Chapter 401: Acquaintance

"Of course, they were tricked from elsewhere! Isn't the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect deceiving heaven, earth, and even the Fates themselves?"

Zhuge Yuan smiled faintly, then snapped open his fan and gently fanned himself. "Who told you that? You've been misled. That rumor certainly circulates in the martial arts world."

"They simply don't want others to know the truth, so they spread rumors claiming that the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect's divine abilities are all obtained through trickery."

"But Brother Li, think about it: could an ordinary mortal really trick other Fates into giving up their divine powers?"

"The Fate of the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect? Wouldn't that mean controlling all falsehoods?" This thought suddenly occurred to Li Huowang.

After pondering it carefully, Li Huowang asked again, "Brother Zhuge, what is the name of the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect's Fate?"

"Doumu Taiyin."

"Doumu Taiyin? So this Fate controls all the falsehoods in this world?" Li Huowang found himself pondering it even more deeply.

"Was it also in the White Jade Capital at that time? Did I see it?" Li Huowang clutched his head, struggling to recall memories from a year ago.

As if sensing something, Zhuge Yuan looked up at the sun, then snapped his fingers directly in front of Li Huowang. Instantly, Li Huowang's mind cleared, and he suddenly forgot what he had just been thinking.

"Brother Li, as mere mortals, it's best not to get involved in matters concerning the 'Heaven Beyond Heaven.' It could disrupt our own karma and destiny."

Li Huowang, still holding his head, nodded and asked wearily, "Not a single one?"

"It's best not to even think about it."

Li Huowang still had many questions about the Fates, but hearing Zhuge Yuan's words, he swallowed them back and changed the subject.

"Brother Zhuge, can you teach me your method? If I could learn it, the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect would no longer pose any hidden threat."

Zhuge Yuan fanned his folding fan again. Just as he was about to speak, a low, mocking voice came from nearby.

"Hey, look, that pedantic scholar is still fanning himself in this freezing weather. He must be out of his mind."

Zhuge Yuan's expression stiffened. He snapped his fan shut and told Li Huowang, "This kind of 'Heart Tendril' technique is something you're fated not to learn. However, you can learn your own. As long as your 'Heart Element' masters cultivation methods, the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect will undoubtedly run faster than a rabbit when they see you."

A wry smile appeared on Li Huowang's face. From Zhuge Yuan's words, it sounded as if he would become the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect's nemesis once he achieved cultivation. "I hope so. I just want to get rid of those hallucinations; nothing else matters."

"Hehehe, the noodles are here. Three bowls of steaming hot fish soup noodles. You two must try my old man's cooking."

Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks, scooped a few mouthfuls from each bowl, and tossed them onto the ground. Mantou immediately began lapping up the noodles with his tongue darting in and out.

"Brother Zhuge, please wait a moment. Let Mantou eat first."

Zhuge Yuan, who had just taken out a silver needle, nodded understandingly. "That's a good method too. I was wondering why you kept a dog for no apparent reason. But what if the knockout drug is slow-acting? By the time you've eaten, the dog might already be dead."

"No matter," Li Huowang replied. "If I see Mantou is poisoned, I can cut open my own stomach and remove all the food from it."

Zhuge Yuan watched Li Huowang say this with an expression of astonishment, as if he wanted to speak but couldn't find the words.

Seeing that Mantou had finished eating and was now squatting beside him, wagging his tail incessantly, Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks again. "Brother Zhuge, there's no poison. Let's eat."

The old woman hadn't been wrong; the fish soup noodles were incredibly delicious. The soup was dotted with small, yellowish-white fish roe, and swallowing it along with the milky white broth was an immense comfort in the cold twelfth lunar month.

Just as Li Huowang was contemplating whether to order another bowl, he suddenly looked up, his brows furrowed, and stared towards the woods on the left.

Zhuge Yuan, who was unhurriedly coiling his noodles and putting them into his mouth, chewed and swallowed deliberately. Only after finishing his mouthful did he ask again, "Brother Li, what's wrong?"

"There's activity to the south. It sounds like a fight."

"Brother Li, where did you learn this 'Heavenly Ear' ability? You can hear from such a distance?" Zhuge Yuan shook his long sleeves, stood up, and followed Li Huowang towards the nearby woods.

Leaves rustled past as they moved, drawing closer to the scene. They soon stopped, inhaling the strong scent of blood, and observed the chaotic situation unfolding in the distance.

The two warring factions appeared to have reached a critical point. Everyone's eyes were bloodshot, and they were fighting to the death using methods Li Huowang had never even heard of. People were dying every moment.

Scanning a waist token on a corpse, Li Huowang said to Zhuge Yuan, "One side is from the Bureau of Celestial Supervision; I don't recognize the other. Brother Zhuge, do you know them?"

Zhuge Yuan watched one person pull out a white maggot and smear it on a bone-deep wound, allowing them to immediately move freely and counterattack. He shook his head. "I don't know them either. I suspect one of them might be from the Sitting Forgetfulness Sect."

"The Sitting Forgetfulness Sect? Who?!" Li Huowang now had an instinctive reaction to the term.

"The Miao Jiang woman with purple lips."

Hearing this, Li Huowang stared at the glimmering silver headwear that fluttered with every movement, his eyes gradually turning cold.

However, after a moment's thought, Li Huowang didn't step forward. "Brother Zhuge, this person is clearly a minor figure. If we approach rashly, we might 'beat the grass and startle the snake.'"

Li Huowang's objective had always been singular: to capture Beifeng and force him to reveal the method for escaping the hallucinations. He had no desire to get involved in anything else. "Brother Zhuge, let's go back and avoid any unnecessary complications."

Zhuge Yuan nodded, preparing to leave with Li Huowang.

But just then, someone spotted them. A masked man in the midst of the battle shouted towards Li Huowang's position, "Lord Zhuge!"

The instant he heard that familiar voice, Zhuge Yuan's fan snapped open. He pushed off a tree trunk with one foot and charged without hesitation toward the black-clad man.

Seeing Zhuge Yuan already engaging with the combatants, Li Huowang couldn't stand by. He immediately drew his purple-tasseled sword and charged forward.

With Li Huowang and Zhuge Yuan joining the fray, the previously stalemated situation instantly became a rout. The enemies of the Bureau of Celestial Supervision quickly fell back.

Wiping blood from his face, Li Huowang walked towards Zhuge Yuan. As soon as he reached him, he saw the other survivors kneeling on one knee before Zhuge Yuan. "Greetings, Lord Zhuge!"

This sight immediately surprised Li Huowang. "Is Zhuge Yuan highly regarded in the Bureau of Celestial Supervision? Why then did he seem like a plague god in Ji Xiang's eyes back then?"

"Oh, Brother Li, come here." Zhuge Yuan helped a masked man up from the ground and introduced him to Li Huowang with a smile.

"This man is an old friend of mine, a 'forget-the-years' friend, so to speak. Don't let his position in the Bureau of Celestial Supervision mislead you; he's also a National Master of Great Qi!"

"A National Master of Great Qi?"

"Ah, a National Master means he's among the strongest players of board games, like the black-and-white stone game you and I played earlier, within Great Qi."

"A National Master of Great Qi?!"