Chapter 208 - Danger
The ‘children’ were surprised and afraid when they saw Li Huowang’s towering figure.
“So you do know fear!” said Li Huowang as he unsheathed his sword while releasing a thick murderous intent.
With just a single stroke of the sword, the urns were smashed and the two ‘children’ were beheaded.
But they did not bleed. Instead, brown ash flew out from their pale bodies. Within the brown ash were bits and pieces of white bones.
The ‘children’ were made from the ashes of the cremated!
“Hang on. This doesn’t look like an evil being that spawned naturally...” muttered Li Huowang as he checked the urns and saw fingerprints on some of the shrapnels.
Sha~ Sha~ Sha~
At that moment, the sound of paper ruffling through the bamboo leaves rang out from all directions, causing Li Huowang to stand up. Knowing that he was in a difficult position, he snarled.
There weren’t just one or two sets of eyes gazing at Li Huowang; he could feel numerous gazes coming from every direction. He was surrounded!
Then, Li Huowang saw what it was. These beings were different; they had a body, with each of them wearing funeral clothes that were usually worn by the dead.
They also had white urns instead of heads.
Each of the urns had a strip of red paper plastered to it, the ‘gazes’ seemingly coming from the paper itself.
They flickered amongst the darkness of the bamboo forest, appearing and disappearing from time to time.
Li Huowang knew that they were moving, but he couldn’t see how they moved. They were slowly approaching him using an unknown method.
After a moment, Li Huowang unfurled the Profound Records and grabbed his pliers, ready to pull out his teeth at a moment's notice.
Just then, something red appeared on his face and covered his vision.
It was a red talisman, similar to the yellow talismans attached to the foreheads of zombies he had seen in movies.
Li Huowang quickly ripped it off and saw the words written on the red talisman: Deceased, Li Huowang.
Staring at the words, Li Huowang’s mind quickly raced with all of the information he knew about this world.
Are they trying to convert me into them? Who are they? No wait, I think I’ve heard about them before while I was at the Zephyr Temple.
At that moment, a single name appeared in his mind.
Mountain Grandma! They are the Mountain Grandmas!
As his thoughts reached this point, Li Huowang raised his pliers, but not to pull out his teeth; instead, he intended to sacrifice his left eye.
Pop!
As he sacrificed his left eye without any hesitation, a sinister light enveloped the surroundings. Immediately, all of the nearby Mountain Grandmas were covered by this sinister light.
And then, they disappeared. Everything that was enveloped by the light had vanished.
Li Huowang took this chance and quickly ran back up the path. Everyone else was still waiting for Li Huowang on the path, but they didn’t know what had just happened.
“Run! Leave the bamboo forest! It’s too dangerous here!” shouted Li Huowang.
When they saw Li Huowang’s missing left eye, none of them objected to his command. As blood continued to drip from his eye socket, all of them disregarded their fatigue and ran as fast as they could.
They didn’t stop even after they had exited the bamboo forest. What awaited them was a grassy plain. Even then, they continued to run on the endless field of grass until dawn.
At that point, Jin Shanzhao threw his bamboo basket down onto the ground and sat down, his shirt drenched in sweat. He panted rigorously while trying to catch his breath. Then, he plucked some of the grass before placing it back down powerlessly. “Ha... Ha... Qing... We are... almost... in Qing Qiu... Ha...”
Meanwhile, Li Huowang was once again perched on the ox-cart. This time around, because of the fact that there was nothing blocking his view in the plains, he could maximize his sharp vision and survey everything around them despite only having a single eye at the moment.
If the Mountain Grandmas were pursuing them even after they had run so far away, then Li Huowang would have no choice but to fight them.
Thankfully the sun continued to rise, the warm rays of sunlight washing away the coldness within Li Huowang’s body. He could no longer feel any gazes.
Back within the bamboo forest, the Mountain Grandmas were long gone. Then, one of the stones on the ground suddenly spoke. “What should we do? It doesn’t seem like he is someone we can defeat. Even the Mountain Grandmas we lured toward them were defeated. Should we request for backup?”
The stone had just finished speaking when one of the bamboo shoots spoke up, “Why even bother wasting our time with them? I remember that Peng Longteng was trying to find that brat. We should just tell her where they are heading instead.”
“You are right. In the end, if she somehow ends up causing a mess of things, then we can just push the blame onto her. On the flip side, if she is successful, then we will also get some merits at least,” replied the stone.
Then, the stone and bamboo shoot became quiet once more, never to speak again.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang and the group rested on the grassy plain for an entire day. They had no choice. As much as they wanted to continue running, they were still human.
Thankfully nothing else happened, except for a few people walking past them.
At this moment, Bai Lingmiao was sitting beside the sleeping Li Huowang, her heart aching at the sight of his wound.
Even though Li Huowang was sleeping, it was not restful at all. He continued to move in his sleep, murmuring something all the time.
As she saw this, Bai Lingmiao gingerly placed her hand onto Li Huowang’s bloody eye socket. “How painful this must be...”
Bam!
Li Huowang suddenly woke up and moved rapidly, both his hands already placed on Bai Lingmiao’s neck.
Everyone was shocked to see what had happened, including Li Huowang.
After a moment of stunned silence, Li Huowang immediately let go and inspected Bai Lingmiao’s neck. When he confirmed that she was not hurt, and was merely shocked, he felt relieved. Then, he hugged her and kissed her, refusing to let her get out of his embrace.
“Senior Li... Everyone is still watching...” muttered Bai Lingmiao.
Hearing this, Li Huowang finally stopped and sighed. “Please stay further away from me when I’m sleeping next time.”
“But... We’ve always been sleeping together.”
“Listen to me. I’m a bit tense during these times so we can sleep together again once this crisis is over, ok?” said Li Huowang.
“Alright... But Senior Li... Your eye...”
“No worries. This is better. At least like this they will have a harder time recognizing me,” reassured Li Huowang.
Li Huowang and the rest continued their journey the next day. They walked for three more days before they saw the border on the afternoon of the third day.
The border was essentially just a short wall with a few soldiers. At the same time, the walls were quite crooked, a clear indication of the sloppiness.
“This is only natural; Qing Qiu and Hou Shu have always been allies. They never had to be wary of each other,” explained Jin Shanzhao upon noticing Li Huowang’s curiosity.
“Allies? Doesn’t that mean that the outlaw soldiers would be able to cross over into Qing Qiu?” asked Li Huowang as he stared at the busy street in front of him.
“Impossible. If the soldiers of Hou Shu entered Qing Qiu, then it would mean war. It would be a much more serious situation than killing a few thousand of their own civilians,” replied Jin Shanzhao.
Hearing that, Li Huowang felt slightly more relaxed.
Then, he recalled something and looked back at the old man. “Will you be turning back now?”
Jin Shanzhao smiled and bowed. “Young Daoist, may we meet again. I will never forget the fact that you saved my life. If I do end up becoming an officer, then I will repay you graciously.”
Li Huowang chuckled. “No need. Just find a place and live out your life quietly. Might as well retire before you even start working.”
Hearing this, Jin Shanzhao suddenly became serious for once. “The only reason I’ve learned so much is for the sake of my future lord! How could I not use the knowledge I’ve accumulated over tens of years? My dream is to stop the wars between nations! I will bring peace to the lands!”
As he spoke, Jin Shanzhao's eyes were blazing with passion.
Li Huowang was impressed by Jin Shanzhao. Even though the latter looked cowardly, his dreams were magnanimous. He could sense the seriousness behind Jin Shanzhao’s words.
After a moment, Li Huowang bowed respectfully toward Jin Shanzhao. “Then, I wish you good luck in your future endeavors.”
Jin Shanzhao smiled and bowed back. “Thank you Daoist. We will go our own separate ways from here on out.”
Shiuuu~
At that moment, something flew through the air as it approached them rapidly.
Shriek!
Jin Shanzhao was still smiling when a massive halberd flew through the air and crashed into his waist. Instantly, he was cut in half just a few feet away from Li Huowang, barely leaving him alive.
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