Chapter 181: Ask Mi

"The Five Elements... missing the Five Elements?"

Upon hearing this, Li Huowang immediately touched his abdomen, specifically the area where his five organs should have been.

Subconsciously, he remembered what he had done that day: sacrificing his five organs to Ba Hui using the "Great Thousand Records" to retaliate against the Sit-Forget Dao and intentionally pursue the "three deaths."

If the so-called Five Elements had disappeared from his body, that must have been when it happened.

However, Li Huowang didn't feel anything particularly different about missing the Five Elements.

His hand reached inside his blood-red Daoist robe, searching for the gruesome scar where his abdomen had been cut open.

To his surprise, his chest skin was smooth, without even a single scar.

Li Huowang tried hard to recall what had happened, but he had no memory of it. "What's wrong with my body? How did it heal?"

Puzzled, he looked up at the blind old woman in front of him. "Immortal Cui, if a person has no five organs and no Five Elements, can they still live?"

Hearing Li Huowang's words, the blind old woman immediately exclaimed in surprise, "No five organs and no Five Elements? Then how could they still be human? They'd be nothing but a dead person!"

The moment he heard this, Li Huowang suddenly felt something snap in his mind. A pain gradually spread from his chest, intensifying until he started gasping for breath!

"What's going on? Did she do this? Is it a divine ability where words become reality? Did she realize I'm a 'Xin Su' and intend to harm me for gain?"

Li Huowang endured the excruciating pain and looked at the immortal dressed like a country old woman in front of him.

Just as Li Huowang, his face turning ashen, stumbled and was about to fall, Immortal Cui spoke again.

"But, you are missing the Five Elements and yet you are still alive and well; one cannot be so absolute in their statements."

The moment she spoke, the pain in Li Huowang's body immediately vanished. He clutched his chest, his expression shifting as he stared at the old woman.

At this point, he was somewhat confused about the immortal's intentions. If the sudden excruciating pain had been caused by her, then why did it suddenly disappear?

"If she didn't cause it, then what exactly is wrong with my body?" Li Huowang wondered inwardly.

The intense pain just now was definitely not simple; it truly felt as if he were on the verge of death.

"Nonetheless, I advise you to recover your Five Elements as soon as possible. If you don't, something significant will happen sooner or later."

Li Huowang reached out and pulled Bai Lingmiao behind him, then asked with a mix of doubt and caution, "Immortal Cui, do you have a way to resolve a situation like mine?"

"I have no method, but others do. If you wish to ask, I can help you. It is true that you must recover your Five Elements quickly, otherwise, even if you remain alive, nothing will go smoothly for you."

"Ask whom?"

"I am a 'rice shaman', so who else would I consult? The rice, of course."

"Consulting the rice? Is this something new?"

Soon, Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao brought the so-called Immortal Cui back to their lodging.

After asking the host for a few catties of rice, Immortal Cui began the ritual of "consulting the rice."

First, she took out the items from her basket one by one.

A small bronze mirror was placed in the center of the table.

In front of the mirror, she placed a palm-sized clay tripod, in which thirteen small yellow incense sticks, the length of a finger, were lit.

Then, she put the borrowed rice into a basket and placed thirteen raw eggs on top of the rice.

Facing the rice and eggs in the basket, she poured a cup of wine, a cup of tea, and a bowl of rice.

Immortal Cui closed her eyes, placed her hands over the eggs, and the "rice consultation" began.

"Great Venerable Guanyue, protect this home; Master and Granny, please ascend. Spirits and monsters from east, south, west, north, Great Venerables, bless us all..."

While chanting something in an obscure, local dialect, Immortal Cui scooped rice from the basket and sprinkled it over Li Huowang's head.

"What new trick is this?" Li Huowang's vigilance secretly heightened as he watched the mystical immortal.

Having gone through so much, he was now somewhat like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, viewing everything with a hint of suspicion.

After chanting for a while, the immortal suddenly stopped. She extended her right hand towards Li Huowang, opening it with a tremor.

Looking at the old hand, which resembled a chicken's claw, Li Huowang clearly didn't understand what it meant, but thankfully, Bai Lingmiao, who was beside him, did.

She took some silver pieces from her pocket and placed them in the immortal's hand.

Immortal Cui, with her eyes still closed, grabbed the silver, bit it, and then a satisfied expression immediately appeared on her face.

"Young man, don't be stunned. State your birthdate and time."

"What? Birth characters? I don't have them."

Immortal Cui sighed, then tapped her fingers while looking at Li Huowang before continuing her chant. Li Huowang still couldn't understand the words this time, but it felt different from before.

Not long after, Li Huowang's body tensed. With his sharp senses, he subconsciously looked towards the dark doorway, then at the empty ceiling beams.

Something was coming.

A hiccup sound made Li Huowang's gaze instantly return to the 'rice shaman' in front of him, who had begun swaying her head.

He could clearly feel that the presence of Immortal Cui in front of him was completely different; something had possessed her body.

"Why does this feel similar to a spirit medium's ritual? A spirit medium summons deities; what does this 'rice consultation' summon?" A wary Li Huowang subtly pulled back a little further.

"Who is below, and what do you ask, hiccup?"

An old man's voice came from Immortal Cui's mouth, carrying a distinct theatrical tone.

Originally, Li Huowang wanted to ask about his missing five organs, but then he thought better of it. If he truly had no five organs, he would have been dead long ago.

While he didn't know how Dan Yangzi had helped him recover his five organs, that was a question for another time.

The immediate priority now was to recover his missing Five Elements.

"Is there any way to restore my missing Five Elements?"

"Hmm? Who is below? Hiccup, state your name!"

Immortal Cui took a sharp breath, and the white smoke rising from the nearby incense was instantly drawn into her nostrils.

"Li Huowang. Who are you? Or rather... what are you?" As a wary Li Huowang finished speaking, he instinctively gripped his sword hilt.

"Hmph! I am the Great Heavenly Venerable, Imperial Calendar, Containing True Heaven, Exonerating Sins, from the Golden Palace of the Nine Heavens. A mere Xin Su, how laughable..."

"...how laughable, hiccup."

Li Huowang's pupils slightly constricted. The other party had seen that he was a 'Xin Su'!

"Fear not, fear not, oh ha ha ha, hiccup!" The entity's laughter caused gusts of eerie wind to sweep through the entire room.

"Clang!" The longsword was drawn from its scabbard, and a thick murderous aura spread through the room, quickly dispersing the eerie wind. The incense sticks in the black tripod were also instantly extinguished.