Chapter 462: Less

Hearing Scholar Lü's ignorant and superstitious remarks, Li Huowang immediately let out a huge sigh of relief, sinking heavily onto the stool. "The vanished sun has returned. No matter what, this natural disaster is finally over."

The moment the tight string in his heart finally relaxed completely, Li Huowang, still on the stool, immediately lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, he was startled awake by the smooth, thick broth coating his mouth.

The soft feeling behind his head and the familiar subtle fragrance before his nose made Li Huowang realize whose arms he was lying in. "Miaomiao."

Bai Lingmiao didn't respond, silently continuing to feed Li Huowang chicken soup.

"I'm not crippled, just a bit tired," Li Huowang said. He struggled to sit up, then picked up the bowl and drank heartily.

Apart from his blindness, Li Huowang's body hadn't sustained serious injuries; his overwhelming fatigue stemmed from his mental state.

At this moment, Li Huowang felt as if his brain had completely rusted; if he tried to think a bit faster, a piercing, throbbing pain would shoot through the back of his head.

Li Huowang, of course, understood why: he had seen something—that suddenly appearing dark essence, an existence that couldn't even be thought of or spoken of, lurking beneath the natural disaster.

This natural disaster wasn't because something was missing; it was because something had been added.

As he saw it, Li Huowang also saw certain things about it. It bore no lies, recording everything about itself, just like an ancient bronze cauldron used for documenting significant events.

"Each time it is remembered, it becomes useless; each time it is forgotten, it changes; and each time it is spoken of, its age is attributed to the present year."

Li Huowang had known what this meant before, but now he had forgotten it, forgotten it completely.

That was definitely not a Si Ming; he hadn't seen such a thing in the White Jade Capital. As for what it was or where it came from, Li Huowang neither knew nor wanted to know.

"Senior Brother Li, what's wrong?" Bai Lingmiao asked, gently stroking Li Huowang's furrowed brow with her slender, fair fingers, trying to smooth it out.

"It's nothing, I'm fine. This isn't something I should be thinking about; the Bureau of Celestial Observation is there," Li Huowang, his face pale, repeatedly mumbled.

To distract himself as much as possible, Li Huowang tried hard to think of other things.

He clasped Bai Lingmiao's jade-like hand and asked her with a hint of anticipation in his voice: "Miaomiao, are you alright? Are you truly free from needing malevolent energy?"

Without his eyes, Li Huowang couldn't see Bai Lingmiao's expression. The only thing he could feel was her gently stroking the back of his hand with her other hand.

Hearing her unspoken reply, Li Huowang's expression dimmed slightly as he silently absorbed the quiet.

Perhaps he shouldn't have brought it up again; he should treat that matter as if it had never happened, forgetting it completely. That seemed to be better for both of them.

"No one in the village is missing, are they?" Li Huowang asked again.

"No one else is missing, but one is indeed gone. I don't know if that counts as a person.”

"Hmm?"

"Li Sui is gone. The one who came out of your belly and called you 'Dad'.”

"What?! Li Sui is gone?!" Li Huowang's heart involuntarily lurched.

He groped his way to the window and shouted outside: "Li Sui!! Come here, quickly!!"

He shouted several times, but Li Huowang received no response. This was very wrong.

Li Sui was simple-minded and had grown very dependent on him from their constant proximity; it was absolutely impossible for Li Sui not to respond after hearing his call.

"Miaomiao, tell everyone in the village to go out and find Li Sui! This is very important!" Li Huowang ordered with a very grave expression.

"Okay," Bai Lingmiao responded. Hearing her footsteps descending the stairs, Li Huowang's mind raced with possibilities. He didn't believe Li Sui would leave his side for no reason.

"Brother Li," Zhuge Yuan said, "I advise you to prepare yourself. Black Grand Sui is also one of the evil entities. Even I cannot calculate what kind of impact yesterday's natural disaster would have on it.”

Hearing Zhuge Yuan's words, Li Huowang's expression worsened. Now that he thought about it carefully, he hadn't seen Li Sui since the natural disaster descended.

"Master! Master!" Scholar Lü's voice made Li Huowang stand up. He eagerly spoke towards the direction of the voice: "Did you find him?"

"Uh... no. I just came to inform you that the dog named Mantou is also missing.”

Gritting his teeth, Li Huowang slammed his fist onto the table with one hand. Both the wooden tabletop and his fist cracked simultaneously.

Scholar Lü flinched, startled by Li Huowang's action. While Li Huowang couldn't see him, he cautiously walked towards the stairs.

"Keep looking! If you can't find him in the village, search every inch of the ten-mile radius around Niuxin Village!"

"Alright! I'll go tell them now!"

Time ticked by, and as night fell, the hope of finding him seemed to grow increasingly dim.

It wasn't until the second watch of the night that Li Huowang, having gradually calmed down, told everyone to return and sleep, and they would continue tomorrow.

Suddenly, a pair of soft hands placed a bowl of egg noodles on the cracked table, then slipped a pair of chopsticks into Li Huowang's hand.

"You eat it. I don't have an appetite," Li Huowang said dully, feeling very upset.

Just two days ago, he had thought everything was moving in a good direction; in the blink of an eye, one misfortune after another seemed to crash into him.

"Tch, look at you. Anyone who didn't know would truly think you lost a real son," the Faceless Zuo Wang Dao sneered. "That's an evil entity; just because it came out of your belly makes it your son? If you ask me, this is good; you've lost a burden.”

The Faceless Zuo Wang Dao's taunt made Li Huowang look up towards the sound. "Brother Zhuge, can you do me a favor and slap him?"

"Slap!"

"Thank you."

Watching Li Huowang talking to himself, Bai Lingmiao, who was walking towards the bed, felt a pang of pity in her eyes.

She walked back, picked up a chopstick-full of egg noodles, gently blew on them, and brought them to Li Huowang's mouth.

"I'm not hungry, you eat it," Li Huowang said, pushing her hand away. But the noodles were brought back to his mouth again.

After several back-and-forths, Li Huowang finally opened his mouth and swallowed the cold egg noodles.

One fed, one ate, and the room was utterly quiet.

Just as the bowl of noodles was nearly empty, a familiar voice came from the window. "Dad, were you calling me?"

"Li Sui?!" Overjoyed, Li Huowang immediately stood up and groped his way towards the sound.

However, Li Huowang was quickly blocked by a figure: Er Shen.

"Senior Brother Li, that's not Li Sui. That's a peeled dog face, and it's grinning at you right now.”