The Awakening Bamboo Slip

“I can’t let Danyangzi out anymore.”

After carefully examining everything that had happened since Danyangzi’s appearances, Li Huowang came to this conclusion.

Comparing the first appearance—the Xi Shen—to the second—the Buddha—and now this third time, Li Huowang spotted a clear pattern.

The first time, he had only been able to faintly hear Danyangzi’s voice.

The second time, he could already see his form.

And by the third time, Danyangzi could not only hold a conversation with him—he was already using murderous intent to manipulate Li Huowang’s emotions, and had even caused him to forget the meaning of ordinary written characters.

Whatever Danyangzi had become by now, his influence over Li Huowang was increasing with every manifestation.

Danyangzi had never been well-intentioned from the very beginning. Everything he did was aimed at seizing this body.

Even if his protection kept Li Huowang from dying by other causes, it wouldn’t be long before he was fully replaced.

If that happened, Li Huowang absolutely could not accept it. He would rather die than become the person he hated most.

A pair of pale hands reached out and gently held his right hand.

Frowning deeply, Li Huowang looked up into a pair of concerned, pink-tinted eyes. He shook his head slightly and offered no explanation.

He picked up the Avataṃsaka Sūtra on his lap, flipped it open at random, and scanned a few lines.

“This book is useless.” Making his verdict, Li Huowang tossed the Avataṃsaka Sūtra back into the wooden chest.

After reading its contents, he remembered: he had heard monks chanting this exact sutra at Zhengde Temple. Multiple different monks, in fact.

It was just a widely-copied Buddhist text. He could probably buy a copy at any bookstore. Compared to this, the gold and jewels were far more valuable.

When Li Huowang returned to the pile of treasures, he saw Gouwa and the others eagerly dragging all the chests of valuables toward the exit.

But the work was exhausting. After all, precious as silver was, it was still heavy metal.

“Drop the silver. Only take gold jewelry. That’s enough for our journey.”

At Li Huowang’s words, Gouwa jumped up in distress. “Senior Brother Li! But this is silver! White silver!”

Li Huowang kicked one of the heavy chests. “Do you have any idea how much this stuff weighs? We still need room for passengers. If you sink the boat, are you planning to swim out carrying the silver on your back?”

“This gold is enough to feed us for a lifetime. Don’t be greedy. Let’s move.”

Gouwa still looked utterly unwilling, frantically stuffing silver ingots into his clothes. “Just a little more, then. With this much silver, I could marry so many wives! Buy so many cows!”

Li Huowang ignored him. He took the gold and gestured for the others to follow, turning to leave.

Bulging with silver, Gouwa hurried after them. But after just a few steps, he was panting heavily.

Seeing the others’ silhouettes grow smaller in the distance, Gouwa stamped his foot in frustration, hastily threw away a few silver ingots, and rushed to catch up.

As Li Huowang left the storeroom and was about to lead the group out of the stockade, he paused, then turned and walked toward the kitchen.

A short while later, he emerged, but he had swapped the gold for the bluish-purple corpses of two drowned children.

“Find a few jars in the stockade. Once we get out, we’ll burn these and collect the ashes. If we can’t send them back alive, at least let their remains go home.”

“Yes, Senior Brother Li.”

The others moved to look for jars. But just as they were about to set off—

A flash of blood-red light streaked in from the side, whistling toward them with deadly speed.

“Get down!” Every muscle in Li Huowang’s body tensed as he instinctively threw himself backward.

A crimson beam shot across his chest, cleaving the two drowned children cleanly in half.

Li Huowang broke out in a cold sweat. If it hadn’t been for those two drowned Daoist apprentices blocking the blow, he’d probably have been cut in two himself.

“Find cover! There are still people alive in the stockade!”

Clutching his bell in one hand and his sword in the other, Li Huowang cautiously peered out from behind an earthenware vat. In the distance, scattered across the ground, were bloody white fragments.

“What the hell just attacked us?” The answer came quickly in the form of heavy, slow footsteps. A figure emerged from the shadows.

Xiaoman threw a fluorescent stone at the figure’s feet, illuminating his face. They all recognized him. It was the boat captain from before.

This bastard is still alive?! The thought flashed through everyone’s mind, including Li Huowang’s.

Yuan Er—his mouth streaming blood—held a strange, glowing red bamboo slip in his right hand, and a pair of black iron pliers in the other.

Seeing the blood dripping from his mouth, Li Huowang immediately realized what those white fragments were.

“Come out! Come out, you little Daoist brat! So even you have your moments of weakness!”

Yuan Er, his eyes bloodshot, shoved the pliers into his mouth, clamped down on a front tooth, and yanked with brutal force.

He muttered something to the red bamboo slip through his bleeding mouth. The tooth was instantly wrapped in a bloody glow and shot out like a meteor, vanishing into a nearby shack.

The sound of Xiaoman’s scream from inside made Li Huowang’s heart clench.

“Jingle, jingle, jingle!” The bell rang out sharply. Two Wandering Lords skimmed across the ground, flying straight at Yuan Er.

“Ptui!” Yuan Er spat a great gob of blood onto the ground. Then he raised the pliers again. This time, he didn’t aim at his teeth. He aimed at his remaining eye.

With a wet crack, the eyeball was crushed. A strange light enveloped the area. The two Wandering Lords seemed to stick to something invisible, falling to the ground, helpless and writhing.

“Die! We’ll all die together!”

Roaring, Yuan Er pulled a small knife from his belt and stabbed it into his own throat.

Even as his body shook with agony, he scraped at his own flesh with savage intent.

The bell rang again. A dozen Wandering Lords coalesced from all directions, rushing at Yuan Er.

The moment Yuan Er slapped the bloody flesh onto the bamboo slip, every single Wandering Lord vanished.

And as the bamboo slip absorbed Yuan Er’s flesh and blood, the dead object suddenly came alive.

Using Yuan Er’s tongue and vocal cords, the bamboo slip began to speak.

The moment that monstrous, grating voice sounded, heaven and earth were transformed in an instant.

“One tongue turns the wheel! One lash holds the cosmos! The wondrous realms beyond words are beyond speech! Heaven delights in the strange and the demonic—do not dare to offend our supreme lord!”