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Chapter 469 - Village
Chapter 469 - Village
Chapter 469 - Village
Creak, creak, creak~
The creaking wheels of the carriage left two narrow lines on the road. Li Huowang sat in front of the carriage with the reins in his hands. Li Sui was sitting next to him and was covered in a veil and straw robe.
Li Sui cast a curious gaze at the sparrows above the nearby trees.
Li Huowang knocked on the carriage behind him and said, “Miaomiao, you don’t have to stay inside every day. Isn't it suffocating in there? It's already sunset, so you can come out now.”
Bai Lingmiao opened the tarp and sat next to Li Huowang.
She removed the white cloth on her eyes and looked around.
Li Huowang looked at her face and saw that her eyes had changed.
Her eyes were pink, but they had become pinkish white.
Li Huowang knew what it meant.
Li Huowang squeezed her hands gently and said, “Don’t worry. We're almost in Shangjing. We'll definitely find a way to heal your eyes.”
Li Huowang had already resolved the issue concerning the village's security, and he was on his way to heal Bai Lingmiao’s eyes. It was an urgent issue, but it was a good thing that it wasn't too hard.
The sights he had seen during the grand battle between the Surveillance Bureau and the Sitting Oblivion Dao convinced Li Huowang that getting another pair of eyes wasn't that hard in this crazy world.
“Senior Li, why do I need to follow you?” Bai Lingmiao asked weakly.
“Of course, you have to follow me so I can treat your eyes. How else can I do that?”
“Oh...” Bai Lingmiao muttered and lowered her head.
“Are you tired? There's a village in front of us. We can ask them and see if we can sleep in one of the houses there so we don’t have to sleep in the carriage.
"Don’t worry; we reach Shangjing by tomorrow night based on our speed. By then, not only would you be able to see the world clearly, but you'd be able to open your eyes even during the day.”
“All right, Senior Li. I'll listen to you.”
Li Huowang had already become familiar with the paths to Shangjing, as this wasn't his first time going to Shangjing. They finally reached the distant village just as the sun was about to disappear into the horizon.
However, Bai Lingmiao was getting more and more worried as they approached the village. “Senior Li, I think this village is the same as the other villages...”
The village looked fine from afar, but the houses were actually skewed and were on the verge of collapse. Weeds and spider webs had shrouded everything, which meant that it had been a while since someone stayed here.
Li Huowang’s face was grim, but he knew this would happen. After all, this wasn't the first village he had encountered that had met the same horrible fate. The Natural Disaster lasted for only a short while, but many villages lost a ton of people.
Only a few villages were lucky enough to survive the ordeal. To make matters worse, there had to be more villages out there that had suffered the same feat. Li Huowang truly had no idea just how many people had perished during the Natural Disaster.
“Who are you looking for?” An aged voice echoed.
Li Huowang immediately gripped his sword. He let go of his sword upon seeing that the voice had come from an old man walking with a cane. The old man only had a few teeth left in his mouth, and there was a black cloth tied to his right wrist, which meant that someone in his family had passed away recently.
“Old man, it’s me. Do you still remember me? I once asked for your help to stay in this village,” Li Huowang said, showing his face to the old man.
The old man stared at him for a while before realizing that he was indeed the same young man whom he had encountered long ago. “Ah~ It’s you! Come inside!
"There are many empty houses in this village, so you can stay as long as you want, wherever you want.”
Bai Lingmiao walked up to Li Huowang and whispered, “Senior Li, have you really met him before?”
“No, that was just a trick. Old people have bad memories, you see.”
The two walked deeper into the village.
Soon, Li Huowang finally saw the other villagers.
There were men and women holding large bowls while sitting or standing beneath a giant tree. It seemed that they had chosen to eat before nightfall.
They stared alternatingly between Li Huowang's carriage, Li Huowang, and the old man before asking, “Old Man Zhao, did your family come here?”
The villagers looked normal, but they all had a black cloth tied to their wrists.
This village had the most casualties among the villages that Li Huowang had seen so far.
In no time, Li Huowang found himself before a clean house. “This used to be my youngest son's house, but he passed away two years ago. You can stay here.”
“Thank you, Sir Zhao. Sorry for the trouble.”
“No need to say that. You're just going to stay here for the night, so don't worry about it.”
Bai Lingmiao stared at the old man and found the latter's desolate back profile to be quite pitiful. “It seems that the Natural Disaster has claimed the lives of many people here.”
Li Huowang looked at Zhuge Yuan’s illusion at Bai Lingmiao's remark. Zhuge Yuan was in mid-air and had his back facing Li Huowang. Li Huowang felt like Zhuge Yuan was blaming himself for the villagers' death.
“It’s fine. It’s all in the past now. I'll go take some water so we can cook something to eat.”
They were traveling again tomorrow, so they ate only a simple dinner and washed up before sleeping. Li Huowang thought that nothing would happen today, as it was already late in the night. However, he was proven wrong when Li Sui woke him up during the third division of the night.
Li Huowang glanced at Bai Lingmiao sleeping soundly beside him and turned to Li Sui, asking, “What’s wrong?”
“Father, they're performing outside.”
“Hm?” Li Huowang glanced at Bai Lingmiao one more before standing up. He pushed open the door and exited the house. He soon found himself near the large tree and saw the villagers holding their hands together in a large circle.
They were singing and dancing. The old man who served as Li Huowang's guide in the village was among those who were dancing.
“Father, what are they doing?”
“Shh, be quiet. I’m observing them," Li Huowang said, frowning. It had been a while since he encountered members of a sect.
However, Li Huowang was confused. He had checked the old man’s Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings upon entering the village, and he saw that the old man held no ill will toward him.
Maybe they're barely considered as good guys like the Abbess? Li Huowang thought. In the end, he decided to observe them in the meantime.
Regardless of whether they had ill intentions toward Li Huowang or not, Li Huowang was not afraid of them.
Li Huowang was close enough to hear their chanting.
“We've suffered a misfortune all thanks to the carelessness of God Yu’er. Our money and food are gone, and God Yu’er has lost all of our belongings...”