Chapter 315: Talisman

Chapter 315: The Talisman

The iron-clad wheel rolled slowly along the dirt road, its weight—borne by Hei Tai Sui and Li Huo Wang’s luggage—pressing deeply into the muddy ground, leaving behind a series of tire tracks.

Li Huo Wang, who was guiding the horse with reins, glanced over at the steaming bun beside him, its tongue lolling out repeatedly. With a swift motion, he reached out and grabbed a piece of skin from its neck, lifting it bodily onto the cart.

“Bang bang bang bang,” the bun's swaying tail struck the wooden cart like a club, making a rhythmic clatter.

He pushed away the dog-like head that came close for affection and muttered irritably, “Behave!”

With that, he pulled out the note that Tuoba Danqing had given him earlier. As before, there was an address here, but unlike previous times, this one didn’t specify what kind of trouble awaited him.

Instead, it merely indicated that two "Yellow Letter Spies" had been lost in this place, and warned whoever came next to proceed with caution.

Li Huo Wang didn’t know how strong these so-called Yellow Letter Spies were, but he was certain this mission would not be small. Otherwise, Tuoba Danqing wouldn’t have said that after completing this task, he could rise from a Gui Soldier to a Ren Warrior.

Though he knew this journey might be dangerous, he wasn’t afraid. After all he’d been through, he had grown numb. If someone no longer feared death, then nothing else mattered.

Li Huo Wang took out the dark blue talisman scroll again and began flipping through it. The first page contained a brief overview.

“Once upon a time, a sage named He Dao saw traces of celestial birds and insects in the sand and realized they held innate spiritual mechanisms. Thus, he studied them carefully…”

In short, a man named He Dao—or perhaps a Daoist surnamed He—discovered a way to harness the power of heaven and earth from the sounds of birds and beasts. The sounds used to summon spiritual energy were called talismans; the marks left by insects or stars were known as talismanic diagrams.

But such things were just stories to Li Huo Wang. He didn’t believe that the power of heaven and earth could be seen and still harm the user. Who knew which chaotic force of this world he was borrowing?

This madness-ridden world had everyone following their own logic, most of which contradicted each other.

Forget about heavenly energies, Three Pure Ones, Five Directions of Buddha realms—he didn’t care if any of it was real. As long as it helped him, even if it meant the Jade Emperor himself had descended, he’d believe it.

“Draw the same stroke in order, start with four, then draw a left-down slash and vertical stroke, beneath that write ‘chou,’ under ‘chou’ write double fire characters, reverse four circles to form a lotus…”

Though the blind man Chen had said this talisman carried great danger, using it was no easy feat.

To draw a talisman, one must chant incantations in one’s heart. Even a single mistake in drawing or reciting could render the talisman useless. Worse yet, once drawn, one couldn’t see whether it was correct or not.

If Li Huo Wang wanted to master this talisman scroll, he’d have to put in serious effort.

Frankly speaking, he found this far more troublesome than the *Great Thousand Records*. Though the latter came with a heavy price, it was much easier to use.

A strip of bright yellow ginger paper lay on the cart. Li Huo Wang bit his finger and began copying the talisman from the scroll.

“...Heaven’s essence, Earth’s essence, the brilliance of sun and moon, heaven and earth unite in essence, sun and moon shine together!”

After chanting the words in his mind, he slapped the talisman onto the horse’s back. In the next moment, a thick, muffled whisper echoed faintly in his ears.

Before he could listen closely, the black horse neighed loudly, its dark purple veins bulging beneath its skin as it suddenly galloped forward.

The wind lifted the black straw hat from Li Huo Wang’s head, revealing a face that had grown halfway across his features.

The creaking of the wheels made him tense. “Will the cart fall apart if we keep going like this?”

Fortunately, after a while, once he removed the talisman from the horse, it calmed down.

Yet in that short time, the cart had already traveled several li—unbelievably fast. This talisman worked better than he’d expected.

But when the sweating black horse arrived at the riverbank and drank greedily, Li Huo Wang wiped the red liquid oozing from the horse’s back—it looked like oil—and thought to himself, “Is this really without risk?”

“Woof woof!” Suddenly, the steaming bun barked fiercely at the roadside.

Li Huo Wang looked up and saw a peddler carrying a basket on his shoulder.

As the peddler walked ahead, Li Huo Wang quickly urged the horse after him. They were almost there, and he needed to ask someone local for clarification.

“Hey, peddler, wait up!”

The peddler, noticing the copper coin sword on Li Huo Wang’s back and the red Daoist robe, wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, set down his pole, and asked, “What do you need, sir?”

“I’m not looking for anything specific. Since we’re heading the same way, why not travel together? More people mean more safety. No need to worry about bandits robbing us.”

“You jest, sir. I don’t know about other places, but here, there are no bandits. It’s better to fear wild animals in the forest.”

“You can’t be serious. I’ve heard this place is quite dangerous.” Li Huo Wang cast his line, and the peddler immediately took the bait.

“It’s a county matter, not ours. There are merchants in town, so we don’t need to worry.” The peddler shrugged indifferently.

“Oh? I’d love to hear more. I’m new here and don’t know much.”

But when Li Huo Wang pressed further, the peddler fell silent, his expression filled with fear, as if avoiding something.

Li Huo Wang didn’t press further and instead looked at the goods on the peddler’s pole. “What do you have in there?”

Seeing a sale coming, the peddler perked up. “I’m a food peddler, of course! Soap paste, sesame balls, milk sugar glaze—I’ve got them all.”

After buying half the snacks from his basket, Li Huo Wang asked again. After hesitating, the peddler finally spoke.

Glancing nervously around the woods, he leaned close and whispered, “I’ll tell you, but don’t go spreading it around. They say, ahead in Cangshui County, there’s a ghost haunting it.”

“A ghost?” Li Huo Wang blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected to hear such a thing from another person.

“Yes. Didn’t you hear? It’s the Ghost Festival in July. Well, the King of Hell forgot to close the gates! So all sorts of spirits from the underworld escaped.”

Li Huo Wang didn’t believe a word of it. If this guy knew the King of Hell forgot to close the gates, he should’ve been working in the palace, not selling trinkets.

"Just tell me what happened in Cangshui County. No exaggerations."

(End of Chapter)