Chapter 472: Important Business

The man's actions startled Bai Lingmiao, causing her to step back and shrink behind Li Huowang. "I... I'm married."

Seeing the hulking servants behind the man, Li Huowang braced himself for a fight, but the man's reaction was completely unexpected.

"Oh, my apologies for disturbing the lady. Please don't take offense." A hint of disappointment flashed in the young man's eyes. He bowed politely to Bai Lingmiao, then turned and walked away.

As he passed a group of beggars, he casually tossed them a handful of silver fragments. Then, he turned and bowed to another young woman.

Such frivolous behavior naturally didn't earn him any warm reception, but he wasn't annoyed by the rejections and continued to greet other young women.

Watching his retreating back, Li Huowang thought for a moment, then called out, "That cat in your arms is fake. It's pieced together from three shattered pieces of jade."

"Oh!" The young man, holding the jade cat, turned around in surprise. "My friend, you must be mistaken. The shopkeeper just told me it's worth five thousand taels."

"It's a scam; you've been tricked. There are three vertical scratches and two horizontal scratches under your jade cat's left paw."

"With those marks, anyone who touches your cat will know to quote you five thousand taels. But even if you tried to sell it for two thousand, they wouldn't take it."

"Oh! Really?"

When the young man, looking surprised, clutched the jade cat and headed back towards the jade shop, Li Huowang took Bai Lingmiao's hand and walked forward. "Let's go. I imagine there'll be a fight soon."

After they had walked some distance, Bai Lingmiao looked at Li Huowang in surprise. "Senior Brother Li, you didn't even look at his jade cat. How did you know it was fake?"

Li Huowang didn't answer that question. In truth, the tricks used in scams were all similar. The Forsaken Way cult also used these kinds of setups.

If one member of the Forsaken Way left a mark on someone, even if two individuals weren't conspiring, any other Forsaken Way member who encountered that person would use the same trick, alerted by the mark.

If just one person said something, it might be dismissed as a scam. But if everyone encountered told the same lie, even the most resolute person would waver and begin to doubt themselves.

For example, the Forsaken Way members, despite having no contact with each other, all implicitly agreed to claim they were Hong Zhong, employing this very kind of deception.

He just hadn't expected that through all the deception, he himself would truly become Hong Zhong.

After this small interlude, neither of them gave it much thought.

Bai Lingmiao had a wonderful time later, even drinking a little rice wine.

They played until the lanterns on the street gradually extinguished, at which point Li Huowang carried the somewhat tipsy Bai Lingmiao back home.

Bai Lingmiao, head tilted and eyes slightly narrowed, continuously traced circles on Li Huowang's back with her slender fingers.

"Senior Brother Li, Shangsi Festival is so much fun. I wish every day could be Shangsi Festival..."

"Yes, every day will be Shangsi Festival from now on," Li Huowang humored her drunken words.

As they walked, Li Huowang felt his back becoming damp, and he heard a choked sob from behind him.

Gradually, the sobs turned into full-blown crying. Bai Lingmiao seemed to try to cover her mouth with her hand, but her cries grew louder and louder.

Finally, with snot and tears streaming down her face, she wailed like a child on Li Huowang's back.

Bai Lingmiao used all her strength to furiously pound Li Huowang's back with both hands.

Although he had stayed up late with Bai Lingmiao the night before, Li Huowang was up at dawn.

Instead of leaving immediately, he took a deep breath and dug his fingers into his left eye.

With a forceful tug, his left eye, along with some blood, was directly plucked out.

"When she wakes up, tell her I've gone to find a way to fix her eyes."

Breathing heavily, Li Huowang placed the eyeball in his hand onto Ershen's palm.

Seeing the red bridal veil sway as she nodded, Li Huowang gave her a brief hug, picked up the two swords from the table, and turned to leave.

Having woken so early, some lanterns on the street were only just beginning to be taken down, and many people were yawning incessantly, clearly having stayed out late the previous night.

Li Huowang bought a fried dough stick wrapped in sticky rice cake for breakfast and ate it as he walked towards the Directorate of Celestial Monitoring.

By the time he finished eating, he had arrived at his destination. Li Huowang wiped his greasy hands on a stone lion and stepped into the yamen.

The gatekeeper today was Sima Lan from the Mohist School, a black bird perched on his shoulder. He was very surprised by Li Huowang's appearance.

"Erjiu, I truly didn't expect you to still be alive. You hadn't appeared for so long, I thought the Forsaken Way had killed you," Sima Lan's black bird spoke to Li Huowang.

"Perhaps it wasn't my time to die; I merely reclaimed my life. I hope you've been well, Brother Sima," Li Huowang said, cupping one hand in the other.

Having met a few times, Sima Lan from the Mohist School was considered an acquaintance to Li Huowang.

After a brief chat and a few curses directed at the Forsaken Way, Li Huowang brought up the real reason for his visit.

He pointed to his left eye, where only a drooping eyelid remained. "Does the Directorate's treasury have anything that can heal an eye?"

"An eye?" Sima Lan pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"Brother Erjiu, the Directorate's inner treasury is vast. How would I know what's there? You'll have to search for yourself. By the way, have you been to the inner treasury before?"

Seeing Li Huowang shake his head, Sima Lan told him the location of the Directorate of Celestial Monitoring's inner treasury.

He navigated the intricate underground corridors for a long time. By the time Li Huowang was completely disoriented, he finally found the so-called inner treasury.

After presenting his waist token for identification, Li Huowang entered.

Upon entering, Li Huowang felt as though he had shrunk to the size of a mouse and stumbled into a colossal pharmacy.

Inside the spacious warehouse, where even speech echoed, rows upon rows of tightly packed wooden cabinets with square compartments were neatly arranged. These cabinets were incredibly tall, reaching directly to the three-zhang high ceiling.

The contents of these wooden compartments varied greatly. Some were sealed with talismans, while others were bound by chains.

Clearly, these boxes contained the rare spiritual treasures managed by the Directorate of Celestial Monitoring.

They relied on these items to entice outsiders to work for the Directorate.

Not everything was stored in those small square boxes; some miscellaneous items were neatly arranged on long tables, categorized by type.

There were all sorts of strange and peculiar objects, but Li Huowang couldn't discern their uses.

"Wait, isn't this mine?" Li Huowang reached out and picked up his copper coin mask from the long table.

This item must have ended up in the Directorate's hands along with his head last time, when he was impersonating Hong Zhong and his head was severed.

Although he now possessed the Heart-Sullied Spindle given to him by Zhuge Yuan, Li Huowang certainly wouldn't refuse an extra layer of protection.

Just as he was about to speak, a eunuch walked by, greeting him with a smile.

Unlike the eunuchs in the main hall, this inner treasury eunuch had no eyes; his eye sockets were completely filled by two copper coins, which had been literally sewn in.