Chapter 133 - On the Way
Shivering, Lu Xiucai was awakened by the extreme cold. He groggily looked toward the campfire only to discover that it was nearly extinguished. He glanced over at Puppy with a gaze filled with displeasure; Puppy was responsible for keeping watch right now. This fellow with a sharp mouth and puffy cheeks was already nodding off. It seemed like he had been fast asleep for a while already.
However, Lu Xiucai dared not go over and berate him; his father had given him strict instructions previously.
These people were their future escorts. Thus, they couldn’t have any confrontation with them if they wanted to continue traveling together; he had to be careful about his interactions with them.
After a moment, Lu Xiucai got up unhappily and added more firewood to the campfire before crawling back into his blanket.
Just as he closed his eyes, he felt his father poking him with his tobacco pipe. “Kid, wake up and go fetch some water from the river. It’s getting bright soon.”
Hearing this, Lu Xiucai groaned, and covered his head with the blanket.
However, the next moment, the pipe was no longer just poking him, and was instead tapping him. “Hurry up! All you do is laze around! At this rate, you’re going to turn into a lazy bum soon enough. Nobody would be interested in marrying a lazy bum!”
The sun gradually rose, as did the surrounding people.
Bai Lingmiao rubbed her eyes and sat up from Chun Xiaoman’s warm embrace, looking around. Her face revealed disappointment when she did not find that familiar face.
Next, she looked up into the distance and saw the mountains shrouded in mist.
According to Abbess Jingxin, Li Huowang’s destination was there. If they did not find him on the way, they could only head to the mountains to ask around.
She pulled her feet out from the blanket before putting on her shoes. They couldn’t afford to remain hungry; they had to continue on their journey. At the same time, they couldn’t just use up all their available food, and had to be frugal with its usage. Increasing their complementary food options was one way to save on their rations. And so, she, Xiaoman and Lu Zhuangyuan’s daughter-in-law had decided to go into the forest to pick some wild vegetables.
Since this was the transition period between spring and summer, the woods were rather abundant with wild vegetables. In just a short while, Bai Lingmiao’s basket was filled with Solomon’s seals, wild onions and some wood ear mushrooms.
On their way back, they passed by a patch of mushrooms, but did not pick any.
After the past few days of practice, Bai Lingmiao could identify most of the wild vegetables. However, mushrooms were risky. They could be deadly if handled incorrectly. She didn’t dare to pick them, even if they appeared normal and seemingly safe to consume.
By the time she brought the washed wild vegetables back to the bonfire, she saw that the dough was already being cooked by the responsible young boy, Yang Xiaohai. The pieces of dough were rolling in the boiling water like tadpoles.
“Yang Xiaohai, let the adults handle these things,” said Bai Lingmiao as she grabbed small handfuls of wild vegetables and placed them into the pot.
“It’s alright, Senior Bai. I enjoy cooking, hehe,” replied Yang Xiaohai.
The wild vegetables were cooked quite quickly. After that, a spoonful of lard was melted into the pot, and a hearty bowl of wild vegetables and fish dumplings was ready to be served.
The bunch of them held their bowls and ate heartily.
At the start, when the two groups met, they often prepared their own meals. But after a few days, they found it to be way too troublesome and time-consuming. Finally, Lu Zhuangyuan suggested sharing a communal pot, with each side contributing one meal.
Slurp~
Lu Zhuangyuan inhaled a dumpling into his mouth, then munched on it as he asked, “Miss Bai, did the young Taoist really come this way? I hope we haven’t taken a wrong turn.”
“It’s the correct direction. Abbess Jingxin told us that Senior Li could have only gone through this route. After all, there is no other way to reach his destination,” replied Bai Lingmiao confidently.
She was the first to notice something was amiss when Li Huowang had told all of them to leave. When he talked to her, his face was no longer gloomy; it was as though he had come to some sort of realization. It was quite an unsettling feeling, and she felt inexplicably afraid every time she thought about it.
And precisely because of that, she had hurried the others along. Even so, they still couldn’t meet him.
That was how they happened to have a chance encounter with the Lu Family Troupe as they rushed in the direction that Li Huowang had departed in.
Senior Li, please be safe.
“As long as he’s fine. I’m just asking.” Lu Zhuangyuan had a smile on his face.
Though he was smiling, on the inside he felt quite anxious. He had left the Qi Kingdom to escape the calamity brought about by the war with the confidence of relying on Li Huowang. Now, they had bumped into everyone besides him. After being on the journey for so long, he had still not seen his reliable escort, and so he could not help but be worried.
The large pot of vegetables and fish dumplings was quickly emptied, with not even a drop of soup being left behind. It was too wasteful to pour the soup away as there was even some usable grease in it.
After having their fill, they once again resumed their journey.
Traveling on the road was boring, and the days passed uneventfully. Aside from the distant mountains becoming a little clearer, there were no other significant changes.
As the night approached, Bai Lingmiao seemed to notice faint light on the distant mountains.
Have the people on the mountain seen Senior Li? Master said these people are dangerous. Could he be in trouble?
That night, Bai Lingmiao used the light from the fire to mend her shoes. They were on the move every day, and it was normal for their shoes to be worn out.
Apart from Zhao Wu, who was on night watch, everyone else soon fell asleep. Compared to the bustling daytime, everything around them had quieted down.
“Zhijian, your shoes are worn out as well. Take them off and let me mend them,” said Bai Lingmiao to the big guy who was holding an iron rod.
“Uh... uh... Smelly!” Gao Zhijian moved his feet backward.
“It’s alright, take them off. See, your toes are already starting to peek through. If you don’t fix them now, they will soon fall apart,” said Bai Lingmiao.
After some hesitation, he was about to take off his shoes. However, he suddenly grabbed the iron rod with both hands and shouted toward the forest on his right.
This loud shout startled everyone. When they awoke, they immediately understood the reason behind Gao Zhijian’s shout.
A certain sound could be heard from the dark woods. It was a crunching and nibbling sound, along with some sort of eerie howling noises.
Everyone was horrified to hear such sounds in the middle of the forests at night.
“This... is this another spiritual possession? How can I be so unlucky this year! Again?” Lu Zhuangyuan grumbled as he put on his clothes.
He then turned toward Bai Lingmiao and clasped his hands together, “You guys are the juniors of that Taoist. You should be able to deal with such a situation, right?”
As he spoke, the sounds seemed to approach even closer, seemingly like they were just coming from the shrubbery next to them.
The atmosphere became tense, and everyone picked up their weapons.
At that moment, the shrubbery beside them suddenly moved and a red-veiled woman stepped out.
“Gosh! A female ghost!” Seeing this, Lu Xiucai was so scared that he directly crawled under the carriage.
“What’s going on? What is it?” Bai Lingmiao asked the Second Deity.
However, the Second Deity did not say anything, instead raising her long black nails as she gestured for Bai Lingmiao to come closer.
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