The Zuowandao

“Clang.” The pale sword was drawn. Li Huowang stood between Blind Chen and the things in the shadows.

“Kill them all!” At Li Huowang’s order, the others turned their weapons toward the things hidden inside the clay statues.

Li Huowang had confidence he could handle them. If Blind Chen could deal with these things, then Li Huowang, who had just beaten Blind Chen, had no reason to fail.

“Thump! Thump! Thump!” Gao Zhijian charged at them with heavy steps, crashing through a row like an iron man.

But no matter how many times Gao Zhijian knocked them down, the clay figures slowly rose again, and began to surround him in return.

The others rushed in to relieve Gao Zhijian, but the situation barely improved. No matter how many clay statues fell, they always got back up. Even Li Huowang’s two swords couldn’t stop them.

“Help me up! Give me back the mirror!” Hearing Blind Chen’s voice from where he lay sprawled on the ground, Li Huowang executed a quick swallow-turn and retreated from the fray.

He glanced at Blind Chen, then kicked a bamboo basket over into his hands.

Blind Chen immediately pulled out the Eight Trigrams Mirror from inside. He shoved his index and middle fingers into his mouth, bit them, and used the bleeding fingertips to rapidly draw on the mirror’s surface.

“Eternal light shines! Mirror in, soul in. Mirror extinguished, soul vanishes! Fearless and dauntless, following my command! Righteous energy of Heaven and Earth adorns all forms! Metal and stone cannot break it—arrive with utmost sincerity! Open!”

The blood-smeared Eight Trigrams Mirror instantly shot out a blinding beam of light.

The light flooded the entire dim space. Every clay statue touched by the glow melted like snow under the sun.

When the last of the things had vanished into the ground, Blind Chen seemed severely drained, his face pale as he lay flat on the floor.

Li Huowang quickly and carefully helped him up. “Thank you, Senior Chen.”

“You—get away!! I still don’t trust you!” Blind Chen said this, but he didn’t refuse Li Huowang’s help.

Li Huowang could already see people peeking out from alley entrances and behind windows. If they didn’t leave now, the whole village would be watching them.

“Hiss—are you trying to jolt me to death? How can I travel at night like this? Find somewhere to treat my wounds!”

While the villagers of Ganyuan Village were still gossiping about Li Huowang’s recent fight, he had already brought the injured Blind Chen to an empty woodshed and settled him in.

Li Huowang pulled the stopper from a small bottle and carefully sprinkled powdered wound medicine over Blind Chen’s injuries.

While treating him, Li Huowang recounted everything that had happened to him earlier.

“So? Even you were tricked by the Zuowandao? Hah! If that’s true, those Zuowandao bastards have been playing the long game. Probably everything since the Credit Knife Seller was a setup.”

Li Huowang sighed and pushed the stopper back into the bottle. “Tell me about it. I don’t even know when the Zuowandao set their sights on me. I never showed my—”

Li Huowang stopped mid-sentence. He couldn’t casually mention that he was a Heart-Element.

Blind Chen tilted his ear, listening. When he realized the other man had gone silent, he snorted coldly. “I still don’t trust you! When it’s light, we go our separate ways! I have my own ways of telling truth from lies.”

“Senior Chen, you’re injured like this. How can you travel? Aren’t you afraid of running into danger on the road?”

“Hmph! No thanks! Being with you is what’s going to kill me! Have you forgotten who gave me these wounds?” Blind Chen turned his back to Li Huowang, presenting only the back of his head.

Li Huowang was weighing his words, trying to figure out how to convince Blind Chen, when his body tensed. “Shh. Someone’s coming.”

The footsteps outside the woodshed made everyone inside hold their breath. It seemed the owner of the place, who had been out checking on the commotion, was coming back.

Gradually, the footsteps faded. It seemed the owner had gone to sleep.

Just as they started to relax, the footsteps resumed—more rapidly than before.

The footsteps stopped again after a while, then started up once more.

This time, they stopped right in front of the woodshed. “Bang, bang, bang.” The door was knocked.

Li Huowang gestured with his finger. Chun Xiaoman cautiously approached and opened the door.

Outside stood the clay attendant boy. He stood there, staring at everyone inside with his two hollow eyes.

With a “crack,” the clay boy split open. Segmented tendrils like insect legs emerged from inside.

But the sound of the clay shattering seemed to echo. The same noise came from behind Li Huowang, one after another.

“Behind me? There’s nothing behind me… only… a wall.”

Li Huowang turned in shock and saw a row of cracked clay bodhisattvas clinging to the wall, each assuming a different Buddhist posture, glaring at him with venom.

With a “shink,” their cracked bodies lunged forward like an avalanche about to crash down.

Blind Chen couldn’t reach his mirror in time. Without hesitation, Li Huowang grabbed his iron tongs and squeezed hard on his own eyeball.

“Splurt.” As the clear aqueous humor splattered everywhere, the arhats in midair were suddenly coated in a strange film of light and crashed straight to the ground.

When Li Huowang and the others rushed out, he was shocked to find every rooftop around them covered in clay statues, all watching him hungrily.

“Senior Chen, hurry!” Li Huowang’s expression was grim as he surveyed the scene.

“Don’t worry! These clay figures are all just putting on a show.” Behind him, Blind Chen opened the bamboo basket that Gouwa had handed him and began searching inside.

“Shlork!” Two sharp blades plunged into Li Huowang’s chest simultaneously.

He looked down at the blood-stained tips of the knives poking out of his body. Trembling, he turned to look at the Blind Chen behind him.

But seeing Li Huowang about to die by his own hand, Blind Chen’s expression was even more terrified than Li Huowang’s own.

He looked down at his hands in panic. “Kid, I swear that wasn’t me! My body suddenly—it wouldn’t listen to me!”

As he spoke, Blind Chen’s body stiffened. His temperament changed inexplicably. The pale whites of his eyes slowly rolled downward, and a pair of heterochromatic pupils appeared before Li Huowang.

The wrinkles on his face smoothed away rapidly. As the transformation finished, his face became exactly the same as Li Huowang’s.

The face with the mismatched eyes spoke.

“Haha! Tricking other people, tricking evil spirits—that’s old news. I’ve come up with something new this time: I trick myself! What do you think, Red Center Boss? I actually learned this trick from you.”