Chapter 265: County Town

Gathering information was usually handled by other disciples, but this time it was different. Li Huowang himself was investigating the Jian Tian Si. Entrusting other disciples to inquire about these mysterious entities was simply too risky.

Li Huowang, however, had no such concerns. His newly acquired ability gave him a unique advantage in gathering information. As long as he placed his colored incorporeal form underground, his physical body above ground could remain completely invisible. Even if he were to be targeted in return, he wasn't afraid, as his increasingly keen perception would detect it beforehand.

The group, who should have been together, were instead scattered throughout the entire county town, like white sesame seeds sprinkled on a baked flatbread. Everyone was busy with their own tasks, only reuniting at the inn after dark.

“Senior Disciple Li, the sheep are all sold,” Gouwa said, grinning as he handed a heavy pouch of silver to Li Huowang, his arm slung around Zhao Wu. “Once people heard they were from Qingqiu, they went wild buying them! I even managed to get some fine grain. Eating coarse grain every day has been rough; we've been constipated.”

“Give it to Zhao Wu,” Li Huowang replied. “He usually handles the accounts.”

Li Huowang, feeling a bit dejected, said this as he turned and entered his room. He lay down on the bed, feeling the persistent stinging pain in his feet from walking all day.

If there was anything worse than being targeted by the Jian Tian Si, it was finding absolutely no information about them. He knew it was probably impossible to find the Jian Tian Si in just one day, but he couldn't help but feel discouraged.

“This isn’t working,” he murmured. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. I need to find another way to quickly connect with the Jian Tian Si.”

Li Huowang rubbed his forehead, pondering his next steps in the dark room. A pair of white hands with sharp black nails reached out from under the bed, took off Li Huowang’s shoes and socks, and immersed his tired feet in warm water. For a moment, the dark room fell silent, without a sound.

This silence lasted for half an hour before Li Huowang himself broke it. Li Huowang suddenly sat up and excitedly said to the monk in front of him, “Wait, think about the circumstances that led to the old lama’s appearance before! Yes, that’s it!”

“Since the Jian Tian Si handles matters that the local authorities cannot,” he continued, “then if I expose myself to as many troublesome incidents as possible, I’ll connect with them sooner!”

“That’s right!” The monk, standing beside Peng Longteng, nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Li Huowang realized he had been looking in the wrong direction. He shouldn’t have been inquiring about the Jian Tian Si itself, but rather about where any horrifying or strange incidents had occurred. As long as such incidents happened, the Jian Tian Si would surely reappear.

With this thought, Li Huowang could no longer contain his excitement. He lifted his feet from the basin, not bothering to dry them, and rushed out after quickly putting his shoes and socks back on. But just as he pushed open the door, his excitement led him to collide face-to-face with Lu Zhuangyuan.

“Heh heh, Little Daoist Master, have you eaten?” Lu Zhuangyuan asked with a smile.

“Is something wrong?” Li Huowang asked, his expression growing cold, as he leaned on the doorframe.

“Well, how is Xiucai’s learning progressing? If he’s disobedient, hit him hard! I know that’s how it is when learning a craft; you won’t amount to anything without a beating. Please don’t be polite with me.”

“He works very hard, but he’s illiterate, so he’s learning slowly,” Li Huowang stated truthfully.

“Ah, Little Daoist Master, why is my life so bitter?” Lu Zhuangyuan sighed. “I finally got a grandson, and now this situation happens.”

“If you have something to say, just say it directly. I have urgent matters to attend to right now,” Li Huowang said, sensing the other party had something more to say. This old man wouldn’t come to complain to him for no reason; he wasn't that kind of person.

“Yes! Daoist Master, have you forgotten? It’s about borrowing money to restart the troupe. I’ve been looking all day, and this place has everything: costumes, bronze mirrors, musical instruments—all available for purchase! So…”

“You haven’t given up yet?” Li Huowang asked. Honestly, he felt that the Lu family troupe, with their endless wailing, had no core competitiveness against the Liang Dynasty’s opera troupes.

“Well… this old man wants to try,” Lu Zhuangyuan continued to chuckle. “I’ve thought of a way; maybe we can pick up some scraps from the edges of these opera troupes and make a living.”

“Alright, go get the money from Zhao Wu,” Li Huowang said. “He happens to have enough cash right now.” With that, he pushed past Lu Zhuangyuan and hurried towards the inn’s stairs.

Compared to the matters of the Jian Tian Si, Lu Zhuangyuan’s grand plan for revival was immediately forgotten by Li Huowang. For a while afterward, in his search for the Liang Dynasty’s Jian Tian Si, Li Huowang went to great lengths, leaving early and returning late every day to gather information from the residents of the county town. Li Huowang ignored cases where one or two people died or were possessed, because he knew such minor incidents would only attract shamanistic healers or spiritual mediums, not the Jian Tian Si.

Having been in this place for so long, Li Huowang also understood what kind of entity the Jian Tian Si was and what concerned them. The Jian Tian Si always focused on major events, such as great disasters that could kill tens of thousands, like the ghost town previously massacred by the Zuowang Dao, or certain things that could overturn official rules. However, while such incidents could attract the Jian Tian Si, they weren’t common. After searching for a while, he found no strange or evil occurrences, but he did hear a great deal of gossip and mundane family affairs. Of course, if Li Huowang were to remove the copper coin mask from his face and directly reveal himself as a Xinsu, that would certainly attract the attention of the Jian Tian Si immediately, but that was naturally not what he wanted.

Bai Lingmiao, lying on the bed, slowly opened her eyes and looked at Li Huowang sleeping soundly beside her, his head covered. A trace of worry rose in her heart.

“Senior Disciple Li has been waking up before dawn every day these past few days,” she thought. “He only returns after I fall asleep. I don't know what he's been inquiring about.”

“Bang bang bang!” Suddenly, the door rattled from insistent knocking, and an excited voice came from outside. “Master! I did it! I have supernatural abilities!”

The moment the voice rang out, Li Huowang sharply opened his eyes, staring at the door with bloodshot eyes. It was Lu Xiucai’s voice. He immediately sat up, threw off the covers, and was about to walk towards the door.

Just as Li Huowang put on his shoes, he suddenly remembered something. He turned his head to look at Bai Lingmiao on the bed. “How is it?” he asked. “Have you found your home?”

Hearing the question, Bai Lingmiao nodded with a hint of a smile in her eyes. She reached under her pillow, took out a map, and handed it over.

“Senior Disciple Li, I found it,” she said. “It’s just that you’ve been out so much lately that I haven’t had a chance to tell you.”

Li Huowang quickly unfolded the map. Among the various curved lines and routes, one red line was particularly striking, and its end pointed to Ox-Heart Mountain.

“The merchant who sold the map said that if we travel by ox cart, it will be slow, taking nearly a month,” Bai Lingmiao explained. “Riding horses would be much faster, but unfortunately, none of us know how to ride.”