Chapter 543
Chapter 543
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 543
>Chapter Title: Paying a Visit
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His entire body was soaked in the icy, bone-chilling pool water, yet Li Huowang's heart felt even colder. He was in extreme danger at that moment.
The fan recorded the secrets of the Si Mings. Simply looking at it posed a danger.
When Li Huowang realized that the white object before him was Zhuge Yuan's folding fan, he immediately shut his eyes. Yet his eyes still caught a glimpse of the first line of characters on the fan, dissolving into the water.
“Great Si Ming, nowhere to advance nor retreat. When the Si Ming bares himself, following suit is the same.”
“Great Si Ming? What’s that? No, forget it! Forget it quick!!” Li Huowang clenched his fists, screaming frantically in his mind.
One long needle after another was pulled from the torture kit and jammed into the gaps beneath his fingernails. The saying went that the fingers were connected to the heart— the sharp pain made him forget everything else.
He struggled to climb out of the water again, sprawling in the cave and gasping for breath in panic.
Taking a deep breath, Li Huowang looked up at Zhuge Yuan beside him and said,
“Brother Zhuge, I saw a line of words on the fan just now.”
Zhuge Yuan's eyes widened. “Really?!” But he quickly followed up with a puzzled expression.
“That shouldn’t be possible. If you truly saw it, your body would bear their karma. But why do you show no changes at all?”
“No changes?” Hope ignited in Li Huowang's heart.
“Maybe... maybe it’s because I can’t fully understand it? You wrote it in such flowery classical style—I don’t get it.”
Hearing this, the gravity on Zhuge Yuan's face vanished. He let out a huge sigh of relief and chuckled easily.
“No harm done, no harm done. This humble scholar was just about to advise Brother Li to read more of the sages’ classics. Who’d have thought this... this... ahem, would actually help you out. Not understanding it means no karma attaches.”
Hearing this, the tension in Li Huowang's chest finally eased. He felt fortunate that he didn’t grasp classical Chinese.
But after the relief passed, Li Huowang recalled those opening three characters: Great Si Ming. Even if he couldn’t read the rest, he knew that was a name—or a title.
“Great Si Ming? Si Ming? With a ‘Great’ in front, does that mean this Great Si Ming outranks ones like Ba Hui?”
“If even regular Si Mings are this formidable, what kind of existence is a Great Si Ming?” Li Huowang racked his brain trying to picture it, but came up empty. Truth be told, with his senses still unfused, he couldn’t even visualize Ba Hui anymore—let alone some Great Si Ming.
Inexplicably, Li Huowang felt he had unwittingly learned something tremendous.
“Great Si Ming, nowhere to advance nor retreat?” Just as he started pondering the next phrase, alarm bells rang in his mind.
“Can’t think it! I barely escaped this calamity—don’t go crashing right back into it!”
Li Huowang immediately dug his nails into the long needle embedded under his fingernail and yanked it out hard. The searing pain instantly diverted his attention.
Gritting his teeth through the agony, Li Huowang said to Zhuge Yuan,
“Looks like for the rest of my life, I’d best steer clear of any knowledge of classical Chinese.”
“Brother Li, what is ‘classical Chinese’?”
Li Huowang shook his head, offering no further explanation, and plunged back into the water with Li Sui.
The same mistake wouldn’t happen twice. Once he confirmed the fan was completely gone, Li Huowang swam toward the surface.
After much effort climbing out of that sinkhole, Li Huowang prepared to raise his spinebone sword and return to Daliang.
“Daddy, quick, look—what’s that?”
Hearing Li Sui's question, Li Huowang turned his head toward where she was pointing. Far in the distant horizon, three plumes of black smoke slowly rose.
Li Huowang had no idea what they were, but Qiu Chibao, clutching her child tightly beside him, did. Terror filled her eyes as she said,
“That’s wolf smoke. War’s coming again. Don’t go, head of the house. War means death. I’m scared.”
Li Huowang glanced once more at the deranged Qiu Chibao but said nothing. He hefted the spinebone sword and swung hard.
By the time the dust-covered Li Huowang returned to the capital, several days had passed.
Though the journey had been exhausting, he felt it was worth it. Compared to his former self, helpless as fish on a chopping block, he now held a card to counter the dice.
Just as Li Huowang's hand touched his courtyard gate, he found it ajar. His heart sank.
“Burglars?”
With a creak, Li Huowang pushed open the gate, led his horse inside, and saw an unexpected figure seated in the main hall, waiting for him: Hong Da the Credit Knifeman.
Li Huowang's expression darkened as his hand gripped the spinebone sword on his back. Hong Da's uninvited appearance in his home—what it meant was obvious without a second thought.
He'd hidden so carefully, yet they'd still found him.
Li Huowang knew he couldn’t fight here. Starting trouble in the capital would mean a complete break with the Bureau of Monitoring Heavens.
“No, this is different from before. I don’t have any unrepayable debt with them. There’s still a chance.”
After a quick mental calculation, an idea sprang to mind. Li Huowang plastered on a smile, cupped his hands, and approached.
“Oh? Brother Hong! Haven’t seen you since that day—I've missed you. I thought you’d left Daliang long ago.”
“The Bureau of Monitoring Heavens has some business with you.” Hong Da stood and returned the courtesy.
Li Huowang's eyes widened slightly in feigned shock.
“Surely it’s about Prince Ren? Did he escape even with the Bureau's intervention?”
Hong Da gave a wry shake of his head.
“No, Prince Ren is long dead. It’s about you stealing the Taixu Sword from the Buddha Jade Furnace.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the room darkened. Those people from before blocked the rear gate behind Li Huowang. Thimble-sized Buddhas crawled out from every crack around the hall, surrounding him completely.
The previous owner of the spinebone sword—that woman—glared venomously at Li Huowang, pointing at him with her black-nailed finger.
“You thieving cur! You dared deceive us with an illusion! I’ve checked—it’s impossible, not even for the Warden of the Celestial Bureaucracy, to revive a xinpan!”
Seeing even Hong Da reveal the array of long sabers beneath his robes, Li Huowang showed no panic. Instead, he aggressively demanded,
“Cut the excuses. I’m working for His Highness right now. Moving against me at this time... are you acting on someone else’s orders to weaken his faction?”
“Don’t you dare slander us! You stole my weapon without cause—now you think you’re in the right?!” The woman was practically exploding with rage. Who could be this shameless?
Li Huowang glanced left, pulled over a long bench, and sat down squarely, feigning utmost calm as he said,
“I don’t know about any slander. All I know is, killing me would benefit the other contenders for the throne far more. Tell me—who gave you your orders?”