Chapter 294: Thinking of a Solution

Days later, Li Huowang had regained his composure, unfazed by the astonishing events he had recently endured. He stood by the window, a grim expression on his face, silently gazing at the Zuowang Dao figure suspended in the distance. The faceless, eyeless Zuowang Dao, perched on Peng Longteng's shoulder, stared back at Li Huowang with an enigmatic, half-smiling expression.

"There's no need to get worked up," Li Huowang told himself mentally. "It's just a hallucination, nothing more. It's not the first one. When you're overwhelmed with problems, a few more hardly matter."

"Considering its nature, it will surely try to interfere with me in the future. But since I know this thing is a trickster, as long as I dismiss everything it says as utter nonsense, it won't be able to affect me."

"Is that truly so? Perhaps not?" The Zuowang Dao lifted a hand, inspecting its palm. "Within your spiritual consciousness, you host a few of us. That's likely a significant problem, wouldn't you say?"

"And right now there are four, but in the future, there'll be more than forty."

Li Huowang feigned complete ignorance, slowly making his way to the table, steadying himself against the wall.

"Come on, talk. Why the sudden silence?"

As the Zuowang Dao continued to pester Li Huowang, the Monk intervened. "Hey, leave the Daoist alone. Can't you see he's clearly distressed?"

"Oh? And who are you, Master?"

"I'm no master; I'm a monk. What's your name?"

"My name?" The Zuowang Dao glanced at Li Huowang's back, a sarcastic smile returning to its face. "I am Hong Zhong."

Li Huowang turned to him with a cold stare. "You're called Hong Zhong? I think you're desperately obsessed with being significant."

Just then, the door creaked open, and Bai Lingmiao entered, carrying a tray of food. Seeing Li Huowang hobbling along while supporting himself against the wall, she gasped in alarm, quickly putting down the food to help him. "Senior Brother Li, your injuries haven't fully healed! Don't go wandering around like this!"

After helping him to the table and settling him down, Bai Lingmiao picked up a bowl of rich, oily chicken soup. She scooped a spoonful with a ceramic spoon, gently blew on it to cool it, and then brought it to Li Huowang's mouth.

"I'm only injured, not crippled."

Li Huowang reached out, took the spoon and the bowl of chicken soup from her, and began to drink it down in large gulps. As he drank and she watched, a rare silence settled over the room.

"Miaomiao, for once, the Immortals proved useful this time, actually pulling me back from the jaws of death. It seems I made the right choice by keeping you close. How many Longevity Pills did they take from that gourd?"

At this, Bai Lingmiao spoke with a touch of hesitation, "Senior Brother Li, actually, the Immortals..."

No sooner had she spoken than a woman's hand, adorned with long black nails, patted Bai Lingmiao's shoulder. The spoon in Li Huowang's hand froze. When he realized the hand belonged to Bai Lingmiao's Great Deity, he resumed drinking. "Yes?"

As far as Li Huowang knew, the Great Deity's appearance in broad daylight was extremely rare. If he recalled correctly, this was the very first time it had happened.

Under his gaze, the Great Deity's head, veiled in red, slowly descended, enveloping the startled Bai Lingmiao. Observing the red veil now seemingly covering two heads, Li Huowang's face showed a flicker of confusion. He tried to use his keen hearing to discern what the two women were discussing beneath it. However, beyond some faint rustling, he heard nothing.

"What in the world are they doing? They're practically pressed against each other! Could they possibly have something they need to hide from me?"

Just as Li Huowang was thinking this, Bai Lingmiao's hand gently tugged a corner of the red veil. Beneath it, only her own head remained visible.

"Heh, tell the Great Deity that was quite a neat trick." Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks and began to eat the remaining dishes.

Bai Lingmiao seemed somewhat ill at ease, her smile visibly forced.

"Are you all right? What did she just say to you?" Li Huowang asked, chewing his food.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"If it's nothing, then eat. Don't just stand there staring."

Asking directly would yield nothing. He'd have to ask Bai Lingmiao's best friend, Chun Xiaoman, when the time was right.

Just as Li Huowang said this, Bai Lingmiao's eyes suddenly widened, and she pointed a finger at his nose. "Senior Brother Li! In your nose..."

Li Huowang touched his nose in confusion, and immediately felt a small, wriggling, mucus-covered tentacle. Yet, he showed no panic. As Li Huowang gently pinched it with a fingernail, the tentacle instantly recoiled.

"Senior Brother Li, I've wanted to say this for a while: what you ingested earlier is seriously wrong! Let's get rid of it."

Any normal person witnessing that scene would instantly realize Li Huowang had a major problem within his body. Without a moment's hesitation, Li Huowang's answer was resolute: "No."

Seeing the distressed look on Bai Lingmiao's face, Li Huowang took a deep breath and, softening his tone, said, "I can handle it. These are minor issues."

Li Huowang, of course, knew that the Black Grand-Goddess within him had undergone new changes, and it was highly probable they were for the worse. Yet, even so, the Black Grand-Goddess couldn't be stopped. To keep the hallucinations at bay, he had to endure it, regardless of the side effects' severity. And compared to everything else, the Black Grand-Goddess in his stomach was, of course, a minor issue.

Li Huowang gently patted Bai Lingmiao's soft hand with his fingerless hand. "There, there, eat. It's nothing."

Bai Lingmiao wanted to say something but couldn't articulate it. With a worried frown, she picked up her chopsticks again and began to eat, tasteless.

After the meal, Li Huowang was put back to bed. According to Bai Lingmiao, he now required complete rest. The room was utterly silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Yet, Li Huowang had an unresolved matter weighing on his mind, making it impossible for him to truly rest.

"Let's talk," Li Huowang suddenly said, addressing the ceiling beam above him.

"Hong Zhong, is he talking to you?" asked the Monk, half-embedded in the wall nearby, his voice laced with surprise.

Hong Zhong shook its bloodied, muddled head. "No, he's talking to the Black Grand-Goddess in his stomach. Heh heh, this is truly fascinating."

Li Huowang completely ignored the conversation between the two hallucinations, silently waiting for a response from the other party. Although he couldn't stop consuming the Black Grand-Goddess, he still needed to find a way to resolve the situation, or at least slow down the onset of its side effects. Given how it had saved his life earlier, perhaps communication might prove effective.

Yet, it often appeared when he least wanted it, but now that Li Huowang was actively seeking it, it made not a sound.

Suddenly, Li Huowang had an idea. He reached into his ear canal, gently hooked and pulled, and a tightly packed wad of cotton was extracted. In that instant, Li Huowang's ears were almost deafened by a sudden onslaught of sounds.