Chapter 836: Search

Chapter 836: Searching

The problem now was that in all of Great Qi, there was no one else left. Except for this place, which at least showed some semblance of order, everywhere else people were starving and gnawing on grass.

If there was no suspicion elsewhere, then even the smallest possibility could still occur—only they could be responsible.

Though the sky had not changed in the slightest, within Li Huowang’s heart, time continued to pass slowly.

Just as the fourth hour had just passed, footsteps echoed from outside the granary. It was Chan Du, his hands empty.

Calmly, Chan Du respectfully bowed before Li Huowang, who sat atop the grain, “Master Li, the Qian family has already divined where your sword is!”

“Please, Master Li, come with us to verify this. The previous assassination attempt was not done by us.”

Li Huowang jumped down from the grain. “Abbot, monks do not speak falsehoods. I hope you’re not leading me into a trap.”

Chan Du frowned slightly but said nothing, leading Li Huowang out.

“You found them earlier? Then why didn’t you tell me?”

Chan Du remained silent, continuing to lead Li Huowang outward.

When Li Huowang followed Chan Du outside the city walls, he saw the families of the military, the ink sect, the Bright Wheel Hall, even a follower of the Luo Sect and two adherents of the Ao Jing Sect, all armed with various weapons surrounding him.

“What are you planning?” Li Huowang’s body began to ignite again.

“Immortal, we merely wish to help you retrieve your weapon,” replied one of them.

Hearing this, Li Huowang realized the worst-case scenario hadn’t happened after all.

“Let’s go. Where are they?” Li Huowang led the way, not caring about what exactly was going on right now—the most important thing was retrieving his sword!

“There’s a village called Jiudu in the southwest. They should be there.”

Li Huowang quickened his pace, but immediately a doubt arose in his mind: if it wasn’t Chan Du and his group who acted, who else in Great Qi would want to harm him?

On the way, Li Huowang pondered this question, yet no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with an answer.

In such a state, how could anyone not be thinking about food instead of coming here to ambush him? Were they still hungry?

When Li Huowang pulled himself back together, he found himself at Jiudu Village—a ruined little settlement that looked completely abandoned.

Others gradually spread out, encircling the entire village.

From a nearby rotating mirror, Li Huowang saw that there were indeed living people inside, confirming they had come to the right place.

Clearly, these weren't ordinary civilians—if they were, they wouldn’t stay here instead of seeking sustenance in Youdu; they’d starve to death.

As soon as Li Huowang gave the command, everyone from Great Qi rushed in. The once quiet village suddenly filled with killing intent.

Those who had laid ambushes earlier had already been mostly burned by Li Huowang, so few remained in the village, and many were injured.

Six men faced off against the entire force of Great Qi, clearly no match. This sudden confrontation ended quickly with four enemies dead and two wounded.

“Immortal! Your sword!” Chen Yurong held up the spine sword and presented it to Li Huowang.

But when Li Huowang grasped the sword, his face showed no joy. “This isn’t Zhuge Yuan’s spine! This is mine! The other one is the key!”

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gaze toward the two survivors.

“Where is the other sword?” Li Huowang trembled with rage, pulling out torture tools and walking toward them.

Seeing Li Huowang approach, the two exchanged glances and closed their eyes.

Noticing something amiss, Chan Du grabbed his prayer beads and stabbed them into their flesh—but he was too late. Their bodies exploded instantly.

“Shit!!” Li Huowang roared, the living gone, the trail broken again.

He turned his gaze toward Chan Du. “Find them! The Qian family can calculate, can’t they? Have them find the spine sword! That’s the key!” But Chan Du's next words made his body feel like plunging into an icy pit.

“Master Li, that object is the heartworm’s spine—it cannot be divined.”

With furrowed brows, Li Huowang wandered around for a while before turning his attention to the corpses. “Is there anyone among us from the Immortalist Sect?”

“Master? What is the Immortalist Sect?”

“Never mind, let’s try anything.” Li Huowang picked up a head from the ground, carefully peeled off the skin to reveal the skull.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and muttered, “I can see, I can see!”

After repeating this several times, Li Huowang opened his eyes wide, tore open the skull, inserted his finger into the brain matter, flipping through it like pages of a book.

The white substance became increasingly chaotic under his fingers, but even after turning into a bloody mess, no images or words emerged.

“Shit!!” Li Huowang slammed the head onto the ground and stamped on it fiercely.

It didn’t work—his cultivation abilities were useless in this situation!

But just as Li Huowang was furious, he noticed something odd about the exploded corpse. “Hmm?”

His anger vanished instantly as he crouched beside the torn body, silently digging into the blood-soaked stomach.

“Master Li, have you discovered something?” asked Chan Du approaching.

Li Huowang, whose expression had grown grim, said nothing, stood up, and went to another corpse, tearing open its belly and starting to search again.

He didn’t just look at these two corpses—he searched all six bodies. Each time he turned over a body, his face grew darker.

When Li Huowang knelt before the sixth corpse, Liang Yuxuan from Bright Wheel Hall finally couldn’t hold back and stepped forward. “Immortal, have you found something?”

Li Huowang pulled out a soft, bloody bag from the corpse. “Do you know what this is? It’s a stomach.”

Then he sliced open the stomach, releasing a pungent odor that made Liang Yuxuan step back in disgust.

“Look, this guy had quite a good diet. See, this is an egg.” Li Huowang selected some yellow mushy bits.

He sniffed the stomach. “And he drank wine before coming here.”

Seeing Liang Yuxuan’s confusion, Li Huowang explained, “Still don’t get it? Something was wrong with what they ate!”

Pointing to the first corpse, “Leek pancake.” Then to the second, “Scrambled tofu with scallions.”

Each time he pointed to a body, he named a dish. Finally pointing to the one beneath him, “Stir-fried spring onion eggs.”

“There’s a problem now—these things I never brought from Great Li to Great Qi. How did they eat them?”

There wasn’t enough food to begin with—how could they afford to carry spring onions, leeks, scallions, or wine?

“Unless…”

Liang Yuxuan started speaking, but was cut off by Li Huowang. “Unless they aren’t from Great Qi!”

After saying that, Li Huowang seemed to lose all strength, slumping heavily, speaking softly to himself.

“Yes... I should’ve figured it out sooner. They’re definitely not from Great Qi...”