Li Huowang.
"No, there's nothing," said Yang Xiaohai as he tried to pick up the large pot and place it on his back. However, Gao Zhijian suddenly reached out and lifted it with his big hand.
At the same time, the rest of them also started to pack up their belongings, as though they were preparing to set off.
Li Huowang looked around, then picked up the Liar's Scripture that was lying in the distance, and started preparing to continue their journey.
But at this point, he suddenly had a thought.
Hold on! Could those two liars also be from the Sitting Oblivion Dao? Are they planning to deceive me again? No, I need to go back there.
With a grim look on his face, he threw the Liar's Scripture on the ground, and started heading back toward the flat-topped mountain.
The others were bewildered by this, unable to understand what was going on. For a while, everyone remained silent.
"I'll keep an eye on him, in case his illness acts up on the way," Chun Xiaoman said, then picked up her sword and followed him.
As the rest of them waited, four hours quickly passed and it started turning dark. At that moment, they saw Li Huowang once again coming down from the flat-topped mountain with Chun Xiaoman following behind him with a disturbed look.
On the other hand, Li Huowang's expression was clearly better than it had been before he had gone up the mountain; it was as though a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"What happened?" Puppy ran to Chun Xiaoman and whispered.
"Those two liars are pitiful. It's really terrible. They were just deceiving others, and did not deserve to die," said Xiaoman.
"Why did Senior Li do that?" asked Puppy, surprised.
Faced with this question, Chun Xiaoman hesitated, unsure of how to explain. "He... wanted to see how many faces those two had. Evidently, they only had one face each."
Hearing this, Puppy hissed, his scalp tingling.
"Quit chatting. We should hit the road before it's completely dark. Don't forget that we are still being pursued," said Li Huowang.
Li Huowang's words prompted both of them to pick up their pace and catch up with the others. They both stopped discussing what had happened on the flat-topped mountain.
Just then, another unexpected event occurred as they were preparing to set off.
"Senior Li, what's happening? Are you okay?"
At this moment, Li Huowang had an extremely distressed expression on his face as he clutched his head with both hands. He shouted,"...chains... Chain me up quickly! It's coming!"
"Senior Li, we don't have the chains! They were all on the carriage!"
"Then quickly dig a hole and bury me! Hurry! Don't let me run around!"
Before they had finished digging the hole, Li Huowang had already returned to a ward filled with the disinfectants. There was a person standing before him. It was a young, bespectacled man in a white coat.
The man smiled slightly and pushed his glasses up. "Li Huowang? You're finally awake? Let me introduce myself. I'm your attending physician, Dr. Hou. How are you feeling now? It seems that you have been having fewer and fewer periods of wakefulness compared to before."
Li Huowang looked around and asked, "Where's my mom?"
Hearing this, a warm smile spread across Dr. Hou's face, and he said amiably, "Your mom had something to attend to outside. She had been here until just a moment ago, but you had not yet awoken. Li Huowang, if you truly care about your mom, then you need to cooperate with my treatment. The sooner you recover, the earlier you can repay her for all she has done for you. Let's have a chat. I know you think that this place is a hallucination. That's alright, then how about we talk about your "real world" there? From the looks of it, many... interesting things have happened over there."
When he heard Dr. Hou reveal his identity, Li Huowang immediately turned away and stopped talking. He had no interest in listening to the nonsense of a doctor within the hallucination.
When Dr. Hou saw his patient's resistance, he did not say much either. He just tapped a few words on his tablet and left the room.
As soon as he stepped out, Li Huowang heard a new pair of footsteps entering the room. "Little buddy, I heard from Dr. Hou that you are awake. Can you go to the restroom by yourself? I'd rather not have to change your catheter bag. Please take some pity on me."
Even without opening his eyes, Li Huowang recognized this distinctive voice with its characteristic chattering. It belonged to Nurse Wang who had talked to him over the phone. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
Suddenly, a warm towel was placed on his face and it began rubbing. "Here, young master, let me wash your face."
Li Huowang pushed the towel aside and glared at the newcomer. This was a plump man with an unmemorable face. There was a blue nurse's cap on his head, and he was also wearing a blue nurse's uniform. The only distinctive feature on his face was a mole on the left side of his chin.
"Ah? Young master, you are awake? Do you need my help with anything?" asked Nurse Wang.
Li Huowang looked at him, annoyed. "Can you stop talking? Do you enjoy chatting with mentally ill patients? Aren't you afraid that you'll go insane yourself?"
"Well, mentally ill patients are quite interesting. Yesterday, the patient in bed 89 next door was being quite picky with his food. Do you know why? He said that the eggplants seemed shifty, and that he was afraid they would do something bad to his tummy. Hahaha!" laughed Nurse Wang.
After laughing, Nurse Wang resumed his duties. He picked up the urinary catheter bag and headed to the bathroom to empty it, and then he returned.
"Your urine is too yellow. Looks like you've become more heaty. Young people are really quite something; it's even possible to become heaty through hospital food," commented Nurse Wang. Then, without waiting for Li Huowang to reply, he continued, "Hey, kid, back at the nurses' station, I heard that you say that you obtained some supernatural abilities? Why, have you turned into an Immortal over there?"
"Is that any of your business?" asked Li Huowang. This Nurse Wang was like a fly that buzzed around him incessantly, making him feel extremely vexed.
"Tell me more, I love to hear your nonsense; it's really interesting. I can't play with my phone when I'm on shift, so I rely on you to pass time. I also heard that you found a woman over there? How is it? Is it lifelike? If it is, then you've hit the jackpot!"
Anger flared in Li Huowang's eyes as he glared at the man who was making inappropriate comments about Bai Lingmiao.
But the next moment, the rage on his face vanished, and it was replaced by a deep distrust. "What's your surname?"
"Didn't I tell you just now? My surname is Wang. You can call me Nurse Wang. Or, you can follow beds 65 and 31, and call me Handsome. I don't mind either," said Nurse Wang.
"Wang? Are you Wang Deqiu?" asked Li Huowang.
"No? What kind of crappy name is that? My name is Wang Wei," said Nurse Wang.
Hearing this, the doubt in Li Huowang's eyes vanished, and only chilliness remained in his gaze. "You're lying to me. You are no nurse. Your true identity is that of a doctor."
Puzzled, Wang Wei scratched his head. "What? Is your illness flaring up again?"
"You led my mom away, because she has an honest personality, and you were afraid that she'll expose the situation. Previously, you kept provoking me with your words, in an attempt to elicit a response from me."
Hearing this, a helpless smile appeared on Wang Wei's face. He bent down to connect the urine bag, and then turned to the door and said, "Come in."
The ward's door opened, and Dr. Hou from before walked in. Then, he bowed and greeted Wang Wei, "Teacher."
"Did you see that? The patient is still rather sensitive. They only lose self-control when their illness acts up. In stable conditions, they're just like anyone else; probably even smarter than normal people. So, you must treat patients normally. Don't treat them like fools just because they are mentally ill," said Wang Wei. Then, he turned back to Li Huowang. "Let me introduce myself. I am your attending physician, Dr. Wang Wei. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Why pretend to be a nurse?" questioned Li Huowang.
"Because you have a strong aversion to doctors. So I thought of using a different identity to talk to you. But, there's not much difference between a doctor or a nurse. We're all here to serve patients," said Wang Wei.
After uncovering the man's true identity, Li Huowang closed his eyes and stopped interacting with him, quietly waiting for the time to pass. Since he had the time, then he would rather think about how to quickly leave Hou Shu, than to waste time talking nonsense to him.
"Li Huowang, do you really think that it's possible that I am nothing, and just a figment of your imagination?" asked Wang Wei.
"Hmm?" Li Huowang opened his eyes.
Seeing the patient respond, Wang Wei continued, "I often wonder why our self-perception is so fascinating. If someone believes that they are something, then they will become that thing. Did you know that not all conscious beings work the same way. For example, in the minds of some animals, or even infants, there is no concept of 'self'. Beings like them can never suffer from mental illnesses. Speaking of which, mental illnesses can be considered to be a more advanced condition."
"What are you trying to get at? You're all over the place. Dr. Wang, go and take a break if you can't do this. Don't end up having a nervous breakdown of your own in the midst of attempting to treat a patient," said Li Huowang.
"Let me correct you," said Wang Wei as he continuously circled around Li Huowang's bed. "It's not nervous, but mental. There are many professional diseases amongst doctors, and mental breakdown is one of them. So strictly speaking, you're not wrong."
Li Huowang couldn't be bothered with him, and closed his eyes again.
"Li Huowang, based on my analysis of your previous recorded conversations, it seems that you've acquired some sort of an ability there, like a power to displace yourself, right? Did you know that this corresponds quite well with schizophrenia? You're already quite ill now. You can't afford to get any more sick. It's alright if you don't respond to me. After all, my salary will still be the same. But, your mom will be very saddened. She paid quite a large sum to hire me after all. Oh, and I forgot to tell you. This is a private hospital, and the rates here are quite high. And since it's private, very little of it is covered by medical insurance. Do you really want to stay here like this for the rest of your life? Have you ever thought about the burden that you're placing on your family? As the saying goes, there is no dutiful child before the sickbed. It will be the same for your mother and the others. You're so stubborn, and never cooperate with the treatment. Be it your girlfriend or your mother, they will all eventually leave you. I've seen that happen far too many times. Ultimately, you'll likely be locked up in a cheap hospital, unable to come out your entire life, and grow old in loneliness."
As Wang Wei continued to speak, his tone gradually became heavier. "Of course, aside from your mother, there's also your girlfriend! They will all eventually come to despise you because nobody wants to be around a lunatic."
Seeing Li Huowang lying on the bed and continuing to glare at him, Wang Wei continued, "Do you know how long it takes for her to get here by train? How many transfers she has to take? How many excuses she has to come up with to explain to her parents? No, you don't know. Because you only think about yourself. That lady named Yang Na has been sacrificing so much for you. But what about yourself? You have been uncooperative with the treatment and unwilling to take even a single step out of your comfort zone. Li Huowang! What kind of man are you?!"
As heard all this, the veins on Li Huowang's forehead throbbed.
"Li Huowang, you don't deserve her! Yang Na should have long since given up on you and gone away to find someone better! Then, the final outcome would be her getting together with someone else and bearing their children. And all the while you would just continue to lie here on the sickbed and imagine them together in bed!" continued Wang Wei.
"Shut up!"
Creak~
The straps restraining Li Huowang began to tear as he glared at Wang Wei intensely.
Wang Wei could see the hostility in Li Huowang's eyes; even so, he wasn't the least bit afraid as he walked over to the bedside and removed the restraints.
As soon as he was free, Li Huowang pounced on Wang Wei and grabbed his nurse's uniform, and then threw a punch. "What do you know?! You're just a hallucination! Do you know anything about what I've been through?! You don't know anything!"
Wang Wei also started to fight back. Soon, a fist landed on Li Huowang's face, causing his nose to start bleeding. At that moment, Wang Wei's expression seemed to have become as crazed as Li Huowang's—his teeth were clenched as he stared back at Li Huowang.
"Then let me tell you! I do know! You think you're the only one who has experienced hallucinations? Wrong! I was once like that as well, but I managed to overcome it, and now, I'm a qualified doctor! So, I'm far stronger than you, you coward!" shouted Wang Wei.
As they continued to fight fiercely, a syringe suddenly plunged into Li Huowang's arm from the side. Immediately, Li Huowang felt as though his brain had rusted as his movements became sluggish and he suddenly felt very weak.
Wang Wei, along with his student, supported Li Huowang and restrained him to the bed once again.
Then, Wang Wei stuck his fingers into his mouth to massage his slightly loosened teeth while gasping for air. "This young man hasn't had any exercise for a long time, but his strength is still quite impressive."
"Teacher, you..." Dr. Hou looked puzzled. Though he had heard of his unique style of doing things when they first met, he still found it quite unusual to see a doctor engage a patient in physical combat.
Wang Wei stood by the bedside and looked down on Li Huowang, whose face was bruised and battered.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang continued to stare at this person as his mind slowly became a whirling mess. Gradually, the two figures before him began to change, and grew much larger. Their voices echoed, and it seemed like drumbeats were echoing along with their speech.
"His condition is more unique in that he has very high psychological barriers. It's to the point that he's almost emotionally isolated. Our first step is to increase his interaction with the real world, to allow him to meddle in this world through his own senses," explained Wang Wei.
"But... the books don't say that..." questioned Dr. Hou.
"The books don't say? Then do they describe such a case in the books? Don't be too rigid with what you've learned. Sometimes, you have to be flexible and adapt," retorted Wang Wei.
Li Huowang didn't know what happened after he passed out. The only thing he remembered was that it was very messy. When he woke up again, he found that the world in front of him was upside down, with a large round moon hanging below him.
It took him a while to realize that it wasn't the moon that was upside down. Instead, it was him who was turned upside down.
It seemed that he had used his new ability while he was unconscious.
He slowly adjusted his body, and then retraced his steps with the help of the chaotic marks on the ground. It didn't take long before Li Huowang spotted Puppy peeking out from behind a rock.
"Didn't I instruct you to bury me? How come you let me escape?" asked Li Huowang.
Puppy had an innocent look on his face as he said, "Senior Li, we did bury you. But the problem is that you stepped out from the ground... again."
"Stepped out? What do you mean?" demanded Li Huowang.
"Just like that time, when we were mourning for you, and you climbed out of the grave," explained Puppy.
Puppy's words instantly made Li Huowang's expression worsen. He hadn't really considered this aspect previously.
Gaining a new ability had indeed made him stronger. And perhaps, this was a good thing to others. However, that may not necessarily be so for himself; after all, Li Huowang understood very well that he was a lunatic.
If there was anything more dangerous than a lunatic, then it was a lunatic trained in using a weapon.
The greater the power, the greater the responsibility. That was true for others. But for himself, the greater the power, the more danger he posed to others.
No matter what happens in the hallucination, I must try to remain as calm as possible.
Li Huowang pondered these matters as he silently walked back.
On the way back, Li Huowang saw the others looking around while carrying torches. It seemed like they were all looking for him; from the looks of it, he had walked quite far.
Li Huowang could see the fear in their eyes. He did not say anything, and just continued to walk back.
When he returned to their previous location, he saw that everyone was back.
Li Huowang appeared behind Bai Lingmiao, and said, "I'm back." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
Hearing his voice, Bai Lingmiao shuddered and slowly turned around, revealing the bruised right side of her face to him.
When he saw this, an intense sense of self-blame washed over him, making it hard for him to breathe. It was clear that he was the one who had inflicted those injuries on her.
On the other hand, tears welled up in Bai Lingmiao's eyes as she hugged Li Huowang, "That's great, Senior Li! I thought I'd never see you again!"
Seeing this, Li Huowang wrapped his trembling hands around Bai Lingmiao, as if he wanted to pull her toward him.
Once his sense of self-blame lessened, a strong sense of fear swept over him. It was fortunate that he had only punched someone this time. But what if he had a knife next time around?
Despair inducing images flashed through Li Huowang's mind, causing his pupils to tremble slightly.
Even though he didn't say a word, Bai Lingmiao seemed to be able to sense what he was thinking as she reached out with her fair hand to stroke his back. "Senior Li, it's okay. I know you didn't mean it. It's just a little bit of swelling; it'll be gone in a few days."
However, her words couldn't improve Li Huowang's mood. He whispered softly in her ear, "Promise me, if there's a next time, you... will stay further away from me."
"Alright," Bai Lingmiao nodded obediently, her true thoughts remaining unknown to him.
Li Huowang's gaze slowly moved past Bai Lingmiao's shoulder, and his emotions became increasingly resolute. In the end, his gaze settled on the line of words that he had carved into the ground.
Among the members of Sitting Oblivion Dao, there is a high-ranking person who is also a Strayed One. He has lived to the age of 190 and has completely shaken off the hallucinations brought about by being a Strayed One.
Chapter 206 - Jin Shanzhao
The ox-cart steadily moved forward as it creaked here and there.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang and the rest were slowly walking beside the ox-cart.
After placing their luggage onto the cart, they didn't have a lot to carry and were thus much more relaxed.
All of these ox-carts were bought by Sun Baolu from a small town that they had just passed by. They still had to travel a long way, and so it was necessary to purchase these ox-carts.
However, Jin Shanzhao was still carrying his bamboo basket as he hummed. He felt much better being surrounded by the lush green grass.
Since such an environment couldn't be seen in the central region of Hou Shu, Jin Shanzhao knew that they were close to the border.
At that moment, he opened his map and tried comparing it with their current location.
"Hmm... A few more days and we should be able to reach the border," muttered Jin Shanzhao.
Once he finished checking the map, he stored it once again and clasped his hands together toward Li Huowang. "Young Daoist, we will be reaching the border soon. Congratulations. As long as you exit the border and enter Qing Qiu, you will be fine."
Li Huowang was still busy reading the Liar's Scripture. Hearing Jin Shanzhao's words, he raised his head and nodded before continuing with his reading.
"Where are you planning to go? Will you travel with us to Qing Qiu and the Liang Kingdom?" asked Li Huowang.
"No, I will not be joining you on your journey. I will send you off to the border and return," replied Jin Shanzhao.
"Return? Where to? Aren't you afraid they will capture you?" asked Li Huowang.
Jin Shanzhao smiled confidently. "No worries. I have my methods of protecting myself."
Hearing this, Li Huowang turned to look at him; he had a feeling that the man was just bluffing. Back then, Jin Shanzhao was scared shitless by the outlaw soldiers, but now, he was trying to put on a brave front.
They were both still chatting when they saw a village in the distance.
Once they got close, the group stopped outside while Jin Shanzhao and Li Huowang entered the village to buy some food.
Having just two people helped them avoid garnering unwanted attention, and Jin Shanzhao was good with his words. It made communicating with the villagers much easier.
Li Huowang had no intention of stopping here. They had decided to quickly buy the food and continued with their journey; they needed to escape Hou Shu as fast as possible. Even though it was tiring, they had no choice due to the outlaw soldiers that were looking for them.
Just as they had entered the village, Li Huowang caught the scent of something nasty. He followed the scent and saw a pig pen. The pen was built directly below the houses.
When he saw what the black pigs were eating, Li Huowang's voice trembled, "Do they... feed the pigs that?"
Looking at these pigs and the pig pen, Li Huowang recalled the Benevolent Nunnery and Abbess Jingxin who had died within the pig pen.
"Hmm? And why would you say that? Isn't this usually how you rear pigs? This is why I don't eat pork and dog meat; both of them feast on feces," said Jin Shanzhao.
Li Huowang suppressed his sadness and looked at Jin Shanzhao. "Wait, you mean to say that everyone else does the same thing to rear their pigs?"
"Naturally. This was how it has been for hundreds of years," said Jin Shanzhao as he picked up a stone and wrote something onto the soft soil. He wrote the character for 'home'. Even though he used a piece of rock, his handwriting was still quite neat and meticulous.
"Do you see this? The upper part of the character symbolizes the roof of the house, while the lower part of the character symbolizes pigs [1]. A roof over pigs makes the character for 'home'. Hence, people have been feeding pigs with feces ever since ancient times. If we can read characters and decipher their components, we can see how culture and tradition have shaped them," explained Jin Shanzhao.
Li Huowang squatted down slowly and stared at the character. After a while, he touched the character with tenderness in his eyes.
"So this is home... Looks like I might've misunderstood the Abbess," muttered Li Huowang. His eyes started to water when he remembered all the help that the Benevolent Nunnery had given him.
Even if the entire world had gone mad, that was one of the only places where he had felt warmth. Now that place is no more.
"Young Daoist?" As Jin Shanzhao saw Li Huowang's emotion become unstable, he took a step back.
After traveling together for so long, Jin Shanzhao had long since noticed that something was wrong with Li Huowang. Even though Li Huowang had many powers, his mind was... off.
Hearing the voice, Li Huowang buried the character for 'home' with some soil and stood up. Then, he once again turned to look at Jin Shanzhao, his gaze back to normal.
"Old man, your identity must be very special," said Li Huowang.
A regular civilian would only recognize some words; most of them were even illiterate. Then how did Jin Shanzhao write with such a neat handwriting, even with a stone?
Jin Shanzhao stood there and considered his question.
"I've saved your life and you won't even tell me this? No need then. Let's go and find some villagers to buy some food," said Li Huowang.
Just as Li Huowang took a few steps forward, Jin Shanzhao called for him, "It's fine. I can just tell you. I am actually a follower of Zhong Heng Jia."
"Zhong Heng Jia?" Li Huowang turned around slowly. He didn't know what those words meant.
As Jin Shanzhao began to explain what it was, his voice became more and more spirited, "The nations divide themselves while trying to unify everyone. The weaker nations would ally with each other to defeat a stronger nation; that is Zhong. On the other hand, a strong nation would try to conquer everything; that is Heng. Hence this is Zhong Heng."
As Jin Shanzhao explained, Li Huowang slowly understood what he meant. It was a special job that existed only during times when the nations were divided.
Jin Shanzhao's job was related to intelligence—to act as a tactician beside a warlord or an emperor; to help his lord with strategies and insights, to unify the nations.
To Li Huowang, all he understood was that Jin Shanzhao worked as an intelligent man that helped his lord to unify the nations.
"To understand the bigger picture, analyze the situation, be good at communicating, able to adapt to any situation, and have both intelligence and bravery while making snap decisions. This is what it means to be a follower of Zhong Heng Jia," explained Jin Shanzhao.
When Li Huowang saw how proud Jin Shanzhao was of his work, he interrupted the latter, "Since you are so great, then why did you not try to persuade that General from before?"
Hearing this question, Jin Shanzhao became sheepish. "Uh... I'm afraid that in this case the sword is mightier than the pen, especially since we were dealing with the outlaw soldiers of Hou Shu."
"Hehe." Hearing this, Li Huowang just chuckled and walked further into the village with Jin Shanzhao following him.
"Young Daoist, I know that you don't believe me, but don't worry. Once you leave the kingdom of Hou Shu, I will make sure to do my own job and stop them from obtaining your whereabouts through me. Since you've saved my life, I will definitely repay you. Once I become an officer of the kingdom of Hou Shu—"
"But you still don't have a lord. Doesn't that mean you are jobless?" interrupted Li Huowang.
"No worries. I will get a job soon. Once I become an officer, I will never forget your help," assured Jin Shanzhao.
"Sure, let's talk about it once you have a job. But I would probably be in the Liang Kingdom by then," said Li Huowang.
As they continued to chat, the atmosphere around them was quite pleasant and everything was going fine. However, at that moment, Li Huowang suddenly grabbed his sword as if preparing for a fight.
"Young Daoist?" Jin Shanzhao followed Li Huowang's gaze and saw several black jars, each of them plastered with a red sheet that had the upside down character for 'prosperity'.
Chapter 207 - Someone's Staring
"What's wrong, young Daoist?" Jin Shanzhao asked as he took a few steps back upon seeing how agitated Li Huowang was.
To Jin Shanzhao, those black jars looked quite normal, just like any other clay jars that were used to pickle vegetables. The only difference he could spot were the red sheets with the upside down character for 'prosperity'.
However, Li Huowang did not let his guard down. "Something just looked at me from within those jars!"
"Looked at you?" Jin Shanzhao was confused and re-examined the jars once more. "Could there be someone inside? But the jars are too small to fit a person."
"I didn't say it was a human!" said Li Huowang as he unfurled the Profound Records and shot one of his fingernails toward the black jar, shattering it in the process.
Splash!
The black jars broke one by one as the brown brine and pickled vegetables sprayed everywhere.
Li Huowang kept his guard up and carefully walked over, using his sword to pick up the pieces of the jars as he inspected them.
However, Li Huowang couldn't find anything wrong. They were ordinary jars used to pickle vegetables.
The sound of jars being broken immediately caught the attention of the people inside. An old lady with a walking stick walked out. "You rascal! Why did you break my jars? Pay up!"
Li Huowang sheathed his sword and threw some fragmented pieces of silver toward her. Then, he carefully retreated, his eyes trained on the old lady.
"Daoist, where are we going? Aren't we supposed to buy food?" asked Jin Shanzhao hurriedly.
"We need to leave this place now. We can buy food somewhere else!" said Li Huowang. He had lost any and all the trust he had in this village.
He would rather have guessed wrongly than be ambushed by something he didn't know about; he had grown to be wary of everything in this bizarre world.
The old lady didn't stop them from leaving. She just grumbled as she picked up the pieces of silver.
After leaving the village, Li Huowang brought everyone with him and resumed their journey once more. This time, they didn't stop until midnight.
When they stopped, they were in a bamboo forest. At this point, Li Huowang felt that they were far enough away from the danger regardless of what the thing inside the jar was.
They set up a campfire and started cooking. Even though everyone was tired, they still needed to eat or their body would fall apart.
Li Huowang did not partake in the cooking. Instead, he stood guard while standing on the ox-cart. His eyes were extremely sharp and could see even within the darkness.
At the same time, Bun, who somehow understood what Li Huowang was doing, placed its nose on the ground. Then, it started sniffing the area to make sure that there was nothing suspicious.
Nothing happened even as the meal was prepared. It was as if the gaze he had felt within the village was nothing more than an illusion.
Did I make a mistake?
Li Huowang started doubting himself. To be honest, he didn't even fully trust himself.
But then he immediately tossed those doubts to the back of his mind. Everything was in the past and there was no need to be hesitant anymore.
"Senior Li, the food is ready. Come and eat," called out one of the assistants.
Tonight's meal consisted of bamboo shoot noodles. They had collected the fresh bamboo shoots from within the bamboo forest. The bamboo shoots were quite crisp and sweet. Even though there wasn't any meat, since they had used pork lard to cook the meal, it smelled heavenly. Li Huowang gladly ate the meal without a complaint.
All of them were huddled around the campfire as they ate their meal. The sounds of munching and slurping did not stop.
After eating their meal, all of them felt sleepy. Soon, they were lying down and covered in their blankets as they fell asleep.
However, Li Huowang was on night duties tonight. He trusted no one else to do this.
At this moment, there were no other noises in the bamboo forest besides the crackling of the flames.
Li Huowang sat beside the fireplace as he carefully caressed Bun's soft fur. Unfortunately, given that he wasn't a robot, he too soon felt sleepy. He shook his head in an attempt to stave off his sleepiness, but it was to no avail. Then, he took out one of the sharp pikes from his bag of torture tools and used it to stab his right palm.
The blood that poured out made his robes become an even deeper shade of red. Li Huowang's body instantly tensed up from the pain and he no longer felt so sleepy.
"Young Daoist, why not switch with me? An old man like me doesn't sleep much anyway."
Li Huowang didn't need to see who it was to know that the voice belonged to Lu Zhuangyuan. The footsteps and the smell of the smoke gave him away. "Troupe Leader Lu, go and sleep. We have a long way to travel tomorrow and you should rest, or you might collapse."
Lu Zhuangyuan approached Li Huowang and sat beside him, his face filled with even more wrinkles than before. Then, he carefully took out three strips of tobacco before mixing them with some dried leaves and placing the mixture within his smoke pipe.
"Daoist, what do you think of my youngest son?" asked Lu Zhuangyuan.
"Hm?" Li Huowang looked at Lu Xiucai who was currently sleeping with his older brother and sister-in-law. He had never really thought highly of Lu Xiucai. Not only was he cowardly, he was also very hesitant and didn't have much self-confidence.
"Young Daoist, I know that this is just wishful thinking... But I would still like to give this a chance. Could you take him in as a disciple? He's technically not a performer yet because he still hasn't perfected his singing. I hope that you won't dislike him. I don't expect you to teach him everything you know, but at the very least our ancestors would be happy if he manages to learn even one of your powers," said Lu Zhuangyuan.
Just as Lu Zhuangyuan finished speaking, Li Huowang suddenly stood up.
"They are here! Everyone, wake up!" Li Huowang shouted while the rest of them tried their best to shake off their grogginess.
"Prepare yourselves!" Li Huowang warned the others as he slowly approached one side of the bamboo forest. The darkness within the forest made it look even more sinister.
It wasn't long before Li Huowang saw two white urns within the bamboo forest. The urns weren't large, only around the size of the watermelon. There was a long sheet of red with words plastered on each of the two urns.
One of them read 'Deceased Mother, Yang Fengling' while the other read 'Deceased Grandfather, Li Gongquan'.
It was clear that these were cremation urns. There were even signs of worship in front of them.
Seeing this scene, Li Huowang hesitated.
Should I smash them? Or would something pop out if I smashed them?
After much consideration, Li Huowang carefully retreated. At the same time, the bonfire disappeared as all of them ran.
It was only after some time had passed that the lids of the two urns slowly lifted up. Then, the head of a child popped out from each of the two urns, both of their faces smeared with white powder.
They were not normal children either. Their heads were roughly the size of a man's fist. The red makeup on their cheeks amplified the paleness of the rest of their faces.
Both of them looked at each other and chuckled. Then, they raised their pale white arms and legs before climbing out from the urns.
Both of them were just about to leave when a shadow fell from the skies and blocked their path.
Li Huowang gritted his teeth, as his bloodshot eyes glared at the two weird things in front of him.
Chapter 208 - Danger
The 'children' were surprised and afraid when they saw Li Huowang's towering figure.
"So you do know fear!" said Li Huowang as he unsheathed his sword while releasing a thick murderous intent.
With just a single stroke of the sword, the urns were smashed and the two 'children' were beheaded.
But they did not bleed. Instead, brown ash flew out from their pale bodies. Within the brown ash were bits and pieces of white bones.
The 'children' were made from the ashes of the cremated!
"Hang on. This doesn't look like an evil being that spawned naturally..." muttered Li Huowang as he checked the urns and saw fingerprints on some of the shrapnels.
Sha~ Sha~ Sha~
At that moment, the sound of paper ruffling through the bamboo leaves rang out from all directions, causing Li Huowang to stand up. Knowing that he was in a difficult position, he snarled.
There weren't just one or two sets of eyes gazing at Li Huowang; he could feel numerous gazes coming from every direction. He was surrounded!
Then, Li Huowang saw what it was. These beings were different; they had a body, with each of them wearing funeral clothes that were usually worn by the dead.
They also had white urns instead of heads.
Each of the urns had a strip of red paper plastered to it, the 'gazes' seemingly coming from the paper itself.
They flickered amongst the darkness of the bamboo forest, appearing and disappearing from time to time.
Li Huowang knew that they were moving, but he couldn't see how they moved. They were slowly approaching him using an unknown method.
After a moment, Li Huowang unfurled the Profound Records and grabbed his pliers, ready to pull out his teeth at a moment's notice.
Just then, something red appeared on his face and covered his vision.
It was a red talisman, similar to the yellow talismans attached to the foreheads of zombies he had seen in movies.
Li Huowang quickly ripped it off and saw the words written on the red talisman: Deceased, Li Huowang.
Staring at the words, Li Huowang's mind quickly raced with all of the information he knew about this world.
Are they trying to convert me into them? Who are they? No wait, I think I've heard about them before while I was at the Zephyr Temple.
At that moment, a single name appeared in his mind.
Mountain Grandma! They are the Mountain Grandmas!
As his thoughts reached this point, Li Huowang raised his pliers, but not to pull out his teeth; instead, he intended to sacrifice his left eye.
Pop!
As he sacrificed his left eye without any hesitation, a sinister light enveloped the surroundings. Immediately, all of the nearby Mountain Grandmas were covered by this sinister light.
And then, they disappeared. Everything that was enveloped by the light had vanished.
Li Huowang took this chance and quickly ran back up the path. Everyone else was still waiting for Li Huowang on the path, but they didn't know what had just happened.
"Run! Leave the bamboo forest! It's too dangerous here!" shouted Li Huowang.
When they saw Li Huowang's missing left eye, none of them objected to his command. As blood continued to drip from his eye socket, all of them disregarded their fatigue and ran as fast as they could.
They didn't stop even after they had exited the bamboo forest. What awaited them was a grassy plain. Even then, they continued to run on the endless field of grass until dawn.
At that point, Jin Shanzhao threw his bamboo basket down onto the ground and sat down, his shirt drenched in sweat. He panted rigorously while trying to catch his breath. Then, he plucked some of the grass before placing it back down powerlessly. "Ha... Ha... Qing... We are... almost... in Qing Qiu... Ha..."
Meanwhile, Li Huowang was once again perched on the ox-cart. This time around, because of the fact that there was nothing blocking his view in the plains, he could maximize his sharp vision and survey everything around them despite only having a single eye at the moment.
If the Mountain Grandmas were pursuing them even after they had run so far away, then Li Huowang would have no choice but to fight them.
Thankfully the sun continued to rise, the warm rays of sunlight washing away the coldness within Li Huowang's body. He could no longer feel any gazes.
Back within the bamboo forest, the Mountain Grandmas were long gone. Then, one of the stones on the ground suddenly spoke. "What should we do? It doesn't seem like he is someone we can defeat. Even the Mountain Grandmas we lured toward them were defeated. Should we request for backup?"
The stone had just finished speaking when one of the bamboo shoots spoke up, "Why even bother wasting our time with them? I remember that Peng Longteng was trying to find that brat. We should just tell her where they are heading instead."
"You are right. In the end, if she somehow ends up causing a mess of things, then we can just push the blame onto her. On the flip side, if she is successful, then we will also get some merits at least," replied the stone.
Then, the stone and bamboo shoot became quiet once more, never to speak again.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang and the group rested on the grassy plain for an entire day. They had no choice. As much as they wanted to continue running, they were still human.
Thankfully nothing else happened, except for a few people walking past them.
At this moment, Bai Lingmiao was sitting beside the sleeping Li Huowang, her heart aching at the sight of his wound.
Even though Li Huowang was sleeping, it was not restful at all. He continued to move in his sleep, murmuring something all the time.
As she saw this, Bai Lingmiao gingerly placed her hand onto Li Huowang's bloody eye socket. "How painful this must be..."
Bam!
Li Huowang suddenly woke up and moved rapidly, both his hands already placed on Bai Lingmiao's neck.
Everyone was shocked to see what had happened, including Li Huowang. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
After a moment of stunned silence, Li Huowang immediately let go and inspected Bai Lingmiao's neck. When he confirmed that she was not hurt, and was merely shocked, he felt relieved. Then, he hugged her and kissed her, refusing to let her get out of his embrace.
"Senior Li... Everyone is still watching..." muttered Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing this, Li Huowang finally stopped and sighed. "Please stay further away from me when I'm sleeping next time."
"But... We've always been sleeping together."
"Listen to me. I'm a bit tense during these times so we can sleep together again once this crisis is over, ok?" said Li Huowang.
"Alright... But Senior Li... Your eye..."
"No worries. This is better. At least like this they will have a harder time recognizing me," reassured Li Huowang.
Li Huowang and the rest continued their journey the next day. They walked for three more days before they saw the border on the afternoon of the third day.
The border was essentially just a short wall with a few soldiers. At the same time, the walls were quite crooked, a clear indication of the sloppiness.
"This is only natural; Qing Qiu and Hou Shu have always been allies. They never had to be wary of each other," explained Jin Shanzhao upon noticing Li Huowang's curiosity.
"Allies? Doesn't that mean that the outlaw soldiers would be able to cross over into Qing Qiu?" asked Li Huowang as he stared at the busy street in front of him.
"Impossible. If the soldiers of Hou Shu entered Qing Qiu, then it would mean war. It would be a much more serious situation than killing a few thousand of their own civilians," replied Jin Shanzhao.
Hearing that, Li Huowang felt slightly more relaxed.
Then, he recalled something and looked back at the old man. "Will you be turning back now?"
Jin Shanzhao smiled and bowed. "Young Daoist, may we meet again. I will never forget the fact that you saved my life. If I do end up becoming an officer, then I will repay you graciously."
Li Huowang chuckled. "No need. Just find a place and live out your life quietly. Might as well retire before you even start working."
Hearing this, Jin Shanzhao suddenly became serious for once. "The only reason I've learned so much is for the sake of my future lord! How could I not use the knowledge I've accumulated over tens of years? My dream is to stop the wars between nations! I will bring peace to the lands!"
As he spoke, Jin Shanzhao's eyes were blazing with passion.
Li Huowang was impressed by Jin Shanzhao. Even though the latter looked cowardly, his dreams were magnanimous. He could sense the seriousness behind Jin Shanzhao's words.
After a moment, Li Huowang bowed respectfully toward Jin Shanzhao. "Then, I wish you good luck in your future endeavors."
Jin Shanzhao smiled and bowed back. "Thank you Daoist. We will go our own separate ways from here on out."
Shiuuu~
At that moment, something flew through the air as it approached them rapidly.
Shriek!
Jin Shanzhao was still smiling when a massive halberd flew through the air and crashed into his waist. Instantly, he was cut in half just a few feet away from Li Huowang, barely leaving him alive.
Chapter 209 - Blood
A single drop of blood splashed into Li Huowang's opened mouth.
Salty, smelly, and bitter.
That was all Li Huowang could think about as he saw the halberd cut through Jin Shanzhao's body and fly toward himself.
The owner of the halberd had meant to attack him and Jin Shanzhao was just in their way.
At that moment, Li Huowang subconsciously used his new power and moved his body two inches toward the left.
Bam!
The halberd phased right through his illusion and crashed into the ground behind him, cracking it in the process. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Unharmed, Li Huowang looked down at Jin Shanzhao who had stopped smiling; he suddenly felt confused.
On the other hand, Jin Shanzhao opened his mouth to try and talk to Li Huowang but nothing came out. Soon, his eyes became unfocused and he died.
Staring at Jin Shanzhao whose body was split in two, Li Huowang suddenly felt unsure about what he was supposed to do.
This was not supposed to happen!
Just a moment ago Jin Shanzhao was talking about his grand dream and now he was dead; it was as if he was nothing more than a joke.
Dak dak dak~
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves came from far away. Li Huowang looked up, anger filling his heart. As he saw the familiar helmet, he roared furiously, "PENG LONGTENG!"
This time around, Peng Longteng had brought with her a cavalry of hundreds. She rode her armored steed as she slowly approached the border region where Li Huowang's group was.
Their group had been hiding for so long, but she still managed to catch up with them.
As she approached them, she used her one remaining eye to see that Li Huowang was unharmed. Seeing this, she smiled cruelly. "Looks like you are indeed something. I underestimated you last time and I won't make the same mistake again. As an acknowledgement of your strength, I will make sure to leave you with an intact corpse! Charge!"
As she roared, the hundreds of cavalry behind her followed suit and charged toward Li Huowang, their oppressive aura aimed directly at him.
Halfway through their charge, Peng Longteng suddenly raised her hand and pointed at Li Huowang. "Fire!"
In response, all of the soldiers raised their bows and shot arrows straight toward Li Huowang. The rain of arrows ensured that he had nowhere left to run.
However, in the face of this dangerous situation, instead of running away, Li Huowang did the opposite—he raised the sacred text over his head and ran straight toward the soldiers.
Since these were the plains where cavalry had the advantage, he judged that it would be impossible for him to run away. So the only thing he could do was choose to fight!
Splurt!
An arrow curved and shot straight toward Li Huowang's chest from an impossible angle!
However, it did not harm him; he had separated his body and illusion once more. At this moment, he was close enough to see the soldier's faces.
"That's just an illusion! He must be somewhere nearby! Quick, use the method that we used to take down that black-faced monk before!" shouted Peng Longteng.
Following her orders, the cavalries all separated and surrounded Li Huowang in a large circle. However, even as they surrounded him, they did not stop their attacks. They continued shooting their arrows into the circle blindly, covering every inch of the open space to make sure that they hit Li Huowang.
Splurt!
At that moment, a sharp pike with backward facing hooks pierced into Li Huowang's forearm through his palm.
Li Huowang shouted in pain as he ripped out the bone marrow from his forearm before splashing it onto the Profound Records.
In the next moment, the forearms of the horses and soldiers all snapped into two, causing them to fall down onto the ground.
This caused a chain reaction that caused the other soldiers to trip as well. With this, the rain of arrows finally stopped.
At that moment, Li Huowang suddenly saw a shadow appear above his head—Peng Longteng's halberd was just above him!
However, she was not aiming for him. Her halberd was aimed at the Profound Records!
Seeing this, Li Huowang picked up the Profound Records and immediately dodged to the left. Once he was out of danger, he launched himself toward Peng Longteng as he stepped on her armored horse and stabbed his sword into the gap of her helmet.
He was attempting to do the same thing as he did last time!
Ding!
The sound of clashing metal was heard. However, Peng Longteng did not attempt to attack Li Huowang directly. Instead, she swept her halberd in a large arc, causing everything around her to be cut in half indiscriminately.
Seeing this, Li Huowang leapt upward and somersaulted to dodge her attack.
This was the moment when Peng Longteng's massive amount of battle experience showed its usefulness; she managed to intuitively guess where Li Huowang was and successfully kicked him in the stomach!
Li Huowang was launched into a small hut, causing it to collapse!
On the other hand, Peng Longteng and her army slowly surrounded the demolished hut as they waited for the dust to settle.
But Li Huowang's body was nowhere to be found!
A burrowing technique?
Just as Peng Longteng had that thought, her senses alerted her of an impending danger, causing her to immediately leap off her horse.
In the next instant her horse was cut in half from the bottom just like Jin Shanzhao.
At the same time, Li Huowang's bloody illusion slowly appeared from underneath the ground.
This was a new method of using his power that he had just thought of. All he needed to do was project his illusion below ground; this would effectively render his real body invisible.
This is the key to defeat her!
Li Huowang lowered his sword and sank his illusion back underground.
Then, the invisible Li Huowang slowly approached Peng Longteng, who was now without a horse.
However, just when he was almost there, Peng Longteng quickly ran to another soldier and pulled them down before taking control of their horse.
"Ha! Don't think that you are omnipotent just because you have some tricks! Your parlor tricks are nothing compared to a soldier's combat methods! For example, one of our techniques is called distraction!" shouted Peng Longteng as she ushered her horse and led the outlaw soldiers to charge in another direction.
Seeing this, Li Huowang was stunned. But then, he immediately realized what they were aiming for. They were targeting Bai Lingmiao and the rest!
Realizing their intentions, Li Huowang chased after them; however, he was not as fast as a horse. Thus, the outlaw soldiers managed to reach them first!
As soon as Li Huowang heard one of the women scream, he unfurled the Profound Records.
His heart hurt when he saw one of them being killed!
Instantly, a sharp bone spike shot out from one of his finger toward the soldiers.
This is not enough!
Li Huowang roared and opened his robes as he used his bare hands to rip open his wounds. Even so, his anger made it so he felt no pain.
Then, a huge chunk of flesh fell heavily onto the Profound Records.