Chapter 474: Spiritual Calamity

"Four hundred?!" Li Huowang's pupils contracted slightly at the quoted price. He didn't even need to check his gourd; he knew he definitely didn't have that much inside.

"Don't think it's expensive, sir. This is a fine item from the Great Qi era, a thousand years ago. Where can you find a revered monk achieving nirvana and leaving behind a sarira these days?"

Li Huowang wasn't truly complaining about the price; he genuinely didn't have that much. He'd been too busy dealing with his illusions to remember earning Yangshou Pills.

"How much was that 'Dharma Eye' before?" As long as Bai Lingmiao could see, Li Huowang didn't care if she looked ugly.

"Five hundred." The eunuch's words completely extinguished Li Huowang's idea of substituting it with a cheaper magical artifact. He hadn't expected the Dharma Eye to be even more expensive than the sarira.

He had come to realize that when it came to corruption in the world, no one could surpass the Bureau of Celestial Monitoring.

The Yangshou Pills he had risked his life to earn outside were worthless here in the inner treasury; he couldn't exchange them for anything. Without Yangshou Pills, he couldn't acquire the sarira for Bai Lingmiao, and without the sarira, Bai Lingmiao would soon go blind. This was something Li Huowang absolutely could not tolerate.

He remembered that Li Zhi's gourd once contained only four Yangshou Pills, but now he needed a full four hundred. Even if he resorted to robbery, he wouldn't know where to begin.

"But I killed her whole family; what's a small sacrifice like this? No matter what, Bai Lingmiao must get this sarira!" Li Huowang walked with heavy steps out of the inner treasury.

He didn't leave the Bureau of Celestial Monitoring directly but instead went straight to the grand hall filled with screens, which was where the Bureau accepted commissions. The people were the same, but facing them, Li Huowang's attitude had shifted from hostility to a more composed state. Although the Bureau of Celestial Monitoring treated human lives as mere straw, the world truly couldn't function without them.

"Erjiu?! You're actually alive! I thought you were dead." Hearing the man named Nangong say the same thing Sima Lan had said earlier, Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to explain himself again.

"I want to take a commission. Which ones offer the most reward?" Li Huowang asked directly.

Noticing Li Huowang's somber expression, Nangong discreetly refrained from asking questions. He handed over a book, saying, "Just look for yourself. The last page has what you need."

Li Huowang flipped it open directly, and a commission written in vermilion ink immediately caught his eye: "Zouwang Dao Hongzhong, dead or alive."

His gaze lingered for a moment, then Li Huowang began flipping through the book. Zouwang Dao Facai, Zouwang Dao Xifeng, Zouwang Dao Baiban, Zouwang Dao, Zouwang Dao... several pages in a row were dedicated to the Zouwang Dao. Liu Zongyuan's earlier information was correct; the Bureau of Celestial Monitoring was truly at war with the Zouwang Dao.

Although these rewards were substantial, Li Huowang truly didn't want to deal with those con artists. The San Yuan and Si Xi were all connected; they were like persistent plasters. Killing one would only bring about endless trouble, just like what Zhuge Yuan had experienced before.

"Brother Erjiu, didn't you say you wanted revenge on the Zouwang Dao? Why aren't you taking these commissions?"

"I've already avenged that grudge at the cost of one eye. The Zouwang Dao who killed the Grand Elder was slain by my own hand."

After carefully flipping through a few more pages, Li Huowang's hand suddenly stopped. His finger slowly traced two brush-written characters: "Ling Nie?"

Below this name was its reward: four hundred thirty Yangshou Pills and five years of unsullied Yangshou.

He looked up, turning to Zhuge Yuan, who stood beside Nangong. "Ling Nie? From the 'Ling' generation?"

"Brother Li, this isn't from the 'Ling' generation. All the others are, but this one isn't." A hint of revulsion appeared on Zhuge Yuan's face.

"That's right, it's Ling Nie," Nangong interjected. "But are you really planning to take on this commission? Don't let the unsullied Yangshou blind you. Dealing with it is actually worse than dealing with the Zouwang Dao; at least the latter is safer."

"Is this Ling Nie so dangerous? What is its origin?"

"Dangerous, well, it's certainly less dangerous than Xin Zhuo, Xin Su, or Xin Pan. Actually, how easy Ling Nie is to deal with entirely depends on what it's attached to."

"If it's attached to a person, it's still manageable, at most just a crazy demigod. But if it's attached to some powerful evil entity, or something else... hehe, then you're in for a rough time."

"Like some kind of strange parasitic entity," Li Huowang began asking Nangong for more details about Ling Nie. What was truly puzzling was that Ling Nie's abilities varied wildly depending on what it parasitized; sometimes, even its divine powers were completely opposite.

Looking at the various records of Ling Nie in the book, Li Huowang began to assess whether his current strength would be sufficient to handle such a situation. After a moment's thought, Li Huowang finally decided to accept the commission. Now possessing the strength of Hongzhong, he was no longer the Li Huowang of before. He might not necessarily fear this Ling Nie. Even if he couldn't defeat it, escaping wouldn't be a problem.

Moreover, Ling Nie wasn't always incredibly powerful. The book also recorded a lucky monk who encountered a Ling Nie attached to a foxtail grass, gaining a great advantage for free.

"This one, no more choosing." Li Huowang dipped his finger in the red inkpad and pressed it firmly onto the book.

"Alright, these are four locations identified by our internal scouts where Ling Nie might be. You can visit them all."

"I have to search for it?" Li Huowang reached out and took the map.

"Of course. Did you think such a generous reward was simply given away? However, your waist token is now at the 'Flag' level, so you can find a few more people to help you. That way, the risk will be lower."

Li Huowang, however, had no intention of finding partners as Ji Xiang had done before. He simply took the map and turned to walk out. Finding more people meant more people to share the reward. If the commission's reward was divided, it wouldn't be enough to buy the sarira.

After staying only one night in the small courtyard in Shangjing City, Li Huowang, accompanied by Li Sui and Bai Lingmiao, resumed their journey. He had expected to find the Ling Nie quickly, but to his surprise, the first two locations were false alarms; he found no trace of Ling Nie.

A month and a half passed in the blink of an eye.

"Whack, whack, whack." Bai Lingmiao stood sideways, holding a wooden stick, vigorously pounding Li Huowang's red Daoist robe on a large rock by the river. After pounding for a while, Bai Lingmiao picked up the robe, swirled it in the rapid river water, then placed it back on the rock and scrubbed it. Without a soap bar, this was the only way to get it somewhat clean.

After washing Li Huowang's clothes, she carefully washed her own; they were a gift from Senior Brother Li, bought in Shangjing. The clothes were beautiful, and she loved them very much. Only after meticulously washing all the garments did she place them in a wooden basin and stand up.

Cradling the wooden basin, Bai Lingmiao picked up a bamboo stick, about the thickness of a finger, from the ground. She used the stick to tap the path ahead as she walked towards the carriage.