Chapter 24: Plunder

Chapter 24: Scavenging

Since he had already resolved to leave, Li Huowang naturally had to suppress the recurrence of his hallucinations; otherwise, constantly drifting between illusion and reality, he would never be able to accomplish anything properly.

To keep the hallucinations at bay, the Black Tai Sui raised by Danyang Zi was the key.

When the group arrived at the cavern, they halted in their tracks, for they saw the Black Tai Sui actually crawling out of the black cauldron—this was their first time beholding its true form.

It was a massive, slick, and slimy bulk coated in mucus; at first glance, its covering resembled hair, but upon closer inspection, it revealed itself to be a dense growth of dark, elongated tentacles, or perhaps immature filaments.

Its entire body expanded and contracted freely, much like a gigantic maggot.

The bloated mass was riddled with orifices that, with each pulsating squirm, spewed forth a nauseating, foul stench.

The sight petrified everyone, their limbs turning to jelly, nearly prompting them to turn and flee.

Yet Li Huowang keenly sensed something amiss: the Black Tai Sui had shrunk considerably, and a dark liquid was continuously seeping from beneath it.

"What's going on? Could its life be tethered to Danyang Zi's?" Li Huowang's heart sank deeper and deeper.

With this thought, he dashed out swiftly, and upon his return, his hands clutched some of Danyang Zi's remains.

Li Huowang rushed to the Black Tai Sui, dropped to one knee, and with great effort scooped the writhing mass of rotting flesh into his arms, stuffing the remains in his hands into the crevices of its body.

It would have been better had he not stuffed them in, for the moment he did, even more black water oozed from its body, and it shrank even further.

Li Huowang's face was etched with anxiety, as if the writhing, twisted black monster cradled in his arms were not a monster at all, but his own sick child.

In his desperation, he grabbed the Black Tai Sui by its sides and gently shook it. "Hey, hey, hey, don't you scare me! If you die, what am I supposed to do?!"

The Black Tai Sui gave no response; none of the organs on its body showed any sign of movement anymore.

Watching the Black Tai Sui shrink smaller and smaller, Li Huowang grew ruthless, opening his mouth and biting fiercely into its flesh.

Li Huowang's actions utterly bewildered Bai Lingmiao and the others; they could only stand rooted to the spot, watching their blood-soaked Senior Brother Li tear ravenously at the writhing monster.

In their eyes, compared to the Black Tai Sui, Li Huowang looked far more like a monster at that moment.

Goudan sidled up to Zhao Wu and whispered, "How about we go our separate ways? Staying with him, I'm genuinely afraid he'll eat me while I'm sleeping."

A trace of fear began to creep into everyone's gaze as they looked at Li Huowang.

The condensed flesh of the Black Tai Sui was noticeably tougher, and chewing it felt like gnawing on a rubber tire to Li Huowang.

But he had no time to care about such things now, swallowing huge mouthfuls; yet no matter how much he ate, he could not outpace the Black Tai Sui's self-dissolution, and soon, only a layer of black skin remained in his arms.

"Um, Senior Brother Li, are you full? If you're full, can we set off now?" Gouwa asked with obsequious caution.

Li Huowang regretfully tossed the foul-smelling, fishy skin onto the ground; he had no idea how long this would hold off the hallucinations, only hoping to find another Black Tai Sui, or some other solution, before the illusions returned.

"I'm going to change my clothes." The remaining items were essentially worthless, and as for martial arts manuals or secret techniques, he could forget about them—Danyang Zi was completely illiterate.

Li Huowang peeled off his sticky Daoist robe and changed into a brand-new cyan one, instantly feeling refreshed all over.

Having changed, Li Huowang led the others toward the exit, explaining his actions to them as they walked.

Upon realizing that Li Huowang was using the Black Tai Sui's flesh to suppress his hallucinations, the suspense that had been weighing on their hearts finally lifted.

"Ah, so that's what it was! I thought Senior Brother Li was just starving," Gouwa chimed in with a jest, grinning to lighten the mood.

As they walked, a new fork appeared along the tunnel, and Li Huowang stopped as if compelled by some unseen force; the end of this tunnel led to Danyang Zi's quarters. "Should we go in and see how the three senior brothers are faring in their fight?"

Though he had no desire to meddle in their dog-eat-dog struggle, if possible, he did not want a new Danyang Zi to emerge.

"Let's go take a look." Li Huowang led a motley band of the frail and wounded in that direction.

Arriving at the door, Li Huowang found that the door he had just closed had not been opened, proving no one had come out.

"Senior Brothers, are you done fighting? We're leaving now," Li Huowang called out loudly into the room.

After waiting a moment with no response, Li Huowang pushed the door open; a pungent stench of blood assaulted their senses, and a blood-drenched hand was presented before everyone's eyes.

Everyone's gaze shifted upward, revealing an even more gruesome scene: Xuanyuan was dead, and died miserably, his body nearly cleaved in two by a sword.

Changren was also dead, stabbed from behind with a sword; Xuanyuan cultivated talismans, not the sword, so the only one who could have done this was his brother, Changming.

And Changming, the last one standing, was still in a dire state; his body had been pierced through and through by black threads strung with copper coins, stitching him entirely to the wall—it seemed he had triggered Danyang Zi's final trap.

Changming was not dead yet; his eyes, brimming with desire, remained fixed in a death stare upon the so-called Heavenly Book of Immortality.

"Cough, cough... cough~" Seeing Li Huowang enter, Changming on the wall seemed to want to say something, but the copper coins embedded in his neck had completely severed his windpipe, rendering him utterly speechless.

Li Huowang walked over to him, offered a smile, and bent down to pick up his sword.

It was a long sword, one meter and twenty centimeters in length; under the glow of the lamp oil, the blade reflected a cold gleam, looking exceptionally sharp.

After struggling to swing it a few times with one hand, Li Huowang said to Changming, "Fine sword. It seems Senior Brother won't be needing it for the time being, so I'll borrow it for now."

"Though your junior brother is no sword cultivator, when traveling the world, having a piece of iron in hand is always better than being empty-handed. Don't you agree, Senior Brother?"

Changming tried to signal something with his eyes, but it was clear Li Huowang couldn't understand it at all.

Li Huowang took the scabbard from the dead Changren, sheathed the long sword, and strapped it directly onto his back.

Then came the most important main event: the Heavenly Book.

Li Huowang turned and walked toward the Heavenly Book, which was now left entirely unprotected.

Just then, Changming suddenly began to struggle violently; with his thrashing, the copper coins on the black threads sank even deeper, and after just a few spasms, the light in his eyes rapidly dimmed.

"Senior Brother Li, Senior Brother Changming is dead," Gouwa said, his eyes wide with astonishment.

Li Huowang looked at the so-called Heavenly Book before him and sighed softly; it was just some object of unknown origin, yet so many had died because of it.

Li Huowang leaned his head closer once more, examining it carefully; this time, he was even more meticulous than when he had been coerced by Danyang Zi.

Yet after looking it over repeatedly, he still felt it was merely a piece of scripture; half-guessing, half-reading, it even seemed to be a scripture exhorting people to do good.

Li Huowang took a step back, then reached behind him with one hand and slowly drew his sword; with a resounding clang, the sword that could slice through iron as if it were clay struck heavily upon the stone slab engraved with the scripture.

(End of Chapter)