Chapter 161: Unexpected Gain

Chapter 161: An Unexpected Harvest

With his single hand, Li Huowang stuffed a piece of charred, golden-brown steamed bun into his mouth, chewing slowly.

His gaze was vacant as he stared at the campfire before him, his mind calculating the potential remnants they might encounter ahead.

They were on their way to Siqi, accompanied by three second-hand carriages, acquired by selling their camels and adding a bit of silver.

The journey ahead was long and arduous; without carriages, they could not proceed.

A pair of chopsticks holding a steaming bowl of noodles with a few slices of cured meat was brought to Li Huowang's lips, waiting for him to open his mouth.

Frowning slightly, Li Huowang turned his head away just a fraction. "I can eat by myself. No need to feed me."

"Senior Brother Li, how can you eat with only one hand? Let me feed you until it grows back. By the way, how much longer will it take for your hand to regrow?"

Hearing the deep concern in Bai Lingmiao's voice, Li Huowang raised his right arm, staring at the empty sleeve. A bitter smile touched his eyes as he murmured, "It'll grow back soon. Very soon."

"But it's been three days since it was severed, and there's not a single sign of it." Bai Lingmiao reached out and rolled up Li Huowang's sleeve, gazing at the already healed stump.

"Already the third day?" Li Huowang's pupils contracted. As if remembering something, he immediately stood up and scanned the barren Gobi desert to his left and right, seemingly searching for something.

Soon, he found what he was looking for and strode toward a large boulder in the distance.

"Senior Brother Li, where are you going? If you don't eat now, the noodles will get soggy!"

"I'm going to take a leak. Don't follow me!"

Arriving at the boulder, which resembled a small hill, Li Huowang glanced at the distant figures now reduced to tiny black dots, then stepped into the shadow of the massive rock.

Behind the stone, there was nothing but the barren ground, which was exactly what Li Huowang wanted.

Facing the boulder, he sat cross-legged. A hint of hesitation crossed his expression, but ultimately, he drew his sword and sketched a human figure on the rock face.

"Mom, you've worked hard all this time," Li Huowang said softly to the sketched figure.

"Mom, I'm lucid now. Could you please bring me my phone? Today is her birthday, and I want to give her a call."

"Don't untie me. Just dial it for me. Her number is on the second row of my contacts."

Taking out a sharp little trowel, Li Huowang gently traced the face of the figure. Before long, a crude yet somewhat familiar face emerged before him.

Li Huowang couldn't draw; the sketch was ugly, yet to his eyes, the mural was more beautiful than anything else in the world. "Happy birthday, Nana."

"Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you..."

Alone, Li Huowang smiled as he gazed at the mural he had drawn on the boulder, singing softly and tenderly.

His voice did not carry far before it was torn to shreds by the merciless, howling winds of the Gobi.

"I'm sorry, Nana. I can't be by your side for your birthday this year. I can only congratulate you in this way. I'll make up for the gift when I have the time." Smiling, Li Huowang reached out and gently caressed the face of the mural.

Having said that, Li Huowang leaned in softly, pressed a kiss to the mural, and pushed himself up with his single hand.

Little did he know, the moment he turned around, he found himself face to face with a red veil. It was Bai Lingmiao's Er Shen, who had just witnessed the entire scene, both heartwarming and eerie.

"Shut up." Li Huowang tossed these two words at her, then turned and walked back toward the distant carriages.

When he returned, he found that everyone else had finished eating and was chatting idly.

Li Huowang reached out and took the bowl of noodles from Bai Lingmiao's arms, set it directly on the ground, and slurped it down with his single hand and chopsticks.

After wolfing down more than half, a crisp metallic clink made his body instinctively tense. He had heard that sound somewhere before.

He looked up toward the source of the noise and saw Gouwa sitting on the ground, prying at something with his knife.

Li Huowang stood up and walked over to him. "What are you doing?"

Li Huowang's words startled Gouwa. He looked up, a sheepish grin on his face, and reached down to pick up the object from the ground.

"Nothing much. I just saw how much we're spending and thought I'd scrounge up a bit more for everyone."

It was a row of old, blackened copper coins, looking as though they had been recently burned. Li Huowang recognized the object; it was the brass mask from the face of the dwarf who had performed the shadow puppetry.

He also remembered that Er Bing had taken it and worn it on her face earlier.

The blackened copper coin mask was now covered in numerous scratches. It was obvious that Gouwa had been trying to pry the coins loose for use.

"I just thought it was a waste to throw them into the ashes like that. It's at least a hundred copper coins, after all. It'd be too wasteful to throw them away, so I picked them up."

"I didn't plan to keep them for myself. I was just thinking of prying them out and giving them to Junior Sister Bai for safekeeping. But I never expected the thin chains connecting the coins to be so hard; I couldn't pry them open no matter what I tried."

Li Huowang took the object and ran his hand over the coins, easily wiping away the black soot.

The great fire had not harmed the object in the slightest. The thin, old chains threaded through the holes of each coin, forming a bizarre copper coin mask.

The coins were like ordinary ones, round on the outside and square on the inside, with four large characters inscribed in a circle that Li Huowang did not recognize.

"Dao... Dao... Daoguang... Tong... ah Tong... ah Tongbao!" Gao Zhijian translated for Li Huowang.

"Daoguang Tongbao?" Li Huowang didn't know which country's currency it was, nor did he care. What he was considering now was the intrinsic value of the object itself.

After careful thought, Li Huowang called Mantou over and placed the mask on its head to see if there were any hidden dangers.

What happened next surprised him. Although Mantou was right in front of him, shaking its head and pawing at its head with its front paws, Li Huowang felt as if there were no dog before his eyes at all.

That night, the dwarf had worn this very mask and ambushed him without a sound. If Er Shen hadn't warned him beforehand, he might have truly fallen for his trick.

Later, when Er Bing wore this thing to hide in the crowd, he had actually been unable to find her quickly.

From these two points, it was clear that this object was some kind of magical artifact capable of concealing one's aura.

"This thing... seems useful to me."

Li Huowang stared at the object, his eyes gradually brightening. "It's not just useful. This thing is of great use to me!"

He didn't know exactly why, but in this world, anyone with even a slight bit of ability could easily see that he was a Xin Su.

And this object might prevent that from happening ever again. He would never be Tang Monk's flesh again!

(End of Chapter)