What is a Buddhist relic in this novel?

It’s a crystallized human bone from an enlightened master, stored in nested pagodas. In the Dao-Twisted World, it is consumed to gain supernatural perception.

Why does Bai Lingmiao suddenly see after eating the bone?

The relic grants a form of “mind-eye” — she can sense the qi and shape of objects and people, which functions like sight but without using her eyes.

Why does Li Huowang not tell her what she’s eating?

He knows she has deep trauma around human flesh and bones from Qingfeng Temple, so he withholds the truth to avoid refusal. It’s a morally gray survival decision.

What was the curse the Grand Preceptor put on Li Huowang?

A restriction planted in his tongue root that prevents him from speaking about certain topics; Li Huowang accepts it quietly because he never intended to talk anyway.

Why does Li Huowang’s qi look so unstable to Bai Lingmiao?

His existence is fragmented — flickering between worlds, carrying Danyangzi’s contamination and other influences. Her new perception may reveal his true, damaged state.

The Relic

1,208 words

Li Huowang let out a noncommittal “Mm.” In response to his explanation, the Grand Preceptor of Great Liang turned and nodded approvingly while stroking his white beard.

Li Huowang’s heart was uneasy. He couldn’t tell if the old man believed him or not. This person’s strength was considerable; if a fight actually broke out, he might not be able to escape.

Just as he was mentally preparing another excuse, the other party spoke again. “Since His Majesty holds you in such high regard, this is great fortune for you. Being connected to the imperial family is a stroke of luck you should grasp tightly.”

“Yes!” Li Huowang replied, though in his heart he thought it was hardly good fortune. With so many others contending for the throne, it was hard to say how many more days that reckless young man Ji Lin would even sit on the dragon seat.

“Go on, do your work well. The Great Liang court needs people like you.” The Grand Preceptor patted Li Huowang’s shoulder.

Li Huowang’s sharp senses detected something burrowing into the root of his tongue through that casual touch. He understood immediately: even after the threats, the man still didn’t trust him. He had planted a restriction in his body.

But Li Huowang didn’t mind. He hadn’t planned on telling anyone anyway. If he spoke about such things, it would only cause trouble.

“Understood. I take my leave.” Li Huowang performed another Daoist salute, then turned and walked out of the Imperial Temple.

Following Lian Zhibei out past the towering date-red walls of the imperial city, Li Huowang looked back at the oppressive palace and couldn’t help but let out a breath.

He still hated this place. The whole city felt alive, constantly devouring people.

Despite the bumps along the way, the outcome was at least acceptable.

But now that he knew several princes were fighting for the throne, the capital was bound to become a seething cauldron of hidden currents again. He needed to finish his real business and leave as soon as possible.

As for helping Ji Lin stabilize his rule — that wasn’t even on Li Huowang’s list of considerations. The boy seemed like decent company and had been genuinely kind to him.

But they had only met once. That little goodwill wasn’t worth staking his life on. Besides, the kid didn’t even seem like emperor material.

“It’s your turn to keep your promise.” Li Huowang turned to Lian Zhibei, who was staring excitedly at the jade token in her hand.

Pure Yang life could not be condensed into pills; it had to be personally conferred by a designated person. That jade token was the voucher.

“Don’t worry, of course!” Lian Zhibei started to walk away, but Li Huowang blocked her. This time, he was the one who didn’t trust her. “Where are you going?”

“What do you mean, where? To bring my mother over to fill her lifespan! Wasn’t that the agreement?”

Li Huowang reached out and snatched the jade token from her hand. “Find me after you’ve brought your mother. You’d better be quick. If you don’t show up within a month, I’ll just use that pure Yang life on my wife.”

“Come on, we’re already in the capital and you still don’t trust me? How about I pawn my Supervisory Heavenly Office medallion with you?” Lian Zhibei pleaded bitterly.

But Li Huowang couldn’t be bothered to argue. He shook the jade token at her, then turned and headed for the Office headquarters.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. She wasn’t going to trick him out of his due.

When he reached the inner repository, Li Huowang didn’t waste words on the eunuch with two coins stuck to his forehead. He simply upended the gourd and poured out the four hundred pellets of Yang Life Pills. “Trade them for that relic I asked about earlier. Hurry up!”

The relic was stored inside a seven-tiered pagoda. The eunuchs opened the nested structure layer by layer, and when the final chamber was revealed, a faintly glowing red agate box lay before Li Huowang.

The agate was so translucent that he could see the relic shining with Buddhist light inside — a section of human bone. A crystalline little finger bone.

“A relic is just a human bone? And the way to gain the mind-eye perception is to eat human bone?” Li Huowang looked suspiciously at the coin-eyed eunuch. This practice didn’t seem righteous at all.

“Rest assured, sir. This is the last one. The previous six have all been used, and every adult who took them fared well. But I must remind you again — you must have a kind heart. A kind heart is essential!”

“Alright, how many times are you going to repeat that? This is the one.” Li Huowang was already dreading the next step. How was he going to convince Bai Lingmiao to swallow a human bone?

Ever since her time at Qingfeng Temple, she had developed a strong aversion to human flesh and bone. She wouldn’t even take ordinary elixirs if she could avoid them.

But when Li Huowang returned home carrying the agate pagoda containing the relic and two roast geese, and saw Bai Lingmiao groping in the dark room, he realized he had worried for nothing. She couldn’t see anything now anyway.

“Senior Brother Li? You’re back?” Bai Lingmiao, looking haggard, tilted her head toward the sound of his footsteps.

“How did you know it was me?” Li Huowang set the lotus-leaf-wrapped roast geese on the table.

“I can tell. I recognize your footsteps, Senior Brother. Ever since my eyesight started failing, my ears have gotten sharper.”

Li Huowang walked over and gently helped her to a meditation chair. “Miaomiao, don’t worry. There’s a way to cure your eyes.”

He pulled out a water gourd and the fist-sized agate pagoda from his robe. “Open your mouth.”

“Senior Brother Li, what miraculous medicine is this, that it can cure blindness?” Bai Lingmiao’s face was a mix of curiosity and hope as she parted her lips.

Li Huowang didn’t answer. He picked up the relic with his fingers and placed it on the root of her tongue. “Don’t chew. Swallow it whole with rootless water.”

As he poured the rain water from the gourd into her mouth, she coughed violently, as if choking. Li Huowang quickly patted her back. Neither of them noticed the faint golden swastika that flashed across Bai Lingmiao’s chest.

When she finally caught her breath, her face was twisted with discomfort. “Senior Brother Li, what was that? It felt…”

But then she stopped.

She could see again.

Well, not exactly see. It was more like she could sense the qi of everything around her.

Tables and chairs, Li Sui, even the two short trees outside the courtyard — she could feel them all clearly.

It was a very strange sensation. Everything around her was vividly imprinted in her heart.

“Senior Brother Li?”

Bai Lingmiao looked uncertainly at the strange mass of energy in front of her. It was different from everything else.

It looked like a person, but it kept appearing and vanishing, trembling violently.

And around it, there were multiple afterimages that coalesced and dispersed at the same time.

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Reading Guide Decoding

Bone, Lies, and New Sight

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

“Rootless Water” (无根水) — A common Daoist and TCM term for naturally fallen rainwater that has never touched the ground. Often used in alchemical recipes and ritual medicine; it’s considered “pure” because it hasn’t been contaminated by earthly yin. The fact that Li Huowang uses it here as a chaser for human bone is a grim bit of alchemical authenticity.

Buddhist Relics (舍利, śarīra) — In real-world Buddhism, relics are cremated remains of enlightened masters — bone fragments, crystals, or pearl-like granules — believed to be proof of spiritual cultivation. They are venerated, not eaten. The novel perverts this by turning the relic into a consumable medicine, reinforcing its theme of sacred things being weaponized into body horror.

Mind-Eye Perception (心眼通) — A Daoist/Buddhist concept of “inner sight” distinct from physical vision; it allows a cultivator to see the true nature of things, including qi flows and concealed presences. In this chapter, Bai Lingmiao attains a corrupted version — she can now detect Li Huowang’s unstable, flickering state, which she might not have wanted to see.

The implied taboo around bone-eating — In Chinese folk and religious practice, consuming the remains of a corpse is generally taboo (pollution). The fact that Li Huowang feeds this to his wife without explaining what it is marks a cold, pragmatic boundary in their relationship. He chooses her survival over her consent — a morally gray choice that fits his arc.

Sarira (relic, 舍利)

In Buddhism, cremated remains of an enlightened master, often pearl-like or crystalline; venerated as sacred objects. In the Dao-Twisted World, they are consumed as medical ingredients.

Chapter Overview

Buckle up, fellow Daoists, because Chapter 487 serves up a masterclass in transaction horror. Li Huowang navigates an imperial audience with a Grand Preceptor who doesn’t trust him, snags the cosmic-level “pure yang life” voucher, and then walks into the Office’s creepy treasure vault to trade 400 human-life pills for… a human finger bone. But the real zinger? He feeds that bone to a blind Bai Lingmiao, who wakes up to a new sense she never signed up for. This chapter is all about trades, trust, and the uneasy feeling that every gift in the Dao-Twisted World comes with invisible strings attached. The prose leans into quiet dread — no screaming monsters, just the slow drip of Li Huowang’s paranoia and Bai Lingmiao’s fragile hope.

Key Plot Points

The Grand Preceptor of Great Liang pretends to buy Li Huowang’s story, but secretly plants a speech-restriction curse in his tongue root. Li Huowang doesn’t fight it — he never planned to talk anyway.
Li Huowang retrieves the jade token for pure yang life from Lian Zhibei, then physically seizes it to force her to bring her mother first — he won’t let her run off without delivering.
He enters the Office’s inner repository, trades 400 Yang Life Pills for the “relic” — which turns out to be a crystalline human little finger bone stored in a seven-tiered agate box.
The coin-eyed eunuch repeats a bizarre warning: “You must have a kind heart.” Li Huowang files this away as ominous but proceeds anyway.
Back home, Bai Lingmiao is blind, groping in the dark. Li Huowang tricks her into swallowing the bone with “rootless water,” causing violent coughing.
After the ordeal, Bai Lingmiao gains a new perception — she can “sense” the qi of objects and people, but Li Huowang registers as a flickering, trembling mass with unstable afterimages. Her final line hints that she sees something deeply wrong with him.

Reading Guide

This chapter is a slow-burn horror of consent and consequence. Bai Lingmiao regains a sense she never expected and immediately sees something terrifying about Li Huowang — his qi is unstable, fragmented, flickering between states. This is more than a new power-up; it’s a dramatic irony bomb that will likely explode in their relationship later. Pay attention to the pattern: every transaction Li Huowang makes here — with the Grand Preceptor, with Lian Zhibei, with the Office, with his wife — involves a hidden cost. The bone was “free” in exchange for pills, but the real price might be Bai Lingmiao’s trust and sanity. Also, that Grand Preceptor curse is a ticking clock. Li Huowang has no intention of talking now, but if he ever needs to speak the truth? That’s when it’ll bite.

Quick Q&A

Lore recap (TL;DR) drawn from this chapter's Cultural / Xianxia Notes — same text as the FAQ structured data on this page.

What is a Buddhist relic in this novel?: It’s a crystallized human bone from an enlightened master, stored in nested pagodas. In the Dao-Twisted World, it is consumed to gain supernatural perception.
Why does Bai Lingmiao suddenly see after eating the bone?: The relic grants a form of “mind-eye” — she can sense the qi and shape of objects and people, which functions like sight but without using her eyes.
Why does Li Huowang not tell her what she’s eating?: He knows she has deep trauma around human flesh and bones from Qingfeng Temple, so he withholds the truth to avoid refusal. It’s a morally gray survival decision.
What was the curse the Grand Preceptor put on Li Huowang?: A restriction planted in his tongue root that prevents him from speaking about certain topics; Li Huowang accepts it quietly because he never intended to talk anyway.
Why does Li Huowang’s qi look so unstable to Bai Lingmiao?: His existence is fragmented — flickering between worlds, carrying Danyangzi’s contamination and other influences. Her new perception may reveal his true, damaged state.