Chapter 24 - Plunder

Since he planned to go with Bai Lingmiao and the others, Li Huowang had to suppress his hallucinations. Otherwise, he would forever be stuck alternating between reality and hallucination, and would not be able to do anything productive.

The Black Taisui reared by Dan Yangzi was the key to suppressing his hallucinations.

The group came before the cavern and stopped. They could see the Black Taisui climb out from the dark cauldron. This was the first time they saw the true appearance of a Black Taisui.

It was a large, slimy, and sticky black mass. At first glance, it seemed like there was hair covering its entire body. However, upon closer inspection, it was revealed that they were actually slender tentacles, or filaments that had yet to mature.

Its entire body was like a giant maggot that expanded and shrank freely.

At the same time, there were several openings along its swollen body that released a nauseating stench whenever the creature quivered.

This scene made everyone feel weak in their knees; in fact, they were so shocked that they almost turned around and fled.

However, Li Huowang could astutely sense that something was amiss. This Black Taisui was significantly smaller, and the black liquid was constantly leaking out from beneath it.

What’s going on? Could its life be interlinked with Dan Yangzi’s?

Li Huowang felt his heart sink.

With that in mind, he quickly dashed out. When he returned, he was holding parts of Dan Yangzi’s remains.

Li Huowang then dashed to the Black Taisui’s side and knelt down on one knee. He then laboriously collected the squirming rotten flesh into his embrace and pushed Dan Yangzi’s remains in toward the gaps on the Black Taisui’s body.

However, once he stuffed the remains in, even more black liquid seeped out from the Black Taisui’s body, and its body shrank even further.

Li Huowang’s face was filled with anxiety; it was as though he was not holding a wriggling black creature, but his own sick child.

Unsettled, he grabbed the sides of the Black Taisui and gently shook it. “Hey, hey! Don’t scare me like this. What am I going to do if you end up dying?”

However, the Black Taisui showed no response—there were no signs of any movement from its body.

As it turned smaller, Li Huowang decided to be ruthless—he opened his mouth and began to forcefully bite down on its body.

Li Huowang’s sudden actions dumbfounded Bai Lingmiao and the rest. They could only stand on the spot and watch the bloodied Senior Li carry the quivering creature, tearing into it with big bites.

From their perspective, Li Huowang was behaving more like a monster than the Black Taisui.

Puppy moved to Zhao Wu’s side and whispered, “Should we go off on our own? If we go with him, I’m afraid he is going to eat me up while I sleep.”

Fear crept into their eyes as they continued to watch him.

Meanwhile, the shrunken Black Taisui’s flesh had visibly tightened when Li Huowang started to bite it. This made Li Huowang start to feel like the item he was gnawing at was a tire.

But he couldn’t care about such things anymore and continued to devour it in big mouthfuls. However, no matter how much he ate, he could not catch up to the rate at which it was dissolving into black liquid. Not long after, there was only a layer of black skin left in his lap.

“Senior Li, have you eaten your fill? Can we leave now?” Puppy asked warily.

Li Huowang tossed the sticky and smelly layer of skin onto the ground with regret. He did not know how long its effect would last this time before his next hallucination. He could only hope that he would find another Black Taisui or some other way to suppress his hallucinations.

“I’ll change my clothes first,” said Li Huowang.

The remaining items were practically worthless. There was no point in gathering the “cultivation technique manuals” since Dan Yangzi could not read.

Li Huowang took off his sticky Taoist robes and changed into a brand-new green set, immediately feeling refreshed.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

After he finished changing, he led the group toward the entrance while explaining the rationale behind his actions.

When Li Huowang explained that he had merely been trying to use the flesh of the Black Taisui to control his hallucinations, they could finally put their minds at ease.

“Ah, I see. I had just assumed that Senior Li was hungry.” Puppy cracked a joke to lighten the atmosphere.

There was a new fork in the passageway in front of them, with one of the paths leading to Dan Yangzi’s residence.

Li Huowang stopped, feeling curious.

Should we go in and check the aftermath of the battle between our three Seniors?

While he did not want to get involved in their feud, he did not want to see a new Dan Yangzi being born either.

“Let’s go and take a look.” Li Huowang led his group toward the direction of Dan Yangzi’s room.

When they reached outside Dan Yangzi’s residence, Li Huowang found that the door that he had closed previously had not been opened. This showed that nobody had left Dan Yangzi’s room.

“Seniors, are you guys finished? We’re leaving.” Li Huowang called out.

After waiting for a while without any response, he pushed open the door. A pungent stench of blood welcomed them, while a palm dripping fresh blood appeared before them.

Everyone looked upward, only to see an even more gruesome scene. Xuan Yuan was dead, killed in a terrible fashion. His body was almost cleaved in half by a sword.

Meanwhile, Chang Ren was also dead, stabbed in the back by someone else. Xuan Yuan was more of a scholar than a warrior, so this could have only been done by his brother, Chang Ming.

And the one who survived till the end, Chang Ming, was not in good shape either. His body had been pierced through by the black lines and copper coins hanging around the sacred text, pinning him to the wall; he seemed to have triggered one of Dan Yangzi’s traps.

Chang Ming was not yet dead. His eyes were filled with desire continued to stare resolutely at that so-called sacred text containing the method to attain Immortality.

“Cough cough~”

Upon seeing Li Huowang walk in, Chang Ming who was pinned to the wall seemed to want to say something. However, the copper coins embedded in his neck had completely severed his trachea, making him unable to speak.

Li Huowang walked up to him and smiled before bending down to pick up his sword.

This was a longsword that measured 1.2 meters long. The blade reflected the cool light from the oil lamp, making it seem very sharp.

Li Huowang exerted some of his strength to brandish it for a few strokes and then said to Chang Ming, “It’s a good sword. Senior, it seems like you won’t be able to use this sword for now, so Junior will make good use of it from now on. While Junior is not a swordsman, it’s better to have a weapon in my hands than having to use empty fists out there, don’t you agree?”

Chang Ming tried to use his expression to hint at something, but Li Huowang could not understand him.

Li Huowang then took the scabbard from Chang Ming’s body before sheathing the sword and hanging it on his back.

Next was the most important part, the sacred text.

Li Huowang turned toward the sacred text without any sort of protection.

At that moment, Chang Ming suddenly started struggling intensely. However, the copper coins on those black lines dug even deeper into his body, and soon the light in his eyes quickly became dim.

“Senior Li, Senior Chang Ming is dead.” Puppy’s eyes widened in shock.

Li Huowang looked at the so-called sacred text before them and sighed softly. So many people had died just because of this object of unknown origins.

Li Huowang leaned closer to examine it. He was even more focused than when he had been under Dan Yangzi’s tyranny.

However, after repeatedly looking through it, he still felt that this was a scripture. With some guesswork, it looked like a text advising people to do good.

Li Huowang took a step back, then reached behind him with one hand and slowly unsheathed his sword.

Clang!

The sharp sword struck heavily onto the stone slab that was engraved with scriptures.