The Child

How does one prove they’re not sick inside a psychiatric hospital?

Try to act normal in front of the doctors? But what if something urgent happens in the other world during the observation period?

Or maybe just conjure something out of thin air in front of everyone, prove the other world is real? The moment he actually did that, he’d never have freedom again.

For Li Huowang, this question had no answer. In his current state, he treated both worlds as real. Anyone who saw him would say he was seriously ill.

After thinking it over, Li Huowang realized that with his current situation here, nothing he said or did would make a difference.

Since he couldn’t solve it from this side, he could only strike at the root from the other side.

The only way to escape this cage-like surveillance was to wait until his cultivation art was fully mastered, and then use that art to regain his freedom.

This was the simplest and most convenient method, far better than playing mind games with the hospital doctors.

With that thought, Li Huowang threw himself into his cultivation with a fervor that bordered on forgetting food and sleep.

This cultivation art wasn’t just the key to saving Zhuge Yuan—it was also the key to his freedom in the real world. Two birds with one stone.

After what had happened before, Li Huowang naturally wouldn’t practice such a dangerous art inside Niuxin Village. Behind the village, the towering Niuxin Mountain held a deep cave, which Li Huowang deemed the perfect spot.

After all, no matter how twisted or topsy-turvy the rocks and trees inside became, he wouldn’t feel a shred of remorse.

In that unknown, dim, isolated space, Li Huowang didn’t just practice cultivation. He also did some things it was inconvenient for his fellow disciples to know about.

A tearing sound of flesh splitting filled the cave, accompanied by Li Huowang’s pained scream. Li Sui held up a bowl of shimmering mercury with three tentacles and slowly poured it out.

“Heaven and earth, dark origin; the myriad pneuma, root and foundation; broadly cultivating through myriad kalpas, proving my divine power; within and beyond the three realms, only the Dao is supreme; the body possesses golden light, casting over my form…”

As he chanted the incantation, Li Huowang watched the straw-stuffed human skin emit white smoke and gradually shrink, until it became a small leather doll the size of a palm.

This was only the second time, and it was already far better than the first.

Ignoring Zhuge Yuan’s wide-eyed stare, Li Huowang held his own human skin in his hand and felt a surge of reassurance. After all, with this thing, even if his head was chopped off, he could still survive.

More importantly, this kind of Dharma artifact could be replicated. Given enough time, he could mass-produce these Heart-Element artifacts. Even if he encountered someone more formidable in the future, he wouldn’t have to live in constant fear like before.

Li Huowang cut a bloody gash in his abdomen with a small dagger, pressed the leather doll inside with two fingers, and shoved it in.

After the True Sutra of the Fire Vestments healed the wounds all over his body, Li Sui couldn’t help but ask, “Dad, what is that? Can you teach me? I want one too.”

Li Huowang shook his head. “You can’t use it. You’re not a Heart-Element. Your skin is useless.”

He picked up the red Daoist robe from the ground, gathered his weapons, and walked toward the cave entrance.

“Dad, but I want to help you,” Li Sui insisted, refusing to give up.

But Li Huowang didn’t appreciate it. He didn’t see how a Black Tai Sui could help him. “From now on, stay put in the village. Don’t run around, understand? The people outside are all bad. If they catch you, they’ll refine you into a pill and eat you.”

“You’re lying. I’ve been outside. It’s more fun out there than in the village. In the village, they’re all afraid of me. Even the steamed buns are afraid of me. I still think practicing with you is more fun. Dad, can’t I go back into your belly anymore?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“If you stay any longer, this body will become yours.”

But seeing the longing in Li Sui’s two eyeballs, Li Huowang thought for a moment and finally pulled a book from his bosom.

“If you’re bored, practice this to pass the time. If there are characters you can’t read, ask me.” The book Li Huowang handed over was the Compendium of Talismans he had gotten from the blind man back then.

The image of a sticky mass of black tentacles fervently chanting incantations while drawing talismans was admittedly bizarre.

But if she actually managed to learn it, Li Sui might just turn out to be a useful ally.

“You need to remember, these talismans have a lot of restrictions…”

Covered in a bloody aura, Li Huowang patiently instructed her as he led Li Sui along the winding mountain path toward the Niuxin Village below, where cooking smoke rose.

“Dad, why are they afraid of me? If I got rid of the clothes wrapped around me and showed them what I really look like, would they stop being afraid of me?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Why not? What if I’m nice to them, what if I give them silver and food?”

“Where are you getting all this from? Don’t you dare show them your true form. You’re different from them. You’re not human.”

Listening to the endless stream of questions from Li Sui, Li Huowang began to regret his earlier decision.

Raising her was no easier than dealing with the most obnoxious brat. She hadn’t had this many questions before.

I don’t have the time for this. I need to find someone to teach her. Li Sui still has no concept of the most basic things.

As they walked, they reached the edge of the rice paddies. Li Huowang’s nominal sons and daughters were working hard in the fields, along with some of his fellow disciples.

“Brother Li! You came down the mountain?” Yang Xiaohai, his feet covered in mud, led an ox and walked over excitedly.

“Aren’t you in charge of everyone’s meals? Why are you out in the fields? Who told you to take on this work?”

“No one told me! I came on my own! Brother Li, look, from here to there—two whole acres are mine! They belong to me!”

“Sister Bai said all the grain from these fields is mine! Two whole acres! Just think how much grain that’ll grow! When the harvest comes, I’ll never go hungry again!”

In the middle of his ecstatic speech, Yang Xiaohai suddenly felt something strange on his calf. He reached down and pulled off a blood-sucking leech as thick as half an arm, casually tossing it to the ground without a care.

The leech caught the scent of blood on Li Huowang and instinctively crawled toward his feet.

Li Huowang’s brow furrowed tightly. He wasn’t afraid of most beasts or insects, but he couldn’t stand these things.

The thought of a hundred blood-sucking leeches covering his entire body with their slimy, cold bodies, using their sharp mouthparts to bite through his skin and burrow halfway into his flesh…

Seeing Li Huowang stop and not say a word, Yang Xiaohai asked in surprise, “Brother Li, what’s wrong? Haven’t you seen a cow-leech before? I guess you haven’t spent much time in the fields, huh?”