Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 182
>Chapter Title: Asking the Rice
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Chapter 182: Asking the Rice
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> “Five Elements... missing the Five Elements?”
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> The instant he heard those words, Li Huowang reached down and touched his abdomen, feeling toward where his five viscera should have been.
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> Subconsciously, he recalled what he had done that day—out of revenge against the Sitting Oblivion Dao and with a deliberate intent to die.
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> He had used the "Shift Five Elements" technique from the Great Thousand Record to offer his own five viscera as sacrifice to Ba Hui.
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> If the so-called Five Elements in his body had vanished, then that must have been when it happened.
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> Yet if there was anything particularly off about missing his Five Elements, Li Huowang didn’t feel it.
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> Li Huowang slipped his hand inside his blood-colored robe, groping for the ferocious scar where he had sliced open his own abdomen.
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> To his great surprise, however, the skin on his chest was smooth as silk, without even a trace of a scar.
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> Li Huowang racked his brain trying to remember what had happened, but he had no recollection at all. “What the hell is going on with this body of mine? How did it heal?”
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> Puzzled, he looked up at the blind old woman before him. “Immortal Aunt Cui, if a person has no five viscera or Five Elements, can he still live?”
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> Hearing Li Huowang’s words, the blind old woman exclaimed in shock, “No five viscera or Five Elements? Then he’s not even human anymore! He’s nothing but a walking corpse!”
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> The instant he heard that, Li Huowang suddenly felt something snap in his mind. A pain began to spread from his chest, growing more and more intense until he could barely breathe!
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> “What’s happening? Did she do this? A supernatural power where her words become reality? Did she figure out I’m a heart pure and now she’s after my money and my life??”
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> Gritting his teeth through the agony, Li Huowang glared at the immortal aunt before him, who looked just like some country granny.
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> Just as Li Huowang’s ashen face drained of the last of its color and he staggered on the verge of collapse, Immortal Aunt Cui spoke again.
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> “Though, you’re missing your Five Elements yet still alive and kicking, so I suppose it’s not quite that absolute.”
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> With those words, the pain in Li Huowang’s body vanished in an instant. Clutching his chest, he stared at the old woman with a flickering expression.
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> At this point, he couldn’t quite figure out what this immortal aunt’s intentions were. If that intense pain just now had been her doing, then why had it suddenly stopped?
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> “If she didn’t cause it, then what the hell is wrong with my body?” Li Huowang wondered to himself.
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> That burst of pain hadn’t been simple at all—it had truly felt like death was imminent.
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> “Still, I’d advise you to find your Five Elements as soon as possible. If you don’t, something big is bound to go wrong sooner or later.”
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> Li Huowang pulled Bai Lingmiao behind him and asked, half in doubt and half in probing, “Immortal Aunt Cui, do you have any way to fix someone like me?”
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> “I don’t, but others do. If you want to ask, I can help you inquire. It’s the right thing to do—get those Five Elements back quick, or even if you keep living, nothing will go smoothly for you.”
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> “Ask who?”
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> “I’m a rice granny, so who else would I ask? The rice, of course.”
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> “Asking the rice? What’s this new trick?”
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> Soon, Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao brought this so-called Immortal Aunt Cui back to their lodgings.
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> After borrowing several catties of rice from the host family, Immortal Aunt Cui began the so-called asking of the rice.
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> First, she took everything out of her basket one by one.
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> A small copper mirror, placed in the center of the table.
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> In front of the mirror, she set a palm-sized clay cauldron, lighting thirteen thumb-length sticks of yellow incense inside it.
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> Then she poured the borrowed rice into the basket and placed thirteen raw eggs on top.
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> Over this basket of rice and eggs, she poured a cup of wine, a cup of tea, and a bowl of rice.
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> Immortal Aunt Cui closed her eyes, placed both hands over the eggs, and the asking of the rice began.
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> “Moon-Viewing Great Sovereign protects the home, Master Matron, please come forth. Gods and spirits of southeast, northwest, all Great Sovereigns, bless us together now.”
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> Chanting something in an obscure local dialect, Immortal Aunt Cui grabbed handfuls of rice from the basket and scattered them over Li Huowang’s head.
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> “What’s this routine now?” Li Huowang thought, raising his guard as he watched the mystical immortal aunt.
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> After all he’d been through, he was starting to feel like a startled bird now—suspicious of everything.
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> After chanting for a while, the immortal aunt suddenly stopped. She extended her right hand toward Li Huowang, trembling as she opened it.
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> Li Huowang clearly didn’t get the meaning as he stared at that chicken-claw-like old hand, but Bai Lingmiao beside him did.
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> She took some broken silver from her pocket and placed it into the woman’s palm.
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> Eyes still closed, Immortal Aunt Cui grabbed the silver bits, bit down on them with her teeth, and a satisfied look spread across her face.
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> “Youngster, don’t just stand there—give me your birth details.”
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> “What? Birth details? I don’t have any.”
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> Immortal Aunt Cui sighed and pinched her fingers at Li Huowang before resuming her chant. This time, Li Huowang still couldn’t understand the words, but it felt different from before.
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> Before long, Li Huowang tensed up. With his sharp senses, he instinctively glanced toward the pitch-black doorway, then up at the empty beam.
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> Something had arrived.
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> “Burp~” A belch drew Li Huowang’s gaze back to the rice granny in front of him, who was now shaking her head and swaying.
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> He could clearly sense that Immortal Aunt Cui before him felt completely different now—something had possessed her body.
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> “Feels a lot like the spirit medium routine. They summon immortal families for spirit possession, so what does asking the rice summon?” Vigilant, Li Huowang backed up a little further.
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> “Who’s down there~? What do you~ seek~~ burp?”
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> An elderly man’s voice emerged from Immortal Aunt Cui’s mouth, laced with a strong operatic tone.
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> Li Huowang had originally meant to ask about his missing five viscera, but on second thought, he held back. If they were truly gone, he’d have died long ago.
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> He had no idea how Danyangzi had gotten his five viscera back, but that was a problem for later. Right now, the priority was recovering his missing Five Elements.
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> “Is there any way to restore my missing Five Elements?”
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> “Hmm~? Who’s~~ down there? Burp, state your~ name~!”
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> Immortal Aunt Cui took a deep breath, sucking the white smoke billowing from the incense right into her nostrils.
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> “Li Huowang. Who are you? Or rather, what are you?” As the vigilant Li Huowang spoke, he instinctively gripped his sword hilt.
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> “Hmph~! I am the~ Golden Palace~ Nine Heavens Imperial Ledger~ Truth-Containing Vault High Pardon Sin Great Heavenly Sovereign~ A mere~ heart pure~ ridiculous~ ridiculous~ burp!”
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> Li Huowang’s pupils contracted slightly. She had seen through him as a heart pure!!
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> “Fear not~ fear not~ wahahaha~~ burp!” The entity’s laughter whipped up gusts of eerie wind swirling through the room.
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> Clang!” The sword slid from its sheath, a dense killing intent flooding the room and instantly scattering the demonic wind.
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> The incense sticks in the black cauldron were extinguished in an instant.
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> (End of chapter)