Chapter 297
Chapter 297
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 297
>Chapter Title: Treasure
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Chapter 297: Treasure
Two incense sticks later, Li Huowang, sitting on the stool, ran his hand over the gold-threaded sandalwood table in front of him and stepped on the soft beast pelt on the floor.
He glanced around at the luxurious interior decorations of the room once more.
He knew that the price for a single meal here would be anything but low.
He had seen this restaurant before.
It was right next to the Linglong Pagoda.
In terms of location, it ranked among the top in all of Silvergrave City.
With a creak, the door opened.
A woman in colorful clothes, carrying a wave of fragrant breeze, served various delicacies onto the round table.
Li Huowang had not only never eaten the dishes on this table—he could not even tell what ingredients they were made from.
“Heh heh heh~ Come on, come on. Ear, my wise brother, let’s clink one.”
Tuoba Danqing picked up the silver pot and poured toward the wine cup in front of Li Huowang.
Li Huowang’s heart tightened instantly.
“Brother Tuoba, I’m not good with alcohol. Please forgive me.”
With that, he picked up the teapot beside him and poured himself a cup.
“I shall substitute tea for wine and toast you, Brother Tuoba. May all your endeavors go smoothly!”
The chuckling Tuoba Danqing picked up his wine cup and clinked it against Li Huowang’s teacup.
“Good~ And I toast you, Brother Ear, to ascending to the Crimson Mansion soon!!”
Li Huowang placed the teacup under his mask and took a gentle sip.
Tuoba Danqing flicked his long sleeve and thrust his chopsticks toward the steaming dish in front of him.
“Come on, come on, have some dishes! Try this Thousand Purple and Ten Thousand Red. This is a Silvergrave specialty—you can’t get it anywhere else.”
The two of them alternated between chopsticks and cups.
The atmosphere in the room eased considerably.
Chatting at the dining table felt entirely different from conversations elsewhere.
Tuoba Danqing’s plump face flushed red as he smacked his lips a few times, propped his elbow on the round table, and drawled slowly:
“Brother Ear, we’re brothers now. If there’s anything you don’t understand about the Bureau in the future, just ask me.”
“Also, remember you’re a Celestial Surveillance Division man now. If you run into any trouble with the officials, just report the Bureau’s name. As long as it’s not a big deal, the yamen will usually give you some face.”
“Thank you, Brother Tuoba. Since that’s the case, I won’t stand on ceremony. I’ve actually run into a bit of a problem.”
Li Huowang reached out and produced the Bagua mirror he had prepared earlier.
“This is a magic artifact from the Sitting Oblivion Dao. Its power is astonishing, but I can’t find a way to activate it. Could you take a look, Brother Tuoba?”
“Something from the Sitting Oblivion Dao? Heh, they don’t have any of their own stuff. It’s obviously something they scammed. Let me see.”
Tuoba Danqing took it and examined it carefully.
His hands kept busy, but his mouth did not stop.
“How’d it go that day, Brother Ear? Tell your brother—how’d you deal with those Sitting Oblivion Daoists?”
There was naturally nothing to hide here.
After glossing over some details about the Black Tai Sui, Li Huowang recounted almost everything that had happened that night to Tuoba Danqing.
“Heh, these Sitting Oblivion Daoists, claiming others are one of theirs again. This scam is ancient history.”
A hint of disdain appeared on Tuoba Danqing’s face.
“But you know, with such a simple con, there are always a few hotheads who fall for it.”
“Truth is, once you see through their tricks, I can kill as many Sitting Oblivion Daoists as they send. Big Three Yuan, Little Four Joys, dice, flower cards—they’re all useless trash!”
Li Huowang could tell the man was starting to brag after a few drinks, but he naturally wouldn’t call him out.
He just chimed in from the side.
A bit of drunken boasting was nothing.
If anything, it made Li Huowang feel like Tuoba Danqing was a real, flesh-and-blood person.
“This looks like a Daoist magic artifact, but see here—the positions of the trigrams are off. Kun above, Qian below. As far as I know, in all of Great Liang, only three houses use this inverted-heaven-and-earth Daoist style.”
Tuoba Danqing handed the mirror back to Li Huowang.
“Alright, hold onto it for now. I’ll look into it and get back to you. If there’s a matching cultivation method, I’ll send word.”
“No matter what, this thing’s valuable. I’d say it’s worth at least thirty or fifty years of lifespan. You’ve got some good luck, Brother Ear.”
Beyond the surface meaning, this also revealed that within the Celestial Surveillance Division, transactions were not conducted with gold or silver, but with lifespan years.
“Then thank you again, Brother Tuoba.”
“What are you thanking me for? We’re all our own people. No need to thank me for something this small—you’re being too distant. Drink up, drink up!”
Tuoba Danqing raised his wine cup and tossed it back down his throat.
He let out a satisfied breath and picked up his chopsticks to eat.
Suddenly, Tuoba Danqing remembered something.
He set his chopsticks on the edge of the dish and reached into the coarse sack under the table.
After rummaging for a bit, he pulled out a dozen or so pitch-black pills.
“Here, almost forgot. This is your reward this time—thirteen years of lifespan. Keep them safe. They’re sealed pills, different from your method.”
Li Huowang pulled the gourd from his waist.
The small gourd mouth wriggled a few times.
Then the front half of the entire gourd split open into a ferocious, sharp-toothed maw that swallowed the lifespan pills one by one.
Seeing Li Huowang’s gourd, a smug look appeared on Tuoba Danqing’s drunken face.
“Brother Ear, that thing of yours isn’t great. It’s not as good as my ragged sack. Mine might be ragged, but it holds a ton.”
“In the future, find a time to head to the capital. Go buy some good magic artifacts there.”
“Oh? The Celestial Surveillance Division even has a dedicated trading place?”
Li Huowang’s heart jolted.
This would be a huge help for both gathering intelligence in the future and improving his strength.
“What’s so strange about that? It’d be weird if there wasn’t.”
Li Huowang agreed readily and promptly poured himself a splash of wine to toast Tuoba Danqing.
His keen senses made him get drunk easily, but sometimes, getting drunk was necessary.
That night, the two drank more and more.
Their rapport grew closer and closer.
By the end, they were about to burn yellow paper, slaughter a chicken, and swear brotherhood.
Tuoba Danqing’s voice reminded Li Huowang of his college dorm mates.
He felt as if he had returned to those high school sleepover days—back to the good times before his illness, when Yang Na was real, and his future was bright.
“Ah, if only I could go back to those days.”
“But I’ve joined the Celestial Surveillance Division now. Those precarious days are behind me. Things will only get better from here. One day, I’ll live even better than before!”
In a drunken haze, Tuoba Danqing threw his arm around Li Huowang’s shoulders.
Leaning against the windowsill, they gazed out at the quiet Silvergrave City.
His voice carried a touch of sentiment as he said:
“Wise brother~! Look how pretty Silvergrave City is? Silvergrave’s rabbit figurines are pretty too! Truth be told, I haven’t actually been here much.”
“Brother Tuoba, then I must apologize! Self-punishment—three cups! To think I made you run all over the place for me!”
Li Huowang’s tongue was starting to slur.
Sometimes he did not even know what he was saying.
“What do you mean apologize? What nonsense. I just happened to pass by. It wasn’t for you specifically. Guess what—guess what your brother was up to before this?”
“How could I guess? Brother Tuoba. *Hic*, look, is the sky starting to lighten? How about we call it a night?”
Hearing that Li Huowang did not play along, Tuoba Danqing was displeased.
“Come here. I’ll show you a good treasure! Blow your mind, kid!”
He dragged Li Huowang back to the table and crashed to the floor with a thud.
He pawed at his yellow ragged sack.
Soon, he yanked out a man’s head attached to a mess of bloody organs from the sack.
“Hm?”
Li Huowang stared in shock.
“Brother Tuoba, what’s this?”
“Heh heh, no idea, huh? This is a heart elemental I specially went deep into Qingqiu with Lord Jixiang to get!”
The moment he said this, the hallucination of Red Middle beside him suddenly burst into laughter.
He laughed heartily, doubling over and gasping for breath.
(End of chapter)