Chapter 480 - Retreat
The peach forest was filled with the smell of charcoal. Li Huowang did not dare to walk too fast. The flesh around his waist was still moving, and it seemed like it would fall to the ground at any moment.
The chubby woman’s face couldn't help but become anxious as Li Huowang got farther and farther away from her.
“Hey, young man, I'm not going to ask you for anything else except for the five-year pure lifespan! Name your price! I'll buy it from you!"
“Not selling!” Li Huowang decisively refused. Pure lifespan had no side effects, and he was planning on using it to prolong Bai Lingmiao's life.
The chubby woman seemed rather unwilling to give up, and she followed Li Huowang from a certain distance away. However, she stopped in her tracks when Li Sui appeared and growled at her with her pearly whites.
“S-Senior Li?” Bai Lingmiao's gentle voice was tinged with hesitation. Bai Lingmiao stared at the blurry black mess in the distance. Bai Lingmiao was certain that Li Huowang's figure was red, so how come he had become scorched black?
Li Huowang mounted his horse while enduring the intense pain. He urged the horse forward and exclaimed, “I’ll explain later! Someone is watching us, so we have to leave now.”
The carriage rushed down the dirt road in the dead of night. The horse ran until noon the next day, and Li Huowang only made the horse stop when it started foaming at the mouth.
Li Huowang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that nobody was behind them. Regardless of whether that woman was avoiding him or not, at least she hadn't decided to actually follow them.
Li Huowang felt all the tension inside of him go, and he collapsed behind the curtain.
“Miaomiao, I’ll rest for a while. Don’t touch the bronze coin sword," Li Huowang said. He fell asleep the moment his nape touched his soft pillow.
Li Huowang slept for a long time. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Bai Lingmiao brushing something on his charred body. Li Huowang sniffed lightly, and the unique smell of the liquid told him that it was badger oil.
“How long was I asleep?” Li Huowang asked.
Bai Lingmiao finally noticed that he was awake.
“Senior Li, you’ve been sleeping for three days. I stitched up the wounds on your chest and waist,” Bai Lingmiao responded.
“Ah.” Li Huowang recalled something and sat up abruptly. He ignored the pain coming from his wounds and reached for the bronze coin sword beside him. His heart sank when he saw that it was no longer emitting a plume of black smoke.
“Senior Li, are you looking for that invisible thing? I bought a wooden box from a passing peddler and put it in there for you.”
Li Huowang opened the box and used the other end of his chopsticks to prod inside of it. Upon sensing something pressing on his chopsticks, Li Huowang breathed a sigh of relief. The spiritual sin was still there.
“Senior Li, are you hungry? I'm going to get some broth for you,” Bai Lingmiao said. She lifted the curtain and turned around to leave.
"No, I'll go and take it myself," Li Huowang said, stopping Bai Lingmiao in her tracks. “You should avoid working on anything that involves hot temperatures, or you might get into an accident again."
When Li Huowang got off the carriage, his scabbed wounds opened and oozed blood. It was painful, but Li Huowang had been through so many hardships that he had long gotten used to extreme pain.
It was dark outside, and Li Sui was squatted by the campfire. Li Sui was drawing something in the air with a book beneath one of her paws.
“Dad? You're finally awake?” Li Sui asked, looking up at Li Huowang.
“Learning to draw talismans? Not bad, keep it up.” Li Huowang reached out and patted Li Sui's head gently. Then, he picked up a bowl from the side to scoop out some broth from the pot.
Just as he was about to ladle out a bowl of broth for himself, Li Sui stuck her tongue over and devoured the broth.
“What was that?” Li Huowang curled his scorched fingers and flicked Li Sui's forehead.
“Dad, can’t I have some? I always ate first, you know.”
Li Sui's words made Li Huowang do a double take at her. It seemed that Bun's memories and thoughts had been assimilated by Li Sui.
“It’s okay, go ahead and eat,” Li Huowang said, placing a bowl of broth before Li Sui.
Li Huowang watched as Li Sui devoured the hot broth.“Li Sui, I’m severely injured, and your mother can barely see. You must help us out on the road up ahead.”
“All right, what can I do?”
“Help us wash clothes and wash dishes. Help us start fires as well, and if you can't do that, then collect some firewood for us instead.”
“Second Mom is already doing those, though. Won’t Second Mom have nothing to do if I take over those tasks?”
“Second Mom?”
“Yeah, she likes to wear a red hat. I like her, and we often chat. We even go out to catch some games. We caught a big piece of game once, and we split it in half.”
Is she talking about the Second Deity? When did they become so close? Li Huowang thought it through, and he realized that it wasn’t a bad thing at all.
“All right, just help her out in her tasks, then.”
“All right.”
Li Huowang looked at Li Sui's gaping maw and her black tentacle tongue. Li Huowang smiled knowingly, and then he reached out with his left arm to pull Li Sui into his arms.
Then, he patted Li Sui's head and said, “Thank you for your help back in the peach forest. If it hadn't been for you, things would have gotten a bit dangerous.”
Before Li Sui could respond, she caught a whiff of Li Huowang's familiar scent. She stuck her tongue out and licked Li Huowang's charred figure.
“Sui Sui, is there anything you want to do?” Li Huowang asked softly.
“I want to stay by Dad’s side forever.”
“You can’t always be by my side. You’re my daughter, after all, not a pet.”
“I'm sure there are things that you'll want to do in the future. Take your time and think about it thoroughly, and then don't forget to let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.”
“Dad, I don’t understand what you're talking about.”
“You'll understand in the future. For now, let’s take a bowl of broth to your mother. Then, we'll continue eating and rest afterward. We still have a journey to continue tomorrow.”
The night was uneventful, and when Li Huowang woke up amidst the swaying, he realized that he had overslept. He pushed Li Sui off of his chest, and then he lifted the carriage curtain to peek outside.
It turned out that they were in the middle of a bustling market.
So we’ve entered a city. Where are we? Li Huowang pulled out a map and found that they were in a place called Linzhang. It was not as grand as the capital or the You Capital, but it was still rather large. At our current speed, we should reach the capital in ten days.
Li Huowang used his charred finger to draw a faint black line on the map.
“Senior Li, you’re awake? You’re quite tired, so why don’t we rest here for a couple of days?” Bai Lingmiao suggested.
Li Huowang shook his head as he stared into her eyes, which had almost become completely white, “Forget it. We can just rest at Cowheart Village once we've found a new pair of eyes for you. It’s better to rush so we don't stumble upon unnecessary trouble,' Li Huowang said.
Li Huowang's words had yet to finish echoing in the air when trouble found him.
The gaze was so blatant that Li Huowang found it hard to ignore, and when he looked up, he saw the plump woman whom he had encountered in the peach forest. She was standing on the third floor of a grand tavern while waving at Li Huowang.
I guess I did not manage to shake her off.
New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com