"Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself. I am Li Huowang. Now, as for you guys who tried to ambush me previously, I have forgiven you for that. After all, being a Strayed One, it's only natural that you would like to snatch me, coveted me just like a ginseng. This time around, I am here to discuss another matter. In a nutshell, I am very unfamiliar with this world, and would like to gain more knowledge about it through you. Of course, there's another reason as well. You are aware that I'm a Strayed One, and I'm also looking for a way to get rid of this problem. If you know something and tell me about it, then I'll truly appreciate it."
Li Huowang sat on the chair as he spoke to Han Fu in a serious manner.
His conversation target was not the larger of those two blurry fleshy heads drooping before him, but the fist-sized head around Han Fu's neck region.
The ability of the white tassels hadn't been kind on him either, completely changing up his face. Though Li Huowang called it a head, it was more like a lump of flesh with twisted organs attached to it.
This being was extremely peculiar. Its main body had completely died, and yet, it was still alive and well. Li Huowang wondered how the disciples of Luoism cultivated such techniques.
"What's your name? Also Han Fu?" questioned Li Huowang.
The small head simply sneered and did not reply.
There was a clattering sound as various shiny torture tools were laid out in a row before Li Huowang. Then, he picked out a half-spherical iron tool, and carefully brought it toward the small head.
"Ahh~!!" The sharp cries of the small head pierced through the air.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang opened the tent cover beside him and threw the small eyeball in his hand toward the Black Taisui.
"Still not willing to talk?" asked Li Huowang.
The small head used its one remaining eye to look at the assortment of various strange-looking torture tools before finally showing a hint of fear. However, that fear was soon replaced by determination once again.
"You Ao Jing madman! Will you let me off if I speak?!" asked the small head.
"I won't. But dying directly and dying through slow torture are two different matters," replied Li Huowang in a matter of fact manner. "Did you know? I was never really good at torture, but I have experienced a lot of pain and various kinds of tortures. Do you want me to make you live through everything I have ever experienced?"
Seeing Li Huowang wiping the blood on a nearby towel, and then picking up a barbed hook, the head began to struggle. But at this point, its four limbs were already completely broken; its resistance was simply futile.
"I don't know! I really don't know!! We just left the mountain not long ago!" screamed the small head.
"Really? If you just left the mountain not long ago, then, the nineteen lifespan pills were gifted to you by your master for your travel expenses?" asked Li Huowang.
At the same time, the barbed hook pierced through Han Fu's flesh and slowly pulled out some things. Then, Li Huowang then picked up the coarse salt he had borrowed from Sun Baolu, and evenly applied it on the wound.
The small head twitched in pain, and foam mixed with blood began to spew from its mouth.
After a while, Li Huowang kept his torture tools away and took out the Fiery Scripture and began to recite the obscure incantations with a merciful expression.
Immediately the solidified white wax melted and turned into a pool of fire centipedes that climbed onto Han Fu's body. Then, amidst the crackling and roasting sounds, the centipedes started healing the injuries caused earlier.
"Ahhh!!"
The screams echoed into the distance, frightening many of the Qing Qiu kids in the tents. They also unsettled the adults into keeping their distance.
After several rounds of torture and healing, the small head finally gave in. "I'll talk, I'll talk!"
"Alright, then let's start with the simple questions first. Can this lifespan pill be used as currency?" asked Li Huowang as he took out a pill wrapped in yellow talismans.
When he saw the other party nodding numbly, Li Huowang directly stuffed the pill into the gourd and continued, "Is it very expensive? Is there any point of reference?"
"One lifespan pill can hire someone like Han Fu to help you one time," replied the small head.
Li Huowang nodded in understanding. "How does one obtain lifespan pills?"
"By killing others; however, ordinary people won't do. They need to have been born on a Yang day, in a Yang month of a Yang year. Do you want to know the refining method?"
"No need. Next question. Han Fu mentioned that you are a disciple of Luoism? Where is your temple located?"
"Liang Kingdom's Snakebone Mountain."
"How many people are there in your temple?"
"Fifty-seven." ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ก.๐๐๐ถ
"How many heads?"
"Two hundred and twenty-four heads."
"What are you?"
"I am Han Fu's Nascent Soul."
Li Huowang continued to ask various small questions to confirm the authenticity of the information. He already knew the answers to some of the questions, and just asked them to test if the other party was trying to deceive him.
Once he confirmed that the other party was not lying to him, Li Huowang began asking the more crucial questions, "What is a Strayed One? How is one formed? How many Strayed Ones are there in this world?"
"I really don't know about these things. The information about Strayed Ones was only something casually mentioned by my master in passing," said the small head.
When the small head saw Li Huowang slowly reaching for the torture tools once again, it cried out in fear. Snot and tears flowed down from its face as it pleaded, "I really don't know! My master just told us that Strayed Ones are extremely rare treasures and that they are not to be missed if we encounter one of them!"
"Then, how do you confirm whether someone is a Strayed One?" asked Li Huowang. He had been thinking about this question for a long timeโwhy could everyone he encountered immediately recognize his identity at just a glance?
"I don't know how the others identify them, but my master said that everyone has three fires on their shoulders. It's normal for these fires to be big or small, but only the fire of a Strayed One appears and vanishes intermittently," replied the small head.
Li Huowang looked down toward his shoulder, but didn't see any so-called fire.
That's enough, it's time to ask the most important question.
Li Huowang looked at the small head, and after contemplating his words for a while, he spoke again, "Have you heard, either from your master or on your journey, the method to break free from the bewilderment and sense of doubt that the Strayed Ones suffer from?"
"No. You are the first Strayed One we've met."
Li Huowang carefully examined the deformed head. This statement was likely to be true, since Han Fu was just a neophyte. Even if there was a method for one to break free of the bewilderment and sense of doubt that a Strayed One suffered from, he may not necessarily be aware of it.
"Then, what do you know about the Sitting Oblivion Dao?" asked Li Huowang.
"I know this. They are a group of scammers who love to deceive people."
"What are their names?" continued Li Huowang.
"I heard that their names all represent the various mahjong tiles, like Ba Wan and San Bing. But I have heard that these names are just aliases. When one Ba Wan dies, another one replaces him."
"Then, is there one called Bei Feng in the Sitting Oblivion Dao? Do you know anything? What's his strength like?" asked Li Huowang.
This person was the Strayed One that had managed to break free from the bewilderment and sense of doubt that Strayed Ones suffered from. If Li Huowang wanted to completely break free from his own bewilderment and sense of doubt, then this person was very important to him.
"I don't know. I haven't dealt with the Sitting Oblivion Dao," replied the small head.
Following that, Li Huowang asked some more questions about the Sitting Oblivion Dao, but the information known by the small head was very limited.
After a while, Li Huowang looked at the small head in front of him, and then stood up with both hands on his knees. The chair creaked as he stood.
"Very well, I've finished asking everything. Now, I need to confirm the truth of what you said," said Li Huowang as he reached for the torture tools once again.
When it saw Li Huowang bringing out the torture tools once more, Han Fu's Nascent Soul was beyond terrified.
"Wait! Stop, stop, stop, stop!" The little head did its best to tilt back from fear while trying to distract Li Huowang. "I really don't know much about the Sitting Oblivion Dao! If you want to fight against them, then go and find the Surveillance Bureau! They know a lot about them!"
"Surveillance Bureau?" Li Huowang lowered the tools and thought about it. "Weren't they employed by the Emperor to deal with evil beings? They know a lot about the Sitting Oblivion Dao?"
The Nascent Soul nodded its head. "Yeah! They are sworn enemies! The Surveillance Bureau captures and kills any members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao! This is even more so the case since two hundred years ago when the Emperor of Dongxia was switched with someone from the Sitting Oblivion Dao. After that, he then led the entire nation to its ruin. Since then, the Surveillance Bureau has placed the Sitting Oblivion Dao very high on their list! Also, when it comes to the Sitting Oblivion Dao, they would be happy to share any and all information without holding back. Qing Qiu, Liang Kingdom, the kingdom of Si Qi, and Hou Shu are all in cahoots with the Surveillance Bureau. They surely know something about the Sitting Oblivion Dao."
"Oh? Is that so?" Li Huowang sat on the stool and pondered about it.
Since Bei Feng is one of the Four Joys of the Sitting Oblivion Dao and both parties are sworn enemies that have been fighting for years, the Surveillance Bureau must have information on Bei Feng! Maybe I really could find details about Bei Feng through the Surveillance Bureau.
Li Huowang was not desperate enough to directly search for Bei Feng and try to force him to spill out the secrets about getting rid of the confusion and sense of doubt of a Strayed One. Instead, he first needed to confirm whether or not Bei Feng really was a Strayed One that had gotten rid of the sense of confusion and doubt that Strayed Ones normally suffer from. ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐๐ป๐ผ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฅ.๐๐๐ฆ
Even though he wanted it to be the truth, he would never forget that it was another member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao who had told him about that.
Thus, before acting he had to first confirm the truth, or this time, he might end up being tricked by a dead member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao.
Only after confirming that Bei Feng was indeed a Strayed One and had gotten rid of the confusion and sense of doubt that Strayed Ones suffer from would he decide his next course of action.
"Surveillance Bureau..." Li Huowang mumbled before once again focusing on the Nascent Soul in front of him. "Tell me everything about the Surveillance Bureau. The more you tell me, the less pain you will have to feel."
Through Han Fu's Nascent Soul, Li Huowang understood that the Surveillance Bureau was a department that handled matters that the regular soldiers couldn't; this included things like getting rid of evil beings that had slipped into the city and other supernatural issues.
And one of their highest priority targets was the Sitting Oblivion Dao.
"Do they only care about the Sitting Oblivion Dao? What about the other sects like Ao Jing Sect or the Righteous Monastery?" Li Huowang was puzzled.
The Nascent Soul's single remaining eye was filled with confusion. "Why would they care about them? They are proper sects."
"Bullshit! What do you mean proper sects?! They...!" Li Huowang stopped and thought about it. After thinking it through, he realized that there was indeed no reason for the Surveillance Bureau to deal with them!
One of them was just a group of people who loved torturing themselves while the other was a group of monks that, at most, broke the taboo of sex. No matter how many sins they committed, most of them were committed within their sectors and didn't affect the daily lives of other people, nor did it affect the Emperor. It was clear that they were allowed as long as they didn't do anything majorly disrupting. The Righteous Monastery was even capable of being built within the heart of a city, clear evidence that it was allowed.
Li Huowang knew that the Emperor must know about what the Righteous Monastery was doing, but since he did not interfere with their actions, it meant that the Emperor had allowed them to do so...
Originally, Li Huowang had thought that both of those sects were evil sects, but after experiencing the world, he now knew that both of those sects were much better than the bandits or the robbers.
In fact, the nuns from the Benevolent Nunnery were considered literal Bodhisattvas during these chaotic times. The nuns were just greedy, dirty, and gluttonous while not hurting anyone.
"Aren't you a disciple of Luoism? Would the Surveillance Bureau not come and apprehend you after killing so many people?" asked Li Huowang as he revealed the nineteen lifespan pills in front of the Nascent Soul.
"Cultivators would kill people from time to time for the sake of their cultivation. As long as you don't kill people with wealth and power, the Surveillance Bureau would normally just ignore you," said the small head.
"Hehe... So much for the Surveillance Bureau being responsible." Li Huowang smiled bitterly.
The Nascent Soul understood the sarcasm and explained, "The Surveillance Bureau doesn't have a black-and-white relationship with all of us. Sometimes the Surveillance Bureau would request other sects to do their business and we would just do it."
With this, Li Huowang now knew that the Surveillance Bureau had a rigid internal structure but was more lax toward outsiders. Most of the issues like Han Fu cultivating on his own would be ignored by the Surveillance Bureau.
To the Surveillance Bureau, all they needed to do was to keep tabs on and employ some of the lone cultivators as freelancers. Then, as long as they got their job done, they would get their payment even without needing to meet up.
"The Surveillance Bureau's major enemies are sects like the Sitting Oblivion Dao or extremely dangerous Evil Beings. But their most important mission involves dealing with the Natural Disasters," continued the Nascent Soul.
"Wait, did you just say Natural Disasters?"
Li Huowang perked up. He knew that at least two Natural Disasters had occurred before. One was the disappearance of 'Decay' while the other was the disappearance of 'Lies' that Han Fu told him about.
The one in charge of handling the Natural Disasters was the Surveillance Bureau!
Li Huowang slapped his head for being so slow. The characters for the word Surveillance Bureau were already hinting that they dealt with Natural Disasters[1]. To think he couldn't unravel the connection between the two even though it was so simple.
"Since the Surveillance Bureau deals with Natural Disasters, how do they resolve them?" Li Huowang asked the Nascent Soul. He was quite curious about this crazy world.
"I don't know! I'm not from the Surveillance Bureau! I'm not lying!"
In the first place, Li Huowang hadn't expected it to know and was already satisfied that it had known so much.
"Daoist Li, is Han Fu's Seven Star Sword with you?" asked the Nascent Soul.
This attracted Li Huowang's attention. "Seven Star Sword? You mean the bronze coin sword?"
"Yes! Let me tell you how good it is! The Seven Star Sword was forged by our Master using 184 pieces of bronze coin during the Wu Hour of the Fifth Day of the Fifth Month of the Shen Year; that coincides with not only the Eight Solar Terms, but also with one of the Three Festivals! It could easily get rid of the evil energy from Er Hei and Wu Huang; this makes it very effective at dealing with evil beings!"
1. The name of the Surveillance Bureau in Chinese is ็ๅคฉๅธ, with ็ meaning to watch, inspect, or supervise; ๅคฉ meaning skies or heavens; and ๅธ meaning department, bureau ?
"If you want to learn how to use the sword, then you must first learn the Luoism's special seal, the Xiandu Cishe Seal! I know how to use it and I can teach you!" continued the Nascent Soul.
Li Huowang was not surprised by its words and even chuckled at the Nascent Soul, "It will take a long time to learn it, am I right? In order for me to learn it, I need to let you live and you can just keep dragging it on and on, allowing yourself to survive, right?"
When it saw that its plot had been uncovered, the Nascent Soul shrunk back in fear. It revealed its rotten teeth and smiled in order to pacify Li Huowang. "No one wants to die. Since Han Fu is dead, you can just pluck me off his body and place me on yourself instead! That way, I can become your Nascent Soul! Daoist Li, you might not know this, but the Nascent Souls of the disciples of Luoism are very beneficial. If you have two of them, then you can cultivate thrice as fast. We can even help you condense energyโ"
"Who says you have the right to suggest conditions to me?" Li Huowang cut it off and pulled out a metal spoon before pointing it at the Nascent Soul's single remaining eye. "Now, tell me everything about the Xiandu Cishe Seal. I have a lot of time to play with you, so you can go ahead and try any and all tricks you can think of."
Li Huowang finally walked out of the tent on the evening of the second day. His clothes were littered with pieces of flesh and drenched in blood, but he was also holding a lambskin parchment in his hand. It contained the cultivation method of the Xiandu Cishe Seal written on it.
Li Huowang had even asked the Nascent Soul whether it knew how to use Han Fu's talismans, but confirmed that it didn't know anything about it. By then, the Nascent Soul had been mutilated to the point that its face was barely recognizable.
In the end, the only thing it knew about was the method to use the Seven Star Sword.
Li Huowang sighed. If he had been able to learn how to use the talismans of the disciples of Luoism, then he wouldn't have to rely on the Profound Records every time he fought. After all, the Profound Records would severely harm his body whenever he used it.
Still, it was not very important to him at this point. He would have just considered it to be an additional reward even if he had managed to learn it. Instead, he was more concerned about the information related to the Surveillance Bureau.
The Surveillance Bureau had a direct impact on whether or not he would be able to get rid of the sense of doubt and confusion.
He dragged his tired body back into his tent, took the towel that Bai Lingmiao gave him, and wiped his face. He didn't even take off his shoes before laying on the bed.
Bai Lingmiao carefully took off his shoes and socks before covering him with a blanket and left.
However, even though Li Huowang was tired after staying up all night, he could not fall asleep. He kept thinking about what the Nascent Soul had told him. The more he thought, the more annoyed he became, to the point that he had to sit up and go through all the information one more time.
Supposedly, Bei Feng is a Strayed One who has managed to get rid of the sense of doubt and confusion that Strayed Ones suffer from. If I want to verify this information, I will have to go and find the Surveillance Bureau. However, that would be if I don't get any more clues. But... how should I go about obtaining information from the Surveillance Bureau? After all, I'm a Strayed One myself.
Li Huowang knew what it would mean if such a massive organization found out about him.
Li Huowang sat on the bed for a very long time. When Bai Lingmiao called him for dinner, he still didn't have any ideas.
When Bai Lingmiao learned about his troubles, she hesitantly gave a suggestion, "Senior Li, aren't both you and the Surveillance Bureau standing in the same camp and fighting against the Sitting Oblivion Dao? Can't you just get the information from them directly?"
"What do you think the Surveillance Bureau would do when a stranger suddenly comes knocking on their door, asking for information about the Sitting Oblivion Dao? The best case scenario would be them beating me up before throwing me out." Li Huowang sighed as he took the bowl from Bai Lingmiao and began eating.
"But... aren't the both of you standing on the same side? Can't you just explain it?" questioned Bai Lingmiao.
"Do you think this is a game where two children become friends? It's not that easy. Miaomiao, they are strong enough to be able to use the disciples of Luoism as pawns. The Surveillance Bureau is not as upright as you think," explained Li Huowang.
However, at that moment, he suddenly had an idea that caused his eyes to light up. "Wait a minute... our identities could be switched! We could just change our identity; as long as I hide the fact that I'm a Strayed One and make sure that people aren't able to see through me, then I can just join the Surveillance Bureau!"
Li Huowang got excited and hugged Bai Lingmiao before twirling her around in circles. He felt that this idea was quite good. "Even if Bei Feng is not a Strayed One who has managed to get rid of the sense of doubt and confusion that Strayed Ones suffer from, I could still use the Surveillance Bureau and their resources to figure out another method! As long as I hide the signs of me being a Strayed One, then I can have a massive organization as my backing! Then, I could also use the Surveillance Bureau to hide my identity so people wouldn't check and probe my background easily! The Surveillance Bureau is also quite lax when it comes to people from the outside, and since they might not even require me to meet up, I can hide my status even better!"
Bai Lingmiao smiled when she saw how happy he was. As long as he was happy, she was happy as well.
Li Huowang looked at her beautiful face and kissed her.
After a while, amidst the panting and moaning, a black fingernail gently pinched off the fire on the candles, sending the tent into darkness.
After a long time, Bai Lingmiao was lying on Li Huowang's chest, her slender body rising and falling with Li Huowang's breathing.
"Senior Li, please go to sleep soon. You haven't slept in two days." Bai Lingmiao was concerned about him.
However, Li Huowang hugged her waist and shook his head. The beginning is the most difficult part of the process. After getting some clues, he finally had an idea of what to do rather than just going around cluelessly. Worst case scenario, he could just try to avoid Bei Feng for now. As one of the Four Joys of the Sitting Oblivion Dao, Bei Feng's strength must be extraordinary. Li Huowang would most likely die if they met each other right now.
I must become stronger than Bei Feng if I want to learn the method of getting rid of the sense of doubt and confusion that Strayed Ones suffer from. But... without a Master to teach me, increasing my strength is going to be quite difficult. I don't even know how to cultivate. Plus, the sects of this world are all ridiculous. Each of them has their own method of cultivation. I might not be able to handle the brutality of it all...
Li Huowang frowned.
Seeing this, Bai Lingmiao gently persuaded him with her soft fingers. "Senior Li, please go to sleep. There's never a shortage of things to think about. We can sleep first."
Under her gentle persuasion, Li Huowang finally slept after staying awake for two whole days.
By the time Li Huowang woke up, it was the afternoon of the second day. He felt refreshed after having had enough sleep. After washing up and wearing his clothes, he exited his tent.
"Senior Li, where are you going?" asked Bai Lingmiao.
Li Huowang looked back into the tent and saw that Bai Lingmiao was sewing some clothes. "I'm off to bid Sun Baolu goodbye. Since we are done with everything here, we should take our leave now."
They had found the Black Taisui and he had finished dealing with the Nascent Soul. There was no reason for him to stay in Qing Qiu anymore.
Li Huowang circled around amongst the tents before finding Sun Baolu on the grassy plains. Currently, he was riding a horse while his sister was flying a kite behind him. Both of them were having fun riding on the horse. Li Huowang could even hear their laughter from afar.
When he saw Li Huowang approaching them, Sun Baolu quickly asked the girl to keep the kite away while he leaped down from the horse.
"Senior Li, are you looking for me?" asked Sun Baolu, panting.
Li Huowang stared at Sun Baolu. "Yes. We have stayed here long enough. We will be leaving tomorrow."
"So soon?" Sun Baolu was reluctant to part with them. He had traveled with them for so long that he had come to see them as part of his family. After all, Li Huowang and the rest had traveled so far away just to send him home, and they didn't even ostracise him for how he looked.
"Senior Li, why don't you stay for a few more days? Everyone is happy here," suggested Sun Baolu.
"We can't. It's better if we leave soon. I would rather not have all of them get used to being here. Plus, your family keeps slaughtering lambs and cows for us. We can't have you go broke because of us." Li Huowang chose to decline politely.
"Don't worry! The lambs of Qing Qiu are very cheap and much easier to take care of than the other places! If we finish eating our lambs, we just need to go to Women's Mountain again to buy some kids[1] and calves. Soon, we will have another large herd!"
Li Huowang smiled. "It's fine. Let's talk about business for now. First of all, you must not tell anyone about what happened in the cave that night, especially the Lion Dances! You must treat them just as you have treated them before. Never reveal to them that you are aware of the kind of monstrosities they are."
Since the Lion Dances had become a part of the life of those within Qing Qiu, Baolu had no choice but to keep quiet about it lest something unfortunate happened to him. After all, there was a possibility that those monsters living underneath the cave system were a proper sect here within Qing Qiu.
It would not be wise to offend them.
Looking at how serious Li Huowang was, Sun Baolu nodded. "Alright Senior Li, I understand."
After giving further instructions, Li Huowang looked at the youth in front of him. "Does your woman know about your body?"
Sun Baolu's smile froze and he nodded his head bitterly. "She knows but she doesn't abhor me for it."
"Alright, come with me." said Li Huowang as he entered the tent without another word.
Sun Baolu didn't know what Li Huowang was planning, but then he suddenly recalled the white tassels and became excited.
"Where's Puppy? Bring him here!" Li Huowang shouted within the empty tent.
An hour later, Li Huowang used one of the white tassels and helped Sun Baolu rearrange his organs back to their original places once again.
At that moment, the entrance to the tent suddenly opened up. Sun Baolu's mother had brought a bunch of strong men with her as they barged into the tent. All of them gasped and shouted when they saw Sun Baolu's twisted body.
Li Huowang glared at them but continued to slowly move his hands to push Sun Baolu's anus from the front toward the back.
Puppy was also helping Li Huowang. He gently pushed Sun Baolu's penis from the armpit region down toward the crotch.
Soon, the tent became quiet as everyone stared at what was happening. Some of the men even looked at Li Huowang with respect.
Sun Baolu was not Li Huowang. They could not carve his body to pull the organs back accurately, and so there were some minor mistakes in the positions of his organs. But even then, Sun Baolu was so happy that he was practically jumping with joy.
Even if they were slightly skewed, his organs were finally back in their original places. He was not a monster anymore!
His body had returned to what it once was ten years ago!
Sun Baolu was just about to kneel onto the ground but was stopped by Li Huowang.
"I'm cured! I'm cured! I'm not a monster anymore, I'm a human!!" shouted Sun Baolu as he pranced around the tent naked.
That night, another feast was set up. Everyone ate lamb and drank wine to celebrate Sun Baolu being cured.
Sun Baolu's parents raised a toast, revering Li Huowang. The people from Qing Qiu were all treating Li Huowang with respect.
They had originally thought before that the man with the two swords on his back was different from others; when they saw him cure Sun Baolu, it confirmed their suspicions and rumors about Li Huowang spread amongst them.
"Senior Li, this is a nice place. Why don't we settle down over here? The Liang Kingdom might not be great," said Puppy while munching on an entire roasted lamb leg. ๐๐๐ฆโฏ๐ธ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ทโฏ๐.๐๐๐
"You should focus on eating your meat in peace. You can't even be quiet with a mouthful of meat. If you want, you can just stay here; I won't force you to follow me," said Li Huowang as he bit into a smoking piece of lamb.
Hearing this, Puppy started contemplating what he should do.
At that moment, a massive hand suddenly patted his shoulder. It was Gao Zhijian. Puppy turned around and saw how serious Gao Zhijian looked. "Don't... don't stay! Some... something... something is wrong... here."
"Something is wrong? Sun Baolu grew up here. What's wrong with this place?" questioned Puppy.
Gao Zhijian looked at everyone who was happily eating the roasted lamb as they munched on and swallowed the lamb meat laden with spices. "I... I don't know... But something... something is wrong!"
"You can't even talk properly and you want to advise others. How about you fix your stuttering first before trying to persuade us?" said Puppy.
Gao Zhijian saw Li Huowang staring at him, causing him to scratch the back of his head before sitting back down. Then, he drank his cup of ant honey in one gulp.
Since this was their last night here, the feast lasted deep into the night. By the time Li Huowang and everyone woke up and placed everything onto their ox-cart, it was already noon.
The wriggling Black Taisui was being tied down by strong ropes made from dried up cow tendons.
"Senior Li, I hope we will meet again!" Sun Baolu hugged Li Huowang, his eyes red with tears.
"It's better if we don't meet again. I feel like everyone who meets me gets bad luck." Li Huowang patted his back and left with everyone else.
1. baby goats ?
Chapter 254 - Lamb Meat
The ox-cart that had been left sitting for a long time started to move once more. This time, they were traveling to the Liang Kingdom from the border of Qing Qiu.
All along the way, Puppy covered his forehead with his hand while fanning his sweaty face. "Senior Li, it's such a hot day today. Should we just travel tomorrow?"
"And what if it's hot tomorrow and the day after that as well? We might as well start traveling only once autumn is here. Since Qing Qiu is so great, why are you following us? You can just follow Sun Baolu and herd the lambs over here," said Li Huowang.
Hearing this, Puppy looked at the remaining women traveling with them and chuckled sheepishly. He was not stupid. He had almost gotten a wife for himself, so how could he stay in Qing Qiu? Having meat to eat might be great, but having a wife was his lifelong wish. Plus, he was not afraid of not having any meat to eat if he continued to follow Li Huowang.
As if sensing Puppy's gaze, one of the women tried to shift his attention by staring at Li Huowang before giving up and rolling her eyes at Puppy. She was blushing while doing so.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang carefully unfurled the lambskin parchment and stared at the method of cultivating the Xiandu Cishe Seal written on it. Other than the Black Taisui, it was one of the other things he managed to obtain from adventuring down within the depths of Qing Qiu.
"Senior Li, what is this?" Zhao Wu turned around and asked while controlling the ox.
"This is a cultivation method of a new technique," replied Li Huowang.
His words attracted everyone's attention. "Senior Li, did you manage to learn it?"
"Not yet. I don't want to learn it just yet, in case there's something wrong with it. After all, I did get it from an enemy," explained Li Huowang.
Li Huowang was very well aware of the possibility that the Nascent Soul might have tampered with the cultivation method. Li Huowang himself had done this before to escape from the Zephyr Temple and he did not want to end up like Dan Yangzi.
Li Huowang took the bronze coin sword off his back and tried flipping it around before placing it down. "I need someone to test the cultivation method first."
"Senior Li, me! Let me try!"
Hearing those words, Li Huowang turned around and saw that it was the last of the remaining assistants, Yang Xiaohai.
"Do your work and don't butt into adult's affairs," said Li Huowang, rejecting him. There was a chance that the method could kill someone, and so Li Huowang would never let someone close to him learn it. He needed to find someone who could technically die without affecting them.
"Senior Li, look!"
At that moment, Chun Xiaoman lifted off one of the tarps and showed them all a golden box with precious stones embedded onto it. The gold ingots contained within it were quite familiar.
Li Huowang was stunned. It was the dowry provided by the host family that gave away Sun Baolu's mother! She must've secretly hidden it in their cart last night.
As he looked at it, Li Huowang knew what she was trying to express. There was no doubt that she was extremely grateful to Li Huowang for curing Sun Baolu's body and gave it to them as a thanks.
Li Huowang looked back but saw that the tents were long gone. All that was left were the grassy green plains.
"It's alright. Since she gave it to us out of gratitude, we should just accept it. We can use it for our travel expenses. At least we can buy food to eat in the Liang Kingdom."
They continued their journey. It was probably because Qing Qiu was sparsely populated, or maybe because their luck was turning for the better but their journey was relatively peaceful. Nothing happened at all while they were on their journey this time around.
They traveled for more than a month. The days were getting hotter even though the summer equinox had passed.
The sound of a bird call came from above. It was very harsh. Hearing it, Li Huowang, who was staring at the map in his hands, looked up at the bird in the sky.
After a moment, he placed the map in front of Bai Lingmiao and asked, "Can you understand this? Do you remember where the Cowheart Mountain is?"
Even though the maps of Liang Kingdom that they obtained in Qing Qiu weren't very accurate, the major landmarks were accurate enough.
They were approaching the border of the Liang Kingdom, and so they needed to determine the accurate location of Bai Lingmiao's home soon.
"This isn't right... and this isn't either..." Bai Lingmiao muttered as she traced the map with her fingers along various different routes, but she was hesitant. ๐๐ฃ๐ฒ๐๐จ๐ฒ๐๐ป๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐.๐ฐ๐๐ฆ
It was a difficult task to determine where her home was based on just the crude lines; however, it wasn't something that could be blamed on her. When Li Huowang saw the map for the first time he too had been confused. It was just too crude.
After a while, Li Huowang kept the map away.
It seems that I will need to buy another map in the Liang Kingdom if we want to know where Cowheart Mountain is.
"Wait, I just remembered that you are not from the Liang Kingdom. Where are you from?" asked Li Huowang as he turned and looked at Puppy.
"No worries. I don't have to go back. I grew up as an orphan and had to rely on the villagers for food. If I don't go back, then I can help them save some food." Puppy chuckled. He had no desire to go home and was staring directly at one of the girls beside the ox-cart.
Li Huowang noticed it too and then stared at the sun high in the sky. "It's almost time to eat lunch. Since we are almost out of Qing Qiu, we can kill one of the lambs."
Hearing that, everyone grew excited. Even though they ate a lot of meat during their time in Qing Qiu, they still weren't satisfied. Everyone of them had grown up poor, and so eating meat was a luxury for them.
Li Huowang, however, was just being rational. Since the Liang Kingdom didn't have as much grass as Qing Qiu, the lambs would end up becoming skinny if they stayed in the Liang Kingdom for too long.
"Meeeeeeeh~"
Puppy pulled away one of the older lambs by its horn, bringing it over to a nearby river.
Everyone had had lamb so many times during their time in Qing Qiu that they were very adept at slaughtering one. Soon, they drained the blood, skinned, and gutted it. Then, they spread the salt and spices onto the lamb's carcass before stabbing it with Peng Longteng's halberd. They propped it up between the two carts and lit a fire below the lamb.
If Peng Longteng saw how badly they were treating her weapon, then she might just come back to life from anger.
Staring at the crackling fire lit by dried lamb feces and the smoking roasted whole lamb above it, Puppy licked his lips and chuckled. "Hehe, it's a good thing to use the entire lamb completely~"
Chun Xiaoman smacked the back of his head, causing Puppy to yelp and get up before approaching the women who were collecting some wild vegetables nearby.
Once the lamb was done, the wild vegetable soup was done as well. The oily roasted lamb meat complemented the mild soup perfectly.
Everyone sat on the grass and enjoyed the delicious feast.
Puppy happily cracked open the head of the lamb and took out the roasted lamb tongue before placing it into one of the women's bowls and saying, "Hong'er, come. I left the best part for you: the lamb's tongue."
The woman's name was Hong'er. She blushed and accepted it with gratitude before eating the small pieces of meat one by one.
After a moment, Puppy approached her and sat beside her, but she didn't move away.
As for Yang Xiaohai, the plump woman was asking him for the lamb's tail but he refused angrily.
Meanwhile, Zhao Wu sat on the ox-cart, feeling envious of what he saw. He looked down at his powerless body and sighed. He turned and concentrated on his lamb offal and wild vegetable soup.
Chapter 255 - Employer
Li Huowang was also enjoying the meal along with everyone else as he bit into a juicy lamb leg. However, he sat slightly further away from the others to think about his own matters and to get some peace and quiet.
Even though the Nascent Soul told me that it's easy to join the Surveillance Bureau, I still need to find a way to enter. How should I contact them? I can't just ask for them on the streets. I can't even guarantee that the bronze coin veil can perfectly hide my status as a Strayed one. It might be able to fool someone like Han Fu, but it might not work on more powerful people.
I also don't have any information on the Liang Kingdom. There's no point in me thinking about this now. I should just adapt to the situation later on. The beginning is always the hardest part. As long as I take the first step, the rest will soon follow.
While Li Huowang was thinking about his next course of action, his sharp hearing managed to pick up the sound of a pair of shoes stepping onto the grass. He raised his head and saw Lu Zhuangyuan's wrinkled face as well as his flattering smile.
"Young Daoist, are you free? I would like to discuss something with you," asked Lu Zhuangyuan.
"Oh? Go ahead." Li Huowang placed down the bone in his hand and looked at Troupe Leader Lu. With having to deal with the matter of the Black Taisui, he had almost forgotten that the Lu family was traveling with them.
"Young Daoist, as you know we had to abandon all our costumes and instruments in Hou Shu to escape the soldiers, but we are still performers! We cannot just eat your food without doing anything. So I was wondering... could I borrow some money from you to get our equipment back and start performing again?"
Li Huowang was fine with this. Sun Baolu's mother gave them a lot of money so he wasn't too concerned about it. "Sure, go ahead and get the money from Bai Lingmiao."
"Haha, Young Daoist, I'm not done yet. You can keep this first." Lu Zhuangyuan took out a wrinkled piece of paper with a handprint on it.
Li Huowang took the wrinkled piece of paper and saw the squiggles written on it. The words were difficult to read.
"What is this? A talisman?" asked Li Huowang.
Lu Zhuangyuan blushed from shame as he replied, "This is a loan paper. Please excuse me for being illiterate, but it's still official because it has my handprint on it for authenticity! Young Daoist, we are eternally grateful to you and we don't want you to loan us the money just like that. We even ate and drank from your coffers all this time. So I came up with this: As long as we have yet to pay back the money we owe you, you will become our employer! Everytime we perform, we will split the earnings in half. Half of it will be paid back to you, while we will keep the other half."
"You are paying half of it to me? I'm afraid that you might not even be able to pay all of it back in your lifetime. You don't need to worry about all this and should just take it," said Li Huowang, wanting to return the piece of paper to Lu Zhuangyuan.
"Ai~!" Lu Zhuangyuan stopped him. "We can no longer accept your generosity for nothing. If you insist, then we dare not borrow any money from you."
Seeing how adamant Lu Zhuangyuan was about this, Li Huowang didn't insist any more and decided to keep the wrinkled piece of paper.
Lu Zhuangyuan was overjoyed when he saw that. He quickly called for his family and all of them stood in front of Li Huowang as they greeted him, "Good day to our employer!"
Li Huowang was too tired to care about Lu Zhuangyuan's intentions. Staring at them, he suddenly had a funny thought; it was like he had just gotten himself a hen. Even though the hen was skinny and would lay eggs inconsistently, at the very least he would have a supply of eggs for himself in the future.
"Sure, go back and have your meal. Once we are done having our meal we can continue our journey. We need to leave Qing Qiu as soon as possible," instructed Li Huowang.
"Understood, employer!" replied Lu Zhuangyuan.
Li Huowang shook his head when he saw how happy he looked as they walked away. Then, he picked up his warm bowl of soup and drank it.
"So many of the people we met used to talk about how glamorous the Liang Kingdom supposedly is. To think that I would get a chance to explore it in my lifetime," said Lu Zhuangyuan as he happily led everyone back to the camp.
While he was happy, the rest of them were not. Lu Juren looked quite gloomy as he talked to his father, "Dad, you just sold us off. Why are you so happy?"
"Sigh, you brat." Lu Zhuangyuan sighed at his own son before taking out his smoke pipe. He lit it up with the campfire and started smoking.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Lu Zhuangyuan.
"I want to go back. I don't want to go to the Liang Kingdom. I don't want to perform anymore," said Lu Juren as he stared at the pregnant Luo Juanhua.
"You!" Lu Zhuangyuan wanted to hit his son with the smoke pipe, but seeing how Lu Juren did not hide from it, Lu Zhuangyuan slowly lowered his hand. "You are making it sound so easy. If you don't want to perform, then what do you plan to do? We don't have a field at home for you to go and farm on. Do you want to be a gigolo? And even if you want to go back, the soldiers are still at war with each other. If you go back now, you will just die!"
Lu Juren stood up, his eyes filled with longing. "Dad, what if they have stopped fighting? After all, we didn't see any skirmishes after traveling for so long."
"Hmph! You sure are idealistic. They don't stop fighting once they start! That's how soldiers are," said Lu Zhuangyuan, leaving Lu Juren feeling conflicted.
Looking at how conflicted Lu Juren was, he sighed. "Son, please believe me. I'm not just some clueless old man. I've lived long enough and experienced a lot of things. Do you think everything would be over once the soldiers stop fighting? No! It's one thing after another! After the soldiers stop fighting, there won't be enough people to bury all the dead. What's most likely going to happen in that situation is a plague. Once the plague is over, there won't be enough living people to tend to the fields. By then, the food prices would soar sky high and people would be forced to sell their own children just to survive. By then, who would pay to see a performance? What would we eat if we don't even earn any money? We can't just eat dirt."
Lu Zhuangyuan lowered his voice as he continued to console his son, "Son, don't be ashamed of being a performer. If I didn't do this, then I would have starved to death. I wouldn't even have had children like you. We cannot forget what fed us."
Lu Juren knew his father was right, but he still felt the decision his father made was a bit extreme. "But dad, no matter what, you can't just sell us off to the Young Daoist. Now, we are just his slaves."
Lu Zhuangyuan glared at his eldest son and looked at Li Huowang having his meal. Then, he pulled Lu Juren slightly further away. After he thought that they were far enough, Lu Zhuangyuan whispered to his son in a harsh voice, "Slave? What kind of slave has meat to eat everyday!?"
Chapter 256 - Birth
Lu Zhuangyuan explained to his eldest son, "The Young Daoist is someone who does big things. He won't be driving us too hard. In fact, he might even be so busy that he won't focus on us. That's why we must discern someone's behavior and temperament before we do anything. Plus, this could be a good chance for us. Didn't you hear when Xiucai told us that the Daoist taught one of the boys with vitiligo a supernatural power? We should all be physically stronger than the boy and yet, he was the one who was given the power. That's why we need to think things through thoroughly. Go ahead and think about this when you are alone later and see if you still think I'm being irrational."
Hearing this, Lu Juren looked at his father in surprise. So in the end it was about the supernatural powers!
"Talk less and work more. No need to think about the useless things," said Lu Zhuangyuan as he pulled his son back to the ox-cart.
The Lu family soon started practicing their singing and performance once again. Since they would be restarting their performances soon, they were rehearsing the basics so that they could perform well.
After everyone finished their lunch, they resumed their journey toward the Liang Kingdom.
Though they didn't know the exact location of the Liang Kingdom, they knew that they were close when the grassy plains around them became sparser and were replaced by shrubs.
The sun gradually set on the western horizon, and a sudden scream broke the peaceful atmosphere. Everyone turned around and saw that it was Luo Juanhua screaming while sitting on top of the ox-cart.
At this moment, she was hugging her abdomen in a panic while looking at her wet skirt. Her water had broken!
"Quickly bring her into the horse carriage! Juanhua is giving birth!" Lu Zhuangyuan's shout caused everyone to spring into action. Their ox-cart stopped too.
Then, the women went and helped with the birth while the men stayed farther away.
"Why are you going there? It's not like you can help with anything," Li Huowang asked Bai Lingmiao when he saw the latter was rushing toward the horse carriage.
Bai Lingmiao blushed. "I wanted to see what it's like to give birth. It might be useful for me next time..."
Seeing her go away, Li Huowang leaped up and landed on top of another horse carriage. He lay down at the top and stared at the beautiful red clouds depicting the sunset.
Li Huowang closed his eyes and took a deep breath while hearing the people scurrying around at the back. Without the hallucinations, he finally felt peace. He no longer needed to get caught up between reality and the hallucination again.
"Daoist, it seems that your hallucinations are no more."
Li Huowang turned around and saw Monk's illusion standing in the air. Beside him were Peng Longteng and Jin Shanzhao's illusions. ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ท๐๐ฟ๐๐ต.๐๐๐
Even though his hallucination was gone, he still had to deal with the illusions.
"Yeah, the Black Taisui is working. I will no longer get stuck in the hallucination. Hehe, did you know that I tried pissing Wang Wei off one last time because I had a sliver of hope that the other side was real. It's a shame that it was nothing but a hallucination," said Li Huowang.
As he spoke, he looked up and saw a cloud that resembled Yang Na. His voice was filled with longing and disappointment as he continued, "I really wanted the other side to be real..."
"Daoist, what are you saying? I don't understand you," asked Monk.
"Hehe, if you don't understand me, then don't talk to me again or the others might think that I'm having one of my episodes again." Li Huowang turned around and stared at the few remaining grassy hills.
After some time, Li Huowang looked toward the back of the other horse carriage. It had been a while, but the baby had yet to be born. He didn't know if it was normal for it to take that long because he had never been in a situation where he had to see someone give birth.
"I hope the process is smooth, since I can't help with anything at all. No wait... I learned how to refine some pills while I was in Zephyr Temple. Too bad there's no furnaces here and I can't refine some Blood Nourishing Pills," muttered Li Huowang.
Ssssssiii~
At that moment, a faint sound caught his attention and caused him to sit up. He tried to listen where the sound came from, but it had already disappeared.
Li Huowang slowly laid back down in confusion. "Did I misheard it? Where did that sound come from?"
He thought about it and slid his fingers into his ear to pick out the earwax. He found that there was indeed something in there.
He slowly picked it out and saw that it was an extremely large scab.
The moment he pulled out the scab, his hearing sensitivity skyrocketed. He could even hear the sound of the grass growing underneath him.
"This is too loud. I can't stay sane like this." Li Huowang took out a pair of scissors with jagged edges and leaped down. He sheared off some of the fur off a lamb's body and stuffed it into his ear.
"Whew~ Much better." Li Huowang kept the scissors back into his sachet of torture tools.
"Hmm? What is that?" Li Huowang saw a black dot standing atop one of the distant mountains, but it was too far away even for him to see what it was.
"Wa~ Wa~ Wa~"
The sound of a baby's cry suddenly rang out. Hearing the sound, Li Huowang turned around with everyone else and went toward the horse carriage.
When they approached it, everyone saw that Lu Juren was already standing at the entrance of the horse carriage. He was smiling happily. "Hehe~ I have a son now~ I have a son~"
On the other hand, Li Huowang was confused as he saw the baby crying in Bai Lingmiao's arms.
Is the baby sick? Why is it so ugly? It's like a monkey without fur.
Chun Xiaoman saw Li Huowang's complicated look and instinctively knew what he was thinking and explained it to him, "Senior Li, that's how babies are like when they are just born."
"Oh? Is that so?"
After a careful explanation from Xiaoman, Li Huowang learned for the first time that he had been having a misconception about babies. He had always thought that all babies looked similar to a three-month-old baby. However, today he learned that it was normal for a baby to look ugly when it was just born.
Li Huowang went and congratulated Lu Zhuangyuan when he came out from the horse carriage.
"Hehehe~ Thank you, thank you." Lu Zhuangyuan's wrinkled face was as happy as a blooming flower.
Then, Lu Zhuangyuan addressed everyone and accepted their congratulations. "Everyone, I'm sorry that we don't have any eggs[1] right now. Once we reach a town, we will give everyone some red eggs!"
Everyone was happy and celebrating the birth of the baby.
While everyone was reveling in celebration, Li Huowang suddenly felt his heart tighten. He instinctively raised his head and looked into the distance.
A small black dot had appeared on the red grass caused by the sunset. The black dot was slowly approaching them from the distant mountain!
Something's wrong!
Li Huowang growled at what he saw, "Herd the lambs! We are leaving now!"
Li Huowang's shout immediately broke the happy atmosphere. Even though they were confused, they knew that something was wrong when they saw how serious he looked.
Amidst Bun's barking, the white lambs, ox-carts, and the horse carriages soon started moving again.
Time slowly passed and the sky became dark. Li Huowang used the last remaining sunlight and saw that the black dot was closing in on them!
1. He wants to make red eggs as a sign of celebration ?
Chapter 257 - Lama
Once the sky became dark, they took out the glowing green stones to illuminate their surroundings. Everyone continued to walk nervously, especially since Li Huowang never told them to stop.
The moon gradually rose up, showering the ground with its silver light.
Li Huowang was atop the roof of the ox-cart as he looked back. He saw that the blob of darkness had disappeared.
"It's gone? What was that? Was that thing attracted to me or the baby?" Li Huowang muttered, trying to guess what it was.
Just then, the ox-cart stopped moving, prompting Li Huowang to shout, "Don't stop! Keep moving!"
But the ox-cart did not move. It was the only time they did not heed his warning.
When Li Huowang turned around, he understood why they stopped. The black dot was now directly in front of them!
At that moment, Li Huowang finally saw what the black dot was. It was a group of black lambs. The lambs just stood still on the spot and didn't move, almost as if they were puppets.
There was a Lama standing amidst the black lambs. He was wearing a coat made from black lamb fur and had a drum hung on his waist. He was wearing a necklace and bracelets made from little bones. Sitting atop his head was a Lama hat. His eyes were completely black as he looked at Li Huowang.
The Lama's face was quite weird, with patches of yellow and black. When Li Huowang examined them, he saw that those were age spots.
Li Huowang knew the Lama was hostile to them.
At that moment, the Lama suddenly raised his skinny right arm. An old vulture flew down from the sky and landed on his arm. The vulture was almost featherless and had saggy skin.
For some reason, Li Huowang recalled the man-eating vultures he had seen back at the Women's Mountain during the process of sky burial.
"Senior Li, the Lama..." Chun Xiaoman took out her bronze bell but didn't know what to do.
"Don't worry. You guys can go first. Ignore him," instructed Li Huowang.
Under Li Huowang's orders, everyone lowered their heads and circled around the black lambs.
On the other hand, Li Huowang continued to stand atop the ox-cart and never let the Lama out of his sight.
When they got closer, Li Huowang saw that the black lambs were all lacking teethโall of them were old lambs.
There was also a very hostile aura coming off the Lama and the black lambs. Li Huowang didn't know how to describe it.
Suddenly, Li Huowang saw something else. The black lambs in front of him were not lambs, but a group of old men wearing the fur of black lambs!
He only saw a glimpse of it before everything returned back to normal. The black lambs were still standing there motionlessly. Li Huowang didn't know if he had seen through the illusion spell or if he was just seeing things.
"Meeh~" The black lambs beside the Lama all started bleating at the same time. In response, Li Huowang's white lambs answered back.
Soon, the lambs on both sides started bleating one after another, annoying Li Huowang in the process.
"Enough!" Li Huowang roared, making the lambs all shut up.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I can't ignore this any longer.
Li Huowang looked at the black Lama and broke the silence first. "Good day senior. I am a disciple of the Ao Jing Sect, Er Jiu. I'm coincidentally passing by your territory. I seek your forgiveness if I have accidentally offended you."
Li Huowang decided to use a fake identity to see if it was useful or not. He was hoping that the Lama didn't know that he was a Strayed One.
At the same time, this was also a threat. By announcing himself to be a part of the Ao Jing Sect, he was threatening the Lama to not attack them. The Ao Jing Sect was an established sect after all.
But the Lama did nothing in the face of Li Huowang's statement.
Seeing this, Li Huowang told the others to continue marching, "Let's go!"
He didn't know what the Lama was trying to do, but Li Huowang did not want to engage the Lama, especially since he didn't know how strong the latter was.
At his command, the wheels started moving and they moved away from the black Lama. Everyone was focused on their path ahead and remained silent.
As they passed him by, Li Huowang felt his back prickling, his brain thinking about numerous possibilities.
At that moment, he suddenly felt the presence once again; it had appeared directly behind him.
Li Huowang decided to stand his ground and turned around. He saw that the Lama was just two meters away from him!
Li Huowang finally got the chance to see the Lama's face up close. This was the first time he had seen someone's face being completely covered in age spots. The Lama didn't have any teeth and his lips were curled inwards, looking like he was more than a hundred years old. The Lama was very old.
Looking at him up close, Li Huowang almost cut down the Lama, shocked by how scary the latter looked. It took a lot of his strength to suppress his instincts to attack the Lama.
Li Huowang lowered his head and saw the Lama's legs. They were gone, replaced with bone prosthetics. He only realized that just now because the Lama had been hiding his legs among the black lambs.
As he observed the Lama, a bizarre feeling washed over Li Huowang, attempting to make him relax and close his eyes forever.
But Li Huowang would never surrender to it. He gripped his sword and snarled, "Senior, I don't remember offending you. If you continue to do this, then do not blame me for what's going to happen next."
Li Huowang pulled his sword out a little and an intense killing intent instantly engulfed the surroundings.
Seeing this, the black Lama squinted his eyes and stared at Li Huowang's sword.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere was so tense that none of the others could breathe. Lu Xiucai had even pissed himself.
Just as Li Huowang was about to completely unsheathe his sword and fight against the Lama, something happened.
Dong~
The Lama hit the drum on his waist.
Dong~
At the same time, a similar sound came from behind Li Huowang. It was Bai Lingmiao! She was hitting the drum that she used to summon the Immortals.
Dong dong dong~ Dong dong dong~
Both drums sounded together; it was as if they were conversing with each other.
After a few minutes, the sound of the drums stopped, and the heavy atmosphere disappeared.
Then, the vulture on the Lama's arm flew up and the black lambs advanced like a black cloud, covering the Lama's horrible lower body before lifting him up as they slowly retreated away.
Even as he saw the Lama leave, Li Huowang dared not let his guard down. He immediately told everyone to start walking again.
They walked the entire night. When the sun was out and Li Huowang finally told them to stop, everyone fell onto the ground and started panting, partly due to tiredness and partly due to shock.
What happened last night had been far too scary. They weren't even sure if the Lama had been alive or dead. ๐๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฏโด๐ฃ๐ฆ๐.๐ค๐๐
Li Huowang looked around him and saw that the Lama was nowhere in sight. He asked Bai Lingmiao, "Did the Lama say something to you with the drum?"
Bai Lingmiao nodded. "Yes. He said that he was from the Surveillance Bureau. He will let you go this time around, but there won't be a second chance."
Chapter 258 - Large Village
Li Huowang walked alongside the horse carriage while thinking about what the Lama had said.
What did he mean by "there won't be a second chance"?
Li Huowang thought about the Lion Dance Palace and the dead Han Fu. Those were the only things he recalled doing in Qing Qiu.
Bai Lingmiao shook her head. "I don't know either. He just said that there will be no second chance next time and didn't say anything else."
Li Huowang didn't know why the Lama had just left like that. Still, he was very interested in the Lama's identity.
He's from the Surveillance Bureau of Qing Qiu? So that's what someone from the Surveillance Bureau looks like.
Li Huowang had just learned what the Surveillance Bureau would look like on the inside. He was sure that the organization would be crawling with weird people like the Lama.
But... he didn't know if that was good news or bad news.
Li Huowang looked at the sun above their heads and told all of them, "Everyone, we can stop and rest for now. I will guard first."
Hearing his words, everyone brought out their sleeping mats and blankets from the ox-cart and immediately fell asleep on the ground. Some of them were even snoring loudly. After walking for so long and being scared by the Lama, their body had long since been at the breaking point.
Li Huowang was also tired, but he had no choice but to stay awake. Even though the Lama said that he would let them go this time, Li Huowang still didn't trust him.
Every time Li Huowang was about to fall asleep, he would bring out the torture tools and keep himself awake through the pain. He was already very good at this after traveling for so long.
Everyone slept until late into the evening. When they woke up to prepare dinner, Li Huowang finally laid down on the ox-cart and closed his eyes.
Even though he fell asleep due to how tired he was, he didn't really sleep all that well. Different scenes appeared in his dream.
Li Huowang suddenly woke up when one of the dreams made him realize something. "The Lama's presence! I have felt that presence before at the Baiyu Capital. It was coming from the white Bodhisattva! That's the presence of Death!"
Having said that, Li Huowang fell back limply and once again fell asleep under everyone's gaze.
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
The wheels of the ox-cart continued to move. They passed by some trees and fields, an indication that they had left Qing Qiu and entered the Liang Kingdom's border.
With this, everyone became much more cheerful. At the very least they would be safer within the Liang Kingdom.
Bai Lingmiao was naturally the happiest; she was finally back in her home country. She circled around Li Huowang and continued talking about her home, her parents, her siblings, and even the goose who loved to lie down on the village head's lap.
But Li Huowang was distracted throughout. He was still thinking about the black-robed Lama.
I'm definitely right! He was exuding the presence of Death. That means that he was someone from the sect that worshiped Death using that massive cauldron within the caves!
Even though he didn't know the name of the sect, he knew that they had to be powerful; after all, they used the power of Death.
He was glad that he hadn't fought against the Lama or he might have had to pay a heavy price.
"Senior Li, I'm talking to you. What are you thinking about?" Bai Lingmiao grumbled at Li Huowang who was ignoring her.
"Hm? Did you say something?" Li Huowang stared at her sheepishly.
"I said that with this much silver, we can build our own house!" replied Bai Lingmiao, pouting.
"Oh. That's great." Li Huowang was about to just gloss over her when he saw that she wasn't wearing her blindfolds and immediately took the strip of silk from her wrist. He used it to cover her eyes and held her hands. "I told you to wear it when the sunlight is strong. If you keep hurting your eyes like that, then you will go blind."
After saying that, Li Huowang turned around and looked at the people around them.
As they approached the Liang Kingdom, he saw more and more people walking on the path. They were skinny and tanned, and held bags of grains above their heads.
It was clear that the passersby were afraid of Li Huowang and everyone else. No one would dare stand beside a group of people covered in black veils. If it wasn't for the Lu family Troupe walking with them, the passersby would have all run off.
Li Huowang thought about something and walked up to where Lu Zhuangyuan was playing with his grandson before whispering something to him.
"Alright, I will do just that. Don't worry, Young Daoist," replied Lu Zhuangyuan, finally feeling that he was being useful. Then, he took his smoke pipe and happily walked up to one of the passersby.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang pulled out the lamb fur from his ears so that he could hear their conversations.
"Hello~ May I know where everyone is going?" asked Lu Zhuangyuan.
"We are heading to harvest the wheat," replied the passerby.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, it's almost harvest season. We are harvesters that help people harvest their wheat," explained the passerby.
From their conversation, Li Huowang learned that the harvesters didn't have a lot of fields of their own. To earn money, they would go and ask people with a lot of fields to allow them to help with harvesting the wheat.
Here, Lu Zhuangyuan's years of experience shined greatly, easily allowing him to obtain information from the honest men with just a few questions.
"Young Daoist, they told me that there's a large village just further up. After passing the village, there should be a town. They told me that the town is quite large and many people from Qing Qiu would go there to sell their lambs," reported Lu Zhuangyuan.
Li Huowang nodded in approval when he looked at Lu Zhuangyuan's smiling face. "Do they know where Cowheart Mountain is?"
Li Huowang had not forgotten the reason they had traveled so far. They needed to send Bai Lingmiao home.
"Hmm. They didn't know where it was. They said that the area bordering Qing Qiu mainly consists of flatlands. The deeper we enter the Liang Kingdom, the more mountains there will be," explained Lu Zhuangyuan.
Li Huowang was not disappointed when he heard that; it was as if he had already anticipated it.
"Since they are locals, we can just follow them so as to not get lost. Once we reach the town, we can purchase a map of the Liang Kingdom and determine where to go after that," declared Li Huowang.
"Alright~" Lu Zhuangyuan felt useful and happily walked away with his smoke pipe.
They walked along the dirt path and passed through a bamboo forest. When they finally got out of the forest, they saw the scenery unfold in front of their very eyes.
Fields of rice and millet swayed with the wind, rippling like a sea of gold.
At the same time, numerous black dots the size of ants were swinging their sickles to harvest the grains.
"The soil of the Liang Kingdom is so rich! Back in our old home, we didn't get a harvest like this every year." Lu Zhuangyuan was quite envious of the scene in front of him.
But no matter what they said, the passersby only saw the field as money. They walked down to discuss their prices with the owner.
"It's good if they have a good harvest. That way, we at least know that the food and ration prices will be cheap here in the Liang Kingdom," said Li Huowang as the ox-cart slowly moved into the village.
Chapter 259 - Show
"We don't have wheat flour but we do have millet flour and corn flour. Do you want them?"
An old man was sitting on a flat piece of stone with a clay bowl. He was selling flours of different kinds and explaining to Lu Zhuangyuan who had been looking to buy some food ingredients.
"Why don't you have wheat flour? There's wheat everywhere within the field. We are willing to pay for it," Lu Zhuangyuan huffed.
While the other kinds of flour were edible, they were coarser and not as refined as wheat flour. Also, since he was not spending his own money, there was no reason to be stingy about it. He wanted to eat something better.
The old man shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't sell it. I have to give the wheat flour to the officials as taxes. If I don't, my son would be taken by them to be a slave."
"Young Daoist, what should we do?" Lu Zhuangyuan turned around and looked at Li Huowang, feeling puzzled. The latter was petting Bun at the back.
After getting his approval, Lu Zhuangyuan turned back to the old man. "Alright, we will take it. We will take the coarser flour. Since we are buying in bulk, give us a good price."
As the bags of food were placed onto the horse carriage, the entire carriage sank slightly deeper into the ground.
There were benefits to buying in bulk. The old man agreed to their request of letting them stay at his place. He had two empty granaries that they could stay the night in.
Even though the flour they bought was coarse, Yang Xiaohai was able to make some delicious meals out of them. He first made some dough before placing it onto the edge of the black pot. The heat cooked the dough into delicious flat cornbreads. He was also using some lamb bones to cook soup in a pot. Their dinner tonight consisted of flat cornbread with hearty lamb soup. It was a simple yet delicious meal.
"Young Daoist, there's a lot of people in this area. We need to have some people watch over the lambs during the night, or I'm afraid that someone might come and steal them," reminded Lu Zhuangyuan while drinking the soup.
"Don't worry. Let Bun sleep amongst the lambs. If someone tries to steal them, Bun will bark loudly," said Li Huowang as he threw a piece of the lamb bone downward.
Seeing the piece of lamb bone, Bun immediately snatched it up and started happily munching on it.
"It might not be adequate if we only have a dog keeping watch. How about this? I can guard the lambs along with my youngest son. I've heard that these lambs become extremely valuable once they're out of Qing Qiu," suggested Lu Zhuangyuan.
When Li Huowang did not deny his request, Lu Zhuangyuan smiled.
Hehe, the Lu family is having another chance to show its worth!
"Is your daughter-in-law fine? She gave birth out in the wilderness after all. Should we find someone to see if she's ok?" asked Li Huowang.
"No need. She had already given birth once, and so it should come naturally to her, just like pooping. Oh, I suppose this is not appropriate to say during a meal. Sorry, young Daoist," said Lu Zhuangyuan.
While they were happily eating within the granary, they heard some commotion outside.
Puppy turned around and gave Li Huowang a knowing look. Then, he grabbed a piece of flat cornbread and curiously walked outside with his bowl of soup.
The granary fell silent, except for the slurping and chewing noises. The flat cornbread was quite chewy after adding in the millet flour so they had to eat it slowly.
Soon, Puppy came back with a happy face, his bowl already empty. "You guys, do you know what I just saw?"
Everyone took one glance at him before continuing with their meal.
"What did you see?" Lu Xiucai asked to dispel the awkwardness surrounding his best friend.
Puppy put down his bowl and clapped his hands. "I just saw someone performing there. There were both men and women. They set up their stage just outside the village."
Li Huowang and the others did not react to this, but the Lu family was immediately interested. The competition between those in the same field of work was intense.
"Aiyo~" Lu Zhuangyuan placed his bowl onto the ground and wiped his mouth with his sleeves. He stood straight and walked out like a proud rooster. "Come, let's go and see what kind of performance is being shown in the Liang Kingdom!"
Li Huowang stared at them leaving the place as he continued munching on his flat cornbread. He noticed that Lu Zhuangyuan was indifferent toward many things, but he became oddly competitive when he encountered another performance troupe.
While Li Huowang was not interested in it, the others were somewhat attracted to it. After all, they had been traveling for so long and hadn't had the chance to relax. Thus, when they heard that there was a performance, the others wanted to watch it as well. They ate quickly and kept away their empty bowls without even washing them.
"Senior Li, let's go!"
"Yeah, let's go and watch, Daoist. I love performances too."
"No," refused Li Huowang.
"Senior Li, please don't be like that. The performances here are incredible! I used to watch them while getting hugged by my grandmother." Bai Lingmiao gently pulled on his wrist while trying to persuade him.
"Yeah, let's go! Daoist, I beg you." Monk's illusion was also doing his best to persuade Li Huowang.
Li Huowang almost cursed at the illusion, but had to swallow his words so as to not scare Bai Lingmiao.
Li Huowang placed down his bowl and walked outside. As he did, he heard both Bai Lingmiao and Monk cheering from behind him at the same time.
When he walked out of the granary, he saw that the spacious entrance of the village was very crowded. There were even people sitting on the walls and the trees. It seemed that everyone within the village was gathered here, including the Lu family.
Li Huowang carried Bai Lingmiao and jumped up onto a roof. There, they sat down on the solid roof tiles and watched the brightly lit stage.
The troupe had lit numerous lanterns along the stage in order to let the audience have a good view of them.
Jiang jiang jiang jiang~
One of the performers made their entrance along with the rhythm. The performer had a red face, six flags on their back, and wore a crown with two long pheasant tails.
The performer danced briefly while holding a mace in each of his hands. Then, the performer smacked both maces together and the music stopped. Before anyone knew what was going on, the performer started singing in a strong and powerful voice.
"Hear the sound of the golden drum~ Summon your~ Courageous spirit~ Recall your warhorse and your heroic figure! We must uphold our responsibility! We must not lose even an inch of our land to them!"
"Yeah!"
Bai Lingmiao and Monk's illusion clapped at the same time. Li Huowang looked at Bai Lingmiao having fun before looking back toward the stage.
Li Huowang didn't know what kind of story it was, who the character in front of him was, nor who they were fighting against. All he could deduce from the lyrics was that the performer was a general from the Liang Kingdom and that he was boosting the morale of his men before the war.
But he didn't really read too deep into it. Since he was persuaded by Bai Lingmiao to be here, he just sat there with her to make her happy.
At first Li Huowang thought that the performance was the same as the Lu Family Troupe's, where they just sang on the stage. But, he soon saw what made the performance in the Liang Kingdom incredible.