Black Tai Sui

"Tai Sui. Black Tai Sui." Danyangzi's icy voice rang out in the cramped Material Room.

Li Huowang tilted his head back slightly, taking another look at the disgusting thing in the old man's hand. On closer inspection, it seemed somewhat similar to what was inside the Black Cauldron—no, what he held was exactly the man-eating thing from that cauldron.

"This thing's called Black Tai Sui? He's not planning to refine pills with it, is he? That's one twisted taste," Li Huowang thought to himself.

With a light flick of Danyangzi's wrist, the writhing Black Tai Sui arced through the air and landed squarely on Li Huowang's foot. The slimy, squishy sensation made his scalp crawl, and he stumbled backward, shaking his legs repeatedly.

Staring at the Black Tai Sui now coated in dust on the ground, Li Huowang looked up at Danyangzi in bewilderment, momentarily unable to grasp what the man meant by this.

"A gift for you. Pick it up and swallow it. Before, you were just a Medicinal Guide, so it didn't matter. Now that you're this Daoist's disciple, things can't be so casual. It can suppress your delirium."

Li Huowang seemed not to understand what he was saying—or didn't want to. The young man's face turned deathly pale as he kept backing away. "I'm not eating it! I'm not sick!"

"Not eating? Hmph. That's not for you to decide. Chang Ming, Chang Ren." Danyangzi gave a slight lift of his chin, and the two Daoists with swords on their backs strode over to Li Huowang, each grabbing one of his arms.

Then Danyangzi beckoned with his right hand, and the Black Tai Sui, which had been crawling toward the wall, flew straight into his grasp. Watching Danyangzi approach with that revolting thing, Li Huowang's body began to tremble uncontrollably, a bone-deep chill seeping from the inside out.

He instinctively struggled to escape, but the two senior brothers' hands clamped down on his shoulders like iron. Still, he had one last resort. With rapid breaths, his chest heaved violently. Gritting his teeth in fear, he squeezed his eyes shut and pulled his mind and body inward with all his might.

"Huowang? Huowang! What's wrong? Are you in pain?" Yang Na's gentle voice sounded like heavenly music to Li Huowang at that moment.

Opening his eyes to see the girl in a high-necked white sweater before him, he lunged forward emotionally, clutching her tightly like a lifeline. A faint blush crept across the young girl's cheeks as she struggled and whispered in a voice as soft as a mosquito, "Huowang, Huowang, let me go. Auntie and the others are watching from behind."

Li Huowang looked up and saw his mother standing beside the Attending Physician, grinning with an auntie-like smile. "Oh my~ My son's amazing."

Taking in the clean, tidy hospital room, the bright sun outside the window, and his beloved family, the fear gripping Li Huowang's heart gradually eased. The Attending Doctor pushed up his glasses with a frown and stepped forward. "Little Li, what did you see in the hallucination? Your emotions are pretty volatile. What's been going on lately? Have you been following my instructions?"

Thinking back to everything he'd just endured, Li Huowang's heart clenched. Anxiously, he said to his Attending Physician, "Doctor, is there any medicine that can temporarily suppress those hallucinations? I really can't take it anymore. I want to rest for a while."

"Sigh, fine. I'll prescribe you some haloperidol and perphenazine. But Little Li, medication can only assist. To fully break free from the hallucinations, you still need to follow my method." With that, the doctor used his tablet to write the prescription.

When he saw the nurse bring over a few blue capsules, Li Huowang rushed up, didn't even bother with water, and tossed them straight into his mouth. He didn't want to think about any master or pills. He just wanted a moment of peace. What had just happened had truly terrified him.

The capsules felt sticky and gritty in his mouth, disgusting to swallow, but he forced himself to choke them down. "Little Li, tell me—what scared you in that hallucination just now?"

Feeling much lighter after taking the medicine, Li Huowang smiled and replied, "Nothing much. It's just that the guy over there had a weird tone. Sounded like he was saying that there is reality and here is the hallucination. Hahaha."

As soon as he said that, the air around them froze into silence. The unusually vivid colors dimmed. Yang Na, his mother, the Attending Doctor, and the nurse who had brought the medicine all stiffened in place.

The sudden shift made Li Huowang's body start trembling, his breathing growing faster and faster. Helplessly, he looked out the window. The bright, sunny sky had turned pitch black. The safe, peaceful environment was gone.

Fear as solid as matter engulfed him, panic overwhelming every other emotion. On instinct, Li Huowang grabbed Yang Na and lunged toward his mother's embrace. But the moment he touched her, her body burst like foam. The reliable, strong mother who had always sheltered him from the storm was gone.

"Huowang." His body jolted violently. He spun around, watching helplessly as Yang Na's form faded completely before his eyes. His one and only love had vanished too.

In that moment, every positive, beautiful thing Li Huowang cared about was gone. All that remained was despair, oppression, and pain. The hospital's white walls receded like a tide, and he was back in the dark cave among the Mountains.

Eyes bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead, Li Huowang wanted to scream, to howl, to pour out all the despair and suffering in his heart. But he couldn't. His throat was packed solid with Black Tai Sui, not a sound escaping. All the despair and pain rebounded, forcing him to bear every bit of it himself.

Watching his kneeling disciple tremble and dry-heave, Danyangzi clasped his hands behind his back, shook his head, and walked toward the Material Room's exit. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Raving like that and you still say you're not delirious? In this whole Material Room, you're the sickest one. Did you think This Daoist picked Medicinal Guides at random before?"

"Enough. The delirium's gone. Now you can work properly. Remember, Qingfeng Temple doesn't keep idlers. Come to me on the first of every month for your medicine." With that, Danyangzi's other disciples followed him out, leaving only Li Huowang on the ground and the other Medicinal Guides in the room.

The bizarre-looking Medicinal Guides, afflicted with various congenital or acquired ailments, exchanged glances, unsure what to do. After about half a stick of incense's time, the Black Tai Sui in Li Huowang's throat finally slid down. His heart-wrenching wails echoed through the cave.

"Why!! Why, even in this godforsaken place, won't this illness let me go!!"