Chapter 320 - Objective
Li Huowang once again confirmed the stolen ingredients with the list on the paper. While he didn’t know what the effect of the pill was, as a disciple of Dan Yangzi, he was sure that this was a pill recipe.
Is there another Dan Yangzi?
Thinking back upon the happenings at the Zephyr Temple, Li Huowang’s eyes were gloomy.
After seeing Li Huowang’s reaction, Magistrate Lou carefully asked, “My Lord? Did you discover something? Do you know where the babies are?”
“No, at least not yet. But I do have a clue,” said Li Huowang as he kept the paper. “I don’t know what they are trying to refine, but some of the methods will always remain the same. There are certain ingredients needed to refine pills and they still lack some of them. To complete the refinement, they will have to steal some fifty other ingredients. Go and take an inventory of those ingredients and guard them well! The culprit will definitely come to steal them again!”
Regardless of whether or not it was another Dan Yangzi, Li Huowang had to first find the culprit. As long as he did that, the rest of it would be much easier to deal with.
“Alright! As long as we can help the people to find their babies again, I will listen to you! I will go and contact all of the herb shop owners,” answered Magistrate Lou.
“Wait.” However, Li Huowang stopped him. “You might alert the culprit if you do it like this. I will handle this. You will aid me in putting on a show.”
“A show?”
That evening, Magistrate Lou brought several people with him and sent off Li Huowang with a grand parade. As he sent Li Huowang off, Magistrate Lou held onto Li Huowang’s hands tightly and made quite a few oaths to repay Li Huowang.
On this day, the people learned that it was Li Huowang who had caught the culprit that had been raping women left and right. Soon, the civilians also crowded around the parade. Many of the people were filled with gratitude and kept trying to put various gifts into Li Huowang’s carriage, but all of them were stopped by him.
After they were five Lis away, Li Huowang told Magistrate Lou and his men to return. Thus, Magistrate Lou and the others reluctantly turned back.
Now that the rapist had been caught, there were no longer any cases of women getting raped. Even though they hadn’t found the missing babies, at the very least no more babies were being stolen either. Thus, the anxious people of Cangshui County soon calmed down.
Several days later, on an empty street in the night, a hunchbacked timekeeper was yawning as he beat his bamboo drum. “The weather is hot and everything’s flammable~ Be careful with fire~”
At first, nothing happened. Finally, something changed during the third section of the night.
As the hunchbacked timekeeper continued beating the bamboo drum, his shadow stood up and its limbs became long and narrow. Then, it slowly moved forward in tandem with the timekeeper.
The shadow was somehow being held upward by something, and there was something in the middle of the shadow.
The hunchbacked timekeeper used the wooden stick to once again hit his bamboo drum and shouted, “The weather is hot and everything’s flammable~ Be careful with fire~”
As the hunchbacked timekeeper approached one of the apothecaries, some of the ingredients that were wrapped in oilcloth phased out through the wall of the apothecary and disappeared into the timekeeper’s shadow. At the same time, the shadow grew slightly larger.
Meanwhile, the hunchbacked timekeeper kept beating his drum, “The weather is hot and everything’s flammable~ Be careful with fire~”
As more and more ingredients vanished into the shadow of the timekeeper, the shadow became more and more engorged. Soon, it no longer even looked humanoid.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang observed everything that was happening.
He had asked the Magistrate to put on a show, faking the entire send-off. Li Huowang wanted the culprit to lower their guard and think that Li Huowang had left.
With his power of invisibility, Li Huowang had quickly discovered the places with the ingredients needed for the pill recipe.
After that, Li Huowang had been staking out on a nightly basis before finally catching the culprit. After all, refining pills also depended on the date and Li Huowang knew the culprit could not afford to delay it any longer.
“Daoist, since we’ve found the culprit, why are we still waiting here? We need to capture them immediately and stop them from stealing any more babies!” said Monk, somehow more anxious than Li Huowang himself.
“Calm down. We won’t be able to get to the bottom of this by just catching the thief. We need to let the thief go back to the main base so that we can capture all of them at once,” said Li Huowang while maintaining his invisible state as he stalked the hunchbacked timekeeper and the monstrous shadow.
Time slowly passed. By the time it was the fourth section of the night, the engorged shadow had grown to the size of a small house as it moved like a giant.
At that moment, a baby in a bamboo basket phased out from a wall and vanished into the shadow, causing Monk to start jumping out of anxiety.
On the other hand, upon sensing that it had gotten almost everything, the shadow detached itself from the hunchbacked timekeeper and flew into the skies.
“Daoist! It’s running away! Chase it quickly!” shouted Monk, already on the verge of tears.
“Shut up!” Li Huowang ran onto the roof as he chased after the thing.
The shadow continued flying through the night sky as Li Huowang chased after it on the ground. Thankfully his sight was excellent or he would’ve long since lost the shadow in the night sky.
Chasing it, Li Huowang ran further and further away. Soon, he exited the Cangshui County and started running on a dirt path.
By this point, he was starting to pant from tiredness; on the other hand, the shadow monster was still flying further and further away.
Shit! I can’t let it get away!
Coming to a decision, Li Huowang quickly brought out some talisman paper and started drawing with his blood. Then, he stuck both the talismans on his knees. Instantly, all his veins on his face bulged up. Now looking quite gnarly, Li Huowang’s heart was quickly enveloped by an unpleasant heat.
But the price was worth it. His speed instantly increased drastically.
Thanks to his speed, Li Huowang managed to quickly catch up with the shadow monster.
As the sky slowly brightened and the first ray of sunlight appeared, the shadow burst with a pop. When the shadow burst open, all of the items that it had stolen fell into a large river.
When Li Huowang arrived at the riverbank, he saw several shadows moving the items that had fallen into the river. However, due to the river being murky, he couldn’t see what they were. All he saw was the ingredients being transported to a hidden underwater cave nearby.
Li Huowang raised his head and saw that the cave was mostly submerged, leaving only the top part exposed to the air. “Is this their lair?”
The cave was situated at the base of a massive rocky mountain. The cave was like a massive mouth that swallowed the river.
After checking his location on the map, Li Huowang realized that the location he was at was at the center of where all the cases of missing babies in the numerous counties were reported.
“I don’t know who they are, but they should be like Dan Yangzi if they are hiding in a remote place like this,” muttered Li Huowang.
Having found the enemy’s lair, Li Huowang should have been happy. However, all he could do was stare at the river and the water that was entering the cave.
“How do I get in?”
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