Chapter 63 - Red Veil
Seeing the change in Li Zhi’s expression, Li Huowang walked over. “Brother Li Zhi, I can explain about yesterday’s situation.”
Li Zhi raised his hand and stopped Li Huowang from speaking further before speaking in an irritated voice, “No need to explain. I didn’t do anything to you anyway, so just let it be.”
Having said that, Li Zhi stood up and grabbed his wife, heading straight out of the house. N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l-B1n.
Seeing their backs, Li Huowang remained silent.
The Second Deity said that I’m the Strayed Immortal. It seems that whatever that is, it is something special. She even told me not to stare at the Household Immortal, almost as if she knew what I was doing. I must pry that information from her mouth.
He finally had some clues, and so Li Huowang was reluctant to give it up.
“Senior Li, what’s wrong? Did you have a fight with the Shaman?” asked Puppy.
Hearing what Puppy said, Li Huowang shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just something personal. Go and eat your breakfast. We finally have the chance to sleep on a bed, so rest well these few days. Once we get out of this village, we will only be able to sleep on the roadside.”
For the next few days, Li Huowang didn’t go and find Li Zhi, nor did he check what the other was doing. He knew that Li Zhi should still be angry about the last time, and so it was not wise to seek out the Second Deity. He decided to bide his time.
Li Huowang had a feeling that this was the best course of action, but while he was waiting, a troublesome situation appeared.
Bai Lingmiao became sick.
It was troublesome indeed. The sickness was both serious and insignificant at the same time. It was serious because this was a poor village where no illness should be taken lightly; it could very well take her life. But it was also insignificant because with the pills that Li Huowang refined in Zephyr Temple, he was more or less on the level of a village doctor. He might not be able to cure the more serious illnesses, but something as light as this was easy to handle.
Li Huowang held Bai Lingmiao’s feverish head in his lap and carefully fed her a red pill.
“Senior Li, am I dying? I don’t want to die...” The frail Bai Lingmiao held onto Li Huowang’s sleeves.
“Don’t think of something stupid. It’s just a cold. I just gave you medicine, so you should get some sleep. Once you sweat off the fever, you should be healthy once again,” said Li Huowang.
Thud thud thud.
At that moment, a knock on the door cut their conversation short. Li Huowang looked up and saw that it was Li Zhi and his wife.
“How is it? I’ve heard from my friend that your sister is sick. Do you need help?” asked Li Zhi.
“No need, but thanks.” Li Huowang carefully covered Bai Lingmiao with a blanket and walked out.
“No need to be so formal with me. You gave me some noodles before, so it's natural for me to help you out. The Immortals from the Bai family are very good at healing people from illnesses. As long as you don’t try to steal my wife, we can still be friends and I will help you,” said Li Zhi, making it seem like the issue had resolved itself.
“It’s just a cold, so there’s no need for you to do your thing. Also I’m afraid that we might not be able to ‘pay’ them,” said Li Huowang.
Li Zhi stiffened before chuckling. “Yeah, you are right. Looks like I’m being too meddlesome. The Immortals should not be summoned so willy-nilly. Also, you are quite a weird Taoist. Not only can you not deal with evil beings, you can’t even cure someone from their illness.”
Hearing this, Li Huowang re-evaluated the man grinning in front of him.
“I am already curing her. She already ate the pill, so all we need to do is wait,” explained Li Huowang.
Li Zhi shook his head. “That won’t do. I’ve seen another Taoist burn a yellow talisman for their patient. At that point, no matter what kind of illness they had, the patient would be cured in an instant.”
Li Huowang smiled lightly and felt the situation was just right for his question. “Li Zhi, can we talk? It’s about your wife. She’s different from the other people. Are the Second Deities of the other Shamans the same?”
Li Zhi’s smile froze. “Li Huowang, please don’t ask such things. You are a cultivator, are you not? You also have some secrets that you would never share with me. Tell me, have I ever asked you where all these malformed people come from? I didn’t, right?”
Having said that, Li Zhi patted Li Huowang’s red Taoist robe and left with his wife.
Previously, Li Huowang had seen how talkative Li Zhi was, and how he even dared to curse the Immortal families; knowing all this, he could sense that Li Zhi was currently putting on a facade.
Li Huowang pondered on it for a while before returning back to the room to take care of Bai Lingmiao.
That night, he was awoken by the sound of someone tapping on the window in the middle of the night.
Creak~
The wooden window opened and he could see a pair of red shoes hanging outside, gently dangling in the air.
Li Huowang recognized them—they belonged to the Second Deity. She had come to see him.
Li Huowang thought about it for a moment before silently whispering, “I will meet you in the forest in front of the village.”
Seeing the pair of red shoes slowly disappear, Li Huowang took a deep breath and got out of the bed to dress up.
With the faint moonlight guiding the way, Li Huowang quickly entered the dark forest and saw the Second Deity standing still below one of the trees.
Li Huowang carefully looked around but didn’t find Li Zhi anywhere. “Second Deity, what did you need to tell me?”
The Second Deity once again used one of her nails to pierce her own fingers and used her own blood to write on the red veil.
However, the distance was too far, making it so that Li Huowang couldn’t read it properly. He slowly approached the red veil.
“You...Have...To...Be...Careful...” Li Huowang read the words out loud.
Halfway through reading him it, the Second Deity suddenly raised her hands and her black fingernails stabbed straight into Li Huowang’s neck.
Bam!
Li Huowang reacted quite quickly as he grabbed the red veil and kicked the Second Deity in her stomach.
Even though he was out of danger for now, there were four bloody holes on both sides of his neck.
He fished out some Blood Nourishing Pills and ate them as he stared at the Second Deity.
It had never occurred to him that the Second Deity was going to try and kill him! He had always thought that she was trying to inform him of some danger.
However, when he saw the face of the Second Deity, he froze.
Her face was distorted, covered with green snake scales, porcupine quills, fox ears, and many other animal organs.
But amidst all that, there was still a small part of a human face, and looking at it, he could tell that it was none other than Li Zhi!
No, to be more accurate, it was a female version of Li Zhi, with some makeup powder on the remaining human skin.
At this moment, one half of her mouth had been transformed into a beast maw, but the remaining human lips even had some red lipstick.
Seeing that Li Huowang had seen her real face, ‘Li Zhi’ covered her mouth and laughed like a fox.
“To think that the Strayed One was so inexperienced even after probing for half a day. You must have been quite lucky to have escaped capture for so long.”
“To think that the Strayed One was so inexperienced even after probing for half a day. You must have been quite lucky to have escaped capture for so long.”
Two voices rang out at the same time, one from the front and another one from within the dark forest.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
At the same time, the sound of the drum rang out from somewhere in the forest.
“Summon~ The~ Gods~”