"Perform a play for ghosts?" Li Huowang's heart suddenly skipped a beat, knowing this could not be a good thing just by the name of it.
"Actually, it's nothing much, just performing a play at the ancestral temple for the ancestors," the other explained.
"If it's nothing, then why doesn't Band Leader Lv do the business himself?" Li Huowang immediately countered, sensing that it couldn't be that simple.
"Oh my, you see, this is also my first time, and I'm a bit nervous, okay? So, I thought of having you, the expert, by my side to steady our nerves, and only then could we do this business with peace of mind."
"Band Leader Lv, I really can't help with this favor," Li Huowang said, wondering why he would put himself in harm's way when he usually avoided such things.
It could be that nothing would happen, but he didn't want to gamble on it.
At most, he was just a fellow traveler with Top Scholar Lv; it really wasn't worth risking his life to help him.
If Top Scholar Lv was unwilling to continue with him as the guide because of this matter, they could simply part ways. He could just ask around in the village instead—there were so many people, surely there would be someone unfamiliar with the area?
"Ah, ah, ah~ Taoist Master, don't rush off; I haven't finished yet. What about splitting the payment for the wine and food for the play in half?"
At the mention of money, Top Scholar Lv gestured animatedly, "I didn't want to accept it initially either, but this is no small amount, you know? That Hu Lao-ye was so generous! He gave a full ten taels of patterned silver!"
"One tael of silver is a thousand copper coins, and ten taels of patterned silver is ten thousand copper coins! My dear Taoist Master! Ten taels of silver! Even if you wish to engage in Taoist cultivation to become an immortal, you still need to eat before you become one, don't you?"
Li Huowang stopped in his tracks as he looked at the two bags of dried sweet potatoes next to him. He indeed needed silver now.
And it wasn't just because of food. Once he reached Jianye Town, he could anticipate also needing to spend quite a sum of money. In a world made up of people, without money, you're lost.
"Taoist Master, please, I am begging you. If that's not enough, what about a sixty-forty split? It's not easy to make this much money these days!" Top Scholar Lv continued to plead with a mournful face, circling around Li Huowang.
Without the expert's presence, he really dared not take on the job; after all, what good was all the money if one had no life with which to spend it?
All of a sudden, Li Huowang turned his head to face Top Scholar Lv, "Is there a blacksmith in this village?"
"What?"
Under the guidance of Top Scholar Lv, Li Huowang was led to the sole blacksmith's shop in Wuli Ridge.
"What do you want to forge?" The bare-chested, bearded blacksmith sized up Li Huowang in his Taoist robe and gruffly asked.
"We're not forging metalwork; we need to repair something. It can't be hammered or melted. Can you restore this?" Li Huowang pulled out a copper bell and asked.
If he could fix it, he could summon Mr. You, and then perhaps he really could take this money. Otherwise, holding onto the money would burn his hands.
"Can't be hammered or melted? What kind of nonsense is that?" The curious blacksmith reached out to take the copper bell, gave it a few shakes, and then brought out two pairs of tongs. "Come on, give me a hand."
The tongs were long and could easily reach into both dented sides of the bell. Both men gritted their teeth and pulled with all their strength, but the copper bell wouldn't budge—an expected yet reasonable outcome.
"Hey! That's strange. What kind of copper is this made from? Why is it so hard?" the blacksmith asked, bending his finger to strike it out of curiosity, only to be stopped by Li Huowang.
Looking at the two pairs of tongs clutching the bell wall, Li Huowang thought for a moment and then poured an elixir from a palm-sized gourd at his waist into his mouth.
This was the Elixir that Master Danyang had rewarded him with. He had previously consumed one at the mental hospital saving Yang Na, another one when he killed Master Danyang, and now he was taking another, leaving only two left.
"Buzz"—heat exploded instantly from his Dantian, surging throughout his entire body.
He took a deep breath, grabbed the tongs on one side, and yanked with all his might.
"Both of you couldn't open it, and you think you alone can—" The ironsmith's words were cut off halfway when a creaking sound emerged, and the shriveled copper bell actually propped itself open steadily.
As the ironsmith's mouth opened to its widest, the copper bell returned to its original state.
"Hey, what's so difficult about this? Let me tell you, little Taoist Master Lv boasts of his profound skills," Top Scholar Lv bragged to the ironsmith, as if in his heart Li Huowang could do no wrong, and nothing he did came as a surprise.
Li Huowang left the village and ventured back into the forest on his own.
Looking at the copper bell in his hand, he shook it with a touch of expectation in his heart.
As the bell rang out, that feeling of the world darkening and head spinning immediately appeared; this time, Li Huowang didn't stop but clenched his teeth and shook it harder.
He felt everything around him begin to spin, the lines of the surrounding trees started to twist, breaking free from their original positions, gradually beginning to coalesce into form.
"This might work!" Li Huowang's heart was racing.
Accompanied by the grating sound of the bell, the long-unseen Elder You reappeared before him, only this time there was only one.
Elder You seemed like a mass of various twisted lines pieced together, trembling at a high frequency, its form completely unstable.
Li Huowang couldn't stare at it for too long; he felt that if he did, he might cause it to disperse.
Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered something, bent down, and stuffed a clump of wet mud into his mouth.
The taste of the mushy mud was unpleasant, but he still forced himself to speak.
"Can you understand what I'm saying?" he meant to ask Elder You if it could understand him, but the sound that emerged, altered by the distorted environment, turned into a very strange melody.
No matter what Li Huowang said, Elder You actually responded, "Yes, I do."
This elated Li Huowang immensely—having Elder You's help meant a great increase in his strength!
"Can your help increase my power exponentially without limit?" Li Huowang leaned forward as he asked the most crucial question.
Elder You remained still, neither arrogant nor impatient, responding slowly yet firmly, "Certainly, but for each action, three months of life will be paid, agreed?"
Li Huowang's brows gradually furrowed, "Explain."
"Certainly, but for each action, three months of life will be paid, agreed?"
As he saw Elder You continue to repeat the previous sentence, Li Huowang sighed lightly in his heart; as expected, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and employing Elder You came at a cost.
And that cost was none other than a person's Yangshou—life span—three months of life for one use.
When Li Huowang once again asked if this was the same deal Master Danyang had made, Elder You fell silent.
The ringing of the bell gradually ceased, and Li Huowang clutched his splitting headache and rested for a while on the spot before making his way back to Five Mile Ridge.
"Little Taoist Master, what's with..." Top Scholar Lv started to say something upon seeing the mud all over Li Huowang's mouth but held back.
"The deal you just mentioned, I've agreed to it," Li Huowang said, gripping the copper bell in his hand.
"Oh! That's fantastic! I'll go and tell Master Hu right away!" Upon hearing this, Top Scholar Lv was overjoyed.