Chapter 115: Dog

Chapter 115: The Dog

At dusk, along a winding forest path, Li Huowang walked in silence. According to the location he had obtained from the Anchizhi Nunnery, the end of this direction was a continuous range of mountains.

And the Ao Jing Cult he was searching for lived among these very mountains.

Ever since he had completely awakened from the Qingfeng Temple, he had been living with others; suddenly being alone was truly somewhat unsettling.

"So quiet," Li Huowang murmured to himself, gazing at the sparse woods around him. The further he went, the more barren the land appeared.

The silence all around gradually calmed his increasingly restless heart.

Raising his hands, he stretched vigorously, sighed, and lifted his right foot once more.

As he hurried along, night fell. Li Huowang took out a glowing stone from his bosom and continued his journey by its light.

But soon, he put the glowing stone away again, for the moon had come out, and today the sky was cloudless with a remarkably large moon.

The bright moonlight illuminated the forest path with perfect clarity.

Bathed in the pure moonlight, Li Huowang continued his solitary journey. He had been walking all day, his legs swollen and aching.

"If I manage to survive this, I'll have to learn how to ride a horse," Li Huowang thought to himself.

He walked until the full moon hung high in the sky, finally exhausted. Leaning against a nearby tree, he took out a hard steamed bun and began to gnaw on it, planning to just take a few bites before going to sleep.

Suddenly, Li Huowang's chewing jaws froze. His eyes stared unblinkingly at a point in the darkness; he had sensed something.

It wasn't just his sense of pain and taste; Li Huowang's other senses were gradually surpassing those of ordinary people, such as the distinct feeling that he was being watched. "Who's there?!"

Right after he spoke, a yellowish thing timidly crept out from the woods.

It was a large, rural mutt with white paws and yellow fur. It looked to be in terrible condition, having lost much of its hair, its body covered in ticks, and so emaciated that every rib was clearly visible.

"A dog?" Li Huowang looked left and right at the desolate surroundings; it hardly seemed like a place where a dog would be found.

The mutt's eyes were fixed on the cold steamed bun in Li Huowang's hand, its tongue flicking in and out, and surprisingly, it began to wag its tail at him.

"I don't care what you've transformed from, get lost!"

Frowning slightly, Li Huowang tapped his hand on the Record of the Myriad Realms.

Whether it was a real dog or a fake one, he just wanted to continue his journey and avoid any unnecessary complications.

The mutt timidly retreated a few steps, but it still didn't give up, wagging its drooping tail even more eagerly.

The bronze Daoist bell shook violently, and a piercing ringing instantly erupted, terrifying the mutt into bolting away.

Seeing the dog run into the woods, Li Huowang was just about to put the bell away when his expression instantly froze. "Damn it! Why right at this moment!"

In the pitch-black woods, the mutt, ears drooping, cautiously poked its head out from under the leaves once more, only to be met with an incomprehensible sight.

The man sitting under the tree wore a warm smile, his head tilted back as he spoke to the bright full moon in the sky.

"Dad, you came too? Yeah, I know, I'm fine, I'm doing great."

"Right, I know, you two aren't hallucinations, you aren't. My mind was a bit muddled before, but now... I can tell the difference."

After lingering nearby for a long while, seeing that the man showed no hostile intentions toward it, the mutt turned its gaze to the half-rolled steamed bun on the ground.

It cautiously crept forward, poking its head out, and just as it opened its mouth to grab it, the Daoist priest's words scared it back into hiding.

"Mom, I don't want to eat oranges, don't untie me, it's fine with both hands tied."

"By the way, did you exchange that gold for money? Did you pay off all the debts? Oh, that's good."

"Mom, you have more white hair now, go dye it. Didn't you used to like getting your hair permed?" Smiling faintly, Li Huowang raised his hand, reaching toward the moon hanging in the sky.

"Ah, don't ask about that, the gold was clean. Did you sell the jade pendant too? You didn't? Why didn't you sell it?"

The mutt cautiously circled twice more, and upon realizing the man truly wasn't paying attention to it, it crept forward again, swiftly snatching the bun and turning to run.

Because it was starving, once it ran into the woods, the mutt ate so hastily that it choked.

After catching its breath, it returned to the roadside, gazing longingly in that direction.

The dog's keen sense of smell detected that there was still food in the man's bundle, and even meat!

"Sell that jade pendant and buy our house back. Having your own house is what makes it a home."

"No, really, you don't need to save any treatment money for me. Just find a place and tie me up with an iron chain, that's enough."

"Mom, I'm not talking nonsense. Ah, don't cry, I'm really not having an episode right now."

"Whimper," the mutt tilted its head at the bizarre Li Huowang; it simply couldn't understand what he was doing.

Creeping forward cautiously and vigilantly once more, it began to crouch before Li Huowang, continuously wagging its tail. "Whimper."

Just then, the mutt noticed the man had suddenly paid attention to it, and it wagged its tail even more eagerly.

"Hehe, who gave me this cloth doll? It's so ugly, it looks just like a dog. A dog... wait!! Something's wrong! That dog is still here!"

Li Huowang, who had just been calm and composed, suddenly leaped to his feet, his face contorted as he hysterically roared at the mutt, "I told you to get lost! Do you want to die?!"

Terrified, the mutt darted into the woods in a flash.

When the timid creature cautiously poked its head out from the woods again, it saw the man, wearing an apologetic expression, speaking to the moon in the sky once more.

"Mom, don't be scared, this has nothing to do with you, I'm not having an episode. I just have some things to deal with over there."

"I'm really not having an episode. Why don't you guys leave first and come visit next time? I need to handle some things over there."

"Alright, I know. There is no 'over there'. Right, exactly, everything over there is a hallucination. I will actively cooperate with the doctor's treatment."

"Woof," the mutt barked at the red-robed Daoist priest.

Li Huowang instantly became alert, his unfocused eyes darting left and right. "No, there's a noise."

He slowly drew his long sword, vigilantly scanning everything around him.

His face full of vigilance, his expression then turned irritable.

"I can't explain it! I can't explain it at all! You guys leave first, just leave!!"

Li Huowang's anxious shouts echoed far, far away.

That night, Li Huowang stayed awake the whole night, doing his utmost within his hallucinations to guard against potential threats in reality through other means.

But when the hallucinations gradually faded, he realized his methods had been of no effect.

He was currently standing in the middle of a small river, holding the mutt from last night, while the dog affectionately licked his chin.

Quite a few things must have happened last night that he knew nothing about.

"Sigh... it really seems I can't be without someone by my side." Li Huowang, holding the dog, walked toward the shore.

(End of Chapter)