Chapter 651
Chapter 651
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 651
>Chapter Title: Wolf Smoke Rises
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“Xuanyin? Why have you come?” Li Huowang stared at the black shadow inside the red robe.
“With the world in chaos these days, we must unite the power of the officialdom and the Supervisory Division of Heaven to weather this crisis. As the Celestial Supervisor, can’t I come to the palace?” Xuanyin’s wide robe fluttered as he drifted closer to the two of them.
Li Huowang sized him up for a moment before turning back to Gao Zhijian. “The Dharma Sect will definitely make a move soon. I’m not at ease, so I came to check on things.”
“How about this—I’ll just stay in the palace from now on and protect you personally.”
Before Gao Zhijian could respond, Xuanyin spoke first. “No.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“We’ve already received your message. Put your mind at ease—a hundred and twenty percent at ease. The emperor’s safety is guarded by the national advisor, the military, and the Supervisory Division of Heaven. You can go now.”
Li Huowang, sitting on the steps, slapped his knees with both hands and stood up, glaring at Xuanyin with a hint of anger in his voice. “What exactly are you worried about? I’m Ji Zai’s heart anchor. Your illusion techniques were all learned from him. Who the hell are you secretly guarding against?!”
From the moment he entered the palace, the national advisor’s scrutiny, and now this sudden visit from the Celestial Supervisor—if Li Huowang still couldn’t see that these people didn’t trust him, then the double pupils in his eyes were wasted.
“If it weren’t for me before, Dice would’ve snatched the dragon vein long ago! If I had any ulterior motives, why would I bother saving it? I could’ve just sat back and watched the show!”
“And now you turn around and guard against me? What the hell do you mean? Aren’t you one of Ji Zai’s people? Didn’t he say he was hunting down the Dharma Sect—excluding you?”
“First of all.” Xuanyin paused before continuing, “I’ve investigated and found that if it weren’t for you, Dice wouldn’t have gotten the dragon vein in the first place. You saved it afterward, so at best, it’s merits and demerits canceling out.”
“Secondly, everything I’ve learned comes from comprehending the Dao of Transformation. I do know someone called Ji Zai—and that person is you.”
Li Huowang nearly laughed. “Xuanyin, are you playing dumb with me, or do you really not understand?”
“Right in front of you, I used cultivation abilities to fabricate the Warden of Bewilderment out of thin air. Don’t tell me you didn’t see it!”
But after he said that, the Celestial Supervisor remained silent. A strange gaze shot out from the black robe, pinning itself onto Li Huowang.
“Hm? What’s going on? Does he really not know? Is he lying to me? Or has the past been altered again?” Li Huowang’s heart jolted as he looked up at the sky.
The Celestial Supervisor slowly drifted backward, as if to leave, but Li Huowang grabbed him. “Wait, wait! I need to confront you about Ji Zai! We have to clear this up!”
The moment Li Huowang spoke, both he and Xuanyin looked up simultaneously toward the sky above the layered palace tiles in the distance.
A flock of birds suddenly burst into flight from the Imperial Garden, circling frantically in the air as if startled.
“Something’s happened.” Li Huowang’s heart sank deeper and deeper. Though he didn’t know exactly what, he instinctively felt as if the entire world had changed.
Xuanyin’s six slender arms emerged from the red robe, and his six fingers pinched their tips as he began divining.
After just a few breaths, Xuanyin lowered his hands, and a low voice emanated from within the robe. “A heavenly disaster.”
“Heavenly disaster?! The sky’s perfectly bright—where’s the heavenly disaster coming from?!”
No sooner had Li Huowang spoken than his pupils contracted. Heavenly disasters weren’t limited to just solar eclipses.
Immediately after, three streaks of black wolf smoke rose rapidly in the eastern sky.
“What does that mean?!” Li Huowang shouted, pointing at the wolf smoke.
“Troops at the gates.”
“Troops from where?!”
Before anyone could answer, three more streaks of black wolf smoke rose from the southwest and north.
“That’s not smoke from outside the city—that’s wolf smoke from inside the city. Someone’s broken in.”
Hearing this, Li Huowang had no time to question Xuanyin further and sprang into action. “I’ll go check it out! You and the national advisor guard Gao Zhijian! Li Sui, let’s go!”
As soon as Li Huowang opened his mouth wide and swallowed Li Sui, two tentacles emerged from his body, swiftly pulling out two sheets of ginger-yellow paper. They quickly drew talismans with their own blood and slapped them directly onto Li Huowang’s knees.
The instant the talismans stuck, Li Huowang’s body blurred with afterimages as he rushed out of the palace like a gust of wind.
Meanwhile, inside the capital, Lv Juren carried his daughter Xiu’er as he walked from the front of the opera house to the inner courtyard, holding a box of pastries wrapped in oil paper.
Just past the second gate, Lv Juren spotted his wife lounging on a recliner, pretending to nap while listening to the opera on the front stage, idly swaying her long fingernails.
Two delicate young maids stood beside her—one kneading his legs, the other massaging her shoulders. Probably no one else in the entire capital lived so luxuriously.
“Juan’er, you should get up and move around. Ever since we came to the capital, you’ve put on weight.”
“What’s wrong with being fat? Fat is good—only the truly wealthy can afford to fatten people up.” Luo Jinhua opened her eyes in dissatisfaction.
When she saw the pastries in Lv Juren’s hand, she asked in surprise, “Juren, what’s that?”
Lv Juren awkwardly dismissed the two maids, then sheepishly placed the pastries on her slightly bulging belly.
Luo Jinhua opened it curiously and found neat stacks of pure white rectangular pastry sticks inside. A delighted smile spread across her face. “Oh! It’s wick cakes!”
She picked up two and popped them into her mouth, savoring the soft, glutinous sweetness.
“So delicious. I haven’t seen these since we left Si Qi. Darling, what made you think to buy these for me specially?”
Lv Juren scratched his head awkwardly. “I didn’t buy them specially. There’s a new pastry shop at the market, and the master there happens to be a refugee from Si Qi. I saw them and grabbed some on the way.”
Luo Jinhua felt not just sweetness in her mouth but in her heart as well. She knew these were hard to find in Da Liang.
Back when they had no money, they couldn’t afford them—except that one time when they got married, and he weighed out six liang.
That was her first taste of such delicious pastries, and she’d eaten all six liang herself. She never imagined this stubborn man had remembered it all these years.
“About... on the road, when you were wronged and said some harsh words—don’t take it to heart.”
Seeing his embarrassed expression, Luo Jinhua saw once more the youth whose face turned red as a monkey’s backside. She covered her mouth and giggled.
“I’m trying to talk seriously with you, and you’re laughing?” Lv Juren couldn’t save face. He set his daughter down on the ground and headed toward the front opera house.