Chapter 69 - Meal
The yellow paper slowly burned, gradually transforming into black ashes that spiral upward into the hot air, disappearing into the skies.
As he looked at this scene, Li Huowang's expression was quite complicated.
"Li Zhi, I've burnt some paper money for you. Hopefully you'll receive it," muttered Li Huowang.
Just as he finished saying that, Li Huowang saw the black ashes swirling around in the air; it was almost as if Li Zhi was giving him a reply.
At that moment, Li Huowang had a feeling that understood the slightest bit about the mindset of superstitious people.
Compared to a depressing end in which a human being would be reduced to nothing after their death, the belief that they would become a ghost and be reincarnated sounded like a fairy tale.
He threw the last batch of yellow paper in his hands into the fire before standing up and patting the dust off his body.
"Let's go. We should find an inn to rest. All of us are drenched," said Li Huowang.
Just as they were about to leave, Bai Lingmiao's words caused them to stop. "Senior Li, Xiaoman is missing."
Li Huowang observed his group and saw that the girl afflicted with hypertrichosis was indeed missing.
"Oh, I remember her saying that her house is nearby," said Li Huowang.
No one replied to him. After what she had told them last time, all of them knew what she intended to do once she reached home. The depressing atmosphere around them became even worse.
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"Uhm Senior Li, should we go find her? Maybe we can still stop her." Puppy smiled sheepishly, scratching his oily hair beneath his veil.
Li Huowang merely glanced at him for a moment before walking toward an inn marked by a wooden sign.
"Let's find an inn to rest first. Xiaoman's home is nearby so she should be familiar with the directions here. She will come and find us after she finishes whatever she needs to do," said Li Huowang.
Bai Lingmiao was just about to say something but after hearing what Li Huowang had said, she decided against it. She just gripped the hems of her clothes as she followed behind him, quietly.
The skies were gray and it continued drizzling. Due to this, Bai Lingmiao didn't need to use her blindfold. Sadness was reflected in her pink irises.
They soon found an inn and entered their respective rooms. They were delighted to have a dry place to rest. Some of them washed their hair, while others took a bath. Once all of them finished cleaning themselves, they gathered at the food hall.
They didn't have much money left so they only ordered some simple dishes. Most of them were vegetables; they only had one source of protein—stir-fried bitter gourd with eggs and crispy pork lard with chili.
Everyone happily ate their meals. Even though they didn't have much choice due to their limited finances, the scent of the pork lard was more than enough to satisfy them. At the very least, they wouldn't have to stay hungry anymore.
Today was the Qingming Festival so there weren't many people at the inn. Out of boredom, the waiter was talking with the cashier.
"Hey, did you know that a war will soon be breaking out at the border?" asked the waiter.
"Don't lie to me. What do you know? You aren't even qualified to talk about issues of the national level," replied the cashier with a scoff.
"Hey, don't judge me like that. I might be a waiter, but I still know the latest information. I've heard that this time our kingdom of Si Qi is planning to wage a war toward the East," said the waiter.
"East?" Li Huowang muttered as he overheard their conversation while eating his meal. They had just come here from the East.
Li Huowang did not know many people there, but there was someone he was worried about—troupe leader Lu and his family.
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But thinking back on how cunning Lu Zhuangyuan was, he relaxed.
That old man is very sly, so he should be fine.
The waiter lowered his voice to a whisper as he continued talking. "Let me tell you something else too. Just a couple of days ago, those that went East for business were hurriedly traveling back here. Maybe they know something about it."
Li Huowang shook his head as he ate his meal.
This damned place is so chaotic. Not only are there evil beings, there are also bandits. The people at the top aren't even doing their job of maintaining the peace, but they still have the time and energy to wage war. What a bunch of idiots.
The waiter was quite excited as he talked. He was just about to say something when something caught his eye as he hurriedly went to the entrance of the inn.
"Hello young miss! Please come in. Are you here for a meal or will you be staying for the night?" asked the waiter.
Hearing the commotion, Li Huowang and the rest turned around and saw a girl wearing a black veil walking in with a short blade in her hands.
Based on the fact that there were not a lot of people wearing similar outfits and that the girls's exposed hands were covered in long black hair, Li Huowang easily guessed who it was.
"Waiter, bring us another set of utensils, and give us two more items. This time, something with more meat in it," said Li Huowang.
"Alright! Just a moment!" replied the waiter.
Then, Li Huowang elbowed Simpleton who was sitting beside him. Simpleton knew what this meant so he helped himself to a few more pieces of vegetables before taking his bowl and squatting down at a corner of the table to eat.
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Xiaoman walked over to Li Huowang and sat beside him before taking off the black veil and revealing her face. The black hair on her face was wet from her tears.
Li Huowang took a deep breath and sighed before continuing to eat. He could smell a faint bloody stench coming from Xiaoman.
"Your bowls and chopsticks are here~~ Aiya! Yikes!" The waiter brought the utensils requested by Li Huowang, but shouted out of fright when he saw Xiaoman.
Shooing off the spooked waiter with his hand, Li Huowang placed the bowl and chopsticks in front of Xiaoman. "Eat."
Xiaoman's face was filled with pain as she stared at the empty bowl as she recalled something. "He sold my sister as well. He sold her to a fifty-year-old man. She died from birth complications earlier this year."
Only the sounds of utensils and munching were heard at the table; no one dared to speak.
"He's trash! I hate him! I hate him so much that I want to eat his flesh and drink his blood!" Xiaoman clenched her teeth as she squeezed out those words.
Hearing that, Bai Lingmiao had a worried expression on her face; she scooted over and gently hugged Xiaoman with her white arms.
"My mom tried to stop me, saying that no matter what, he was still my father. She said that I would suffer Heaven's wrath for killing my father. But at this point, I would rather accept punishment from the Heavens than not kill my father!" said Xiaoman through her sobs.
Li Huowang scooped up some of the vegetable and tofu soup into his bowl and drank it before saying casually, "Heaven does not have eyes here."
The table grew silent; everyone just sat and silently stared at Xiaoman.
Everyone had a hint of anger and sadness in their eyes. They were all guiding drug ingredients so they could more or less resonate with her feelings. Without reaching back to their homes, none of them could confirm that they hadn't been sold off by their family.
The anger in Xiaoman's eyes was slowly replaced with confusion. "I don't have a home now. I destroyed it with my own hands just now. I have no idea what to do next."
"Stir-fried donkey meat! Braised river fish! Please enjoy!" At that moment, the waiter came in and placed the two dishes down before running away.
Li Huowang took Xiaoman's empty bowl, and filled it with steaming white rice before placing it in front of her. "Eat."
Having said that, Li Huowang used his chopsticks and picked out a fish bone from the braised fish before using it as a toothpick. Then, he got up and slowly walked back up to his room on the second floor.
Soon, everyone else followed suit, silently leaving the table. Only Xiaoman and Bai Lingmiao were left in the food hall.
Tears streamed down from the black hair on Xiaoman's face, dripping onto her rice. She picked up her chopsticks with trembling hands, picked up the bowl of rice, and ate a mouthful of the white rice that was mixed with her tears.
The more she ate, the more she cried. When she finally placed the bowl down, she burst into tears, crying loudly.
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Chapter 70 - Lake
"It's just some poor-quality cracked jade; three silvers is all I can give~" said a man.
"Three silvers?! I'm not pawning it anymore!" Li Huowang was furious as he took the jade pendant back and walked out of the pawn shop.
The jade pendant was worth at least 400,000 in the real world, but to think that he would be offered only three silvers for it here. The pawn shop was being unscrupulous!
He turned around and took another look at the pawn shop's wooden sign.
What an unscrupulous place. They've probably managed to earn a lot of money this way. Should I just break in at night and rob them?
Li Huowang was shocked at his own thoughts. He punched himself in the face before walking back to the inn, feeling frustrated.
Back in his room, Li Huowang opened the map and placed it on the bed before glancing at Bai Lingmiao, who was sewing something using the leather they got from Li Zhi's items. Then, he asked her to call for Xiaoman.
Li Huowang slowly pointed toward the South on the map. Before Li Zhi died, he told him that there was a group of nuns in black toward the South and that they might be able to handle the matter of Dan Yangzi possessing him.
Right now, Dan Yangzi was constantly influencing him, so finding a method to get rid of him as soon as possible was of the utmost importance. Finding a Black Taisui as well as addressing the other matters could be delayed a bit more.
Li Zhi had told him that the nuns could be considered good people. However, Li Huowang naturally would not trust that after experiencing all the things he had.
At this point, he trusted no one.
If he needed the help of the nuns to deal with Dan Yangzi, then he needed a method to guarantee his safety and at the same time offer the nuns a handsome reward in return.
Li Huowang glanced at the side of the bed, staring at the sacred text and the gourd containing the lifespan pills. These items would be his bargaining chips.
But that was not important. Right now, the most important task was to find the nuns that Li Zhi had mentioned.
"Senior Li, you called for me?" Xiaoman panted as she came into his room. Except for the corners of her eyes being red, her emotions seemed to have stabilized.
"Where did you go just now?" Li Huowang asked.
"I went to the escort service and requested them to deliver the last words of those guiding drug ingredients who belonged to the kingdom of Si Qi," said Xiaoman.
"Next time, let someone else do these kinds of things. You should keep a low profile; otherwise, the town guard might end up finding you," Li Huowang reminded her.
Xiaoman's eyes flickered as she shook her head calmly. "It's alright... My mother did not report the incident to the authorities."
"Oh. Then come here and help me with this map. You are a local, so you should know your surroundings, right?" asked Li Huowang.
Xiaoman walked over and stared at the location that Li Huowang was pointing at.
"Do you know if there is a nunnery somewhere around here? The nuns from there are said to wear black clothes," explained Li Huowang.
"Nunnery? Black clothes?" Xiaoman thought about it for a moment before pointing her hairy fingers at a mountain in the South-West.
"If there is one, then it should be here in the Henghua Mountain. I've heard that one of the people from this town went there to pray to a golden Bodhisattva," said Xiaoman.
"A golden Bodhisattva! How much do you know about this nunnery?" asked Li Huowang. He wanted to gather as much information as possible.
"I don't know a lot. My family was poor, so we didn't go to such faraway places to pray. The only thing I've heard is that the place gets a lot of pilgrims," said Xiaoman.
"Hmm..." Li Huowang shook his head in silence. This piece of information wasn't really useful. After all, the Righteous Monastery also had a lot of pilgrims.
"Is there anything special about that nunnery? Something along the lines of how people's prayers for bearing a son were always answered back at the Righteous Monastery," asked Li Huowang.
Xiaoman thought about it for a moment before giving him a reply, "The only thing I've heard is that the nuns at that place are fat."
"Fat? What's so special about that?" Li Huowang thought about it and rapped his fingers on the map. "Let's move out. We will travel to the nunnery and check it out."
The money they got from Li Zhi's bag was used to exchange for dried rations and noodles along with a big pot of pork lard.
Soon, Li Huowang and the rest started their journey to the next location.
Now, at the very least, they were no longer traveling alone. Many others were on the same path as them.
After listening in on the conversations around them, Li Huowang heard that the war was about to start at the borders—many of these people were escaping inland to avoid getting into any trouble during the war.
They walked during the day and rested at night. As they passed by many forks along their journey, the number of people around them gradually lessened.
Just as Li Huowang thought that they would once again be traveling alone, a huge swathe of water blocked their path.
A light breeze blew over the surface of the water, gently shaking Li Huowang's robes.
"Is this the sea that my second uncle's father used to tell me about?" Puppy was filled with disbelief.
The vast body of water in front of them reflected the skies above like a large mirror. The lake was so enormous that they could not even see the opposite shoreline.
Li Huowang took out his map. "No, this is not the sea. It's just a lake, albeit a very, very big lake."
Si Qi was a kingdom with a lot of bodies of water, so having such a large lake was not very strange.
"Senior Li, why is the water of the lake black?" asked Puppy.
The water within the lake was indeed quite murky and dark. Even standing right at the shoreline, they couldn't see the bottom of the lake. It was quite eerie.
Li Huowang closed the map and looked at the others who were waiting by the lake. "Let's wait a while and see what they do."
After a while, when a small black dot appeared from afar, the people at the shoreline started to move. It was a wooden boat. The people here were planning to use the wooden boat to cross the lake.
The ship was quite large but also quite old.
"Come! Come onto the boat! Seventy coins per person!" The old captain sitting in the boat hollered at the people standing on the shore.
"Seventy?! It was only forty-six coins last year." Someone was instantly dissatisfied with the price increase.
However, the shoeless captain did not even bother to justify himself. Instead, he stared angrily at that man. "Do you want to take the boat or not? If not, then you can just swim across the lake."
When the captain saw the man silently take out the money to pay, he had quite a satisfied expression as he spat into the lake. "We are already on the verge of war, so who cares about rules? What can you do to me even if I raise the price?"
"Let's get on the boat," Li Huowang said as he walked toward the boat. This was an unfamiliar place for them, and so he would rather pay the expensive fee than get involved in some other trouble later on.
Soon, the boat carrying tens of people slowly made its way toward the center of the lake. Some of those who were on a boat for the first time were experiencing motion sickness; however, Li Huowang was more or less fine.
He turned around and faced the captain before asking, "Sir, how long will it be until we reach the opposite shore?"
"Hoho, we should reach in four hours. We will get there before it gets dark," replied the captain.
Li Huowang nodded as he looked forward, fully alert as the boat cut through the dark waters of the lake. The water within the lake was as black as ink and felt somewhat oppressive, almost as if something would emerge from within it.
"I hope there are no man-eating creatures in the lake," muttered Li Huowang.
After experiencing so many incidents, Li Huowang was quite alert about his surroundings.
"What are you saying? Those are just some folk tales. I've been sailing on this lake for over twenty years, and I'm still alive. Just relax, nothing will happen. Since I have already taken your money, I will ensure your safety," said the captain.
Those words were enough to calm Li Huowang down to some extent.
As the boat moved, the sun gradually started moving west. By sunset, the boat had arrived in a large field of reeds.
We should be arriving soon.
Li Huowang thought as he looked at the reeds around him.
Splash!
Just as he had that thought, the sound of someone falling into the lake was heard behind him.
Everyone turned around to see what had happened, only to find that both the captain and the person steering the boat had disappeared!
"Aiya! They were eaten by something in the water!" someone shouted.
No one knew who had shouted those words, but they left the people on the boat terrified.
"Sit down! Do you want the boat to capsize?" Li Huowang shouted at them.
Then, he turned around and looked at his own group. "Who here knows how to steer the boat?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Just as Li Huowang was thinking about what to do, the reeds around them started to move.
Soon, several small wooden boats appeared. The boats carried many people—both young and old, men and women. All of them were equipped with blades.
On one of the wooden boats, Li Huowang saw the captain who had just disappeared.
He was holding a short dagger. When he saw Li Huowang staring at him, he chuckled. "Hehehe~ Young man, do you want to eat sliced noodles or dumpling soup[1]?
1. Bandit codes: Sliced noodles = Cut apart. Dumpling soup: drowned. ?