Li Huowang curled up in the corner of the storeroom, motionless, like an unborn child retreating into darkness.
The other medicine extractors neither dared nor wanted to disturb him. They worked quietly, their eyes avoiding his collapsed figure.
Night descended silently, and the oil lamps on the walls extinguished one by one. Darkness, like a heavy quilt, enveloped Li completely.
He lay there, unresponsive to the changes around him, as if his body had become lifeless.
Around midnight, a faint glow from a candle at the storeroom entrance illuminated the shelves and drove away the shadows that had swallowed Li Huowang.
Bai Lingmiao, timid as ever, approached with a bundle of dry straw in her arms. She hesitated for a moment, then gently placed the straw over Li's body, as though tucking in a fragile child.
From her pocket, she pulled out a coarse grain mantou and held it near his lips.
"Senior Brother, eat something," she whispered softly. "You haven't eaten all day."
Li's eyes were open, unblinking. For hours, they had stared at the cold ground beneath him, dull and lifeless, never once moving toward Bai Lingmiao.
She wanted to leave, her fear urging her to retreat, but after a moment of hesitation, she pulled a jade pendant from her pocket and placed it near Li's hand.
"Senior Brother, this is yours. Take it back."
This time, Li finally stirred. He turned his eyes toward the pendant and recognized it immediately—it was the same circular jade pendant he had stolen from the previous Xuanyang.
The memories rushed back. He had given this to Yang Na, asking her to sell it. The thought of Yang Na made his heart ache once more, his wounds tearing open anew. "How... how do you have this?"
"You gave it to me, Senior Brother," Bai Lingmiao whispered. "I told you I didn't want it, but you insisted."
Slowly, Li sat up, the flickering candlelight casting shadows over his weary face. He stared intently at the jade pendant, tracing the intricate cloud patterns carved into its surface.
At that moment, he felt the full weight of reality pressing down on him—painfully vivid and unbearably heavy.
If he could choose, he would rather remain lost in the beautiful illusions, far from this crushing despair.
Seeing Li respond, Bai Lingmiao hesitated before speaking again. "Senior Brother, where did the master catch you? I'm from the Liang Kingdom. Where are you from?"
Li froze for a moment before shaking his head wearily. "I don't know."
And he truly didn't. Though he had memories of his past, the events of the day had left him unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
Even here, he was just a madman—a madman who could no longer tell the difference between what was real and what was not.
As he shook his head, Li felt a strange sensation on his scalp. He reached up and discovered clumps of dried blood matting his hair.
Seeing him touch his head, Bai Lingmiao explained in a small voice, "That's from Senior Brother Wang."
Li's mind immediately connected the name to the harelip fat man who had tried to harm Bai Lingmiao earlier. "Where is Wang?"
"You... you kicked him to death."
The words sent a memory flashing through Li's mind—an image of the old man he had kicked in his hallucination. He chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. I really am crazy.
Reaching into his sleeve, Li pulled out a gold anklet tied with a red string and handed it to Bai Lingmiao. "This is yours. Take it back."
Bai Lingmiao looked at the anklet, her hands forming a gesture of refusal as she pushed it back. "Senior Brother, you were right before—this thing is useless here. You keep it."
Li stared at the gold anklet, lost in thought. To him, the item had no meaning now. Everything he cared about had been torn away.
"Senior Brother," Bai Lingmiao spoke hesitantly, "can I use this anklet as payment to ask you for a favor?"
Her words drew Li's gaze toward her.
"If you manage to leave this place alive, can you bring a message to my parents? They live at the foot of Niuxin Mountain in the Liang Kingdom. Tell them... tell them their daughter has been unfilial and can't be there to care for them in their old age."
As she spoke, her voice cracked, and tears welled up in her pale eyes.
"I don't mean to burden you, Senior Brother," she continued, her voice trembling. "But I truly have no one else to ask. They'll probably take me to the alchemy furnace soon, and I..."
Hearing her words, Li's hollow eyes suddenly regained a glimmer of light.
He glanced at the dry straw draped over him, then at the mantou resting nearby. With a small motion, he reached out, grabbed the anklet, and tucked it back into his sleeve.
"I gave you my word. Since I've taken your things, I'll help you."
Bai Lingmiao's sorrowful eyes lit up instantly, but her joy was fleeting. It quickly faded as worry crept in. "Senior Brother, this isn't right. You'll get yourself into trouble because of me."
"Heh..." Li smirked bitterly. "Do you really think I'm afraid of trouble anymore?"
At that moment, Li had already let go of everything. He had nothing left to lose, and with that came a kind of freedom.
"Good! Well said, Senior Brother!"
The sudden voice startled both of them. They turned to see a man standing at the storeroom entrance, his face lit by the faint candlelight.
He had a sly grin and a sharp, monkey-like face. Patches of his skin were blotched with yellow and white, resembling the symptoms of vitiligo.
The man stepped forward and placed two coarse mantous next to Li.
"Hehe, Senior Brother, have some food. I thought you might be hungry, so I saved you a couple from dinner."
"You probably don't know me yet, but my name's Gouwa—no formal name or anything. Just call me Gouwa," the man said, scratching his hands nervously. "Oh, and I gave you seventeen copper coins yesterday, remember?"
His fidgety behavior and ingratiating tone made it clear that Gouwa wanted to align himself with Li for protection—smart people existed everywhere.
Li said nothing, grabbing the mantous and devouring them ravenously.
He hadn't eaten all day and ate so quickly that he choked. Gouwa immediately ran out to fetch him a cup of water.
After finishing all three mantous, Li struggled to stand, his legs numb from lying on the ground for so long.
Bai Lingmiao reached out to support him, but he gently pushed her away.
His gaze locked onto the dark exit of the storeroom. Slowly, he began to walk toward it.
His enemy was no longer the illness that plagued him. Now, it was Dan Yangzi—the scabby-faced Daoist who used human lives to refine his elixirs.
As Dan Yangzi's grotesque face surfaced in his mind, a fiery rage ignited in Li's eyes. His teeth clenched so tightly that they made an audible grinding sound.
Moments ago, he had been utterly defeated, consumed by despair. But now, he had found new purpose.
The only thought that filled his mind now was: I have to find a way to kill him.