Chapter 479 - Someone’s Coming
The spiritual sin felt wronged as it had been deceived. It tried to take control of Li Huowang's lower half and flee. However, Li Huowang’s lower half had no eyes and no ears to perceive its surroundings, so the spiritual sin stumbled over a tree root and fell hard to the ground, just a few steps away from the hollowed-out tree.
The spiritual sin decisively attempted to escape. It had recognized that it was in danger, but before it could even make a move, Li Huowang's bronze coin sword left behind a trail of cold light as it descended and nailed the spiritual sin to the ground.
A plume of black smoke emerged as the spiritual sin cried in agony. However, it couldn't do anything at all, and its cries eventually weakened.
When the spiritual sin ceased all movement, Li Huowang finally emerged from concealment. No, it was more like his upper half crawled out of hiding, and he crawled toward his frozen lower half.
Once a scammer became aware of what the customer desired, then it'd be easier for them to scam the customer. Li Huowang knew that the spiritual sin wanted his body so badly, so he himself into two and tossed his lower half aside as bait to lure it out.
Li Huowang sprawled out on the ground, gasping for air. He had endured excruciating pain tonight—the pain of being burned alive, the pain of getting lacerated, and the pain of getting cut in half. The ordeal was so painful that he almost fainted. He would have fainted long ago if it hadn't been for his willpower.
At least there's some profit.... Li Huowang glanced at the bronze coin sword. The bronze coin sword had pinned the carcass of the spiritual sin to the ground, which was still emitting wisps of black smoke.
Li Huowang grabbed the smoke with his charred fingers, and he felt his negative emotions being agitated. The desire to kill and hate filled him up in the blink of an eye. Li Huowang retracted his hand and tried to touch the source of the smoke, but his hand touched nothing but air. For some reason, he couldn't touch the spiritual sin, and he couldn't see anything beneath the plume of black smoke.
Li Huowang tested it and found that he could touch other things. However, he could not touch the spiritual sin itself. Spiritual sins truly are dangerous and bizarre. I wonder why the Surveillance Bureau is willing to pay such a high price to obtain one.
Li Huowang rested for a while and recovered a bit of strength. Then, he started crawling toward his lower half, but he stopped as soon as he started crawling, as there were oncoming footsteps.
Someone's coming? Li Huowang’s expression stiffened. Miaomiao? No, those footsteps do not belong to her!
Li Huowang peered into the winding forest path to his left, and he saw a chubby woman walking toward him with steady steps.
The chubby woman's getup was strange; she was wearing a red paper belly band, and a small golden crown embroidered with red threads was sitting on her head. The strange part about her getup was that lit purple incense sticks were sticking out of her head, making her appear like a hedgehog. Moreover, two miniature, triangular banners with red curse patterns were hanging from her earlobes.
Li Huowang would have thought that he was staring at another spiritual sin if it weren't for the mace on her shoulder.
The chubby woman raised her mace and pointed it at Li Huowang. “Hey! Ascend to the heavens and travel the lands up above. Safeguard the wind and clouds in the four directions. Seize the demons and capture evil!”
Li Huowang frowned. He reached for his badge at his waist and showed it to the chubby woman. “Back off! I'm in the middle of official business on behalf of the Surveillance Bureau!”
“Huh?” the chubby woman was surprised. Then, she took out an identical badge from her belly band. She was from the Surveillance Bureau as well.
"Oh? You're from the Surveillance Bureau? I don't think so. Toss over your badge for me to take a closer look!”
The chubby woman dared not her guard in the face of a living human being with no lower half and was charred black. Li Huowang obliged and hurled his badge over to the chubby woman. Then, he pieced together his upper and lower halves.
Li Huowang waited patiently for the nerves in his lower half to connect to each other.
The plump woman walked up to Li Huowang and placed the badge next to him.
“I didn't expect that you were saying the truth. I thought you were a spiritual sin. Which sect are you from?”
“Ao Jing Sect.”
The plump woman scrutinized Li Huowang up and down. Then, she nodded and said, “I guess that makes sense.”
The plump woman then pulled out the incense sticks sticking out of her face. “What a mess. We're on the same side, but we almost fought each other. Anyway, your clone technique is impressive, young man. Where did you learn it?”
Li Huowang couldn’t be bothered to make small talk with the plump woman. After all, the Surveillance Bureau had never been a place to find comrades.
Meanwhile, the plump woman's true appearance was finally revealed when there were no more incense sticks sticking out of her head. If she was judged solely on appearance, she appeared to be an ordinary peasant woman.
Without waiting for a response from Li Huowang, the plump woman asked, “I came here to find a spiritual sin. What about you?”
“Hmm?” Li Huowang sat up and asked, “You took on that task as well? Can two people take on the same job?”
“How naive. Several people can take on one task, but of course, the one who gets it down first will obtain the reward. I guess you can say that it's skill based.”
“Oh.” Li Huowang with much difficulty. Then, he pressed on his lower body, which was beginning to recover. “Well, you're too late. I already killed the spiritual sin.”
“What?! You killed it by yourself?” the chubby woman exclaimed, revealing extreme shock.
However, Li Huowang could see that the chubby woman's ten emotions and eight sufferings did not seem as shocked as she appeared on the outside. It seemed that the chubby woman was a hypocrite.
However, it wasn't strange at all. Everyone would be wary of strangers, and Li Huowang was wary of the chubby woman as well. It was proven by how he had never let go of his purple-tassel sword since he saw the chubby woman.
“You're right when you said that the tasks are skill based, Sis. Anyway, please excuse me.” Li Huowang curled up his calves and them down slowly. He had healed enough to stand up.
“Indeed, but...” the chubby woman trailed off, seemingly anxious.
Li Huowang couldn’t be bothered with her at all. He exerted all his strength to propel himself off of the ground. Then, he took away the bronze coin sword, which had pierced the spiritual sin, before walking slowly toward the edge of the peach forest.
“Wait!” the chubby woman exclaimed.
Li Huowang turned around, and the tip of his sword pointed directly at the chubby woman's nose.
“What? Are you trying to snatch it away from me?” Li Huowang asked, his voice instantly becoming cold.
The plump woman revealed a shy smile. She took a few steps back until she was out of his attack range before explaining, “We’re all from the Surveillance Bureau. How could I do such a thing?”
Li Huowang responded with a cold laugh. He knew too well the methods of his colleagues in the Surveillance Bureau. If he had shown even a hint of fear, the chubby woman would have ambushed him to snatch the spiritual sin away and claim the reward for herself.
Hundreds of lifespan pills were worth a small fortune in this chaotic world. Moreover, the task was to capture a spiritual sin, and the Surveillance Bureau wouldn't ask where it had come from.
“Sounds great. Let’s go our separate ways, then. You definitely wouldn’t want to get a taste of the Ao Jing Sect's techniques,” Li Huowang threatened. Then, he retreated slowly with his loot in hand.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺