Chapter 313 - Yinling City
Still wearing his veil, Li Huowang controlled the horse carriage while walking amongst the crowd. Yinling City was still just as prosperous as he remembered. No one paid attention to him.
On the other hand, Bun, who was afraid of the crowd, was currently hiding under the horse carriage as it slowly moved forward.
Once Li Huowang arrived at the inn from before, he took some of the broken pieces of silver from the horse carriage and paid for a room.
The horse carriage had everything he might have needed. This included not only silver and clothes, but even dry rations.
After a while, Li Huowang opened the tarp and checked on the bound Black Taisui. He then took a piece of jerky and shoved it into the Black Taisui’s sticky body. After that, he took out a knife and cut a portion of the Black Taisui and ate it. While it was disgusting, he was used to it.
By now, he had eaten a lot, but the Black Taisui’s size remained almost the same.
After inspecting the cow tendons that were tying the Black Taisui down, Li Huowang talked to it, “Can you hear me? Can you repeat what I’m saying?”
However, the Black Taisui did not respond to his questions and just continued to undulate its disgusting body, expelling gunks out from within its body. There wasn’t even a reaction.
Lost in thought, Li Huowang patted his own abdomen.
Maybe only the piece of Black Taisui inside my stomach can talk? Or maybe it’s only because my hearing is so sharp that I can hear it?
He didn’t know whether it was normal or not because he hadn’t encountered anyone else who had eaten a Black Taisui.
After a while, he covered the horse carriage and talked to Bun instead, “Make sure you guard it well. If the Black Taisui moves or if someone gets close to it, you have to bark loudly. I can hear you even from my room.”
“Woof woof!” Bun shook its tail.
Li Huowang patted Bun’s head and walked into the inn.
Once inside, Li Huowang opened the window and looked down at the prosperous city before taking a book out from within his clothes.
Li Huowang didn’t know whether the Black Taisui inside his stomach could learn from him like this, but he felt that there was no harm in trying.
In fact, if the Black Taisui could talk to him, then he might even be able to benefit from it. Even if it couldn’t help Li Huowang directly, it would already be very helpful if it didn’t do anything else and just sat quietly inside his stomach.
“All humans are kind in the beginning, but their behavior changes according to their environment...”
As he spoke, a black tentacle sprouted out from his belly button, shook around, and then retreated back.
“Lychee, this is a lychee,” said Li Huowang as he peeled the fruit, “Eat.”
He then placed the translucent fruit into his mouth.
“No, it’s not kill, but eat.”
When the other houses lit up their lights, Li Huowang finally felt that the time was right and walked out. He came to where he previously drank with Tuoba Danqing. When he walked in, he was immediately guided by a server.
It was clear that Tuoba Danqing had instructed the server beforehand as the moment Li Huowang sat down, delicious food was served.
Li Huowang waited in the room for a while before he heard Tuoba Danqing’s unique laughter.
“Hehe~ Junior Er, long time no see.” The door opened with a creak and Tuoba Danqing walked in. He was wearing a robe made from brocade silk. “No need to stand up. Please sit. We are all brothers here, and so there’s no need to be courteous.”
As Tuoba Danqing walked in and closed the door, Li Huowang removed his veil.
Tuoba Danqing’s eyes revealed a myriad of emotions when he saw Li Huowang's charred skin behind the bronze coil veil. Even so, he managed to hold it all in and didn’t say anything. He just laughed and poured a cup for himself. “Come, drink with me.”
However, after learning how Tuoba Danqing did stuff, Li Huowang was no longer hasty. Slowly, Li Huowang drank his fill of wine. Thankfully, he had drunk a lot of water beforehand, and thus didn’t get drunk that easily.
After drinking and eating, Tuoba Danqing coughed lightly, signaling that he was about to start talking about business. “Junior Er, about the mirror you asked... I managed to find the owner. The member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao fooled a blind person to acquire it from him.”
“Oh? Is he a blind old man with the surname Chen?” asked Li Huowang.
“Huh? How did you know?” questioned Tuoba Danqing, puzzled.
Seeing the man’s response, Li Huowang took a quick glance at Hong Zhong’s illusion. As he had thought, that member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao had even used the fake identity he stole from someone.
“Junior Er, the man in question said that he can’t teach you how to use the mirror, but if you return to him, then he can trade it back with a talisman guidebook,” said Tuoba Danqing.
“What kind of talisman guidebook?” asked Li Huowang.
“He told me that the guidebook contains various chants and methods to draw different talismans. If you are able to master it completely, then you would be able to do many things related to fortune-telling and healing,” Tuoba Danqing chuckled slyly as he explained, “But I have a feeling that he’s lying. The book might be useful, but it’s probably not as good as he is making it out to be.”
After a moment of thought, Li Huowang took out the mirror. He had no idea what to do because he was inexperienced in these matters.
Thus, he looked at Tuoba Danqing. “Senior Tuoba, could you guide me about what I should do?”
Tuoba Danqing was someone who was experienced in dealing with the Jianghu, and so he sought out the man’s advice.
Hearing Li Huowang’s request, Tuoba Dangqing picked up a piece of glistening fish and placed it in his mouth. “Hmm... I think you should agree to the exchange. Even though he didn’t tell me, it was clear to me that the mirror was something precious to him. If you don’t give it to him, then he might come and look for you himself. Plus, even though the mirror is good, it’s useless to you as a member of the Ao Jing Sect. As long as you have the resolution to harm yourself and use the Profound Records, you don’t even need it. On the other hand, there might be some unique talismans recorded in the guidebook that could cover the weaknesses of the Ao Jing Sect’s methods. Additionally, in these chaotic times, it’s always good to have an extra ally. Maybe the blind man could even help you out next time.”
Li Huowang carefully considered the advice and found that it was indeed quite helpful. “Thank you for your guidance, Senior Tuoba.”
“No need to be so courteous. If you want to thank me, then you can just let me in on some good stuff in the future,” said Tuoba as he raised his cup for a toast.
After that, both of them drank, the distance between them gradually shortening.
When they almost finished with their meal, Tuoba Danqing’s drunk face suddenly turned serious. “Junior Er, now that the trivial matters have been discussed, we should talk about official matters. If you want to climb the ranks, then you need to work hard. Thankfully there’s something you could do down toward the South.”
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