Chapter 511
Chapter 511
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 511
>Chapter Title: Alive
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The yellow-robed Taoist, eyes filled with fear, glanced once more at Lv Xiucai kneeling on the ground. A flicker of hesitation stirred in his heart—was this kid really tricking him?
In the end, though, he didn’t dare risk it. He pinched the Diamond Mudra with both hands, chanted the incantation, and passed straight through the wall, vanishing into the courtyard.
With the Taoist gone, the evil spirit he kept naturally wouldn’t stick around. The empty black robe drifted down from the air and hurriedly followed after him.
Gouwa didn’t snap out of it until quite a while later. He realized he had truly escaped death at that Taoist’s hands!
His face full of disbelief, Gouwa clutched his hand and walked up to Lv Xiucai, who was still dumbfounded. He kicked him hard. “Hey! What the hell did you just do? How’d you scare him off?”
Lv Xiucai came back to his senses belatedly. He stared blankly at the white lotus canvas on the ground and murmured to himself, “I... I don’t know either.”
“How could you not know? You must’ve done something to make his sword explode like that.”
“Sword?” That word jolted Lv Xiucai fully awake. He dropped to the ground at once, groping around in the pitch darkness for those copper coins.
“You gutless coward, get the hell away from those! They’re mine! Screw your mom, you actually ran off just now! Ptoo!”
“Were your eyes blind or what? Didn’t you see me strategizing from afar?” Gouwa bent down, wiped the decayed ruyi off the ground, and tucked it into his bosom.
“Bullshit! You learned some fancy phrase and now you’re showing off? What do you even know about ‘strategizing from afar’? You’re just a coward afraid of dying!”
“So what if I’m afraid of dying? Who cares what you say—I can’t leave my daughter fatherless! Hiss~ Damn it, my hand!”
Amid their bickering, Lv Xiucai had gathered up most of the copper coins on the ground. Just as he was on all fours, ass in the air, searching for any he’d missed, footsteps sounded from the front courtyard.
“Hurry, hurry, hide! Don’t let them think it was us!” The two quickly ducked behind the fake mountain in the night shadows.
“Dad! Dad! What happened to you?!” Hearing the footsteps heading into the house, the pair sneaked back the way they’d come.
They were terrified the whole way back, but luckily it was late and quiet. They ran into no one and safely returned to the Lv Family Troupe.
The troupe, exhausted after a full day’s work, hadn’t even removed their makeup. They sat around the main table the hosts had left out and dug in.
Seeing the pair in such a sorry state, everyone looked at them in surprise.
“Did you two go into the woods and fight a blind bear?” Luo Jinhua asked, her mouth stuffed full.
Before Lv Xiucai and Gouwa could catch their breath to explain, the noise from the Zhang family compound started up again.
Lv Zhuangyuan, gnawing on a chicken head, perked up his ear. His face broke into a huge grin.
He sucked the greasy fingers clean, wiped them hard on his pants. “Hey! Double blessings! More work’s come in!!”
———————
The capital was as prosperous as ever, with long lines even to enter the gates.
Li Huowang, riding in the carriage, looked up at the imposing city gate tower.
When he’d left before, he’d thought he’d never return to the capital in his lifetime. Yet here he was, back so soon.
“Show your travel permits!! What business in the capital? Everyone off for inspection!” The gate guards barked arrogantly at Li Huowang.
When Li Huowang flashed his Celestial Surveillance Division badge, the guards all snapped to attention, necks shrinking back. “Welcome, sir!”
Li Huowang didn’t even glance at them as he led the carriage toward the imperial city at the capital’s heart.
“Dad, why is Big Mom gone too? Was Big Mom really kidnapped by that bad guy? But he was nice—he helped you up and healed your wounds.”
“Li Sui, remember this: no matter what anyone else says in the future, you must believe me. If I clash with someone, what I say is definitely the truth. Got it?”
“Mm, I got it. Dad, I’ll definitely help you kill that bad guy and save Big Mom.”
“Be good and listen to me, and I’ll bring Big Mom back.”
“And Second Mom too.”
“...”
The carriage rolled slowly along the broad streets, unhurriedly arriving at the imperial city gates.
Just as Li Huowang cleared his throat, ready to say something to the imperial guards, the heavy gates creaked open with a deep rumble.
The moment the gates parted, Li Huowang felt all sorts of gazes shooting toward him from behind.
“Looks like I haven’t even entered the palace, and I’m already stamped with Ji Lin’s faction.”
Li Huowang scoffed self-mockingly and flicked the reins, driving the carriage into the imperial city.
In the vast, grand palace, palace maids, eunuchs, and guards went about their duties as if they hadn’t noticed this brazen carriage at all.
When the wheels reached the white jade steps, Li Huowang dismounted and climbed step by step toward the majestic hall above.
After finally reaching the top, the grim-faced Li Huowang slipped a hand into his robe and touched the faintly aching scar.
By rights, his body healed astonishingly fast—even guts spilling out would knit back together quickly. But now, things had changed.
It still healed, but the scars stayed put, refusing to fade.
This had never happened before. It started after his last failed attempt to ascend the dice.
It seemed connected to Ba Hui, but for Li Huowang now, shaking off the dice’s threat was far more pressing.
If it just meant scars, then fine—so long as he could kill Dice and get Miao Miao back, he didn’t care how many scars he ended up with.
“Announcing, Celestial Surveillance Division, Geng Squadron, Ear Nine~”
“Announcing, Celestial Surveillance Division, Geng Squadron, Ear Nine~!”
“Announcing, Celestial Surveillance Division, Geng Squadron, Ear Nine~!!”
Hearing the eunuchs’ drawn-out announcements growing nearer, Li Huowang withdrew his hand from his robe and strode forward.
The hall was enormous, clearly the place for morning court, but to Li Huowang’s surprise, it was dimly lit.
The pure-gold dragon throne lurked half in shadow, and atop it, all he could see of the Great Liang Emperor was a pair of feet.
“Ear Nine, you’ve come to your senses? Good! Hahaha!!”
“Better to send charcoal in the snow than flowers in fine weather! For you to return and aid me in my hour of peril— I won’t forget it!”
Li Huowang’s brows gradually furrowed. It was Ji Lin’s voice, no doubt, but the tone, the emotion in it... they felt off.
He took a step forward. A sharp eunuch’s rebuke pierced the darkness. “Insolent! Why do you not kneel before His Majesty?!”
“Tch! No need for all that etiquette! Ear Nine is exempt from kneeling from now on!”
Li Huowang advanced another step at those words, then yet another.
When he was close enough, he saw Ji Lin’s face behind the pearl curtain—utterly unlike the man he remembered.
(End of chapter)