Chapter 304: Deception

Li Huowang, with a solemn expression, was contemplating how to negotiate with the creature in the mist when he suddenly woke up.

The moment Li Huowang fully awoke, he immediately sensed someone nearby.

He sharply turned his head and saw a toddler, seemingly just learning to walk, sitting on the ground in split pants. The child was curiously picking at the copper coin on his face with his finger, his large eyes filled with wonder.

Li Huowang glanced around at the others who were still sleeping. He bent down, picked up the child, then quickly walked a few steps to place him in a woman's arms.

He then stood up and quietly walked towards where Bai Sai was sleeping.

Before Li Huowang even got close, Bai Sai woke up. After exchanging a look with Li Huowang, he walked towards the surrounding woods.

Li Huowang slapped a mosquito dead on his neck and then, with a serious expression, said to Bai Sai, "I just dreamt of that person again. They're still watching us! They haven't left yet!"

"What?!" Bai Sai's face instantly turned pale. He clasped his hands behind his back and anxiously paced back and forth in the woods.

"Don't panic," Li Huowang said. "I'm just letting you know, a warning. Whatever that thing is, since I promised Bai Lingmiao, I will definitely get all of you back safely!"

Hearing this, Bai Sai's expression lightened slightly. "That's good, that's good. Benefactor, what do you think that person wants? They already took the stone, why are they still fixated on me?"

Li Huowang shook his head. The entity wasn't present, but since its target was Bai Lingmiao's family, it was inherently his adversary.

"Let's go back," Li Huowang said. "If anything happens to the others, please tell me immediately." He realized that simply moving forward wasn't enough; if he didn't find a way to eliminate that entity completely, there would be no end to their troubles.

Just as Li Huowang stepped out of the woods, Bai Sai's voice came from behind. "Um, benefactor, do you... have something going on with Second Lass?"

"What?"

"Oh, Second Lass is Lian's daughter, Bai Lingmiao. Strictly speaking by seniority, she should call me Second Uncle."

Seeing Li Huowang frozen in place, Bai Sai walked over, a look of emotion on his face, and re-examined the young Taoist in front of him.

"Ah, Second Lass has found a good match, that's excellent." He scrutinized Li Huowang, seemingly growing more pleased the longer he looked.

Li Huowang said with a hint of embarrassment, "Clan Leader Bai, let's discuss these matters after we overcome this difficult period."

"Alright, alright. Don't worry, I won't tell Second Lass's parents. You can tell them yourself when you're ready."

With this unspoken topic now out in the open, Li Huowang clearly felt that the reverence towards him had diminished significantly, replaced by a much stronger sense of familial closeness.

"Excellent! Once we work together to overcome this challenge, we'll celebrate at your wedding!" Bai Sai's previous worries about danger had vanished without a trace.

Everyone departed as usual after waking up. This time, they arrived at a village.

Li Huowang immediately took out silver, intent on buying almost all the livestock in the village.

The oldest elder, who had a single tooth, seemed about to object to Li Huowang spending so much, but after Bai Sai whispered something in his ear, he climbed onto an ox cart without a word.

Originally, their progress was slow due to the presence of elders and children.

However, after purchasing these animals, their pace immediately picked up.

During this period, Li Huowang was extremely tense. Even when sleeping, he kept one eye open, fearing a sudden ambush from the entity.

Yet, for some reason, the following period was very quiet. The White Impermanence did not reappear, not even in his dreams.

"This won't do," Li Huowang thought to himself as they traveled. "There's no point in constantly guarding against a thief from a thousand miles away. Instead of waiting, I should figure out a way to draw him out."

As he was thinking this, Li Huowang suddenly noticed something amiss. "Clan Leader Bai, this isn't the way back to Ox Heart Mountain, is it?"

Although he had traveled there on horseback, the surrounding environment was distinctly different. Even the most oblivious person would notice something was off.

Bai Sai, wiping sweat from his face, nodded. "Indeed, we won't go back to Ox Heart Mountain directly. We can't bring trouble home. I know a place that's very winding; going in there for a while might help us shake off our pursuers."

"Oh? There's a place like that? What's it like?" Li Huowang couldn't help but feel curious.

"It's not far ahead, we should reach it today," Bai Sai said, pointing forward.

Li Huowang gazed ahead but saw only a dirt road, with nothing else visible.

Soon, however, the landscape shifted. The ground around them grew desolate, and their footing became muddy. Li Huowang's boots were completely covered in black sludge.

Around them, stagnant pools of water, emanating a pungent, rotten smell, appeared sporadically, teeming with black insects constantly wriggling within.

The weather was very hot, and the stench, intensified by the high temperature, immediately made one feel dizzy.

Seeing that the environment had completely turned into a swamp, just as Li Huowang was about to ask Bai Sai if they had come to the wrong place, a vast expanse of neat, beige reeds appeared in the distance on the muddy ground.

Reeds, several meters tall, stretched across the landscape in a connected expanse, swaying gently with the wind.

"This is it," Bai Sai said. "Once we go in here, even immortals couldn't find their way. We'll definitely shake that person off!"

As Bai Sai spoke, he was about to lead the Bai family into the reed marsh, but Li Huowang suddenly stopped him. With a hint of worry in his voice, he asked, "Clan Leader Bai, it's easy for us to go in, but can we get out?"

Bai Sai confidently patted Li Huowang's shoulder. "Don't worry. Since I'm taking my clansmen in, I definitely have a way out. My son's parents are in there too, you know. If anyone's worried, I'm more worried than you are."

Li Huowang was immediately surprised, realizing that Clan Leader Bai seemed to know something he didn't.

However, since the other man had said so, Li Huowang no longer obstructed them. The ox cart and mules slowly moved towards the reed marsh.

But just as they started, a thin mist gradually spread around them.

Li Huowang was exceptionally familiar with this kind of mist. Without a moment's hesitation, he gripped his sword hilt with one hand and stood in front of everyone. "You all go first! I'll cover the rear!"

As soon as Li Huowang finished speaking, the ground began to tremble. The colossal White Impermanence slowly emerged a hazy corner from the mist, its wooden mask dangling and swaying on its chest.

Seeing that they were about to escape its pursuit, the entity finally couldn't hold back.

Its mouth, with a long red tongue, opened, and thick white mist billowed out, making the surroundings even more indistinct.

"Swish!" The blade of the Purple Tassel Sword slid from its sheath. Li Huowang, enveloped in a towering aura of killing intent, stood firm like a pillar stabilizing the sea.

Seeing that the White Impermanence in the mist remained unmoved, Li Huowang immediately remembered what Tuoba Danqing had told him earlier. He pulled out his waist token and shouted, "Heaven Supervisory Department on duty! If you don't want to die, get lost!"

The moment he shouted this, the surging mist around them instantly halted. A sudden, abrupt voice came from the mouth of the colossal White Impermanence: "Ah, so you're from the Heaven Supervisory Department? You should have said so earlier! Isn't this like a flood washing away the Dragon King's temple?"

"What?! You're also from the Heaven Supervisory Department?" Li Huowang looked up at the colossal White Impermanence before him, which stood about three feet tall.

"Wait a moment," the colossal White Impermanence said. It then slowly receded into the white mist, and a man, wearing the wooden mask from its chest, walked out.

The man also pulled a waist token from his robe—it was likewise a Heaven Supervisory Department token. "Look at this," he said. "I'm even a rank higher than you."

After confirming that the other party's token was not fake, Li Huowang breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his Purple Tassel Sword. "Since you're also from the Heaven Supervisory Department, this makes things easier. There must be some misunderstanding here."

Hearing Li Huowang's words, the man, whose head was the wooden mask, quickly shook his head. "No, no, there's no misunderstanding here. These White Lotus Cult members are heinous criminals, a group of evil cultivators in cahoots with malevolent spirits. My senior brother and I went through a lot of trouble to capture them, and then you show up and actually break my senior brother's restraint!"

"What? That's impossible!" Li Huowang turned to look at the reed marsh behind him. The last Bai family member, Bai Sai, had already gone in.

Bai Sai glanced at the waist token in Li Huowang's hand, his eyes becoming utterly cold. He spun around abruptly and entered the reed marsh.

"Brother," the man said, "think about it. If they hadn't truly killed too many people, would the higher-ups have sent the Heaven Supervisory Department? And not just one, but two of us?"