"I really can't... I really don't know... I really don't know which side is real..." Li Huowang kneeled down in the field of the kindergarten as he hugged the girl tightly, his eyes filled with confusion.
Was this reality or was this a hallucination? Was this real or was this fake? Li Huowang couldn't differentiate it at all.
Li Huowang had once argued with Abbess Jingxin when she said that a Strayed One's heart was filled with a sense of doubt and confusion.
But now, seeing Sun Xiaoqin kneeling on the other side of the fence, he finally understood what Abbess Jingxin meant when she said that.
A Strayed One could never change. No matter which side they chose, they would always be enveloped in their own sense of doubt and confusion.
This was their fate, and none could escape.
Just then, a tiny hand holding a small handkerchief touched his face, gently drying his tears.
Li Huowang trembled as he lowered his head. He saw the cute little girl who was carefully wiping away his tears.
"Don't cry, uncle," said the little girl.
Looking at her cute little face, Li Huowang realized that the girl was also a living person.
He had almost killed an innocent little girl. A deep sense of guilt surged from the depths of his heart.
But what if it's the Eighteenth Lunar? Kill her!
When this thought appeared in his head, he started to feel an immense amount of disgust for himself. "Shut up! Shut up! Did you ever consider that this child is a living person! Is your life more precious than hers? She's a normal person! And you? Li Huowang, you are nothing but a mental person! You are useless! How could you even think about exchanging her life for yours?!"
The piece of glass in Li Huowang's hand creaked as he held onto it tightly despite the palm of his hand getting cut open by its sharp edges.
His sudden outburst shocked everyone, causing them all to take a step back.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang visualized two people fighting inside of his mind. The hallucination was tormenting him so badly that he could barely breathe.
He wanted to die. As long as he died, he wouldn't have to live in so much pain.
There was no reason for an insane person like him to be alive. Everyone would benefit from his death in one form or another. His mom would no longer be burdened by him, and Dan Yangzi would not be able to revive through his body.
"Stand down. Put down your guns. Young man, can I talk to you?" Someone's voice came from outside the kindergarten.
It was a middle-aged man talking through a loudspeaker. He was wearing casual clothes with his pot-belly bulging out. Li Huowang didn't know who it was, but seeing how the other police officers slowly lowered their guns, he knew that the man in front of him was someone of high rank.
Just as Li Huowang turned around, the man held the loudspeaker in his left hand as he raised his right. "Uh, young man, you know what they say—"
As he talked halfway, his right index finger curled lightly.
Pew!
A sniper round was fired from a faraway window hidden by a curtain, the bullet flying straight toward Li Huowang's head.
Just then, a profound feeling enveloped Li Huowang as he tensed up and twisted his head.
Bam!
Li Huowang's body trembled as his head flew backward and he fell onto the ground.
"MY SON!!" Sun Xiaoqin cried out in despair.
Li Huowang hit the back of his head hard—he could feel his ears ringing and see stars in front of his eyes. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Am I dead? But if I'm dead, why can I still think?
Just then, everything around him turned dark. At the same time, the buildings and the people around him transformed into a bamboo forest at dusk.
Li Huowang felt a burning sensation on his face. He had been injured.
But Li Huowang didn't have the time to care about that. He heard the familiar voice. The Eighteenth Lunar was still here, staring at him from somewhere within the bamboo forest.
However, when he looked around, he saw only bamboo. He was surrounded by bamboo while his lower body was stuck in the mud alongside decaying bamboo leaves.
"Li Huowang! Li Huowang!!" Different voices cried out from within the bamboo forest. He could hear Bai Lingmiao, Dan Yangzi, and even Li Zhi.
Li Huowang had thought that his comrades had followed his command and attacked the Eighteenth Lunar.
But from the looks of it, it was the other way around. For some reason, he was left behind.
At that moment, a familiar voice rang out from the depths of the bamboo forest. "Old man~ You are already eighty-four this year. The King of Hell might not have called you over just yet, but shouldn't it already be your time?"
The voice of his old neighbor rang out continuously from within the bamboo forest and it got louder and louder over time. Gradually, it started dominating Li Huowang's mind, trying to once again change his sense of self to that of the dying old man.
The sound of crunching leaves was heard from within the bamboo forest. Li Huowang caught glimpses of the little girl he saw yesterday as well as the Stove God that she had described.
The Eighteenth Lunar was not alone. It had helpers.
Li Huowang was still delirious about what had happened. His heart was being torn to ribbons due to his grief. But for some reason, he smiled despite the danger that was right in front of him.
"Did you know? You might think that you've won, but you never should have tried to kill me just now. Do you know just how much grief and pain is in my heart right now?" said Li Huowang.
Then, he curled up his trembling hand gripped at his heart as he shouted in pain, "IT'S SO PAINFUL THAT I WANT TO DIE!"
Immediately after saying that, Li Huowang pulled out the red bamboo slip from behind his back. The moment he opened it, Li Huowang felt the intense pain in his heart come to life as it resonated with the bamboo slip. The pain in his heart that had lessened when he came back to reality slowly started to build back up.
At the same time, the red bamboo slip suddenly started to transform as it sprouted roots. Then, the roots pierced through the ground and the bamboo leaves as they dyed everything around them red.
Li Huowang's mind almost crumbled from the pain. The pain in his heart had once again reached the peak that he experienced just moments ago.
But this was not enough. Since the bamboo slip had sprouted roots, now those roots needed to germinate. The pain in his heart was enough. All that was left was the pain felt by his physical body.
Li Huowang cried as his inner self slowly fell apart. Then, he reached out for his torture tools with both of his hands.
Seeing this, the Eighteenth Lunar's group tried to stop him; however, it was too late.
Chapter 96 - Ba-Hui's Descent
"It hurts." His heart was in extreme pain, almost as if it were being sliced by a jagged knife. At the same time, the large cavity in Li Huowang's abdomen was causing his body to tremble uncontrollably.
However, even as he suffered from the most extreme mental and physical pain, he was still smiling.
He smiled at the thing running out from within the bamboo forest. He recognized it. It was a mirror copy of himself. However, it had blood-red eyes.
Ka Ka Ka!
Li Huowang's teeth clattered uncontrollably as he hooked his own intestines before pulling them out and dangling them in the air, almost like a bridge.
"AAAAAAH!!" Li Huowang raised the pikehead in his hand and shoved it into the red bamboo slip that was glowing with an eerie red light, all the while almost going crazy from the pain.
Jiang Jiang!
At that moment, a sinister black flame exploded out from it and covered the surroundings.
Immediately, Li Huowang's five senses once again melded together; however, this time around, thanks to the intense pain, he felt that his senses were much more sensitive. This time around, he was able to sense everything even more clearly.
Once again, he could feel the presence of Ba-Hui who was high above in the heavens. He could feel its intoxicating presence.
While Ba-Hui just ignored Li Huowang, through sacrificing the pain he felt from his mental and physical state, he obtained something he needed from Ba-Hui, something profound.
With the descent of Ba-Hui's presence, Li Huowang's extreme pain was transformed into something else.
In the next instant, a surge of power started radiating from Li Huowang. It was an otherworldly power.
Everything around Li Huowang started to crack as even the very space itself was twisted apart and bent.
Then, Li Huowang raised the pikehead in his right hand and swiped it gently.
In that moment, the fabric of space was torn apart. The bamboo, the leaves, and anything living within it were all torn in half.
Meanwhile, the little girl's head was torn apart, revealing the numerous thumb-sized humanoid figures within, all of them having the same face as the little girl.
Those humanoid figures were just about to escape when all of them fell to their deaths in just a few steps.
Even though the Eighteenth Lunar was not in the direction that Li Huowang attacked, he could easily locate it with his melded senses. It was running east. Presently, all five heads of the Eighteenth Lunar were afraid; somehow, Li Huowang was capable of understanding its innermost thoughts.
Hearing the fearful cries emanating from its red eyes, Li Huowang laughed. He raised his arm and then stabbed his own abdomen with the pikehead.
In that instant, everything around him felt his pain; even the bamboo around him and the stones on the ground felt his pain. The inanimate objects started to twist and turn, becoming more and more horrifying to look at with each passing moment; they were all screaming in despair due to the pain they were experiencing.
Naturally, the Eighteenth Lunar was also caught up in this attack.
Originally, the Eighteenth Lunar was a being that didn't have a sense of pain. But thanks to Li Huowang's actions, it was now given the ability to sense pain.
At that moment, it regretted having offended such a person.
Unfortunately, an instant was all it took for it to be engulfed by the extreme pain, causing it to commit suicide from despair caused by the extreme pain.
When everything was over, Li Huowang's body slowly fell to his right side.
Every corner of his body was screaming in pain, but he was laughing—he didn't know why, but he was laughing.
"Surely I will die from such a serious wound, right? Hahaha!" muttered Li Huowang. He could feel his internal organs falling out from the cavity in his abdomen.
However, he didn't do anything about it.
"It's good that I'm dying! At least, there won't be any pain left when I die. I'm so tired... Why me... I... I really don't want to die... I just want to live a normal life like everyone else..." The dying Li Huowang slowly lost consciousness, his thoughts slowly dying down.
At the same time, his five senses slowly split apart and returned back to their normal functions.
Just before his senses were restored to normal, Li Huowang felt Ba-Hui glancing at him from above the heavens.
Then, everything turned dark.
He wasn't sure how long it had been before he heard the faint sound of a beating drum and footsteps. He could even hear the sound of a nurse rearranging the medicine ampules, causing him to feel irritated by all the noise.
"It's so noisy! Be quiet!" muttered Li Huowang.
When he opened his eyes in shock, he saw a cart filled with the glass ampules.
After some time had passed, Li Huowang finally realized that he was not dead; instead, he was within his hallucination.
Looking at the beeping machines around him, Li Huowang recognized that this was the ICU.
Was he happy that he hadn't died? No, rather than being happy, he felt regret.
Why am I not dead?
"Doctor! The patient in room twelve has woken up!" A voice was heard.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang disregarded the nurse's excited voice, trying to understand what was happening in the real world over there.
At that moment, he heard the door open and he closed his eyes, completely sealing away his senses from the world, waiting for the hallucination to pass.
But then, he heard a familiar voice. It was his main attending doctor at the mental hospital, Li Xiangguo. "Little Li, I know you are awake. Open your eyes and let's talk."
However, Li Huowang ignored him; he did not want to interact with anything within this hallucination.
"Yang Na has gotten a new boyfriend," continued Doctor Li.
Immediately, Li Huowang's eyes sprung open in shock. But all he saw was the doctor crossing his arms with a mischievous smile.
Seeing this, Li Huowang wanted to smash that conceited face in; however, it was only then that he realized that his right arm had been cuffed to the bed.
"Don't be rash. Yang Na hasn't gotten a new boyfriend. But you see? You will still react when something important occurs. So, why are you so conflicted?" The doctor, clad in white, took a stool and sat beside Li Huowang. "Let me guess, you thought that the other side was real, right?"
Instantly, Li Huowang's breathing started turning rapid as the machines around him started beeping as a warning. But in the end, he didn't say anything and just closed his eyes.
"Little Li, let's skip the pleasantries. Since you thought that the place over there is real, then let's talk about the world over there, shall we? Let me ask you this, which world is more illogical? Your world over there, or the one we are in right now?" asked Doctor Li.
Chapter 97 - Doctor Li
Li Huowang stared at his attending doctor and thought about it. "Which world is more illogical?"
He used his cuffed right hand to point toward the floor of the hospital, "This world is more illogical. This is fake!"
Doctor Li heard what Li Huowang had told him and was not the least bit surprised. He used his index finger to push his glasses up and continued talking, "Alright, then, why do you think this world is illogical? There must be a reason, right?"
Instead of answering immediately, he looked up at the white ceiling in a daze. After a while, he started speaking, "When I had taken the kid hostage, didn't the police shoot me in the head? Then why am I still alive? Do I look like I have impenetrable skin? This is enough proof that this world is fake."
At that moment, Li Huowang suddenly stopped, realizing that there was no value in arguing with someone inside his hallucination.
"Little Li, you were just very lucky. They were off their mark. Is there anyone out there who could always hit their targets with all of their shots?" said Doctor Li.
"Hmph! I was lucky? Do you really believe in such an irrational explanation?" Li Huowang smiled coldly.
"There are people out there who get struck by lightning while there are others who end up winning the lottery. While there are people with good luck, there are also others with bad luck. Why would you think that reality will always be fair? The world was never fair. But do you know why the others do not think that this world is fake just because they encountered some irrational situations? That's because they are different from you," said Doctor Li.
Just then, Doctor Li took out his phone from his white coat and played a video for Li Huowang. "Why are you so adamant that the hallucination you are having is real? Let's be real here, the things you encounter there must be even more irrational, right?"
"Dan Yangzi is dead!! He's dead! You guys are free! Come out now!!"
Through the phone screen, Li Huowang saw a video of himself being restrained by a straitjacket while shouting in an empty room.
When Doctor Li saw that he finally managed to get Li Huowang's attention, the doctor swiped the screen with his fingers and played another video. It too showed Li Huowang restrained within a straitjacket.
"Fake! The statues were all fake! Even the giant Buddha statue was fake! They must've cast an illusion spell! I know what I've seen and those filthy things were not some illusion! They will not be able to fool me!"
"Didn't you hear what I just said? I want you to talk with Dan Yangzi himself."
Various videos were played, each showing Li Huowang the things that he had spoken before.
When he saw the final video, Li Huowang's pupils shrank. In the video, he was wearing a hospital gown with a crazy expression on his face. He had a wrench in his hand as he ran toward a shopping mall while shouting like a madman.
"Dan Yangzi! Don't kill the children! You cannot kill the children!"
There was still a large part of the video left out, but the doctor just kept his phone without showing the rest of it.
"Look, compared to the things that you were experiencing on the other side, isn't the fact that the sniper shot missed you more logical?" asked Doctor Li.
Li Huowang once again started getting confused. His breathing turned rapid. Since he did not want to explain anything, he just closed his eyes. "Lies. This is all fake."
"Alright, since you think this side is fake, then why did you hesitate when your mother pleaded to you? Since it's fake, then you should've just stabbed her with the glass shard!" asked Doctor Li, his tone turning serious, "Since everything is fake anyway, then why are you so worried that Yang Na might've gotten a new boyfriend?"
He poked at Li Huowang's heart with his finger as he continued to speak, "If you keep hallucinating like this, how much longer do you think she will last? Even if her heart is unwavering, can you even bear to watch her being single for the rest of her life just for your sake? Can you give her happiness? At this point, can you even call yourself her boyfriend?"
Li Huowang suddenly opened his eyes and glared at the doctor. "They are all fake! But my feelings for them are real! Even if I know that they are hallucinations, I am not able to abandon my feelings for them! Do you think that I don't want to go back to them? But I can't! I've already transmigrated! It's been a long time since I transmigrated!! Since you say that this world is real, then why does the mental hospital here have a machine for gastric lavage?"
Doctor Li sighed as he waved his hands. "Why are these things suspicious in your eyes? Patients like you always end up swallowing something they are not supposed to. That machine can be found in most of the mental hospitals. It was only thanks to the machine, otherwise you might've really died from that disgusting thing you ate."
"Then why were my hallucinations on this side suppressed after I ate the Black Taisui?" aske Li Huowang.
"You did not eat some Black Taisui, or whatever it was. You ate a mouse! And your symptoms became even worse!" explained Doctor Li.
"They got worse right around the time I ate the mouse? You really have an answer for everything, don't you?!"
"Little Li, you have gotten it the other way around. It's precisely because your symptoms got worse that you have the corresponding scenes in your hallucination. It all changes according to your symptoms. That's precisely why it's an illusion."
Upon hearing up to this point, Li Huowang snarled and gave him the best proof he had. "Fine! If what you said really was true, then tell me, why can I bring something from over there to here? How do you explain that?"
"Oh? Do you have another new symptom? What do you mean by bringing something over? Where is it? Let me see," asked Doctor Li.
Li Huowang was just about to tell him about the Jade Pendant that he had given to Yang Na but stopped himself at the last moment.
No, I can't have Yang Na become involved in this, even if it's just an illusion.
Li Huowang was afraid that he would crumble if he ended up seeing Yang Na in his hallucinations. If that happened, then he would once again think that this side was the real one. He had to cut off everything from this hallucination. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
"Fine, just you wait. When I come back next time, I will show you something that only exists in that world! Let me see how you twist the situation at that time, you damned hallucination!" shouted Li Huowang.
Hearing his nonsense, doctor Li sighed. "Little Li, I'm afraid that there will be no next time. You have already caused so much trouble that even the management of the hospital had to get involved. We already got sued quite a few times. The director personally told us to transfer you to a different hospital."
"Transfer? To where?" Li Huowang was shocked.
Doctor Li patted Li Huowang's shoulder. "Since you already think this side is a hallucination, why do you care? All I can tell you is that thanks to you, your family's financial situation is deteriorating rapidly. This is the last time I will be checking on you. I thought that we might be able to save you with one last try, but looks like it's bound to never happen. Hah... As your attending physician, I feel so down."
Doctor Li took off his glasses and examined the boy in front of him. Then, he raised his right hand and gently patted Li Huowang's head, the wrinkles on his face smoothing out by a lot. At that moment, they were no longer a doctor and his patient. "Little Li, you are a good child even if your illness flares up and dies down from time to time. I hope that you will not give up whenever you encounter a problem in the hallucination. Never give up, and especially don't try cutting open your abdomen. Did you know that you almost died? We had to cut off some of your intestines. It will take you over half a year to recover. Compared to seeing you repeatedly get stuck in a hallucination, the people who love you will definitely hate seeing you dead even more. So don't die! Live. Live, so that they have hope. Understand?"
Chapter 98 - Backtrack
After saying all that he had to say, the smiling Doctor Li gently patted Li Huowang's head, put on his glasses, and walked out of the ward. When he reached the door, he stopped for a moment. "Right, Little Li, didn't you say that you could bring something belonging to that world back here, and that's why you thought this world was fake? Then, have you tried bringing something from here to there? Maybe you will find an unexpected answer."
After saying those words, Doctor Li left.
On the other hand, Li Huowang was stunned as he contemplated what Doctor Li had said. "Wait, if I could bring something from here to there... Then, which side would be the reality?"
Should I try? What if I succeed? No, I can't do something like that. I can't interact with the hallucinations or I will never be able to snap out of them! But... It's only a test. What am I so afraid of?
Li Huowang was once again filled with a sense of confusion and doubt, feeling conflicted.
Just as he was contemplating the question, he felt the white walls around him slowly fade into darkness along with the beeping machines. At the same time, the bright LED lights transformed into oil lamps.
Li Huowang realized that he was currently lying on an old bed. When he saw the dusty rafters, he realized that he had returned.
After a moment, Li Huowang removed the sheets covering him.
Rather than bringing something from the hallucination, there's another method that I can use right now to determine whether the world there is fake or not.
Li Huowang checked his abdomen and was surprised to see a clean white bandage wrapped around his body. He gently pressed down on the area where he had cut himself open, but there was only a slight numbing pain.
But how was this possible? He was certain that his intestines had fallen out back then!
My intestines should be suffering from sepsis right now, but they have healed up?
Li Huowang was genuinely surprised.
Back then, when he had decided to use the bamboo slip, he had already given up on making it out of there alive. But to think he was still alive!
Wait.
Li Huowang recalled the white ICU that he had seen in the hallucination as well as the beeping machines and the saline solution.
Li Huowang wanted to avoid thinking about all that, but he knew that he was starting to doubt himself once more. He wanted to get rid of all his doubts, but he just couldn't do it.
"Senior Li! You are awake!" Bai Lingmiao ran over excitedly while holding a bowl of chicken soup.
"Where are we?" When he saw Bai Lingmiao, he buried his doubts deep inside his heart.
"We are in the village," said Bai Lingmiao as she carefully placed the bowl filled with chicken soup on the table. Then, she slid her hands under the sheet to check on Li Huowang's injury.
"How were my injuries healed? Why am I not dead?" Li Huowang asked the most pressing question. The doubts that he had barely managed to suppress were once again rearing their head.
"Senior Li, what are you talking about? Why would you be dead? When we found you in the bamboo forest, we fed you some pills that you had refined yourself. Maybe those pills were the reason that you are already healed," replied Bai Lingmiao while lowering her head to the point that it almost touched the sheets. She didn't dare to look him in the eye.
However, Li Huowang was clearer than the rest about what kind of pills he had refined. They were just regular pills and not some kind of divine pills. How could they have treated such serious injuries?
Do you think your hallucination is logical?
At that moment, Doctor Li's words resounded in Li Hyowang's mind.
At the same time, a scary thought popped up.
What if... what if this side is fake?
When he thought up to this point, Li Huowang felt a strong sense of panic welling up inside himself; however, even he didn't know why he was panicking like that.
In the next instant, Li Huowang cupped his hands on Bai Lingmiao's face and forced her to look him in the eye. At the same time, his expression grew even more agitated. "Tell me! What happened? What are you hiding? Or are you fake as well?!"
Frightened by his demeanor, tears started to stream down Bai Lingmiao's face.
Li Huowang felt his heart hurt when he saw the crying girl. He raised both arms and hugged her while muttering as he tried to suppress the pain in his heart. "Miaomiao, please don't lie to me alright? This is very important to me. Please... please tell me, how did my injuries get healed?"
After a period of silence, Bai Lingmiao finally relented. "Senior Li, Some time ago, I... I became a Shaman. I summoned Granny Bai to come and treat you. In return, she took all but one of the lifespan pills from within your gourd."
Li Huowang's pupil shrank upon hearing that. At the same time, various scenes flashed through his mind. He was reminded of how Bai Lingmiao had suddenly recovered from her illness, and how she had taken Li Zhi's drum leather. This all pointed to her having become a Shaman a long time ago; it was just that he had never put much thought into it.
After telling him everything, Bai Lingmiao pulled herself out from Li Huowang's embrace and watched him gingerly. "Senior Li, I really didn't want to lie to you. Please don't blame me, ok?"
Li Huowang let out a breath of relief and laughed. "It's fine, it's fine. As long as you are real."
"Real? What do you mean?" Bai Lingmiao still didn't quite understand what just happened.
"Nothing. Bring me the chicken soup, I'm hungry." Li Huowang decided to change the subject. Now, he was feeling much better. No matter what Doctor Li had said, he was certain that this side was real and that side was fake.
After eating the Black Taisui, his hallucinations had stopped appearing for a long time. That was the most important evidence he had.
He resolved not to get trapped in the hallucination or be fooled by them a second time.
Then, Li Huowang devoured the chicken soup; his stomach was telling him that he required nutrients immediately.
Soon, he finished the chicken soup and passed the empty bowl back to Bai Lingmiao while requesting for seconds.
"Wait, I was trapped inside my hallucinations earlier, so how did you feed the chicken soup to me?" asked Li Huowang.
Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao did not answer, instead blushing as she ran out with the empty bowl.
"How else could she have fed you? She did it with her own mouth. I told her to just pour the soup down your mouth but she couldn't bring herself to do something so cruel." It was Xiaoman who answered his question as she entered the room.
Xiaoman stood beside his bed and stared at him with a complicated expression. "Senior Li, Junior Bai has done a lot for you. Please cherish her."
Cough-cough!
Li Huowang coughed out of embarrassment and decided to avoid the topic. "What happened to the people in this village after the incident? Did they allow us to stay here?"
Hearing his question, Xiaoman hesitated for a moment before answering. "They all went away."
"Went away? Where to?" Li Huowang was confused.
Wasn't this their village?
"I have no idea either. After the forest around the village started to wither away, all the villagers suddenly had their personalities and memories altered. None of them recognized each other. Even the village head's six sons did not recognize each other. It was... it was almost as if they had never heard of the surname Wu nor were they brothers."
Chapter 99 - Night Visit
Upon hearing Xiaoman's words, Li Huowang scoffed coldly. He knew what the Eighteenth Lunar was and had already guessed as to what had happened. The people here must've had their identities stolen, just like him, and the culprit behind all of it was none other than the Eighteenth Lunar.
The village was made entirely by the Eighteenth Lunar itself. Everyone in the village had just been acting out the roles laid out for them for such a long time without any of them knowing it themselves.
Since it had been controlling so many people at once, it was most likely using them for its own benefit. Rather than saying that it liked playing house, it was more likely that the Eighteenth Lunar was a being that consumed the names and identities of others as food. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"So there's no village at all!" Li Huowang said.
The moment he thought about the Eighteenth Lunar, all his muscles tensed up as he looked at Xiaoman nervously. "Wait! The eyes! Where are the eyes of the Eighteenth Lunar?"
Those eyes were the entire reason they had come all the way here.
"We found them right beside you. Is this what you were looking for?" As if Xiaoman knew what he was going to ask about, she whipped out a black box the size of her palm.
Li Huowang quickly opened the box and saw two red eyes staring at him. They were the eyes of the Eighteenth Lunar.
"I have finally obtained them. Now, I will finally be able to get rid of Dan Yangzi." Li Huowang was ecstatic. He no longer needed to fear getting possessed by Dan Yangzi.
Once he had dealt with Dan Yangzi, he would finally be able to think about finding a way to deal with his hallucination issues.
Kachak.
He closed the box and placed it on the head of his bed. "What about the others? Are they fine? Tell me everything that happened after you found me in detail."
Based on Xiaoman's explanation, Li Huowang learnt that after he was trapped in his hallucination, the Eighteenth Lunar thought that it had managed to kill him and was just about to kill the rest as well; however, at that moment, a faceless man barged in and disrupted its plans by shouting that Li Huowang was a fake. Then, he called for Bai Lingmiao and the rest to attack the fake Li Huowang.
Hearing this, Li Huowang understood that the faceless man was the him who had lost his name and identity. In his hallucination, he had been standing in the middle of the road and shouting at a red car.
"Immediately afterward, the body of the fake Senior Li fell apart, leaving behind only its skin on the ground. The faceless man was somehow able to sense where the Eighteenth Lunar was and ran after it. Meanwhile, when we started chasing it, the bamboo forest around us suddenly moved and blocked us. That was how we lost track of the faceless man," explained Xiaoman.
By the time Xiaoman finished her explanation, Bai Lingmiao walked in with another bowl of chicken soup, this time around with some oily chicken meat inside it.
On the other hand, when everyone else heard that their Senior Li had woken up, they all came to visit him. They were all extremely excited and asked whether he was alright.
When he saw that all of them were alive and well, Li Huowang felt a wave of relief wash over his heart. It was fortunate that none of them had died.
After talking for a bit, Li Huowang was still holding the bowl of soup in his hand when he said, "Since I've woken up, let's not wait anymore. We will head back tomorrow."
But his suggestion was met with unanimous resistance.
"Aiya, Senior Li, even your intestines fell out. Why are you in such a rush? You should just finish healing up before we head back," said one of them.
"Yeah, didn't you already find the thing that you needed?" asked another.
"Let's rest for a few days, Senior Li. None of us is in a rush, so why are you?" asked another.
Li Huowang gently pressed his wound as he got up. "It's fine. I can just sit in the carr—ouch."
A sharp bout of pain caused him to let out a shout as blood started seeping out of the bandages. The pain was so intense that it almost matched the pain he felt from disembowelling himself.
Seeing this, Puppy immediately ran with Gao Zhijian before they pushed Li Huowang back down onto the bed. "Senior Li, please don't push yourself. The carriage is extremely bouncy. Your wounds might end up reopening and cause your intestines to spill out again."
Understanding the situation, Li Huowang could only do as they suggested. "Fine, go back and rest. Let's rest as much as we can over here. We've been constantly traveling ever since we left the Zephyr Temple. You guys must be tired."
After talking for a bit more, everyone started to leave. Only Bai Lingmiao remained in the room; she didn't seem to want to leave.
When Li Huowang extended his right hand and held her hand, she relented, took a stool, and quietly sat beside the bed.
Once she sat down, Li Huowang, who was resting, gently held her right hand. "Is this Granny Bai's power? She only healed me halfway?"
"That was what we agreed on. I felt that as long as she healed you enough to prevent your death, then you could let your natural regeneration take over. Also, there would be no need to waste our resources," said Bai Lingmiao as she looked at the large hand that was holding her hand. "She could technically heal you completely, but the lifespan pills in the gourd would not be enough. If she were to heal you completely, then not only would she take all of the lifespan pills in the gourd, she would even have taken something from your brain."
"My brain? Not my lifespan?" Li Huowang was shocked as he stared at Bai Lingmiao.
Seeing her shaking head, Li Huowang finally understood that the Immortal Families were even more greedy compared to the Wandering Gods. When he had seen the gourd full of lifespan pills, he had been convinced that they only took lifespan.
"Did she say what she would take away?" Li Huowang didn't know of anything precious within his brain.
"I asked her, but she didn't say. The Shamans have no right to ask what the members of the Immortal Families are thinking. However, I had a feeling that whatever it is in your brain might be something very valuable, and so I didn't allow her to take it," replied Bai Lingmiao.
"Hmph! What a bunch of useless ghosts," snorted Li Huowang.
After having encountered so many supernatural beings, Li Huowang could more or less guess that the God of Happiness as well as the giant 'Buddha' in the Righteous Monastery were beings that were much more advanced when compared to the Immortal Families—the Immortal Families could only use some poor sods and force them to live like beggars.
When Li Huowang reopened his eyes, he looked at Bai Lingmiao. "Did they threaten you? Something like you having to hit a quota every month?"
"No they did not. However, every now and then, they will give me a little push to go and find someone to use my Shamanic powers on. It's very annoying," replied Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing that, Li Huowang turned serious. "Remember, if and when they become more difficult to interact with, let me know; at that time, I will talk to them myself. You are at most their subordinate, not their slave."
Li Huowang was not afraid. If he were to fight them himself, then given the fact that he possessed the bamboo slip, he probably wouldn't lose. Since things had already come to this, there was no reason to try and change the situation. However, Li Huowang would never allow Bai Lingmiao to experience the same suffering that Li Zhi had felt.
Bai Lingmiao was different from Li Zhi; she had Li Huowang to protect her.
Hearing his words, Bai Lingmiao felt a warm feeling in her heart. "Alright."
"And if we do encounter someone who we can help using your powers, then feel free to do so. But you don't have to specifically go and find someone that requires your aid. We don't need those paltry fifty coins." continued Li Huowang.
"Mm."
The oil lamp on the table slowly dimmed down as one of them gave out orders and advice while the other continued listening quietly.
"It's already quite late; let's sleep." Li Huowang lifted the sheets on the bed.
Bai Lingmiao nodded and snuffed out the oil lamp before carefully sliding under the warm blanket as she tried her best to not touch Li Huowang's wound.