In the peach wood forest filled with the smell of charcoal, Li Huowang dared not walk too fast. The bones in his waist were still moving, as if they could break at any moment.
As Li Huowang walked further away, the expression on the fat woman's face became anxious.
"Hey, young man, I don't want anything else! I just want five years of pure yang life from the reward! Name your price, and I'll buy it!"
"Not for sale!" Li Huowang immediately refused without hesitation. He planned to keep this yang life without any side effects to extend the life of his short-lived girlfriend, Bai Lingmiao.
The fat woman seemed somewhat unwilling and followed from a distance. However, when Li Sui appeared and crawled on all fours, showing his sharp teeth and threatening growls, she finally stopped.
"Li... Senior Brother Li?" Bai Lingmiao stared at a black blur in the distance, her gentle voice tinged with hesitation. It was red just now, but suddenly turned black?
Li Huowang immediately mounted the horse and drove the carriage, enduring the intense pain throughout his body.
"We'll explain later! Someone is following us, we need to leave here quickly."
The carriage raced on the dirt road in the middle of the night, running for several hours until noon the next day. When the horses started foaming at the mouth, Li Huowang finally stopped.
Seeing that no one followed, Li Huowang breathed a sigh of relief. Regardless of whether that woman was superstitious of him or something else, at least she didn't persistently follow them like a ghost.
Li Huowang, who had endured the night with numerous injuries, finally couldn't hold on any longer and lay down behind the curtain.
"Miao Miao, I'm going to sleep. Don't touch what's on the copper coin sword."
As the back of his head touched the soft fabric, Li Huowang instantly lost consciousness.
This time, Li Huowang slept for a long time. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Bai Lingmiao brushing something onto his charred body.
Taking a gentle sniff, Li Huowang recognized the special scent of badger oil used to treat burns.
"How long have I been sleeping?" Li Huowang's words let Bai Lingmiao know that he was awake.
"Senior Brother Li, you've been sleeping for three days. I sewed up the wounds on your chest and waist with thread."
"Oh..." Li Huowang suddenly remembered something and sat up abruptly.
Ignoring the pain from his heavily injured body, Li Huowang immediately reached for the copper coin sword beside him. When he saw that there was no more black smoke emanating from it, his heart sank.
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"Senior Brother Li, are you looking for that invisible thing? I bought a wooden box from the peddler and put it in there for you."
Carefully opening the wooden box, Li Huowang used the other end of a chopstick to gently poke the empty box.
Feeling the strange resistance, Li Huowang finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Ling Nie was still there.
"Senior Brother Li, are you hungry? I cooked some soup." Bai Lingmiao lifted the curtain to go out but was stopped by Li Huowang.
"I'll serve myself. Don't touch fire like this, so you won't get burned again."
As Li Huowang got off the carriage, the scabs that had just healed on his body cracked and blood seeped out.
Although it still hurt, Li Huowang had become somewhat accustomed to it after experiencing so much.
After he got off the carriage, he realized that it was dark outside. Li Sui squatted by the bonfire, holding a book and continuously drawing something with his grimy nails.
"Dad? You're awake?" Li Sui looked up at Li Huowang.
"Learning to draw talismans? Not bad, learn well."
Li Huowang reached out and gently patted its head before picking up a bowl nearby and scooping some soup from the pot.
But just as he was about to take a bowl of hot soup, Li Sui leaned over and quickly licked it with its tongue.
"What are you doing?" Li Huowang's burnt fingers curled up, and he flicked its hard head with force.
"Dad, can't I eat? I used to eat first."
This made Li Huowang look at Li Sui in front of him. It seemed that the memories and thoughts of the steamed bun had also merged into Li Sui's mind.
"It's okay, go ahead and eat." Li Huowang placed the bowl in front of it.
Watching Li Sui quickly lick the hot soup, Li Huowang softly said, "Li Sui, I'm seriously injured, and your mother is almost blind. On the road ahead, you better take care of us."
"Okay, what should I do?"
"Wash clothes, wash dishes, make fire, and so on. If you can't handle it, gather firewood." Li Huowang said.
"Mother does these things. If I do them, Mother won't have anything to do."
"Mother?"
"Yeah, the one who likes to wear a red hat. I like Mother, and sometimes we secretly chat."
"We also go outside to catch meat to eat. One time, we caught a big piece of meat and divided it in half."
"Twin Soul... When did her relationship with Li Sui become so good?" After careful consideration, Li Huowang realized that this wasn't a bad thing.
"Alright, when your mother is working, you can help her."
"Okay, I understand."
Looking at Li Sui with its big mouth full of blood and its black tentacles hanging on the left side, Li Huowang smiled and hugged its head into his arms, gently patting it.
"Thank you for helping me in the peach forest earlier. If it weren't for your help, it would have been quite dangerous."
At this moment, Li Sui had no time to answer. It smelled the familiar scent and stuck out its tongue, continuously licking the charred parts of Li Huowang's body.
"Li Sui, is there anything you want to do?" Li Huowang asked softly.
"I want to stay by Dad's side forever.""You can't always be by my side, after all, you are my daughter, not a pet."
"There's nothing wrong now, but there will be in the future. Take your time to think about it, and when you've figured it out, tell your father. I'll see if I can help you."
"Dad, I don't understand."
"You will understand in the future. Now, go and serve your mother a bowl of soup. After we eat, we should go to bed. We have to continue our journey tomorrow."
That night, there was silence. However, when Li Huowang woke up, he found that the carriage underneath him was moving. It seemed he had overslept again.
Pushing off Li Sui, who was half lying on him, Li Huowang lifted the carriage curtain and poked his head out. He found that the carriage was in the midst of a bustling market.
"It seems like we've entered a city. Which city is this?"
Li Huowang pulled out a map and looked at it. He found that this place was called Linzhang. It was not as grand as Shangjing or Yinling, but it was still a big city.
"According to our current speed, we can reach Shangjing in ten days at the earliest." Li Huowang drew a faint black line on the map with his charred finger.
"Brother Li, you're awake? You seem quite tired. Why don't we rest here for a few days?" Bai Lingmiao suggested.
Looking at her eyes that had almost completely turned white, Li Huowang shook his head slightly. "Never mind. After we replace your eyes, we can rest in Niuxin Village to avoid any complications."
That's what Li Huowang said, and that's what he planned to do. But even though he wasn't looking for trouble, trouble found him.
That blatant stare was hard for Li Huowang to ignore.
As he looked up, he saw the fat woman he had met in the peach grove before. She was standing on the third floor of a grand restaurant, smiling and waving at him.
"It seems I haven't shaken her off yet..."
