Chapter 472: Spirit Calamity

Chapter 472: Spirit Malice

"Four hundred?!" Li Huowang's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing the price. He didn’t even need to look at his gourd—he knew for certain there wasn't that much inside.

"Don’t think it’s expensive. This is an artifact from the Great Qi era, thousands of years ago. Where can you find monks who attain nirvana and produce relic bones now?"

Li Huowang truly wasn’t complaining about the cost; he simply didn’t have that many. He had been preoccupied with dealing with hallucinations and hadn’t remembered collecting those yangshou pills.

"How much was the eye-opening talisman before?" As long as Bai Lingmiao could see, he didn’t care if she became ugly.

"Five hundred." The eunuch’s words completely dashed Li Huowang’s idea of replacing it with a cheaper artifact. He hadn’t expected the eye-opening talisman to be more expensive than the relic bone.

He finally realized—among all the corrupt officials in this world, none were as black as the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau.

The yangshou pills he had risked his life to earn, only to come here and find nothing could be exchanged for them.

Without the yangshou pills, he couldn’t give Bai Lingmiao the relic bones. And without the relic bones, Bai Lingmiao would soon lose her sight—a fate Li Huowang could not tolerate.

Back when Li Zhi’s gourd contained only four yangshou pills, now he needed a full four hundred. Even if he had to steal, he wouldn’t know where to start.

"I’ve already killed her entire family—what is this small sacrifice compared to that? No matter what, I must get these relic bones for Bai Lingmiao!" With heavy steps, Li Huowang walked toward the outer part of the inner treasury.

He didn’t leave through the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau but instead went straight to the grand hall filled with screens—the place where the bureau accepted missions.

The people were still the same, but Li Huowang’s attitude toward them had shifted from hostility to calmness.

Though the people of the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau treated human lives as worthless, the world indeed could not function without them.

"Erjiu?! You’re still alive? I thought you were dead," Li Huowang didn’t bother to explain again when the man named Nan Gong said the same thing as Sima Lan had.

"I want to take on a mission. Which ones pay the most?" Li Huowang asked directly.

Seeing Li Huowang’s solemn expression, Nan Gong didn’t ask further. Instead, he handed him a book and said, "Look for yourself. The last page."

Li Huowang flipped open the book, and a red ink-written mission jumped out at him: “Spirit Malice, Red Middle, Life or Death Unimportant.”

He paused for a moment, then began flipping through the pages.

Red Middle, West Wind, White Board, Spirit Malice... several pages in a row were labeled “Spirit Malice.” The information from Liu Zongyuan had been correct—this bureau was truly at odds with the Spirit Malice Sect.

Although the rewards were substantial, Li Huowang really didn’t want to deal with those scammers.

They were all connected—those who relied on dog skin plasters. Kill one, and the troubles that followed would never end. Just like the previous encounter with Zhuge Yuan.

"Erxiong, you once spoke of avenging the Spirit Malice Sect. Why not take this mission?"

"I paid the price of one eye and already avenged that debt. I personally killed the elder who was killed by the Spirit Malice Sect."

After flipping through a few more pages, Li Huowang suddenly stopped. His fingers slowly traced over two brush-stroke characters. "Spirit Malice?"

Below that name came its reward: four hundred and thirty yangshou pills and five years of pure yangshou.

He raised his head and looked at Zhuge Yuan standing beside Nan Gong. "Spirit Malice? The 'Ling' generation?"

"Brother Li, this isn’t the Ling generation. All others are. Only this one isn’t," Zhuge Yuan showed a trace of disgust.

"That’s right—Spirit Malice," Nan Gong took over. "But do you really intend to accept this mission? Don’t let the pure yangshou fool you. Dealing with it is far less safe than dealing with the Spirit Malice Sect. At least it’s safer."

"This Spirit Malice is so dangerous? What kind of origin does it have?"

"Dangerous? Well, it’s a bit less dangerous than Heart Turmoil, Heart Silt, or Heart Dragon. Actually, whether it’s easy or hard to deal with depends entirely on what it’s attached to."

"If it’s attached to a person, it’s manageable—it’s just a mad half-immortal. But if it’s attached to some powerful evil spirit or something else... heh, then you’ll suffer."

"It’s like some kind of parasitic creature..." Li Huowang began asking Nan Gong for details about the Spirit Malice.

What puzzled him most was that the Spirit Malice’s abilities varied greatly depending on what it was attached to. Sometimes even their powers were completely opposite.

Looking through the records of the Spirit Malice in the book, Li Huowang began assessing whether his current strength could handle such situations.

After a while, he decided to accept the mission. With his new Red Middle strength, he was no longer the old Li Huowang. He might not fear the Spirit Malice.

Even if he couldn’t defeat it, running away was still possible.

And besides, not all Spirit Malices were powerful. The book also recorded how a monk had struck gold, finding one attached to a dog tail grass and gaining a great advantage.

"I’ll take this one. No need to choose anymore," Li Huowang extended his finger through the red seal paste and pressed firmly on the book.

"Fine. These are four places the bureau’s spies found where Spirit Malice may exist. You can check them all."

"You want me to go look?" Li Huowang reached out to take the map.

"Of course. Do you think such generous rewards are given for free? But now that your badge has reached the flag level, you can bring more people to help. That will reduce the risks."

Li Huowang didn’t plan to team up like he did with Ji Xiang. He took the map and turned to leave.

Adding another person meant splitting the reward. If the reward was divided, it wouldn’t even cover the cost of the relic bones.

After staying only one night in the small courtyard in the capital city, Li Huowang continued traveling with Li Sui and Bai Lingmiao.

He had thought he’d find the Spirit Malice quickly, but to his surprise, the first two locations were fake—no trace of the Spirit Malice anywhere.

One and a half months passed in the blink of an eye.

*Tap tap tap.* Bai Lingmiao lay on her side, holding a wooden stick, beating the red Daoist robe on the riverbank stone.

After pounding for a while, she picked up the robe, dipped it in the rushing river, and rubbed it against the stone.

Without a washing agent, this was the best way to clean it.

After washing Li Huowang’s clothes, she washed her own carefully—these were the clothes Brother Li had bought for her in the capital.

The clothes were beautiful, and she liked them very much.

After thoroughly cleaning all her clothes, she stood up and picked up a bamboo stick about the thickness of a finger. She tapped it ahead of her as she walked toward the carriage.