Chapter 16: The Brain

After Zhengkun's actions, Li Huowang's ribs were broken, leaving several dark dents on his body. Fortunately, it wasn't a big deal; he could manage to heal such minor injuries with the help of elixirs.

Compared to his injuries, he cared more about his own schemes.

It just so happened to be the first day of the lunar month when, during another clash, Li Huowang casually revealed the information about "Master You" he had learned from Bai Lingmiao.

Seeing a slight change in his expression, Li Huowang's heart leapt with joy.

In fact, he didn't know how the other party would act upon receiving this information, but he wanted to try anyways. Since he had nothing better to do, he might as well try his luck. Now it seemed that he had succeeded, and the other party definitely had their own agenda.

In the cave where day and night blended, the new moon came quickly, and that day was the best time for Master Danyang to make elixirs. He was supposed to be in the Alchemy Room all morning, and it also happened to be when "Master You" was away.

Although Qingfeng Taoist Temple wasn't very large nor too small, having lived there for so long, Li Huowang had already figured out Zhengkun's routines. However, he didn't do anything and stayed quietly in Zhengyi Hall, sitting cross-legged.

"Could it be that I guessed wrong? This guy isn't as greedy as I thought?" Li Huowang lay on his bed, pondering where he went wrong.

When fifteen days had passed and it was the beginning of the second lunar month, Zhengkun still hadn't done anything.

Just as Li Huowang thought he had made a mistake, on the fifteenth day of the second month, with Zhengyi Hall unusually empty and Zhengkun's regular visits unaccounted for, he finally lost patience.

Right when he saw Master Danyang start the furnace, Li Huowang hurriedly headed towards Master Danyang's residence, sticking to the original plan.

As he was about to reach the cave entrance, Li Huowang suddenly stopped in his tracks. He saw Zhengkun standing in the distance, not entering.

Watching him cautiously observing the doorway, Li Huowang immediately knew someone had taken his place; he was standing guard. The guy was even more wary than he had expected.

About half an hour later, Li Huowang saw Xuan Yin sneak out from the inside.

Zhengkun glanced at him, took out a black talisman, and stuck it on both of their knees, disappearing as quickly as a gust of wind.

The door was merely left ajar, as if it were a trap enticing people to enter.

Seeing that someone had already taken the role of a scout for him, Li Huowang knew that even if there had been preparations inside, Zhengkun had likely neutralized them. He slowly approached; this was his opportunity.

Master Danyang's residence was quite spacious, but it was messy and extremely dirty. Moreover, the place reeked of dead rats.

Despite the poor environment, Li Huowang immediately spotted the most valuable item—a stone slab covered by a net of black-lined copper coins.

Unsurprisingly, that stone slab must be the Heavenly Book mentioned by Master Danyang. He carefully walked over and inspected the content through the netting of black lines.

Zhengkun must have attempted to stealthily learn the Immortality Cultivation Technique, but judging from the scene, he hadn't succeeded.

Li Huowang meticulously examined the content of the Heavenly Book. The text was incredibly obscure and difficult to understand; they were pictographic characters, seemingly from an even more ancient era.

Even though the Chinese characters had changed the least over thousands of years, he still found them difficult to decipher.

The more he read, the more Li Huowang felt something was off. Didn't Master Danyang say that the path to immortality involved cultivating both internal and external elixirs? It seemed this guy hadn't followed the practice outlined on it at all.

"Suibu Puyin Qiange Po... Deru Yun Guangbu Puyin Ze... Miaohao Shen Ling Yiqie Huo Anle Jietuo..."

Moreover, this thing didn't look like the so-called Immortality Cultivation Technique at all, but rather a book of Scriptures.

"Hehe." A sinister giggle sent a chill down Li Huowang's neck, but when he quickly turned around, he found no one behind him.

Only a blue and white porcelain vase, as thick as a child's arm, protruded from the wall where a hole had been dug out.

"Something isn't right," thought Li Huowang, heart pounding with dread as he started to make his way back. Zhengkun apparently hadn't cleared out all the dangers.

"Don't move, okay?" A sharp and delicate female voice sounded from behind him.

Li Huowang slowly turned around again, the sight before him sending shivers up his spine. The narrow mouth of the vase now bore a ghostly white child's head.

To say it was a child, but the skin tone didn't quite seem human, especially the blush on both cheeks, which was frighteningly red.

Focusing on the excessively red dot in the middle of her forehead, the more Li Huowang looked, the more eerie it felt.

In that instant, he also realized how Master Danyang had been able to read the Heavenly Book to him—it was this very creature before his eyes.

"Are you with that man just now? Hehe, you're in big trouble now. All I have to do is shake this bell, and my daddy will come back." Tied to her topknot were several copper bells strung with red thread.

As the other party spoke, Li Huowang felt a desperate urgency, but the next second his expression suddenly became calm. "Go ahead and call, it would be good for your dad to come and learn that it was you who deceived him."

When he saw a flicker of panic cross the vase head's face, a cold laugh surged in Li Huowang's heart. He had guessed right; he wasn't the only one trying to fool the ignorant bald leader. This enigmatic being had already done so!

When the upper beams are not straight, the lower beams are crooked; every single one in Qingfeng Taoist Temple harbored devious intentions!

"This...this isn't my fault, the writing was too messy, I couldn't understand it at all. Dad forced me to read it to him, what could I do?" The vase head said plaintively, about to cry.

Seeing the distraught expression on the vase girl's face, Li Huowang pondered for a moment, then quickly made up his mind.

"Fine, let's make three rules. I will leave this place now, as if I never saw you, and you pretend you know nothing about me; it's for the best for both of us."

The vase head wobbled, eventually nodding in agreement. "Okay then, you'd better go quickly, I'll pretend you guys never came."

Li Huowang raised his foot and slowly moved towards the door. "Since the Heavenly Book is fake, were the pill recipes for refining people into elixir all made up by you?"

The vase head's face broke into a naive smile, "Yes, I only remember those things, so I made up those pill recipes as though they were written in the book and told dad. Don't worry, they won't kill anyone. I don't want my dad to die; I'm just afraid he'll find out I'm useless and won't want me anymore, you see I'm without hands or feet—"

Just as the vase head was getting carried away with her story, Li Huangwang suddenly raised his right hand, clutched the jade pendant, and forcefully smashed it against the vase.

The circular jade pendant, followed by a white shadow, struck the vase in an instant, cracks appeared, and under the terror of the vase head, she crashed heavily to the floor.

The vase shattered, and its innards wrapped in black Buddha beads, mixed with feces and urine, were thus exposed to the air.

"Wuwuwu~ Daddy!! It hurts, Daddy, it hurts so much." The wails of the vase head grew weaker and weaker.