Chapter 544
Chapter 544
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 544
>Chapter Title: Reviving the Deadlock
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Chapter 544: Reviving the Deadlock
As soon as Li Huowang said this, the expressions of those surrounding him varied wildly.
They were indeed willing to help Senior Jiuxiang deal with this guy who had snatched it, but that didn’t mean they wanted to get involved in the messy business of seizing the throne.
“You!” Buddha Jade Furnace was so furious she nearly spat blood, but she couldn’t make a move. The Supervising Heaven Bureau tabooed getting entangled with the imperial court the most.
It wasn’t that getting involved would lead to any specific punishment, but once you did, your future in the Bureau would be utterly bleak. It was a real hassle.
The other side was still hurling threats, but once Li Huowang realized they truly dreaded this connection, the initiative shifted back into his hands.
Half a double-hour later, their encirclement of him dispersed.
“Kid! Don’t think you can run! I’ll be watching you like a hawk! The day the new emperor ascends the throne will be the day you die!”
The woman spun on her heel right then, storming off in rage with the others in tow.
Just as Hong Da nearby prepared to leave as well, Li Huowang blocked him directly.
“Brother Hong, it’s been so long—how can you just go like that? Let me play host. Come on, let’s have a proper drink!”
Li Huowang knew that forcing her to back off temporarily wasn’t hard, but if he wanted to resolve this trouble completely, it wasn’t enough.
One incense stick later, inside the Heavenly Character Room Number One at Yangquan Tavern, Li Huowang picked up his wine cup and filled it to the brim as he eyed the exquisite dishes before the silent Hong Da.
“Come on, here’s three cups to you, Brother Hong.”
When the wine cup was brought before him, Li Huowang stared dead at the fiery liquor inside, silently chanting over and over: “This is water! This is water!”
After downing three cups, the chuckling Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks and clamped some vegetables to settle his stomach.
“Brother Hong, don’t just sit there—eat up! No need to stand on ceremony with me. Back then, if not for your introduction, I wouldn’t have even gotten into the Supervising Heaven Bureau.”
Hong Da let out a light sigh. He wasn’t a fool. For this guy to invite him to drink out of the blue like this—it put him in the toughest spot, caught in the middle. He wanted both sides to bury the hatchet too.
“Fine, I’ll give you face and play peacemaker. Who asked us to know each other? Return the Taixu Sword to her, I’ll put in a few good words for you, and we’ll call it even.”
“Return it to her?” Li Huowang touched the spine sword on the stool beside him and shook his head immediately.
How could he possibly return such a useful weapon? Besides, he couldn’t tolerate letting anyone else desecrate Zhuge Yuan’s corpse.
“Trouble Brother Hong to pass a message to that lady. We’re all fellow members of the Supervising Heaven Bureau—I don’t want to make this too ugly. The sword’s not going back, but I can trade it for something of equal value.”
Seeing Li Huowang say this, Hong Da’s brows furrowed as he set down his chopsticks.
“How do you plan to trade? That Taixu Sword was forged from a heart fixation! Do you know how much it’s worth in the inner vault? Even Buddha Jade Furnace only borrowed it at first!”
“If you keep this up, don’t blame me for not honoring our old ties. The Bureau knows the whole story—flee to the ends of the earth, and you still won’t escape!”
Li Huowang lifted his wine cup again, placing it between himself and Hong Da.
“A ritual tool forged from a heart fixation? Then what if I trade with a heart elemental?”
“A heart elemental?” Hong Da’s body leaned back slightly. After a few breaths, his expression calmed, and he downed a cup of wine, feigning casualness as he asked: “A whole heart elemental? Live or dead?”
Hearing him ask this, Li Huowang’s heart settled. He knew he had finally revived this deadlock.
“Heh, come on, eat some dishes first. They’ll get cold if you don’t.” No need to rush a sale. Now that Hong Da had bitten, Li Huowang wasn’t in a hurry anymore.
After toasting and probing each other over drinks at the table, Hong Da finally agreed to go back and ask.
After all, this was the grudge between Li Huowang and Buddha Jade Furnace—he was just the middleman and couldn’t decide anything.
But from Hong Da’s attitude, Li Huowang figured it wouldn’t be a problem. If push came to shove, he’d just throw in another heart elemental.
With business done, the two started chatting idly.
Their relationship wasn’t particularly close—just colleagues who’d worked together—but under the liquor’s influence, they soon started slapping each other’s backs.
“Er Jiu, how’d you end up tangled with the royals? Couldn’t you have come to me first to ask around? Let me tell you, that path’s a rough one. If it were easy, would it have been your turn?”
“Not to mention it’s like accompanying a tiger—today he’s emperor, tomorrow he might not be. No matter how sweet the promises, they’re all hot air. Better to stick with the Bureau’s stability. You’ve chosen a dead end.”
Li Huowang smiled without replying. How could Hong Da know he’d been forced into it by that dice? If not for the coercion, he’d never have come to the capital in his life.
“The bets are placed and hands are off the table. Don’t worry about me, Brother Hong—tell me about you. How’ve you been?”
“Heh, how else? One mess after another. The Dharma Cult’s rising up everywhere every day—drives me nuts. Good thing the pay’s decent. These past months running east and west, if not for you, I might still be chasing the Dharma Cult’s tails out there right now.”
“The Dharma Cult’s spread this bad in Da Liang now? The Bureau’s still handling it okay?” Li Huowang glanced at the ever-munching Qiu Chipsfull beside him and asked with some concern.
Hong Da used his ivory chopsticks to pick up a tender chicken fir mushroom and pop it in his mouth, slurring drunkenly: “Managing, barely. After all, the Si Qi Supervising Heaven Bureau’s been merged into ours in Da Liang now. Short-staffed compared to before.”
“How’d the Si Qi Supervising Heaven Bureau suddenly merge into Da Liang’s?” Li Huowang was shocked by this news.
“Heh, Brother Er, you haven’t heard? Si Qi’s gone—country’s fallen.”
Li Huowang’s buzz vanished instantly. He’d come from Si Qi, after all. Small country or not, its sudden fall was too abrupt.
Li Huowang recalled the nun he’d met in Si Qi, and Zhengde Temple, blurting out: “How’d a perfectly fine country just collapse like that?”
“Perfectly fine? Wars have been raging for ages. Da Liang’s the only stable one—everywhere else is beating their brains out. It’s just far off, so we don’t feel it here.”
“Why wouldn’t the new regime keep the Supervising Heaven Bureau? Isn’t it true that any court, no matter who’s in power, needs the Supervising Heaven Bureau?”
The Supervising Heaven Bureau handled celestial disasters. Unless someone was brain-dead, no ruler would touch it.
Without anyone managing disasters, even the sturdiest dynasty was no better than paper.
Hong Da shook his head and took a sip from his cup.
“No idea there. If I knew that, I’d be the Supervisor of the Heavens myself. Anyway, these years have been rough all around—nothing but wars.”
For some reason, upon learning Si Qi had fallen and the new court hadn’t set up a Supervising Heaven Bureau, Li Huowang felt an inexplicable unease. It didn’t seem like a good omen.
Glancing once more at Qiu Chipsfull beside him, endlessly gnawing on chicken, Li Huowang thought to himself: “Is there a connection? Please don’t let everything from Da Qi replay here...”