Jade Pendant

When Li Huowang confirmed that the candy in his chest was truly real, his heart pounded wildly, and the first thought that surfaced in his mind was, I have to tell Doctor Li!

But the moment his right foot lifted, it froze in midair as other thoughts flashed through his mind.

He knew that his hallucinations contained more than just candy. There were other things—things of even greater value!

As he savored the sweetness melting in his mouth, Li Huowang slowly paced around the hospital room.

"This is an opportunity! An opportunity that could let Yang Na and me get rich overnight! It might even let me reach the pinnacle of life!" Overwhelmed with excitement, he quickly reached that conclusion.

I can't tell Doctor Li. I don't want to be sent to a laboratory and sliced into specimens. Besides, this isn't even his business. Li Huowang thought to himself.

But I can't jump to conclusions so quickly. I need to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on first. He silently decided what he needed to do.

Just as he thought that, his surroundings began to warp and shift, and the clean, tidy hospital room started to recede.

Li Huowang had long since grown accustomed to this sort of thing. He hurriedly stuffed his test papers and books into his shoulder bag and threw it into a distant corner, lest his hallucinating self tear them apart.

Then he pressed the red button beside the bed. A few seconds later, the last thing he saw was several nurses entering and strapping him to the bed with restraints.

When he opened his eyes again, the crude, icy cave had returned. The "junior brothers and sisters" around him, all bearing physical defects, looked at him curiously.

Sitting up from the cold stone floor, Li Huowang once again examined everything around him through that peculiar perspective. It all felt incomparably real.

This place might have been a hallucination, but in his eyes now, it was a treasure vault piled high with riches.

Maybe he was not sick at all. Maybe he possessed some extraordinarily rare supernatural ability that those quack doctors simply could not detect.

"Maybe I'm not sick at all. Yes, that's right. I'm not sick."

Over the years, he had truly had enough of the label of mental illness. Everyone looked at him with strange eyes.

As though the instant he fell ill, he had ceased to be human and become some kind of freak.

The thought that he might one day shed that label made Li Huowang so excited he could hardly contain himself.

In high spirits, he reached out and happily rubbed the bald head that had leaned close. "Hahaha, this is really interesting."

"What are you all huddling around for? Why aren't you working? If you don't finish the Medicinal Guide Master wants and ruin his great undertaking of becoming immortal, he'll skin you alive!" An extremely irritating voice came from the cave entrance.

Li Huowang turned and saw that it was the aloof Daoist who had delivered the message before. His face still carried that arrogant expression, as though merely speaking to Medicinal Guides like Li Huowang would soil his eyes.

Li Huowang remembered this fellow's name. This hallucination's Daoist title seemed to be Xuan Yang.

Faced with Li Huowang's utterly unrestrained scrutiny, Xuan Yang clearly sensed a provocation. Flicking the whisk in his hand, he walked over to Li Huowang. "Junior Brother Li, it's truly a pity you didn't become Master's Medicinal Guide this time."

Li Huowang could not be bothered with his veiled mockery. All his attention was focused on the Round Jade Pendant hanging at Xuan Yang's waist.

"That should be an antique, right? If I can bring it into the real world and sell it, it'll definitely be worth quite a bit of money, won't it?"

"But how should I do it? Snatch it and put it against my chest, like that candy?"

After saying a few things and receiving no response from Li Huowang, Xuan Yang decided that he was afraid. He disdainfully lifted his chin and turned to leave the place where Medicinal Guides stayed.

Watching his retreating back, Li Huowang made up his mind. This Jade Pendant would be his next test subject for trying to transport something across.

As for how to get it, that could not be simpler. He would just steal it tonight. "That Jade Pendant is nice, but it'll be mine soon enough."

A small hand, so pale it almost reflected light, reached over from beside him and gently tugged at Li Huowang's linen sleeve. A soft, sweet voice sounded by his ear.

"Senior Brother Li, hurry and work. If we don't finish, we won't get any food."

Li Huowang turned his head and saw that it was the young girl with Albinism whom he had helped before.

After thinking for a moment, he took out the remaining half-melted Black Sugar from his clothes and placed it in her hand. Then he turned and went back to his spot, picking up the pestle to begin working.

For the time being, whether here or at the hospital, he decided not to act too outrageously.

Something so earth-shattering and shocking was unsuitable to tell anyone. He had to slowly figure out its rules before making any other plans.

The day's work ended amid the dull sounds of pounding medicine. Deep in the night, Li Huowang lay on the communal sleeping platform, listening to the snoring and teeth-grinding around him as he slowly opened his eyes.

The windowless cave was so dark one could not see one's own hand. Li Huowang felt his way toward the entrance.

He first went to the place where he worked and picked up a piece of Glowing Stone he had ground himself. Its faint glow kept him from having to grope through the pitch-black Karst Cave.

Though carrying such a stone in the dead of night was a little too conspicuous, Li Huowang did not care in the slightest.

"If someone finds me, I'll just retreat straight back to the hospital. I have a way out—what am I afraid of?" he smugly muttered to himself as he walked alone through the Karst Cave.

This entire hallucination had appeared because of him. Would he really fear a hallucination he had created, even if he still could not control it?

The entire Karst Cave had been developed on a large scale. Li Huowang had been here for some time now, and he knew the place like the back of his hand.

Before long, he slipped into Xuan Yang's cave. Though it was still crude, the large bed for one person was enough to prove the fundamental difference between him and Medicinal Guides like Li Huowang.

But to Li Huowang's surprise, Xuan Yang was not inside. The man was gone, but his clothes remained. Li Huowang could not be bothered to think about it. He reached into the Daoist Robe with his right hand and yanked off the Jade Pendant.

After sneaking outside, Li Huowang held the Glowstone up and carefully examined the Round Jade Pendant in his hand.

The Jade Pendant was crystal-clear, smooth and lustrous, carved with exquisitely detailed cloud patterns. Even someone like him, who knew nothing about such things, could tell it was fine jade.

The more Li Huowang looked, the happier he became. If he could really bring this thing into the real world, one Jade Pendant would at least cover four years of university tuition for both him and Yang Na.

"Hehehe~ Yang Na, Yang Na, get ready to become a little rich lady." With that, Li Huowang stuffed the Jade Pendant into his pocket and headed back.

Everything had gone smoothly, but some things could not stay smooth forever. Just as he was about to reach the entrance, he rounded a turn on the stone stairs and came face-to-face with a group of people.

They were boys and girls around Li Huowang's age. Their terrified faces flickered between light and shadow under the Fire Boxes in their hands.

Both sides were badly startled by the other, and they stood rooted in place for a long while without anyone saying a word.

In the end, Li Huowang spoke first. Pointing his Glowstone at Xuan Yang, who stood among the crowd dressed in linen, he asked, "Senior Brother Xuan Yang, dressed like that... have you been assigned to the Material Room?"

Xuan Yang was not the only one among them. There were also Daoist Children responsible for other duties, including one who had previously fanned the Alchemy Furnace.

But whatever they had done before, they were all now dressed in linen shirts and trousers. Apart from that, they carried nothing else.

Xuan Yang no longer wore the arrogant, smug expression he had during the day. His expression shifted several times in rapid succession before he stepped up to Li Huowang and lowered his voice.

"Come! Leave with us! We're escaping this damned place! The senior brother guarding the gate has already been dealt with."

"Leave? Oh! So you're trying to—"

Before Li Huowang could say the word "escape," Xuan Yang clamped a hand tightly over his mouth.