Chapter 99 - Night Visit
Upon hearing Xiaoman’s words, Li Huowang scoffed coldly. He knew what the Eighteenth Lunar was and had already guessed as to what had happened. The people here must’ve had their identities stolen, just like him, and the culprit behind all of it was none other than the Eighteenth Lunar.
The village was made entirely by the Eighteenth Lunar itself. Everyone in the village had just been acting out the roles laid out for them for such a long time without any of them knowing it themselves.
Since it had been controlling so many people at once, it was most likely using them for its own benefit. Rather than saying that it liked playing house, it was more likely that the Eighteenth Lunar was a being that consumed the names and identities of others as food.
“So there’s no village at all!” Li Huowang said.
The moment he thought about the Eighteenth Lunar, all his muscles tensed up as he looked at Xiaoman nervously. “Wait! The eyes! Where are the eyes of the Eighteenth Lunar?”
Those eyes were the entire reason they had come all the way here.
“We found them right beside you. Is this what you were looking for?” As if Xiaoman knew what he was going to ask about, she whipped out a black box the size of her palm.
Li Huowang quickly opened the box and saw two red eyes staring at him. They were the eyes of the Eighteenth Lunar.
“I have finally obtained them. Now, I will finally be able to get rid of Dan Yangzi.” Li Huowang was ecstatic. He no longer needed to fear getting possessed by Dan Yangzi.
Once he had dealt with Dan Yangzi, he would finally be able to think about finding a way to deal with his hallucination issues.
Kachak.
He closed the box and placed it on the head of his bed. “What about the others? Are they fine? Tell me everything that happened after you found me in detail.”
Based on Xiaoman’s explanation, Li Huowang learnt that after he was trapped in his hallucination, the Eighteenth Lunar thought that it had managed to kill him and was just about to kill the rest as well; however, at that moment, a faceless man barged in and disrupted its plans by shouting that Li Huowang was a fake. Then, he called for Bai Lingmiao and the rest to attack the fake Li Huowang.
Hearing this, Li Huowang understood that the faceless man was the him who had lost his name and identity. In his hallucination, he had been standing in the middle of the road and shouting at a red car.
“Immediately afterward, the body of the fake Senior Li fell apart, leaving behind only its skin on the ground. The faceless man was somehow able to sense where the Eighteenth Lunar was and ran after it. Meanwhile, when we started chasing it, the bamboo forest around us suddenly moved and blocked us. That was how we lost track of the faceless man,” explained Xiaoman.
By the time Xiaoman finished her explanation, Bai Lingmiao walked in with another bowl of chicken soup, this time around with some oily chicken meat inside it.
On the other hand, when everyone else heard that their Senior Li had woken up, they all came to visit him. They were all extremely excited and asked whether he was alright.
When he saw that all of them were alive and well, Li Huowang felt a wave of relief wash over his heart. It was fortunate that none of them had died.
After talking for a bit, Li Huowang was still holding the bowl of soup in his hand when he said, “Since I’ve woken up, let’s not wait anymore. We will head back tomorrow.”
But his suggestion was met with unanimous resistance.
“Aiya, Senior Li, even your intestines fell out. Why are you in such a rush? You should just finish healing up before we head back,” said one of them.
“Yeah, didn’t you already find the thing that you needed?” asked another.
“Let’s rest for a few days, Senior Li. None of us is in a rush, so why are you?” asked another.
Li Huowang gently pressed his wound as he got up. “It’s fine. I can just sit in the carr—ouch.”
A sharp bout of pain caused him to let out a shout as blood started seeping out of the bandages. The pain was so intense that it almost matched the pain he felt from disembowelling himself.
Seeing this, Puppy immediately ran with Gao Zhijian before they pushed Li Huowang back down onto the bed. “Senior Li, please don’t push yourself. The carriage is extremely bouncy. Your wounds might end up reopening and cause your intestines to spill out again.”
Understanding the situation, Li Huowang could only do as they suggested. “Fine, go back and rest. Let’s rest as much as we can over here. We’ve been constantly traveling ever since we left the Zephyr Temple. You guys must be tired.”
After talking for a bit more, everyone started to leave. Only Bai Lingmiao remained in the room; she didn’t seem to want to leave.
When Li Huowang extended his right hand and held her hand, she relented, took a stool, and quietly sat beside the bed.
Once she sat down, Li Huowang, who was resting, gently held her right hand. “Is this Granny Bai’s power? She only healed me halfway?”
“That was what we agreed on. I felt that as long as she healed you enough to prevent your death, then you could let your natural regeneration take over. Also, there would be no need to waste our resources,” said Bai Lingmiao as she looked at the large hand that was holding her hand. “She could technically heal you completely, but the lifespan pills in the gourd would not be enough. If she were to heal you completely, then not only would she take all of the lifespan pills in the gourd, she would even have taken something from your brain.”
“My brain? Not my lifespan?” Li Huowang was shocked as he stared at Bai Lingmiao.
Seeing her shaking head, Li Huowang finally understood that the Immortal Families were even more greedy compared to the Wandering Gods. When he had seen the gourd full of lifespan pills, he had been convinced that they only took lifespan.
“Did she say what she would take away?” Li Huowang didn’t know of anything precious within his brain.
“I asked her, but she didn’t say. The Shamans have no right to ask what the members of the Immortal Families are thinking. However, I had a feeling that whatever it is in your brain might be something very valuable, and so I didn’t allow her to take it,” replied Bai Lingmiao.
“Hmph! What a bunch of useless ghosts,” snorted Li Huowang.
After having encountered so many supernatural beings, Li Huowang could more or less guess that the God of Happiness as well as the giant ‘Buddha’ in the Righteous Monastery were beings that were much more advanced when compared to the Immortal Families—the Immortal Families could only use some poor sods and force them to live like beggars.
When Li Huowang reopened his eyes, he looked at Bai Lingmiao. “Did they threaten you? Something like you having to hit a quota every month?”
“No they did not. However, every now and then, they will give me a little push to go and find someone to use my Shamanic powers on. It’s very annoying,” replied Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing that, Li Huowang turned serious. “Remember, if and when they become more difficult to interact with, let me know; at that time, I will talk to them myself. You are at most their subordinate, not their slave.”
Li Huowang was not afraid. If he were to fight them himself, then given the fact that he possessed the bamboo slip, he probably wouldn’t lose. Since things had already come to this, there was no reason to try and change the situation. However, Li Huowang would never allow Bai Lingmiao to experience the same suffering that Li Zhi had felt.
Bai Lingmiao was different from Li Zhi; she had Li Huowang to protect her.
Hearing his words, Bai Lingmiao felt a warm feeling in her heart. “Alright.”
“And if we do encounter someone who we can help using your powers, then feel free to do so. But you don’t have to specifically go and find someone that requires your aid. We don’t need those paltry fifty coins.” continued Li Huowang.
“Mm.”
The oil lamp on the table slowly dimmed down as one of them gave out orders and advice while the other continued listening quietly.
“It’s already quite late; let’s sleep.” Li Huowang lifted the sheets on the bed.
Bai Lingmiao nodded and snuffed out the oil lamp before carefully sliding under the warm blanket as she tried her best to not touch Li Huowang’s wound.
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