A Condition He Cannot Refuse

On the lively street, just as Li Huowang was staring intently at the fat woman on the third floor, a well-dressed waiter rushed out of the tavern to the carriage, a flattering smile plastered on his face. “Esteemed sir, someone is hosting a grand feast on the third floor and requests your presence. Please, if you would…”

Li Huowang didn’t bother to argue. If trouble was coming, it was coming, and if the person was bold enough to approach him so openly, he wasn’t going to hide.

He took Li Sui and followed the wooden stairs up to the third floor. The fat woman was already waiting, standing beside a table laden with an opulent banquet.

The third floor wasn’t empty either—there were other diners.

“Come, come! I raise a glass to you. The young are truly formidable!” The fat woman lifted her cup and tipped it back, drinking deeply.

Li Huowang and Li Sui sat down with deliberate casualness, pulling off their wide-brimmed hats in the same motion.

A scorched, ghastly-black head and a skinless dog covered in writhing tentacles were suddenly revealed to the room.

The sheer terror of the sight stopped the other diners mid-bite. A few seconds of stunned silence were followed by screams and panicked scrambling, and within moments, the floor was empty.

Li Huowang had done this intentionally—a show of force.

The fat woman, naturally, felt his hostility and immediately tried to soothe him. “Oh, child, I’m old enough to be your mother! Do you think I’d hurt you? I just wanted to talk something over with you, that’s all.”

“Back in the wilderness, I understand. No matter what I said, you couldn’t relax. You were afraid I had ill intentions. Right?”

“But here, you can let your guard down, can’t you? Look, the magistrate’s office is right across the street. If you shout, the Supervisory Heavenly Office from the city will be here in a moment.”

Li Sui had just grabbed a pig trotter when Li Huowang smacked her hand away. He stared at the fat woman, his voice flat. “You’ve been chasing me this whole time for the Immaculate Lifespan, haven’t you? I’ll say it again—I’m not selling.”

The moment he said this, the fat woman’s expression changed, and she began to pour out her grievances. “Auntie has had such a hard time, you know. I’ve had no father since I was little. My poor, suffering mother raised me with so much trouble, and I only wanted her to enjoy her old age in peace! But then her Lifespan ran out… Do you know, back in the famine years, when there was nothing to eat or drink, my mother fed me her own blood just to keep me alive…”

Li Huowang’s face showed a flicker of irritation. He could have just stood up and walked away. But the Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings on her body told him that her words were true—at least the sorrow in them was genuine.

“I’m deeply sorry for your mother’s fate. But I’m sorry, I have someone I need to keep alive too.”

Seeing that he was about to leave, the fat woman grew frantic. “Auntie can trade you something for it! Just tell me what you want! I’ll give you anything if I can have that Immaculate Lifespan!”

Li Huowang stood up. “I don’t need anything right now. I’m sorry, but please stop following me.”

“If you keep tailing me, and something happens to you… it won’t be good for either of us.”

He watched Li Huowang walk step by step toward the stairs. Then the fat woman said something that made his hand, reaching for the banister, freeze in mid-air.

“The girl in your carriage, she’s a spirit-dancer, isn’t she? Spirit-dancing is a bitter path! If you give Auntie those five years of Immaculate Lifespan, Auntie can get the Celestial Immortal off her body!”

Li Huowang turned around immediately, staring hard at the woman. The Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings on her body showed she wasn’t lying—she really did have a way to remove the Immortal.

Back on the road, Bai Lingmiao had been bound to a Celestial Immortal and forced into becoming a spirit-dancer. It had always been a lingering threat, not small and not large.

Giving Bai Lingmiao five years of Lifespan and freeing her from the Celestial Immortal—this was an agonizingly difficult choice between two options.

Just as Li Huowang was hesitating, the Second Spirit suddenly walked up from the stairs, leaned in, and whispered something in his ear.

“What did you say?!” Li Huowang’s words burst out instantly. “Why didn’t you tell me something this important sooner?!”

He looked back at the fat woman, his expression no longer that cold indifference. “Alright. It’s settled. When we reach the capital, the five years of Immaculate Lifespan from the reward goes to you, for removing the Immortal from Miaomiao!”

The Celestial Immortal had started threatening Bai Lingmiao, even forcing her to perform the spirit-dance. Something this critical, and they had hidden it from him for so long.

If it weren’t for this chance meeting today, who knows how long they would have kept it from him.

Hearing this, the fat woman’s face broke into a delighted smile. Afraid Li Huowang would change his mind, she quickly agreed. “Good! It’s a deal, then!”

Li Huowang had initially thought she’d set out ahead and wait for him in the capital. But it turned out she seemed afraid he’d run, and followed him the entire way.

This made it hard for Li Huowang to sleep peacefully on the journey. Fortunately, no trouble cropped up, and they all returned to the capital safely.

The trip wasn’t all bad. At least his injuries had healed a lot. You could even tell he was Li Huowang now, just by looking at his face.

“I’ll park the carriage at home. You wait for me at the government office door.” After traveling together for so long, he’d learned her name. Lian Zhibei.

“No, no, I’ll go with you. I don’t know my way around the capital. I need you to lead me.” Lian Zhibei was sticking to him like glue, afraid he’d slip away.

Li Huowang couldn’t be bothered to call out her flimsy excuse. He turned to Bai Lingmiao and Li Sui. “You two head home. I’ll be there soon.”

With that, the four of them split into two groups.

When Li Huowang walked into the main hall of the Supervisory Heavenly Office, carrying the wooden box containing the Spirit-Blight, Nangong spotted both him and Lian Zhibei from across the room. “Oh? The two of you have joined forces?”

“You could say that,” Li Huowang said flatly, pushing the box forward. “The goods are here. Pay up the reward.”

But Lian Zhibei quickly snatched the box into her own arms and said to Nangong, “Wait. This is a palace commission. We need to hand it over to the eunuch in person.”

“Handing it over to me is the same. I’ll pass it to the palace eunuch. Once they give the reward, I’ll transfer it to you directly. It’ll take a bit of time, though.”

Lian Zhibei was bluntly defiant. “Don’t give me that! I know exactly how this works. It goes through your hands, then the eunuch’s hands—who knows how much will be skimmed off along the way!”

She turned to Li Huowang. “Listen to me. Handing it directly to the palace is safer. If they nibble off even a little bit of that Immaculate Lifespan, it might not add up to five years!”

Seeing Nangong’s helpless expression and his lack of rebuttal, Li Huowang knew she was telling the truth. He reached out and took the wooden box back. “Fine. Then we’ll deliver it to the palace directly.”

As long as it solved the Celestial Immortal problem on Bai Lingmiao, nothing else mattered.