Chapter 743: Really or Not

"Heh heh... you're quite the schemer, kid!"

Wincing in pain, Liuh Wan clutched his bleeding wound. He twisted his hand unnaturally at the joint to grip the handle behind his back, attempting to pull out the vajra scepter embedded in his body. However, he found that no matter what he tried, he couldn't dislodge it. The demon-subduing vajra scepter seemed to be completely welded inside him.

"Don't bother, Senior Liuh Wan, heh heh. You can't pull it out. I'm a Sitting-Forgetfulness Daoist myself; I've long known what methods you'd employ. I spent a great deal of effort to trick this artifact out of someone, specifically to deal with you." Li Huowang sauntered over to Liuh Wan's side.

Liuh Wan's expression flickered as he looked at the young man before him. "You... you were faking it all along, weren't you? To be able to use Non-Gang so effortlessly, you're not like a newcomer at all. I actually fell for your lies."

"You pretended to be my junior just to scheme against me. You knew I'd set a trap, and then you used my own scheme against me."

At this, Liuh Wan nodded approvingly. "Good, the new waves are always stronger than the old. Our Sitting-Forgetfulness Dao indeed produces endless talent. You've won, I've lost. That female Xintuo is yours! I won't fight you for her!"

Li Huowang shook his head, slowly approaching him. "Senior Liuh Wan, you jest. What use would I have for a Xintuo? You should know what I want, right? In fact, strictly speaking, I don't even have an identity yet, so I'm not truly a Sitting-Forgetfulness Daoist."

Liuh Wan seemed to understand what the other person was implying. A hint of panic appeared on his face, and he instinctively touched his own cheek. This treacherous junior wanted his face!

Li Huowang pulled out a dagger and walked towards Liuh Wan. Liuh Wan tried to fight back, but it was too late. Li Huowang quickly dismembered his limbs, rendering him immobile.

Looking at Liuh Wan, who lay on the ground at his mercy, Li Huowang bent down and sat directly on his chest. His right hand gripped Liuh Wan's neck, and he raised the dagger in his hand, beginning to cut along the edge of his face.

"Do you know how long I've planned for this day? How long I've secretly monitored you for this day? I know how many hidden pieces you have, I know how many backup plans you possess, and I even know you have a son."

Li Huowang peeled off the old Daoist priest's face and directly affixed it to his own. Immediately, his voice also changed, becoming as dignified and aged as the old Daoist's.

"But none of that matters to you anymore, because now it's all mine." Li Huowang peeled off another face with a handlebar mustache and placed it over his own. "Now your hidden pieces are mine, your backup plans are mine, and even your son is mine."

Face after face was peeled off and re-affixed to Li Huowang's face. Finally, only a bloody, disfigured square face, a caricature of Liuh Wan, remained. Li Huowang's hand still did not stop.

"Heh heh heh, don't blame me. This is just the rule of our Sitting-Forgetfulness Dao. As long as I can deceive everyone into believing I am Liuh Wan, then I am Liuh Wan."

Li Huowang placed the last of Liuh Wan's faces over his own, then, with a single stroke, slit the throat of the faceless man before him. "So now! You are not Liuh Wan, I am Liuh Wan!"

Seeing the hatred in the man's eyes, Li Huowang grinned and burst into comfortable laughter. "Senior, you were right! When you trick someone, you trick them big! It feels so good! Hahahaha!!"

As he laughed, Li Huowang's face rapidly shifted like turning pages, eventually returning to his own original appearance.

He slowly closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again, withdrawing his thoughts from the Sitting-Forgetfulness Dao memories.

Inside the quiet, upper-class room of the inn, Li Huowang sat on a stool, reviewing his recent memories. Through this recent experience, Li Huowang gained a deeper understanding of the Sitting-Forgetfulness Dao.

"One must deceive others to obtain Non-Gang... and then use Non-Gang to cultivate Sitting-Forgetfulness Dao techniques," Li Huowang mused, recalling his past memories. As the former Hong Zhong, he had already learned various illusory cultivation abilities of the Sitting-Forgetfulness Dao. The cultivation methods themselves were not the issue; what he needed now was Non-Gang. However, unlike the innate Xin Su's naturally acquired abilities, Non-Gang could only be obtained by deceiving others.

To rid himself of the side effects of cultivation, he definitely needed to practice illusory cultivation. But how to deceive? He had to think carefully, after all, Li Huowang didn't genuinely want to become a Sitting-Forgetfulness Daoist.

Li Huowang glanced at Li Sui, who was sprawled on the bed, then walked out.

"Dad, where are you going?"

"Stay home and watch the place. I'll be back soon." Although the capital city of Qingqiu had a pungent smell, with cow and horse dung everywhere, it was one of the few cities in Qingqiu. Even with the ongoing war against the Dharma Sect, it was still bustling with people.

"How do I deceive people?" Li Huowang looked around and then squatted down in front of a nearby street stall. The Qingqiu vendor, seeing Li Huowang's unfamiliar face, stammered in official common speech, "W-what do you want?"

Li Huowang looked at the random assortment of sheep and ox horn combs and ornaments on the stall. He picked one up and felt it, then looked at the vendor's honest, wrinkled face. He opened his mouth to speak but ultimately put the item down.

"Sigh." Doing something that went against his habits made Li Huowang feel very uncomfortable.

As Li Huowang pondered what to do, his keen hearing picked up a different sound amidst the usual hawking. Ordinary folk weren't good targets for deception. Perhaps he could find some villains to trick; at least that way, he'd feel better about it, considering it a form of delivering justice.

Li Huowang followed the sound and soon spotted a man being cornered by several Qingqiu youths armed with ox-horn knives in an alley corner. The man's skin tone didn't resemble that of the Qingqiu people; it was noticeably fairer than theirs, suggesting he might be a refugee from elsewhere.

"Perhaps... I can try here..." Li Huowang walked towards them.

"Ahem, fire."

Hearing the slight cough, the Qingqiu youths turned around and saw roaring flames erupting from the ground beneath Li Huowang's feet. With a gentle pat on the ground from Li Huowang, the flames instantly spread towards them, terrifying them into scrambling over walls and fleeing for their lives, howling all the while.

After they had all left, Li Huowang stood rooted to the spot for a moment but received no feedback of the so-called Non-Gang.

"What's going on? I clearly tricked them, so why didn't it work?"

But he quickly understood. Although he had scared them, the fire was genuinely cultivated through his spiritual practice; it was real and could truly burn them to death. This wasn't deception.

"So what if I use genuine cultivation to create an illusion? No, that's not right. It should be: I cultivate a real illusion to deceive them. I cultivate real... falsehoods..."

Li Huowang's brows furrowed involuntarily. He was starting to confuse himself.