Chapter 284 - Departure

Even after standing in the stable for an entire night, Li Huowang just rubbed his sore neck as he once again looked at the envelope.

His guess that the Surveillance Bureau had a lot of information he didn’t know about was indeed right.

To think that he would be able to obtain so much information from just joining the Surveillance Bureau. He looked forward to obtaining more information about Bei Feng after his position within the Bureau was cemented further.

Even if Bei Feng was not a Strayed One, Li Huowang was certain that he could use the Surveillance Bureau’s backing to obtain a method to get rid of the bewilderment and the sense of doubt that all Strayed Ones suffered from.

At the same time, now he was also no longer a headless fly that was just flying around in this chaotic world.

At the very least, if he didn’t understand anything, then he would be able to obtain information from the Bureau.

Despite having stayed up all night, Li Huowang did not feel the slightest bit tired as he quickly ran into his room, excited.

He could think about all of that later. For now, the most important thing he had to do was to take care of the mission.

“Ganyuan Village.”

Li Huowang sat on the granite table and started reading the map. He was trying to find where the village was.

Eventually, he found it; however, the place was not enroute Bai Lingmiao’s village. It would take a long detour to go there.

So now, he had to choose; he could either deal with the mission first or bring Bai Lingmiao home first and deal with it after that.

But he was worried that the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao would run away if he chose the latter. If he were to arrive too late, then the entire village might end up like Pi County.

At that time, he might not even be allowed to join the Surveillance Bureau.

Just as Li Huowang was thinking about how to do both the things at the same time, Bai Lingmiao walked out with a cake on a lotus leaf. The cake was quite soft and made into the shape of a bunny. It looked very cute and delicious at the same time.

She blew on it before taking a bite. She savored the sweet flavor and revealed a pleased smile.

As he saw this scene, Li Huowang once again realized that Bai Lingmiao was not as mature as he thought. She was still a little girl.

“Senior Li, do you want to take a bite? It’s very sweet,” offered Bai Lingmiao as she showed Li Huowang the cake with its ear bitten off.

Li Huowang shook his head and told her to sit down, “Miaomiao, there is something I need to do first. Once I’m done, I will come back immediately and bring all of you home...”

However, even before Li Huowang could finish what he was saying, Bai Lingmiao stopped him resolutely. “No!”

Her voice was resolute as if there was no room for negotiation, “No matter what you will be doing, I want to go with you! Don’t even think about leaving me behind!”

Li Huowang laughed. “Since when did I ever think of leaving you behind?”

“You did! Back in the Benevolent Nunnery, you said the same thing and you promised us that you will catch up to us! But when I saw you again, you were already dead! I had to bury you with my own hands! Do you know how much pain I felt back then?” Bai Lingmiao started crying.

Looking at the girl in front of him, Li Huowang felt his heart ache. “I just thought that you are almost at your home and so there’s no reason for you to follow me. Plus, this is something minor and there won’t be any danger.”

“If it’s not dangerous, then why don’t you let me follow you?! Also, I can help you in case you can’t solve it yourself. Both me and my sister can help you!” said Bai Lingmiao.

“Sister? Do you call your Second Deity sister?” asked Li Huowang as he recalled how Li Zhi called his Second Deity “his wife”.

“Senior Li, let us come with you. If not, at the very least, let me follow you; you can let the others travel to Cowheart Mountain first,” requested Bai Lingmiao.

Li Huowang stared at her; he understood that even though the Immortals were finicky, they could still do a lot of things and might be able to help him out of some situations. But this time, he was dealing with the Sitting Oblivion Dao. Also, they were now almost at Bai Lingmiao’s home. He didn’t want Bai Lingmiao to be in danger.

As he was pondering about how to respond, there was a knock on the door.

“Master, are you in there?”

It was Lu Xiucai’s voice.

“Enter,” said Li Huowang as he removed his hands from Bai Lingmiao’s arm and looked toward Lu Xiucai entering the room.

At this moment, the youth was covered in coal dust. Even his face and hands were blackened with it.

“Master, I’ve finished writing what you told me to write,” said Lu Xiucai as he took out some papers and showed them to Li Huowang.

Looking over them, Li Huowang frowned. “Xiucai, I remember teaching you how to write words, not draw talismans.”

Lu Xiucai perked up and was happy when he heard that. “Master, are you teaching me how to draw talismans? Thank you, Master!”

Li Huowang slammed the paper onto the table. “No! I meant that your handwriting is as horrible as the runes scribbled on talismans. Don’t you understand? Is this supposed to be the character for ‘wood’? Why is it so squiggly? And the character for ‘mouth’, why is it round? Can’t you even draw a straight line with a piece of charcoal? Also, why is your entire face black if you are just writing words?”

Li Huowang ranted and scolded him to distract Lu Xiucai from wanting to learn about talismans. Even though Lu Xiucai was hardworking and Li Huowang taught well, somehow the results were still bad.

Li Huowang sighed as he looked at the disappointed Lu Xiucai. “Enough. Go and call your father. I have something to tell him.”

While Li Huowang was technically fine with letting Bai Lingmiao follow him, the same was not true about the others. He couldn’t let the Lu family, Yang Xiaohai, and the women who were with them follow him into danger.

All of them would just drag him down during a battle.

This was different from last time when trouble came to find him. This time around, he would be actively searching for the enemy, and so he needed to prepare. This chapter was originally shared via N0/vel/Biin.

When Lu Zhuangyuan entered the room, Li Huowang told him to bring everyone who couldn’t fight to Cowheart Mountain.

Li Huowang had decided that he would only bring Bai Lingmiao, Gao Zhijian, Chun Xiaoman, and Puppy to Ganyuan Village.

“Don’t worry Young Daoist, I have traveled for quite a long time; with my experience, I will safely bring them to Cowheart Mountain!” assured Lu Zhuangyuan.

Yinling City was a central hub that allowed access to various different locations throughout the Liang Kingdom.

After speaking with Li Huowang and swearing that he would keep everyone safe, Lu Zhuangyuan dragged the disappointed Lu Xiucai away with him.