When he confirmed that the piece of candy on his chest was actually real, Li Huowang's heart pounded furiously. The very first thought leapt unbidden into his mind. I have to tell Doctor Li!
But as soon as he lifted his right foot, it hung in midair as other thoughts flashed through his mind. He knew that it wasn't just candy in his Huan Jue—there was other stuff as well, stuff far more valuable!
Savoring the sweetness dissolving in his mouth, Li Huowang paced slowly around the hospital room.
This is an opportunity! A chance for Yang Na and me to get rich overnight! An opportunity that could even let me reach the pinnacle of my life! Excitement surged in him as this certainty took root.
No way am I telling Doctor Li. I don't want to end up in a lab getting sliced to bits. Besides, this sort of thing is out of his hands, Li Huowang thought.
But I can't jump to conclusions yet. I have to get to the bottom of this and really figure out what's going on. He made a silent decision.
Just as he was thinking this, the surroundings began to twist and shift; the neat, clean hospital room began to recede.
Li Huowang was long used to this. First, he quickly stuffed his worksheets and books into his satchel and tossed it to the far corner, to keep himself from shredding them when the Huan Jue hit. Next, he pressed the red button beside the bed. A few seconds later, the last thing he saw was several nurses walking in and strapping him to the bed with restraints.
When he opened his eyes again, the simple, cold environment of the cave had returned. The physically deformed "junior brothers and sisters" nearby were staring at him with curiosity.
Sitting up from the cold stone surface, Li Huowang once again surveyed the vividly real surroundings with his special perspective.
This might be a Huan Jue, but to him right now it looked like a treasure vault piled high with riches.
Maybe he wasn't sick at all but had awakened extremely rare Special Abilities. It was just that those quacks couldn't detect them.
Maybe I'm not sick at all. Yeah, that's right, I'm fine.
Over the years, he'd had more than enough of the "mental patient" label. Everyone looked at him with strange eyes. It was as if, the very instant he became ill, he stopped being human and turned into something alien.
Just imagining a future where he could shed that label made Li Huowang tremble with excitement.
In high spirits, he reached out and playfully patted the large, bald head of someone crowding close. "Haha, this is actually pretty fun."
"What are you all gathered here for? Get back to work! If you don't get Master's Medicinal Guide ready, you'll ruin his great work of ascension, and he'll have you all flayed alive!" an obnoxiously unpleasant voice rang out from the cave entrance.
Li Huowang turned his head and saw that the speaker was the aloof Daoist from before. His face still wore an arrogant expression, as if just speaking to these Medicinal Guides would dirty his gaze. Li Huowang remembered this fellow's name—the man from his Huan Jue had the Daoist title of Xuan Yang.
Faced with Li Huowang's openly defiant stare, Xuan Yang clearly felt provoked. He shook the horsetail whisk in his hand and strode up to Li Huowang. "Junior Brother Li, it's a real pity you weren't chosen as Master's Medicinal Guide this time."
Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to pay attention to his snide comments. His focus was entirely on the round Jade Pendant hanging at the man's waist.
That thing must be an antique, right? If I could bring it back to the real world and sell it, it would be worth a fortune. But how would I do it? Just snatch it like I did with the candy and press it to my chest?
After a few more words and seeing Li Huowang unresponsive, Xuan Yang figured he had scared him. He gave a contemptuous tilt of his chin and stalked away from the area where the Medicinal Guides were.
Watching his retreating back, Li Huowang made up his mind. That Jade Pendant would be the next test subject for his teleportation experiment. As for how to get it, that was simple enough: he would just steal it at night. That Jade Pendant is nice, but it'll be mine soon enough.
A small, almost reflectively white hand reached out from beside him, gently tugging on Li Huowang's coarse linen sleeve. A soft, sweet voice sounded in his ear.
"Senior Brother Li, hurry and get to work. If we don't finish, we won't get to eat."
Li Huowang turned his head and saw it was the albino girl he had helped before.
After a moment of thought, he took the half-melted piece of black sugar from his chest and placed it in her hand. Then he walked over to his station, picked up the Medicine Pestle, and got to work.
For now, whether here or back in the hospital, he decided not to do anything too out of the ordinary. This world-shaking discovery was not something he could tell anyone. He had to slowly figure out the rules before making any other plans.
The day's work ended with the dull sound of grinding medicine. Late that night, listening to the snores and grinding teeth around him, Li Huowang slowly opened his eyes as he lay on the large, shared sleeping platform.
In the windowless cave, he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Li Huowang groped his way toward the entrance.
He first went to his workstation and picked up a piece of ground Green Stone. Its faint glow kept him from stumbling around blindly in the pitch-dark cavern. Although walking around with such a glowing rock in the dark was a little conspicuous, Li Huowang couldn't care less.
"If anyone catches me, I'll just snap back to the hospital. I have an escape route, so what do I have to fear?" he boasted to himself as he wandered the cavern alone.
This whole Huan Jue existed because of him, so why would he be afraid of his own creation? This was true even if he couldn't control it yet.
The cave system was vast. Li Huowang had been here for some time now, and he knew his way around.
Soon, he slipped into Xuan Yang's chamber. Although it was still simple, the large bed for a single occupant showed the fundamental difference between Xuan Yang and the Medicinal Guides like Li Huowang. But to Li Huowang's surprise, Xuan Yang wasn't inside. The man was gone, but his clothes were there. Li Huowang didn't waste time on details; he simply reached into the Daoist Robe and pulled the Jade Pendant free.
After sneaking out of the chamber, Li Huowang used the glow from the Luminous Stone to inspect the round Jade Pendant in his hand.
The Jade Pendant was crystal clear and smooth to the touch, intricately carved with a motif of clouds. Even someone who knew nothing about the subject could tell this was a piece of top-quality jade.
The more Li Huowang looked at it, the happier he became. If he could really bring this into the real world, this one piece of jade could at least cover all four years of college tuition for him and Yang Na.
"Hehehe, Yang Na, oh Yang Na, get ready to be a little rich miss," Li Huowang said aloud, then tucked the Jade Pendant into his clothes and headed back.
Everything was going smoothly, but some things can't stay smooth forever. Just as he was about to reach the entrance, he rounded a corner on the stone steps and ran smack into a group of people.
It was a group of teenage boys and girls about Li Huowang's age. Their fearful faces flickered in and out of the shadows, illuminated by the fireboxes they held.
Both sides were startled by the sudden encounter, freezing on the spot for a long moment without a word.
Finally, Li Huowang spoke. He pointed his Luminous Stone at the group, singling out Xuan Yang, who was dressed in coarse linen. "Senior Brother Xuan Yang, what's with the outfit? Did you get exiled to the pantry?"
It wasn't just Xuan Yang in the group. There were also several Daoist Boys responsible for other tasks. One of them, who had been tasked with fanning the Alchemy Furnace, was also present. But no matter what they had done before, all of them now wore the same coarse linen shirts and pants. They carried nothing else.
Xuan Yang no longer had the arrogant, smug look from earlier in the day. His expression shifted rapidly before he walked up to Li Huowang and lowered his voice.
"Let's go! Come with us! We're escaping this hellhole! The senior brother guarding the gate has been bribed."
"Escape? Oh! So you're all trying to—"
The word "escape" hadn't even left Li Huowang's lips before Xuan Yang clamped a hand tightly over his mouth.