Chapter 553: Departure

On a dirt path in a dense forest, Li Sui circled anxiously on all fours, seemingly searching for something. The ground was covered in his paw prints, indicating he had been looking for a long time. Yet, after all this searching, Li Huowang was nowhere to be found.

As time slowly passed, Li Sui grew increasingly anxious. She had always been by Li Huowang's side and was accustomed to his presence. The thought that Li Huowang might never reappear made Li Sui frantic, almost to the point of tears.

Just as tears began to well up in her eyes, a rift suddenly appeared to her left. From it emerged Li Huowang, his body charred and covered in wounds.

"Dad!!"

Li Sui immediately pounced on him, excitedly licking his chin with her tentacled tongue.

"You're crushing me! I'm still injured! Let go!" Li Huowang had to shove her away repeatedly to free himself.

"Dad, why did you leave me? I thought I'd never see you again. I was so sad," Li Sui said, circling Li Huowang continuously.

"When you're inside me, I can't move properly, and those big flames could easily burn your tentacles. It's okay now, don't be afraid. Everything's over," Li Huowang said, patting her head reassuringly.

Feeling comforted, Li Sui gently rubbed her white skull against Li Huowang's palm, asking affectionately, "Dad, can we go home now?"

"Not so fast. I still haven't found the Shangji Guankou. I'm going back to Daliang first to heal my injuries."

With that, Li Huowang looked around at the dense forest, then up at the perfect setting sun, which was slowly moving west. It was undeniably strange; Qi had been devastated, yet Daliang remained completely undisturbed, perfectly calm. It was hard to imagine these two places were so close to each other. Li Huowang couldn't say what this meant, but he didn't care. In this chaotic world, there were too many inexplicable things; he didn't need to get to the bottom of everything.

Upon returning to familiar Daliang, Li Huowang's mind finally relaxed, and he instantly felt his severely injured body on the verge of collapse.

"Dad, are you okay?" Li Sui reached out to steady Li Huowang. "Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?"

"It's nothing, I can handle these minor injuries. Help me sit down by the side," Li Huowang said, enduring the pain as he looked down at his half-exposed waist and pushed something back inside. Li Sui's tentacles also burrowed in, and soon Li Sui herself vanished from her spot, having mended Li Huowang's previously mangled body.

"Dad, are you feeling better now?"

Hearing the question from within his body, Li Huowang reached out and patted a tentacle. "Thanks. This way, we won't waste time healing. Let's go then, back to Qi to find the Shangji Guankou."

"Can you really do this? Aren't you afraid of dying there?" asked Shangguan Yuting from the side, her face taut with worry as she looked at Li Huowang's chaotic state.

"No need to hesitate! The sooner this is done, the better!" Li Huowang untied the cloth strips from his spine sword and securely bound them to himself. "Now that Qi is finally free from natural disasters, I must hurry. Who knows how long Qi will last? If it collapses, everything will be lost."

With that, Li Huowang took a deep breath, gripped his spine sword, swung it forcefully, and plunged into the rift.

Shortly after he left, a speeding carriage passed through the spot where Li Huowang had been, heading towards Shangjing. The man driving the carriage glanced at the dense paw prints on the ground and said to the people inside the carriage, "Let's rest when we get home. Looking at these tracks, it seems there might be a big beast in this area."

A woman's discontented voice came from inside the carriage, "Why the change of plans again? Oh, slow down! This ride is making my bottom numb."

"Why are you so ungrateful, woman? This kind gentleman took pity on us and lent us his carriage for a ride. Otherwise, you wouldn't even have a chance to sit," the man retorted.

No sooner had he spoken than the carriage curtain was pulled back, and a hand with a silver bracelet reached out, directly pinching the man's ear. "Say that again if you dare! Do you really think you can dominate the house just because I'm married off?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!! Sister, I'm driving the carriage! Stop that, you'll make us a laughingstock!"

Meanwhile, Gao Zhijian, sitting silently and hunched over at the back of the carriage, watched the siblings quarrel. Although his eyes were on them, Gao Zhijian's mind was entirely consumed with what he would do once he arrived in Shangjing. Regardless of whether the jumbled thoughts in his head were real, Gao Zhijian had originally intended to ignore his past. He liked Niuxin Village and planned to spend his life there. If he could marry Xiaoman, that would be even better.

However, he had witnessed all the hardships Senior Brother Li endured to protect them on this journey. Now, seeing that Senior Brother Li was clearly in trouble, he couldn't help but intervene. If even two adults couldn't find Gouwa, then surely using the emperor's power would locate him. After all, the whole world belonged to the emperor. In truth, Gao Zhijian was unsure about his own past; those vague memories could be real or fake. But no matter what, he had to try.

"I'm the Emperor. When I get there, the people in the palace will surely recognize me, right?"

"If I was the Emperor before, then the current Emperor must be my relative. It shouldn't be hard to ask him for help, right?"

"Even if I'm not the Emperor, it's fine. I also have memories of being a general in my mind. Perhaps I was a general in the past, and a general can also find people easily."

As Gao Zhijian thought, his head began to ache. His memories were too jumbled, bits and pieces scattered, making it difficult to put them together. When Gao Zhijian came to his senses, he realized his carriage had stopped, and the brother and sister had already disembarked.

"Sir, we've arrived. Thank you for the carriage. Our village is just ahead, would you like to come in for a simple meal?" the man who had been driving the carriage asked politely, clasping his hands together towards Gao Zhijian inside.

Gao Zhijian returned the gesture with clasped hands, then shook his head. He moved to the front of the carriage, grabbed the reins, and slowly guided the carriage down the dirt road.

"He's such a good man, and so big! If I weren't married, I'd want to marry him," the woman said with emotion.

The man sighed with regret and said to his sister beside him, "Yes, look how strong he is. If he were to farm, he'd be better than two oxen. Ah, what a pity, what a pity he's a mute."