Chapter 293 - Trouble
Once everything had been settled, Puppy walked out of the shop, satisfied with the prices. "Good! This time should be better than the last time."
He squinted his eyes and stared at the blazing sun. It was already lunchtime by the time he got back to the inn.
"Oh right, the owner said that I had to measure the body to make the funeral clothes. I better do that now."
As he talked to himself, Puppy walked back to his room, but didn't find the injured Gao Zhijian on the bed. His heart immediately fell a little. "Wait, could it be...?"
He hurriedly ran towards Li Huowang's room and saw that the other three were beside the bed. He took a deep breath, rubbed some turmeric over his eyes, and walked into the room.
"Senior Li! Senior Li! Boohoo~"
Puppy made it look like he was pushing Gao Zhijian away, but when he placed his body on the bed, he was surprised to see Li Huowang had his eyes open.
"You are... not dead."
At that moment, Puppy's heart tightened up.
If he's not dead, then that means that I can't take back my deposit...
"Puppy, are you injured too?"
Li Huowang's words reeled Puppy back into reality and caused him to let out a smile. "Aiya, these are just some small wounds. Did you know that when those clay statues were surrounding me, I, the great Cao Cao, didn't even blink!"
"Don't listen to him. If it wasn't for me, then he would've been dismembered," interjected Xiaoman.
Puppy frowned at Chun Xiaoman, but didn't say anything. Not only was he weaker than her, now, she was even a head taller than him.
Li Huowang turned to look at the transformed Chun Xiaoman—she had aged considerably, and was now a beautiful young girl. Even though she had dark hair covering her entire body, her figure could not be contained underneath it all.
But this was not a good thing. This meant that during the previous battle, she had spent a lot of her lifespan summoning the Wandering Gods.
"No need to summon so many Wandering Gods in the future. Think properly. Just four Wandering Gods require an entire year's worth of lifespan." Li Huowang advised her weakly.
"No worries. I'm still young," said Chun Xiaoman. She wasn't worried about the lifespan she had lost. In fact, she preferred her current body.
"Cough cough~" Li Huowang spat out some blood before speaking slowly, "Miaomiao, go and take the lifespan pills from the gourd and give them to her."
Not only could the lifespan pills increase one's lifespan, they could also return Chun Xiaoman's youth.
"I really don't need them!" Chun Xiaoman pressed Bai Lingmiao's shoulder with her one remaining arm before turning to Li Huowang and asking in a concerned voice, "Senior Li, you should worry about yourself first. You... What's happening to you?"
Hearing this question, Li Huowang paused. He stared at the rafters above and let out a bitter smile. "What's wrong with me?"
Li Huowang remembered what the member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao had said. However, he would never believe that he was this so-called Hong Zhong.
But why did he use the same method to try and trick me? The previous group of six from the Sitting Oblivion Dao did the same as well. Something isn't right... Unless... everything is fake! Or one of them somehow left clues when they died, allowing the living members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao to decipher what the previous members were doing. The dead and living members are both working together to try and trick me!
"Senior Li, let's not think about other matters for now. Your body is still heavily injured so please rest more." Bai Lingmiao took a pillow filled with rice husk before placing it under his neck, instantly making much more comfortable.
However, after a moment, Li Huowang shook his head and felt a splitting headache. Enduring the headache, he asked, "No, I'm not sleepy. First, tell me everything that happened after I passed out."
Given that the member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao had been killed, and the clay statues chased away, there wasn't much to say except for how they cleaned up after the battle.
"Ai! Why are you talking about all these useless things? You all really don't know what Senior Li is concerned about," said Puppy as he excitedly squatted by the bed and took out a bamboo basket. "Senior Li, look! We have all of the assets of that fraudster! I didn't even throw his clothes away. All of these are ours!"
As he spoke, Puppy pulled the curtains and allowed Li Huowang to see the items within the basket: the Bagua mirror, and the bloodstained metallic cards.
As he saw those items, Li Huowang felt relieved. He didn't want them for himself, but he still remembered the test that the Surveillance Bureau had given him.
The member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao was dead while he was still alive. With this, he was finally an official member of the Surveillance Bureau.
Now that he was an official member, he would finally have an organization behind him. No longer would he need to guess everything like Dan Yangzi when it came to cultivation or other information.
As long as he didn't expose his status as a Strayed One, no one would attack him too.
"Hehe, and what if you managed to claim those things? As if you know how to use any of them," A haughty voice came from behind Puppy, causing Li Huowang perk up in surprise.
As if powered by an unknown source of strength, the weak Li Huowang suddenly sat up. Immediately, he pushed Puppy away before turning to look toward the illusions in front of him.
The headless Peng Longteng, the disemboweled Jin Shanzhao, the bored Monk, and finally the faceless member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao!
The face of the member of Sitting Oblivion Dao was completely skinless, and his eyes were replaced by two black holes. His teeth were displayed out in the open without any lips, forcing him into a perpetual smile.
Looking at the stunned Li Huowang, Chun Xiaoman and Gao Zhijian exchanged glances before quickly holding Li Huowang's left and right arms down.
But suddenly a massive force threw both of them away.
"Why are you here?! Why did you become one of my illusions?! Why?!"
As Li Huowang shouted, his wounds started to bleed once again. Just as he was about to say something else, he stopped and grabbed his own throat.
"Cough cough~ Blegh!" Li Huowang coughed as a single black tentacle came out from his mouth.
Seeing it, everyone was shocked.
"Quick! Pull it out!"
But just when all of them wanted to help and were about to pull it out, Li Huowang blocked them from doing so.
After stopping them, Li Huowang kneeled down and used his trembling hands to carefully push the tentacle back into his mouth.
Under everyone's gaze, Li Huowang coughed as he forcefully swallowed the Black Taisui.