Chapter 777
Chapter 777
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 777
>Chapter Title: Searching
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Seeing the lion dance, Li Huowang thought he had seen it wrong.
But when he saw the dense cluster of human feet under that white cloth, Li Huowang was absolutely certain.
He hadn’t seen wrong.
This was the lion dance from the Lion Dance Palace that he had seen underground in Qingqiu.
Under the altar master’s guidance, those two lion heads rapidly flipped, pounced, leaped, climbed high, and bowed atop the bamboo poles as they followed him.
Li Huowang could understand them performing Nuo rituals.
But he truly hadn’t expected lion dances to participate in the Nuo rituals as well.
Carefully observing the Nuo mask on the altar master’s face and the masks on the lion heads, Li Huowang seemed to notice some faint similarities between them.
Under Li Huowang’s gaze, the altar master’s Nuo ritual came to an end.
Past Nuo rituals would have someone singing the lyrics, but this time, the altar master didn’t sing a single word all the way until the music stopped.
Seeing the lion dance depart and the bamboo poles cleared away, Li Huowang walked over to the altar master.
“What were you doing just now?”
“Receiving an old guest.”
“What does receiving an old guest mean?”
The altar master’s enormous wooden mask turned to look at Li Huowang.
“Something you need?”
Hearing this, Li Huowang couldn’t be bothered asking about these irrelevant matters and directly stated the purpose of his visit.
“How did Xuanyin help the other si ming deal with the Child God back then? I want to know the method.”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Mm, I don’t know.”
The altar master turned to leave, but Li Huowang blocked him once more.
“Are you truly ignorant, or just pretending? Everyone else in the Heavenly Surveillance Division is dead now. You hold the highest status. If even you don’t know, then there’s probably no one left in the division who does.”
“Don’t forget I’m on your side now. I want this method to deal with the Dharma Cult.”
The altar master peered at Li Huowang through that massive mask for a moment.
“Xuanyin doesn’t trust you. He kept it from you, so why would you think he trusts me enough to tell me everything?”
With that, the altar master departed without looking back.
“You don’t know?”
Li Huowang furrowed his brows tightly.
“Why don’t I believe that.”
As the tentacles within Li Huowang’s body bulged his red Daoist robe, the collar swiftly rose and swallowed him into pitch blackness.
Moments later, Xuanyin’s form appeared in the same spot.
When Li Huowang’s hand extended from the billowing Daoist robe, it had become Xuanyin’s withered palm with its long nails.
With a light stretch, Xuanyin’s signature illusion—Shangguan Yuting—appeared at Li Huowang’s side.
She smiled and waved at him.
Now that his cultivation art was complete, Li Huowang could employ any of Xuanyin’s illusion techniques at will.
The only difference was that Xuanyin’s were false, while his were real.
Since Xuanyin had done it—and such a monumental thing at that—he couldn’t possibly have left no traces.
He must have left something behind within the Heavenly Surveillance Division.
If the other party wouldn’t tell him, he’d find it himself.
The other’s status was Supervisor of Heaven.
His current status was also Supervisor of Heaven.
As long as he stayed within the Heavenly Surveillance Division, his status was the highest.
No one could stop him.
“Let’s check Xuanyin’s residence first.”
Li Huowang’s body floated upward, carrying Shangguan Yuting along as he passed straight through the ceiling and left the place.
Soon, Li Huowang arrived at Xuanyin’s residence.
Posing as Xuanyin, no one obstructed his path to his own quarters—and along the way, he even earned quite a bit of feigang.
What surprised Li Huowang was that Xuanyin’s residence wasn’t large.
It was even somewhat cramped for his towering frame.
Aside from the books on the four walls of bookshelves, there was only a desk laid out with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
Not even a bed.
Everything was in utter disarray, though it was unclear whether Xuanyin had arranged it that way intentionally or simply hadn’t had time to tidy.
“Does this guy not need to sleep?”
Li Huowang walked up to the desk and examined the items piled atop it.
To Li Huowang’s disappointment, what lay there were merely scattered star charts, utterly devoid of a single character.
He couldn’t make sense of them at all.
“Could it be... in these books?”
Li Huowang eyed the volumes stacked to the ceiling all around.
“Aren’t all his divine abilities from Ji Zai? Why bother with these things?”
Li Huowang flipped open a book at random and spotted an ink-drawn formation slowly shifting within its pages.
“Amitabha. Amitabha.”
Li Huowang turned his head and saw the monk clasping his hands repeatedly toward the bookshelf, chanting away.
“Xuanyin probably died in White Jade Capital. He’ll never be reborn. No need to perform rites for him.”
Li Huowang slammed the formation book shut.
“Daoist, I’m not performing rites. I’m worshiping the Buddha Ancestor.”
“Buddha Ancestor? Here?”
When Li Huowang stepped up beside the monk, he spotted a reclining Buddha statue inside the bookshelf.
Li Huowang took it out and weighed it in his palm, frowning slightly.
He seemed to recall seeing this thing once before, inside Zhengde Temple.
“Everyone, help me search. See if there’s anything else.”
At Li Huowang’s words, his other hallucinations scattered through the room to look.
Many hands make light work, and new discoveries came quickly.
“Daoist, here’s a lama’s copper prayer wheel.”
“Here’s a cow-nose’s talisman.”
Peng Longteng spoke up.
More and more items were uncovered.
When a hemp robe of the Sitting Oblivion Dao turned up, Li Huowang immediately seized on the crucial point.
These objects all seemed connected to other sects—and those sects matched exactly with the si ming that the altar master had said Xuanyin helped deal with.
As these items were laid out, inspiration struck Li Huowang like lightning.
“I should have thought of it sooner!”
Clearly, Xuanyin hadn’t simply gone straight to White Jade Capital, professed his desire to help the si ming, and gotten to it.
He must have first made contact with the si ming through these sects, hashed out the details thoroughly with them, and only then committed.
People from these sects had surely been in touch with Xuanyin regarding this very matter.
Perhaps they had even been present, watching as he made his plans!
Li Huowang promptly set down the items in his hands and headed outside.
He glanced at the spinning light mirror nearby.
The other sects were either too distant or utterly destroyed.
At present, within Siqui territory, the nearest was Zhengde Temple.
“Go!”
Peng Longteng seized Li Huowang and hurled him eastward with force, toward Zhengde Temple.
Soaring and plummeting rapidly through the air, Li Huowang finally reached Zhengde Temple before sunset.
He had been here once before, but his frame of mind was utterly different now.
What had changed—aside from Zhengde Temple’s couplets and plaque—was its booming incense.
The moment Li Huowang arrived at the temple gate, a welcoming monk noticed him.
“Amitabha, Benefactor Li. Please, follow me.”
Li Huowang followed him through the throng of pilgrims, entering via the side door.
Whether it was the same route as last time, Li Huowang had forgotten.
Yet in the end, he once more stood before those five colossal Buddha statues—and there beheld the abbot of Zhengde Temple.
Two.
(End of chapter)