The Confrontation with the Venerable

The commotion Li Huowang made instantly jolted Immortal Cui awake.

"Oh dear, what's going on? I thought you were just interrogating the rice? How did you end up locking horns like this?" Her voice was flustered, as if she genuinely had no idea what had happened.

Li Huowang, who had been ready to cleave through her, stopped. He studied the startled Rice Woman Cui with an inscrutable expression.

He couldn't tell if she was faking it or not. Logically, if they really were interested in him as a Heart-Element, they shouldn't be acting like this.

"Are you asking or not? If not, I'm leaving." With that, Rice Woman Cui made to pick up her basket and go.

Seeing this, Li Huowang changed his mind. He dragged a wooden stool over and sat down with his sword across his knees, the posture of a man who meant business. "I want to keep asking. Call that celestial venerable of yours."

Rice Woman Cui hesitated for a few moments, then finally put her basket down and relit the incense.

She went through a similar procedure as before, and the man's voice appeared once more.

When it learned that Li Huowang was missing the Five Phases, it offered an extremely strange solution. "Change your name and surname~! Missing Five Phases～Supplement Five Phases!!"

As it spoke, it grabbed a handful of rice from the basket and scattered it on the ground in front of Li Huowang.

Three characters appeared before him: Jin Zao Mu.

Change his name? Li Huowang stared at his new name on the ground, utterly baffled. If the characters themselves contained the Five Phases, that would supplement them? This thing was trying to trick him, wasn't it?

After mulling it over, Li Huowang decided to test this thing's abilities further.

He spoke again to the Rice Woman Cui, who was now calmly drinking tea. "Thank you for the explanation. I have another doubt. Can you resolve it?"

"Ask~!"

"Why has nothing in this world decayed recently?" If this thing of unknown origin could truly answer that, Li Huowang would change his name on the spot.

The disappearance of decay was definitely linked to the Abbess's death. And her death still gnawed at him. He needed to know what had happened.

"The Bodhisattva is merciful～pitying the world's beings who suffer the agony of corruption."

"You liar! Caught you red-handed! There is no Bodhisattva and no Buddha!! Beyond the heavens and earth, there are only those… those…"

Li Huowang, his eyes beginning to fill with terror, couldn't finish his sentence. He didn't know how to describe those things.

The things he had been deliberately avoiding thinking about ever since he had woken up.

He thought that if he just didn't think about them, he could pretend they didn't exist. Those beings far, far greater and stronger than any mortal, beings that could kill everyone if they so much as wished it!

When he thought of them again, he could no longer ignore them. His face contorted in pain, his breathing grew ragged, and indistinct, unidentifiable sounds began to whisper at the edge of his hearing.

"Brother! Don't think about it! Don't think about it anymore!" Bai Lingmiao's anxious voice pulled Li Huowang back to himself.

He looked at her worried, delicate face and took a deep breath. "Right. I won't think about it. I won't think about it…"

"Yes, that's right. No matter what those things are, whether she's telling the truth or lying, this world is already mad. There's nothing I can do about it. I just need to mind my own business and live my life."

Through Bai Lingmiao's and his own constant reassurances, Li Huowang gradually calmed down, pushing those forbidden thoughts to the back of his mind.

Once he was calm again, he turned his attention back to Rice Woman Cui. His trust in her had already diminished.

"I'll ask you one more thing. What exactly is a Heart-Element?"

Li Huowang's question made the entity pause. It looked at him with those milky-white eyes, and Li Huowang could feel the weight of eight gazes staring back at him from within those sightless orbs.

"This Venerable One naturally knows. However, were I to tell you, you would drop dead on the spot." This terrified Bai Lingmiao, who tugged at Li Huowang's sleeve continuously.

"Hmph." Li Huowang gave a cold laugh. There wasn't an ounce of trust left in his eyes as he looked at Rice Woman Cui.

"Trying to pull that smoke-and-mirrors bullshit on me, are you? The Zuowandao taught me one lesson: never walk the path someone else lays down for you."

The longsword, bristling with killing intent, rose until its tip was aimed directly at Rice Woman Cui's head. "Get out! I don't care what you are or what your goal is, get the fuck out of here. You hear me?"

"Such a～small～Heart-Element～how laughable～how laughable～In that case, this Venerable One shall tell～you～what a Heart-Element is～hic."

But before it could say another word, there was a crack. The black cauldron, the basket of rice, and the bronze mirror were all cleaved in two. The sword's edge was pressed against the old woman's neck.

"Aiyo～What are you doing!" Rice Woman Cui's voice had returned to normal.

"Back again, are you? Not a bad act, pretending to be some kind of god. I'll say it one more time! Get lost!!"

Rice Woman Cui was clearly terrified by the bloodthirsty Li Huowang. Her face panicked, she scooped up the things rolling on the floor and stumbled out the door.

Clang~! The sword slid back into its sheath. The room gradually fell silent.

"Let's go. Time to sleep. Make the most of having a bed to rest." Having said his piece sharply, Li Huowang walked into the inner room and put the copper coin mask back on his face.

Feeling its heavy, solid texture, Li Huowang let out a sigh of relief. "I need to keep wearing this from now on. This Heart-Element identity of mine attracts way too much trouble."

"Husband～What if what she said was true?"

"That 'what if' is the only reason I didn't split her in half just now. Otherwise, she'd never have made it out that door. And stop calling me husband!"

That night, Li Huowang barely slept, constantly on guard against a potential night ambush.

Even though nothing happened, he hurried everyone to pack their things at first light and leave this place of trouble as fast as they could.

It wasn't until they reached the border town of Siqi and found themselves on a bustling street that Li Huowang finally allowed himself to breathe. It seemed nothing else was going to happen.

Compared to before, the atmosphere here was noticeably more relaxed, suggesting the fighting really had stopped.

The group rested and resupplied in the town, planning to re-enter Hou Shu afterward. But before that, there was one more thing to do.

At the Tiger Head Escort Agency, the burly Chief Escort scrutinized the strange Daoist before him, who was dressed in red robes, wore a copper coin mask, and carried two swords on his back. He studied the letter of recommendation he held in his hand as well.

After thinking it over for a good long while, he put the letter down. "Fine, since Chief Zhao has vouched for you, I'll trust you! But let me make this clear upfront: if you take a job with us, we take twenty percent of the fee. It's our guarantee on the line, after all. Deal?"

"Deal." Li Huowang was fine with it. These escorts were just along their route anyway; it was found money.

"If you lose the cargo, I won't come after you. The guarantor will handle the compensation. Since you say Chief Zhao is your friend, I hope you won't do anything to let him down."