CH 10

Li Huowang curled up like an unborn baby, motionless, and isolated in a corner of the material room.

Other medicine collectors dared not to disturb him and were quietly doing their own work.

Night fell unconsciously, and the oil lamps on the walls went out, leaving darkness covering Li Huowang like a quilt.

He lay there like a corpse, unresponsive to the changes in the outside world.

At three in the morning, a faint candlelight shone from the door, illuminating the nearby shelves and dispelling the darkness on Li Huowang.

Timid Bai Lingmiao rolled up a bundle of dry grass and walked to Li Huowang's side, carefully laying the grass on him.

Then she took a piece of coarse grain steamed bun from her arms and put it beside his mouth.

Seeing that Li Huowang still didn't move, she pursed her lips and gently pushed him. "Senior Brother, have some food. You haven't eaten anything all day."

Li Huowang's eyes were open, staring numbly at the cold ground for hours without blinking, and he didn't move towards Bai Lingmiao.

Bai Lingmiao wanted to leave, but after hesitating for a moment, she finally took out a jade pendant from her arms and placed it beside Li Huowang.

"Senior Brother, this is your thing, take it back."

This time Li Huowang finally reacted, looking at the thing, and found that it was a round jade pendant he had stolen from Xuan Yang.

Li Huowang remembered giving this thing to Yang Na to exchange for money. Thinking of Yang Na, his heart, which was full of holes, began to bleed again. "How... did this thing end up with you?"

"It's... you gave it to me, I said I didn't want it, but you insisted on giving it to me."

Li Huowang slowly sat up and carefully examined the cloud-patterned round jade pendant under the dim candlelight.

At this moment, he had never felt everything was so real. But in this reality, there was only real despair and real pain.

If he could choose, he would want to stay in that beautiful illusion forever.

Seeing Li Huowang's response, Bai Lingmiao asked softly, "Senior Brother Li, where were you caught by Master? I'm from Liang Guo, where are you from?"

Li Huowang was stunned for a moment, shaking his head dejectedly. "I don't know."

He really didn't know. He had memories of the past, but after what happened during the day, Li Huowang himself couldn't distinguish how much of those memories were real and how much were illusory.

Even here, he was a lunatic who couldn't distinguish reality from illusion.

As he shook his head, Li Huowang suddenly felt something strange in his head. He touched his head and found that his hair was stuck together by some scabs, indicating that he had been injured before.

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Seeing Li Huowang touching his head, Bai Lingmiao explained, "That was done by Senior Brother Wang."

Li Huowang knew that this Senior Brother Wang was the fat man with a hare lip who had wanted to harm Bai Lingmiao before. "Where is that Wang guy now?""You...you kicked him to death."

Hearing this, Li Huowang flashed back to the old man Liu who he had kicked away in his hallucination. He lowered his head and smiled silently. He was indeed crazy enough.

Li Huowang reached into his pocket and took out a golden ankle bracelet tied with a red string, and handed it to Bai Lingmiao. "This is yours. Take it back."

Bai Lingmiao looked at her bracelet and pushed it back with both hands. "Li Shixiong, you were right. This thing is useless here. You can keep it."

Li Huowang stared at the golden bracelet and was lost in thought. But now, it was useless to him. Everything he cared about had disappeared.

"Um, Li Shixiong, can I use this as a reward and ask you for a favor?" Bai Lingmiao's words made Li Huowang look at her.

"If you can get out of here alive, can you help me pass a message to my parents? They live at the foot of Niuxin Mountain in Liangguo. Tell them that their daughter is unfilial and cannot take care of them in their old age." Bai Lingmiao's voice choked up as she spoke.

"Li Shixiong, I really don't want to trouble you, but I have no other choice. They will probably take me to the Danfang soon, and I..."

Li Huowang's face was numb and dejected, but his eyes lit up silently when he heard this. He looked at the dead leaves covering his body and the steamed buns beside him. He pulled out the golden bracelet and put it back in his pocket.

"I keep my promises. Since I took your things before, I'll help you now."

Bai Lingmiao's sad eyes instantly lit up, but soon dimmed again. "Li Shixiong, this won't do. It will get you into trouble too."

"Hehe...Do you think I'm still afraid of that now?" Li Huowang had already come to terms with it. He had nothing to fear now that everything he cared about was gone.

"Okay, Li Shixiong is mighty!" A male voice suddenly came from outside the kitchen, startling the two inside.

As the candlelight illuminated the man's face, they saw a grinning face with a pointed chin and chubby cheeks. His face was yellow and white, as if he had a skin disease similar to vitiligo.

The man took out two coarse grain steamed buns and placed them beside Li Huowang, trying to please him.

"Hehehe, Li Shixiong, eat the buns. When I was having dinner, I remembered that you hadn't eaten yet, so I saved two for you."

"You may not know me, but I was born and raised with natural gifts. I don't have a name. You can call me Gouwa. Hey hey hey, just yesterday, I gave you seventeen coins as a gift."

Gouwa looked anxious as he rubbed his hands together. It was obvious that he wanted to use Li Huowang as a backing and avoid being sent to be a medicine boy. Smart people knew how to find support wherever they went.

Li Huowang didn't say anything and grabbed the three slightly hardened steamed buns, gobbling them up. He had been hungry all day.Because he ate too fast and choked, Gouwa quickly ran out to get Li Huowang a glass of water.

As the cold underground water washed over him, Li Huowang stuffed three miscellaneous grain buns into his stomach.

He struggled to stand up, his legs numb from lying on the ground for so long.

Bai Lingmiao reached out to help him, but Li Huowang pushed her away.

His gaze was fixed on the dark exit of the material room in the distance, and he staggered out.

At this point, his enemy was no longer his own sudden illness, but the leprous Taoist Danyang Zi who used people to refine pills.

When Danyang Zi's ugly and disgusting face appeared in his mind, Li Huowang's eyes gradually became filled with a strong murderous intent, and his teeth began to grind.

Just moments ago, he was hopeless and despondent, but now he was filled with energy, and the only thing he wanted to do was find a way to kill him!