Chapter 480
Chapter 480
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 480
>Chapter Title: The Visitor
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The spirit aberration, realizing it had fallen into a trap, immediately controlled Li Huowang’s lower body and struggled to flee.
But Li Huowang’s lower body only had legs and no eyes, so it couldn’t sense direction at all. It had just crawled out of the tree hollow and run a few dozen feet when it tripped over a tree root and fell hard.
Seeing things weren’t right, the spirit aberration decisively tried to escape. But just as it attempted to burrow out of Li Huowang’s lower body, a copper coin sword gleaming with cold light descended from above. It nailed down viciously onto its body, which was half-fused with plant ash.
Black smoke rose along with a piercing shriek. The spirit aberration let out a pained wail, but by then, it could do nothing more. Gradually, the sounds grew weaker and weaker.
Once the spirit aberration had completely stopped moving, the invisible Li Huowang finally revealed himself.
To be precise, it was just his upper body. His lower body was still lying on the ground.
When a con artist knows exactly what someone wants, deceiving them becomes all too easy.
Knowing it constantly craved possessing his body, Li Huowang had deliberately severed himself at the waist to use his lower half as bait to lure out the spirit aberration.
Li Huowang slumped on the ground, gasping for breath in huge gulps. Scorched skin, chest torn open, bisected at the waist—the torments had cycled through his body once over, the pain nearly making him pass out. He had endured this far purely on willpower.
“Good thing there’s at least some payoff for the price paid.” Li Huowang turned his head to look at the base of the copper coin sword, where wisps of black smoke were slowly rising. That was the spirit aberration’s corpse.
When Li Huowang touched the drifting black smoke with his charred fingers, he could clearly feel the dark side within him expanding. Killing intent, hatred, and irritability were all intensifying.
Even stranger, when Li Huowang reached for the source of the black smoke, he found he couldn’t touch the spirit aberration with his hand. Beneath the wisps of smoke, there was nothing but empty air.
Yet other things could touch it—even jabbing it twice with a rotten stick let him feel its texture. But flesh alone couldn’t.
“This spirit aberration is truly dangerous and bizarre. No idea why the Surveillance Division is paying such a high price to have someone capture one of these.”
After resting for a bit on the ground, Li Huowang regained some strength. He propped himself up with both hands and shuffled toward his lower body.
Just then, heavy footsteps made Li Huowang’s expression darken. “Someone’s coming? Lingmiao? No! Lingmiao’s footsteps don’t sound like that!”
Turning his head with utmost vigilance toward the chaotic path in the left woods, he saw, following the footsteps, a strangely dressed fat woman stepping out steadily in ritual gang steps.
She wore a red talisman paper bellyband and a small gold crown topped with a red embroidered ball. Her entire head’s flesh was pierced through by burning purple incense sticks, making her look like a hedgehog.
Two small triangular flags painted with red incantations were inserted from the outsides of her ears straight through to her earlobes.
If not for the spiked club wrapped in yellow paper slung over her shoulder, proving she was human, Li Huowang might have mistaken her for another evil being.
The woman raised her spiked club into a stance and pointed fiercely at Li Huowang. “Heh~! Ascend to heaven, descend to earth, roam the realms! Guard winds and clouds as the four cardinal points! Bind demons, capture evils, make it crystal clear!!”
Li Huowang furrowed his brows tightly, staring at the bizarre figure. He reached into his belly and pulled out his identity token, holding it up toward her. “Surveillance Division business! Get lost!”
“Huh?!” Seeing Li Huowang’s token, the fat woman was clearly stunned. She then fished out an identical one from her bellyband. She was Surveillance Division too.
“You’re Surveillance Division too? Doesn’t seem like it, though. Toss your token over! Let me have a look!”
Facing Li Huowang, who was down to half a body and covered in burns, she didn’t dare let her guard down.
Li Huowang tossed the token over directly, then began piecing his lower body back onto his upper.
As he quietly waited for sensation to return to his lower half, the fat woman walked over and placed the token beside him.
“Didn’t expect you to really be Surveillance Division. I thought you were the spirit aberration just now. So, which sect are you from?”
“Ao Jing Sect.”
The fat woman looked Li Huowang up and down, then nodded in agreement. “Mm, I figured as much.”
With that, she began pulling out the incense sticks one by one from her face. “Youngster, look at this mess—nearly had a case of friendly fire, family not recognizing family. Your dismemberment technique is impressive. Where’d you learn it?”
Seeing she harbored no hostility, Li Huowang had no interest in chatting idly. The Surveillance Division wasn’t exactly a loving family anyway.
With the incense removed from her head, her true appearance was revealed. From looks alone, she seemed like an utterly ordinary farm wife.
Even without a reply from Li Huowang, the fat woman asked again: “I came here hunting the spirit aberration. What are you doing here?”
“Hm?” Li Huowang propped himself up and eyed her. “You took that job too? Can two people take the same job?”
“What’s so novel about that? Of course multiple people can take one job. It’s about skill—whoever completes it first claims it.”
“Oh.” Li Huowang laboriously turned over and pressed a hand to his lower body, which now had faint sensation. “Then you’re too late. I killed the spirit aberration.”
“What?! By yourself?” The fat woman’s expression was one of utter shock at the news.
Li Huowang could tell, though she seemed shocked outwardly, the Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings in her heart told a different story. This one was two-faced.
But that was normal. Out in the world, encountering a stranger naturally called for caution. Li Huowang was the same—ever since she appeared, he hadn’t let go of the purple-tasseled sword in his hand.
“Miss, you said it yourself just now—the Division’s jobs go to whoever has the skill and finishes first. Pleasure doing business.”
Li Huowang laboriously curled his leg up, then slowly lowered it. His foot could move now.
“That’s true, but—” The fat woman seemed exceptionally anxious.
Li Huowang ignored her. He struggled up from the ground, used the copper coin sword to skewer the spirit aberration, and slowly headed out of the peach grove.
“Wait!!”
The instant he heard that, Li Huowang whipped around, his longsword thrusting out to hover right at her nose tip.
“What? You wanna rob me now?” Li Huowang’s tone turned instantly hostile.
The fat woman gave an awkward chuckle and slowly backed away several steps, out of his attack range, before explaining: “We’re both Surveillance Division. You think I’d do something like that?”
Li Huowang met this with a cold laugh. He knew his colleagues’ methods all too well.
If he’d shown even a hint of hesitation just now, this woman would’ve likely struck to seize the spirit aberration and claim the reward.
Hundreds of Lifespan Pills weren’t a small sum in this chaotic world. And Surveillance Division jobs only specified delivering the spirit aberration—they didn’t care where it came from.
“Best if not. Then we’ll go our separate ways. You definitely don’t want to test Ao Jing Sect methods.”
With those faintly threatening words, Li Huowang retreated slowly, trophy in hand.
(End of chapter)