Good Deeds

Li Huowang stared at the seventy-nine lifespan pellets floating in the bloody water, his mind refusing to settle. "Why did he give these to me?"

Maybe he wanted Li Huowang to eat them. Maybe he was trying to explain how he had become what he was.

The question would never have an answer, because the Renxiao was dead. Deader than dead.

He held the sword over the corpse for a moment, then brought it down, hacking the body into pieces to make sure it would never move again.

After that, he bent down, scooped the seventy-nine lifespan pellets into his gourd, and turned to the terrified old people behind him. "Don't stop! Keep moving!"

The old folks looked exhausted. But after what they had done—the things Li Huowang had seen them do—he felt no urge to respect his elders. If he could have carried all the children by himself, he would have run them through, one by one.

Slowly, under their dragging steps, Li Huowang and the rest of the group emerged from the cave.

But once he was out of the tunnel, he started searching the dim area around the entrance. He wanted to make sure there was no threat left behind.

The creature had been using infants for alchemy. That meant it must have had a recipe, a method, some kind of text. If Li Huowang didn't destroy it, he couldn't rest easy. He didn't want some other Renxiao picking up where this one had left off.

As he searched, he found something unexpected: a cauldron about the size of a watermelon, sitting next to a much larger one. Around the smaller cauldron were piles of infant remains. It seemed the Renxiao had used the big cauldron for alchemy.

But unlike Danyangzi, this one had de-boned the infants before cooking them.

Staring at the small cauldron, Li Huowang suddenly remembered a skill he had learned from Danyangzi: alchemy. With these tools, he could replenish the pills he had already used up.

Next, he found some books in the cave, written in a strange script. They might have been in the Renxiao's own language. He didn't know if any of them contained the infant-alchemy formula, but he burned them all anyway.

After turning over every stone, he found a slab of grey-white stone. His face twisted in confusion.

"A Heavenly Scripture? Another one?"

"Where do these things keep coming from? Why is there one everywhere I go?" Li Huowang weighed the heavy stone in his hands. "Was that Renxiao using a formula from this thing?"

He studied it carefully. It was identical to the Heavenly Scripture Danyangzi had found—not a single character different. It was still a Buddhist sutra preaching kindness and good deeds.

"Come on. Do you know what this is?" Li Huowang looked at Hongzhong, who was sneaking a glance at him from the side.

Hongzhong gave a mysterious smile, shaking his head gently. "Hehe, don't know. Hehe, don't know."

Li Huowang tossed the scripture into the freezing water of the underground river.

Hongzhong's face fell. "Hey! What are you doing! That could be a real treasure! Pick it up!"

"If it's such a treasure, go get it yourself."

With that, Li Huowang picked up one of the wailing children from the ground and climbed into the small boat they had taken earlier.

The boat was tiny, and rowing upstream was slow work. It took several trips to get everyone to shore.

When Li Huowang led the group of old and young back into Cangshui County, the whole town exploded.

He looked terrifying—a blood-soaked, ragged figure. But everyone's attention was on the crying children.

The families who had lost their children rushed forward first. Those who found their kids dropped to their knees and kowtowed to Li Huowang. Those who didn't could only collapse in grief, wailing in the street.

County Magistrate Lou led his men forward, preparing to offer a grand bow. "Thank you, sir! You are the great benefactor of Cangshui County!"

"Save the formalities. The job isn't done yet." Li Huowang told Magistrate Lou about the old people.

"What? You mean those elderly were accomplices to the evil spirit?"

Magistrate Lou stared at the old people, stunned. He had assumed they were people the magistrate had rescued.

"If we follow the law of Great Liang, what would their punishment be?" Li Huowang asked, looking at the terrified old people standing in place.

"Death by chariot-splitting!" The magistrate's eyes turned ice-cold.

"Five horses tearing them apart? That seems a bit much. And they're old. How about just beheading?"

Magistrate Lou objected, which was rare. "Sir, what are you saying? What does age have to do with crime? Right is right, wrong is wrong. If we let them off lightly because they're old, wouldn't the dead children beneath the Yellow Springs be even more aggrieved?"

Li Huowang thought about it for a moment, then cupped his hands in a bow to the magistrate. "Well said, Magistrate Lou. You handle things here. I'm leaving."

Magistrate Lou grabbed his sleeve. "Sir, why the hurry? Let me at least prepare a feast to welcome you."

Li Huowang looked down at his tattered, blood-stained clothes. He nodded.

"Alright. I haven't slept in two days. I'll rest a bit. And Magistrate, could you have some clothes made for me?"

Back at the inn, Li Huowang collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly. Even the searing pain all over his body couldn't keep him awake.

He didn't know how long he slept. When he woke up, it was to the sound of his own growling stomach.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked out the window. Still daytime. He had no idea which day it was.

"Taoist, you slept for a whole day and night," the monk said, grinning. "That official came by earlier, saw you were sleeping, and left."

Li Huowang looked at the beaming monk. "You seem pretty happy about something."

"Of course I'm happy! We did a good deed! A really big good deed! If you do a good deed, you should be happy, shouldn't you?"

"Yes. Yes, you should." Li Huowang said dismissively. He gritted his teeth against the pain and sat up, stripping off his stinking clothes and pulling on the new ones set on the stool next to him.

Magistrate Lou had clearly been thoughtful. The new clothes fit perfectly. Same dark red. Same Daoist robe.

And he hadn't had just one set made—the tailor had produced five identical ones.

"Heh. Magistrate Lou really went out of his way." Li Huowang muttered as he dressed.

Once he was ready, he headed for the back courtyard, intending to drive the carriage out of town.

"Taoist, that official wanted to invite you to a feast. You're not going?"

"No. It's a waste of time. Since the trouble's taken care of, I need to get back to Yinling. It's a long road ahead." For Li Huowang now, everything else was empty.

When he reached the stables in the back courtyard, he stopped in his tracks.

His carriage had been washed clean. Not a speck of mud on the wheels. The horse's coat was sleek and tidy, as if it had been groomed.

The carriage was piled high with dried meats and mountain goods. Mantou was lying right in the middle of it all, gnawing on a big bone.

"Woof! Woof!" Mantou saw its master and bounded over excitedly, tail wagging furiously. It looked like it had put on weight in the few days he had been gone.

Looking at all this, the monk smiled again. "Taoist, didn't I tell you? Good deeds bring good rewards, right?"