Chapter 548
Chapter 548
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 548
>Chapter Title: The Sitianjian
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Surrounded on all sides, Li Huowang saw that they simply didn’t believe a word he said. He cut straight to the point.
“Let me speak to Lord Sitianjian! As long as he sees my reflection, he’ll know whether I’m spouting nonsense!”
Just as the whip-wielding man pointed his index finger sternly at Li Huowang, about to say something more, his expression suddenly changed.
After a moment’s hesitation, he decisively stepped two paces to the left, and the encirclement parted to form a path.
“There’s a chance!”
Li Huowang’s spirits lifted instantly. How could he not realize that the Sitianjian had overheard his words just now?
He immediately rallied himself, clenched his fists, and strode inward along the path.
After passing through a small grove, Li Huowang soon spotted the massive carriage parked by the stream. The fine horses pulling it were lowering their heads to graze and drink.
“I’ve come to pay my respects to Lord Sitianjian!” Li Huowang bowed toward the carriage. The sedan curtain lifted, and the Sitianjian, whom he had glimpsed from afar once before, appeared before him once more.
He’d only seen him from a distance previously, but now up close, Li Huowang finally got a clear look at the highest authority of the Surveillance Bureau.
Li Huowang could see that this Lord Sitianjian was clearly taller than an ordinary person—not just taller, but broader too, like a man enlarged by one size.
Such a towering frame was draped in a vast red Daoist robe that obscured his figure entirely, lending him an air of profound mystery.
From afar before, Li Huowang had thought the red Daoist robe was a single color, but now looking closely, he realized that amid the red, there were faint dark red characters flowing subtly.
Li Huowang’s eyesight was sharp; he could clearly make out the strokes of those characters, yet he couldn’t comprehend what language they were.
They were even stranger than Nüshu script—each stroke forming its own system, like writing that bordered on pictograms.
“.”
After a quick glance, Li Huowang dared not look any longer. It felt as if one more look would suck his very soul into those characters.
Steadying his mind slightly, Li Huowang stared at the dry grass on the ground and hurriedly got to the main point.
“To report to Lord Sitianjian: I have a way to locate that Dice hiding in secrecy! Dice is full of tricks, beyond my meager abilities to handle. For the sake of the world’s people, I beseech Lord Sitianjian to slay this fiend!”
The Sitianjian’s voice carried a heavy echo, unique and indeterminate in age or gender. But at this moment, Li Huowang had no time to dwell on the peculiarity of that voice; his mind was wholly focused on how to answer his questions.
“No need for more words. I’ve already heard of it. I only want to ask you: how did you learn of the Supreme Gullet? And how did you find it?”
If he said outright that it was Zhuge Yuan’s hallucination that told him, forget whether this man would believe it—his own status as heart elemental would be directly exposed.
“By sheer coincidence, I stumbled upon it by chance.” Li Huowang began to explain.
“Sheer coincidence? Heh, today’s young ones can’t even lie properly anymore?” As soon as he said this, Li Huowang felt several gazes land on him, most focusing on the spinebone sword behind his back.
Hearing this, Li Huowang grew anxious. “My lord, why dwell on such a minor detail? I truly have a way to find Dice!”
“You seem awfully eager. Why?”
“Lord Sitianjian!” Li Huowang’s voice suddenly rose in pitch, his emotions flaring. “That day, those Sitting Oblivion Daoists humiliated us so, treating the Surveillance Bureau as nothing!! As a member of the Surveillance Bureau, I simply can’t stomach it!”
“And because of them, the people of the capital suffered heavy casualties! Now that there’s a chance to bring Dice to justice, how can I not be burning with impatience!”
“So, you wish to use me?”
The Sitianjian’s words chilled Li Huowang’s heart. The man’s wariness toward him was too high. He might as well tell the truth. “I wouldn’t dare use you, my lord. I simply believe that on this matter of great righteousness—killing Dice—you and I are of one mind.”
“Honest enough. Very well, I do indeed wish to slay Dice.”
Li Huowang’s heart had just settled when a “but” from the Sitianjian’s lips made it leap up again.
“But I have other matters to attend to now and can’t free myself up yet. It’ll take some time.”
“We still have to wait?” Li Huowang instinctively looked up again at the Sitianjian in the carriage, staring into the darkness at the head of the robe. “Lord Sitianjian! At a time like this, what could possibly be more important than killing Dice?”
The strange attire on the Surveillance Bureau head quivered slightly, as if shaking his head. “You wouldn’t understand. There are many things in this world more important than him.”
“Enough. You wouldn’t get it anyway. You needn’t idle during this time. Use it to ‘coincidentally’ find the Supreme Gullet again and obtain some secrets of the Supreme Gullet for me.”
Though Li Huowang very much wanted to refuse, in his current situation, agreeing meant that the Sitianjian had at least consented to help him against Dice. If it was just a matter of waiting a while, that was acceptable—at least far better than the scenarios he’d imagined.
Li Huowang didn’t know what other intentions he might have. Right now, all he wanted was Dice’s life.
“Rest assured. When you return with the secrets of the Supreme Gullet, I should have freed myself up by then to deal with Dice.”
“Lord Sitianjian, I can help you find the Supreme Gullet, but it’s a secret for a secret. Do you have enough secrets to exchange with the Supreme Gullet?”
“Rest assured, what I know will always surpass what you do. Withdraw. It’s time for you to wake.”
“Wait, Lord Sitianjian, how will you give me those secrets? What do you mean... wake?”
Just as Li Huowang pieced together the meaning of his final words, everything around him—the trees, the stream, the massive carriage—dissipated like smoke and clouds.
The surroundings had changed. Not far to his left, people were still queuing up—that was the capital’s city gate.
Li Huowang stood frozen in place, utterly dazed, with no idea what had just happened. It had all been like a dream.
“Exhausting numbers to reach transformation, shifting with form—arising and perishing in tandem: this is change, this is illusion. A fitting display from Great Liang’s Sitianjian. Truly formidable illusion arts.” Zhuge Yuan gazed at the deep carriage tracks on the ground, a rare look of admiration on his face.
“Illusion arts?” Li Huowang mulled over the new term from Zhuge Yuan’s mouth. So everything he’d experienced after leaving the city gate had been an illusion—all of it fake.
Realizing this, a chill settled in Li Huowang’s heart. He’d fallen for it without realizing. If the man had harbored ill intent just now, he wouldn’t have had the slightest chance to resist.
He hadn’t been at that previous great battle, but now he truly felt the terrifying power of the Surveillance Bureau’s highest authority.
“Brother Li, don’t panic. Since he promised you within the illusion realm, he shouldn’t go back on his word lightly.”
Hearing this, Li Huowang nodded to himself. “Indeed. Since this Sitianjian is on our side, the more powerful, the better.”
With that thought, Li Huowang drew his spinebone sword and addressed a slender young woman with a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth beside him. “Let’s not delay. Head to Great Qi and search for the Supreme Gullet again.”
“Mm.” The woman smiled sweetly in agreement.