Chapter 743: Intelligence

Chapter 743: Intelligence

Seeing Li Huowang laughing with his head thrown back, Xuan Pin immediately realized he had been played for a fool.

“Is this amusing to you?” Xuan Pin’s tone, rare and uncharacteristically cold, carried a hint of displeasure.

“Amusing? Of course it is. After all, you’ll lose some flesh too. What harm is there in spending a little effort to aid my cultivation?” Li Huowang clutched his stomach and burst into laughter once more.

Seeing that Xuan Pin did not move, Li Huowang stood up and wiped his face with his hand. The dice returned to the shape of Li Huowang’s face.

“Don’t be so stingy. You scheme against others every day, and now that someone tricks you, you’re upset? How about this—let’s call it even over what happened with the Earth Dragon last time.”

Regardless, Li Huowang felt he had struck gold. He had used but a sliver of non-force, effortlessly turning four ounces into a hundredfold gain.

And to see Xuan Pin humiliated was also a form of revenge for the Earth Dragon incident.

Xuan Pin seemed uninterested in replying to Li Huowang’s taunts and instead spoke directly of her purpose. “I summoned you here to tell you—Tai Shan Shi has confessed.”

“Oh?!” Hearing this, Li Huowang’s smile vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden seriousness. “Can I take a look?”

“Of course.” Xuan Pin moved to Li Huo’s side, extending her bony fingers to place them on Li Huowang’s shoulder. Everything around them shifted rapidly in an instant.

When Li Huowang came to his senses, he found himself in a dark, damp dungeon. At first, the outlines around him swayed slightly, but soon they became vividly real.

“Hm? Hm...” Xuan Pin looked around in mild surprise.

“What is it? Is there danger?” Li Huowang quickly sensed that this illusion was different from the previous one.

He touched the iron bars beside him, feeling their coldness and rust, and couldn't help but stare at Xuan Pin in amazement.

“Xuan Pin, you’ve got it going on! You can transport me straight from Qingqiu back to Siqi! With such a powerful ability, why didn’t you use it earlier?”

Compared to the celestial flying technique of the former Grand Minister, this kind of teleportation covering hundreds of miles truly qualified as the power of a terrestrial immortal.

“...” After a few breaths, Xuan Pin slowly nodded and said, “You know how I like to keep secrets. I don’t trust easily. That’s why I didn’t tell you before.”

Li Huowang hadn’t expected anyone could be so shameless as to openly say such things.

“We’ll talk about this later. The matter at hand is more important. Where is Tai Shan Shi now?”

“This way,” Xuan Pin said, leading Li Huowang deeper into the dungeon.

Following the steps lined with black peach talismans, Li Huowang finally saw Tai Shan Shi submerged in black water floating with numerous talismans.

Compared to his previously cold demeanor, he now appeared extremely emaciated.

His eyes were sunken, his face darkened, and he looked as though he might die at any moment.

Even more peculiar was that his skull was open, revealing a bloody hole in the air.

“Welcome, welcome. You’ve both arrived,” said Zheng Boqiao, looking surprised at Li Huowang and Xuan Pin.

“Did the Siqi Celestial Bureau personally interrogate him? What did they learn?” Li Huowang asked succinctly.

“You can see for yourself.”

Zheng Boqiao took out a blue-and-white ceramic spoon adorned with a “blessing” character and inserted it into the hole in Tai Shan Shi’s head. With a grating sound, he scraped out a large spoonful of bone marrow.

He then ate it like egg drop soup, using his body as a bowl to refine it into a pill.

Li Huowang frowned upon seeing this. “I’m done watching. Just tell me.”

Zheng Boqiao blinked, regurgitated what he had eaten, chewed it once more, and swallowed it again.

“There isn’t much useful information, but we learned from his mind that the sect has a contingency plan. If the Siqi battle goes badly, they intend to spend great effort to summon a deity down from heaven.”

“Summon a deity? Who? The God Yu’er?” Li Huowang frowned.

“No, the God Yu’er cannot descend—it would have already come if it could. It’s precisely because of this that the sect is stirring up trouble here.”

“It must be something below the rank of the God of Fate, not the God of Fate itself,” Zheng Boqiao added.

Below the God of Fate? Li Huowang recalled those beings he had waited for outside Baiyu Jing.

“Something like the God of Joy?” Li Huowang had fought such creatures before. These malevolent spirits were indeed formidable.

“No, the God of Joy doesn’t need to be summoned—it’s already beneath us. Just shout and it will appear. It’s far more powerful than the God of Joy.”

“Since Tai Shan Shi came from Da Qi, that’s all he knows. Other details were probably not shared with them.”

Li Huowang glanced at the content reflected in the rotating mirror. If the war turned unfavorable, it was likely happening now.

The Liang army had already reached the border of Siqi. If the sect didn’t send reinforcements, they would inevitably be gradually devoured.

Li Huowang thought for a moment and looked at Xuan Pin. “If something like this really descends, do you have a countermeasure?”

Xuan Pin replied, “We can’t wait until they summon it. Since we know their intentions, we should strike before they bring it forth.”

“Sending troops to launch a full-scale campaign would be too obvious. To avoid alerting them, we should send a few skilled individuals to disrupt their plans.”

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think I’m the only one?” Li Huowang complained.

“Those capable should bear the burden. Others will follow, but only you can make me truly confident. To be honest, you’ve surpassed me now.”

“Stop flattering me. I’m still tied up. Deal with this yourself.”

Li Huowang wasn’t unwilling to go—he would gladly foil the sect’s plans—but his cultivation method had just begun, and whether its side effects could be neutralized remained uncertain.

Without resolving this troublesome mess, who knew what unforeseen events might occur on the battlefield?

“No rush, no rush,” Zheng Boqiao said. “We’ll also send agents inside the sect to verify the truth. Let me know when you’re ready. If you can make it, great; if not, that’s fine too.”

Li Huowang cast one final glance at the dazed Tai Shan Shi, then left the dungeon.

“Xuan Pin, remember to bring my daughter back from Siqi.”

After Li Huowang departed, silence fell over the dungeon. Both Xuan Pin and Zheng Boqiao exchanged glances and shook their heads in resignation.

“This man is simply impossible to get along with.”

“It’s fine. His fate is not good. Once the great calamity passes, he won’t have much contact with us anymore.”

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Next chapter updates at 11:30 PM.

(End of Chapter)