Chapter 294
Chapter 294
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 294
>Chapter Title: Trouble
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Once all the funeral arrangements were finalized, Gouwa stepped out of the coffin shop, extremely pleased with the price. "All set now. This time it'll definitely be way better than last time."
He squinted at the blazing sun overhead and realized it was already noon, so he hurried off toward the inn.
"Right, the shopkeeper said they need the deceased's measurements for the burial clothes. Gotta go back and take them quick."
When Gouwa reached his room, he glanced through the window and saw that Gao Zhijian, despite his severe injuries, wasn't lying in bed. His heart sank instantly. "Could it be..."
He rushed three steps at a time to Li Huowang's room. Seeing the other three gathered around Li Huowang's bed, he took a deep breath, rubbed some yellow ginger from his pocket into the corner of his eye, and walked in with feigned overwhelming grief.
"Senior Brother Li! Oh, Senior Brother Li!! Wooo wooo woo..."
Just as he dramatically shoved Gao Zhijian aside and lunged toward the bedside, Li Huowang's eyes snapped open on the bed, freezing Gouwa in place. "Oh... he's not dead."
In the next instant, his heart tightened. Trouble. If Senior Brother Li didn't die, wouldn't all the money I paid for the coffin be wasted?
"Gouwa, you're hurt too?"
Li Huowang's words snapped Gouwa back to reality. He quickly plastered on a nonchalant expression.
"Aw, this little scratch is nothing. You should've seen it—those mud statues swarming me, and I didn't even blink!"
"Don't listen to his nonsense. If I hadn't been watching his back, he'd have been chopped to pieces long ago."
Gouwa shot an annoyed glance at Chun Xiaoman for exposing him, but he didn't dare say anything. He couldn't beat her on a good day, and now she towered a full head taller than him.
Li Huowang turned his head on the bed toward Chun Xiaoman, whose appearance had changed dramatically. The once petite girl had fully blossomed into a woman, her feminine allure undiminished even by the thick black fur covering her body.
But this wasn't good news. It meant that during the battle with those mud fiends, she'd burned through many years of her lifespan to summon the Wandering Lord.
"No need to summon so many Wandering Lords. Think it through next time—four of them cost a whole year of life." The frail Li Huowang advised her.
"No big deal. I'm still young." Chun Xiaoman showed no dismay at losing years of life. If anything, she seemed to love her new tall frame.
*Cough cough~* Li Huowang hacked up some bloody froth. After catching his breath, he spoke again. "Miaomiao, pour out all the Lifespan Pills from my gourd and give them to her."
The Lifespan Pills could extend life and restore Chun Xiaoman's youth.
"I really don't need them!" Chun Xiaoman pressed her single arm down on Bai Lingmiao's shoulder, her voice tinged with concern. "Senior Brother Li, instead of worrying about me, worry about yourself. What... exactly happened to you?"
At her words, Li Huowang paused. He stared up at the ceiling beams, a bitter smile crossing his gaunt face. "What happened to me?"
Li Huowang recalled everything that double-pupiled Sit-Forget Daoist had said. He naturally didn't buy the nonsense that he was a red middle.
But if it was a scam, why did this guy and those six before use the exact same method to deceive him? That didn't add up.
"Could it be... No. No could-be about it! Everything from Sit-Forget Daoists is fake! They must've found some way to conspire between the dead Sit-Forget Daoists and the living ones! The dead and the living teaming up to fool me!"
"Senior Brother Li, forget about all that trouble for now. Your wounds are still serious—rest up."
Bai Lingmiao gently placed a rice-husk pillow under Li Huowang's neck to make him more comfortable.
Li Huowang shook his head slightly, only to feel a splitting headache. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he insisted, "I'm not sleepy. Tell me what happened after I passed out."
With the Sit-Forget Daoist dead and the mud statues gone, there wasn't much to tell after Li Huowang blacked out—just the others tying up loose ends.
"Hey! What's the point of all that useless chatter? You lot don't even know what Senior Brother Li cares about."
Grinning with excitement, Gouwa squatted at the bedside hugging a bamboo basket and reported to Li Huowang. "Senior Brother Li, check this out! All that con artist's stuff is right here. I didn't even spare the clothes on his back! It's all ours now!"
Gouwa lifted the lid, revealing the eight trigrams mirror inside the basket along with the bloody pai gow and mahjong tiles.
Seeing these items eased Li Huowang's mind. He wasn't coveting them—it was just that they reminded him of the Supervisory Division's earlier test.
The Sit-Forget Daoist was dead, and he was alive. He'd passed the test and could finally join the Supervisory Division.
With the Supervisory Division as his backing, he'd finally have support. No more blindly guessing at cultivation methods like Danyangzi had.
And as long as he kept his heart essence identity under wraps, no one would dare move against him rashly.
"Heh, what good does taking them do? It's not like you know how to use them." A contemptuous voice from behind Gouwa made Li Huowang's eyes widen.
The extremely weak Li Huowang summoned a surge of strength from somewhere, abruptly sitting up and shoving Gouwa aside. His eyes trembled as he stared at the hallucination in the distance.
The headless Peng Longteng gripping his halberd. The legless Jinshan Zhao with his mouth agape in silence. The helpless old monk. And finally, that faceless, eyeless Sit-Forget Daoist!
The skinless face, topped with those two pitch-black holes, bared its lipless white teeth in an exaggerated, grotesque grin.
Seeing Li Huowang frozen in place, Chun Xiaoman shot a glance at Gao Zhijian beside her. The two reached out to grab Li Huowang's arms.
But in the next moment, a massive force flung their arms away.
"Why are you here too!! Why!! What right do you have to be my hallucination!!!" As Li Huowang screamed hysterically, the stitched wounds across his body began splitting open and bleeding.
Just as he opened his mouth to say more, he suddenly staggered and collapsed, clutching his neck with both hands.
*Cough cough~* *Urp!* Propped on the floor, Li Huowang retched, and wriggling black tentacles began spewing from his throat.
The others panicked at the sight. "Quick! Pull them out!!"
But as they reached to help, Li Huowang shakily batted their hands away.
Kneeling on the ground, he tremblingly cradled the tentacles in both hands like precious treasures, carefully stuffing them back into his mouth.
Under everyone's stunned gazes, accompanied by retching sounds, the Black Tai Sui was forcibly swallowed back down into his stomach.
(End of Chapter)