When everyone heard Li Huowang's command, all of them brandished their weapons and moved at the same time, running directly toward the light.
As they ran toward the exit, Li Huowang did his best to listen to his surroundings. Now that Han Fu had disappeared into the darkness, they were surrounded with danger. He could ambush them at any time!
Since the two headed Daoist knew his identity, there was no way that he would let them go!
A friend had become an enemy just like that. He once again realized that humans were always worse when compared to evil beings!
There's no such thing as a good person here in this crazy world! Everyone is twisted and no better than livestock!
As they closed in on the light, it dispelled the darkness around them. Everyone was happy to be basked in the light. They did their best to reach the outside and ran even faster.
But they slowly stopped, going from a full blown run to a slow jog to just regular walking before stopping completely. At the same time, they stared in despair at the "sunlight".
The light in front of them was impure. There were even many stains on it resembling hands and feet. An extremely large jade plaque sat above the light with three big characters etched onto it: Lion Dance Palace.
What they had been running toward was not the sun! Instead, it was the headquarters of the Lion Dances, the Lion Dance Palace!
The massive lump of light was formed by numerous Lion Dances gathering together and amplifying their light!
Han Fu had lied! He had never wanted to bring them outside even before this!
Hearing the sudden movements, the huge faces of the Lion Dances turned to face Li Huowang and blocked the light. They stood in rows until all Li Huowang and the others could see were rows and rows of flattened dead human faces.
All of them were staring at Li Huowang with their lantern-like eyes. The pressure they gave off was immense.
It wasn't just one or two Lion Dances here, but hundreds of them!
Li Huowang had killed two of them before, and so he knew just how strong they were.
"Run!" Li Huowang shouted and brought everyone back into the darkness.
Then, Li Huowang turned around, glaring at the Lion Dances that existed in all directions, from the floor to the ceiling. He knew that someone had to intercept all of them here while the others retreated.
At that moment, Li Huowang decided to stand his ground as he swung his sword toward his body.
But suddenly, someone burst forth from within the darkness below and stopped Li Huowang. He held a bronze coin sword that had three yellow talismans attached to it. The sword was aiming precisely for Li Huowang's waist!
Jiang!
The talismans burst into flames and the two swords clashed.
The owner of the sword was none other than Han Fu!
However, Han Fu didn't want to fight Li Huowang openly. After clashing once, Han Fu's two heads smiled as he returned back to the darkness of the ground.
Without waiting to understand what was happening, Li Huowang instinctively ducked down upon sensing a dangerous attack. He barely managed to avoid the white tassels that one of the Lion Dances had shot toward him.
Han Fu had never wanted to fight against Li Huowang openly! He only needed to interfere with Li Huowang and allow the Lion Dances to kill Li Huowang instead!
Now, his goal has been achieved when Li Huowang saw that the Lion Dances were very close to him. All of them opened their mouths to reveal six rows of sharp teeth.
Li Huowang's legs hadn't been healed yet. Thus, in terms of speed, he was quite a bit slower than the Lion Dances.
After a moment, Li Huowang looked back into the darkness and saw that everyone else was gone. He decided to make his last stand here and brought out the flint before placing it against his body.
However, before he could light himself up on fire, a familiar drum sound rang out and a person in red ran on all four toward him. Then, a beast head appeared from underneath the red veil, bit onto Li Huowang's neck, and dragged him into the darkness. ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐น.๐๐ ๐
Bai Lingmiao's body was very agile when she was in this form. She never slowed down even while carrying Li Huowang. With her help, they gradually outrun the Lion Dances.
The Lion Dances tried to stop them by shooting out the white tassels but all of them were destroyed by Li Huowang sacrificing his teeth. However, thanks to that, Li Huowang soon ran out of teeth.
He was just out of harm's way when a new danger appeared. As Li Huowang was being dragged across the ground, a bronze coin sword appeared from within the ground and aimed for his back.
Just as Li Huowang was about to be stabbed by it, he suddenly turned around and stabbed his own sword into the ground. Upon feeling the peculiar feeling he felt when he did so, he knew that he had managed to stab Han Fu. "You think you can use the same trick twice?"
As he spoke, Li Huowang stabbed the ground once more and blood appeared on his sword. At the same time, a painful grunt could be heard coming from within the ground.
But Han Fu did not stop this time. Suddenly he once again stabbed his bronze coin sword above ground, this time with numerous talismans and blood covering his sword.
Just as Li Huowang raised his sword to block the attack, he suddenly heard Han Fu start chanting something!
Soon, the chant was completed and the entire bronze coin sword exploded, turning into individual bronze coins that dodged Li Huowang's sword before regrouping once more into the original sword with talismans on it. Then, the sharp bronze coin sword stabbed the talismans into Li Huowang's waist, embedding them deep into his body.
The intense pain made Li Huowang howl loudly, but he chose not to run away. Instead, he started stabbing again and again into the groundโhe was attacking recklessly in hopes of being able to kill Han Fu!
As Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao were retreating, his and Han Fu's blood started intertwining.
Soon, Han Fu could no longer withstand the attacks and had to bring his sword back underground.
On the other hand, after they finally managed to defeat Han Fu, Bai Lingmiao continued to drag Li Huowang through the cave while running as fast as she could. She could not stop for even a moment; after all, the Lion Dances were right behind them.
Compared to Han Fu, they were much deadlier!
Chapter 241 - Exit
Li Huowang's shirt was torn from getting constantly dragged against the ground. Even so, he was staring at the Lion Dances that were relentlessly chasing after them.
With the aid of the white glowing light emanating from their bodies, Li Huowang was barely able to discern something even larger behind the Lion Dances chasing after them.
Li Huowang didn't know which sect the Lion Dance Palace belonged to, but he was certain there must be power differences between the various Lion Dances. The two Lion Dances he fought from before were likely some of the weaker ones.
"Second Deity! Run faster! The Lion Dances behind us are only the smaller ones! There's a massive one behind them!" shouted Li Huowang.
Hearing his words, Bai Lingmiao ran even faster. However, she did not run blindly, instead following the sound of the drum.
At that moment, Li Huowang suddenly heard something and patted Bai Lingmiao's shoulder. "Head East! Listen to me and head East!"
Instantly, Bai Lingmiao slammed all four limbs onto the ground and leaped toward the left wall. Then, she ricocheted off the wall and turned toward where Li Huowang was telling her to run.
It wasn't long before they arrived at a 'forest' within the darkness. The 'trees' were just hanging corpses. There were so many of them that they resembled the trees of a forest. It was the same as what Li Huowang had seen just earlier.
At that moment, Li Huowang felt a gaze trained on him, causing his thoughts to slow down. This was the territory of Sheng Erzi and at this moment, it was looking at them while hanging from the ceiling!
But Li Huowang was not afraid. He was certain that compared to the two of them, Sheng Erzi would be a lot more interested in the group of glowing Lion Dances.
Just as he had expected, Sheng Erzi was attracted to the Lion Dances after sensing the massive disruptions brought about by them. The hanging corpses slowly floated toward where the Lion Dances were.
With the aid of Sheng Erzi, Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao finally managed to escape from the Lion Dances. As they went further away, the sound of footsteps and the intensity of the white glow gradually reduced before disappearing.
Without anyone chasing them, Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao followed the sound of the drum and finally reunited with everyone.
The others were relieved to finally meet with Li Huowang again. They huddled around and asked him a lot of questions.
"No need to be worried. Han Fu is nothing because he's weaker than me if he fights me head-on. We just need to avoid being ambushed by him!" Li Huowang encouraged them.
"But Senior Li, where should we go now? We don't even know where we are." Chun Xiaoman stared at the darkness surrounding them. She felt hopeless about their situation.
Even though they had beaten back Han Fu and managed to escape the Lion Dances, the situation was still grim. The caves were somehow able to confuse them, and even if they didn't have such power, without any landmarks to guide them, everything around them looked the same.
As long as they couldn't escape the caves, they would get attacked by Han Fu or the Lion Dances again sooner or later.
Hearing this, Li Huowang looked around and saw the bell on Chun Xiaoman's waist. "Give me the bell. We still have other methods to navigate here. We can ask the Wandering Gods to find the exit for us!"
Chun Xiaoman only just realized that the Wandering Gods could also be used in such a manner. She was just about to hand over the bell when she retracted it.
"Senior Li, I'm younger and have a longer lifespan. Let me use it instead." Without waiting for Li Huowang's answer, she quickly rang the bell.
Soon, several Wandering Gods flew into the darkness. At the same time, Li Huowang saw Chun Xiaoman grow slightly taller; however, he wasn't so sure.
Time slowly passed within the oppressive cave but the Wandering Gods did not return. Thus, their hopes were dashed once again.
"Maybe the Wandering Gods were eaten by some evil beings?" Puppy came up with the worst-case scenario.
Li Huowang frowned at their current predicament. Disregarding Han Fu, who was waiting to ambush them from within the darkness, if the Lion Dances took care of Sheng Erzi and then chased after them once more, then they would be dead. They needed to get out of here quickly!
He tried to recall the Profound Records and the various rituals recorded on it. He sieved through all the information, but in the end, didn't find anything useful for them. ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐.๐๐จ๐
The Profound Records was an indispensable item of the Ao Jing Sect. It recorded various rituals and methods to torture one self and others, but there was nothing it could do for now.
Li Huowang was about to ask whether Bai Lingmiao could request aid from the Immortal Families when he saw Gao Zhijian pointing his finger up into the air with a serious expression. Holding onto the wound on his body, Li Huowang asked him. "What are you doing?"
Gao Zhijian did not answer him. Instead, he placed his finger into his mouth, sucked on it, and raised his finger once again.
Seeing this, Li Huowang understood what he was doing. "Are you using your fingers to detect the direction of the wind? Is there wind?? Did you find the exit?"
Gao Zhijian lowered his hand and nodded. He pointed towards the west. "This... this way."
"Gao Zhijian! Good job!" Li Huowang patted his shoulder heavily and ordered everyone else to immediately run toward the west.
The wind direction was not linear and billowed through the cave system. Sometimes it shifted upward while at other times it shifted downward.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang re-evaluated the big man in front of him once more. He was impressed that Gao Zhijian could think of such a method to find the exit.
This is not something an idiot can come up with. His background must be special.
But right now, there was no time to ask Gao Zhijian about his background.
"Everyone bend down. The ceiling is quite low in front," instructed Li Huowang.
Hearing this, everyone couched and shuffled forward.
The hole gradually became narrower. It was only after the cave became narrow to the point that Gao Zhijian almost couldn't squeeze through that it started growing wider once more. At the same time, a howl could be heard in the distance.
Li Huowang heard it and was elated. That was not a wolf's or a ghost's howl, but the sound of wind passing through the narrow holes!
Gao Zhijian was right, there was indeed an exit there!
Everyone else noticed it as well, and celebrated internally. After running around in the dangerous cave for so long, all of them were already tired. Still, they squeezed whatever remaining strength they had and started running.
They ran through the curving cave and were soon greeted by a sudden burst of light. They saw an opening at the top of the cave! The wind was blowing in from the opening.
The light coming from the exit was not the bright glowing light of the Lion Dances, but the silvery moon light. At this point, it was already dark outside.
Soon, they walked under the opening and saw stars within the skies.
While this was not the place where they came in from, it was still an exit they could use.
Within the intersecting darkness of the cave, Li Huowang and the rest were standing beneath the sliver of moonlight, staring at the exit of the cave.
"That's too high up! How should we climb up there? It's almost vertical." Puppy stared at the hole high up on the ceiling with despair.
However, while this might've been a big problem for regular people, it was all too easy for Li Huowang. Even if he didn't know how to solve it, the others would.
Li Huowang turned around toward Bai Lingmiao and raised his chin to signal to her. She hesitated for a moment, before nodding and covering her head with the red veil.
Li Huowang said nothing as he looked at her seriously.
Dong dong dong~
"Veil covering the head, legs stomping on the violet earth! We seek the auspicious Southern Dipper and Northern Dipper! The sixth elder of the Southern Dipper and the crepe myrtle hidden in the mouth of the Northern Dipper!"
With the aid of the drum, Bai Lingmiao was soon possessed by one of the Immortals and her head shot backward. She gazed through the red veil toward the starry night.
Her body started to tremble and shake. When it was over, she grabbed the chains they used to tie down Li Huowang from Gao Zhijian and placed them on her body. Then, without any warning, her body collapsed onto the ground as if she had lost all her bones. After that, she started wriggling her limp body like a snake as she climbed up the smooth walls of the cave.
Even though the walls were vertical, Bai Lingmiao was still capable of reaching the top and crawling out of the hole.
Once outside, she tossed the chains back into the hole. The end of the chain fell in front of everyone, resolving their problem.
"You guys go up first. I will bring up the rear," said Li Huowang as he stood motionlessly within the moonlight and used what remaining light they had to stare into the darkness.
"Senior Li, you are already gravely injured. You should go up first," Sun Baolu expressed concerns when he saw Li Huowang's wounds.
It wasn't wrong of him to think like that. Li Huowang had indeed suffered many injuries. Not only were his left hand's fingers cut off, a large chunk of flesh and skin from his torso had also been torn away. His body was already in tatters.
"Stop whining and get up, now!" Li Huowang declined his good offer. He knew that he was the strongest person in their group and he had to be the one taking up the rear. That way, if anything happened then he could handle it himself.
If someone else were to take the rear, then they might die if an evil being passed by.
Under Li Huowang's command, everyone started climbing up the chain one by one.
The difficult part was getting the Black Taisui up. It continued to wriggle even though it was trapped. It took them a long time before they managed to tie it up and pull it upward with Gao Zhijian's help.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang raised his head and saw everyone climbing up with difficulty. Just as he was calculating how much time they would need, he sensed something and turned toward his left, his face filled with hostility.
At that moment, Han Fu walked out from within the darkness with his two heads. Blood stained his yellow robes from where Li Huowang had attacked him.
Han Fu did not step into the moonlight, choosing to stop at the edge of darkness. He chuckled when he saw Li Huowang gripping the sword tightly. "Xuan Yang, it seems that the minor characters have finally left, right?"
"Yeah, they have." Li Huowang cracked his right fist in anger.
"Senior Li, are you alright down there? Who are you talking to?" Puppy shouted down from above.
Hearing the voice from above, Li Huowang frowned. "Don't worry! I'm just talking to my illusions! You guys continue to climb up!"
Then, Li Huowang glared at Han Fu coldly. "You were already here from the start, weren't you? Do you think you can win against me one-on-one?"
Han Fu shook his head and smiled. "Hehe, did you not realize that I've already stabbed several talismans into your body? They are already enveloping your organs..."
Having said that, Han Fu splayed his arms open. Then, the sound of wind came from his wide sleeves and surrounded Li Huowang. At the same time, a massive rune floated out from the ground.
The rune had the same color as Han Fu's teeth and immediately enveloped Li Huowang the moment it appeared, making it hard for him to move.
Han Fu immediately started chanting, causing the rune to start wriggling. Then, it split into numerous black lines before entering Li Huowang's body through his wounds.
When Li Huowang suddenly stopped moving, Han Fu was delighted. "It's so easy to capture a Strayed One alive. I wonder why the others always said that we shouldn't fight a Strayed One head-on?"
"What do they know? Strayed Ones are hard to come by. How could a group of people who have never seen one of them ever have the experience of capturing one?" explained the small head on Han Fu's shoulder.
Han Fu walked over and started looking at the frozen Li Huowang. "I don't see anything special on the outside. Who should I sell this rare ingredient to?"
"I don't think we should sell him. Maybe they would directly rob it from us if they were stronger than us. We might as well use it ourselves," suggested the little head.
"How should we use it? Skin him and toss him into a pot to cook him? I only know that Strayed Ones are rare but I have no idea why they are rare. We should just sell him," said the normal sized head.
"We don't even know why they are rare in the first place nor do we know the price. What if we end up selling it for too low? We should ask Master. They should know since they are very knowledgeable," suggested the little head. ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ธ๐ซ๐๐ก.๐ฌ๐ธ๐
"But what if Master robs us of the Strayed One and kills us?" questioned the normal sized head.
As Han Fu's two heads were discussing what to do with Li Huowang, the frozen Li Huowang suddenly lunged his arms forward.
Han Fu failed to react and a sword was stabbed into his stomach.
"Impossible! I had just sealed you!" Han Fu's blood spilled from the corner of his mouth as he stared at the angry Li Huowang.
"Shitty bastard! If you can't do it right, then don't try to copy others to come and kill me!" Li Huowang growled and took his blade out of Han Fu's body before slashing downward.
Han Fu hadn't given up just yet. However, just as he was about to form a hand seal, Li Huowang's sword reached first.
Han Fu's fingers were chopped off in one swift motion and blood sprayed everywhere.
"Impossible!"
Amidst his dying howls, Li Huowang quickly sliced up Han Fu, starting from the neck, followed by the mouth, the nose, and finally the forehead.
Han Fu's blood sprayed all over Li Huowang. He just stood there and stared at the mangled corpse in front of him.
The Daoist that had tried to capture him, Han Fu, was dead just like that.
Li Huowang was in disbelief. Compared to the enemies he had faced before, Han Fu was far too weak. It was as if Han Fu was just playing around. Li Huowang even doubted whether this was Han Fu's real body.
After a moment, he kicked Han Fu's bloody head and felt disgusted. "You are so weak and yet you want to rob someone?"
He now understood that everyone in the world wanted to capture a Strayed One, regardless of their strength. Even if some of them were weak, they would still give it a shot to try and capture one.
By this time, Puppy had already crawled up the hole. He peeked into the hole and shouted, "Senior Li, are you alright?"
However, when he saw Li Huowang's bloody face, Puppy felt goosebumps rising all over his body. He swallowed with difficulty. "Do you... want us to come down?"
"No need! I'm coming up now," replied Li Huowang as he grabbed the chains and started climbing up.
But then, he stopped and came back down again. He rummaged through Han Fu's body and found some yellow talismans.
I wonder if I can use them even though I have never learned how to use them.
He rummaged further and found several small beads wrapped in talismans.
Hm?
Li Huowang opened one of them and saw a familiar bead.
"This is a lifespan pill!"
Li Huowang had seen one before and knew just how valuable it was.
Seeing how the lifespan pill was about to disappear, Li Huowang quickly ate it, instantly feeling his body become lighter.
He rummaged around and found nineteen lifespan pills. Overjoyed, he quickly kept them away.
He continued rummaging about, but didn't find anything else besides tools and materials used to make talismans.
Finally, Li Huowang picked up the bronze coin sword and placed it on his back before turning around to leave.
Having lost some of his fingers and having blood all over his body, climbing the chain had become extremely difficult. Even so, Li Huowang climbed up slowly.
All the while, he was thinking about the now dead Han Fu.
I wanted to ask him more about the world. Too bad he's dead.
"Senior Li, quickly climb up! Hurry!"
When he looked up, Li Huowang saw their nervous faces through the hole. "Hm?"
When he looked down, he saw Han Fu standing up once more! Han Fu was barely capable of standing up despite having almost his entire body bisected.
Then, the shrill voice of a girl came from his corpse, "You killed him! How am I going to live now?! Waaaa~"
The voice was so shrill that it hurt Li Huowang's ears. It even resonated throughout the cave.
"He's not dead!" Realizing this, Li Huowang sliced off the final finger on his left hand and used the Profound Records.
The finger bulged and exploded in mid-air, sending a sharp bone spike flying down toward Han Fu and pinning him to the ground.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang continued climbing up. He had no time to think about whether Han Fu was still alive or not.
Just then, the entire cave rumbled. A bright light illuminated the dark cave.
Li Huowang looked down and saw a massive white snake, one larger than the cave itself! It was attracted by Han Fu's voice!
But this white snake didn't have any scales. Instead, it was composed entirely of the white tassels found on the Lion Dances!
At that moment, Li Huowang finally understood the true nature of the Lion Dances! The flattened dead human faces, the bloody flesh within their bodies, the hands and feet, all of them were fake! The white tassels on their bodies was the true body of the Lion Dances!
When Li Huowang saw the white snake, the snake saw him as well.
Instantly, the entire snake collapsed and the white tassels flooded everywhere within the cave, from the walls to the ceiling.
"Senior Li!" Seeing the situation, everyone immediately acted and started pulling up the chain.
Li Huowang continued to climb while they pulled the chain. At this point, he was barely able to avoid the white tassels.
Thirty meters! Fifteen meters! Nine meters!
Just when Li Huowang was almost out of the cave, the white tassels formed into a massive hand that grabbed him.
Then, amidst everyone's shouting, Li Huowang was dragged down from the chain into the cave.
The chain was also ripped out from everyone's hand. It slipped through their hands and fell into the cave. Only a portion of the chain that was attached to the ground remained above the hole.
Bai Lingmiao collapsed onto the ground, tears flowing down her eyes.
Everyone was shocked. What should they do without Li Huowang now?
After a moment, Bai Lingmiao suddenly moved and ran toward the hole with the Second Deity.
Seeing this, Puppy grabbed Bai Lingmiao to stop her before Gao Zhijian appeared behind her and the Second Deity and restrained both of them.
At the same time, Chun Xiaoman approached the struggling Bai Lingmiao with tears in her eyes and slapped her. "Can you stop being crazy?!"
Finally, Bai Lingmiao stopped and slumped down like a puppet.
Just as everyone was unsure about what to do next, the sound of the chains rang out once again.
Puppy was the first one who heard it. "Wait! The chain is moving! Senior Li is not dead! Hahaha! I knew it! Senior Li would never die!"
Puppy's words instantly attracted everyone's attention. They looked toward the chain and saw that it was indeed rattling lightly.
Puppy was just about to start pulling up the chain once more but Chun Xiaoman stopped him. "Careful! It might not be Senior Li!"
"Pull me up!"
At that moment, Senior Li's voice rang out from down below. With this, everyone stopped thinking about it and grabbed the chain to pull it up.
With everyone's help, a mangled hand soon appeared from the hole.
The hand was truly mangled. The fingers were twisted and the skin was torn apart, almost as if it was a claw made by piecing together different pieces of flesh. At the same time, several white tassels were stuck to the twisted hand.
The mangled hand dug into the ground with its nailless fingers and trembled as Li Huowang used all of his strength to pull his body up.
Finally, Li Huowang's body appeared in front of everyone's shocked eyes.
It was indeed Li Huowang, if he could still be called as such.
Laying down on the soft grass, Li Huowang panted while staring at the wriggling Black Taisui. He was very happy. The last time he was this happy was when Yang Na gave him chocolate.
His entire body was aching all over and he could barely muster any strength. Even so, his objective behind risking his life by entering the cave had been achieved.
With the Black Taisui, he would finally be able to get rid of the hallucinations and would never be plagued by them again. He would finally be able to get rid of the sense of confusion and doubt that all the Strayed Ones suffered from.
"They told me that I can't keep eating the Black Taisui or it would grow within my belly, but I don't trust them! Even if that really is the case, all I need to do is to open up my stomach and dig it out! Then, I can just eat it again!" muttered Li Huowang.
While Li Huowang was thinking of the possibility and the chances of success, he suddenly saw everyone staring at him weirdly. They had already managed to escape from the cave and yet, they were still horrified. None of them even tried to help Li Huowang despite how injured he was.
"Stop staring and come help me pull the chain up. I tied Han Fu on the other end of the chain. His other head is still alive. Pull him up and I will try to pry out some information from Han Fu," ordered Li Huowang. Even so, none of them made a move.
"What's wrong with you guys?" Li Huowang tried crawling toward them, but all of them took a step back.
"Senior Li? Are you... really Senior Li?" Bai Lingmiao hugged her arms, her eyes filled with tears and fear at the thing in front of her.
Finally, Li Huowang realized that something was amiss with his body. He raised both his arms and was horrified to see what had happened to them.
His single eye underneath his ear closely examined his arm. When he tried to move his fingers, he saw the fingers stuck to his wrist move ever so slightly.
"Impossible! What is happโ" Li Huowang turned around and looked down on his body. Underneath the moonlight, he almost screamed from shock when he saw what his body looked like now.
He barely recognized his mangled body!
Sun Baolu's body would be considered 'normal' when compared to him! His body had been twisted and mangled, his various organs shifted into different locations. The white tassels dotted his entire body and flowed gently. He was no longer human, or at least, he didn't look like one.
It's the white tassel's power! After it dragged me down, I was transformed into this.
Li Huowang grabbed one of the white tassels and saw with his own eyes as the fingers touching the white tassels slowly shifted away from his hand.
Can I still be considered a human being?
Li Huowang gingerly touched his twisted face. All of his facial organs had been reorganized and were no longer at their original places.
Impossible! This is too surreal! Is this world really that bizarre?
Li Huowang shivered. ๐๐ซ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฅ.๐๐๐
No, you have to calm down. This is nothing. It can be fixed.
With this in mind, Li Huowang turned around and faced the others with a confident expression. "Don't worry. This can be fixed."
As he spoke, Li Huowang grabbed a dagger with his twisted right arm and stabbed it into his face. Then, under everyone's horrified gazes, he opened a slit on the side of his face toward where his ear had shifted to.
Li Huowang carefully grabbed the ear and forcefully dragged it along the wound before placing it at its original location on the side of his head.
But the ear just fell down onto the ground.
Looking at his ear on the ground, Li Huowang smiled instead. "Wait, that's a good idea. Since I can recover my body, I will just cut off all the organs and let them regrow back. I will just become an amputated man for a few days. There's nothing to worry about."
With those words, Li Huowang grabbed the dagger and aimed it toward his eyes.
When Puppy saw what he was planning to do, he tried stopping him from afar. "Senior Li, don't do that! You can still be fixed!"
Puppy had lied. He didn't know what to do, but Li Huowang just looked too horrifying.
At this point, he felt that it was probably better to just commit suicide.
Hearing Puppy's words, Li Huowang stopped trying to stab himself and looked at his twisted thumb. Another idea had just popped up in his mind.
Wait... Since the white tassels caused this, then technically, I could use them to fix myself too!
Li Huowang grabbed one of the white tassels on his hand and tried to place it beside his eye. However, the white tassel continued moving around, all the while twisting his fingers even more.
"STOP MOVING!" Li Huowang tossed the white tassel onto the ground and stomped on it before once again placing it on his face.
Soon, Li Huowang felt his vision start to move under the effect of the white tassel.
Then, Li Huowang used his other three fingers to gently move his eye back to its original location; however, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it back to its correct location.
Shua!
After a while, Li Huowang decided to carve a slit near where his eye was and forcefully move it back to the correct location.
"Is it back in the right place?" asked Li Huowang while panting.
Once he got their approval, he started moving his other organs back to their original place. It took him quite some time before he managed to get all of his facial organs back in place on his face. He was in so much pain that he almost fainted.
"What are you guys staring at? Come and help me," said Li Huowang.
With this, everyone crowded around Li Huowang and started helping him to move his organs back to their original locations. It was not an easy process, and while the white tassels did help in moving the organs back to their original location, it was not very accurate. Thus, Li Huowang had no choice but to use the dagger to forcefully correct the placements.
Meanwhile, Puppy's hands trembled continuously as he moved Li Huowang's left ear that had fallen onto the ground. Then, he picked it up in panic and quickly spat on it before placing it back on Li Huowang's head.
At that moment, a hand tapped him on his shoulder. When he turned around and saw that it was Bai Lingmiao, he almost jumped in fright.
"Let me help suture it," said Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing this, Puppy sighed and gave her the ear.
The entire process was akin to torture, but Li Huowang managed to endure it. No one knew whether it was because he was happy at having managed to capture a Black Taisui, or whether it was because he had already gotten used to such pain.
By the time they finally finished shifting all of Li Huowang's organs back to their rough original locations, it was already daytime. Throughout the process, Li Huowang had been grunting and shouting in pain.
Chapter 245 - Black Taisui
"Alright let's stop for now. Once my wounds recover, we can slowly shift them back to the proper location," said Li Huowang.
Hearing those words, everyone sighed.
Staring at the bloody Li Huowang, Chun Xiaoman finally stopped enduring and fell knee first onto the ground. She crouched and vomited, emptying everything in her stomach.
But there was nothing else to vomit out. She had already vomited twice before this.
On the other hand, Bai Lingmiao shakily stroked Li Huowang's hair, her eyes filled with tears. She didn't know what to say.
"Why are you crying? We should be smiling instead! Not only is everyone alive, we even managed to capture the Black Taisui and Han Fu! This is good news. What's even better? Miaomiao, now I can rearrange my face; anytime you get bored looking at my usual face, you will be able to change it." Li Huowang did his best to console them.
Li Huowang knew just how bad he looked and just how much pain he was in. But, he had to act tough. If he kept complaining, then not only would his problems not get solved, even their group's morale would drop as well.
It was something he had learned from Lu Juren's wife, Luo Juanhua. When you are in a situation beyond your control, you have to act as if it doesn't bother you so that the people around you don't end up becoming sad.
However, Li Huowang had failed to learn the essence of this trickery from Luo Juanhua. The louder he laughed, the harder Bai Lingmiao cried.
Exhausted, Li Huowang finally closed his one remaining eye and said, "I will rest first. We will find our way back once I get up."
After saying that Li Huowang passed out.
In the haze between consciousness and unconsciousness, something familiar appeared within his mind, bobbing up and down. He wanted to know what it was but couldn't figure it out.
In between his bouts of consciousness and unconsciousness, he kept forgetting what he was about to do; it was as if his memories weren't intact.
Suddenly a sea of stars enveloped his mind. Li Huowang suddenly remembered the night where he and Yang Na stayed up to watch the night sky at the rooftop of their school. He realized that he was seeing one of his past memories.
"Yang Na, I'm sorry. I'm ill and I need to stop coming to school so that I can get treated." The youth hugged the girl.
"When will your treatment be completed? Will it take long?" asked the girl while holding his hands and swaying them.
"I don't know, but it shouldn't be too long. I will do my best to follow their treatment and get discharged as soon as I can, for your sake. After all, I've promised you that we will enter the same university and get married once we both graduate."
The girl blushed and nodded. "Ok. I will wait for you."
Both of them gradually got closer before finally hugging together.
"Huowang? Are you ok?"
"Senior Li, are you alright?"
"Li Huowang! Snap out of it!"
"Little Li, which side do you think is real? That side or this side?"
Various people were talking and tearing his most precious memory apart.
Li Huowang didn't want to go back. He wanted to stay in this wonderful moment, but he knew that it was impossible. Soon, everything started to crack and splinter, and his dream came to an end.
"AH!" Li Huowang opened his eye, covered in cold sweat. Then, he saw that his head was placed on Bai Lingmiao's lap as she gently fed him warm milk.
Feeling the warm goat's milk in his mouth, Li Huowang's scattered senses soon started to consolidate. Currently, he felt like his brain was akin to a rusted machine that sputtered and squeaked from time to time.
"Where are we?" asked Li Huowang as he looked at the top of the cow hide's tent.
Seeing Li Huowang awake, Bai Lingmiao sighed in relief. "This is Sun Baolu's house. He used to herd the lambs around here, so he brought us back. Also, you've been passed out for more than ten days. It's a relief that you finally woke up."
Li Huowang quickly removed the blanket covering his body and inspected his body.
By now, the massive wound on his torso had almost completely healed, while the other smaller wounds had already finished healing. But, his body was still slightly twisted in some ways. At the very least, someone normal wouldn't have their navel growing on their hips.
But, at the very least, he looked much better compared to when he had just crawled out from the cave. He looked human. ๐๐๐ฆโฏ๐ธ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ทโฏ๐.๐๐๐
More importantly, his left foot had regrown halfway through. Now, he would no longer have to hobble around everywhere.
After he inspected his body, he did not rest and quickly asked Bai Lingmiao about the Black Taisui and Han Fu.
"No worries. Everything has been prepared, but we have to thank Sun Baolu and everyone else. If it weren't for all of them, then we would not have been able to haul both of them back. All of us borrowed two cow hide's tent. We also borrowed two more tents from them and set them up further away from the others. The Black Taisui and Han Fu are being guarded by us. So you can just lie down and rest for now," explained Bai Lingmiao.
"No, we have to go to the Black Taisui now!" said Li Huowang. He didn't want to wait any longer. He wore his clothes and directly walked out of the tent.
When he got out of the tent, he saw many people looking at him. At this point, the Qing Qiu people were no longer looking at him with curiosity but with wariness instead.
It was only natural. If they were able to stay friendly despite seeing what Li Huowang currently looked like, then it would be even more unsettling for him.
He greeted them and walked away from the other tents before approaching the two lonely tents a distance away in the grassland.
When Li Huowang was walking over to the tents, he met Lu Zhuangyuan who was herding the lambs back. Lu Zhuangyuan saw the wounded Li Huowang and was surprised. "Young Daoist? I can't believe that you can already walk around after resting for only ten days! Ha, I knew it! With your supernatural powers, no evil beings can win against you!"
But Li Huowang was completely fixated on the Black Taisui. He didn't even bother with Lu Zhuangyuan's flattery.
After confirming that Han Fu's little head was still alive, Li Huowang entered the tent containing the Black Taisui. This was the most important thing for him right now.
When he entered the tent, he saw that the Black Taisui's tentacles were impaled onto the ground with spears, imprisoning it within the tent.
Li Huowang circled around the Black Taisui and inspected it. After confirming that it looked the same as the one he had seen within Zephyr Temple, he reached out for the Black Taisui and grabbed a piece of its oily flesh. Then, he carefully cut away the piece of flesh with his dagger, causing the Black Taisui to immediately release a sharp cry as sticky black fluids flowed out from its wounds.
He looked at the piece of flesh in his hand and saw that a part of it was slowly transforming into tentacles. After a moment, he slowly opened his mouth and placed it in.
However, just as he was about to bite down, he paused.
"What? Senior Li, did we go through all that trouble just to retrieve something fake?" Puppy's voice was filled with nervousness when he saw Li Huowang pause there.
He really hoped that this thing would be useful since Senior Li was quite difficult to deal with when he was having an episode.
On the other hand, Li Huowang just shook his head with a frown, holding the Black Taisui while frozen in place.
What am I hesitating about? It's just a hallucination over there.
He lifted the Black Taisui to his mouth, yet hesitated once again.
Everyone in the tent could tell that Senior Li was deep in thought after recovering from a major illness.
When Chun Xiaoman returned from her sword practice, she approached Bai Lingmiao to enquire about what was happening.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang slowly returned the flesh in his hand back to the Black Taisui's body.
"Miaomiao, how much gold do we have left?" inquired Li Huowang.
Bai Lingmiao felt that it was quite strange that he would ask about this right now, but still answered honestly, "We exchanged some silver at Women's Mountain earlier, so there should still be a few dozen taels[1] left."
"A few dozen taels? That's not enough," Li Huowang mumbled to himself, then turned to look at Sun Baolu. "Your people should have some hard currency, right? Can you help me borrow some? Don't worry, we will return it once we're done."
A rare trace of hesitation flashed across Sun Baolu's face as he replied, "Alright, I'll go ask."
"Senior Li, what do you need so much gold for?"
"Yes, we should have enough money to reach the Liang Kingdom."
Faced with all these questions, Li Huowang sighed. He shook his head, opened the curtain, and prepared to step out of the tent. "Stop asking, it's none of your business. Is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."
Sun Baolu was even more efficient than Li Huowang had anticipated. He had only just taken the first bite of his meal, when Baolu returned, carrying a small, round package while leading his mother into the tent.
Sun Baolu did not speak first, and instead cast a questioning glance at his mother.
Upon seeing his mother nod slightly, he carefully unwrapped the cloth in his hands. The gleaming gold within almost dazzled all their eyes.
It was an oval-shaped, palm-sized gold box, inlaid with various pieces of fine quality agate and jade. Inside this golden box, there were several gold ingots and some jewelry.
While it did not seem big, gold was very valuable. This small bundle was worth quite a lot.
Seeing Li Huowang's surprise at the value of this item, Sun Baolu's mom could understand that he was wondering about how a commoner could get their hands on something so valuable. She said, "Daoist, there's no need to treat this as taboo, as this is not something taken from graves. It is my dowry, given by the host family back then."
"The host family?" questioned Li Huowang as he reached out to take the box, nearly dropping it due to the heavy weight of the gold.
The woman's expression was rather complex as she explained, "Yes, the host family gave it. After all, those that can afford to use a 'beauty paper' are all very wealthy. This item may be priceless to the common folk, but it's practically nothing in the eyes of some. Daoist, you saved my son, so consider this as repayment. I hope you will accept it."
"I don't want it, and am merely borrowing it. I will return it to you once I'm done," replied Li Huowang. From the looks of it, she wanted to use this object to pay off the favor.
She seemed to be unwilling to come into further contact with Li Huowang, and bowed respectfully before leaving through the curtain door.
"What's up with your mother? Why the huge change in attitude?" asked Li Huowang.
Sun Baolu was evasive, as though he could not express what he wanted to. "Senior Li, you've likely frightened many by returning here. Being able to get out of that place alive while bringing back two strange items... It's likely that the tribe members are gossiping about you behind your back."
"Never mind. Also, I don't want your family's item. When I'm done with it, you can take it back. Do you understand?" said Li Huowag.
There was some uneasiness in Sun Baolu's eyes as he asked, "Then, Senior Li, when do you plan to use this gold?"
Li Huowang held onto the golden box and looked slightly dejected. "In a bit, though, even I don't know when. Baolu, I appreciate all your help. We may have to stay here for some time."
"Senior Li, you're being too courteous. You have saved my life," replied Sun Baolu.
In the following days, the other disciples all found that Senior Li, who was recovering, always kept the golden box by his side. One might think of him as a miser, but they knew that he was not like that.
Among them, only Bai Lingmiao knew some details. She understood why he was behaving like that.
At night, Bai Lingmiao turned around to see that the person beside her was sitting up straight while clutching the golden box motionlessly, almost looking like a wooden statue.
Seeing this, Bai Lingmiao sighed softly, then turned slightly away from him. "Senior Li, are you very reluctant to leave that place? Or do you still think that there's a possibility that it's real over there?"
In the darkness, Li Huowang did not reply.
"Then, Senior Li, do you hope for that place to be real or fake?"
Faced with those questions, Li Huowang sighed deeply before his extremely exhausted and hoarse voice echoed within the tent, "I too, wish to know the answer to that question."
As the days passed, Li Huowang, who had become almost unrecognizable after so many changes, gradually returned to his original appearance.
His wounds had almost healed completely, and so, he was about to go and question Han Fu. At this point, Baolu walked in. He was now dressed in Qing Qiu's local attire.
"Senior Li, the tribe chief has asked me to ask you some questions," said Sun Baolu.
"What is it?" Li Huowang looked through what he knew quickly. Things had been calm in Qing Qiu recently, and there were no significant matters.
"It's about those women you rescued from the bandit village. Some of them have caught the eyes of a few young men, and the chief wants to probe them a little. However, if you don't agree, then they won't dare to act recklessly either," said Sun Baolu.
"Sure, why not," Li Huowang readily agreed.
From Baolu's mother's attitude, staying in this place seemed like a stable option. It was definitely better than following him everywhere and risking their lives.
Back at the border of Hou Shu, quite a few of them had died because of Peng Longteng. If these women continued to follow them, who knew how many of them would be left by the time they arrived at the Liang Kingdom?
"Alright! Then I'll head back and report to the chief!" After receiving Li Huowang's approval, Baolu was back to normal and no longer as taciturn as before, his personality returning to his cheery self.
Just as the excited Baolu was about to leave, Li Huowang reached out and grabbed his arm, instantly turning it black and blue.
Sun Baolu turned back to see Li Huowang looking at him fiercely as he shouted, "Hurry! Get Zhijian to bring the chains over!"
"Alright!" replied Baolu.
Sensing his surroundings change around him, Li Huowang hurriedly stashed the golden box into his arms.
Soon, the noisy and bustling tent was replaced by the quiet and clean hospital ward.
It was night here, and Li Huowang noticed that his mom was sleeping on the chair beside him. At this moment, she was covered in a small blanket that he used in his own room.
"Mom."
1. Taels refers to both a unit of the currency and the weight. Here's it's referring to the currency ?
"Mom, wake up, please," called out Li Huowang.
As Sun Xiaoqin seemed to hear her son calling out to her, she was in a daze.
She thought that she was dreaming. When she rubbed her eyes and got up from the reclining chair, she was surprised to see Li Huowang looking at her.
"Son? You've finally awakened again?"
Sun Xiaoqin quickly took out the nearby calendar and started to jot down. "Son, look at the time intervals at which you've awakened. They seem to be shortening. Does this mean that your illness is improving?
Li Huowang smiled at her and nodded. "That's right. Maybe it really is getting better."
"That's wonderful! By the way, are you hungry? How about an orange? Ah, when you're not awake, you keep talking nonsense, and I don't even know if you've eaten enough," said Sun Xiaoqin as she took out a red plastic bag filled with oranges and began to peel one of them.
"Mom, I'm not hungry. Have you been accompanying me all this time?" asked Li Huowang.
Sun Xiaoqin sat by his bed while extending her right hand with an orange peel as she gently stroked his face and looked at him lovingly. "Don't worry, Mom is here. Dr. Wang has also said that me staying by your side and seeing you every day might help improve your condition."
"Don't listen to him, he's a liar," Li Huowang's voice quivered as he looked at his mother.
"Alright, alright, I'll listen to you. We won't call him anymore. Look at how he's even beaten my son up. When we've saved enough money, we'll go abroad and find the best doctor," said Sun Xiaoqian.
Hearing her soothing tone, Li Huowang's lips trembled slightly. Tears began to slowly flow down from his eyes.
"Son, don't cry. Why are you crying? Did that Wang Wei bully you while I wasn't around? Tell me, and I'll deal with him!" Sun Xiaoqin's brows raised sharply, and her indomitable spirit was back.
Li Huowang shook his head vigorously, either to deny her words or to shake off his tears, he didn't know which. "Mom, my hands are a little numb. Can you help untie me?"
"Ah, of course." Sun Xiaoqin readily agreed and immediately started to untie the wide cloth straps on his hands.
She did not even consider the possibility that he would suddenly go crazy and attack her; after all, he was her flesh and blood.
Li Huowang controlled his newly freed hands and massaged his numb wrists, then wiped the tears off his face. Then, he reached into his blanket and slowly pulled out the golden box that he had brought from the other side.
"Mom, here. This is all for you," Li Huowang smiled as he softly explained and passed the golden box to his mom.
"This... this..." Sun Xiaoqin was clearly flustered at the sight of the object. Her thoughts were jumbled; where did all this gold come from?
Li Huowang took out a small ingot from the box and placed it in his palm before her. His eyes gleamed with anticipation as he said, "Mom, look. With these, not only can you buy back our house, but buy a few more as well. You can even buy some shops to rent out. In the future, you won't have to work anymore, and can have a steady income every month. Also, didn't you say that you wanted to travel abroad after retirement? There's no need to wait that long anymore; you can just go now. With all this gold, you can travel wherever you want."
As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and took out an exquisite pair of jade earrings, and then passed them over to her. "Mom, this is the birthday gift I owe Nana. Please pass it to her. Also, help me tell her..."
He paused, struggling with his expression as he recalled those memories. He took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed his emotions before continuing, "Mom... Help me tell Nana, I am sorry. Tell her not to wait for me anymore."
Hearing all this, Sun Xiaoqin began to panic; it almost seemed like her son was saying his final goodbyes.
She quickly placed the golden box on the table and dashed out before shouting toward the empty corridor, "Doctor! On-call doctor, come now!"
After that, she hurried back and anxiously held Li Huowang's hands as she choked out, "Son, what's going on? Did you run into some trouble? Tell Mom about it; I'll find a solution for you! No matter how big the problem is, I can help you to solve it. Don't scare Mom like this!"
Li Huowang smiled as he watched tears flow down his mom's face. He held the golden box between them and said, "Mom, why are you crying? You should be happy. Look at all this gold. Our family is rich!"
"I don't want the gold! I just want my son to come back!" Sun Xiaoqin leaned forward and hugged Li Huowang's head as she sobbed loudly. ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆโฏ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฏ๐๐ฃ๐ฆ๐.๐ธ๐ฐ๐
As he heard those words, Li Huowang's heart ached deeply. He even considered not eating the Black Taisui so that this side could continue to be with him, and so that he could be together with them. But when he recalled the swollen face he had given Bai Lingmiao, he once again steeled his resolve to never look at this side.
I can't abandon my reality because of this fake hallucination! I must take responsibility for my actions!
But... it feels so real. Is all this really fake?
Li Huowang held his mother tightly as he took in all her strong emotions.
At that point, Li Huowang saw Wang Wei, who was clad in white, entering the ward with his student.
Li Huowang smiled at him, "Dr. Wang, I'm leaving now, and we might never see each other again. How about we make a bet? Didn't you say that this side is reality? If you have the ability to make me awaken again, then I'll admit that this side is reality."
He continued to hug his mom as he said his final words, and then closed his eyes while smiling.
When he reopened them again, he found that he had returned to the vast Qing Qiu. He looked around at the azure sky and the green grass lands, then took a deep breath.
When the others finished removing the chains that bound him, Li Huowang looked at all of them. Then, he approached Sun Baolu and passed the golden box back to him before turning toward the tent that held the Black Taisui.
Chun Xiaoman watched his back with some concern. When he had been suffering from his hysteria, he had been half laughing and half crying. "Keep an eye on him. I feel that Senior Li is... a little different today."
Shortly after, they arrived at the tent and saw their Senior Li emotionally holding a piece of the Black Taisui flesh.
"Senior Li, what's going on? Eating this thing should temporarily cure your hysteria, right? Isn't that a good thing? Then why is he crying?" asked Sun Baolu. However, his questions went unanswered.
All of them just stood there silently, watching Li Huowang cry as he consumed the flesh in his hands.
Chapter 248 - Show Off
Yang Xiaohai woke up from his dreams and looked at the cowhide tent above him, and then inexplicably chuckled to himself.
A stinky foot suddenly kicked over from beside him. "Do you want to die? What are you doing lying in bed and laughing so early in the morning?"
Yang Xiaohai sat up and looked excitedly at Puppy, who had his eyes closed and was rubbing his nose. "Senior Cao Cao, we don't have to do anything now, and we still get to eat meat every day. Shouldn't we be happy?"
This was genuine meat, and he had never eaten so much of it in his entire life. Even the Emperor may not be living such a grand life.
"Look at you, getting so happy over just a few meals. Kids will always be kids," sighed Puppy.
He was different; he had higher aspirations.
After a moment, Puppy got off the bed and patted the snoring Gao Zhijian's leg. "Simpleton, get up. We'll likely be leaving in the next few days."
"We're leaving so soon?" Yang Xiaohai asked reluctantly.
"Senior Li has cured his hysteria, and so leaving is next. Why, did you plan to live here forever?" asked Puppy.
Yang Xiaohai frowned and mumbled, "It's not a bad idea."
"Hey! Do you think that this is your own home? You're just a guest here! That's why the others are treating you so well. If you stay any longer, then they are going to start throwing plates and stools at you," said Puppy.
After lecturing Yang Xiaohai, Puppy saw that Gao Zhijian was still asleep. After a moment, he lifted the blanket and grabbed Gao Zhijian's pants, and then abruptly yanked them downward.
Puppy sniggered as he saw the half-asleep Gao Zhijian frantically grab his pants, and then headed outside the tent. After he stepped out, he walked barefoot into the river and began to carefully wash up.
He hadn't been so diligent before, but Xiaoman had told him that women liked clean men, and so he started to maintain his hygiene.
"Your face has white and yellow patches, and you look like a rat. If you also appear messy, then you might as well just die."
This was what Chun Xiaoman had told him originally.
Puppy had thought about it and felt that she had a point. Hence, he had started to groom himself more.
Surprisingly, after he started to take care of his appearance more, some of the women from the bandit camp had become a lot more willing to talk to him.
Puppy knew that he had to work harder; after all, there were also those men from the Qing Qiu tents that had started to show interest in those women, making him more anxious.
It was not a problem for him to pick from amongst the leftovers, but he was afraid that they would all be selected, and he would be left with nobody.
After cleaning up thoroughly, he untied his belt and let out a stream of urine into the river. Then, he took out a crumpled up red flower from his pocket and placed it on his ear before swaggering back toward the tents. ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ธ๐ซ๐๐ก.๐ฌ๐ธ๐
After he entered the camp, Puppy noticed Li Huowang's figure. He was just about to greet him, but noticed that Li Huowang was messing around with his horrifying torture tools that were scattered everywhere.
Ah... Senior Li, what are you planning to do again?
Puppy was not going to invite misfortune for himself, and thus quietly decided to tiptoe past him.
He did not go directly to the women's tents, and first came to the entrance of the Lu Family Troupe's tent, and then whispered from outside, "Xiucai! Xiucai!"
"Ah! Coming, coming!" replied a voice.
Not long after, Lu Xiucai came out with a milk mustache and said, "Let's go. I'm done eating."
The two of them walked together as they walked toward the women's tents.
"How is it? Is my flower nice?" asked Puppy.
"Men shouldn't wear flowers. Only women should," replied Lu Xiucai.
"Why can't men wear them? Where I'm from, men who bring flowers often attract young ladies," retorted Puppy.
When they arrived outside the women's tents, they didn't enter immediately, and only quietly waited outside.
However, their mouths never stopped as they squatted there and discussed which women were the prettiest, or who had the biggest butts or assets. Although their relationship was not particularly close, they had a lot to talk about on such matters.
As the sun gradually climbed higher into the sky, those women finally emerged. Each of them was carrying their clothes as they walked toward the river to wash up.
"Ah, here they are! Hurry, follow them!" said Puppy. Then, he spat into his palms and combed his sideburns before laughing and following behind them.
The women weren't afraid when they saw the two men approach them in such a lively manner. They just gathered around and seemed to discuss something while occasionally bursting into laughter.
"Uh~! Under the moonlit willow tree, people gather uh.. at noon!"
Lu Xiucai's sudden voice caused Puppy to jump, and also attracted the attention of those women.
"Xiucai, what did you say?" asked Puppy.
"I don't know either, I only know that line. My dad said that women these days prefer cultured men," replied Lu Xiucai.
Hearing this, Puppy looked at him with disdain, then swiped the flower on his ear, and continued to grin as he walked toward the women.
Soon, they arrived at the river side, and Puppy really found himself chatting with the women.
Having spent so many days together, these women had all learnt that Puppy was just all talk.
At the start, Puppy had thought that his words had worked. However, after some time, he understood that they were all only asking about Gao Zhijian.
At that point, a bunch of Qing Qiu men with bare arms rode their horses and whooshed by, attracting the attention of the women.
After circling around, one of them suddenly led his horse through the water and smiled at a big-mouthed lady before extending his hand toward her.
"Hurry, this man is not bad! Look at those muscles!"
"Right, Lan'er. Didn't you say you were interested in him last night?"
"We can't afford to be picky, Lan'er."
When Lan'er was led onto the horse, the crowd, be it male or female, all started to cheer, except for one.
"What's the big deal?!" Puppy felt frustrated.
"Uh~! Under the moonlit willow tree, people gather uh.. at noon!" shouted Lu Xiucai.
"Alright, Xiucai, stop howling! Has anyone even glanced at you after an entire hour of howling?" asked Puppy as he looked condescendingly at the young man beside him. He suddenly felt that he shouldn't have partnered with him today; he was completely useless.
I don't believe it. I can't be overshadowed by that dark, short guy!
Puppy paused, then took out a small wooden pipe from his waist, and a needle wrapped with white silk. He inserted the needle into the pipe. "Cough, cough! Ladies, watch closely. This is a skill that I learned from a true master. This is a supernatural ability~"
As everyone's eyes turned to him, Puppy felt proud of himself, and began to show off with the pipe.
Hehe~ What's the big deal about horse riding? Can it compare to this?
"Look closely, don't blink! This is not something that just anyone can see!" said Puppy as he led over a sheep and placed the wooden pipe at his mouth before pointing it toward the sheep's head and taking a deep breath.
The next moment, his face turned red, as he frantically clutched at his neck.
"Ka~ Ka~~"
Chapter 249 - Success
Lu Xiucai was quite puzzled as he watched Puppy's face turn red while the latter clutched his neck.
Didn't this guy say he was going to display a supernatural skill?
Why does he look so deathly now? Could this be the supernatural ability that he was talking about? Anyone could do that.
"Ka~ Cough!" As Puppy bent over in a violent coughing fit, the short needle wrapped in white silk finally came out and fell onto the ground.
"My heavens, I nearly died here," muttered Puppy as he looked at the needle wrapped in white silk with some lingering fear in his eyes.
His brain had nearly frozen just now. He had been prepared to take a deep breath before blowing out, but instead, he ended up inhaling that thing into his throat.
Suddenly, Puppy remembered something and leapt up from the ground. Terrified, he opened his mouth wide toward Lu Xiucai and asked, "Quick, quick! Help me see if there's anything inside my mouth!"
"What? There's nothing... But why is your throat so small? It feels a bit sticky on the side," responded Lu Xiucai.
Upon hearing this, Puppy was so scared that his soul nearly left his body. After a moment, he reached two fingers into his mouth and hurriedly probed around his throat. Though it caused him to gag, Puppy found that aside from his throat shrinking a little, there were no other issues.
"That's good. Fortunately, it got stuck in the throat, and didn't go down any further. If I had swallowed it, then I might have ended up like Senior Li previously." muttered Puppy. He knew that he didn't have Senior Li's capabilities. He would have definitely turned into a monster.
Finally feeling relieved, he heard laughter coming from the riverside causing his face to turn red from embarrassment as he quickly bent down to retrieve the needle from the grass.
Puppy felt that he had been humiliated before these women, which in his opinion, was something much more serious than the mistake that he had just committed.
"This doesn't count! Let's try again!" shouted Puppy. He was unwilling to give up, and directly placed the needle wrapped in white silk back into the small pipe.
After his previous bitter experience, he didn't dare to be careless again. He took a deep breath and placed his mouth at the end of the small pipe, and then blew hard toward the grazing sheep.
Swoosh!
The needle flew out from the pipe and pierced into the base of the sheep's black horn.
Then, everyone saw as the sheep's horn rapidly slid down on the wool, directly reaching its chin.
Instantly, there were exclamations and screams, all of which made Puppy feel extremely satisfied to the point where he almost couldn't help laughing out loud. However, he pretended to have a nonchalant look on his face as he asked, "How about that? Didn't I say that I have supernatural abilities? Who else could do this?"
As he spoke, Puppy took out another needle and blew it onto the sheep. This time, it hit its front hoof. Immediately, the sheep's foot twisted, causing it to stumble and fall onto the ground.
Heh! This thing is really effective! Next time we encounter bandits, I'll use this to deal with them! But I must remember to take a deep breath before blowing it.
Just as Puppy was feeling satisfied with his masterpiece, one of the women washing the clothes in the river approached him. She had a pear-shaped face, and her eyes were filled with curiosity as she looked at the pipe in his hands and asked, "What is this, my lord?"
"Hehehe~" Puppy was delighted to be called a lord, his grin stretching from ear to ear. "This is the magical tool I use to display my divine abilities! You can look at it, but you cannot touch it. Ordinary people must not touch it!"
With this topic, the two of them finally began to chat properly.
On the other hand, seeing this scene, Lu Xiucai felt extremely envious. But all he could do was watch on; he did not possess any such items.
Time passed quickly, and the women soon completed washing their clothes.
As he watched them leave, Puppy was happily looking at a white stone in his hands. This was given to him by that woman; she said that she had picked it up by the roadside.
It was a very ordinary stone, at best a little rounder and brighter than the others. But the object itself was not important. What mattered was the intent behind her giving this stone to him.
The flower by Puppy's ear was also gone; he had given it to the woman.
"Hehe~! Xiucai, I'm going to get married!" Puppy sniffed the stone, and then carefully placed it in his pocket.
As he saw Puppy acting like this, Lu Xiucai started sulking; he felt that this was extremely unfair. Puppy looked likeย that, with yellow and white patches all over his face. How was he deserving of this?
"No, the flower is too insignificant. I need to give her something more valuable. I'm going to go and borrow some silver from Junior Bai!" Puppy said excitedly while preparing to leave.
"Ah, Puppy, hold on!" Lu Xiucai shouted.
"What? Want to borrow this? I risked my life to obtain this thing!" Puppy walked to the strange-looking sheep and removed the needle before storing it carefully.
"Who wants to borrow that broken toy? I wouldn't take it even if you gave it to me. It's just that before leaving, my dad asked me to talk to you about something," said Lu Xiucai.
Puppy was about to leave, but turned his head back unexpectedly. Lu Zhuangyuan had never asked him about any matters before this.
"How was the Daoist's facial complexion today?" asked Lu Xiucai.
"Why don't you go and see for yourself? He's not too far away," replied Puppy. Just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by Lu Xiucai.
"Hey, it's already saddening enough that no woman bothers with me. Puppy, help me this once. I really dare not go there," pleaded Lu Xiucai.
"What? What did you call me?" asked Puppy, his brows raised.
"Cao Cao, Brother Cao Cao! I beg you! You're about to get married soon! Adults should be magnanimous," said Lu Xiucai.
Seeing his pitiful look, there was a hint of glee on Puppy's face. "What's there to be afraid of? Can Senior Li eat you? Let's go, I'll accompany you to take a look."
The riverside was not too far from the tents. Not long after, they leaned against the side of a tent and looked at Li Huowang in the distance.
"Is he sharpening knives?" Lu Xiucai asked cautiously.
"No; those are his special instruments that are used for torture. He probably thinks that they have dulled after use, and so he's sharpening them," replied Puppy.
"I can't see his face. Brother Cao Cao, could you help me get closer for a look?" request Lu Xiucai.
"Hey! Why should I go and see? It's your business; why don't you go yourself?" questioned Puppy. "But why does your dad want to ask about Senior Li's facial expression? Does he want to discuss something with Senior Li?"
"I don't know. My dad has been more worried lately," replied Lu Xiucai.
At this point, the two of them suddenly noticed that Li Huowang was looking directly at them.
Seeing this, Puppy pushed Lu Xiucai on his back, sending him out from behind the tent's cover. Then, he walked out as well while smiling widely at Li Huowang.
At that point, Puppy noticed that Senior Li had put away all his torture tools, and hanged them on the lower row of the cowhide bag. Then, he turned and walked toward the two lonely tents in the distance.
"Eh? Senior Li isn't going to the Black Taisui's tent, but the other one," commented Puppy.
"Puppy, what's in that tent?" Lu Xiucai squinted.
Puppy looked at him with disdain. "That's none of your business. Go back and tell your dad that Senior Li's temper hasn't been good these past few days. If there's anything he wants to discuss, then he should wait a few more days."