Chapter 76: Bamboo Slip

"Danyangzi must not be allowed to emerge again."

Li Huowang came to this conclusion after carefully pondering the series of events that unfolded since Danyangzi's appearance.

Comparing the first time with the God of Joy, the second time with the Buddha, and now the third time, Li Huowang noticed a clear pattern.

The first time, he could only vaguely hear Danyangzi's voice.

The second time, he could already see his form.

By the third time, Danyangzi could not only communicate with him but had also begun to control his emotions with killing intent and even made him unable to recognize common characters.

Regardless of what Danyangzi had become, his influence on Li Huowang was increasingly evident with each occurrence.

Danyangzi had never been benevolent; everything he did was to seize Li Huowang's body.

Even under Danyangzi's protection, which prevented death from other causes, Li Huowang feared he would soon completely transform into Danyangzi.

Li Huowang could never accept such a situation; he would rather die than become the person he loathed most.

A pair of fair hands reached out and gently took his right hand.

Li Huowang, his brows furrowed, looked up at the concerned pink eyes. He shook his head slightly, explaining nothing.

Li Huowang picked up the Huayan Sutra in his hand, casually opened a page, and scanned it briefly.

"This book is useless," Li Huowang declared, casually tossing the Huayan Sutra back into the wooden chest.

After reading the Huayan Sutra's contents, Li Huowang recalled hearing monks recite it at Zhengde Temple, and it had been in the hands of different monks.

It was simply a widely copied Buddhist scripture, probably available at any bookstore. Compared to it, the gold, silver, and jewels were far more valuable.

When Li Huowang returned to the treasure, he saw Gouwa and others excitedly dragging all the chests filled with valuables out of the house with great effort.

However, the task was arduous; after all, gold and silver, no matter how valuable, were still heavy metals.

"Don't take the silver," Li Huowang instructed. "Just the gold ornaments. This gold will be enough for our journey."

At Li Huowang's words, Gouwa jumped up in alarm. "Senior Brother Li! This is silver! Gleaming silver!"

Li Huowang kicked the heavy chest next to them and said, "Do you know how heavy this silver is? We'll be carrying people too. If the boat sinks, do you plan to swim out with the silver on your back?"

"This gold is enough for us for a lifetime. Don't be too greedy. Let's go."

Gouwa, still looking reluctant, kept stuffing silver ingots into his clothes. "Just a little more, please. So much silver could buy how many wives, how many cattle?"

Li Huowang ignored him, took all the gold with the others, and turned to lead them away.

Gouwa, bulging with his loot, quickly chased after them, but after only a few steps, he was already out of breath.

Seeing the others' backs disappear into the distance, Gouwa stomped his foot in frustration, hastily dropped some silver ingots, and hurried to catch up.

Li Huowang walked out of the storeroom, and just as he was about to lead the others out of the stockade, he paused, thought for a moment, and then headed towards the kitchen.

Shortly after, when he reappeared, the gold in his hands had been replaced by two dead children with purplish faces.

"Go find some jars inside the stockade," he instructed. "Later, when we're outside, burn them and collect their ashes. We can't bring them back alive, but at least we can let them return to their roots."

"Yes, Senior Brother Li."

The others were about to go look for jars, but just as they were about to move, a streak of bloody light sliced past, whistling as it shot towards them.

"Everyone, take cover!" Li Huowang, his body tense, instinctively threw himself backward.

A red light flashed past his chest, effortlessly slicing the two dead children into halves.

Cold sweat ran down Li Huowang's back. If those two drowned Daoist children hadn't been in the way, he himself would have been cut in half.

"Find cover and hide! There are still living people in the stockade!"

When Li Huowang, holding a bell in one hand and a sword in the other, cautiously peeked out from behind a large jar, he noticed some bloody white fragments scattered on the ground in the distance.

"What just attacked us?" The question was quickly answered as heavy footsteps sounded, and a person slowly emerged from the shadows.

Xiaoman threw a glowing stone at his feet, illuminating his face. They recognized the man; it was the former boatman.

"This guy isn't dead?!" The thought crossed everyone's mind, including Li Huowang's.

Yuan Er, his mouth dripping with blood, held a roll of reddish, bizarre bamboo slips in his right hand and black iron tongs in his left.

Seeing his bleeding mouth, Li Huowang immediately realized what those white fragments were.

"Come out! Come out! Little Daoist! So you're not always so capable after all!"

Yuan Er, his eyes bloodshot, put the tongs into his mouth, clamped onto a front tooth again, and pulled hard.

As he whispered something to the red bamboo slips with his bleeding mouth, the tooth was rapidly enveloped in blood, and like a shooting star, it instantly shot into a nearby bungalow.

Xiaoman's scream from inside made Li Huowang's heart clench.

"Ding, ding, ding!" The bell suddenly rang, and two You Laoye figures flew low to the ground towards Yuan Er.

"Bah!" Yuan Er spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, then raised the tongs again. This time, he aimed not for a tooth but for his sole remaining eye.

With a "snap," as the eyeball was crushed, a strange light enveloped the surroundings. The two You Laoye figures seemed to be stuck by something, falling to the ground unable to move.

"Die! All of you, die with me!"

After roaring loudly, Yuan Er pulled a small knife from his waist and plunged it into his throat.

Even though his body trembled uncontrollably from the pain, he continued to fiercely scrape his own flesh.

The bell rang again, and more than a dozen You Laoye figures converged from all directions, swiftly pouncing on Yuan Er.

With a "rip," a string of internal organs from his oral cavity was brutally pulled out by Yuan Er.

The blood-red bamboo slips spread across the ground. When Yuan Er placed the contents from his hand onto the slips, all the You Laoye figures vanished instantly.

As Yuan Er's flesh and blood were rolled up by the bamboo slips, the inanimate object suddenly came to life.

Using Yuan Er's tongue and vocal cords, the bamboo slips began to speak.

As soon as that extremely bizarre, hoarse voice appeared, the world instantly changed.

"One tongue turns the wheel! One blink spans the cosmos! Wondrous realms boundless, beyond words to express! Heavens' divine mysteries, not to be etched by breath! My Lord is supreme! How dare one alarm him!?"