Healing

Chapter 55: Healing

“Come, come, take a look, take a look. Does this stuff meet with your approval, Daoist?” Zhu Dexi said, pointing at the items on the ground.

A pile of miscellaneous junk was spread out before Li Huowang’s eyes. Most of it was rusted swords and knives, and next to them were a few bottles and jars.

“What is all this? It’s all rusted. Scrap metal,” Gouwa said, squatting down and immediately starting to haggle.

“Don’t let the rust fool you. They’ll still work after a good sharpening. If I had any divine weapons, they wouldn’t have ended up with me, now would they?”

Li Huowang wasn’t paying attention to the blades. His focus was on the bottles and jars.

He crouched down, picking them up one by one to examine them, and noticed there was no writing on any of them.

“This Daoist has a good eye. Spots the real treasures right away.”

Zhu Dexi crouched beside him, but the smell of blood on Li Huowang’s clothes hit him so hard he had to shift back two steps.

Still, he wasn't scared. If anything, he grew even more eager.

“Daoist, what you’ve got there is the good stuff. This poison is called Half-Step Down. Just put a tiny bit in someone’s drink, and they’ll collapse before they take half a step. Cheap, only three taels a bottle.”

“Eh! Good eye! This bottle here is a treasure too! It’s Red-Crowned Crane Top. Just a fingernail’s worth will send a man straight to the underworld. Five taels a bottle.”

“Right, right, right! And this, this is an even bigger treasure!! One pill down the hatch, and I guarantee you can handle two women all night long. This was ordered by Second Master Liu of Wolf Head Mountain, but if you want it, I’ll let you have it first. Of course, you'll have to pay extra.”

Li Huowang stood up, annoyed. “Everything in your mouth is a treasure. Fine, I’ll take the first two. Gouwa, get the money from the cart.”

“Truly generous, Daoist!” Zhu Dexi’s smile was so wide his eyes disappeared into crescents. “You sure you don’t want this one? I’ll give you a discount. You might not need it now, but you might when you’re older. You can never have too many good things like this—it’s for continuing the family line, after all.”

Li Huowang ignored him and turned to the others. “All of you, pick a weapon that suits you. Something is better than nothing.”

Hearing this, the men, who had been itching to do so, stepped forward, leaving only Bai Lingmiao and Xiaoman, the two women.

Li Huowang tucked the two bottles into his robe and said to Lü Zhuangyuan, who was watching the commotion, “Troupe Leader Lü, aren’t you going to buy something for self-defense?”

Lü Zhuangyuan quickly shook his head. “No point. If I don’t carry anything, and we get caught by bandits, the worst I lose is silver. But if I’m carrying a weapon and we can’t fight them off, then it’s my life I lose.”

“Heh. Well thought out, Troupe Leader Lü. To each their own.” Li Huowang went back to the donkey cart and lay down.

By the time the crowd dispersed, Gouwa and the others were each holding a weapon. Whether they knew how to use them or not, they at least looked several times more intimidating than before.

As they were excitedly brandishing their blades and sparring, Bai Lingmiao approached, holding a thimble and a thread.

With a worried expression, she picked up a red thread and began stitching up some of the tears in Li Huowang’s Daoist robe.

“Senior Brother Li, when you add up all that junk, it’s cost us over half our silver. Now we only have five taels left.”

“We’re going to be on the road for a long time. Some self-defense gear is necessary,” Li Huowang said.

It looked like he had his Daoist bell and could blood-sacrifice to summon Danyangzi, so he wouldn’t need such mundane things at all.

But to be honest, Li Huowang didn’t trust himself.

He was truly afraid that one day, when the stabilizing effect of the Black Tai Sui wore off, he would fall back into his hallucinations, unable to climb out.

If that happened, with no one around to protect him, he would be a lamb for the slaughter.

“Senior Brother Li, these swords and knives are only good for dealing with bandits. If we could learn even a little of Danyangzi’s divine powers, we’d have nothing to fear,” Gouwa said, hefting his blade as he walked over, a hint of regret in his voice.

“You want to learn? Do you think anyone would just teach you? And besides...”

He paused, recalling Danyangzi using humans for alchemy and those bizarre “cultivation” methods of the Zhengde monks. “And besides, even if they were willing to teach you, these powers aren’t something an ordinary person would dare to practice.”

He hadn't experienced much, but Li Huowang had a feeling that the other sects in this world weren't much better than Danyangzi.

Gouwa laughed dryly, then nudged the one-armed man beside him with his elbow, leading him toward a nearby stream. “Come on, let’s find a rough stone in the water to sharpen our blades.”

Just then, the tall Fool stepped forward, blocking the sun like a wall. “I... I... I...”

“Stop your ‘I’s. You’re no good with blades. Stick to practicing with your club. That thing lets you use your strength best.” After saying this, Li Huowang lay back down.

And so, this little detour with the peddler ended. The two groups continued their journey.

Days passed. Aside from occasionally passing small villages where they asked Lü’s troupe to put on a performance, they were constantly on the move.

Li Huowang’s neck slowly healed.

Standing by a water vat, he tilted his chin up, looking at the scar on his neck reflected on the water’s surface.

“Not bad. If I keep my head down, it’s not that noticeable.”

He turned to Bai Lingmiao and rubbed her clean, white head. “Why the long face? Hasn’t nothing bad happened lately?”

“Senior Brother Li, with what people eat and the donkey’s feed, we just restocked on grain and fodder. Now we only have one tael, three hundred and forty-five copper coins left,” Bai Lingmiao said, counting on her fingers.

“That fast? That shouldn’t be right.” Li Huowang walked out of the temporary farmhouse they were staying in, heading toward Lü’s troupe’s stage.

“It would have lasted longer, but you had them practicing with their sabers and spears. Everyone’s exhausted, so they eat more. That Fool, ever since he got his wooden club, eats a whole two jin of noodles a meal! Two meals a day, that’s four jin!”

“But it’s not a piece of firewood. If you buy it, you have to train with it. They at least have to learn how to chop and thrust.”

Even simple chopping and thrusting made a world of difference between practicing every day and just carrying it on your back.

If he ever had to use them in a fight, coating their blades in poison would make them a threat that couldn’t be ignored.

Li Huowang looked at the others, who were helping Lü’s troupe dismantle their stage in the distance.

“But that means we’ll only last another month at most. After that, everyone will go hungry.”

“Not having money is a problem.”

Li Huowang stroked his chin, staring at Lü’s troupe as he thought. “They should have made a decent profit on this trip, right? Wouldn’t the problem be solved if I just robbed them all?”

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Li Huowang was stunned. Why would I think that? Lü Zhuangyuan, for all his slickness, is an upright man. Why would I think of robbing him?

The good mood Li Huowang had been in vanished, replaced by a shadow of unease.