Chapter 16: Brain

Zheng Kun's attack broke two of Li Huowang's ribs and left several bruised indentations on his body. Fortunately, these were minor injuries that he could barely heal with the help of medicinal pills.

More than his injuries, he was concerned about his plan.

Coincidentally, on the first day of the lunar month, Li Huowang used their renewed conflict as an opportunity to casually reveal information about "Master You," which he had learned from Bai Lingmiao.

When he saw Zheng Kun's expression subtly change, Li Huowang's heart immediately brightened with satisfaction.

He wasn't sure how Zheng Kun would react to this information; he merely wanted to test the waters. With nothing to lose, he figured it was worth a shot, and it seemed he had succeeded. Zheng Kun clearly had a hidden agenda.

Days blurred into nights within the cave system. The first day of the lunar month soon arrived, which was Danyangzi's optimal time for refining pills. He would be in the alchemy room for the entire morning, coinciding with "Master You's" absence.

Although Qingfeng Temple wasn't huge, it wasn't small either. Having lived there for so long, Li Huowang had thoroughly mapped Zheng Kun's movements. Yet, he did nothing, remaining quietly seated cross-legged in the Hall of Purity.

"Did I guess wrong? Is this guy not that greedy?" Li Huowang lay on his bed, pondering where he might have miscalculated.

Fifteen days passed, and it was the first day of the second lunar month, but Zheng Kun still showed no signs of action.

Just when Li Huowang thought he had miscalculated, on the fifteenth day of the second lunar month, the Hall of Purity, where Zheng Kun usually resided, was empty. He had finally given in to his impatience.

As soon as he saw Danyangzi open his furnace, Li Huowang, following his original plan, hurriedly approached Danyangzi's dwelling.

Just as he was about to reach the cave entrance, Li Huowang suddenly stopped. He saw Zheng Kun standing guard in the distance, not entering.

Watching Zheng Kun cautiously observe from the entrance, Li Huowang immediately realized someone else was inside on his behalf, while he acted as a lookout. This man was even more suspicious than Li Huowang had imagined.

About half an hour later, Li Huowang saw Xuanyin stealthily emerge from within.

Zheng Kun glanced at him, then pulled out black talismans and affixed them to both their knees. They vanished like a gust of wind.

The door was merely ajar, like a trap luring someone inside.

Seeing that someone else had already scouted ahead for him, Li Huowang knew that even if the room had been booby-trapped, Zheng Kun would likely have disarmed it. He slowly approached; this was his chance.

Danyangzi's living quarters were spacious but incredibly messy and dirty, with a terrible smell of dead rats.

Despite the grim environment, Li Huowang immediately spotted what was clearly the most valuable item: a stone tablet covered by a net of black threads and copper coins.

As expected, the stone tablet was the "Heavenly Scripture" Danyangzi had spoken of. He cautiously approached, examining its contents through the black threads.

Zheng Kun must have been trying to secretly learn an immortality technique, but from the looks of it, he hadn't succeeded.

Li Huowang carefully deciphered the contents of the Heavenly Scripture. The text was extremely obscure and difficult to understand, barely recognizable as hieroglyphs, and seemingly from a much older dynasty.

Although Chinese characters have undergone minimal changes over thousands of years, he still found it very difficult to read.

The more Li Huowang read, the more he felt something was off. Hadn't Danyangzi said that the method to achieve immortality involved cultivating both internal and external elixirs simultaneously? It seemed this fellow wasn't practicing according to the text at all.

"Joyful steps, universal sound, Gandharva… attaining widespread, cloud-like beneficence… a wondrous body granting all peace and liberation…"

Moreover, this didn't look like an immortality technique at all, but rather a scripture.

"Hehe." A peculiar giggle sent a shiver down Li Huowang's spine. He quickly turned around but found no one behind him.

On the wall, where a hole had been dug out, stood only a vertical blue-and-white porcelain vase, about the thickness of a forearm.

"Something's not right." A terrified Li Huowang began to retrace his steps. Zheng Kun apparently hadn't cleared away all the dangers.

"Don't move." A sharp, slender female voice spoke from behind him.

Li Huowang slowly turned around again, and the sight before him sent chills down his spine. Perched atop the narrow, vertical vase was a ghastly pale little girl's head.

Though it was a girl's head, its skin tone didn't resemble that of a living person, especially the unnervingly red blush on both cheeks.

Staring at the extremely red dot in the center of its forehead, Li Huowang found it increasingly bizarre.

In that instant, he understood how Danyangzi had been able to "read" the Heavenly Scripture: it was through this very entity before him.

"Are you with that person who was just here? Hehe, you're in big trouble. If I just shake these bells, my daddy will come back." She had several copper bells tied with red thread to her pigtails.

Watching the entity speak, Li Huowang was instantly filled with dread, but in the next second, his expression suddenly became calm. "Go ahead and call him. Let your daddy come and find out that you've been lying to him."

When he saw a flicker of panic on the vase-head's face, Li Huowang inwardly sneered. He had guessed correctly. Indeed, he wasn't the only one trying to fool the illiterate bald man; this unknown entity had been doing it for a long time!

Like master, like servant; the entire Qingfeng Temple was riddled with hidden schemes!

"But... but you can't blame me! Those characters are so ugly, I can't understand them at all. Daddy forced me to read them to him, what else could I do?" The vase-head said plaintively, on the verge of tears.

Seeing the vase-girl's utterly panicked expression, Li Huowang thought for a moment and quickly made a decision.

"Alright then, let's agree on three points. I'll leave this place now, you'll pretend you didn't see me, and I'll pretend I don't know about you. It's better for everyone this way."

The vase-head wobbled and finally nodded. "Okay then, hurry and leave. I'll just pretend you were never here."

Li Huowang slowly moved towards the door. "Since the Heavenly Scripture is fake, were the alchemy formulas for refining human beings all fabricated by you for him?"

The vase-head chuckled innocently. "Yes, because I only remembered those things, so I pretended those formulas were written in the book and told Daddy. Don't worry, they won't kill anyone. I don't want Daddy to die. I'm just afraid Daddy will find out I'm useless and won't want me anymore. Look, I don't have any hands or feet----"

Just as the vase-head was speaking enthusiastically, Li Huowang suddenly raised his right hand high, clutched his jade pendant, and forcefully smashed it against the vase.

The round jade pendant, trailing a white streak, instantly struck the vase. Cracks appeared, and in a state of panic, the vase-head fell heavily to the ground.

The vase shattered, exposing the internal organs, entangled with black Buddhist beads and mixed with feces and urine, directly to the air.

"Wuwuwu~ Daddy!! It hurts, Daddy, I'm in so much pain." The vase-head's cries grew weaker and weaker.