Chapter 742: Zuowang Dao

Chapter 742: The Dao of Forgetful Seating

Li Sui guided her carriage slowly through a secluded alleyway. Behind her followed two figures—one a gaunt man with a stubbled beard, the other Li Huowang, now clad in different attire.

This lean thief, who delighted in cutting open others’ purses, was Li Huowang’s target.

With each jolt of the carriage, a package the size of a pomelo gradually tumbled from the back. The gleam of silver within immediately captured the attention of the sly-eyed, rat-like man.

“Whip it!” With a flick of the whip, Li Sui’s carriage quickened its pace. The cloth-wrapped package bounced and finally fell to the ground, scattering some silver coins.

Once Li Sui’s carriage had sped away, Li Huowang, at the front, immediately dashed forward and picked up the pouch of silver.

He glanced around, then gave a soft “shhh” to the man watching him, lowering his voice. “Shhh! Don’t make a sound. Let’s split the loot over there! Half for each!”

“Okay... okay!!” Seeing the bulging package, the lean man trembled with excitement.

Watching this fool fall right into his trap, Li Huowang thought inwardly, *If all other scams fail, then I’ll follow the old tricks laid out in the Scam Manual.*

This one—called the lost-bag scam—was one of the most classic tricks found in the manual.

Though simple in method, this scam had been around for over a thousand years. Yet no matter how much time passed, people still fell for it.

It didn’t need to be new; as long as it worked, that was enough. Human hearts were always greedy, and scams exploiting these darker sides would never go out of fashion.

According to the procedure of the lost-bag scam, Li Sui pretended to return as the owner who had lost the silver. She played along with Li Huowang in a well-rehearsed duet.

One cried out that the money was missing and demanded to report to the authorities; the other cooperated by offering all his own money to prove his innocence.

Though the expressions were exaggerated, Li Sui performed with full seriousness.

Soon, Li Huowang left with the few coins he’d swindled from the lean man, heading off with Li Sui. They hid in the shadows, watching the man clutching the bag of silver.

After a while, when the man saw they hadn’t returned, he opened the package. He took an ingot of silver and stuffed it into his mouth, biting down hard. Then, grinning with joy, he left with the bag of silver.

“Hmm? What’s going on?” Li Huowang frowned in confusion. According to the script, this man should have realized the contents weren’t real silver but just plaster blocks.

Then he would’ve known he’d been duped—and Li Huowang should’ve received the non-gang (the reward from the trick). Why wasn’t this guy playing by the rules?

“Dad, he wasn’t fooled. There really was silver in that bag,” Li Sui said.

“I know, I know. But I clearly only put plaster in there. How did it turn into silver—”

She stopped mid-sentence, and Li Huowang suddenly understood. It seemed the plaster had been transformed into silver by his cultivation.

His ability to cultivate couldn’t be controlled. Now, since he could make his words come true, every lie he spoke became reality. So, was this still a scam?

Since the silver was real, he hadn’t been cheated. Everything was genuine.

Now, everything he said would become real. If it was real, then it wasn’t a scam—it was simply stating facts.

Cultivation without falsehoods could lead to madness, but for one who had reached the pinnacle of cultivation, trying to fake things might be nearly impossible.

“Let’s go! We’ll follow him.” Disappointed, Li Huowang took Li Sui and hurried after the lean man, hoping to make amends.

When they saw the man, his face beaming with joy, Li Huowang stared intently at the bag. He muttered under his breath, “That’s plaster! That’s plaster!”

Eventually, when the man arrived at a brothel and reached into the bag again to take out silver to spend, he discovered that all the silver had turned into plaster.

Panicking, he screamed and ran to confront Li Huowang, but there was no sign of him.

Normally, such a scam should have ended here. Yet Li Huowang still felt no non-gang flowing into his body. His attempt to fake things had failed once more.

It seemed he couldn’t use his cultivation to fake things and find a new path. Perhaps the two were incompatible. Either way, it wouldn’t work.

“Sigh. Fine, let it turn into silver and not give me anything—but why doesn’t it give me anything even when it turns back into plaster? Why is it so hard to fake a scam?”

After several failed attempts, Li Huowang looked at the sky growing dim and headed toward the inn with Li Sui.

As soon as he pushed open the door to his room, he saw Li Sui sitting on a stool, clearly upset.

“Father! You lied to me! You said you’d be back quickly! And yet you’re late!”

Just as she finished speaking, the Li Sui beside him vanished. Then, a chilling sensation crept up Li Huowang’s spine, flooding into his brain from behind his skull.

Though only a trace, Li Huowang instantly knew what it was. *This is the non-gang…*

Suddenly, he understood how faking worked. To fake something, one must use falsehoods—false lies, false things.

Using his cultivation to fake things meant that even the fake was real, which wasn’t faking but true cultivation.

To fake properly, he must not use anything real. Only by using the false could he create a true illusion.

“So that’s how it works!” Li Huowang exclaimed in excitement. He had finally grasped the secret of faking. It was simpler than he’d imagined.

Without waiting to explain to Li Sui who the other version of himself was, he turned and prepared to begin another round of deception.

Just as Li Huowang rejoiced that his journey to Qingqiu hadn’t been in vain, the figure of Xuan Pin appeared from the ground.

Looking at the familiar, irritating illusion of Xuan Pin, Li Huowang sensed the tiny stream of non-gang inside him and began to ponder.

This amount of non-gang was barely enough for even basic illusions. At best, it could only change his face.

Before Xuan Pin could speak, Li Huowang leaned back in his chair, and his face rapidly shifted. Soon, the eighteen-sided die replaced his head.

Li Huowang mimicked the die’s tone and laughed. “Heh heh heh. Xuan Pin, didn’t expect I had a backup plan, did you? Trying to kill me? Not that easy.”

Xuan Pin’s illusion stood motionless, but the wave of non-gang surging from behind Li Huowang’s skull made him lose control.

“Hahahaha! You believed it! You actually believed it!!!”

———

Next chapter updates at 00:10

(End of Chapter)